Examining How We Measure Our Lives
Commentary, critiques, and observations on information design and data visualisation
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Read on…: Mexico: the Land of Many Countries (or Comparisons Thereto)
On Thanksgiving, the Economist published an interactive map that looked at Mexico across three metrics: murders, murder rates, and population. Mexico is one of the more populated countries in the world, but it is also one of the most dangerous. In the middle of the previous decade, the Mexican government began to crack down on the drug cartels. But the…
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Flickers of Red in a Deep New York Blue
Read on…: Flickers of Red in a Deep New York BlueThe New York Times breaks down the 2012 presidential election results at the precinct level. It shows that despite the city being a bulwark of Democratic support, areas of deep Republican support still exist.
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Maps Are Not Silver Bullets
Read on…: Maps Are Not Silver BulletsI make a lot of maps in my line of work. Often times, they are not particularly interesting. Mostly because they follow similar patterns to this. More stuff is bought and sold where there are more people. More stuff is bought and sold where more people have more money. Et cetera, et cetera. Maps are sometimes very useful. But I…
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The History of Viper’s Dream
Read on…: The History of Viper’s DreamMy colleague Benjamin Byron plays the upright bass in a few bands, one of which is named Viper’s Dream. We were discussing the flexibility of jazz band rosters and I decided to make an infographic about the membership history of Viper’s Dream. Unfortunately, I know of nobody’s name but Benjamin’s, so they are all listed as [instrument] Guy.
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Orange is the New Pink
Read on…: Orange is the New PinkOrange County California was the bastion of California Republicans. I remember even hearing about it as such all the way out on the East Coast. But, the times are changing in Orange County. And so are the demographics. The Los Angeles Times released this interactive slider map showing the changes to the Republican landscape from 2004 to 2012. Orange County…
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Twinkle, Twinkle, Little—Damn That’s Bright.
Read on…: Twinkle, Twinkle, Little—Damn That’s Bright.We’ve had a lot of the rough and gritty politics of late. So now for some bright and starry-eyed idealism. Well, maybe less idealism and more stars. Lots of them. Courtesy a Google Chrome experiment.
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Turkey
Read on…: TurkeyNo, Turkey is not having an election this week. Instead, we start to transition out of election coverage. By moving into Thanksgiving. The New York Times created a flow chart that looks at different turkey cooking options. Credit for the piece goes to Alicia DeSantis and Kevin Quealy.
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Election Stuff You Might Have Missed
Read on…: Election Stuff You Might Have MissedThe United States is not the only country in the world to have an election this November. It isn’t even the only big country. China is/had elections to replace the top leadership in Beijing. That’s right, it’s that about that time once every ten years when the Chinese political leadership is replaced. The Wall Street Journal had a nice interactive…
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History of Congress
Read on…: History of CongressToday is Election Day. Did you vote yet? If not, why the hell not? But you are not just voting for president, you are also voting for senators (in some states at least, like Pennsylvania), your congressman or congresswoman, state assemblies, ballot initiatives, &c. And in that spirit, this last pre-vote result post comes from xkcd and looks at the…