Examining How We Measure Our Lives
Commentary, critiques, and observations on information design and data visualisation
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Read on…: How the Costa Concordia Sank
The Costa Concordia sank nearly a week ago, but the questions of exactly how and why she sank will likely linger for much longer. The BBC has had extensive coverage of the story, including this page that details what is known about how and why the cruise ship sank.
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Game Difficulties for AIs
Read on…: Game Difficulties for AIsfrom XKCD a chart on the difficulty of games for computers: And remember folks, the score is still Q to 12. A free Get Out of the Boomerang Zone card if you get the reference.
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School’s Out For Ever
Read on…: School’s Out For EverWhile on holiday, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia announced a sweeping series of school closures and consolidations in an effort to create a smaller and more sustainable school system. As I spent my earlier years of education in the parochial system I had more than a passing interest in the story. The Philadelphia Inquirer mapped out […]
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12 Days of Christmas (Corporate-ified)
Read on…: 12 Days of Christmas (Corporate-ified)Guess what? It’s Christmas season. I am taking two weeks holiday starting tomorrow and so posting here shall be rather light until early January. In business world, people like PowerPoint presentations with charts that show the flow of synergy. Scales of efficiency. Action item prioritisation. The kinds of things that the rest of us don’t […]
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Earth-sized Planets
Read on…: Earth-sized PlanetsWe have finally discovered two planets outside our solar system that have roughly the same size as Earth. Unfortunately, unless we learn that life can exist in the form of fire beings, these two planets are too close to their sun to support life. Their temperatures are in the hundreds and thousands of degrees. A […]
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The Family Tree of Kim Jong Il
Read on…: The Family Tree of Kim Jong IlKim Jong Il is dead. And nobody really knows what is going to happen in North Korea. But, what we do have, is the interactive family tree of Kim Jong Il, courtesy of the BBC. Select individuals are clickable and have short biographical sketches. Unfortunately, the tree has been simplified for clarity and it does […]
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The Rise of Newt
Read on…: The Rise of NewtThe Iowa caucuses are quickly approaching. And that means for many candidates a scramble to gain as many supporters as possible and then convert their poll ratings into votes. For the Republicans, this has been a truly topsy-turvy cycle with the distant refrain of “anyone but Mitt” echoing in the background. So, here we are […]
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The Finances of Social Security
Read on…: The Finances of Social SecuritySimple graphs can tell great stories with little annotations. This graphic by the New York Times illustrates that point well with a stacked line chart set behind a line on the same scale. The two should match, or at least the red should be beneath the greys. When they don’t, you have a story and […]
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Killed in Action in Iraq, State by State
Read on…: Killed in Action in Iraq, State by StateThe Iraq War is over. And now it is time to reflect on what we have gained and what we have lost. This map by the Guardian details the number of soldiers killed in action in Iraq. (Other options include total wounded, killed by non-hostile, &c.) Unfortunately, I call it a ‘no kidding’ type of […]