Examining How We Measure Our Lives
Commentary, critiques, and observations on information design and data visualisation
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Read on…: Income Segregation in the Philadelphia Metro Area
In an area very close to me…quite literally…the New York Times published an article about increasing segregation between the rich and the poor via the areas where they live. The study by Stanford University found that the Philadelphia metropolitan area saw the “sharpest rise” in segregation since the 1970s—the study used census data available through 2007. The accompanying graphic highlights the…
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The Case Against Jerry Sandusky
Read on…: The Case Against Jerry SanduskyPenn State is going through some rough times. The charges against Jerry Sandusky are most serious and the failure to do more than the legal requirement in reporting him has cost the university president his job and head coach Joe Paterno his job. Anyone familiar with the school or Paterno’s prior standing in the state—as I am as both a…
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What Your Favourite Map Says About You…
Read on…: What Your Favourite Map Says About You…Do you have a favourite map? Because just like how we can determine your true character from your beards, attire, drink preferences, &c. we now can see who you are based on your map preference, courtesy XKCD:
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Hispanic Growth in the Plains
Read on…: Hispanic Growth in the PlainsThere is a scene in the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica where with the human population almost extinct, one character comments on the romances of two others by saying “they better start having babies”. The demographics of the United States are changing. Not that they were not changing prior to recent years; Native American populations were reduced by English and Scottish settlers;…
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Armistice Day
Read on…: Armistice DayToday is Veterans Day. Originally it was called Armistice Day. At 11.00 on 11/11 in 1917, fighting ceased between the Allies and Germany. World War I was effectively over. Since World War I, in the United States, we have gone on to have World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the First Gulf War, the Afghanistan War, the…
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Humanity’s Not So Finest Hours
Read on…: Humanity’s Not So Finest HoursHumanity is amazing. We have great emotional power for love, sympathy, compassion, &c. We have great intellectual power; we have/are mastering mathematics and science to explore the depths of this ocean and the surfaces of planets not our own. Yet with these great powers comes a great responsibility. And as we continue to reflect upon the milestone of reaching a…
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Can a Republican Win the White House?
Read on…: Can a Republican Win the White House?It’s Election Day. Well, not really. But, Nate Silver and the New York Times have come together to release an election simulator, if you will, focused on the chances that a Republican will win the White House. You play with a few different variables to control the outcome: GDP growth and President Obama’s approval rating. These then are computed along…
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Random is the New Orderly
Read on…: Random is the New OrderlyEver been on a flight where there is not enough overhead luggage capacity for everyone? Then they make you stow your bag anyway? Well, apparently that’s what’s happening in these days of baggage fees—which make airlines quite profitable. This diagram in the New York Times shows how American Airlines is changing from the more common front-to-back seating of passengers to…