Examining How We Measure Our Lives
Commentary, critiques, and observations on information design and data visualisation
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Read on…: Armistice Day
Yesterday was Armistice Day, a bank holiday hence the lack of posting. So I spent a few hours yesterday looking at my ancestors to see who participated in World War I. It turned out that on my paternal side, my one great-grandfather was too old and the other was both the right age and signed up for the draft, but…
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Hoyle’s House
Read on…: Hoyle’s HouseJohn Bercow is no longer the British Speaker of the House. He left office Thursday. Fun fact: it is illegal for an MP to resign. Instead they are appointed to a royal office, in Bercow’s case the Royal Steward of the Manor of Northstead, that precludes them from being an elected MP. Consequently the House of Commons then had to…
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UK–Narnia Border
Read on…: UK–Narnia BorderYesterday the United Kingdom was supposed to leave the European Union. Again. Boris would rather be dead in a ditch. But he’s neither dead nor in a ditch. And the UK is still in the EU. So let’s enjoy the moment and reflect on this xkcd piece from the other day. And then enjoy the weekend. Credit for the piece goes…
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Americans Can’t Kick the Auto Habit
Read on…: Americans Can’t Kick the Auto HabitAfter looking this week at the growth of the physical size of cities due to improvements in transport technologies, the increasing density of cities, and then the contribution of automobile (especially personal cars) to carbon dioxide emissions, today we look at a piece from the Transport Politic comparing US and French mass transit ridership to see whether the recent decline…
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Auto Emissions Stuck in High Gear
Read on…: Auto Emissions Stuck in High GearThe last two days we looked at densification in cities and how the physical size of cities grew in response to the development of transport technologies, most notably the automobile. Today we look at a New York Times article showing the growth of automobile emissions and the problem they pose for combating the greenhouse gas side of climate change. The…
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Different Paths to Density
Read on…: Different Paths to DensityYesterday we looked at the expansion of city footprints by sprawl, in modern years largely thanks to the automobile. Today, I want to go back to another article I’ve been saving for a wee bit. This one comes from the Economist, though it dates only back to the beginning of October. This article looks at the different ways a city…
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Mapping the Growth of Cities
Read on…: Mapping the Growth of CitiesThis is an older piece from back in August, but I was waiting for a time when I would have some related articles to post alongside it. To start off the series of posts, we start with this piece from CityLab. As my titles implies, it looks at the growth of cities, but not in terms of people or technology…
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Pub Trivia Scores—The Ryan’s Wedding Version
Read on…: Pub Trivia Scores—The Ryan’s Wedding VersionSo another Wednesday, another pub trivia night. But two weekends ago, I attended the wedding of a good mate of mine down in Austin, Texas. And at his rehearsal/welcome dinner, he and his now wife had a trivia game. How well did their guests know them? Turns out my friends and I, not so much. And I can prove it,…