Examining How We Measure Our Lives
Commentary, critiques, and observations on information design and data visualisation
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Where Is That Pesky Mason–Dixon Line?
Read on…: Where Is That Pesky Mason–Dixon Line?It’s no big secret that genealogy and family history are two of my big interests and hobbies. Consequently, on rainy days I sometimes like to enjoy an episode or two of Who Do You Think You Are (I prefer the UK version, but the American one will do too) or Finding Your Roots. So I decided to watch one last…
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Leaf Peeping
Read on…: Leaf PeepingAutumn arrived this week in Philadelphia. And with the cooler weather came blustery winds blowing yellowing leaves from city trees. The yellows and reds of trees beneath blue skies makes for some great photography. But what is really going on? Thankfully, the Washington Post published an article exploring where and why the leaves change colour (or don’t). The star of the…
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Brexit Deal 2.0
Read on…: Brexit Deal 2.0I’ve been trying to work on a Syrian changing alliances graphic, but the Brexit news today scuppered that. Instead, we take a look at Boris’ deal, which differs from May’s in that it chucks out the notion of territorial integrity, creating a border in the Irish Sea where goods will have to be inspected. My old Brexit trilemma graphic shows…
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Americans Retreat, Turks Invade, Syrians Return, Kurds Die
Read on…: Americans Retreat, Turks Invade, Syrians Return, Kurds DieI did not have a lot of time to cover this story last week. So let us try to get into it a little bit today. The New York Times published this morning an article about what is next for Syria, titling the online version 4 Big Questions About Syria’s Future. So I went with four statements about what is…
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Oh the Places I’ve Been
Read on…: Oh the Places I’ve BeenThis afternoon I am off on a flight to Austin, Texas for a friend’s wedding in nearby Kyle, Texas. Two years in a row I’ve been to Texas in October. And so that felt like a good enough reason to update my counties visited map that, according to my files, I haven’t updated since 2015. In those four years, before…
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Back to Being Runnerup
Read on…: Back to Being RunnerupAnother week, another Wednesday, another night of pub trivia tonight. So after several weeks of disappointing scores and placement, the last few weeks has seen us triumphantly returning to second place. And so what better way to show that than showing our rank at the end of each night. More encouragingly, as the line chart shows, we’ve been becoming more…
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The Vaping Outbreak Spreads
Read on…: The Vaping Outbreak SpreadsAnd now with more deaths. On Friday, Pennsylvania reported its first death from the vaping disease spreading across the country. So I decided I would take a moment to update the map I made a month ago charting the outbreak. Then, the CDC had tallied 450 cases. Now we are at 1080. And whereas last time New England, parts of…
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The Roaming Life of Rev. Dr. Stephen Remington
Read on…: The Roaming Life of Rev. Dr. Stephen RemingtonAs many of you are aware, one of my personal interests is in genealogy and my family history. And sometimes, data visualisation can help make sense of my research. This past weekend, I was looking through some of my notes on my great-great-great-great-grandfather, a man named Stephen Remington. One of the outstanding questions is who was his wife, a woman…
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Westerns
Read on…: WesternsNext week I am heading west. And by west I mean Austin, Texas. I mean you could argue that Austin is more south than west, but if you throw a “×” in there you get South × Southwest. Anyway, the allure of the western remains strong and that reminded me of an old xkcd piece reflecting on the relative length…