Examining How We Measure Our Lives
Commentary, critiques, and observations on information design and data visualisation
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Read on…: Mapping All the Buildings
I wish I had more for this post. Saturday morning’s New York Times was delivered with this on the front page, above the fold. It promised a special section including graphics that showed every building in the United States with a pullout poster of a large major city. I have been through my Sunday paper twice now and cannot find…
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First Florence, Now Michael
Read on…: First Florence, Now MichaelYou may recall a few weeks ago there was a hurricane named Florence that slammed into the Carolina before stalling and dumping voluminous amounts of rain that inundated inland communities in addition to the damage by the storm surge in the coastal communities. At the time I wrote about a New York Times piece that explored housing density in coastal…
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Europe is More than the Big States
Read on…: Europe is More than the Big StatesFirst, I want to start with a housekeeping note. Your author will be travelling for work and then a short autumn holiday. And so while I may be able to sneak a post or two in, I generally would not expect anything until next Friday, 12 October. But let’s end this string of posts with a map. It is a…
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Calendars
Read on…: CalendarsThroughout recorded history, calendars have profoundly impacted the development of human society. They allowed us to mark the rain or flood seasons to prepare for planting or reaping crops along the banks of rivers like the Nile. Calendars allowed us to account for the seasons and create the mythologies around them. We also have calendars for lunar cycles and other…
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Millennials Are the Worst
Read on…: Millennials Are the WorstHappy Friday, everybody. We made it to week’s end. But wouldn’t you know it? Millennials are still terrible. Admittedly this piece is over a year old, but I could not remember ever seeing it before. If you do not recall, last year there was a debate about the spending habits of millennials and why they are not out there buying homes and…
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Running Up the Debt
Read on…: Running Up the DebtI was reading the paper this morning and stumbled across this graphic in a New York Times article that focused on the increasing importance of debt payments. The story is incredibly important and goes to show why the tax cuts passed by the administration are fiscally reckless. But the graphic is really smart too. After all, it is designed to work…
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Kavanaugh’s Fading in Competitive House Seats
Read on…: Kavanaugh’s Fading in Competitive House SeatsAnother day, another allegation of sexual misconduct against Brett Kavanaugh. We are presently at two and are expecting a third tomorrow. But the question is, will these allegations sink his nomination? Probably not. But could that confirmation hurt Republicans in the mid-terms? Possibly. The New York Times posted an article about how Kavanaugh’s support in battleground congressional districts is slipping.…
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Our Lives Are a Mixed Bag
Read on…: Our Lives Are a Mixed BagLast Thursday the Economist published an article looking at quality of life across the world. The data came from the Social Progress Imperative and examined quality of life, excluding economic performance. And as the article details, the results were mixed at best. But, hey, the chart was really nice. We have a small multiple set looking at the overall index…
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Supreme Court Picks
Read on…: Supreme Court PicksI was initially going to ignore this one graphic, but the absolute craziness of this past week’s Bret Kavanaugh nomination hearings/process made this feel at least somewhat relevant. But hey, at least it’s Friday? Credit for the piece goes to Randall Munroe.
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The Carolinas and Florence
Read on…: The Carolinas and FlorenceAs you all probably know, Hurricane Florence crashed into the Carolinas this past weekend. And while I was on holiday, I did see a few articles about the storm and its impact. This one from the New York Times captured my attention because of its use of—surprise, surprise—maps. In particular, as the user scrolls through the experience, he or she…