Examining How We Measure Our Lives
Commentary, critiques, and observations on information design and data visualisation
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Arctic Sea Ice Levels Continue to Decline
Read on…: Arctic Sea Ice Levels Continue to DeclineYou may recall how over two years ago I posted about a piece from the New York Times that explored the levels of Arctic sea ice. It showed how the winter sea ice of 2015 was the lowest level ever recorded. Well last week the Times updated that piece with new data. And instead of the static graphic we enjoyed last…
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Earthquake Early Warning
Read on…: Earthquake Early WarningLast month, two massive earthquakes devastated Mexico. Now, if you were like me, you were captivated by the photos and videos of the quakes striking and tearing down buildings and infrastructure. But, think about it for a second, how did people know to take out their mobiles and record the tremors for posterity’s sake? Well, the first thing you should…
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Bringing a Gun to a Knife Fight
Read on…: Bringing a Gun to a Knife FightI had dinner with an old friend earlier this week and in the course of our conversation we discussed the bans of knives and guns from hospitals. That reminded me of this xkcd comic from last week. Credit for the piece goes to Randall Munroe.
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How Serious Is the Rise in Violent Crime?
Read on…: How Serious Is the Rise in Violent Crime?On Monday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions and the Justice Department released figures for violent crimes in 2016. The administration talked about the rise in violent crime. And yes, such crime did rise in 2016. But, what was not raised nearly as much is that we are also living in an era of historically low crime. FiveThirtyEight broke down the crime…
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(Lack of) Support for Cassidy-Graham Obamacare Repeal
Read on…: (Lack of) Support for Cassidy-Graham Obamacare RepealA wee bit of housekeeping here at the top. Your author will be away for work and then enjoying a well-earned, but all-too-brief holiday over the next week. At the end of the week, the Senate’s window to pass a budget reconciliation measure, i.e. what they need to do to repeal Obamacare with only 51 votes, will close for a…
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German Election Results
Read on…: German Election ResultsOn Sunday Germany went to the polls. Angela Merkel won a fourth term, but the anti-immigrant nationalist party, Alternative for Germany (AfD), won nearly 13% of the vote. That places a nationalist party in the German parliament for the first time since World War II. A lot of the graphics I saw were straight-up bar charts of the final vote share.…
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Nambia
Read on…: NambiaC’mon. You knew I was not going to let that one slip by. President Trump, in a meeting with African leaders, twice name-dropped Nambia and in one mention held it up as having a nearly self-sufficient healthcare system. Funny thing to mention as the US is on the brink of eviscerating its healthcare system. But I digress. The point is…