Tag: critique

  • Big Beer

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    Brendan Barry
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    A few weeks back, a good friend of mine sent me this graphic from Statista that detailed the global beer industry. It showed how many of the world’s biggest brands are, in fact, owned by just a few of the biggest companies. This isn’t exactly news to either my friend or me, because we both…

  • If You Can’t Stand the Heat, Cut Your Carbon Emissions Pt. II

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    Brendan Barry
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    A few weeks ago I wrote about the United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) latest report on climate change, which synthesised the last several years’ data. If you didn’t see that post, suffice it to say things are bad and getting worse. At the time I said I wanted to return to talk…

  • Out with the New, In with the Old

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    Brendan Barry
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    After twenty years out of power, the Taliban in Afghanistan are back in power as the Afghan government collapsed spectacularly this past weekend. In most provinces and districts, government forces surrendered without firing a shot. And if you’re going to beat an army in the field, you generally need to, you know, fight if you…

  • If You Can’t Stand the Heat, Cut Your Carbon Emissions

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    Brendan Barry
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    Earlier this morning (East Coast time) the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the UN’s committee studying climate change, released its latest review of climate change. This is the first major review since 2013 and, spoiler, it’s not good. I’ve read some news articles about the findings, but I want to critique and comment upon…

  • Inflating Areas

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    Brendan Barry
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    One trend people have begun to follow lately is that of rising prices for consumer goods. If you have shopped recently for things, you may have noticed that you have been paying more than you were just a few weeks ago. We call this inflation. The Bureau of Labour Statistics (BLS) tracks this for a…

  • On a Line. Or Not.

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    Brendan Barry
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    Two weeks ago I was reading an article in the BBC that fact checked some of President Biden’s claims about the economy. Now I noted the other day in a post about axis lines and their use in graphics. Axis lines help ground the user in making comparisons between bars, lines, or whatever, and the…

  • The May Jobs Report

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    Brendan Barry
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    Last Friday, the government released the labour statistics from April and they showed a weaker rebound in employment than many had forecasted. When I opened the door Saturday morning, I got to see the numbers above the fold on the front page of the New York Times. What I enjoyed about this layout, was that…

  • Off the Axis

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    Brendan Barry
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    Two Fridays ago, I opened the door and found my copy of the New York Times with a nice graphic above the fold. This followed the announcement from the White House of aggressive targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions In general, I love seeing charts and graphics above the fold. As an added bonus, this…

  • Arrowheads

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    Brendan Barry
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    I don’t know if this is a trend, but I’ve now seen a few graphics appearing using arrows to show the direction or trend of the data. This graphic in an article by Bloomberg prompted me to talk about this piece. I should add, after rereading my draft, that I’m not clear who made this…

  • The Super Short European Super League

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    Brendan Barry
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    Sunday night, news broke that a number of European football clubs were creating a rogue league, the European Super League. My British and European readers—and Americans who follow football—will know the names of Manchester United, Liverpool, AC Milan, Juventus, Real Madrid, and the others. To put this in perspective for my American readers, imagine the…