Tag: technology

  • Farewell, Cassini

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    Brendan Barry
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    Today’s post is a sad post, hence why I did not run with it on Friday. But on Friday, we bid adieu to the little space probe that could, Cassini. This piece is not terribly heavy on the information design, but it does include one diagram—so it counts. The BBC put together a piece reflecting…

  • The World’s Fighter Jets

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    Brendan Barry
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    As you know, I am a sucker for military-related things. So here we have a piece from the Wall Street Journal on the leading fighter jets of the world. If you have a bone to pick on which jets were included, please take that up with them and not me. The screenshot is from the…

  • The Mother Of All Bombs

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    Brendan Barry
    in ,

    Yesterday the United States dropped a GBU.43 on a cave complex in eastern Afghanistan. The bomb is better known by its nickname MOAB, Mother Of All Bombs. But just how does the GBU.43 compare to some of the more common—and not so common—weapons in the US arsenal? What we do know is that yesterday was…

  • Building New Railways in America

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    Brendan Barry
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    I wasn’t expecting this piece to fall into the queue for today, but you all know me as a sucker for trains. So today we have this nice set of small multiples from the Guardian. It looks at…I guess we could call it train deserts. They’re like food deserts, except we’re talking about trains. What…

  • Get to Dam Work

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    Brendan Barry
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    Sorry, not sorry. But also, sorry. This piece was supposed to go up Wednesday after President Trump’s speech where he announced he’d like to spend $1 trillion on infrastructure. But it didn’t post, so you will get two today. This article from the New York Times dates from about a week or so ago at…

  • Capturing a US Navy Drone Submersible

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    Brendan Barry
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    Last Friday China seized a US Navy submersible drone—like the drones the Air Force uses but for underwater purposes—in international waters off the coast of the Philippines. This graphic from the Washington Post shows how, while in international waters, the seizure occurred not far outside China’s Nine-dash Line, which they claim as territorial waters. Credit…

  • Tying Up Time Warner and AT&T

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    Brendan Barry
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    AT&T is attempting to merge with Time Warner in order to have more/better control of a content pipeline. But as this Wall Street Journal article points out, the concept of tie-ups between media and telecoms is not exactly new. Especially since the breakup of the old Bell Telephone company. Credit for the piece goes to…

  • Types of Nuclear Weapons

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    Brendan Barry
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    When I was in high school I began to listen to music. To find music. To find artists. A guy who owned and operated the store next to where I worked recommended David Bowie, that guy whose songs I had heard on Philly’s classic rock radio stations. Back in those days we still had record…

  • Your State’s Power Sources

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    Brendan Barry
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    By now you should all know that I am a sucker for small multiples. They are a great way of separating out noise and letting each object be seen for its own. You should also know that I am a sucker for things industrial, e.g. nuclear power. So when you put the two together like…

  • How We’re Talking to New Horizons

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    Brendan Barry
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    So New Horizons is long since gone from Pluto. But it will still take 16 months to send back all the photographs and science. Why so long? Because so far away. 3 billion miles away. Put another way, light from the sun takes eight minutes to reach Earth as it travels at, well, the speed…