wnyc:

Thanks, ilovecharts:

Assessing The Damage

Excellent Infographic Breaks Down Gay Rights in U.S. by State and Region by Trent Gilliss, senior editor The coolest part about The Guardian’s dynamic graphic on gay rights in the United States may be its Facebook integration. The infographic illustrates the level of rights — from adoption and schools to same-sex marriage and employment — granted by each of the 50 states, grouped by region, and then proportionally breaks it down by the states in which your Facebook friends live. Interestingly enough, this matters. The reconfigured breakdown is more relevant to one’s life because it personalizes the issues to a degree, giving one a sense that these issues matter differently depending on where many of the people you care about now live. (Mine’s heavily weighted with North Dakotans and Minnesotans considering I’m a Midwestern boy, but who knew I had friends in four-fifths of the country.) A small quibble, though. The circular shape of the graphic inherently weights the importance of an issue depending upon which concentric circle it occupies. In this case, the more proximate the issue type is to the circle’s center, the less area it takes up and, therefore I wonder, seems less important. One way to balance this might have been to assign bolder, more aggressive colors to the more interior circles: schools might be assigned the red now designated for marriage and marriage be assigned that Columbia blue.
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Excellent Infographic Breaks Down Gay Rights in U.S. by State and Region

by Trent Gilliss, senior editor

The coolest part about The Guardian’s dynamic graphic on gay rights in the United States may be its Facebook integration. The infographic illustrates the level of rights — from adoption and schools to same-sex marriage and employment — granted by each of the 50 states, grouped by region, and then proportionally breaks it down by the states in which your Facebook friends live.

Interestingly enough, this matters. The reconfigured breakdown is more relevant to one’s life because it personalizes the issues to a degree, giving one a sense that these issues matter differently depending on where many of the people you care about now live. (Mine’s heavily weighted with North Dakotans and Minnesotans considering I’m a Midwestern boy, but who knew I had friends in four-fifths of the country.)

A small quibble, though. The circular shape of the graphic inherently weights the importance of an issue depending upon which concentric circle it occupies. In this case, the more proximate the issue type is to the circle’s center, the less area it takes up and, therefore I wonder, seems less important. One way to balance this might have been to assign bolder, more aggressive colors to the more interior circles: schools might be assigned the red now designated for marriage and marriage be assigned that Columbia blue.

Bubble Map Breaking Down the World Religions (Infographic) An excellent graphic from the National Post on the number of adherents of the world’s believing and non-believing constituencies. What factoid surprises you?
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Bubble Map Breaking Down the World Religions (Infographic)

An excellent graphic from the National Post on the number of adherents of the world’s believing and non-believing constituencies. What factoid surprises you?

The Final Words of Texas’ Death Row Offenders Made Visual by Trent Gilliss, senior editor The poet Elizabeth Alexander once asked, “What if the mightiest word is love?” For the 280 men and one woman executed in Texas between 2000 and 2012, “love” was the mightiest word — by an overwhelming margin, with three out of five saying the word in their last living moments. Dylan C. Lathrop and GOOD created this graphic with a word cloud generated from the offenders’ final thoughts shortly before they were put to death. The word “love” was used by 173 of the 281 people. That’s more than 60 percent. Nearly half of them mentioned religion in some form, using “God” and “Jesus” and “Lord,” to name a few. And note the petitions of prayer, expressions of apology and notions of family are present in their minds. Some were silent, others were defiant — and I’m guessing that’s why “warden” shows up so prominently.
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The Final Words of Texas’ Death Row Offenders Made Visual

by Trent Gilliss, senior editor

The poet Elizabeth Alexander once asked, “What if the mightiest word is love?”

For the 280 men and one woman executed in Texas between 2000 and 2012, “love” was the mightiest word — by an overwhelming margin, with three out of five saying the word in their last living moments.

Dylan C. Lathrop and GOOD created this graphic with a word cloud generated from the offenders’ final thoughts shortly before they were put to death. The word “love” was used by 173 of the 281 people. That’s more than 60 percent. Nearly half of them mentioned religion in some form, using “God” and “Jesus” and “Lord,” to name a few. And note the petitions of prayer, expressions of apology and notions of family are present in their minds. Some were silent, others were defiant — and I’m guessing that’s why “warden” shows up so prominently.

Is Our Political Identity Overtaking Our Religious Identity When Choosing a Mate? by Trent Gilliss, senior editor Stephanie Coontz’s provocative opinion piece in today’s New York Times touches on some interesting dilemmas facing men and women in modern America. It’s well worth reading and is a fun conversation starter with your spouse and parents. But, it was the above infographic accompanying Coontz’s commentary that caught this editor’s eye. For the most part, the top five traits that men look for in potential wives have changed very little in 70 years. In 1939, the five most important qualities were: Dependable character Emotional stability, maturity Pleasing disposition Mutual attraction, love Good health And, in 2008: Mutual attraction, love Dependable character Emotional stability, maturity Education, intelligence Pleasing disposition The big mover: education and intelligence. It climbed from #11 to #4. Good health dropped two positions, and I suspect will plummet further down the list in the coming decades. The romantic in me is heartened to see that love and attraction are sitting atop the field. For the purposes of this blog, though, the precipitous drop in having a similar religious background and the slight rise in men seeking a woman whose political background is similar to his own is intriguing. It seems men’s personal identities are mirroring our larger cultural identity. As U.S. society has become increasingly divided and hyper-partisan in political terms, men are assigning more value to having a like-minded partner in the political persuasion department. Will this trait continue to rise in importance? I hope not. Source: “Measuring Mate Preferences: A Replication and Extension” by Christine B. Whelan, University of Pittsburgh, and Christie F. Boxer and Mary Noonan, University of Iowa
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Is Our Political Identity Overtaking Our Religious Identity When Choosing a Mate?

by Trent Gilliss, senior editor

Stephanie Coontz’s provocative opinion piece in today’s New York Times touches on some interesting dilemmas facing men and women in modern America. It’s well worth reading and is a fun conversation starter with your spouse and parents. But, it was the above infographic accompanying Coontz’s commentary that caught this editor’s eye.

For the most part, the top five traits that men look for in potential wives have changed very little in 70 years. In 1939, the five most important qualities were:

  1. Dependable character
  2. Emotional stability, maturity
  3. Pleasing disposition
  4. Mutual attraction, love
  5. Good health

And, in 2008:

  1. Mutual attraction, love
  2. Dependable character
  3. Emotional stability, maturity
  4. Education, intelligence
  5. Pleasing disposition

The big mover: education and intelligence. It climbed from #11 to #4. Good health dropped two positions, and I suspect will plummet further down the list in the coming decades. The romantic in me is heartened to see that love and attraction are sitting atop the field.

For the purposes of this blog, though, the precipitous drop in having a similar religious background and the slight rise in men seeking a woman whose political background is similar to his own is intriguing. It seems men’s personal identities are mirroring our larger cultural identity. As U.S. society has become increasingly divided and hyper-partisan in political terms, men are assigning more value to having a like-minded partner in the political persuasion department. Will this trait continue to rise in importance? I hope not.

Source: “Measuring Mate Preferences: A Replication and Extension” by Christine B. Whelan, University of Pittsburgh, and Christie F. Boxer and Mary Noonan, University of Iowa

Infographic: The People Who Make Up Occupy Wall Street by Trent Gilliss, senior editor Some interesting stats on OccupyWallStreet.org visitors courtesy of Fast Company: More than 80% of participants are white 90% are college-educated Nearly half of participants are 25-44 Nearly half have full-time jobs and make under $25k/year More than 70% are political independents More than 60% are male Participation in Occupy events jumped from 24% in early October to 43% two weeks later Me? I’m curious to know how these types of movements can include different types of minority communities — whether by race, by gender, by religion, or by socioeconomics — in the protests and what difference it makes when they do so. I have a comment/query out to Fast Company and the author about the spiritual/religious makeup of participants. I’ll share more if I receive it.
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Infographic: The People Who Make Up Occupy Wall Street

by Trent Gilliss, senior editor

Some interesting stats on OccupyWallStreet.org visitors courtesy of Fast Company:

  • More than 80% of participants are white
  • 90% are college-educated
  • Nearly half of participants are 25-44
  • Nearly half have full-time jobs and make under $25k/year
  • More than 70% are political independents
  • More than 60% are male
  • Participation in Occupy events jumped from 24% in early October to 43% two weeks later

Me? I’m curious to know how these types of movements can include different types of minority communities — whether by race, by gender, by religion, or by socioeconomics — in the protests and what difference it makes when they do so.

I have a comment/query out to Fast Company and the author about the spiritual/religious makeup of participants. I’ll share more if I receive it.

I have been waiting for this explanation most of my adult life. Now maybe I’ll stop screeching “Serenity now!” Thanks, sunfoundation: Why Do Freeways Come to a Stop? This infographic explains what happens that makes freeways suddenly come to a stop. It also explains what the funnel effect is. ~reblogged by Trent Gilliss, senior editor
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I have been waiting for this explanation most of my adult life. Now maybe I’ll stop screeching “Serenity now!”

Thanks, sunfoundation:

Why Do Freeways Come to a Stop?

This infographic explains what happens that makes freeways suddenly come to a stop. It also explains what the funnel effect is.

~reblogged by Trent Gilliss, senior editor

Now this is a graphic worth pondering and wrapping your mind around. What a wealth of information from the National Post: Graphic: What would a Palestinian state look like?As the Palestinian Authority’s at the UN moves forward, the Post looks at what a Palestinian state would look like. For a large version of this graphic, download the PDF here ~reblogged by Trent Gilliss, senior editor
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Now this is a graphic worth pondering and wrapping your mind around. What a wealth of information from the National Post:

Graphic: What would a Palestinian state look like?
As the Palestinian Authority’s at the UN moves forward, the Post looks at what a Palestinian state would look like. For a large version of this graphic, download the PDF here

~reblogged by Trent Gilliss, senior editor

Had to reblog from our beingvisual Tumblr: There’s beauty and meaning in all sorts of things. But who would’ve thought I’d be posting an image of a chart graphing a periodic table of SEO ranking factors. Signs, signs, everywhere there are signs… ~Trent Gilliss, senior editor
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Had to reblog from our beingvisual Tumblr:

There’s beauty and meaning in all sorts of things. But who would’ve thought I’d be posting an image of a chart graphing a periodic table of SEO ranking factors. Signs, signs, everywhere there are signs…

~Trent Gilliss, senior editor

I Am

by Leland R. Beaumont, guest contributor

I Am

Perhaps your readers will enjoy this graphic meditation on being that was inspired by the book I Am That by Sri Nisargadatta Majaraj.

Leland R. BeaumontLeland R. Beaumont is an electrical engineer and computer scientist who is constantly curious about how the world works.

We welcome your reflections, essays, videos, or news items for possible publication on the Being Blog. Submit your entry through our First Person Outreach page.