November 2, 2021
Mundane Halloween
chart junk? more like chart hunk!!!
Declutter and Focus. This is your data viz mission, if you choose to accept it. A study on effective data communication (aka chart design) from the Visual Thinking Lab at Northwestern University via Policy Viz
The United Sceptics of America
Red and Blue Americans are baffled by each other. Each tends to characterize the other as a monolith. But we both share something bigger than ourselves: A government that we have little faith in. The two sides blame each other for this state of affairs, but we shouldn’t “underplay the extent to which the American political system was designed by people who were distrustful of government.” [more inside]
Have you checked your line width lately?
NaNoWriMo Trick: Forget About Comic Sans, Do This Instead. "Critical Kate" Willært, who recently went into a detailed overview of the Porno Hustlers Of The Atari Age discusses an alternative to the trick of switching your writing font to Comic Sans to improve your writing that resurfaces every NaNoWriMo.
enough
So there's this story about the novelists Kurt Vonnegut and Joseph Heller attending a party together. The party is an extremely lavish affair hosted by a billionaire and Vonnegut says to Heller, Joe, isn't it funny that our host makes more money in a day than you ever made from your beloved best-selling novel, Catch-22? And Heller is like, yeah, that is funny but I have something our host will never have. And Vonnegut says, what's that? And Heller says, enough (SLYT 3:59)
Peloton classes are coming to your next Delta flight
"the now-expected upwelling of frustration tinged with hysteria"
Two short scifi stories about accommodating disability. "Metal and Flesh" by Marie Vibbert is darker: "Five stitched the cloth with a single thread in the human way." "Fractured" by Aimee Kuzenski is more triumphant eventually, but starts: "Since the shuttle accident that broke my brain, getting out of bed is like marshalling a poorly-trained and easily-distracted army. Turns out I’m not a good general."
Hook yourself a fish from the comfort of your home
Quakers... in... SPACE... (and time, and alternate realities)
The November issue of the American Quaker magazine Friends Journal is dedicated to speculative fiction and sci-fi. If you're a fan of The Dazzle of Day, read on! [more inside]
Poison in the Air
ProPublica undertook an analysis that has never been done before. Using advanced data processing software and a modeling tool developed by the Environmental Protection Agency, we mapped the spread of cancer-causing chemicals from thousands of sources of hazardous air pollution across the country between 2014 and 2018. The result is an unparalleled view of how toxic air blooms around industrial facilities and spreads into nearby neighborhoods.[more inside]
Can Data Die?
Why One of the Internet’s Oldest Images Lives On Without Its Subject’s Consent By Jennifer Ding with Jan Diehm and Michelle McGhee.
"When one of the only women this well referenced, respected, and remembered in your field is known for a nude photo that was taken of her and is now used without her consent, it inevitably shapes the perception of the position of women in tech and the value of our contributions."
previously, previously, previously.
How good are face masks, really?
Massive Random-Controlled Trial of Face-Mask Protection against COVID-19 "Critics of mask mandates have cited the lack of relevant randomized clinical trials, which assign participants at random to either a control group or an intervention group. But the latest finding is based on a randomized trial involving nearly 350,000 people across rural Bangladesh." [more inside]
Cartoon Modern, free at last
Animation Obsessive has released a high-quality PDF of Amid Amidi's out-of-print classic Cartoon Modern.
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