If you live in NYC, chances are that you’re voting for Obama (as a non-American I’m one of the lucky few who don’t have to choose sides). Yahoo’s Political Dashboard has him leading here 60 to 35. What’s amazing me is how he’s become a cult of personality. You may have seen the Shepard Fairey Obama paintings,… Continue reading Obamania
Category: Random
Nowhereland
I’ve always had a perverse interest in how humans simply abandon things. We’re definitely the only species that covet objects and then abandon them as soon as our internal calculus judges them to be no longer valuable. I’m not talking about no longer wanting your old plates or bicycle, rather the fact that we construct… Continue reading Nowhereland
Changing Times
I just finished reading John McPhee‘s Oranges. It’s a fascinating book (and an easy read at 149 pages). One of the interesting passages concerns Indian River, Florida. Indian River is where the best oranges in Florida come from (they commanded a $1/box premium in the Northeast – and that was in the 1960s). It’s also… Continue reading Changing Times
Don’t Expect To See Me Out Too Much
So the other weekend I cashed in all my loose change. I had three coffee containers full – which ended up working out to be a little over $300! I used a coin sorting machine that gave me an Amazon gift certificate, and that’s now led to the following: That’s 17 books so I think… Continue reading Don’t Expect To See Me Out Too Much
Visualizing Information
A little over a week ago I attended Edward Tufte‘s day-long course on how to visualize information. What follows is a chronological summary of what he presented; the course consists of a series of infographics along with running commentary. The first infographic was actually an animation: the Music Animation Machine‘s rendering of Chopin’s Berceuse, opus… Continue reading Visualizing Information