May 12, 2015 — Comments are off for this post.
The ENDANGERED SAFARI project contains all of the large African mammals along with juicy info like animal size, family, population trend, range, and IUCN threatened species status. The static version, above, is an artsy layout that makes a great print, but to really dig into the data, including individual animal range maps, you will have to jump on a computer (it's not built for mobile) and play with the interactive below by hovering over each Read more
February 23, 2015 — Comments are off for this post.
one year in a Virginia garden
March 26, 2014 — Comments are off for this post.
If you like Creative Routines you will love Info We Trust—the book!
"We all have the same 24 hours that Beyoncé has" and its various iterations took the web by storm in late 2013 as the megastar became the figurehead of not only having it all, but being able to somehow do it all too.
How do creatives - composers, painters, writers, scientists, philosophers - find the time to produce their opus? Mason Currey investigated the rigid Daily Rituals that hundreds of creatives practiced in order to carve out time, every day, to work their Read more
January 25, 2014 — Comments are off for this post.
Nine films are in the running to win best picture at the 86th Academy Awards - and they could be compared in many ways. They all feature incredible stories, great acting, and, well, it gets pretty subjective very fast.
Let us let the masses duke it out: here are the the nine nominees for best picture with their Tomatometer scores (both all critics and audience), box office gross as of mid-January, and their total number of nominations.
The gaps between the critics and the rest of us is pretty interesting. Some films (Dallas Buyers Club, Captain Phillips) have Read more
December 31, 2013 — Comments are off for this post.
Steve Jobs counseled Disney CEO Bob Iger to think in terms of brand deposits and brand withdrawals. Since 1937's Snow White, enduring film characters have been Disney's biggest brand deposits, and their success is most fantastically expressed with a dedicated theme park attraction in Florida at Walt Disney World. Track our favorite magic-maker's Characters by the Numbers:
click for a higher resolution version
Story Points
Several plot points about Disney's evolution can be inferred from Read more
November 25, 2013 — Comments are off for this post.
The USS Constitution set itself apart from her sister frigates in the War of 1812 - sailing under three captains through adventures which have forever since made "Old Ironsides" famous. Whether they be heroic victories against HMS Guerriere and HMS Java, or daring escapes, The War of 1812 made the ship the legend we love today.
Follow the Constitution through each major event and port of call - from her return to America in 1812 to the war's end in 1815.
Design
The timeline of action the ship saw is read from left to right. Read more
November 14, 2013 — Comments are off for this post.
Who is the fairest of them all? Sorry Snow White, but Cinderella is by far the favorite classic princess according to Google Ngrams, which samples published books to deliver relative frequency of phrases:
Favorite Princesses Cinderella, Snow White, & Sleeping Beauty
These three favorite princesses are today most associated with their mid-century Walt Disney films Read more
November 13, 2013 — Comments are off for this post.
Constitution was called out of ordinary in 1803 and recommissioned in order to fight against the collected Barbary States, leading the third squadron to the Mediterranean in what would be known as the First Barbary War.
Once again, one dimension of geography (this time latitude) is abandoned in favor of providing time as an axis. Read more
October 28, 2013 — Comments are off for this post.
Google Ngrams provide a fascinating peak at trending topics over time by allowing us to compare the popularity of expressions in published books. For Halloween this week I whipped up the following sketch of some of Hollywood's favorite monsters:
Thoughts
October 24, 2013 — Comments are off for this post.
Before the USS Constitution was the oldest commissioned warship still afloat, and even before it was nicknamed Old Ironsides it was a squadron flagship in our mostly forgotten "Quasi-War" with France at the end of the 18th century. Learn more about the construction and first cruises of the Constitution in the first installment of a series that pay tribute to her glory.
The design
Telling a story across geography and time on a static plane is difficult because it requires three dimensions - time, latitude, and longitude - when there are only two dimensions available. Read more
