December 2008
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Day December 26, 2008

Entries 4 Total

Data Visualization Projects

Here’s an article that picks the 5 best data visualization projects of the year. Personally, their Honorable Mention was my favourite. I loved pasting the transcripts of speeches into Wordle and seeing the results. Number 5 on the list is also a good one if you want a visualization of how Obama and Clinton performed in counties based through questions like “Is a country more than 20 percent black?” Anyway, it’s an interesting read.

Link – 5 Best Data Visualization Projects of the Year | FlowingData.

Posted on December 26, ’08

How an old phone can make money

Here’s an interesting story on the BBC’s website about efforts to recycle old cell phones. Much of it centers on one such organization that works to recycle these old phones: Fonebank.

Not only does recycling an old cell phone do great things for the environment by keeping degrading batteries and other electronic parts out of the soil, but if done through Fonebank (and others I’m sure) it can help charities as well.

From the article:

This year Fonebank has teamed up with Oxfam to donate a minimum of 10% of the value of the phone to aid the charity’s work in the developing world.

Other charities, including Age Concern and the British Red Cross, are also offering people the chance to donate phones.

Sounds like a win-win: recycle your phone, get a check up to 102 pounds, and have the company donate to Oxfam.

via BBC NEWS | Technology | How an old phone can make money.

Posted on December 26, ’08

The Coal Ash Spill in Tennessee

Concerning the coal ash spill in Tennessee:

Authority officials initially said that about 1.7 million cubic yards of wet coal ash had spilled when the earthen retaining wall of an ash pond breached, but on Thursday they released the results of an aerial survey that showed the actual amount was 5.4 million cubic yards, or enough to flood more than 3,000 acres one foot deep. The amount now said to have been spilled is larger than the amount the Authority initially said was in the pond, 2.6 million cubic yards.

You would think that after so years and so many disasters ala Exxon Valdez companies would learn their lessons and go through every effort to try and assure that any toxic byproducts were well-contained. I just can’t imagine why a company (even a government-owned utility like the TVA) would risk the PR nightmare in order to save a little bit of money or cut a little corner.

What worse is that all these people living in the flooded area now have homes that are in a toxic epicenter. Even if the CEO of TVA relocates all the residents, which he claims he will, it still doesn’t replace the homes that were lost and the memories that can only be contained within them.

via Coal Ash Spill Is Much Larger Than Initially Estimated – NYTimes.com.

Posted on December 26, ’08

The Buzzwords of 2008

There’s an interesting article up on the NY Times website about the “buzzwords” of 2008. In addition to the fact that it’s interesting to read and what not there’s some cool design on the page too. The way in which the words are presented in really neat and worth checking out. Plus, some of the buzzwords are great; it’s fun to read through them and see how many of them you know/have heard of.

Here’s my favourite:

Greyjing – A nickname for Beijing, whose skies are some of the most polluted in the world.

Link – The Buzzwords of 2008 – NYTimes.com.

Posted on December 26, ’08