Thursday, October 31, 2013

Global Birth / Death Map


This interactive simulation, posted recently by Atlantic Magazine, gives an eerily omniscient vantage of real-time birth and deaths on the world as it fills.


Just think, in 1950, there were 2.5 billion humans. Today there are just over 7 billion. In another 30 years, according to U.S. Census Bureau projections, there will be more than 9 billion.  

Brad Lyon, who developed the map, has a doctoral degree in mathematics and does software development. He wanted to make those numbers visual. Last year he and designer Bill Snebold made a hugely popular interactive simulation map of births and deaths in the U.S. alone—the population of which is on pace to increase 44 percent by 2050. 

With this version, Lyon now takes on the world.  Below is just a snapshot - click this link to go to the interactive map.




"The visualizations here, while pulling together some numbers," Lyon said, "are still qualitative because we of course don't know what the pattern is really like. However, we do know where the numbers end up, so they must get there somehow."

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

The True Size of Africa

This interesting graphic of Africa compared to the rest of the world hardly needs any commentary.   It is larger than USA, China, India, and all of Europe combined.  The link is here and is in the public domain.





Tuesday, October 1, 2013

October in the Railroad Earth --Kerouac

From the album "Poetry for the Beat Generation" from "The Jack Kerouac Collection" on a rainy day start to Autumn...