Gregor Aisch outlines better color options for data visualization:

Well, the main problem is that the value component of HSV is just a measure for the physical lightness of color, but not for the perceived brightness. Thus, fully saturated yellow has the same “value” as blue. The same is true for the HSL color space.

(via: Dr. Eric Bruning)

That was the last month in which globally-averaged temperatures were below average.

NOAA, State of the Climate Global Analysis, October 2012:

The average temperature across land and ocean surfaces during October was 14.63°C (58.23°F). This is 0.63°C (1.13°F) above the 20th century average and ties with 2008 as the fifth warmest October on record. The record warmest October occurred in 2003 and the record coldest October occurred in 1912. This is the 332nd consecutive month with an above-average temperature.

Michael Lopp, on two distinct engineering personalities:

Lastly and most importantly, these guys and gals hate – hate – each other. Volatiles believe Stables are fat, lazy, and bureaucratic. They believe Stables have become “The Man.” Meanwhile, Stables believe Volatiles hold nothing sacred and are doing whatever they please, company or product be damned. Bad news: everyone is right.

Jason Fried, 37signals:

It’s always hard to cut something you grew from scratch. You feel a fundamental obligation to see it blossom and continue to grow strong. You know how long things take to grow, so cutting things back is an emotional process. “Man, this branch has been growing for 10 years and I’m going to cut it down in 10 seconds…”

But you also know that cutting things back means that you’ve favoring what’s left. You pick the winners, you help the tree grow up strong. And most importantly, while pruning gets rid of a lot, it also opens up new opportunities. Light gets in where it couldn’t before. Air circulates better. And new growth comes to life.

Brian X. Chen, The New York Times:

In countries around the world, text-message traffic has been shrinking because Internet-powered alternatives are becoming so widely used. American carriers have fought off the decline — until now.

For the first time, the American wireless market saw a decline in the total number of messages sent by each customer each month

Hear that? It’s the cellular carriers dragging their feet as they are slowly reduced to dumb pipes.

Bob Henson, writing for the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, on the physics of Sandy:

While there have been hybrid storms before, Superstorm Sandy was a creation distinct in meteorological annals, as it pulled together a variety of familiar ingredients in a unique way. Sandy could be the storm that launches a thousand dissertations—or at least a few—and some of its noteworthy aspects have implications for hurricane warning in general. Warning: there’s a bit of unavoidable weather geekery in the material below, although I’ll try to keep it as accessible as possible.

Kontra with a great take on Apple’s state of design following the departure of Scott Forstall:

In the end, what’s wrong with iOS isn’t the dark linen behind the app icons at the bottom of the screen, but the fact that iOS ought to have much better inter-application management and navigation than users fiddling with tiny icons.

Cat Buckley, Vanity Fair, on photographer James Balog’s effort to capture scenes from melting glaciers:

In an effort to provide concrete visual proof of climate change and its devastating effects, photographer James Balog embarked on a years-long project that spanned the northern reaches of the globe. He set up cameras from Greenland to Alaska in order to capture horrifying—yet undeniably beautiful—time-lapse photos that reveal the unprecedented rate at which glaciers are receding.

These photos are both disturbing and beautiful.

Mark Newman, a physics professor at the University of Michigan, on the problems associated with a typical red and blue election map:

… the map fails to take account of the population distribution. It fails to allow for the fact that the population of the red states is on average significantly lower than that of the blue ones. The blue may be small in area, but they represent a large number of voters, which is what matters in an election.

We can correct for this by making use of a cartogram, a map in which the sizes of states are rescaled according to their population.

Newman’s county-level cartogram is especially nice.

(via: Dr. Randy Peppler)

Weather Decision Technologies:

Weather industry leader Weather Decision Technologies®, Inc announced today it has acquired the popular iOS application, Storm Spotter. Additionally, Storm Spotter’s founder joined WDT to support the company’s mission to continue to provide and enhance its line of premium mobile weather applications.

Storm Spotter has been my go-to mobile radar application since Ross Kimes launched it in 2009. I was fortunate enough to beta-test and review the latest major version release. Since the first version, it was clear that Ross remained committed and excited to continually improve his users’ experience and the work paid off. Today’s acquisition couldn’t have happened to a better guy.