J. Dana Stuster, writing for Foreign Policy:

This is what data from a world in turmoil looks like. The Global Database of Events, Language, and Tone (GDELT) tracks news reports and codes them for 58 fields, from where an incident took place to what sort of event it was (these maps look at protests, violence, and changes in military and police posture) to ethnic and religious affiliations, among other categories. The dataset has recorded nearly 250 million events since 1979, according to its website, and is updated daily.

John Beieler, a doctoral candidate at Penn State, has adapted these data into striking maps, like the one above of every protest recorded in GDELT – a breathtaking visual history lesson.

Stuster goes on to discuss the limits of the animation. For instance, the nature of each protest is not conveyed in a meaningful way. Still, it is a very interesting project.

(note: click on the little “x” in the upper-right of the web page if it prompts you about a membership)

Ben Orlin introduces us to a scenario in which an engineer, mathematician, physicist, computer scientist, and economist must split the check after a lovely meal. The tale starts with a discussion of taxes (the remainder is equally harrowing):

Engineer: Remember to tip 18%, everybody.

Mathematician: Is that 18% of the pre-tax total, or of the total with tax?

Physicist: You know, it’s simpler if we assume the system doesn’t have tax.

Computer Scientist: But it does have tax.

Physicist: Sure, but the numbers work out more cleanly if we don’t pay tax and tip. It’s a pretty small error term. Let’s not complicate things unnecessarily.

Engineer: What you call a “small error,” I call a “collapsed bridge.”

Economist: Forget it. Taxes are inefficient, anyway. They create deadweight loss.

Mathematician: There you go again…

Economist: I mean it! If there were no taxes, I would have ordered a second soda. But instead, the government intervened, and by increasing transaction costs, prevented an exchange that would have benefited both me and the restaurant.

Anna Gunn, in an Op-Ed for The New York Times, on how playing Skyler White has revealed society’s view of traditional gender roles:

I enjoy taking on complex, difficult characters and have always striven to capture the truth of those people, whether or not it’s popular. Vince Gilligan, the creator of “Breaking Bad,” wanted Skyler to be a woman with a backbone of steel who would stand up to whatever came her way, who wouldn’t just collapse in the corner or wring her hands in despair. He and the show’s writers made Skyler multilayered and, in her own way, morally compromised. But at the end of the day, she hasn’t been judged by the same set of standards as Walter.

As an actress, I realize that viewers are entitled to have whatever feelings they want about the characters they watch. But as a human being, I’m concerned that so many people react to Skyler with such venom. Could it be that they can’t stand a woman who won’t suffer silently or “stand by her man”? That they despise her because she won’t back down or give up? Or because she is, in fact, Walter’s equal?

It’s notable that viewers have expressed similar feelings about other complex TV wives — Carmela Soprano of “The Sopranos,” Betty Draper of “Mad Men.” Male characters don’t seem to inspire this kind of public venting and vitriol.

Gunn goes on to describe how the hatred toward her character has transferred toward her personally. It’s sad, but not very surprising. Just think about a typical professional environment. A man who is cut-throat and willing to do whatever it takes to advance his career is regarded as a driven person. The same traits executed by a female will garner her with the “bitch” monicker.

Professor Adam Frank, in a smart Op-Ed for The New York Times:

In 1989, when “climate change” had just entered the public lexicon, 63 percent of Americans understood it was a problem. Almost 25 years later, that proportion is actually a bit lower, at 58 percent.

The timeline of these polls defines my career in science. In 1982 I was an undergraduate physics major. In 1989 I was a graduate student. My dream was that, in a quarter-century, I would be a professor of astrophysics, introducing a new generation of students to the powerful yet delicate craft of scientific research.

Much of that dream has come true. Yet instead of sending my students into a world that celebrates the latest science has to offer, I am delivering them into a society ambivalent, even skeptical, about the fruits of science.

Frank goes on to detail the many examples in which the public has been misguided into believing non-existing controversies. A main reason for the recent distrust or dismissal of the process, in my view, revolves around the politicization of science and the media’s infatuation with false equivalency.

An interesting set of mugshots from the 1920s. Crimes included selling opium, murder, and stealing an umbrella. Based on these photos, I’d argue that fashion for men has somewhat digressed in subsequent years, while the opposite is true for women.

(via: my sister, Melissa)

A clever parody site from DataCoup that pokes fun at the NSA’s data collection practices.

Maciej Winiarczyk’s awesome video made it on NASA’s Astronomy Photo of the Day:

Why would the sky still glow after sunset? Besides stars and the band of our Milky Way galaxy, the sky might glow because it contains either noctilucent clouds or aurora. Rare individually, both are visible in the above time lapse movie taken over Caithness, Scotland, UK taken during a single night earlier this month.

Do yourself a favor - go fullscreen and blast the music.

Matthew Butterick released a full-fledged book on typography and published it exclusively online. Readers can access everything for free. Butterick is relying on people to help pay for the work through font purchases or PayPal donations. I’ve just started reading - it’s really good. Here is a quick blurb that introduces the book’s motivation:

You might be a pro­gram­mer, writ­ing doc­u­men­ta­tion for a new soft­ware tool.

You might be a sci­en­tist, writ­ing a pro­pos­al for a re­search grant.

You might be a law­yer, writ­ing a brief for court.

When we think of “pro­fes­sion­al writ­ers,” maybe we think of nov­el­ists or jour­nal­ists. But the pro­gram­mer, the sci­en­tist, the law­yer—and you, if your work de­pends on pre­sent­ing writ­ten ideas—all de­serve to be called pro­fes­sion­al writers.

But as pro­fes­sion­al writ­ers, we do more than write. We edit, we for­mat, we print, we gen­er­ate PDFs, we make web pages. More than ever, we’re re­spon­si­ble for de­liv­er­ing the writ­ten word to our read­ers. So we’re not just writ­ers—we’re publishers.

Typography is the vi­su­al com­po­nent of the writ­ten word. And be­ing a pub­lish­er of the writ­ten word nec­es­sar­i­ly means be­ing a typographer.

This book will make you a bet­ter typographer.

A really cool interactive tour from The New York Times that illustrates the many changes in New York City over the past twelve years:

From buildings to bike lanes to painting over Broadway, how the city changed in 12 years of Bloomberg

TwistedSifter has compiled their favorite photos from a subreddit that colorizes old black and white photos:

When we see old photos in black and white, we sometimes forget that life back then was experienced in the same vibrant colours that surround us today. This gallery of talented artists helps us remember that :)

Below you will find a collection of some of the highest rated colorized images to date on r/ColorizedHistory.

The Hindenburg photo is astonishing.