Comments for Chart Porn

Comment on The Deficit: Obama vs Bush by RJS

RJS — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 03:02:46 +0000

Highly entertaining this, however misleading it might be–if indeed it is misleading. The problem is NOT the deficit, as if you’d want to run a surplus during a severe recession. The problem is a deficit compounded by nearly a half century of deficit spending under both parties now congealed into a sizable and worrisome national debt, a good part of which is in the hands of the “public.” See, we ran deficits when we didn’t have to–and should not have–so there was little room for manueuver when the necessity for a really big stimulus (a deficit by any other name) arose. Nobody needed a Nobel in Econ to see this coming, only an understanding of he screwed-up fiscal incentives of our political system. And we’re nowhere near the primary surplus we need to fix this mess. Go ahead, Tea Party blowhard, say something stupid–Make my Day.

Comment on Cocktails by Al

Al — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 13:33:03 +0000

Designers out there will enjoy this ‘making of’, walking through the designs they tried and discarded and talking through how they dealt with some of the difficulties of this design: http://www.fastcodesign.com/1668928/the-only-chart-you-need-to-mix-a-proper-cocktail

Comment on The Deficit: Obama vs Bush by Matt

Matt — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 21:09:01 +0000

Totally misleading. The recent spending cuts were not an Obama policy; Afghanistan was overwhelmingly supported by both parties, and Obamacare is conveniently excluded.

How about looking at how they spent money they/we/my kids don’t/won’t have:

http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/not-every-president-can-hit-97-percent_557440.html

There are more ways to tell a story than Team Red vs. Team Blue!

Comment on The Deficit: Obama vs Bush by Mike Liveright

Mike Liveright — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 16:15:54 +0000

Two comments, though I do like the look and results…

1) Since $’s are linear, I think that a 2-d graph is deceptive. It is difficult for the human, me, to see which area is two times another area. So any 2-d graph of a 1-d factor is potentially perceptually miss-leading.

2) Significant contributions to the deficit are the Automatic Tax Gains, Loses and stabilizers, due to the economic situation, and the growth in entitlements. Though these are not due to the policies of the two presidents, they do reflect the deficits and if possible should be shown in the graphics.

3) Bush was in for 8 years where as Obama only for 3 years. Thus I would perhaps make it clear that Obama still has 7 more years to change the results, though I have not idea as to how this chance will effect the final numbers if it does occur.

Comment on How Carbs Make You Fat by fatmike182

fatmike182 — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 17:17:02 +0000

just a note concerning the photo of the car: it’s an actual sculpture by the artist Erwin Wurm. Definitely go to his exhibitions if you see him anywhere around!

Comment on Browser Market Share by Aussie Betting

Aussie Betting — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 22:46:19 +0000

nikihit, no you’re not reading the chart correctly. The outer ring is 2009, the inner rings are irrelevant. This is one reason the chart is not an ideal way to display historical data. At first glance you would think that IE still has a large market share. Maybe if the rings were larger this layout would be a little better.

Look at the link above by FredMertz and you will see that IE has been steadily losing market share for years while Chrome has been steadily increasing its share of users.

It appears as though Chrome has recently started taking some of FireFox’s market share, they now have close to equal market share at around 35~36% each, with IE in 3rd position at 20%.

Comment on How Carbs Make You Fat by Dustin

Dustin — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 19:54:53 +0000

Fight! Fight! The problem I have is the rollercoaster I mentioned. If I have a bagel for breakfast, then I want a sandwich for lunch, and then rice/pizza for dinner. Carbs Carbs Carbs! They make me feel hungry. Maybe it’s because of the insulin cycle mentioned in this graphic. Maybe it’s because carbs taste really really good. Maybe I have a low level gluten sensitivity. Anyways, when I break the cycle and eat mostly veggies and meat instead, I’m not as hungry, eat less, and put on less fat.

Comment on How Carbs Make You Fat by Simon

Simon — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 19:22:04 +0000

It being bullcrap is either a true or a false statement. Not something you have an opinion on really. Glycogen storages account for a couple of kilos (3-4) of lost weight. A lot of people lose more and as long as it helps people lose weight the purpose has been served and calling it a fad is just wrong. It’s a method that helps people calorie restrict and lose weight, and that’s what it’s for. (also, claiming exercise helps a lot is hilarious, weight loss is manly diet)

Comment on How Carbs Make You Fat by Alexander

Alexander — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 18:21:15 +0000

To your personal experience: Let me guess, when you stop the low-carb diet, you gain weight as fast as you lost it, right? Thats not because you lowered your body-fat but instead your glycogen levels, which are quickly depleted when no carbs are available.
To lower the body-fat, simply a calorie deficit is required (exercise helps a lot). Low-carb, low-fat & all the other fad diets where you cut off a single food category are bullcrap (imho). You only get some malnutrition with that.

Comment on Google Mint! by Alex

Alex — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 01:31:42 +0000

The data in this is fascinating, but the graphic doesn’t help at all. You could visualise how big the sectors are compared to the whole, how big the top companies are compared to sectors, and how big they are compared to the total.

Comment on Browser Market Share by nikihit

nikihit — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 08:54:34 +0000

From the chart, I see IE is the NO.1 and firefox is the second? I don’t believe chrome only occupy such a small market.

Comment on Red State Socialism by Stephanie Lee

Stephanie Lee — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 01:32:05 +0000

How about a column chart normalized to $1.00? In other words, chart the federal spending that exceeds/falls short of federal taxes. States with spending above $1 will have columns sized to spending – $1.00, e.g, $1.03 for New Mexico, and states with spending below $1 will show $1.00 – spending, e.g. -$0.03 for Florida. This way, the getters will clearly fall above the line and the givers will clearly fall below the line. Each column can be colored red or blue as appropriate.

Comment on Unfolding the Earth by Darcy

Darcy — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 17:20:57 +0000

beautiful!

Comment on Unfolding the Earth by David

David — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 15:43:24 +0000

Obligatory XKCD link:

https://www.xkcd.com/977/

Comment on Google Mint! by Al

Al — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 09:49:42 +0000

Yeah – there’s a worrying trend for fake charts, as if people think that making something just look like a chart gives it credibility.

It’s really bad for the field – we need the public to be able to assume something that looks like fact is fact and not just pass over or ignore things like this assuming they’re meaningless. Fake charts will undermine that for all of us – if people have to stop every time to check if a chart is real or fake, they’ll soon stop bothering entirely.

I’m already starting to see that the more designed something looks, the more likely people are to assume it’s not based on fact. This is worrying…