Posts Tagged ‘infographic’
“Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds”*…
As this interactive graphic from the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists reveals, the number of nuclear weapons in the world peaked in the late 80s. But there are still roughly 10,000 nukes floating around the world, and in the hands of an increased number of countries…
Explore the Nuclear Notebook.
* J. Robert Oppenheimer, quoting the Bhagavad Gita as he recalled the Trinity Test (the first atomic bomb detonation)
###
As we duck and cover, we might recall that today is the Ides of March. An occasion in the Roman calendar for religious observances, it retains a certain notoriety as the date, in 44 BCE, of the assassination of Julius Caesar– becoming, thus, a turning point in Roman history… and the prompt for Shakespeare’s immortal warning (from a soothsayer to Caesar in Julius Caesar): “Beware the Ides of March.”
The Death of Caesar (1798) by Vincenzo Camuccini
“Suppose you were an idiot, and suppose you were a member of Congress; but I repeat myself”*…
The 93rd U.S. Congress, 1973-74, considered 26,157 bills; it made 738 (3%) of them law. The 103rd Congress, 1993-94, enacted 458 (5%) of the 9,746 bills it considered. The current Congress– the 113th, 2013-14– has so far introduced 7,980 bills, and passed only 100 (just over 1%) of them.
The Legislative Explorer, from researchers at the University of Washington’s Center for American Politics and Public Policy, allows readers to follow the lawmaking process– over 250,000 bills and resolutions introduced from 1973 to present– in action.
The left half represents the U.S. Senate, with senators sorted by party (blue=Democrat) and a proxy for ideology (top=liberal). The House is displayed on the right. Moving in from the borders, the standing committees of the Senate and House are represented, followed by the Senate and House floors. A bill approved by both chambers then moves upward to the President’s desk and into law, while an adopted resolutions (that does not require the president’s signature) moves downward.
Each dot represents a bill, so one can see them move through the process. The drop-down menus at the top allow a shift of focus to a specific Congress, a person, a party, a topic, and several other categorizations; and there’s search to allow one to examine specific bills. Counters across the bottom of the screen keep track of the action… or the lack thereof.
[TotH to Flowing Data]
* Mark Twain
###
As we yield, Mr. Speaker, to the gentleman from the District of Columbia, we might think expansionist thoughts in honor of Thomas Jefferson, whose emissaries Robert Livingston and James Monroe signed the the Louisiana Purchase Treaty, called by some “the letter that bought a continent,” in Paris on this date in 1803… and in one stroke (well, three strokes– Livingston, Monroe, and French representative Barbé Marbois all signed) doubled the size of the United States.
“He was a wise man who invented beer”*…
In the age of Amazon, when much of the world is but a click away from having any product they can imagine shipped to their doorstep in just two days, beer is stubbornly anachronistic, a globalization holdout that’s subject to the physical locations of breweries, along with the regional patterns of alcohol distributors.
It’s a picture painted well by the team from Floating Sheep, who compiled a million tweets, scanning for words like “beer” and “wine” to plot the alcoholic preferences across the U.S. What they uncovered is essentially the United States of Cheap Beer–a map of the generic, though perfectly tasty, lagers and pilsners that we loyally drink region by region…
Read more at “The Cheap Beers People Drink Across The U.S.”
Special Spring bonus: how adding beer to one’s barbeque slashes the risk of cancer…
* Plato
###
As we pour into a canted a glass, we might recall that it was on this date in 1953 that Man in the Dark was released. In November, 1952, United Artists had released an independent production, Bwana Devil— the first full length color film released in English in 3-D. A surprise hit, Bwana Devil spurred the major studios to scramble to field their own 3-D flicks. Man in the Dark, from Columbia, was for to the screen. A film noir thriller starring Edmund O’Brien and Audrey Trotter, the film sank like a stone… leaving House of Wax, from Warner Bros., released two days later, a default claim to be “the first feature produced by a major studio in 3-D.” These three films kicked off the first period of enthusiasm for 3-D films; the second was a year-long period in the 70s. We are, of course, currently in the third.
“Wine is constant proof that God loves us and loves to see us happy”*…
Bio-hazard! Economic turmoil! Mass emigration!… How a tiny insect caused mass migration, the great French wine blight, and almost rid the world of wine forever….
click here for larger, legible version
[TotH to 10 Zen Monkeys]
Special bonus: “What does ancient wine taste like?”
*Benjamin Franklin
###
As we own up to oenophilia, we might recall that it was on this date in 1886 that Coca Cola was concocted in an Atlanta, Georgia backyard as a “brain tonic” that could cure hangovers, stomach aches and headaches. The original formula included caffeine and five ounces of coca leaf (from which cocaine is derived) per gallon. The creator, pharmacist John Pemberton, took his syrup a few doors down to Jacobs’ Pharmacy, where he mixed it with carbonated water and shared it with customers. The pharmacy began marketing it on May 8 as a patent medicine for 5¢ a glass. It spread first through the other Jacobs outlets in Atlanta, and then around the world.
“The valuable tonic and nerve stimulant properties of the coca plant and cola nuts . . .”
– John Pemberton
Pemberton
“Life is a tragedy for those who feel, and a comedy for those who think”*…
Shakespeare’s Tragedies – (Now with more Bear!)… from teacherspayteachers.com, via Kazuya Arakawa.
* La Bruyere
###
As we contemplate catharsis, we might recall that it was on this date in 1959, in the midst of the escalation of what came to be known as the Lhasa Rebellion or the Tibet Uprising, that two Chinese artillery shells landed near the palace of the Dalai Lama, triggering his flight into exile. Within two weeks (and with the covert help of the CIA), His Holiness passed into India, where he established a government-in-exile in Dharamshala that has functioned ever since.
The Dalai Lama with his new “host,” Indian Prime Minister Nehru, in 1959
You must be logged in to post a comment.