Essentials
theDiagonal is a personal blog by Mike Gerra, skeptic, technologist, psychologist, artist, humanist, collector of grand, eclectic ideas.theDiagonal blog connects the dots across multiple disciplines for inquisitive, objective and critical thinkers, exploring the vertices of big science, disruptive innovation, global sustainability, illuminating literature and leftfield art. It is on this diagonal that creativity thrives, big ideas take flight and reason triumphs.
Tag Archives: infographic
Monday, May 20, 2013
MondayMap: Global Intolerance
Following on from last week’s MondayMap post on intolerance and hatred within the United States — according to tweets on the social media site Twitter — we expand our view this week to cover the globe. This map is a based on a more detailed, global research study of people’s attitudes to having neighbors of a different race.
From the Washington Post:
When two Swedish economists set out to examine whether economic freedom made people any more or less racist, they knew how they would gauge economic freedom, but they needed to find a way to measure a country’s level of racial tolerance. So they turned to something called the World Values Survey, which has been measuring global attitudes and opinions for decades.
...read more
Posted in Environs, Idea Soup
Tagged global, infographic, intolerance, map, MondayMap, racism, tolerance
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Saturday, February 16, 2013
Love by the Numbers
Send to KindleWednesday, November 14, 2012
Ramen Noodles Deconstructed
Since you’ve probably eaten or know someone who’s eaten Ramen noodles in your lifetime, we thought you’d like to know a little more about this curly snack.
Infographic courtesy of Hackcollege.
Send to KindleFriday, November 9, 2012
How We Die (In Britain)
The handy infographic is compiled from data compiled by the Office of National Statistics in the United Kingdom. So, if you live in the British Isles this will give you an inkling of your likely cause of death. Interestingly, if you live in the United States you are more likely to die of a gunshot wound than a Brit is of dying from falling from a building.
Read the entire article after the jump.
Infographic courtesy of the Guardian.
Send to KindleTuesday, October 30, 2012
Rock, Paper, Scissors
If you’re a competitive person, then this important infographic is for you. Never again will you lose at Rock, Paper, Scissors — well, almost never. Inforgraphic courtesy of the RPS Society.
Send to KindleSaturday, October 27, 2012
The United Swing States of America
Frank Jacobs over at Strange Maps has found a timely reminder that shows the inordinate influence that a few voters in several crucial States have over the rest of us.
From Strange Maps:
At the stroke of midnight on November 6th, the 21 registered voters of Dixville Notch, gathering in the wood-panelled Ballot Room of the Balsams Grand Resort Hotel, will have just one minute to cast their vote. Speed is of the essence, if the tiny New Hampshire town is to uphold its reputation (est. 1960) as the first place to declare its results in the US presidential elections.
Later that day, well over 200 million other American voters will face the same choice as the good folks of the Notch: returning Barack Obama to the White House for a second and final four-year term, or electing Mitt Romney as the 45th President of the United States.
...read moreSaturday, September 22, 2012
How to Build a (Catastrophic) Website
How-to infographics are as common as convenience stores at intersections. So it takes something special to get thediagonal’s attention. This one fits the bill — courtesy of the geeks at MyDestination; replete with cheesy graphics and terrible advise.
Send to KindleThursday, September 6, 2012
Mobile Phone as Survival Gear
So, here’s the premise. You have hiked alone for days and now find yourself isolated and lost in a dense forest half-way up a mountain. Yes! You have a cell phone. But, oh no, there is no service in this remote part of the world. So, no call for help and no GPS. And, it gets worse: you have no emergency supplies and no food. What can you do? The neat infographic offers some tips.
Infographic courtesy of Natalie Bracco / AnsonAlex.com.
Send to KindleMonday, August 27, 2012
When to Eat Your Fruit and Veg
It’s time to jettison the $1.99 hyper-burger and super-sized fires and try some real fruits and vegetables. You know — the kind of product that comes directly from the soil. But, when is the best time to suck on a juicy peach or chomp some crispy radicchio?
A great chart, below, summarizes which fruits and vegetables are generally in season for the Northern Hemisphere.
Infographic courtesy of Visual News, designed by Column Five.
Send to KindleTuesday, August 14, 2012
Best Countries for Women
If you’re female and value lengthy life expectancy, comprehensive reproductive health services, sound education and equality with males, where should you live? In short, Scandinavia, Australia and New Zealand, and Northern Europe. In a list of the 44 most well-developed nations, the United States ranks towards the middle, just below Canada and Estonia, but above Greece, Italy, Russia and most of Central and Eastern Europe.
The fascinating infographic from the National Post does a great job of summarizing the current state of womens’ affairs from data gathered from 165 countries.
Read the entire article and find a higher quality infographic after the jump.
Send to KindleWednesday, August 8, 2012
Your Life Expectancy Mapped
Your life expectancy mapped, that is, if you live in London, U.K. So, take the iconic London tube (subway) map, then overlay it with figures for average life expectancy. Voila, you get to see how your neighbors on the Piccadilly Line fair in their longevity compared with say, you, who happen to live near a Central Line station. It turns out that in some cases adjacent areas — as depicted by nearby but different subway stations — show an astounding gap of more than 20 years in projected life span.
So, what is at work? And, more importantly, should you move to Bond Street where the average life expectancy is 96 years, versus only 79 in Kennington, South London?
From the Atlantic:
Sunday, July 22, 2012
Colors of a Corporation
A colorful graphic below shows how corporations use specific colors and color palettes to project a certain brand image or message.
Infographic courtesy of ColumnFive and Marketo.
Send to KindleTuesday, July 17, 2012
Have a Laugh, Blame Twitter
Correlate 2 sets of totally independent statistics and you get to blame Twitter for most, if not all, of the world’s ills. That’s what Tim Cooley has done with this funny and informative #Blame Twitter infographic below.
Of course, even though the numbers are all verified and trusted, causation is entirely another factor. So, while 144,595 people die each day (on average), it is not (yet) as a result of using Twitter, and while our planet loses 1 hectare of forest for every 18,000 tweets, it’s not the endless Twittering that is causing de-forestation.
Infographic courtesy of Tim Cooley.
Send to KindleMonday, July 9, 2012
Your Job Is Killing You
An appropriate infographic for the back-to-work Monday blues.
Infographic courtesy of Humanresources MBA.
Send to KindleSaturday, June 9, 2012
Mobile Technology and Mobile Travel
Mobile and social technologies such as smartphones, Twitter feeds, and inflight internet, to name but three, are having an increasing effect on the travel and transportation industry.
Inforgraphic courtesy of Mydestination.
Send to KindleMonday, June 4, 2012
Java by the Numbers
If you think the United States is a nation of coffee drinkers, thing again. The U.S., only ranks eighth in terms of annual java consumption per person. Way out in front is Finland. Makes one wonder if there is a correlation of coffee drinking and heavy metal music.
Infographic courtesy of Hamilton Beach.
Send to KindleFriday, June 1, 2012
Comic Sans or Futura?
Infographic courtesy of Mashable.
Send to KindleMonday, April 16, 2012
The Gender Gap Online
Facebook is so, well, yesterday. If you are female then Pinterest is the new go to place online. But, males prefer to hang at Dartitup. In fact the gender bias at these two new social networks is startling: 97 percent of Pinterest’s registered users are female. Infographic courtesy of PRDaily.
Send to KindleFriday, April 13, 2012
The Eyes Have It
Ever wondered what a cat sees when it looks at you, or how many “eyes” insects have or if your eyesight is better than that of your parakeet? Ask no more. The infographic courtesy of Mezzmer summarizes how animals see the world.
Send to KindleTuesday, April 10, 2012
Coke or Pepsi?
Most people come down on one side or the other; there’s really no middle ground when it comes to the soda (or pop) wars. But, while the choice of drink itself may seem trivial the combined annual revenues of these food and beverage behemoths is far from it — close to $100 billion. The infographic below dissects this seriously big business.
Send to KindleThursday, March 29, 2012
Are you a Spammer?
Infographic week continues here at theDiagonal with a visual guide to amateur email spammers. You know you may one if you’ve ever sent an email titled “Read now: this will make your Friday!”, to friends, family and office colleagues. You may be a serial offender if you use the “forward this email” button more than a couple of times as day.
Infographic courtesy of OnlineITDegree.
Send to KindleTuesday, March 27, 2012
SxSW Explained
So, you just missed SxSW, the mega-music and interactive entertainment festival held annually in Austin, Texas. Well, here’s a consolation price courtesy of Rocksauce Studios: Rock of Ages: The Evolution of SxSW.
Send to KindleThursday, March 22, 2012
Tube Map
The iconic Tube Map showing London’s metropolitan, mostly subterranean subway system has inspired many artists and designers. Here’s another fascinating interpretation created by Sam Loman:
Send to KindleSunday, March 11, 2012
Best Days to Avoid Car Crash – Tuesday and Wednesday
The cool inforgraphic below courtesy of FlowingData shows us at a glance that Saturday is the most likely day of the week to be involved in a (fatal) car crash. So, if you’re cautious stick to driving in the middle of the week.
The data is sourced from the National Highway Traffic Safety Association.
Send to KindleSunday, March 4, 2012
The Future
A neat infographic courtesy of Tremulant Designs plots a timeline summarizing what movies contemplate for our future and when. Sadly, mostly dystopian visions reign supreme.
Send to KindleWednesday, February 22, 2012
Ever Done Something Out of the Ordinary?
A collection of answers to some fascinating “have you ever ___?” questions.
Infographic courtesy of Hunch:
Send to KindleWednesday, January 18, 2012
Are You a Nerd or a Geek?
Different, but similar, or poles apart? You decide with the help of this nerdy and geekish infographic.
Infographic courtesy of mastersinit.org.
Send to KindleSunday, December 25, 2011
Gifts of Christmas Past
A fascinating infographic below highlights the most popular children’s Christmas gifts over the last 100 years. Of course, classic toys seem to go on and on and on…
Infographic courtesy of dailyinfographic.
Send to KindleSunday, December 4, 2011
Google’s GDP
According to the infographic below Google had revenues of $29.3 billion in 2010. Not bad! Interestingly, that’s more than the combined Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the world’s 28 poorest nations.
Infographic courtesy of MBA.org / dailyinfographic.
Send to KindleFriday, November 4, 2011
The Insignificance of Humans
The graphic below spotted over at Culture of Science puts humanity’s time on Earth into a truer, longer term perspective. The scale is condensed to 24 hours since the formation of our planet to the present time.
Image courtesy of the Geology department at University of Wisconsin–Madison.
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