The ‘Depression Era’ vote is the most electorally significant demographic for the Coalition, says Possum Comitatus. Without it, Howard would have lost in 1998, lost in 2001 and it would have been line ball in 2004. But when they die off, where will the votes come from?
Graph pr0n
Visualising 50 years of space travel
An amazing interactive infographic displaying every mission into space for the last 50 years. Poor lonely Pluto.
A history of nuclear polling
With a new poll today revealing almost half of Australians now support considering nuclear power as an alternative energy source, Possum Comitatus charts the history of polling on the issue since 2006.
A new way of looking at the Coalition’s polling pain
While 100% of the Coalition’s time in opposition has been spent facing defeat, 90% of that time has been spent facing complete electoral oblivion, reports Possum Comitatus, with some new data-crunching insights.
A quarter of the world is Muslim
Almost a quarter of the world’s population is Muslim, according to a new study. Livemint maps the world’s Muslim population, and the results may surprise some people: the majority of Islamic practitioners live in Asia, not the Middle East.
Comparing the party leaders’ speeches: in wordle form
How does Tory leader David Cameron’s recent big pitch to the nation stand up against the speeches of Gordon Brown, Tony Blair or Margaret Thatcher? What if we compare them… as a wordle!?
How to crack a master lock
Gizmodo explains the three easy steps to cracking any Master Lock in 100 attempts or less.
It’s about the housing shortage, stupid
Our biggest public policy problem is that we don’t have enough dwellings for people who live here, with an estimated shortage in 2008 of 34,000 dwellings. Plus, we’re importing people at a rate of knots.
Who is getting faster, cheaper internet than you?
Well, the Japanese for a start, who get an average connection speed of 61mbps (versus our 1.7mbps) at a fraction of the price. This great infographic compares broadband speed, price and penetration around the world. See how behind we really are.
102 seat landslide for Labor
If a Federal election was held today, the ALP would most likely win a whopping 102 seats in Parliament — a 19 seat gain on their current position, says Possum Comitatus. Start panicking, Malcolm.
The death of newspapers
A depressing-yet-informative little infographic charting the downturn in revenue, circulation, stock price and advertising in the newspaper industry.
Geelong vs. St Kilda supporters: who does more yoga?
St Kilda supporters are more likely to participate in dancing and yoga than Geelong supporters while Cats supporters are more likely to be petrol heads. Possum Comitatus does some timely number crunching.
Rich pickings: luxury firms retreat to the elite
This videographic from The Economist shows why the producers of luxury goods — who briefly flirted with the cashed-up aspirational middle class — are likely to retreat to their traditional super-rich clients.
The world’s most carnivorous countries
There is a strong correlation between the amount of meat a country consumes and its economic development. GOOD has a lovely cow-shaped graph identifying the countries eating the most and least pounds of meat on a per-capita basis.
Why the supermarket express lane isn’t always the fastest
It’s called “express”, everyone in it has eight items or fewer, yet every other line is powering ahead of you. Why? Dan Meyer explains, using the power of maths.
Who’s lining Google’s pockets?
A whopping 80% of online advertisers do their advertising through Google, with ads accounting for 99% of the search giant’s revenue. So who are the biggest advertisers, and how much are they spending?
How the financial giants crumbled
In a great piece of data visualisation, The New York Times charts the fall and rise of American finance giants following the collapse of Lehman Brothers.
State of the planet
Is our world getting better or worse? On the one hand, standards of living conditions are improving, but on the other, violence and environmental destruction continue to rise. New Scientist collates all the stats to see whether there’s any hope left for this little blue marble.
News Dots: Six degrees of Kevin Bacon for the media
Slate have created a giant interactive data visualisation for breaking news stories, mapping the complex network of relationships between the people and topics currently making waves in the media. Get from Cadbury to Congress in five easy steps.
World literacy: 1970s and today
To celebrate International Literacy Day, GOOD has put together this lovely infographic on the 50 countries where literacy levels have improved the most since the 1970s, as represented by the first 100 words of their constitutions. A little high-concept, but well worth a look.
The Ferrari family tree
A wonderful flow-chart follows the evolution of Ferraris from the 1970s right through to the new 458 Italia. The price and power may have increased (a lot), but the basic design remains the same.
Sunny side up: power the whole world with solar
How much of the earth’s surface would need to be covered by solar panels in order to power the whole world in 2030? Not that much. It would take up a far bit of the Sahara desert, but that alone could power all of Europe and North Africa.
China sneezes, US gets cold
Movements on Shanghai’s index seem to increasingly affect the US stock market. Business Week puts the numbers into perspective with some helpful graphs.
If you think Australia’s working, ask someone who isn’t … much
The news on the jobs front of the Australian economy is mixed. While Rudd’s stimulus package has had an effect on unemployment, it masks a significant rise in underemployment.
Crikey Says: TV is dead, right?
The internet just turned 40 and everyone is now permanently online. Right? Turns out, broadcast media still has some fans…
