Sauce: How Long Is Every Minute Of An NBA Game?
Showing posts with label data visualization. Show all posts
Showing posts with label data visualization. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 23, 2014
NBA Avg. Real Minutes
Sauce: How Long Is Every Minute Of An NBA Game?
Tuesday, April 8, 2014
Boys Names Ending in "N"
On the week my oldest son's fifth birthday, this animated chart is of particular interest. Unknowingly we went with a popular one the first time around. We picked Kaden because we wanted something that worked in English and Arabic. Kinda sorta, well it didn't exactly shake out that way, but we're cool. More recently we picked a name that peeked in 1890 and we're cool with that too.
Sauce: The meteoric rise of boys' names ending in 'n'
Friday, February 21, 2014
Richmond. Judged.
This map popped up all over my social medias last night. It is wildly accurate and wicked funny.
Sauce: Judgemental Maps
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
Annual Report 2012: Summary
In previous years I wrote up the Wreck Awards to summarize my year in review. This year I stepped it up and did a four part annual report inspired by Feltron.com instead. Nothing as serious as ordering a copy for your coffee table, that seems a bit much for my data at least, but I burnt more calories than prior years (literally).
Capturing the data was a pain, because I didn't decide to work on this project until my second son was born in late September. I had two weeks off work where he mostly just slept. We watched a epic load of New Girl and I worked on the bones of each of these visualizations. The data had to come from places that I already had a source. For exercise it was DailyMile and reading was from GoodReads. Gaming was a mix of Steam and Xbox, not something I logged, but just a service they provided. Twitter was the biggest pain of the four. They had yet to release there get all your data initiative. So I manually scraped and cleaned the data myself. With my own two hands, the way my forefathers did it.
The visualizations were done in QlikView. A program I use at work for data analysis and dashboard development. Most of the stuff I build on the company dime is much more structured and detail oriented. I took on this project because one, it would be fun and it was and two, because I could stretch my design legs. There are certainly flaws in the execution and violations of best practices in service of making things look pretty, but I am mostly happy with how it turned out.
Capturing the data was a pain, because I didn't decide to work on this project until my second son was born in late September. I had two weeks off work where he mostly just slept. We watched a epic load of New Girl and I worked on the bones of each of these visualizations. The data had to come from places that I already had a source. For exercise it was DailyMile and reading was from GoodReads. Gaming was a mix of Steam and Xbox, not something I logged, but just a service they provided. Twitter was the biggest pain of the four. They had yet to release there get all your data initiative. So I manually scraped and cleaned the data myself. With my own two hands, the way my forefathers did it.
The visualizations were done in QlikView. A program I use at work for data analysis and dashboard development. Most of the stuff I build on the company dime is much more structured and detail oriented. I took on this project because one, it would be fun and it was and two, because I could stretch my design legs. There are certainly flaws in the execution and violations of best practices in service of making things look pretty, but I am mostly happy with how it turned out.
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Tuesday, January 8, 2013
13 in 13
Friend of this blog and friend of me, Mike put a bug in my ear last week about his goal of thirteen hobbies in 2013. A noble, if not dangerous endeavor. Considering my life is already stupid full of hobbies I don't have enough time and money to keep up with. So add thirteen new ones to the mix you say. Sure, what could go wrong. Note: most of these aren't new, that would just be crazy!
1. Running
I started back up with running in 2011 and full on committed to it in 2012, but I plan to take it even further in 2013. I am already signed up for more events and more miles than last year and will have to commit even more time to training for those. My gear situation is in a better space and I should have more time to get out and pound the pavement as Ward gets older. Richmond half here I come!
2. Drawing
I've drawn more in the past year at the request of my three year old than I have in the past ten years. I used to always have a pad of paper close at hand. From grade school through sometime in the middle of college I logged thousands of hours doodling. Then I stopped, almost cold turkey. I think it is healthy for me to get stretch my creativity muscles. It is why I write here and why I will try to start up drawing again this year.
3. Table Top Gaming
Another thing I already do, man this is straight up cheating. I barely rolled any dice in 2012 though. I wrapped up my last campaign in January and went dark till a single game of D&D Next that I hosted in the summer. There were a handful of games at Chuck's house too, but I have been missing my roll as DM all year. 2013 should see the return of my DM cape. Though I have no clue under what system and with what group of regulars.
4. Mountain Biking
I spent a large portion of the early aughts on a mountain bike. Either as a weekend warrior on local single track or traveling a regular amateur racing circuit. It is what started my adult love affair with cycling. I already have a regular road group every Sunday, but in 2012 we dipped our toes into trail riding. I only got out for three rides, but it sparked that flame again. In 2013 I need a working bike, but I plan to get out more frequently.
5. Stretching
The only time I stretch regularly is when I get hurt. Pull something in my back, stretch till it is better. Fuck up my knee playing basketball, stay off it and stretch till I can go again. I know stretching and strength training regularly would probably help prevent these sort of injuries in the first place or at least make them not as bad, but I never make time for it. 2013 is the year of the loose hamstring!
6. Gundam
In the back half of 20 doz I finally scratched my Lego itch with Gundam. I want more of that this year, maybe a model a quarter? Making for a collection of five total at the end of the year. I could totally get down with that.
7. Data
Capturing data for my 2012 annual report was done with very little of the year left. I was beholden to what services I use that capture data for me (Steam) or those that I log as a matter of course anyway (GoodReads and DailyMile). In 2013 I plan to capture more and better data. The Fitbit was my first stab at that and already was a failure. I'm looking at Daytum right now and a few other options to make this goal as pleasant as possible. There is always Excel.
8. Camping
Crystal and I used to camp. Then we had kid number one and took a hiatus Just when we were getting into the sweet spot of camping with him we had another one. It turned out last year that I camped for three days, thanks to Cycle NC, but our family did not make it out. This year it might be a segmented portion of our family out and camping, but we will set a few tents up either way.
9. Hiking
Unlike camping we can get out and hike with or without the overnight stay. There are plenty of places to go locally and even more when you expand the radius to within a hours drive. It is great family exercise and even more so for me when I throw Ward on my back.
10. Fish
When I told Crystal about this one she thought I meant fishing and turned up her noise like I was describing my last trip to the restroom. I quickly corrected that I meant cooking fish. While I will never claim to have mastered the other core proteins (chicken, beef, pork), I certainly have a firm enough handle on them. Fish however escapes me. I want to grill it, smoke it and bake it in 2013.
11. Bike Maintenance
Rolling in from a long bike ride and shoving my bike into our sun room for another week has become a bad habit for going on two years. The most love my bike gets these days is a few gasp of air in the tires 15 minutes before I am supposed to ride. I'd like to start a regiment of regular cleaning and care on my road bike and full on repair for my ageing mountain bike.
12. Brunch
Many of these activities require that my lovely bride either participate (see: Hiking) or in many cases facilitate my time away from the family (See: Running). So this one is for her as much as it is for me. When we don't have a 1-3 month old in the house we occasionally are gifted a date night by from our parents. Post date night we occasionally get brunch and it is fucking great. I don't know how many date nights we will see in 2013, but when we do we will brunch. And when we don't I will make it!
13. Music Exploration
I like raps. Besides not listening to rap because my children are in the car (I introduced the eldest to Beastie Boys this Fall) I exclusively listened to rap in 2012. That is a bit limiting, I guess. I don't exclusively watch shows about spaceships or only read comics about super heroes, so why just rap? In an effort to expand my cultural horizon I'll reach out this year and sample what the music world has to offer.
1. Running
I started back up with running in 2011 and full on committed to it in 2012, but I plan to take it even further in 2013. I am already signed up for more events and more miles than last year and will have to commit even more time to training for those. My gear situation is in a better space and I should have more time to get out and pound the pavement as Ward gets older. Richmond half here I come!
2. Drawing
I've drawn more in the past year at the request of my three year old than I have in the past ten years. I used to always have a pad of paper close at hand. From grade school through sometime in the middle of college I logged thousands of hours doodling. Then I stopped, almost cold turkey. I think it is healthy for me to get stretch my creativity muscles. It is why I write here and why I will try to start up drawing again this year.
3. Table Top Gaming
Another thing I already do, man this is straight up cheating. I barely rolled any dice in 2012 though. I wrapped up my last campaign in January and went dark till a single game of D&D Next that I hosted in the summer. There were a handful of games at Chuck's house too, but I have been missing my roll as DM all year. 2013 should see the return of my DM cape. Though I have no clue under what system and with what group of regulars.
4. Mountain Biking
I spent a large portion of the early aughts on a mountain bike. Either as a weekend warrior on local single track or traveling a regular amateur racing circuit. It is what started my adult love affair with cycling. I already have a regular road group every Sunday, but in 2012 we dipped our toes into trail riding. I only got out for three rides, but it sparked that flame again. In 2013 I need a working bike, but I plan to get out more frequently.
5. Stretching
The only time I stretch regularly is when I get hurt. Pull something in my back, stretch till it is better. Fuck up my knee playing basketball, stay off it and stretch till I can go again. I know stretching and strength training regularly would probably help prevent these sort of injuries in the first place or at least make them not as bad, but I never make time for it. 2013 is the year of the loose hamstring!
6. Gundam
In the back half of 20 doz I finally scratched my Lego itch with Gundam. I want more of that this year, maybe a model a quarter? Making for a collection of five total at the end of the year. I could totally get down with that.
7. Data
Capturing data for my 2012 annual report was done with very little of the year left. I was beholden to what services I use that capture data for me (Steam) or those that I log as a matter of course anyway (GoodReads and DailyMile). In 2013 I plan to capture more and better data. The Fitbit was my first stab at that and already was a failure. I'm looking at Daytum right now and a few other options to make this goal as pleasant as possible. There is always Excel.
8. Camping
Crystal and I used to camp. Then we had kid number one and took a hiatus Just when we were getting into the sweet spot of camping with him we had another one. It turned out last year that I camped for three days, thanks to Cycle NC, but our family did not make it out. This year it might be a segmented portion of our family out and camping, but we will set a few tents up either way.
9. Hiking
Unlike camping we can get out and hike with or without the overnight stay. There are plenty of places to go locally and even more when you expand the radius to within a hours drive. It is great family exercise and even more so for me when I throw Ward on my back.
10. Fish
When I told Crystal about this one she thought I meant fishing and turned up her noise like I was describing my last trip to the restroom. I quickly corrected that I meant cooking fish. While I will never claim to have mastered the other core proteins (chicken, beef, pork), I certainly have a firm enough handle on them. Fish however escapes me. I want to grill it, smoke it and bake it in 2013.
11. Bike Maintenance
Rolling in from a long bike ride and shoving my bike into our sun room for another week has become a bad habit for going on two years. The most love my bike gets these days is a few gasp of air in the tires 15 minutes before I am supposed to ride. I'd like to start a regiment of regular cleaning and care on my road bike and full on repair for my ageing mountain bike.
12. Brunch
Many of these activities require that my lovely bride either participate (see: Hiking) or in many cases facilitate my time away from the family (See: Running). So this one is for her as much as it is for me. When we don't have a 1-3 month old in the house we occasionally are gifted a date night by from our parents. Post date night we occasionally get brunch and it is fucking great. I don't know how many date nights we will see in 2013, but when we do we will brunch. And when we don't I will make it!
13. Music Exploration
I like raps. Besides not listening to rap because my children are in the car (I introduced the eldest to Beastie Boys this Fall) I exclusively listened to rap in 2012. That is a bit limiting, I guess. I don't exclusively watch shows about spaceships or only read comics about super heroes, so why just rap? In an effort to expand my cultural horizon I'll reach out this year and sample what the music world has to offer.
Monday, January 7, 2013
Weekend Review: Jan 5th & 6th
Every weekend there are new sights, sounds, and taste to consume. There are other sensory inputs that tickle my brain too, but saying there is stuff to feel sounds creepy. This is a weekly journal of my weekend endeavors. Enjoy!
Far Cry 3
This game missed out on my gaming data love in for 2012. Through no fault of it's own it came out in early December, when I was already a prestige deep into Black Ops 2. That and I had very little expectation for the third entry in the series, despite being pleasantly surprised by the second. The third is the best parts of the seconds emergent open world with none of the fluff. I've described it as Skyrim with submachine guns, if your into that kind of shorthand. Far Cry 3 has more of an "A" plot and less, "B, C, D, E, F" plots than Skyrim did, but they both create great individual stories through their worlds and the systems that live in them.
Looper
It has been a solid three months since we saw a movie. Post kids we hardly see anything. So when we do carve out time, we hope with all our hopin' muscles that it is a good one. Looper is just that, a good one. Great even, if your into time travel brain puzzling, which we are. The trailers set up a great premise and the actual movie exceed it at every turn. Well acted, visually pleasing and an ending that makes good on all that led up to it.
Fitbit Zip
I've never written an Amazon review, I usually like what I get and do a fair amount of research before ordering things. That changed this past week:
"Out of the ten days I wore it, it tracked me at zero steps for two days and sub 100 for two more. The screen doubling as a whack-a-mole button is unreliable and a bit maddening. It was rarely responsive and when it did come on it was usually a emoticon sticking it's tongue out at me. Nothing about this device worked as I expected it too. I wanted to believe it was me. I slogged around Fitbit's site on two separate occasions for something I was doing wrong, but came away with no answers.
Returned it today."
Far Cry 3
This game missed out on my gaming data love in for 2012. Through no fault of it's own it came out in early December, when I was already a prestige deep into Black Ops 2. That and I had very little expectation for the third entry in the series, despite being pleasantly surprised by the second. The third is the best parts of the seconds emergent open world with none of the fluff. I've described it as Skyrim with submachine guns, if your into that kind of shorthand. Far Cry 3 has more of an "A" plot and less, "B, C, D, E, F" plots than Skyrim did, but they both create great individual stories through their worlds and the systems that live in them.
Looper
It has been a solid three months since we saw a movie. Post kids we hardly see anything. So when we do carve out time, we hope with all our hopin' muscles that it is a good one. Looper is just that, a good one. Great even, if your into time travel brain puzzling, which we are. The trailers set up a great premise and the actual movie exceed it at every turn. Well acted, visually pleasing and an ending that makes good on all that led up to it.
Fitbit Zip
I've never written an Amazon review, I usually like what I get and do a fair amount of research before ordering things. That changed this past week:
"Out of the ten days I wore it, it tracked me at zero steps for two days and sub 100 for two more. The screen doubling as a whack-a-mole button is unreliable and a bit maddening. It was rarely responsive and when it did come on it was usually a emoticon sticking it's tongue out at me. Nothing about this device worked as I expected it too. I wanted to believe it was me. I slogged around Fitbit's site on two separate occasions for something I was doing wrong, but came away with no answers.
Returned it today."
Friday, January 4, 2013
Annual Report 2012: Reading
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Reading this year entailed way less actual books than 2011 did, but a massive rise in comics (trade paperbacks). Overall I was up from 42 total in 2011 to 53 in 2012, but down on pages read from 10,881 to 10,763. In this category and in games, pure numbers do not a happy boy make though. Quality beats out quantity every time, but thankfully I had both this year.
Books
With an extremely light reading list (5), this section is an easy, if not regretful, one to write. The A Song of Ice and Fire books were great reading and paired nicely with the TV show
and my on going table top game. Ender's Game was a nice surprise in that it lived up to it's Sci-Fi classic billing. Hunger Games fell short for me. The novel concept of kids fighting to the death to reinforce government control was already laid bare for me in Battle Royale
. So with that off the table it had a hard time living solely on it's teen romance narrative. Crown Conspiracy was a D&D campaign in book form. Weak sauce!Comics
Comics went deep this year. I read so many good books that are worth sharing and worth your time. A lot of that can be attributed to my iPad and new found love of digital comics. The other half of this glut of comics can be laid at the feet of my return to the big two. Way back in 2007 when I picked up the comic torch again I didn't do it for capes and cowls. I did it for the indie stuff, the non-super stuff. Now it is 2012 and I am regularly reading Thor, Hawkeye and Batman.
Most Disappointing Comic: B.P.R.D.
After tons of Hellboy/Mignola work enjoyed and under my belt I assumed I'd love B.P.R.D. I was wrong. The plots are mildly confusing and the characters are not as compelling as Hellboy. I wanted to love it, but I didn't.
Most Surprising Comic: Hawkeye
Not being a super hero guy, usually, this book was surprising in two parts. One that it was a super hero book and two that it was Hawkeye. A character I have very little history with save a great movie and an arcade game I loved. Fraction's Hawkeye is the time when he isn't saving the world with the Avengers though. He is just Clint Barton, battling a Russian mobster that owns his apartment building or saving a stray dog. The writing is fantastic, the stories are mostly one shots and the character is great. I love the simple and subtle art too and the page layouts feel like nothing I have seen in comics before.
Honorable Mention: Thor: God of Thunder
Best Comic: Saga
Vaughan's Y: The Last Man and Ex Machina series are some of my favorites in comics. So why I was caught off guard by how great Saga was is a bit of a mystery. Once I was on board though it quickly rose to the top of my weekly pick/read list. It is equal parts Sci-Fi, fantasy, Romeo and Juliet and romantic comedy. The characters are flawed, but endearing and when paired with the world they inhabit make for fantastic reading.
Honorable Mention: Hawkeye and Conan the Barbarian
Best Return to a Series: Invincible
I created this category solely for the purpose of giving some love to series I have raved about in the past and came back to in 20 doz. In the shadow of the Walking Deads success Invincible seems to fly under the radar a bit. I'd argue that it is as good or better and that Kirkman's work on it this year has been consistently amazing. I started with the Ultimate Collections volumes years ago and then got into the habit of not buying mixed format books. It left me waiting for more Invincible for too long. This year I caught up in trades and then in floppy when those ran out. It is a great monthly read that seems to be getting better with every issue.
Honorable Mention: Fear Agent
Thursday, January 3, 2013
Annual Report 2012: Twitter
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Frequency
There was a steady trend upward in overall use from Jan. to Sept. and then a sharp decline there after. This can be a attributed to a bug in October that broke the link between Instagram and Twitter on my phone. Without sepia tone pictures of hamburgers to bolster my original content there was a marked decline. Daily frequency saw Tuesday and Saturday running neck and neck right up through December. Tuesday edged out Saturday when Christmas day fell squarely on Tiw's Day.
Content
Before the above mentioned Instagram bug my feed was three parts square photos, DailyMile humble brags and the occasional witty comment. I often use Facebook purely for announcing family updates (e.g. "Who had a baby? We had a baby!") and save Twitter for jokes that might as well be balled up and thrown into the ether. It is a great service, but for the most part I consume and do not create. The common relative and family friend do not seem to have an interest in the service. Which is a blessing and curse. Blessing in that I can say some funky ass shit for a select few followers and my second cousins won't see it. Curse in that when I want to share news with everyone I have to do it in two places.
Retweets
One fourth of the tweets I usher unto the web are just recycled witty comments and jokes from other people. Over the past year I have attempted to curate that list to people I finding interesting and who do not spam their followers. My number one retweeted account though is of my own making. Unashamedly self marketing my restaurant review blog once a week-ish. Check out 100 coming soon! After that though there is a solid mix of comedians, video game and sports writers, scientist and a few friends and family too. This curation led to a steady increase in retweets through the year, that I anticipate will continue in 2013.
*Instagram is owned by Facebook, now panic and freak out!
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
Annual Report 2012: Gaming
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Speaking of Steam, 2012 was the year of the PC. Even for games I would have normally played on the console (e.g. Darksiders 2
). I picked them up on the PC instead, piped them through to my 
. PC ports don't suck anymore and the hardware in my PC is not going on eight years old. It renewed my faith in the platform and even sold me on upgrading this coming Spring. Even with the looming 720 and PS4.Most Disappointing Game: Diablo 3
I made my peace with the disappointment Diablo 3 brought on my house a while ago, but the after taste still lingers to this day. Considering I put 71.2 hours into it before finally settling on "this sucks", there must have been some merit right? Certainly the art direction was great, the nostalgia it preyed upon was welcoming and seeing old WoW friends again was fun times. Then it turned into a grind, maybe it was the same grind in Diablo 2, but in 2012 that shit don't fly. It was unbalanced in the late game, the auction house vs. crafting was junk and nothing about it screamed "play me more". Total bummer!
Honorable Mention: Assassin's Creed III
Best Broken Game: Hotline Miami
I wanted to love this game. Small indie developer with a vision for a game that it got right in some many aspects. A dope sound track that I spun in my car more than I heard it in game. Graphics that were retro because they felt right for the game, not just because they are easier and cheaper to do.Twitch game play that felt odd at first, but became crisp and tight over time. All the makings for a potential game of the year, but than it ran like shit on my modern personal computer. I was turning off print spool drivers and sacrificing goats over the keyboard, but nothing would raise the frame rates to a playable level. Boo hiss!
Game of the Year: Dishonored
Stealth gets me going. Good, bad or otherwise I gravitate towards the mechanics of sneaking. Dishonored is all the stealth I want from a first person perspective, but what makes it my game of the year is all the other stuff it does. It creates a world I want to return to, rich in implied and direct story telling. The art direction was unified, stylized and beautiful. It was all that and a great stealth game. Standing on the shoulders of games like Thief and Deus Ex and doing them one better. Making the stealth work and the fail state of having to fall back on combat not feel like a fail state. Heres to the story DLC that should be coming in the first quarter of 2013!
Honorable Mention: Mark of the Ninja
Best Multiplayer: Black Ops 2
Every year I tell myself I won't get the next annualized Call of Duty game. That it is a money grab, that the DLC situation on the PC is total bullshit, that it is a tired franchise that needs to be put out of it's misery. And then I end up buying it. I buy it because they make the same game every year, but that same game is a great one. The multiplayer is fast paced, quick and fun. If I die it was because of the poor decision I made in the split second I had to make one. Then I get to try again, over and over and then I usually get it right. If I was no good at them I would quit, but I usually log 100+ hours over the course of the year (post release) and I always get better. The class building, leveling and prestige systems are the added carrot to the stick.
Honorable Mention: Journey
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
Annual Report 2012: Exercise
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My year in exercise has been up and down. Always maintaining a through line of running and riding, but plagued by injury and life events that left me a little disappointed by the end of 2012. Overall miles were up over the prior year, but 2011 was a diet and return to exercise year. If you compare both years from May to December, 2011 is up 275 miles on it's younger brother.
Running
I had a banner year in running events in 2012. Participating in 4 times as many as I did in 2011 and improving my mile pace in each event. Shaving 10 seconds per mile from March to November. On the other hand two knee injuries (stupid Basketball) to the same knee (stupid Football) took me out of the game for multiple weeks at a time and even kicked off a month of physical therapy in June. I might have gotten back on the streets in the late fall in winter, but instead there was a steady drop in all activity and a rise in cookie and beer consumption (not pictured).
Riding
I have never been an event/charity guy for bikes (mostly racing), but April was the most miles I've ridden in three years running (Sept. 2009: 200+). I have Cycle NC to thank for that. It made for a great weekend of cycling and some intense long miles at fast paces (mostly flat). When the knee injuries took me out of the running shoes they took me off the saddle too, but I was pretty consistent with Sunday rides all year. Something I have to give big thanks to my regular group for, I hit a 9 Sunday streak from March to April. 2012 was also my return to mountain biking. A sport I miss all the time and want to do more of ever time I get out on the trail. Two crashes this year too, but lets breeze by those before my wife bans me from the bike.
Friday, April 8, 2011
Years in Retirement
An average of 10 years alive after retirement is chump change as a portion of my entire life. Time to get busy living, or get busy dieing am I right Andy? I wonder if I can blow my whole 401k in a weekend?
[Via: FlowingData]
Thursday, February 17, 2011
From the Street to the Web
- Technology has played a fundamental role in this change. No self-respecting cosmopolitan man looking for an evening of companionship is going to lean out his car window and call out to a woman at a traffic light. The Internet and the rise of mobile phones have enabled some sex workers to professionalize their trade. Today they can control their image, set their prices, and sidestep some of the pimps, madams, and other intermediaries who once took a share of the revenue.
- They (High-End Escorts) might maintain four to six clients—each of whom pays at least $20,000 a year. They often rent an apartment just for sessions.
- It’s hard out there for a pimp—especially now. Changes in the sex industry have rendered them superfluous. I met 11 pimps working out of midtown Manhattan in 1999, and all were out of work within four years. One enlisted in the military; two have been homeless. Only one now has a full-time job, working as a janitor in a charter school.
- Of the women I talked to, 61 percent said they’ve used craigslist, mostly for advertising. But even before the crackdown on the site’s adult-services section, sex workers were turning to Facebook: 83 percent have a Facebook page, and I estimate that by the end of 2011, Facebook will be the leading on-line recruitment space.
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Evolving Mississippi River
If I lived even one hundred miles closer to the Mississippi River I'd want to hang this gorgeous map slash data visualization on a wall in my office. Alas, I will just have to be content ogling it from across the pipes of the internetz.
[Via: FlowingData]
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Driving is Why You're Fat
Don't judge me attractive and informative graphic. I know I need to ride my bike more. I just don't have a ton of time and other bad excuses. Get off my back![Via: FlowingData]
Friday, June 18, 2010
Platypus Keytar
I don't think anything I could write here could do this justice. I do want it on a shirt though.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Visual Display of Data
As of late I have been knee deep in the world of data visualization. To be fair my interest is mostly driven by the work I've been doing for the past year and a half, but it has painted my reading outside of work as well. My amazon cart runneth over with various books on the subject. Expounding on that topic conceptually sounds like a boring post though. So instead dear reader we will look at some graphs on WoW raid progression, specifically Ulduar care of WoWProgress.com.
The first graph shows the number of guilds that have cleared each of the four wings in Ulduar by time. Siege and Antechamber, the easiest of the four wings, have clear exponential curves that speak to their accessibility to the majority of the raid community. Conversely Keepers and Descent require more dedication and repetition to complete and as such are straighter curves with slower progression.
Next is the "easier" tier of achievements, I say easier in quotation because the majority of guilds do not make it this far. The two interesting trends on this graph are Cache and Heartbreaker. Until mid June it is clear that Hearbreaker was the hardest of the four achievements displayed. However post heart health nerf there is a marked spike in the number of guild completing the achievement. The graph quickly goes from slow straight line progression to a stepped progression. Indicating that it became easy enough for guilds to simply attempt the achievement to complete it. The stepping appears to happen on every Tuesday of the raid week. Please not that XT-002's heart may have gotten easier, but it is still a guild killer. The one step on Cache is a result in the time change for the achievement, going from 2 minutes to 3 made it easier. As noted by the slow straight line progression after the step, it is still not a cake walk.
Finally the "harder" tiers of Ulduar achievements, I say harder in quotation because this crap is seriously hard. The vast majority of guilds will not complete this content before 3.2, Afterlife included. Firefighter was nerfed in late June and has since eclipsed 3x Knock as the easiest of this set, noted by it's sharp spike. Alone in the Darkness was thought to be mathematically impossible by all most all of the top guilds until July 7th when Stars completed the task. Since then only 8 guilds have duplicated their success.
Talk about a nerd out, math, graphs and MMOs. I don't know if a round of cycling pictures will suffice to pull us out of this nerd chasm on Tuesday dear reader. Maybe I'll talk about chain saws, boobs and dirt bikes instead...Mmm Nah.
The first graph shows the number of guilds that have cleared each of the four wings in Ulduar by time. Siege and Antechamber, the easiest of the four wings, have clear exponential curves that speak to their accessibility to the majority of the raid community. Conversely Keepers and Descent require more dedication and repetition to complete and as such are straighter curves with slower progression.
Next is the "easier" tier of achievements, I say easier in quotation because the majority of guilds do not make it this far. The two interesting trends on this graph are Cache and Heartbreaker. Until mid June it is clear that Hearbreaker was the hardest of the four achievements displayed. However post heart health nerf there is a marked spike in the number of guild completing the achievement. The graph quickly goes from slow straight line progression to a stepped progression. Indicating that it became easy enough for guilds to simply attempt the achievement to complete it. The stepping appears to happen on every Tuesday of the raid week. Please not that XT-002's heart may have gotten easier, but it is still a guild killer. The one step on Cache is a result in the time change for the achievement, going from 2 minutes to 3 made it easier. As noted by the slow straight line progression after the step, it is still not a cake walk.
Finally the "harder" tiers of Ulduar achievements, I say harder in quotation because this crap is seriously hard. The vast majority of guilds will not complete this content before 3.2, Afterlife included. Firefighter was nerfed in late June and has since eclipsed 3x Knock as the easiest of this set, noted by it's sharp spike. Alone in the Darkness was thought to be mathematically impossible by all most all of the top guilds until July 7th when Stars completed the task. Since then only 8 guilds have duplicated their success.Talk about a nerd out, math, graphs and MMOs. I don't know if a round of cycling pictures will suffice to pull us out of this nerd chasm on Tuesday dear reader. Maybe I'll talk about chain saws, boobs and dirt bikes instead...Mmm Nah.
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