View profile

Fair Warning - The Bumper 2020 Holiday Edition

Hello! It's been a while and a lot has happened. We put our eldest cat down, my mum had a cardiac eve
Fair Warning
Fair Warning - The Bumper 2020 Holiday Edition
By Sophie Warnes • Issue #128 • View online
Hello! It’s been a while and a lot has happened. We put our eldest cat down, my mum had a cardiac event, I made the (extremely difficult) decision to not go home for Christmas and stay in Cardiff alone, and uh, to be honest I’ve not really felt like writing Fair Warning. The clouds have lifted a bit though and I’m trying to see the silver linings, so: cracking on.
Things that have cheered me up:
  • Blob opera. Play around with four different voices and make a nice (?) song.
  • This special house in Cardiff. The guy runs a special effects studio in Cardiff and every year makes his house look *amazing* with props from films and stuff.
  • Cyberpunk 2077 bugs. I mean, I bought the game, and I’ve experienced a few bugs myself but they’re so small that they aren’t dealbreakers. These are a bit wild.
This issue is longer than usual, just giving you fair warning (heh).

On the home front
Inside the U.K.’s Pandemic Spending: Waste, Negligence and Cronyism
I never feel quite so pathetically British as when the US media covers us as if the UK is a third world country: “About $11 billion went to companies either run by friends and associates of politicians in the Conservative Party, or with no prior experience or a history of controversy.”
www.nytimes.com  •  Share
This analysis is likely out of date (especially since we now have tier 4 as of…two days ago?) but this shows that there was not really a clear link between which tier areas were in and the number of cases in that area.
www.newstatesman.com  •  Share
Why the U.K. and EU Are Fighting Over Fish
Why the U.K. and EU Are Fighting Over Fish
“To put that into context, the negotiations are snagged over fishing rights equivalent to about 0.1% of U.K. gross domestic product.” Like I said.
www.bloomberg.com  •  Share
This is a nice timeline-type thing showing a year of announcements, U-turns, lockdowns, denials, tests – and tens of thousands of deaths.
www.theguardian.com  •  Share
Over the pond
Time’s Up on Corporate America’s 2020 Climate Goals. Here’s the Results
I love this, mostly because climate change is such a long-term focus, so it often gets forgotten. The graphics are simple but effective. And the good news is many of the goals are either on track or have been achieved.
www.bloomberg.com  •  Share
Wow: “The 2020 U.S. election cost nearly $14 billion… double the amount candidates spent during the last presidential election cycle.” This article looks at spend in relation to winning/losing seats.
graphics.reuters.com  •  Share
What Happens to Police After They Use Force on Protestors?
What Happens to Police After They Use Force on Protestors?
What I like about ProPublica is that they liberate complex data and help people make sense of it. This is a searchable database of “clear apparent instances of police officers escalating violence during protests” and what happens to them after.
projects.propublica.org  •  Share
Elsewhere
Who Gets to Breathe Clean Air in New Delhi?
This is such a brilliant piece of storytelling. The NYT measured how much air pollution two kids are exposed to during a normal day and have based this story around this one dataset. But humans are the focus, and the data (which is the core of the story really) is literally a background to the impact.
www.nytimes.com  •  Share
“The Iceberg A68a has been on a slow journey toward cataclysm in South Georgia Island, in the southern Atlantic.” Cheerful reading.
graphics.reuters.com  •  Share
Coronavirus corner
Types of coronavirus vaccines in development
This is an explainer about the different types of vaccine and how they help the body fight off the virus. It’s really cute (?) but also I hope this helps people understand more about the science of illness and how the body works. I find it totally fascinating!
graphics.reuters.com  •  Share
This is a really great explainer about how the vaccines will physically be distributed across the US.
www.wsj.com  •  Share
Which economies are most vulnerable to covid-19’s long-term effects?
Which economies are most vulnerable to covid-19’s long-term effects?
This is quite an interesting chart showing the projected long-term impact of the pandemic on countries. The article has more detail on the data.
www.economist.com  •  Share
Odds and ends
The historical cost of light
WORK FOR THE LIGHT. SCROLL FOR THE LIGHT.
pudding.cool  •  Share
Female vs male fiction bestsellers since 1932. No surprise that in some years apparently not a single woman in the world wrote a good book. :)
public.tableau.com  •  Share
1. Who’s in the Crossword?
1. Who’s in the Crossword?
Totally fascinating look at diversity and inclusion in crosswords. “Crosswords tell us something about what we think is worth knowing.”
pudding.cool  •  Share
That’s everything from me in 2020. I hope wherever you are, you stay safe, even if you can’t see your family at Christmas. There are thousands of us (me included) in this situation. It really sucks, but with vaccines being rolled out, we just need to hang on a bit longer. As always, you can reply to this if you want to get in touch.
Thanks for reading Fair Warning and being such lovely humans. I really couldn’t ask for a smarter or more supportive community.
Soph x
Did you enjoy this issue?
Sophie Warnes

A weekly newsletter with anywhere between 10 and 20 links about data journalism, data visualisation, and storytelling, curated by a British data journalist and nerd. Expect politics, statistics, society and culture - all through the frame of data... With a dash of whimsy.

Read more about the author at www.sophiewarnes.com.

If you don't want these updates anymore, please unsubscribe here.
If you were forwarded this newsletter and you like it, you can subscribe here.
Powered by Revue