Jun 21, 2020

Fair Warning - VP picks, border clashes, and a second wave

By Sophie Warnes • Issue #117 • View online

Hello! No you didn’t miss an edition of Fair Warning last week, I just didn’t write/send one. I’m struggling with lockdown/pandemic fatigue, just like everybody else. I am so very sick of it all. Good things I discovered during this week, though: Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Velvet Goldmine, and another banger from The Weeknd. I can’t say it’s been all terrible. :)

ANYWAY, Happy Fathers’ Day to all the dads out there. Special mention to my own, who always reads Fair Warning. I haven’t seen my family since March, and I normally go back to London every 6-8 weeks or so. It must be hard for him, knowing that his favourite daughter is moving across the pond soon…

Over the pond

America’s anachronistic electoral college gives Republicans an edge

The Economist on the bonkersness of the electoral college: “What matters is not only how many votes candidates get, but where they get them. Because electoral-college votes are assigned by state rather than by the country as a whole, and because smaller states receive a disproportionately high number of votes, it is possible for smaller states to overrule the majority of voters.”

www.economist.com • Share

I still can’t link to The Washington Post on my newsletter without it throwing a hissy fit (really sorry for trying to send you traffic??) so here’s a nice link to a good article about Confederate monuments.

Joe Biden said he will pick a woman as his vice president. Who should it be?

I like this from the graphics team at WSJ [full disclosure: I work there] which allows you to pick traits you want in a VP, and then see which candidates you’ll like most. I’m apparently torn between Warren and Harris.

www.wsj.com • Share

Have nationwide protests led to a spike in US coronavirus cases?

I think many people were worried about there being an uptick in cases after the protests, but from this Al Jazeera piece about it, it looks like that isn’t the case. It seems face masks and being outdoors may have helped reduce the spread.

www.aljazeera.com • Share

Elsewhere

India-China clash

Reuters makes good use of satellite images to look at what happened before and after the clash between India and China at the border. WSJ also has a nice piece explaining the background to the conflict here, with similar maps and imagery.

graphics.reuters.com • Share

Coronavirus Second Wave: Countries Can Control It If They Act Fast

This is interesting. Bloomberg analysis of infection rates and lockdown timings illustrates how countries that reacted slower to Covid-19 had higher death tolls, regardless of how tough their restrictions were. It categorises countries into: Strong and fast; Weak and fast; Strong and slow; Weak and slow. The UK is weak and slow, as is the US. The conclusion here is that a second wave might be disastrous for those weak and slow countries.

www.bloomberg.com • Share

Global Data Reveals Inequality of Pandemic Travel

Bloomberg looks at global travel data trends in cars, walking, and public transit. This is a really comprehensive, data-heavy (but visually interesting) long read about how getting around cities has changed during the pandemic.

www.bloomberg.com • Share

Much of the world thinks the response to the pandemic has been poor

“China receives the highest marks and Brazil the lowest, but this may not last long.” It’s interesting how perceptions are so negative even in countries where the government response has been pretty good.

www.economist.com • Share

A Rainforest, Maya Ruins and the Fight Over a Tourist Train

This is a totally fascinating and beautiful piece about a planned tourist train on the Yucatán peninsula in Mexico. The president says it will boost the economy in the area, but conservationists say more tourism will damage the ecosystems.

www.wsj.com • Share

Odds and ends

You Know Karen

What names are as “Karen” as Karen? Kathy, Brenda, Pamela, David, Gary, or Mark. Now you know what to call “Karens” if you have a Karen in your life who is annoyed at being shorthand for a meme which means instinctively demanding to see the manager in all situations.

pudding.cool • Share

Bad chart of the week

There was one really bad one everyone was talking about a couple of weeks ago and I completely forgot to include it. Thanks to Rob who showed me this travesty of a bar graph (how hard is it to make a decent bar graph? Really?) - please take a gander at this and see if you also enjoy the hilarity of trying to present net favourability alongside the err, absolute values:

That’s everything for today. No ‘on the home front’ because I can’t honestly find anything good from the UK. I’m open to suggestions if people have any! If you enjoyed Fair Warning, please do forward onto other people who also might enjoy it! You can also buy me a coffee, or sign up to be a Patron of Fair Warning. See you next week!

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By 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.

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