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Where I'm Clicking Now: Global Electoral College

LibertySugar — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 11:00:15 -0700

The Economist polled the world to find out who would win the US election if the result depended on a global electoral college. The results so far: Obama would win 9,103 votes to McCain's 163. The poll gives every country a minimum of three votes, and then allocates additional votes based on the proportion of the world's 6.5 billion voting population located in each country.

The methodology becomes less than scientific after that, as those visiting the website to vote make up the sample. Once a country has more than 10 votes, the results get added to the map. As of now, Afghanistan and Iran are strong Obama countries, while Iraq's 43 electoral votes seem secure in the McCain column. Macedonia is the only country in Europe leaning McCain right now, in addition to a few countries in Africa.

The fact that the world is painted solid blue hints that the international media must have painted Obama in a positive light. It also provides evidence that a President Obama could help make the American brand internationally popular again.

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Voting by the Book: Amazon Maps US's Political Reading List

CitizenSugar — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 10:00:13 -0700

If our electoral map were as red as Amazon's map of our political book-buying habits, things would be looking up for John McCain. Yet while Americans are buying up conservative books, our electoral map is getting bluer and bluer each day.

I initially chalked up this discrepancy to how unscientific Amazon's map is. After all, so many variables could affect this. Like how book publishers began feverishly launching conservative imprints five years ago to keep up with an increasing public demand. Could there just be a lot of conservative books to buy right now? Maybe they are better? Republicans tend to be older and older people read print over websites. Or maybe Democrats are at the library, or just buying all their books at indie stores. Who knows?

However, I became more convinced of a real connection when I compared the 2008 map to the 2004. I couldn't help but concoct a few theories about what we're ~~reading~~ buying. To see what I found,

The Atlas of the Real World Maps Out Demographic Importance

LibertySugar — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 14:30:32 -0700

The Telegraph recently featured The Atlas of the Real World: Mapping the Way We Live, which uses software to illustrate countries around the world, not by their land size, but by their demographic rank on a range of subjects. The size of each country represents its land mass in proportion to that of the others.

The atlas depicts a whole assortment of topics — from tourist destinations, alcohol consumption, wealth in the year one versus wealth in 1990. I was intrigued by the images above, which show (1) the increase in emissions of carbon dioxide and (2) the decrease in emissions of carbon dioxide. Between 1980 and 2000, nearly three-quarters of all territories saw an increase in carbon dioxide emissions with China, the United States, and India leading the pack. Between 1980 and 2000, 28 percent of countries reduced their emissions. Almost half of reductions were made in territories of the former Soviet Union, while Germany, Poland, and France also made substantial cuts.

Does Your Personality Match Your State of Residence & Mind?

CitizenSugar — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 06:00:00 -0700

Think you can judge a person by the state they live in? It might not be such a crazy notion according to new research on the geography of personality. Controlling for factors like race, income, and education, the study profiled 600,000 Americans with a 44-question personality test that evaluates five traits: extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism and openness.

Using those results and cross-checking them with stats on crime and health seem to seal the deal on one's state of mind lining up with one's state of residence. High amiability means lower crime, high anxiety points to poor health and lowered life expectancy.

Of course the results spark questions like whether certain states encourage specific personalities by culture, climate, or common history — or whether we just choose to live where we feel most at home. Those questions aside, the results and the interactive maps? Fun times! Very nicely done, Wall Street Journal.

To see some of the most unusual findings,

Where I'm Clicking Now: Find Your Last Name in the World!

CitizenSugar — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 07:00:43 -0700

Where in the world is Carmen San Diego? If you search for her using the World Names Profiler map, apparently "Sandiego" is mostly found in France. I saved this little gem for the weekend because you'll want lots of time to play with it. Just plug in your last name and see where most of your kinfolk live, instantly.

This map is for "Smith," which isn't as worldwide as the Witness Protection Program might like you to think. . . I've heard, anyway. Now go search for your own name, it's fun and easy! Where is your family tree planted?

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Top 10 Places We'll Show You That Google Can't!

CitizenSugar — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 15:45:34 -0700

Ah, Google Maps. That street view function that's captured so many a crazy scene has raised security, political, and privacy hackles the world over. From refugee camps to British swimming pools the program's reach is pervasive — so much so that this list of 51 places impervious from spying eyes grabbed my attention — and made me want to see what Google has to hide. Not just the locations, but the reasons behind the pixelation, behold, the top 10 sites that you won't find on Google Maps.

Blessed Be the Answer to the Soda vs. Pop Question in a Map!

CitizenSugar — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 06:00:22 -0700

Oh, answer from the heavens to the existential question that's plagued mankind since the dawn of liquid, what, oh what, in all that is holy-regional-specificity do we call that most bubbly of beverages? Oh, map of the ages, slake my thirst for knowledge!

So yeah. Soda or Pop — or in a crazy Southern specialness that can't at all come from the fact that Coke is based there, Coke. What do you call it? This map will save you from ever having that conversation again — though by all means use it as an icebreaker and then pop them (heh.) with your fizzy drink fountain of knowledge. Maps. Ah, refreshing.

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Are 50 States Overrated? What If the US Only Had 38 States. . .

CitizenSugar — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 06:00:04 -0700

This would have made memorizing the capitals a whole lot easier. In 1973 a California geography professor proposed a redrawing of the states to limit them to 38, instead of the 50 we're used to. With names like Ozark, Cascade, and Alamo, the redrawing isn't just for fun, it's kind of a smart idea.

Aimed to limit the number of big cities within each state, to even out tax revenue and make benefits fair. Even the new names had a purpose — to reflect the cultural history of the regions. The 38 state proposal went for a vote in DC but was soundly defeated. The work going into scrapping all of the infrastructure, setting up new voting districts — basically starting from scratch made it pretty unworkable. Too bad, because I dig the thought behind it. Could you see the plan working? Signing off from El Dorado. . . .

To see where the big cities would lie in the wacky 38 state country, mentalfloss has plotted them out. To see them,

Where I'm Clicking Now: Prove Your Geographic Prowess!

CitizenSugar — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 00:00:29 -0700

Think you could still get an A in Geography class, no problem? Try your hand at this quiz. It's a drag-and-drop fill in the blank country map and it's deceptively challenging.

Though there's no punishment (or eraser needed) if you foul up, the big red "X" and buzzer will let all know you don't know your Yemen from your Oman. Give it a go! I'm warning you though, those smaller countries can be slippery little suckers.

Where I'm Clicking Now: NYT Interactive Olympic Medal Maps

CitizenSugar — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 00:00:21 -0700

Oh maps, how I love thee. A little treasure trove of info at every glance — and these maps have treasure of the gold, silver, and bronze variety. The New York Times is breaking it down for the big Games with this interactive map that lets you search all the way back to 1896, to see which countries bagged the most hardware — the bigger the dot that represents the country, the more medals won.

Click through and track the trends — and since 66 percent of you said it's not important for the US to win the most, you'll be secure with the fact that in 1936 Germany bested the US. That's the other cool feature, you can see the results looking like a map, or arranged in order of dominance. Gold medal for this map to my friends at the Times!

To see how the 1984 (Mary Lou Retton!) medal count compares to 2004,

Where Your Peeps At? Find Your Ethnic Background on Maps

CitizenSugar — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 12:19:47 -0700

The US might be a melting pot, but don't get out that fondue fork just yet — the government knows your ethnic background, where you live, and has plotted it on a map. This one shows the big overview categories, but what if you're Scots-Irish? They've got a map for that, too. German? upper Midwest all the way.

That wacky census — they know so much! Data released Monday shows that opposite-sex couples who live together has grown from 1 million to 6.4 million in the last 30 years. Shacking up makes up 10 percent of all boy-girl couples, which they know because they were impertinent enough to ask. Cheeky census. I'm strangely excited for the next count, if for no other reason than to find out more goods like this, and where my British-Danish brethren are hanging out.

What's your background? Does your US kin match up with a map?

To see another map that shows where ethnic minorities aren't,

Literally Watch Wal-Mart Take Over the United States . . .

CitizenSugar — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 14:30:08 -0700

Odd though it may be, I harbor a minor obsession with Wal-Mart. I've read this book which presents a pretty even-handed look at the somewhat stunning practices that Wally World (as my mother calls it) has pioneered to make them the retailing giant they are. Some of them, like making individual stores return cardboard boxes to the distributors or pay for them are pleasingly green in their business savviness. Save the planet, be cheap. Hey, if it works right?

And I've seen this movie, which paints the more heartbreaking human consequences of the drive to dominate the retail landscape — and that's where this riveting map from Flow Data comes in. I do so adore a map! This animated stunner starts in 1968 with the birth of the first store in Arkansas and grows progressively greener with every "rolled-back" price until Wal-Mart rules the entire world squashing everyone and everything in its path. More or less.

In other Wal-Mart related news, the store has recently pulled a controversial comic book from shelves, after complaints that it was racist. Maybe they don't have black hearts after all?

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Behold, the Most Accurate Map of the United States — Ever

CitizenSugar — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 06:00:45 -0700

In the grand tradition of the Starbucks vs. Walmart state (yep, I'm proclaiming "grand traditions" now — it's a blessing and a curse) GraphJam has this amusing-because-it's-trueish map of how Californians perceive the rest of the country.

Given the left-coast's Berkelian flair and South Park enabled reputation for being quite pleased with itself, the map is pretty amusing. I love that North of the state line is "Canada" and "coffee" (though not so much anymore, eh?)

We'll see who's laughing, Mr. 55-electoral-vote CA, when those "Religious Nutballs" are actually deciding the election...

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Map It! Which Country Gets the Most Media Attention?

CitizenSugar — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 10:00:52 -0700

As a nice little companion to Liberty's look at the most stable nations, a French media website, L'observatoire des Medias, has tracked major media outlets' coverage of each country. The brilliantly colored map of media hotspots indicates the corresponding attention we likely give each country in our media-drunk stupor.

This image shows the results of the New York Times. Is it surprising that the Southern Hemisphere is given scant attention? The lack of print on South America and Africa motivates me to be more vigilante about finding out what's going on for myself. You can click through the different publications they studied and watch the map change — the results from Slate and The Economist are quite different.

Good media criticism just makes us better stewards of information. I think I might enjoy most that they sneakily call the Times "The Former Paper of Record," in the key to the map. Hmm . . . I guess they slipped that one on through.

Are you surprised by this map? Does it make you wonder what info you've been missing?

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Get the Google Primary Map for Your Website

CitizenSugar — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 06:00:29 -0700

Are you so obsessed with the election and the hot, hot delegate count that you want to embed an up to the minute presidential primary map in your blog or website? Uh, yeah, us too.

This couldn't be cooler. Zoom in, zoom out, sort by party, see results by state, with the all new fancy feature: get the code for your own website! Seriously. Go do it. You can even pick your own border color and then we can all map the race to our heart's content.

Forget Red State/Blue State: It's Wal-Mart/Starbucks

CitizenSugar — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 13:00:00 -0800

OK, I was excited about the new electoral maps, but hold the presses. I just stumbled across these maps — I think, we're missing the big picture! Maybe the key to understanding the country isn't about a mandate, it's Americano vs. Americana.

So do you live in a Wal-Mart state or a Starbucks state? Check out the real stats behind the numbers and compare!

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