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Where to start with infoviz?

nostrich — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 10:15:10 -0800

I want to make a fancy image along the same lines as Feltron's annual reports, where do I start? I'm currently in the process of immigrating to the US to be with my SO. Once it's all over and done -- or at some other appropriate milestone along the way -- I thought it would be nice to present her with something along the lines of a framed print visualizing a bunch of stuff related to this process. Very much inspired by Feltron's annual reports, but not quite on the same scale.

What I'm thinking at the moment:
- some kind of timeline that shows where we've travelled since the beginning of this year (when it all began)
- a map that shows the same thing, with lines connecting the places we've flown to
- a pie chart (or something) that breaks up time we've spent together, and time we've spent apart

I'll come up with some other bits (ideas appreciated!) but that basically sums up what I'm trying to do here, I think.

I'd like to see other examples of similar visualizations for inspiration, as well as some tips on how exactly I should be going about this. At the moment, my basic plan is get all the data together and fire up Photoshop or something, but that seems like it would be a fairly tedious way to go about it. I know there is software specifically made for this kind of thing, but what I've come across so far seems to be either a little over my head, or not quite what I'm after (too simple, too complicated). I've also come across some more programming-y options -- a friend suggested processing.js for instance -- but that also currently falls into the over my head camp. If programming turns out to be the best way, I'm willing to learn what I need to know, though. There's no real deadline on this, since we're still a long way from being done.

I'm on Mac OS X, by the way, but can switch to Windows if absolutely necessary.

All input is appreciated!

Need inappropriate office party behaviors

arniec — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 07:29:06 -0800

For Christmas Card art--what are some inappropriate workplace party behaviors that can be portrayed in a single drawing? I'm working on having an artist do our company annual Christmas card, and this year we're doing a Far Side-ish cartoon of an inappropriate office party. For example, there will be someone Xeroxing their behind, and some people making out in the office supplies closet.

What other types of activities can be/should be included here? The funnier the better. But it can't be too involved, a single frame of someone "in the act" needs to convey the whole bit. But our artist is very very good, so if you have ideas, please post them and he might be able to make them work.

Thank you for ideas!

(and would a lampshade on a head be a workplace thing, or is that specifically a house party type behavior?)

Who's the big flying head w/ Dr Doom?

Rash — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 22:12:09 -0800

MarvelFilter: please identify the angry head with the tiny arms and legs flying behind Dr Doom in this Fall of the Hulks poster. It's just the left side, their opponents. Who are they? In the back, is that Karl Rove? The guys around him are vaguely familiar from early Fantastic Four, but who's that green-skinned guy?

What is this mystery gunk that bleached my pants?

lalalana — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 19:29:00 -0800

What is this mystery gunk that bleached my pants? Last week, I noticed some weird stuff on the back of my black polyblend H&M pants... It looked like lipgloss, a little bit pink and similar in texture except maybe a little less thick. When I wiped it off, I found that the spots where it had been were bleached out to a purpley-pink shade. Sad. Anyway, what could this stuff have been? I didn't go or do anything out of the ordinary-- a college campus, a coffee shop, my car... I really can't think of anything I would have come in contact with (no cleaning products, etc, what I know of?) that could have caused it... Any thoughts?

Ima let ya finish but what kind of guitar are you playing?

cazoo — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 14:51:08 -0800

Taylor Swift Filter: Did anyone catch Taylor Swift on last nights SNL? I'd like to know what kind of acoustic guitar she was playing. I believe she used it twice, in the opening monologue and then for her musical numbers.

It looked like it was made of Hawaiian Koa wood. I didn't get a good look at the headstock to see the manufacturers name but maybe someone else caught it. Thanks.

Sorry, I don't have any pics.

Where's Powell

stray — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 09:55:46 -0800

Does anyone know anything about Powell Janulus, the polyglot? Part academic question, part mystery... I've been tasked to find a bit out about a polyglot named Powell Alexander Janulus (born 1939). From what a Google Search will tell me, he learned many languages (over 50?) and at one point had a language learning school in Vancouver, Canada. He also apparently received the Guiness World Record. However, there seems to be some question as to whether he's still alive, whether his school still exists, and if there is any way to contact him or his family.

The information here didn't lead me anywhere as the phone number is disconnected.

I'm asking because my boss is writing a book containing some references to his material, and would love to get in touch with him or his estate. I'd appreciate the help of better sleuths than myself--do you have ideas on how to track a bit more information on this guy?

CTA advertisement: "Less Than Perfect"

phunniemee — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:57:30 -0800

[Chicago Filter] Does anyone know anything about the "Less Than Perfect" ads running on the CTA? I would love to know the origin of the ads that have been showing up on the trains recently. They're all black with plain text, and say things like:

"The guy who forgot to shower this morning. Again."
"The public-display-of-affection-couple."
"The guy who sings along to his iPod. Poorly."
"The woman who gives her shopping bags their own seat."

And they have a little thing that says "Less Than Perfect:" in the upper left-hand corner.

Anyone know what this might be about? There's nothing else on the signs, and they're not (overtly) advertising anything. Google only returns results for that sitcom from a few years ago.

My boyfriend thinks this is the CTA trying to be hip, but I say the CTA is too broke to be edgy where someone else could pay for advertising, but he thinks that there aren't enough paying advertisers so the CTA is just filling the space. I wanna know!

Where can I get an NYC subway map & metrocard outside of NYC?

spockette — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 12:23:43 -0800

I'm working on an art project, and I need to get a copy of the official MTA NYC subway map (the one you get for free in the subway station), and an expired metrocard. I am in the UK. How can I get a hold of these things outside of New York?

Won't you come in?

violetk — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 21:29:05 -0800

Can vampires enter the houses of other vampires without being invited in?

What does it cost to ship a Guitar Hero controller?

IndigoRain — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 20:07:18 -0800

How much does it cost to ship a Guitar Hero controller? I am putting a copy of Guitar Hero World Tour for the PS3 up on eBay and need to estimate my shipping costs. I know the guitar is fairly light but it's also long and I was wondering if anyone knows roughly what it costs to ship it within the contintental US.

Pencil-like pen, please?

ishotjr — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 08:08:00 -0800

Are there any pens that write like a pencil? I have a weird problem. It is much easier for me to write neatly with a mechanical pencil than a pen. It's odd, because my printing is very neat in pencil, but I have difficulty not ending up with chicken scratch using a pen. I'm in grad school and have to take a lot of notes by hand, which I do with pencil. The notes tend to smudge when they rub against the other pages in my notebook. I could switch to harder or finer lead, but 0.7 HB is optimal for the way I like to write, plus I'd rather have my notes in ink. Are there any pens out there that have a writing feel more like that of a pencil *and* don't bleed through (so I can use paper front and back)? Erasable is a plus, but certainly not a deal-breaker.

?

past — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 02:56:35 -0800

I have a pale pink bottle with a liquid inside. How can I figure out what it is? I think it is shampoo or soap, or maybe even lotion. I found it in my closet. I think it's homemade. I won't put it on my hair, but I will taste it for testing purposes.

What to do about the 1/2 in my mailing address?

ORthey — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:42:58 -0800

I have a 1/2 in my mailing address, and it's driving me crazy. How can I enter it into fields (online) that don't accept symbols? (I searched for this in vain, so feel free to point me in the right direction if I missed something!).

My address is 1905 1/2 [street]. Many places I enter my address online do not accept the slash, nor other punctuation marks. Usually I just give up and enter 1905, but that's the address of my neighbor and though she's very nice, I don't want my mail to constantly go into her box.

Dashes are occasionally allowed, but 1905 1-2 can be confusing to a letter carrier. And plus, in some cases there is no punctuation of any kind allowed. I've thought of literally writing "1905 and a half" but I'm worried that will also cause confusion. "1905.5" is also out because periods are not usually allowed.

Any tips, personal experience, brilliant ideas welcome!

when is the yankess parade

dhacker — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 13:00:35 -0800

If/when the Yankees win the World Series, when will the parade that shuts down the city be? I have two business meetings on Monday in separate parts of town and I'd rather reschedule if the parade is going on. Are their specific times, dates when this is likely to occur?

If they win tonight would it be Friday? If they tomorrow would it be Friday/Monday? If I need to get cross town should I give it up?

Note to baseball fans - I have no interest in the outcome of the game. Only the outcome of the parade - go Reds!

Italy when no one is there?

parmanparman — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 05:29:32 -0800

Going to Italy at the end of January. Not the most ideal time to take a vacation. We are going to Milan, Tuscany, and Venice. How can two people make the most of it?

How should we spend $400 as a floor?

aaronbeekay — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 13:11:20 -0800

Fun, interesting activities, or other ways to blow $400, for a floor of freshmen in a university dorm? I'm a freshman at a large university, in a big tower full of freshmen. My floor is co-ed, half guys, half gals. We get along all right, but my RA tried to get us together for a floor dinner one week and it fell flat: lack of interest. (I think this was more because it wasn't pushed at all, not really because we all dread being together.)

He sent out an email the other day asking for suggestions for things we WOULD want to do together as a floor. We have about $400 a quarter, apparently, and we can spend it on Whatever for the floor, as long as it's approved by the building-boss.

I was going through some roughness at the beginning of the quarter, and I don't think I started myself off very well socially: just wasn't my normal outgoing, interesting self because of sitting around and being sad. I thought this would be an excellent opportunity to put out a creative suggestion, have fun doing it, and make friends. Something along the lines of "awesome floor decorations", "themed cookout", etc. We're a floor of college freshmen, remember, so I expect that "silly awesome"/over-the-top ideas will be received well; the RA's attitude seems to be "hey, we have four hundred bucks here, let's do something cool", so that's helpful.

Ideas? Help me make friends!

How to encapsulate tiny objects, with the option of removing the capsule later?

zennie — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 09:13:13 -0800

Mad-scientist-filter: I need to encapsulate 1.5mm pellets in a thin, non-toxic, preferably natural material that could later be mechanically removed (example). I would prefer that the capsule could come off cleanly. A difference from the example above is that the capsules would be removed from each pellet individually, one-at-a-time. (Why? Because I'm a mad scientist is why. Mwuhahahahaha.)

For the sake of visualization, let's say that I...
- am going to encapsulate nonpareils,
- have basic laboratory supplies,
- have any necessary safety equipment, and
- have $500 for other expenses.

What I'd actually like to encapsulate is similar enough to nonpareils that this would be an acceptable working model.

Have any thoughts on how I might do this? Wild speculation (that attempts to answer the question!) is entirely welcome. I'm brainstorming here-- or rather, storming your brains.

Eugene, Oregon: Tips?

Anonymous — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 13:37:44 -0800

I'm anticipating an upcoming move to Eugene, Oregon. What should I know? I'm looking for any tips about living in the area, including things like: best restaurants, cafes, cultural venues, theaters, parks, farmers' markets, yarn and fabric shops, general things to do, etc. I'm also looking for information regarding best neighborhoods to live in. I've searched prior questions about Eugene, and found a bit of information there, but I'm looking for more.

Some relevant points:

- I'll be working downtown.
- I like art, movies of all kinds, live music, the theater (theatre, if you're feeling fancy), books, comics, records, crafts, museums, being outdoors, cooking, eating foods of all kinds, etc.
- When shopping for a new neighborhood to live in, I'm seeking safety, walkability, and character. I love older houses and apartment buildings, but vintage architecture is not a must. Easy proximity to downtown is a plus.

Thanks for any information you can give! I'm really looking forward to this move, and want to make sure I don't miss anything good about my new town.

(Posted anon. due to the fact that this is all dependent on a job-offer-in-progress.)

"I've never regretted taking the train set"

galaksit — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 10:26:29 -0800

Apart from the Dennis Bergkamp cheese-packer one, what were the other Reebok "other career" adverts that ran on UK television in the late 90s, and where can I find them? These adverts potrayed famous footballers in alternative lives where they have mundane and/or stereotypical careers, recounting how they turned down a childhood birthday present of Reebok football boots for a different toy, the implication being this decision stopped them from going on to be successful players. For example, Bergkamp tells how he opted for a train set and that he's never regretted it, pictured awhile working in a Dutch cheese factory.

I've got a memory of there being a Peter Schmeichel one where the Danish keeper is portrayed as a pig farmer (Danish bacon being famous in the UK).

Were there any others? My Google/YouTube efforts have failed.

Was it a different campaign from which I remember a sequence with Ryan Giggs as a road-side flower seller, or something like that?

Dreammachine boutique, New York, early 90s?

Mutant — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 03:52:32 -0800

Did you use a dreammachine in New York, SOHO, early 90's? I'm trying to reconnect with some old friends, and have been racking my brain trying to come up with the name of a SOHO based boutique that allowed folks to use their dreammachines.

Their devices were mounted in IMAX like glasses with sound available from headphones. The boutique offered roughly a dozen reclining seats and beds for couples, with a variety of drinks available in a separate lounge area.

It was located on the east side of Broadway, just south of Houston but before Prince. In fact it was in either the first or second building south of Houston, not at street level but I can't recall what floor. The boutique sold time by the clock, or you could pay in advance for discounted blocks.

If you've used a dreammachine in the past, what are your feelings regarding the claims of persistent changes in brain function? Those claims caused a bit of a ruckus when the boutique was first opened, but I don't think anyone succeeded in closing it on those terms (business, of course, was something else).

The state achieved via these dreammachines was much, much more intense than results acquired by sitting in darkened a room with a cylinder spinning in the corner, so I'd especially be interested in hearing from anyone else who might have visited this boutique. I was a regular for perhaps one year.

Why does this trick with my arm work?

twoleftfeet — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 03:15:58 -0800

Why does this trick work? Turn your palm face up. To turn your palm face down you must twist your wrist, right? But if you do six simple moves you can turn your palm face down without twisting your wrist. The trick appears at the beginning of this talk by Lennart Green but can also be done backwards.

Move this, word!

fantasticninety — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 22:17:42 -0800

Is there a website that allows you to create moveable font type vids? I'd like to know if there's a free site which allows people to type in text and then choose options to create a rough and ready version of this kind of thing.

Pick my lock, please

Thorzdad — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 15:31:27 -0800

Help me tear-apart, clean and reset my combination lock. I have a slightly older version of this Master lock. It's a type where you can open it up and set the combination to whatever you want. Over the years, it has become very...sticky...in its operation. So much so that it sometimes takes quite a bit of force to make it work. So, I'd like to clean the works.

Unfortunately, I no longer have the instructions on how to disassemble and re-set the combination for this lock. MasterLock's website is a marvel of non-information for this, unfortunately. I know the end cap without the hasp can be pulled-off, but I'm not about to dive into dissection until I know how to set the combination.

Anyone have good lock-fu tonight?

How can I get all residential addresses in a single town?

crapples — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 12:44:35 -0800

How can I get lists of all residential mailing addresses for a single town in the USA? I have a project that will require a one-time mass mailing to every resident in a single, very small (population < 500), town in the United States. How can I get a listing of every residential address in the town of interest?

Bonus points if it's free! Half-points and a congratulatory thumbs-up if it's cheap.

Thanks.

Why would you mount a big, thin disc on the roof of your limo?

Naberius — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 07:07:45 -0800

Did I see the ground-based version of a "black helicopter?" Okay, driving in to work this morning I saw something on a vehicle that I've never seen before and I'm wondering what it was. This is the DC area, btw, so God only knows what kind of weird government stuff is roaming the streets.

Perfectly ordinary looking black stretch limo, opaque windows. What was odd was a disc-shaped structure mounted on the roof. I only got a quick look at, but it was flat, very thin, and the diameter was about the width of the car. It was mounted on the roof by four brackets that held it just off the roof itself. The disc looked like it had a kind of projecting flange around the circumference, as if it were two pieces. And the whole thing looked like it was maybe three or four inches thick, tops.

So it wasn't some kind of roof mounted storage, unless you maybe needed to take your gong with you. The thing I can come up with that's closest to making sense is some kind of antenna, but then why would it need to be so big? Wish I'd had been on the ball enough to check the plates. So any ideas? What the hell did I see?