Which state has the highest per capita marijuana use? Who has the most horses? Deer-collisions? What about suicides? Rice production? There will be some stats on this graphic by our friends at 1bog that will not surprise you, such as the state with the largest economy or the most wind farms, but some of the stats will likely blow your mind.
If you call Connecticut home, your standard of living and economic opportunities are almost two times better than that of someone in West Virginia. That basic inequality shouldn’t be news to any American who’s spent a day outside. But rarely has it been put in such a stark visual form. The images here are screenshots from a sweeping interactive data visualization by Rosten Woo and Zachary Watson for the American Human Development Project. The infographic maps something called the American Human Development Index — a rough, one-stop measurement of quality of life across America based on things like education, life expectancy, and income — and lets you compare it to a raft of other factors, from political activity to local homicide rates. Think of it as a medical chart from the nation’s annual physical — one that reveals some serious health problems.
Proportional Representation
America needs to amend its constitution to allow for a multi-party system, implementing proportional representation.
For example, Arizona (where I live) has 8 Congressional districts.
Instead of dividing the state into gerrymandered districts where if 50.1% of the district votes for a candidate, that party wins the entire district, envision the entire state as one district.
For argument’s sake, let’s say 38% voted Republican, 38% Democrat, 12% Libertarian, and 12% Green.
3 seats would go to Republicans, 3 to Democrats, 1 to Libertarians, and 1 to Greens.
This allows for a more accurate representation of the political views of their constituents.
Now, of course, to get this amendment passed, we’d need the support of the very two-party system that would be hurt by such a change.
Illegal immigration is much more complicated issue than the usual dichotomy of “Illegal immigrants are destroying our country” versus “Illegal immigrants play a vital role in our economy.” Before we even embark on the discussion, we need to know who we’re talking about.How many illegal immigrants are there, where are they from, and how do they fit in to the economy?
Everybody might be working for the weekend, but we’re also working toward expanding our countries’ economies. Each hour we work contributes to the gross domestic product. But by how much? This is a look at the GDP per capita of the countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, compared with the average numbers of hours worked in each country. While we may be working hard in America, in Luxembourg, an hour of work really means something.
SOURCE: OECD
A collaboration between GOOD and Amanda Buck.
The Gates Foundation has produced an online tool that every parent should see: The Education Nation Scorecard for Schools, which shows the performance of each and every school in the United States, and allows you to compare them across districts and states.
If you divided the United States into 50 states with 5 to 6 million people apiece.
This map is by Neil Freeman from FakeIsTheNewReal.org. It’s based on a division of the country into 50 state units with more-or-less equal population — 5 to 6 million apiece — and preserving existing boundaries where possible. (As with the new state of “Missouri.”)
These maps from Who’s Your City? show the geographic distribution of personality types. Developed by my MPI colleague Kevin Stolarick, they are based on data on hundreds of thousands of people compiled by psychologists Jason Rentfrow at Cambridge University and Sam Gosling at the University of Texas. Open-to-experience people appear to be the most mobile and distributed – look at the clusters around NY and the east coast corridor, southern Florida, Austin, L.A., and the Bay Area and Seattle. They are also the personality type most likely to be creative, innovative ,and entrepreneurial.
(More - use link)
http://www.creativeclass.com/creative_class/2008/03/15/the-personality-map/
