(image source: http://usdebt.kleptocracy.us/)
Ever wondered how many Benjamins can fit in a football stadium?
As the debt ceiling (quickly) approaches and the government (hopefully) nears some sort of resolution, we just thought we’d help you get a handle on what all these ginormous (fact: ginormous is actually a word) numbers look like.
You can also check out this infographic and this one if you want to learn more about where the debt came from and exactly whose debt it is.
(image credit: SENSEable City Lab at MIT)
Ever wanted to see where your stuff goes after you throw it out? We’re not talking about touring landfills here – we mean literally seeing its whole path and trajectory in Technicolor.
Well, a new exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York is displaying the fruits of two MIT researchers’ trash-tracking labor. Carlo Ratti and Assaf Biderman developed these little trackers that tell you in real time where something is for a whole year. And then they did something really cool with them…
They gave the trackers to people to attach to anything they were about to throw out – from fruit to furniture – and turned all that data into cool and colorful visualizations like the one you see up there (^^). The idea is that maybe people will start to pay attention to their trash, or figure out new and better ways to deal with it (i.e. improve their environmental impact).
Pretty cool. Or, rather, pretty and cool…
What do you do with your old electronic gadgets?
(image credit: Collaborative Consumption)
But isn’t that like, communism, man?
Not exactly – people still own things and are making a profit from them, and that’s sort of the point.
Technology (i.e. the internet) is allowing regular people like you and me to share their skills, stuff or space with the world – for profit. New websites and services like TaskRabbit, SkillShare and Airbnb (and even old stuff like eBay and Craigslist) allow people to take advantage of stuff they own or stuff they can do by lowering barriers-to-entry.
But, wait, if, like, everyone can easily buy and sell stuff, isn’t that at least, like, socialism, man?
Not exactly.
Holy blazes, Batman, the budget’s gonna bust! We’re zooming toward the debt ceiling, but nobody seems to know what to do..
We need a hero. A Budget Hero!
Luckily, American Public Media put together this awesome widget that you can use to play around with the U.S. government budget, a little bit like our elected officials in Congress do. Cut spending, increase taxes, watch your deficit move around, and learn about what all these cuts and increases mean.
Think you can do better than Congress is now? You just might be… a BUDGET HERO!
(photo credit: Pink Sherbet Photography)
Trying to get wellthy? No, friends, that’s not a typo – according to consumer trend tracker trendwatching.com, a hearty lung capacity and rock hard abs are becoming as important a status symbol as, say, a sweet ride or a fancy new iThing.
• People are increasingly ranking physical fitness and health as an important component of their happiness.
• Around the world, people are using more mobile healthcare devices and apps – most of which are purchased by consumers, not doctors.
• Tons of new fitness “toys” – Wii Fit, Sleep On It, the Fitbit – have been hitting the market lately.
Looks like you’ll have to literally keep up with the Joneses these days…
Brett Molé had just finished eating his daily $175 hamburger topped with 750mg of gold flakes when he had the idea to make this video. It’s fun!
(image credit: B Rosen)
Numbers can tell you an awful lot, even if you don’t usually think of yourself as a number-cruncher.
Here’s one way: You’ve heard of net worth. You may even know yours. But have you ever watched your net worth fluctuate over time? It’s a really easy and interesting (really!) way to see how you’re growing (or regressing) as a Possessor of Wealth.
For example, a net worth number that consistently increases is a good sign that you’re doing something right. But even a dip can be instructive. Did the recession wipe out your investment holdings? Maybe it’s time to reconsider your strategy so it doesn’t happen again. (Hint: Try diversification next time.) Did your numbers go down because you spent a lot of money on tuition this year? Watch to see if your net worth increases as a result of your education investment.
We found a cool site called NetworthIQ that helps you track your net worth over time AND snoop on a bunch of other people tracking their net worth. You can compare your progress with others by age, location, education, and job category.
Not that your net worth necessarily reflects your worth as a whole person, but knowing has to be… worth something. Worth.
(photo credit: Toronja Azul)
We all know eating out is more expensive (and more fattening) than eating in. But how much more expensive, exactly? Intern Anna did a little experiment:
Your stomach is grumbling and you’re trying to decide – do I head out the door or hit the kitchen?
Say you’re craving a good old turkey sandwich. That’s it. And you decide to stay in rather than roam the streets. So you grab…
- 2 slices of bread ( = grainy-goodness), $0.50
- 3 slices of turkey, $0.60
- 1 slice of cheese (the nice stuff), $0.35
- a bit of lettuce, $0.10
- 2 slices of tomato, $0.20
- a squeeze of mustard, $0.05
You’re all set and the total is… $1.80! Head to the local deli or grab a pre-packaged sandwich and you’ll probably be paying $5.00 – or more.
One New York City native really took the plunge and decided to only eat in – ever – and she wrote a book about her experience. She’s still blogging about not eating out in NY.
If you keep sweaters in your stove and have a taste for the gourmet, eating out might be a priority for you. But if you’re not opposed to spending more time waltzing down the grocery store aisles and dancing in the kitchen, eating in could keep your piggy bank nice and heavy.
(photo credit: Wonderlane)
Work is of two kinds: first, altering the position of matter at or near the earth’s surface relatively to other such matter; second, telling other people to do so. The first kind is unpleasant and ill paid; the second is pleasant and highly paid.
- Bertrand Russel, “In Praise of Idleness”
We all have to work. Even if we don’t have to work, we have to pretend to work (see, for example, the idle heiress halfheartedly designing handbags and “building her brand”).
So if we need to work, why not be as thoughtful as possible about it? First of all, do you agree with Bertrand’s categories of work? Can you be highly paid and unhappy? Can you be happy taking orders from someone else?
What kind of work would make YOU feel best about the way you spend your days and feed your family? What kind would help you achieve your life goals? Is it the same work?
Holy cow! (Carp? Cod? Crab?)
There are lots of good reasons to care about the environment and support the groups that fight to protect it. But one really good reason is that if we don’t do something, we’re going to run out of tuna melts and fish sticks.
This article in the Guardian talks about why we as a civilization are failing to do enough about problems like overfishing. Each new generation simply isn’t conscious of what things were like in the generation before them. Kind of like how your parents remember when kids used to play outside, but you’ll remember staying inside playing video games. And when you get old and cranky about how the kids these days never take off their holobands at the dinner table, you’ll wish for the days when people sat down in the living room to play Nintendo – not for the days when children played stickball in the streets.
Anyway, David McLandless (our data viz hero from Information is Beautiful) made a scary map of the devastation that tasty sea life has seen over the past hundred years. Definitely worth checking out if you still need a reason to care about the environment.