Fair Warning - You feel it in your fingers, you feel it in your toes
Hello. It is I, creator, consumer, purveyor, of ridiculous internet content. I dare you to read this tweet and NOT sing it to Milkshake.
This week I was up in Birmingham as I'd been asked to judge some BBC awards in data journalism, and I also spoke to the journalists who have just started on the BBC's Shared Data Unit scheme. Long story short, I had a blast and everyone was lovely. Yay, good times.
Some random things I have enjoyed this week: Marxist dinosaur cops. French Kings dying in ridiculous ways. Gustave Doré's steel etchings for The Raven. Now to the meaty bit...
On the home front
Premier League: 11 of 20 clubs could have made profits in 2016-17 without fans at games — www.bbc.co.uk
This is old but I thought it was good and it's not normally the kind of thing I would bother seeking out, so here you go. BBC Sport looked at how profitable Premier League clubs were, in terms of fans and TV rights. Kind of shocking to think that if no one turned up these clubs would still be quids in.
Over a third of graduates in Britain are too educated for their jobs
Kind of self explanatory. This is ONS data as well. I love seeing how people write about ONS data in the wild.
Walking distance to the nearest pub
Literally just a map of the walking distance to the nearest pub, for the UK and Ireland. Poor Scotland.
Over the pond
What cars do embassies use? — qz.com
This piece is fairly straight forward but I think there is some old money / new money divide here in what is culturally seen as posh/classy or whatever. I dunno, I'm just spitballin' here. "Almost 20 of the 29 cars registered by Qatar are from high-end manufacturers" O RLY, HOW SURPRISING.
[I took the liberty of taking out the actual word because I don't want to get my newsletter stuck in some overzealous spam filter or whatever]
"Everybody tells the occasional fib." But who is worst? SPOILER: It's North Americans. Don't get me wrong, I love Canadians and Americans, but this is funny as hell.
Herding Cats: Scientists in Washington, D.C., Count the City’s Felines
"To accurately calculate the extent of the threat posed by outdoor cats, researchers must first identify how many exist. But nobody seems to know."
I just want to say that I am DEVASTATED that I cannot read this without subscribing. BEREFT. Please read it and tell me about the cats.
Joe Biden and the Rules of Human Touch
This is a good read about how humans need touch and touch responses are subjective, not really about 'rules' but about relationships and appropriateness. Put this in here purely for this one amazing, incredible stat: "Just 10 days of 'body stroking and passive movements of the limbs' for less than an hour led babies to grow 47 percent faster".
Men are from Chelsea, Women are from Park Slope
GAYBORHOODS! This is old but good from The Pudding - it looks at where gay people are most likely to be, basically. I can't honestly remember seeing it but it's possible I linked to it at the time. Sorry if it's a repeat. *flicks hair* I just see so many data stories day in, day out, you know, they all just blur into one big mess...
Odds and ends
Colorism in High Fashion — pudding.cool
The Pudding again - they looked at 19 years of Vogue covers and analysed how the female models on the front were represented in terms of how dark their skin colour is. Turns out it was fairly white up until 2005.
Does what it says on the tin. It's old research but I think it's come up again there's this new paper about how our 'bodily maps' of emotions are universal (PDF). Nice video included. Happiness and love increase activity all over your body. Cute. Like this > 🥰 Also, I guess this means Marti Pellow was right, who knew. (Finally, the title has a pay off...)
Zapping Nuclear Waste in Minutes Is Nobel Winner’s Holy Grail Quest
Dude thinks he has figured out how to cut down the lifespan of radioactive waste from thousands of years to... Minutes. WHAT. Also: "France produces more nuclear waste per-capita than any other country" I did not know this!
Long read: The essential lies in news maps
"In order to display three-dimensional world we live in, journalists are forced to distort reality. And every map does so in its own way." Read this if you want to know a bit more about maps and lying.
Could we incorporate data visualisation into everyday objects like receipts? Maybe - this person has tried just that. I kind of like it but I can't *really* see the point of it and I know this is rigidly pragmatic but sometimes I am too sensible for my own good.
Bad chart of the week
This one is a real cracker in that each time I look at it I think of a totally different funny aspect to it. However. Do not do this:
I'm exploring rotating sponsorship options for Fair Warning. If you're interested in potentially sponsoring for a few weeks, give me a shout (reply to this email, not 'please come to Cardiff and shout at me in the street' - that would be rude and weird).
That’s everything this week. If you enjoyed this issue, please forward it to people you think will like it, or consider buying me a coffee to say thanks. You can also become a Patron for Fair Warning. See you next week!