Wednesday, August 30, 2017

Random charts - population

 


"... Millennials have surpassed Baby Boomers as the nation’s largest living generation, according to population estimates released this month by the U.S. Census Bureau. Millennials, whom we define as those ages 18-34 in 2015, now number 75.4 million, surpassing the 74.9 million Baby Boomers (ages 51-69). And Generation X (ages 35-50 in 2015) is projected to pass the Boomers in population by 2028..."

Monday, August 28, 2017

Monday, August 21, 2017

Random pictures - here be dragons



"The fantasy of California as an island earthly paradise can be traced back to a 1510 book, Las Sergas de Esplandian which describes a land of Amazonian women without a single man. The women were of course beautiful, had weapons made of gold and tamed wild beasts..."


Friday, August 18, 2017

Random pictures - mystery manuscript

 
 


"Named for Polish book dealer Wilfrid Voynich, who acquired it in 1912, the Voynich manuscript is a mystery that has remained unsolved for centuries. 

The manuscript is a 6x9-inch codex of bound calfskin vellum, which has been carbon-dated to the early decades of the 15th century, and is believed to have come from northern Italy. It holds approximately 240 pages, some which fold out, though it is believed that some pages are missing.

The content of the manuscript is truly baffling, though. It is written in a completely unknown script, and illuminated throughout with illustrations of seemingly fantastical plants. Estimates of how many individual characters compose the script vary from 15 to 40. 

Many amateur and professional cryptographers, including Allied codebreakers from both World Wars, have spent years trying to decipher the text, with little success.."

Visit the link for the story and more pictures!

Sunday, August 13, 2017

Random charts - jobs

 


"The first graph shows the change in private sector payroll jobs from when each president took office until the end of their term(s). Presidents Carter and George H.W. Bush only served one term. Mr. G.W. Bush (red) took office following the bursting of the stock market bubble, and left during the bursting of the housing bubble. Mr. Obama (blue) took office during the financial crisis and great recession. There was also a significant recession in the early '80s right after Mr. Reagan (yellow) took office. There was a recession towards the end of President G.H.W. Bush (purple) term, and Mr Clinton (light blue) served for eight years without a recession...

A big difference between the presidencies has been public sector employment...  The public sector grew during Mr. Carter's term (up 1,304,000), during Mr. Reagan's terms (up 1,414,000), during Mr. G.H.W. Bush's term (up 1,127,000), during Mr. Clinton's terms (up 1,934,000), and during Mr. G.W. Bush's terms (up 1,744,000 jobs. However the public sector declined significantly while Mr. Obama was in office (down 268,000 jobs). During the first six months of Mr. Trump's term, the economy has gained 47,000 public sector jobs.."

Random charts - ICBM?

 
Source: North Korea’s “not quite” ICBM can’t hit the lower 48 states

Friday, August 4, 2017

Random picture- wildlife

Click to enlarge

Source: The Week in Wildlife Go there for the full, un-cropped picture and many others...