Thursday, December 23, 2010

Two Hundred Countries, Two Hundred Years, Four Minutes

This is fascinating:



You might have to watch this twice since it moves pretty fast.  OTOH, you might want to watch it two or three times simply because it's marvelously entertaining AND informative.  Here's a brief excerpt from the explanation accompanying Mr. Rosling's video, as posted on YouTube:
In this spectacular section of 'The Joy of Stats' he tells the story of the world in 200 countries over 200 years using 120,000 numbers - in just four minutes. Plotting life expectancy against income for every country since 1810, Hans shows how the world we live in is radically different from the world most of us imagine.
I particularly like Mr. Rosling's hopeful and optimistic closing remarks.  I'm hearing way too much doom and gloom of late; this is refreshing.

Since we're in a hopeful and optimistic mood... isn't this well-done?



I haven't seen this ad on my teevee and more's the pity.  I REALLY like it.

9 comments:

  1. That stats video is the COOLEST! I'm making Sean watch that later this morning...way cool.

    Glad to see Santa is playing Cupid too...providing comfort and joy to young men and women is ALWAYS a good thing!

    SN1

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  2. Ditto on the kudos for the stats. Gadzooks! We need more good news in our media. The normal bombardment is a daily
    confirmation that humanity is a pestilence to our planet.

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  3. I will send the stats video to my son who is a stats man. It was cool and interesting, but I would like to know the criteria for the healthy/weathy vs. sick/poor. For some reason, I hate to think of America in the same corner with some of other countries that seem to be there too (knowing what I know about other countries). Are they doing so much better or are we doing worse? Or does the media just show us the down side of other countries and that is where my mind is?

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  4. And I love the Coke commercial.

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  5. Both good bits of fun, for different reasons. I had not seen the Coke ad before, so thanks for bringing a bit of new cheer!

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  6. Buck and Darryl: I'm glad ya liked the stats thing. The presentation was pretty awesome.

    Lou: Everything you could possibly wanna know about the stats used in the vid is here. And a LOT more, as well.

    As for the US vs. the rest of the world... we don't get a whole helluva lot of information about other countries through the media unless it's BAD.

    Jim: You're welcome, Kind Sir.

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  7. Way cool!! I really like the presentation as an animation, it really adds to the sense that data is dynamic. I hold the same qualms about the data with respect to Europe as to catching up with us here in the U.S. Being there as much as I have been and seeing first hand how the live I have that juandice eye on wealth and health when compared to the U.S.

    Very good stuff. Merry Christmas Buck, to you and your whole extended family, have a very hopeful and fun Christmas.

    BT: Jimmy T sends.

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  8. Jimmy (and all others, too): The stats vid just barely scratches the surface of what's available at the link I posted above. I've bookmarked that site for future reference... it's a SERIOUS time-sink. But a worthy one.

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  9. Pretty neat, eh?
    I am stealing this for sure!!!

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