As my Dad entered receipts into his accounting software, he would mark them as finished with a flourish – a quickly drawn face.
Many faces were simple and smiling, others more detailed and emotive. I think they represented his feelings about how well things were balancing out in the software and not so much the bills themselves.
My Dad loved to sketch and appreciated good line work. So while there may not have been much fore-thought , these were done with a practiced hand – intuition and experience.
I clipped and scanned a collection of them that represented those I found in 2013. I enjoy the simple smiles and recognize the happy feeling of a small job accomplished. I also appreciate the occasional frustrations with such tasks. I understand why he explored different styles to relieve the boredom. (It was my Mom that first showed me it was okay to place a smilie face in-line while handwriting a letter.)
We got a green-backyard.com WIFI web cam a few months back, built a house to suit our local black-capped chickadees, wired it up, and after a bit of time and some bird activity, we now spied an egg!
The house is based on a few plans on the internet and had to have a tall, accessible, attic and a window to let in a bit of light. It seems the birds don’t mind if there is an frosted window.
I chose some scrap wood that was lying around to make a cheap first try. I was also thinking the older wood may make the birds feel more “at home”. You can see how the plans have the roof hinge up to access the camera for installation and maintenance. The front opens up to allow for easy cleaning.
The house was bolted to a 4″x4″ pole, that can easily be removed, about 7′ up. I also wrapped a piece of sheet metal to serve as a squirrel baffle.
This camera had to be within range of our household WIFI as well as an extension cord from an outside outlet. You can see the wire running out of the bottom of the squirrel baffle.
The whole thing gives off a bit of a steam-punk vibe, mostly because I used a scrap piece of copper to protect the entry from predators enlarging the hole.
The included software is basically an ad supported security camera app/program, and while it could be configured to stream, we have just been piping it over to the TV and seem to have it on in the background a few hours during the day.
It’s been pretty interesting to watch the birds go about their day – watching them place moss and wonder about the other materials in the nest. We worry when they go away and leave the egg alone. It is comforting in the early morning to see what we think is the male coming in and standing guard at the front entry hole. (Usually there is only one bird in the house at a time.)
6/2/2022 Update.
We now have seven eggs. One bird is usually nesting, but will leave for short periods.
6/3/2022 Update.
This morning we had our first chick. As of this writing, five of the seven eggs have hatched. Adult birds (mom?) is busy going in and out with small insects and spends some time sitting in the nest. They also eat the shells. (I’ve heard to make up for the loss of calcium.)
The nest had seven eggs total. One never hatched, but the others did. Unfortunately, two of the fledglings did not survive. The birds started growing fast, getting feathers and eating constantly. Recently, we had a bit of a heat wave and the sun hits the house directly. The birds were huddled up next to the corners to catch any sort of draft from the cracks in the walls. We ended up hosing the house down with water then fashioning some shade.
6/21/2022 Update:
All too soon the first fledgling left the house. We had noticed they were no longer staying in the nest, but liked to perch by the ‘window’. One morning they hung out by the door for awhile, and then the were gone –
6/22/2022 Update:
The last of the three fledglings left today. We read that they do not go back to the nest, but hang around on local branches still being fed by their parents. So curiosity got the best of us, and we decided to take a look.
The single egg that didn’t hatch was still there. We have no idea what happened to the hatchlings that didn’t make it.
Over the weekend, Reddit put up their annual place collaboration area. They allow one to place a single tile every five minutes on a limited size canvas. There are hundred of thousands of people doing the same. Thus, there is not enough time to create much by oneself, and one runs the risk of one’s tile being overwritten by others. It ends up being a fascinating event of collaboration.
My humble addition is the attempt to help in the creation and defense of “Nightwatch” by Rembrandt that was organized in the comments section of r/place on Reddit.
“Nightwatch” Rembrandt . r/place as of Apr 3, 2022. 10:13 pm
Having appreciated the large straws furnished by boba tea places, I decided to go wider. Cut, shaped, sanded, and cleaned a 1″ O.D. ‘PVC’ pipe (suitable for potable water). Definitely more of a pipe than a straw.
(Update Nov 28: Added disclaimer about population health veracity. This graph really is based on the OHA documents, but it has not been vetted by health experts.)
I like the bold, single category bar graph. It fills each block nicely. I can see how the small multiple needs to span enough space so that the overall table retains the shape of the state. I rather roughly tweaked the original bar graph images to get a better look; you can see how that caused Clatsop to be a little wonky – I wanted the numbers not to be too squished. More time could be spent to make this more refined.
It is interesting how one can run along from North to South or East to West to see how there may or may not be any trends. Much easier with the single data category.
I liked the idea of a placing an average line for quick comparison. However, the line is based on the averages of the counties percentages, and not the individual counts within. Thus, it is somewhat problematic. With proper math, I think this brings an important overall dimension to the data. Also, I find myself relying on that line to compare charts and I lose track of the actual percentage. Perhaps all small multiples should have their y-coordinates shown
I may change the “NA” image to fill the same space as the small multiple. I think that will help those areas maintain their location and help the overall shape of the cartogram.
