I found a really cool visualization utility that allows you to compare data from all of the countries in the world. Data include; birth rate, economic growth, mortality, etc. You can track a single country and see how it trends over time, or watch all of the countries move together.
Some interesting take homes for me. First, it's always interesting to note how we are still well behind other first world countries in terms of life span. You would think with our first class medicine, supposedly the envy of the world, we would be number one. But we are consistently around the #23 spot in terms of mortality. The number has been tracking upwards, but so have all of the other countries. Though it's interesting to note that during the Clinton years we gained about five years of, while during the Bush presidency it's only increased a little. Guess it really is better for you to vote Democrat.
Another interesting note was the sharp decline in contraceptive use after about 1998 in the U.S. It was slowly trending upward, then it shot down like a rocket. Could be the abstinence education crap, or the rise of the moral majority?
These are just a few of the things I noted as I played with this tool. It's really just very fun and very slick.
On things political, it's interesting to me, as the flood of scandals pour out of the White House, how many conservatives are distancing themselves from Bush. All the conservative pundits (and there are hordes because it's free money) always point back to Reagan. Ronnie was the last President they actually liked. Which is sad because everyone else loved Clinton. Bill's administration keeps looking better and better as the years roll by.
Posted by jherr at March 21, 2007 11:24 AMThanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)
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