No shopping carts

We did some shopping today, mostly for christmas. At the entrance to Toys "R" Us there's this sign that seems to say "No shopping carts." Being obviously untrue, I approached. Its like something out of a Tufte book. The repeated, easily identifiable item -- the shopping cart -- is by far the most bold item. The "no" slash is always thru the cart, and hardly touches the case that is bad about it. Much lighter, so you cannot see it at any distance, are the variable items, the child. And sometimes the parent, but bisecting the white circle, I didn't even notice her till I got home and opened the picture. I also like how the labels are impossibly tiny (the bottom of the large sign is above head height) impossible to scan, and way too wordy. And how some have consequences, like "this may cause the cart to tip over." But what will happen if I let my child push the cart? I don't know! Okay, National Treasure sucks, so I went ahead and did it they way I think it should have been. Note I kept most of their drawing style even. The cart is gray, as its iconic, and repeated often. The heavy prohibition slashed circle was removed in favor of the simple X. Let me put it over the prohibited part, implying a specific location or activity, instead of implying everything about the situation is wrong. The parent figure is only present when needed to show she's not paying attention; otherwise it might have been lost in the clutter. And, the titles were changed to be shorter, and the "Do not" part is on another line to make the instruction component scanable. Though now that I look at them, the capitalization is nonsensical; it scans well, but doesn't make sense. Hmm... There were two additional images, and a title block above, but I didn't get them in the photo. So, its still incomplete, sure. I believe one graphic was how to use it right. In this case, I like green circles to say "do it this way."

My favorite recording meter

This is right near my house, tucked between a couple of buildings in the Script Pro complex off Johnson drive. More photos of it Seems to be something from the gas company. If you can't tell by looking, its a disk of paper, adhered to a very slowly moving metal disk. An ink needle drives a trace based on... whatever. Gas pressure I presume. Sorta like the classic seismometer, but its a disk (not a long tape) and records over a one month period. And, its still working. The paper is regularly changed, and presumably someone is reading the information. Seems to work just fine, therefore. I just wonder how long until its replaced by a digital device, feeding back to the home office by wires or radio.

Mmmm... Delicious, Delicious Intelligence

Vacation Infographic

Edit: This is being updated every day or two in order to show where we currently are, and what changes to the route or stops we're making.

I swear I didn't make this to show off. I am just so graphical I was having trouble making my trip plan entirely in words, or chart format. So, a chart-map:


Yeah, its small. See a version large enough to read the words or get the PDF version of the whole thing (original route only), with way too much info on my optimistic drive times and stuff [that means it not updated unlike the jpegs above].

The other reason its not to show off is no one cares what I do. This blog is read by what, zero people? Web 2.0 is all just an exercise in introspective self-satisfaction anyway.