Tag: Present day
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Does rain keep Britain at home?
Every UK general election since 1945, seat by seat, against the rain that fell while the polls were open. Wetter seats saw turnout about 0.1 points lower per millimetre, but with only 22 elections that is not established, and there is no sign that rain helps any party.
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Every Embassy in the World
15,584 embassies, consulates and missions on one map. Washington hosts 181 embassies, the Holy See runs 88 nunciatures, and the resident embassy turns out to be a Renaissance invention.
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Can you see the sea?
I traced 360 sight lines from every 1 km square of the UK. Standing on the bare ground, 26% of the land has the sea in view; from an upstairs window, 29%. The farthest square from any sea view is near Donington le Heath.
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Shadows of the giants: who loses the winter sun to Britain’s towers?
On the shortest day a shadow in London is 3.7 times the height of what casts it. I traced the winter sun through eight UK city centres: ordinary streets take most of it, but at Canary Wharf the towers take 0.76 hours from every square metre.
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The half-life of fame: what happens to our attention after a notable person dies
I followed the English Wikipedia articles of 16,397 people who died between 2016 and 2023. In the month of a death the typical article is read 14.9 times as much as usual; two to three years later it is back to 0.98 of its old level. People who died young keep the most.
