Some Olympic fever in the form of ....

DATA.

From my previous posts (here and here) on the beauty of data - I submit to you this map - which is cool in that the layout of the graph data is the continental positioning of each country and the size of the sphere is the overall number of medals won. Its a relative representation - so the largest circle is the largest winner of medals. Watch the timeline run through and pay attention to the German area of the map - neat to see through time what has happened. Hover the mouse over to get the actual count and breakdown of the medals.

Clearly there is far less emphasis on Olympic training today (see 2004) in Germany than 8 years and further back. Or at least that is what I see in this map - what do you see? (don't worry, rhetorical question as based on my last post only my sister let me know how she felt about the post per my request).

Not sure how I feel about this but then again....

Came across this nice little gem today thanks to Google News: Washington Post - "Police turn to secret weapon". The article covers the usual Orwellian theme behind it but wraps it up in things we all want 'fixed' in our neighborhood. I don't want rapists or murders running around my neighborhood freely causing havoc.

But I also don't want Johnny Law deciding when and against whom to use this technique against, either. On the one hand it appeals to the geek in me - using technology to catch criminals. On the other hand (the liberal left hand?) I don't want any government deciding it should 'illegally track' potential criminals. On the other hand, I pay taxes (lots of them) and I want more police in my very neighborhood, which my neighborhood apparently cannot afford.

Damn.

What do *you* think about this? Read the article and then drop me a note.