Top-post countdown No. 1: Geography of a recession
April 30, 2010Jon Brooks Comments OffOn our last day, here’s our top post of all time (or the last nine months, which amounts to the same thing). This post had legs like Betty Grable, probably because it so clearly illustrated just how badly the employment situation was deteriorating last year.
1. Geography of a recession (Nov 30, 2009)
This is an animated map of unemployment rates by county, from January 2007 to the present. As the map turns from lighter (more employed) to darker (less), you get a sense of the economy’s deterioration. Click on the map and hit play to see it do its thing.
The complete top-post list, in reverse order:
- 25. Colorado Springs: City of the future? – Anti-tax haven Colorado Springs finds itself in desperate fiscal straits, touching off schadenfreude and defensiveness on the Web.
- 24. Sub-prime the Musical – college student creates series of podcasts on the causes of the credit crisis and, naturally, adds song parodies to illustrate the concepts.
- 23. Friday photo gallery Nov 20, 2009
- 22. The Skyscraper Index – This metric shows that the world’s tallest buildings rise on the eve of economic downturns.
- 22. Chances of passing a health care bill – On March 10, Bush administration economist Keith Hennessey upped the chances of health care’s passage from 10% to 40%.
- 22. Friday photo gallery Oct. 30, 2009
- 21. If persons were treated like corporations – Political cartoon from Kevin Moore’s In Contempt site.
- 20. Rappin’ economics – Rap adaptation of the classic econ textbook “Principles of Economics.”
- 19. Friday photo gallery Oct. 9 2009
- 18. Facebook “likes” by city – 210 million Facebook profiles broken down into which pages users click the “like” button on, organized by city.
- 17. Repaired Things – The blog – collection of pictures of things that have been repaired
- 16. Podcast: Local currency bucks the dollar – cash-strapped communities throughout the U.S. make their own money
- 16. Defriending over health care – Did you defriend anyone on Facebook, or were you defriended, in the midst of the furious health care debate?
- 16. Cards of change – altered business cards uploaded by people who have either been laid off or experienced a change in career situation
- 15. Who are the worst tippers? – Waiters comment on which groups of people are the worst tippers, and no one is spared.
- 14. 100 Motivational Blog Posts for the Unemployed – practical and emotional tips, tools, and resources
- 14. Teabonics – misspellings spotted on Tea Party rally signs
- 13. Facebook connections analyzed – interactive Facebook map with lines drawn between geographical areas that share a lot of friends
- 13. Friday photo gallery Nov 6 2009
- 12. Happy all the time – diary of a McDonald’s Happy Meal purchase, in which the subject of the experiment stays unnaturally fresh for a whole year
- 12. Merry Recession! – Recession-themed Christmas cards
- 11. Living Craigslist – Unemployed college grad travels cross-country using only Craigslist.
- 11. Who’s paying taxes?; Distribution of wealth – charts showing which income levels pay what percentage of taxes in the U.S., and the distribution of net worth and wealth
- 10. The Girl’s Guide to Homelessness – 24-year-old Brianna Karp’s blog about losing her job and falling into homelessness
- 9. Best of Craigslist: Economy version – Craigslist-user nominations of posts that are particularly interesting and humorous also serve as indicators of the rotten economy.
- 8. Pretend Office – Freelancers write pretend email messages about pretend office matters.
- 7. The H&M incident – After a student notices that retailer H&M is dumping unsold garments, a p.r. nightmare for the company unfolds on the web.
- 6. Who are the worst tippers? – another round of waiters commenting on which groups of people they think are the most penurious when it comes to tipping
- 5. Bush tax cuts vs. Obama health care – chart showing the relative impact on the budget of the two Bush tax cuts vs. the Obama health care plan
- 4. Funny unemployment photos – from the blog Unemploymentality
- 3. “Who the hell is John-Boy?” – blog post arguing that the American corporation, dominated by baby-boomer management, is out of touch with the youth culture that drives much of Americans’ spending
- 2. Health care reform explained on the back of a napkin – Simple graphics illustrate a topic that baffled most Americans for an entire year.
- 1. Geography of a recession – animated map of unemployment rates by county, from January 2007 to the present. As the map turns from lighter (more employed) to darker (less), you get a sense of the economy’s deterioration.