Twilight Zones

This chart shows the relationship between the angular elevation of the sun relative to the horizon and levels of twilight. The values are for the 24 hours between 1pm BST 12th August 2010 and 1pm BST 13th August 2010, and for the location Brighton in East Sussex (50.8° N 0.1° W). In equatorial regions, night and day breaks very much more quickly. In Brighton on this late summer day, sunset to full darkness took 2 hours and 22 minutes. By comparison, in Singapore (near the equator) the process took 1 hour 11 minutes.

A full listing of data for the two nights Dominic Alves tried to photograph Perseid meteors is at the foot of this description.

via Dominic Alves

Invisible Cities

Invisible Cities maps information from one realm - online social networks - to another: an immersive, three dimensional space. In doing so, the piece creates a parallel experience to the physical urban environment. The interplay between the aggregate and the real-time recreates the kind of dynamics present within the physical world, where the city is both a vessel for and a product of human activity. It is ultimately a parallel city of intersections, discovery, and memory, and a medium for experiencing the physical environment anew.

By revealing the social networks present within the urban environment, Invisible Cities describes a new kind of city—a city of the mind. It displays geocoded activity from online services such as Twitter and Flickr, both in real-time and in aggregate.


via www.visualcomplexity.com

Higher education and wages

Study leave: Plenty of university graduates are working in low-skilled jobs

Young people often worry whether the qualification for which they are studying will stand them in good stead in the workplace. According to the OECD, college and university leavers are better placed in the labour market than their less educated peers, but this advantage is not even in all countries.

Note: Bar represent % of total graduates aged 25-29 working at a low skill level.

via www.economist.com