Posts about atlanta

The Geography Of Talking

The Politics of Dancing would definitely make my top 5 list of album titles, if I had one. I love the way the two normally diametrically opposed ideas of politics and dancing are used together to make something new.

Here's another example which is much more geo related; the geography of talking.

A group of researchers have redrawn the map of Great Britain using human interactions, in this case people talking to each other on the telephone, to show how little the way in which we communicate and the relationships we have bear any resemblance to the formal boundaries that governments draw on a map. In the map below, the total amount of talk time is shown, with the maps areas being more opaque the more calls and interactions are made.

Apart from being a damn fine Trance album, German DJ Paul Van Dyk's The Politics of Dancing would definitely make my top 5 list of album titles, if I had one. I love the way the two normally diametrically opposed ideas of politics and dancing are used together to make something new.

Here's another example which is much more geo related; the geography of talking.

A group of researchers have redrawn the map of Great Britain using human interactions, in this case people talking to each other on the telephone, to show how little the way in which we communicate and the relationships we have bear any resemblance to the formal boundaries that governments draw on a map. In the map below, the total amount of talk time is shown, with the maps areas being more opaque the more calls and interactions are made.

Another view of the data is revealed when the concentration of calls made are plotted against the UK Government's regional boundaries, which apart from any other insights, shows just how many people live in London and its environs and how much of a chatterbox we all are.

Sometimes I read arguments against using a map for visualising data, usually prefixed by words to the effect of "just because you can put something on a map". Sometimes those arguments are justified, but sometimes the map remains the best way to view data and to draw insights from that data. Regardless of which point of view you subscribe to, I always like maps that allow you to look at the world in a different way.

You can read the full text of the research article at PLoS one; Redrawing the Map of Great Britain from a Network of Human Interactions - Ratti, Sobolevsky, Calabrese, Andris, Reades, Martino, Claxton and Strogatz.

A Hotel Bath Robe Too Far

Atlanta Midtown Skyline

But this isn't the main reason for this post. This post is about hotel bath robes. You know the sort of thing, a generally white, toweling affair that nice hotels provide for you, together with a helpful notice that a large sum of money will be added to your hotel bill should you feel compelled to take the robe home with you. The Palomar, which is a nice boutique sort of hotel, has these bath robes. But in no way can they be classified as white or in any way ordinary. Oh no ...

A Hotel Bath Robe Too Far

.. there's also a tiger skin effect number hanging up in the wardrobe in case fake zebra skin isn't your style. You'll hopefully be relieved to hear that I just couldn't bring myself to put either of them on.

This is the ninth "through the window" type of post I've written and is definitely the last for the year. It's the view of Atlanta's Midtown skyline, from the Palomar Kimpton hotel, late at night, after everyone's gone home and just the buildings and lights remain. There's something completely compelling to me about these night time scenes; maybe it's because you just don't tend to see views like this in and around London.

Atlanta Midtown Skyline

But this isn't the main reason for this post. This post is about hotel bath robes. You know the sort of thing, a generally white, toweling affair that nice hotels provide for you, together with a helpful notice that a large sum of money will be added to your hotel bill should you feel compelled to take the robe home with you. The Palomar, which is a nice boutique sort of hotel, has these bath robes. But in no way can they be classified as white or in any way ordinary. Oh no ...

A Hotel Bath Robe Too Far

.. there's also a tiger skin effect number hanging up in the wardrobe in case fake zebra skin isn't your style. You'll hopefully be relieved to hear that I just couldn't bring myself to put either of them on.