I never like it when doctors ask you to rate you pain level on a scale of 1 to 10, and I really don’t see the how it helps to visualize the pain scale. Even stranger, this scale is from a poster at the vet with a graphic of a dog skeleton.
Is the dog supposed to point at the bone that hurts and at the appropriate tick on the pain scale?
In case you can’t read the text, this scale goes from 0 = Pain Free to 10 = Worst Possible Pain.
I’ve posted my entries for the 2006 Data Visualization competition sponsored by Business Intelligence Network and Stephen Few. I used JMP for most of the data manipulation and prototyping and then traced and edited the graphs with OmniGraffle, a nice Mac OS X graphics application. My process ended up being a lot of work so I didn’t get things as polished as I would like, but I think the experience will at least help me learn more when I see the winning entries.
There were four scenarios with a problem description and the raw data to use to create the visualzation. Above is part of my budget visualization solution. A fifth scenario was to do anything you like, and I updated the OWASA reservoir status graphs I did a few months ago.
When we had a landscaper over to consult on, among other things, installing some deer fencing so we could plant some more perennials, he suggested a much cheaper solution. He gave us his homemade deer repellent recipe, and it’s been working fine for two months now.
The deer still get some of the new growth, such as the shoots and blooms, but here’s a nice hasta bloom that eluded them.
The recipe is simple: 1 quart Texas Pete and 6 eggs and water. Mix the Texas Pete and eggs in a blender, and then add with water to fill a 1 gallon sprayer. Leave any unused portion in the sprayer until it all gets used.
Stays on after rains, though I made a refresher pass after a month or so, anyway.