Blog Archives: November, 2006
Gunpowder, Treason, and Plot
Burning Guy Fawkes “Remember, remember, the fifth of November:
Gunpowder, treason, and plot.
I know of no reason why gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot.”
Parliament and Guy Fawkes This evening, Sunday November 5, my housemate Lana and I had a small party with a couple of friends to celebrate Guy Fawkes Day. A couple years ago my then-housemates Chris and Jason built a huge Guy which we then burned at a fire pit on campus. Having neither the foresight nor initiative to build a 5-foot tall Guy, we had to make do with a “do it yourself crafts” Guy Fawkes Day.
Destruction of Parliament Above right you can see my paper cut outs of Guy Fawkes, his explosives, and Parliament. After our extensive craft session (in which effigies of past and 
Tony and George totally fictitious, entirely unrelated to reality, in no way suggesting this would ever be done in real life, for which the resemblance to any living persons is entirely coincidental, were created), we proceeded with a little burnination. The final fire-related event was, or course, the destruction of Parliament (which you can see at left). Then we went inside, ate ice cream, and watched V for Vendetta which is about, naturally, Guy Fawkes Day. Mmmm, ice cream.
Pie Charts
Edward Tufte is a well-known expert in the field of visually expressing data. One of his most influential books is The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, and anyone who ever makes charts or tables of numbers should read this book. He also maintains a website with ongoing discussions of certain topics, and there’s one you should look at. It’s about the use of pie charts, which he generally discourages, but in this case, he finds some use for them. Look at the first screen, then scroll all the way past the conversation to the bottom of the page and read the comment (and chart) that was posted today. And then I think you’ll agree that that’s the best pie chart ever.
