Interesting visual representations

[undyingking]

There are a few visual object browser things, but Modista is the nicest one I've seen for shopping purposes. It pulls images of objects from across a range of sites and shows them to you by similarity. Handy for things like shoes which are (I guess) a pain to browse by conventional hierarchical means. (Via the great info_sthetics.)

This one is more fun -- it's a directed graph of languages, based on the relation which for English is expressed as "It's all Greek to me" ie. English -> Greek. There are more and longer chains than I would have expected. Explanation and discussion here on Language Log.

Move over Guinness, the Universal Records Database is here. In a grand spirit of participation, you're encouraged to send in your own record claims, however minor or bizarre. "Corey Henderson displays a tremendous ability for horrendous video game driving by having 11 fiery crashes in one game of Pole Position. Henderson played on a stand-up arcade version of the game and used just one quarter. The record was set on September 20, 2008 at the Challenge Arcade in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania." (Seen on the excellent ResearchBuzz.)

And of course this wouldn't be complete without a Last.fm visualization. I'll be honest and say that the maths of this is a bit beyond my capacity to immediately grasp,but it certainly looks very nice.

Comments

[bateleur.livejournal.com]

I love that directed graph of languages!

I assume there has to be an actual figure of speech to generate a link?

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

So they say, although the discussion swiftly founders in regional differences within language-speaking areas, differences between references to spoken and written, and different meanings of the figure of speech in question (in English, Greek signifies incomprehensibility, but some of the other links seem more to signify suspicion or overuse of jargon).

I suspect it's too complex to really represent with a simple diagram, but it's a fun thinking point anyway.

[secondhand-rick.livejournal.com]

Does that mean that Romanian (at either 5 or 6 levels above Heavenly Script, depending on route taken) is the easiest language to understand?

Forget Esperanto, I'm learing Romanian. After all, look what the Romans accomplished!

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

Romanian is actually pretty easy, from what I've heard - it's very regular. Although Heavenly might be more useful in the long term.

[secondhand-rick.livejournal.com]

Now that is a piece of art I wouldn't mind hanging on my wall. Mostly because it looks good, but also so when people say 'I don't understand modern art', you could give a detailed explanation.

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

Probably looks good when you're stoned, too.

Ooh, I've just noticed this interactive one, that's pretty cool. Most of mine are in the main (lower) red area.

[secondhand-rick.livejournal.com]

I skirt around the edge of the scary jazz/electronic desert.

Like you, my lj user id and my last.fm user id are the same.

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

I suspect that hitting the real outlier driblets is going to be quite a challenge.

[watervole.livejournal.com]

The directed language graph is fun. Shame that parts of it are too faint to read.

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

You should be able to enlarge it (in Firefox, by clicking the magnifying glass cursor on it) -- I find it all readable at full size.

[watervole.livejournal.com]

Thanks. That worked.