Trees Worth Knowing About

An infographic comparing the wise old men of the tree world. 

Click this link for full infographic

Detail of illustration of the world's oldest tree.

Detail of infographic

I spent my antipodean Christmas break in Northland - the remote and sparsely populated top chunk of NZ's North Island. I was delighted to discover not just gorgeous scenery but also some cultural gems there. 

Northland, New Zealand

Northland was a crucible of modern New Zealand; here the Declaration of Independence was signed, soon superseded by the controversial Treaty of Waitangi. Here Busby, Hobson, Clendon and Hone Heke battled to protect their interests with flags, contracts, and fire power. And here lives something more timeless than all of those famous warriors and diplomats: Tāne Mahuta, an ancient kauri tree and one of the oldest and largest living things on earth.

Seeing the virgin kauri forest is a moving experience. There is the smell of wet rainforest and the sound of a million tiny creatures fighting their corner of the ecosystem. A giant kauri is not only incomprehensibly vast, it is also smooth, with just a chaotic, spiky crown high above the ground. The towering giant gives an impression of serenity, but it is not thanks to a peaceful nature that kauri have survived since the Jurassic. They have five clever strategies to kick the young upstarts in the shins.

1.Bigger than the rest
Crown higher than canopy.

2.Unclimbable
Sheds lower branches as it grows, avoiding vines.

3.Shed skin to stay bug-free
Flaking bark defends from parasites.

4.Chemical warfare
Acidic litter from bark around base of tree releases other nutrients from clay, stopping other trees from getting them.

5.Scare off the bad bugs, share with the good ones
Acidity, waxes and phenols deter microorganisms which would otherwise rot the kauri, but symbiotic relationship with fungus mycorrhiza helps nutrient uptake, starving competitors.

Before my visit to Waipoua Forest, I was determined not to become a 'tree geek', but I'm afraid it's too late.  I'm in love with Tāne Mahuta and his contemporaries, and I thoroughly recommend you visit Northland.

A Christmas greeting from me to you

Open publication - Free publishing - More christmas

The 1376 Census of Sulmona (& Protovis Donut Chart)

Data viz people love censuses.  They are a mirror for our nations to reflect upon ourselves.  There are lots of modern data viz examples using census data.  But no one seems to have analysed historic censuses.

Some of the earliest censuses which survive today began appearing in the 1200s and 1300s.  I've been enjoying Joseph & Frances Gies book, which explores what these early sources tell us about family life in the Middle Ages.  Since I used to live near Sulmona in central Italy, I had read about the rare Sulmona census of 1376 in Ezio Mattiocco's book.  Signore Mattiocco uses text, and the odd table, to explain the data.  Wouldn't it be great to see some of that visually?

The Gies don't mention the 1376 Sulmona census, so I thought I'd apply some of their analytic approaches to it in my data visualisation exploration.  

To get us started, here's a view of what land was used for in 1376.  The majority was ploughed, but a surprising amount is allocated to wine and hemp.

I created this chart in JavaScript / Protovis, but Blogger doesn't appear to support Protovis, so here's a static image instead.  In the original you can roll over each wedge to see the number of hectares represented.  Thanks to Nathan Yau's Visualize This for the tutorial.

NZ Unemployment Continues to Climb & LOESS curves

Today's data viz challenge has been using R (stats software) to build a chart of New Zealand's unemployment with a LOESS curve showing the big picture behind the fluctuating data points.  LOESS curves are clever, and R has a function for them, giving you a curving trend line in a way you just couldn't achieve with MS Excel.

Although the task in hand is charting up some data, I was surprised to see just how dramatic the unemployment story is - jobseeker numbers have almost quadrupled in the past three years!

Is this better or worse than other countries?  The mood of the nation doesn't seem as pessimistic as elsewhere, so perhaps others are even worse off.

Creating Step Charts in R

I'm determined to boost my programming skills - this looks like the only way to create truly customised data visualisation. So my weekend projects tend to consist of many hours tapping away at the keyboard until I get something I'm happy with.
Today I've created a chart showing the price of a postage stamp in New Zealand. Unlike most price-by-time charts, postage stamps suit step charts, because prices are fixed for long periods between step changes.
Now the chart below might not look like rocket science, but bear in mind that neither Excel nor Illustrator has a built-in step chart type, as Nathan Yau points out in his data viz book "Visualize This". So to create this in something like Excel, you would have to use some kind of work-around.
The downside is that to use the wider array of chart types available in R (free statistics software), you need to get your hands dirty with a wee bit of programming. Since that's what I'm trying to learn, it all works out quite nicely!

Creative weekend projects: getting crafty

Project 1: The veggie garden for small spaces

Decking frame plus polythene sheet provides tray for bucket plant pots

Thanks to an Urban Pantry talk (highly recommended), I learnt a great tip for getting veggie results even in the cosy corner of my deck which I like to call my "garden".  Square buckets.  That's right, it's time to clear up the eclectic mix of terracotta urns and quaint milk pails.  We waste less space and less water if we pack our plants in cubically.  Well, maybe I won't get rid of the eclectic mix just yet - I get sentimental about my plants and their unusual collection of pots!  But I was determined to try out the environmentally friendly approach as well.
The buckets were cheap (much more so than plant pots) but the challenge was working out a tray to hold water beneath them.  My low-tech solution is a frame of decking timber and polythene sheet liner.
Buckets 10 @ $2.50 = $25
Polythene (much more than I needed) = $7
Decking timber (cut into the lengths I needed in the shop) = $6
Basic power drill to put it all together and drill holes in buckets = $40 (but who's counting?  It's about time I owned more power tools...)
So my pea seedlings are happy, I'm happy and kitty is certainly happy!

Project 2: Cute cushions!

Piping and ties on the left, and on the right, laboriously quilted by moi!

Some have bold pattens on one side and ties on the other 

I can never quite find the right level of quirky colourfulness in bought cushions.  Or if I do, they cost a fortune. I was convinced I could do a better job myself.  If I'd known how much work it would be, I might not have started!  My darling and very creative sister has been an invaluable tutor and partner in crime.
I now have four cushions pretty much finished and two to go.  I just need to finish before Ross' mum comes back to NZ and wants her sewing machine back...
Fabrics, piping, thread, etc. = c.$60
Cushion inners = $30
My sanity while learning to quilt = priceless

Project 3: The worm tower

Installing the worms - bleurgh!

Actually, I can't take credit for this one.  But I have watched enthusiastically as my ex-biologist boyfriend has brought it to fruition.  It all started with Ranui Community Garden and Ben Cheah's passion as he told us about all the good worms can bring to your garden when you put worm towers in.
This is a little different than an above-ground worm farm - the tower is part buried in the soil and the worms are free to come and go through large holes.  It's a lot more difficult to get the "products" of worm-farming with this method - the casts and tea tend to end up going into the soil or are only gathered periodically.
However, it's practically free to create and they process all your compostable waste for you whilst also improving your soil - not bad, eh?
We're waiting to see if we've got it right - if the worms are happy, they'll stay!
Buckets = $5
Worms = gift of Ranui Community Garden
Garden fork to get through the solid clay which passes for soil around here = $11
Old egg cartons etc for bedding = free!

Project 4: a bit of greenery

Life needs a bit more pistachio green, don't you think?

My walls were bare, I needed some cheering up and fast!  Luckily Ikea came to the rescue.  I started with some cheap-as pine frames and then added green paint, green silk, some flowery green cotton, sponges, beeswax and a fair bit of PVA glue.  Ta dah!
It also helped that the nearby dollar store was having a closing down sale (Headline: Sue takes Ulster thriftiness to new levels - waiting til the dollar store is closing down before making her purchase...) and was selling beautiful green mounts at 60 cents each.  Bargain!
Frames and clock = c.$40
Printing my fave photos / maps / etc. = c.$4
Mounts and paint = c.$5
Everything else = scrounged!

Disclaimer
Before you think I'm superwoman / a liar, I didn't achieve all of these in one weekend!  The worm tower and the planter are probably feasible one-day projects.  The cushions I wouldn't recommend to anyone who has a full time job!

Which is your favourite project?

A week of discovery

1. You don’t have to spend a fortune to start backyard beekeeping.
2. Marua (Maah-rua) Road, Ellerslie.  What a great street.  My new favourite lunch spot, my new favourite food store and a second hand bookshop all in a few hundred metres.
3. Mexican Specialities – cafe and Mexican importer – YUUUMMM!
4. Asian food wholesaler / retailer: Shaji’s Spices.  These guys have every kind of seed, pulse and spice under the sun, at great prices and they’re just passionate about their food.  And they get five deliveries of fresh Indian bread a day.  Five.  How cool is that?
5. Auckland’s iconic Sky Tower has (thick) glass panels in the floor of the observation deck so you can walk over hundreds of metres of thin air.  Which might have been a problem for me if I hadn’t already discovered...
6.  I can overcome my fear of heights.  Tree Adventures.  Fun and sore arms.
7. Auckland Council gives 2 hours worth of consultation free about improving the energy efficiency and healthiness of your home.  And then EECA give grants for things like insulation materials and workmanship.  But we all knew that already, right?
8. Wool insulation just isn’t as good as fibreglass, inch for inch.  L
9. A great Italian pizzeria in central Auckland.  Real pizza.  At last.  Thank goodness.  These guys are super friendly too.
10.  Medievo: an Age-of-Empires-esque computer game which I can play within my browser.  That could cause much distraction...