Timelines

Animation Shows Earth’s Temperature Trends from 0 to 2019 AD

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Today’s animation comes to us from Reddit user /u/bgregory98 and visualizes global temperature trends from 0 to 2019 AD, the results are eye-opening:

Across the 2,000-year timeline, average global temperatures remain largely steady for the first 1,000 years and drop slightly for the next 500-750 years; what’s truly interesting about this animation is what happens in the final 200+ years. As the timeline approaches the industrial age, temperatures begin to rise and then skyrocket through to the modern day… the evidence is almost unsettling; human activity is undeniably affecting Earth’s temperatures.

Global warming and climate change have been hot topics for years. Even so, some people still don’t believe it’s real. However, scientists have studied climate models going back 50 years that have accurately predicted warming temperatures across the globe. These global temperatures have consistently risen around 0.9 degrees Celsius since 1970. What these models have also confirmed is that human activity is the cause. Climate change is caused from excess CO2 in the atmosphere. When people burn fossil fuel it creates carbon dioxide. This CO2 releases heat which then gets trapped in the earths upper atmosphere for 100 years, heating up the surface and leading to climate destruction. When scientists go to study climate change one thing they look at are Oxygen isotopes from ocean sediment. This is because they are tied to the earths ice caps. When water evaporates from the ocean’s surface, light isotopes of oxygen evaporate quicker because it takes less energy to break the chemical bonds. If these light isotopes then get carried to polar ice caps and trapped in the ice the ratio of these isotopes in the ocean goes down. What we are seeing now is the exact opposite. As the ice caps melt more oxygen isotopes are deposited into the ocean and the sea level rises. These ratios are recorded in shells of marine microorganisms and allow scientists to record how much the ice caps have grown or shrank around the globe. 


Economists and scientists alike believe that taxing carbon is one way to strengthen the global response towards climate change. A carbon tax is a fee that would be imposed on the use of coal, oil and gas. The goal would be to motivate people to move to cleaner energy sources by saving them money and also making them more energy efficient. Judging by the information in this automated graphic, the worlds temperature is going to continue to grow at an exponential rate because of the human race. What we do today will determine if this leads to the destruction of earth in hundreds of years or if we can slowly begin to repair the damage done. If everyone did their part even just small changes can make a big difference!

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Business Visualizations

Chart Visualizes the Price of the Ford Mustang Every Year Since Debut

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The Ford Mustang is a legendary American muscle car that symbolizes the culture of open-road freedom. The Ford Motor Company designed the vehicle to embody the European sports car, but with a price point that’s more attainable for middle-class Americans. The idea was a massive success. The first Mustang debuted in 1964, and the Mustang enjoys a legacy and loyal fans to this day. The team at Speedway Motors celebrates the Mustang with an illustrated graphic depicting each Mustang iteration, along with the price at release and the price adjusted for inflation.

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The Price of a Mustang Every Year Since 1964, Adjusted for Inflation

Through this detailed and illustrated chart, we can see the evolution of this vehicle. The first Mustang Hardtop was priced at $2,368, which is $24,3444 in today’s market, emphasizing its affordability in the world of muscle cars. While the Mustang was a gamble, it proved to be a phenomenon and sold over 100,000 cars in its first four months. The Mustangs’ popularity persisted throughout the ‘60s, and Ford focused on improved performance and power, which meant prices rose. This trend continued until the early ‘70s gas crisis when Ford had to adjust to new consumer demands for better fuel mileage. They designed the Mustang II with a smaller chassis and less muscle to adjust to the changes in the economy.

The Mustang’s popularity hit a dip in the early ‘80s, and the Camaro almost outsold it. Ford innovated and adjusted again with the release of the Fox Mustang, designed to be versatile as a day-to-day muscle car. As technology advanced into the ‘90s, Ford introduced popular new features like a V8 engine and SN-95 chassis, which we can see featured in the Mustang GT.

Today’s Mustang is loaded with the most innovative features, designed for performance and comfort. The current model is the Dark Horse Premium, which sells for $69,375. While it’s a flashy and popular car, it lacks some of the performance boosts of past models, yet the price is high.

The Mustangs’ prices have risen a lot over the decades, for several key reasons besides inflation. First, safety standards have increased with innovative technology making drivers safer. Some safety features are required, while others are sought-after bonuses that drivers are looking for. A key aspect of a muscle car is the power and performance. Modern technology advances the performance of the vehicle, but that engineering comes at a higher price point. Material costs have advanced as well, from labor to raw materials. Cars, in general, are now more expensive to build.

The team’s chart is a true testament to the power of visual data. Through the images and price points, we can see changes in the Mustang reflecting cultural and economic shifts, creating a fascinating timeline of an icon among automobiles. Do you have a favorite Mustang model? What do you think about the price changes over time?

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Business Visualizations

Billionaires Who Built Up from Small Businesses

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The world of entrepreneurship loves the tale of a small business startup that grew into a billion-dollar business. The team at Ooma illustrated the biggest names in this world of billionaires with a timeline showing how long it took them to reach their status from a small business start-up to a billion-dollar milestone.

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Billionaires who started as small business owners and how long it took to get there

The graphic features 28 billionaires who built up from a small business. All names were pulled from the Forbes 400 list. While the graphic is stuffed full of details, the most fascinating is the measure of how many years they needed to become billionaires.

The first person to achieve the “self-made” billionaire status was John D. Rockefeller in 1916. The oil tycoon rode the wave of the industrial era to billionaire status. Today, there are almost 3,000 billionaires worldwide. The U.S. is home to the highest number, at 813 billionaires. We can see an industry trend in this graphic, which is that tech dominates. This is no surprise. As Rockefeller benefited from the need for oil, how we worked and what we produced changed completely, and tech has changed every aspect of our lives, so it’s no surprise that these entrepreneurs have reaped the rewards.

Notable examples are Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft, who led the way in introducing the personal computer to the general public. Warren Buffett took a different approach. He grew wealth by investing wisely in assets. Elon Musk started his first business with Zip2 in the early days of the Internet.

The Billionaire Journeys

The chart shows us that it took different people vastly different amounts of time to reach their status. Bezos and Zuckerberg were the fastest, becoming billionaires in just four years. Others like Donald Bern and John Menard Jr. had a slow build that took 43 years. Many people land somewhere in between these extremes, emphasizing that successful entrepreneurship takes dedication and persistence. We also see on that chart that there is only one woman, Diane Hendricks. This suggests that entrepreneurship and business are still rife with bias.

The Journeys of the Top 10 Billionaires

This is how long the wealthiest billionaires took to hit their status:

  • Jeff Bezos: 4 years
  • Mark Zuckerberg: 4 years
  • Jan Koum: 5 years
  • Larry Page: 6 years
  • Sergey Brin: 6 years
  • Henry Samueli: 9 years
  • Bill Gates: 12 years
  • Michael Dell: 12 years
  • Steve Cohen: 12 years
  • David Tepper: 13 years

Many people on this list transformed their industries, showing that successful entrepreneurs are creative and innovative. They show us that entrepreneurs should look for emerging trends in their industry, leverage new technology, and make strong investments. While a lot depends on love, it’s clear that persistence is key. The list gives us an idea of what kind of industries people can generate billion-dollar businesses in and how long it might take to get there. This chart is a great introduction to these business pioneers, and many of these billionaires have published books and given out advice on how they made their businesses a success.

 

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Misc Visuals

Exploring Science Fiction Technology That Became a Reality

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Science fiction often features futuristic technology that once seemed unimaginable. Yet, many sci-fi stories have accurately predicted innovations that eventually became real. Throughout history, countless fictional inventions have transitioned from mere ideas to actual advancements. This fascinating work from AI PRM illustrates the time gap between when these imaginative concepts first appeared in fiction and when they were finally brought to life.

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50 Science Fiction Technologies and How Long They Took to Become a Reality

Their research examined sci-fi technology that exists today in these categories:

  • Space Exploration
  • Communication
  • Robotics and AI
  • Health and Biotechnology
  • Weapons and Defense

When the 1927 film Metropolis became a hit, it was difficult to imagine that the video calls in the movie would ever become a reality, but today, this is a commonplace technology we rely on. The team shows us that the first real-world video phone was created by AT&T in 1964. In 2003, Skype made video calls widely accessible.

As for artificial intelligence in our lives, E.M. Forster’s The Machine Stops depicted a world where people had automated phones that could respond to their commands and help them manage their lives. This became a common trope in science fiction, but today, with the rise of devices like Alexa and Google Home, this technology doesn’t seem unusual at all. Believe it or not, when Jules Verne’s Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea was released in 1870, submarines seemed like a feat of imagination to the reading public. But the Nautilus was inspired by a French sub prototype. The first submarine was launched just a few years later by Isaac Peral in 1888. Explore more technology once thought impossible throughout the team’s article.

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