Whether it's getting people to better understand the distribution of people throughout France or more contentious variables such as life expentancy, fuel consumption or violent crimes throughout the world, the field of explaining data is progressing, and with it hopefully greater understanding.

One relatively new way of explaining information are cartograms. A cartogram is a map in which some thematic mapping variable is substituted for land area. The geometry or space of the map is distorted in order to convey the information of this alternate variable.

 This is an article spotlighting a free volunteer opportunity in Central America. In the midst of a global recession we cannot in good conscience ask volunteers to pay money to help. Helping should always be free.

(Kaiteur Falls, Guyana)

Our goal was simple, prove that the cheapest way to volunteer is not through a pre-planned all-inclusive trip but rather by going to a place in need and offering your services.

This blog entry intends to transcend the limited value and readership of the diary-like format in which I have written so far to appeal to the broader audience of those trying to do what we are doing with advice that has some degree of usefulness.

For anyone seeking to start an NGO or NPO (non-profit), know this: it is not easy and it is not cheap. Professor Collins, asked an important question

As planned, Dan and I met up at a bookstore café just south of Boston to discuss the prospects for our project-to-be. The goal of this meeting was threefold: 1) to exchange any new ideas we had independently generated since the last time we met, 2) to narrow our focus from among the new and preexisting ideas and 3) to hatch out a plan of attack for the best of our ideas. We were perhaps a bit

My co-conspirator, Dan Shafer (yes, the very same author of the popular "Shafer Diaries", available for your reading pleasure here on the weave), and I have decided to combine our collective energies, diverse knowledge bases and specialized skill sets to found and develop an independent grassroots Non Governmental Organization (NGO) of our own design.  This journal will serve various important

Day 8, January 12th, 2008 – What day of the week is it?

After a very peaceful and successful trip to Ethiopia, I returned to Kenya hoping conditions had improved. I dropped my bags back at the YMCA and took a taxi to a prominent micro-finance organization to meet with the C.E.O about partnering for my trip. I didn’t realize that it was Saturday until I pulled up to an almost empty compound,

Day 7, January 4th, 2008 – Not ready to leave

As my taxi pulled into Moi International Airport at 6:00 A.M, I was shocked with what I found. There are as many or more coach buses here than I’ve seen at national sporting events in the U.S. This is an exodus of tourists out of Mombasa. France even sent a plane to Mombasa to evacuate its tourists, and 4 other countries including Britain has put

Day 6, January 3rd, 2008 – “American family barely makes it out of Mombasa alive”-cnn

As I sipped the first cup of Nescafe, I picked up The Nation to read the headline “Save our Beloved Country.”  I glanced around the room to find that all major newspapers in the country had run this headline. The media had united towards a common aim of ending the violence. Perhaps united by the

Day 5-  January 2nd, 2008 

On my way down to breakfast I picked up a copy of the Daily Nation whose front page headlines read “35 burnt alive in church: Death toll from violence climbs as refuge seekers attacked: ODM asks its supporters to stop killing political opponents: UN calls for end to carnage.” Again I savored my food and drink. Fuel crises as well as reports of homes being burnt

Day 4, January 1st 2008- To safer shores?

      I awoke at 4:00 A.M for my taxi-ride to the airport. My flight to Mombasa wasn’t until 7:00 A.M with the airport only 20 minutes away, however I wasn’t taking any chances with the road blocks that had been starting early in the morning and the overnight violence of the previous nights. I made it to the Wilson domestic airport of

Day 3 – December 31st, The last day of 2007

Nairobi was on a knife’s edge when I awoke. I called my friend who lives on Langata road just by Kibera, and he said meeting was impossible. His housing complex had been surrounded by slum dwellers from Kibera who were armed with machetes, blunt objects, and basically anything they could find. He is both relatively wealthy and

Day 2 – Dec 30th, 2008 – Jumping in and catching up

            Halfway between jetlag and sensory overload, I awoke at 6:30 a.m. The small t.v at the YMCA was blaring dramatic music as NTV (Nairobi Television Channel) listed the members of parliament who had been voted in thus far. Guards, workers, and patrons sat captivated as screen after screen popped up with new percentages of ODM and PNU votes. The MP’s names were unfamiliar to me, and although my interest was high I couldn’t put them into any sort of context as they scrolled on and on. I figured I would try and get some intel on a walking tour of my old stomping grounds.

On December 28th, 2007 I set out on a trip to visit humanitarian NGO’s around Kenya in order to organize a program for American high school students to come and see what is being done “on the ground” to help people. My timing had been circumstantial due to my availability and the conditions of the university grant I received to do such research.