3 ms·

I wonder how many plausible alternative captions we can come up with for this map? A few takes: * Corruption level (blue is less) * Income per capita (blue i

by tda 8y ago

I wonder how many plausible alternative captions we can come up with for this map? A few takes: * Corruption level (blue is less) * Income per capita (blue is more) * Education level (blue is better) * Price of a beer (blue is more) * etc

aclimatt 8y ago
Just overlay a map of median temperatures and you'll have some interesting insight.
- lmm 8y ago
  I'm not sure how much a simple median would tell you. My instinct is that how much the climate varies over the year might be as or more important than the point average.
- dmerfield 8y ago
  The map of Protestants and Catholics is the one that leaps out at me as aligning quite closely: Religion: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Map_of_Catholicism,_Protestantism,_Orthodoxy_and_Islam_in_Europe.jpg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Map_of_Catholicism,_... Unemployment: http://thesoundingline.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/EU-and-Turkey-unemployment-rates.jpg http://thesoundingline.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/EU-and...
- taysic 8y ago
  What's the insight? Historically those areas in the southern Mediterranean have been harder to defend / had more diversity / immigration / general variables. Is this what you're referring to?
fabianmg 8y ago
Education?. Really?. "Regarding Europe’s other large countries, the proportions were 47.1% for Britain, 31.9% in Germany (which retains a strong tradition of technical education), 43.6% in France, 40.1% in Spain and 39.1% in Poland." http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20130412132724421 http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=2013041...
- tda 8y ago
  From that article Ireland is the most highly educated country in Europe, I never would have guessed that.
  - plug 8y ago
    Thinking about it I'm not that surprised - the population is very small, and most people can/do avail of free third-level education.
    - talideon 8y ago
      That's not the reason for it. Rather, there's a very high premium put on having third-level education in Ireland as it was historically one of the ways to get out of poverty, even if that meant emigrating elsewhere. We could do with more people actually doing vocational courses on the German model, but owing to shifts in our economy, that's not as popular as it once was. Also, education in Ireland isn't quite free. Sure, it's inexpensive compared to, say, the US, but the important thing is that access to third-level institutions is radically egalitarian, practically to a fault, owing to how entrance into third-level education works, based on a points score from your top six subjects in your final second-level exams.
  - rsynnott 8y ago
    Third level education was free until recently and is still far, far cheaper than cost. It's also a fairly wealthy country.
- dahauns 8y ago
  As you already imply with Germany: One big problem I have with educational statistics is that they are usually completely ignoring the value of dual education systems. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dual_education_system https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dual_education_system

by tda 8y ago

aclimatt 8y ago

Just overlay a map of median temperatures and you'll have some interesting insight.

lmm 8y ago
I'm not sure how much a simple median would tell you. My instinct is that how much the climate varies over the year might be as or more important than the point average.
dmerfield 8y ago
The map of Protestants and Catholics is the one that leaps out at me as aligning quite closely: Religion: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Map_of_Catholicism,_Protestantism,_Orthodoxy_and_Islam_in_Europe.jpg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Map_of_Catholicism,_... Unemployment: http://thesoundingline.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/EU-and-Turkey-unemployment-rates.jpg http://thesoundingline.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/EU-and...
taysic 8y ago
What's the insight? Historically those areas in the southern Mediterranean have been harder to defend / had more diversity / immigration / general variables. Is this what you're referring to?

fabianmg 8y ago

Education?. Really?. "Regarding Europe’s other large countries, the proportions were 47.1% for Britain, 31.9% in Germany (which retains a strong tradition of technical education), 43.6% in France, 40.1% in Spain and 39.1% in Poland." http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20130412132724421 http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=2013041...

tda 8y ago
From that article Ireland is the most highly educated country in Europe, I never would have guessed that.
- plug 8y ago
  Thinking about it I'm not that surprised - the population is very small, and most people can/do avail of free third-level education.
  - talideon 8y ago
    That's not the reason for it. Rather, there's a very high premium put on having third-level education in Ireland as it was historically one of the ways to get out of poverty, even if that meant emigrating elsewhere. We could do with more people actually doing vocational courses on the German model, but owing to shifts in our economy, that's not as popular as it once was. Also, education in Ireland isn't quite free. Sure, it's inexpensive compared to, say, the US, but the important thing is that access to third-level institutions is radically egalitarian, practically to a fault, owing to how entrance into third-level education works, based on a points score from your top six subjects in your final second-level exams.
- rsynnott 8y ago
  Third level education was free until recently and is still far, far cheaper than cost. It's also a fairly wealthy country.
dahauns 8y ago
As you already imply with Germany: One big problem I have with educational statistics is that they are usually completely ignoring the value of dual education systems. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dual_education_system https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dual_education_system