Sketchplanations

Hear from “probably the UK’s greatest statistician”, and author of The Art of Uncertainty, Sir David Spiegelhalter.

This episode was so fun and interesting I’ve listened to it twice and enjoyed it the second time as much as the first. Find it here:
podcast.sketchplanations.com/microlives-t...

Latitude and longitude: How to remember which is which

5 Gift Guide for Christmas - meaningful Christmas with less stuff

Not too late as an idea?

Concept from Pragmatic Parent

Apples and ideas behave differently - illustrating an exchange of ideas and apples

"If you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange apples, then you and I will still each have one apple. But if you have an idea and I have an idea and we exchange these ideas, then each of us will have two ideas."

Ideas are different from things. They're additive and abundant.

It's National Tree Week. Here are some sketches about trees.

"somewhere between that abstract red square, and the real kind of butcher heart, is the graphic shape that kind of looks like that, and kind of looks like that, and it's just right to transport this idea of a symbol for love."
— Christoph Niemann, from Abstract
@christophniemann.bsky.social

Growing up in the UK, I never encountered the practice of leaving exposed starter bars on houses. However, while travelling through Central America and Asia, I was surprised to see these exposed rods in many towns and cities.

The "hope" in the name reflects the anticipation and optimism of adding to their homes in the future when the family grows or their financial situation improves.

Leaving starter bars sticking out is a pragmatic approach, saving time and money when adding the next floor, as the structure is already partially prepared for the expansion.

Pillars of hope, steel starter bars or starter rods stick out of a house so that in the future it's easier to add an extra storey

"Pillars of Hope" is a tongue-in-cheek name for steel starter bars, also known as starter rods or rebar extensions, that protrude from the roofs of houses after construction.

What is the newsletter paradox: your email newsletter subscriber list grows when you do nothing and people unsubscribe when you send

Write a newsletter? Perhaps you can relate.

Don't lose heart.

PS You can subscribe at sketchplanations.com/subscribe

Clear is kind from Brené Brown

It's World Kindness Day.

One of the simplest and wisest views on kindness from Brené Brown.

Can you be clearer with someone today? It's kinder.

Redshift and the light from stars

Roses are red, roses are blue,

depending on their velocity relative to you.

(from __Dawn__Amber__ on Reddit)

The remarkable illusion of a mirage

November is usually a good month to start thinking about snerdling

Collective nouns

A collective noun is a word used to describe a group of individuals or things — most commonly groups of animals. The best capture character and imagination in a single word.

As there appears to be no established authority, may the best collective noun win. A torment of personal trainers?

Halloween explanation from Big Ideas Little Pictures

An explanation of Halloween from Big Ideas Little Pictures

Do you know what Halloween means and where it comes from?

Excerpt from Big Ideas Little Pictures - bigideas.pictures

Two houses showing different approaches to heating: heating people and heating spaces

Heating people, heating spaces

With well-insulated houses and central heating as standard, I always grew up with heating the space as how you stay warm in the winter. A colleague once shared with me that where he'd lived, they thought of it as heating people, not spaces when looking to stay warm.

A tool for making sense of complex problems

Rich pictures are a systems thinking tool to visualise what you know or think about a problem space — without needing a strict method, structure, or artistic skill.

I was rather star-struck as Mark inspired a number of my sketches

Mark's new (8th!) book Rhyme & Reason: geni.us/forsyth-rhym...
(# affiliatelink)

I absolutely loved listening back to yesterday’s podcast episode with author and etymologist Mark Forsyth - @Inkyfool

True to form, Mark is both fascinating and at times hilarious.

Have a listen: podcast.sketchplanations.com/ordering-adj...

Or search Sketchplanations wherever you listen

Sorry! Typo. You are 💯
Was meant to be:

Fast is discontinuous, slow is continuous

I love that Calvin and Hobbes!

What is systolic and diastolic blood pressure — diagram showing heart contraction (systolic) and relaxation (diastolic) with 120/80 example and pressure graph.

The heart is a really, really amazing thing.

I was always curious to know what the 120/80 numbers I'd get in a blood pressure reading actually meant. Voila.

--
This is not medical advice, and I am not a doctor.

How to remember if you did something illustration: a person does a star jump as they leave the house and lock the front door. Later on, remembering that they did a star jump helps remember that they locked the door.

When you find yourself thinking back to whether you did it or not, you will know for sure when you remember the strange thing that you did that is connected to it. The only limit is your imagination.

Ironically, I can’t remember where I learned this — I must not have followed this tip.

How to remember if you did something

A simple way to remember if you locked your car, turned the gas off, watered the plants or whatever, is to do something unusual around the time that you do it.

There is no away.