http://labs.timesonline.co.uk/blog Experiments in web journalism Mon, 16 Nov 2009 11:43:35 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en In 1967, the same year John Lennon said he knew "how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall", the Boeing Company started work on another large hall, in Washington. The Everett Factory, where Boeing builds its aeroplanes, is so large that, were it possible to fill it with ... http://labs.timesonline.co.uk/blog/2009/11/16/the-worlds-largest-buildings-in-albert-halls/ FusionCharts var chart = new FusionCharts("/fusion_charts/MSLine.swf", "ChartId", "580", "450", "0", "0"); chart.setDataURL("/times_graphs/2009/11/music_industry/rev_cut_10.xml"); chart.render("chartdiv"); This is the graph the record industry doesn't want you to see. It shows the fate of the three main pillars of music industry revenue - recorded music, live ... http://labs.timesonline.co.uk/blog/2009/11/12/do-music-artists-do-better-in-a-world-with-illegal-file-sharing/ The TV industry may long have been trying to fight off the predatory might of YouTube and other web-based distractions, but there was always one trump card it held up its sleeve: it was a damn sight nicer watching video on that big black box in the corner of the ... http://labs.timesonline.co.uk/blog/2009/11/11/are-computers-outmanouevring-tvs-in-the-living-room/ Larger graph Over the course of its 97-year history, the British Board of Film Classification has classified 65, 770 films. Here's our attempt to condense that vast and intriguing history into a single page. ("The gradual retreat ... http://labs.timesonline.co.uk/blog/2009/11/05/1063/ Over 40, and still not delivered your "great idea"? You may be too late. A sample of the 100 greatest inventions of the 20th century, as compiled by a patent expert at the British Library, suggests that it is in their thirties that men (and it is invariably men) are ... http://labs.timesonline.co.uk/blog/2009/11/03/inventions-the-product-mostly-of-thirty-somethings/ The search, it seems, may be at an end. Two months ago, we compared the cost of several high-value objects - the Gherkin, a Trident nuclear missile, truffles, etc - by their weight, and discovered that diamonds, at £34,450,000 per kg, comfortably held off Raphael's Madonna of the Pinks as ... http://labs.timesonline.co.uk/blog/2009/10/29/the-worlds-most-expensive-objects-by-weight-ii/ [caption id="attachment_991" align="aligncenter" width="585" caption="International Computers\' predictions for Britain\'s digital development"][/caption] Hindsight can be very unfair. The above graph - from a 1968 article in The Times - shows the predictions made by one UK computer company about when the nation would hit certain milestones along the way to its bright, digital ... http://labs.timesonline.co.uk/blog/2009/10/27/how-the-times-predicted-the-world-wide-web-in-1968/ In the Eighties, when his country was at war with Iraq, Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khomeini, spoke of wanting to create an army "20 million strong", and implored Iran's women to reproduce. A decade later, officials realised it may not be wise to have an apparently infinite flow of people ... http://labs.timesonline.co.uk/blog/2009/10/23/uganda-a-ticking-population-timebomb/ There are two evolutionary reasons for having a nose, runs one theory. The first is to ascertain whether it would be safe to put something in your mouth - to gauge edibility. The second is to advise about whether it would be a good idea to run away - to ... http://labs.timesonline.co.uk/blog/2009/10/23/why-we-think-honey-and-coffee-smell-unpleasant/ Yesterday, for the second time in as many years, the full details of the current BNP membership list were leaked online. Reporters, predictably, had great fun picking through it. (What are the five most common names of BNP members? David, Paul, John, Michael, Peter etc.) From a data point of view, ... http://labs.timesonline.co.uk/blog/2009/10/21/how-many-bnp-members-in-your-constituency/