I Fought the Law

Moron Pie

One of the great things about the Internet is its ability to generate a great deal of information and debate on either side of an extremely pointless controversy. For example, on a recent Internet forum about sucker bets I was unable to convince my fellow users that a pound of gold is lighter than a pound of feathers.* On that same forum, someone tardily disputed another bit of trivia that I had posted -- that Alaska is the easternmost U.S. state because part of the Aleutian Islands lie in the eastern hemisphere. The thread died before that debate really took shape, but I'm not willing to give that one up. Basically, the dispute arose over the fact that the International Date Line actually zig-zags around Russian and Alaska, keeping all of Alaska in the same time zone. However, the hemispheres are delineated by longitudinal lines,** not time zones, and the 180 degree line still cuts through the islands, so I'm comfortable saying that part of Alaska is indeed in the eastern hemisphere (besides, I got this tidbit from Eugene Volokh, and he's generally a credible source on matters of pointless trivia).

Anyway, on to the actual point of this post. Apparently pie charts are bad. I read some of the links and I'm not convinced. Like any type of chart, they're better for some things than for others, but I'm not ready to swear off pie charts just because a bunch of people on the Internet say I should. Of course, if Wikipedia ever says pie charts are bad I suppose I'll have to rethink my stance.

* No really, it is. Gold, and other precious metals, are measured in Troy weights, and a Troy pound is lighter than a regular pound.

** According to The Fountain of Unquestionable Truth, the most common divider of the two hemispheres is the Prime Meridian, which is opposite the International Date Line. However, a few of the Aleutian Islands are clearly visible in this picture of the Eastern Hemisphere, and the End Meridian, as opposed to the IDL, does indeed pass between two of the islands. It would make a lot more sense to divide the hemispheres spatially rather than temporally, so I'm sticking to my story.

Posted by hb at February 24, 2007 05:32 PM