Temperature stability in Central America

Once, a friend of mine wondered if there was a place in the world where the temperature stays more or less the same throughout the year. “Well, check out the areas around the equator”, I said and made this map. Although yes, the Caribbean and Central America are not the closest areas to the equator, I still think the stability of air temperature in this region is absolutely astonishing.

For this map, I used the data from WMO, respective Wikipedia pages and a bit of Weather Spark.

Purchasing power in Russia based on potatoes

Some time ago we looked at the nominal monthly income in Russian regions but of course, the picture would be incomplete if we didn’t look at the actual difference in purchasing power. We see that this difference is not as striking as the income one, however, you can easily see the divide between the Western part of the country and basically everywhere else (apart from Khanty-Mansi and Yamalo-Nenets autonomous okrugs).

Here’s the source. Contact me here if you want to know more or hear a lame joke.

Ukrainian Independence Referendum

In 1991, the Ukrainians clearly voted to leave the USSR and become an independent country. The referendum passed with 90.32% of the voters saying “yes, I approve” to the declaration of Ukrainian independence, which stated that continuing a millennium-old tradition of statehood in Ukraine, the country was to become independent as of now (then) and that its territory is indivisible and untouchable.

As shown on the second map, even the regions with significant Russian population decided that they didn’t want to be part of Russia anymore. That is something that this old man refuses to understand. Stop living in 1922, Volodya, your time has passed, leave Ukraine alone and, preferably, Russia too.

Contact me here if you have an idea for another map supporting Ukraine (or any other map for that matter).

Russian regions

In light of recent events, I thought it might be a good idea to make a map with an overview of Russian regions. There are 6 types of subdivisions in Russia:

  1. Republics – nominally autonomous, with its own language and constitution, created around local non-Russian ethnicities in these regions but when it comes to international affairs are basically parts of Russia
  2. Oblasts – your normal region
  3. Krais – your normal region but when new regions were created in the USSR all krais were supposed to have autonomous regions within them, something oblasts couldn’t do. Over time the situation changed, but the names remained the same.
  4. Autnomous okrugs – another form of ethnicity-based subdivisions in Russia but without official regional languages and with an option to become a part of other regions. Among all the autonomous okrugs, currently, only Chukotka is not a part of any other region.
  5. Autonomous oblast – there’s only one of them, which was created by Stalin in the 1920s to send all the Jews there. Never worked and no one knows why it is still there. But hey, they are still trying to preserve Yiddish there!
  6. Federal cities – biggest cities, i.e. Moscow and St. Petersburg

In the first decade of the 21st century, a few autonomous okrugs were fully incorporated into respective oblasts losing their subject status brining the current number of the federal subjects to 83.

As usual, you can contact me here for this and other maps in better resolution, to suggest new maps and for other matters.

Apprehended anti-war protesters in Russia

This invasion is absolutely absurd. This man is a paranoid senile maniac. I stand with Ukraine. I detest everything about this Russian government. I adore those Russians who risk being arrested and go out on the streets to protest these appalling actions of the Soviet Russian dictatorship. I don’t want to take the focus off Ukraine but I’m glad to see that there are Russians who see the situation for what it is – Russian imperialism.

Here’s the source. The data was collected by a human rights organisation that investigates politically motivated arrests, layoffs, etc. and helps those affected by it. If you want to help OVD-News, you can donate money on their website but don’t forget, the Ukrainians need help too and even more. Stay strong, Ukraine, he will fall one day.

Three points for a win in European leagues

For us, football fans in 2022, 3 points per win sounds like the norm and for someone my age, it has always been so. However, before the mid-90s, only a handful of leagues in Europe used this system. Before it, only 2 points were awarded per win. Proposed by Jimmy Hill, thу 3-points system was first introduced in England in 1981 but up until the 1994 World Cup, it didn’t gather much support. Only when it proved successful in this tournament, other countries followed suit. This system increased the value of a victory compared to a draw but did it really decrease the number of draws? I don’t know, I will research it and make a new map for all of us to see.

To make this map, I used this Wikipedia article and some extra sources I had to dig up to gather data on, for instance, Gibraltar. If you want, you can send me some compliments using the contact form.

Regional poverty in Russia

Russia likes to present itself as a developed nation at the forefront of global progress, however, when it comes to income, average numbers in even its richest regions don’t even get close to minimum salary in Western Europe. Of course, the costs of living in Russia are much lower than in “western” countries. Think about cheaper real estate, electricity, gas, public transport and internet, free healthcare and an option to get a university education for free. However, supermarket prices differ but not as much as the salaries and other things essential for modern life such as electronics cost more or less the same.

Maybe the title of this map is a bit harsh and maybe it’s not really poverty, but when in such a big, rich country which produced one of the greatest artists and scientists in the world half of the population has to survive on less than 400€ a month, I feel like certain questions should be raised.

You can contact me here. And of course, here’s the source.

Highest peaks in South America

South America is home to a few peaks significant on the global scale. First of all, it is home to Ojos del Salado, the tallest volcano on Earth. Second, interestingly enough, although Everest is the highest mountain on the planet, Chimborazo is the closest one to space (or the furthest one from the centre of the Earth). This is due to the equatorial bulge, which is the difference between the equatorial and polar diameters of our planet. As the Earth rotates around its axis, the centrifugal force around the equator propels the Earth’s surface outwards, thereby making our planet a spheroid with a bulge around the equator rather than a proper sphere.

Thanks to the Andes, South America also hosts the 3 most elevated capital cities in the world, La Paz (3,640m), Quito (2,850m) and Bogotá (2,625m). An unexpected consequence of that is the advantage the Bolivian national football team gains when hosting games in La Paz. During the qualifiers for World Cups 2006 – 2010, the Bolivian team won 14 and drew 10 games at home and simultaneously won none and drew 2 away.

As usual, comments in the comments, contact through the contact form.

Life expectancy in Asia

According to WHO, most people in Asia when they are born can count on living more than 70 years. Some countries, such as Yemen, Pakistan or Afghanistan, unfortunately, have a lot of work to do to raise their life expectancy levels to the current average on the continent and, unfortunately, the instability caused, among other factors, by centuries of foreign intervention in the region keeps preventing the rise of these numbers. On the other end of the spectrum, we have Macao, Japan and Hong Kong which are not just the best in Asia but in the whole world.

Questions? Suggestions? Requests? Here. Praises? Rotten tomatoes? Corrections? Below in the comments.