U.S. Balance of Payments for Goods ($M)

Using Swivel.com for data visualization to best represent the magnitude of change, here is the U.S. Balance of Payments for Goods over the last 20 years (1979-2008).

Today's Motivation

"Daily Motivation" is a feature in my sidebar. It has really good

Image by jesuscm via Flickr

sayings and this was the one for today:

Know what you want to do, hold the thought firmly, and do every day what should be done, and every sunset will see you that much nearer the goal.

Elbert Hubbard
(June 19, 1856 – May 7, 1915)
American writer, publisher, artist, and philosopher.

Honoring All Who Served

Today is Veterans Day. For the sacrifice of our veterans and for the cause of world peace, here are four sites offering a graphical history of war, casualties and costs:

Conflict Map
The Education Section of the Nobel eMuseum offers a timeline map in Flash that covers conflicts throughout the 20th Century. Move throughout the map and zoom in for specific data.

Wars, Massacres and Atrocities of the Twentieth Century
Matthew White offers a timeline with year-by-year death toll over the 20th Century. Advance to next slides for quarterly maps and excellent summaries. Some data is a few years old, but very well done. Also, see the main site, Historical Atlas of the Twentieth Century. Lots of info here. A "well-done" to author of the site and librarian, Matthew White.

Wars and Genocides of the 20th Century
Piero Scaruffi has an excellent site listing wars and casualties ranging from 1860 to 2003. During the 20th Century, 160 million people died in wars.

The Wide World of War
Fact Monster provides an excellent collection of interesting details dealing with war. Included is everything from Battles That Changed History to A Who's Who of Warriors. Also valuable is the Timeline of U.S. Military Operations.