The chart above is ripped off from a James Fallows blog post that says:
Chinese chart of the day: airfares on the highly lucrative Beijing-Shanghai route, before and after the arrival of the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed train. This via the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation, in Sydney….See if you can guess when the high-speed rail service began.
Pretty amazing especially in light of the many claims that no one will use our high speed rail to go to LA (though I realize there are arguments that Chinese transportation consumers are different that Californian transportation consumers). But the only reason for the remark above is to segue to a completely different subject: cool charts.
Isn’t it amazing what people gather and what we can learn from it. The other day I was amazed to see this chart showing the number of people using different mobile devices at different times of day:
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1183808
And this is not based on surveys or polls. Its computers tracking what operating systems are being used at what times. Is my awe a sign that I retain a childlike sense of wonder or that I am getting old?