Bob CollinsEvery once in a while, we stumble across evidence that there really are signs of intelligent life on this planet.
Darius Kazemi is one such piece of evidence.
This week, the Census Bureau released data from its 2013 American Community Survey showing the migration patterns of people in every ZIP code in the United States.
I downloaded the data but, lacking any expertise in data handling, it was a pointless exercise to try to put any context or conclusion to it.
So Darius did.
He runs a company called Feel Train, and he created “letters” to explain why he’s leaving a community, tapping into the raw census data to explain it.
You’ll need a little time on your hands; it only randomly generates the essays, which, for the record, can be pretty funny in their misplaced context. He’s still tweaking things to remove negatives from paragraphs that are positive, for example. But it’s a start.
Here, for example, is what I’ve gotten for two Minnesota communities today.
You know what would be cooler? If people really did have to write a letter explaining why they move away. The Stranger, a Seattle outfit, has even created a template for its citizens.
By the way, here’s a completely unrelated sign of intelligent life that debuted this week: A Twitter account that will tweet whenever Miguel Sano is coming to the plate for the Minnesota Twins, so that you can drop what you’re doing and watch.
You can thank Ben Collin of St. Paul for that one.
