Providing accurate and timely information about what matters in Franklin, MA since 2007. * Working in collaboration with Franklin TV and Radio (wfpr.fm) since October 2019 *
Monday, October 30, 2023
Wonderful World of Wine (WWW) Episode 249: David Morrison The Wine Gourd Blog Interview (audio)
Wednesday, July 12, 2023
State Facts for Students: MA summary via Census.gov
"What’s your favorite flavor(s) of ice cream? Did you know there were 427 U.S. ice cream and frozen dessert makers in 2020, 23 more than a decade earlier (2010)?
Students can explore this and other cool data like the total number of kids in the U.S. ages 8 to 14 and the total number of U.S. amusement parks.
What better way to celebrate National Ice Cream Month than to enjoy a frozen treat while using our State Facts for Students data tool to discover oh-so-sweet stats!"
State Facts for Students: MA summary via Census.gov |
You can find this data (and more) online at -> https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/sis/resources/data-tools/state-facts.html
National Ice Cream Month |
Sunday, February 12, 2023
"Housing choice is mismatched to need" & 15 minute city model
"Housing choice is mismatched to need."
Southern Urbanism "Housing choice is mismatched to need" |
You can visit DataTown at the Mass Housing Project to get our local stats -> https://mhpcenterforhousingdata.shinyapps.io/DataTown/#
"The 15-minute city model is the idea that cities should be designed, or redesigned, so that within a 15-minute walk or bike of home, people should be provided the opportunity to access many of their daily needs like work, food, health, education, culture and leisure."
The 15-minute city model |
Shared from Twitter -> https://twitter.com/berkie1/status/1624381496348794883
Sunday, July 31, 2022
"In a market badly out of kilter, many older residents are stuck in their homes" - Franklin an example
"They bought their homes when they were young, making money, and raising families. Now they’re empty nesters, in or nearing retirement, and living in houses that are too big for them.But many older residents in Massachusetts who’d like to downsize — and turn over spacious dwellings to younger buyers desperate for room to expand —are finding it difficult, if not impossible. Even though their property values have ballooned, smaller homes or condos are scarce and carry prohibitive price tags in the state’s out-of-kilter real estate market.
“We’re just sitting tight right now,” said Mary Prosnitz, 66, of Wellesley. She and her 69-year-old husband, Jay, raised two sons, now grown, in the five-bedroom home they purchased 38 years ago and still live in."
A wide variety of housing types enables people of different means and at different stages of life to have viable housing options within a community. Different housing types allow for greater density in places where it is most appropriate, such as near transit and commercial, retail and business centers.Looking at the adjacent comparison between the mix of housing types in your community and Massachusetts as a whole, do you think your community is achieving the kind of diversity that fosters a wide variety of choices? Does your mix of housing structure types foster inclusion or exclusion? Are you making the most of the land available for development?
Wednesday, July 27, 2022
Franklin vs Worcester housing production by permit since 2000
"Worcester is looking at inclusionary zoning to add affordable homes. This chart shows how slow housing development has been last +10 yrs, even as city's population grew.
For more graphics like this, check out http://mhp.net/datatown"
Worcester data:
housing development has been last +10 yrs in Worcester, MA |
What does Franklin's data look like?
Note: please be careful with the visual comparison. The volume scale for Franklin (300-200-100) is significantly less than Worcester's (600-400-200).
The chart depicts how many new housing permits that Franklin has issued for each year of the data collection (net of demolitions), broken out by type of building
Franklin and Worcester data together to see the info on the same scale |
Sparked by the MHP tweet - https://twitter.com/mhpdata/status/1551662361110630401
Monday, July 4, 2022
Census Bureau Profile America Facts for Features: The Fourth of July - 2022
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Thursday, April 7, 2022
Fertility Rates: Declined for Younger Women, Increased for Older Women (US Census data)
Stable fertility rates 1990-2019 mask distinct variations by age. Learn more in this America Counts story. |
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Friday, December 24, 2021
News Literacy Project --> a concise one-pager to better understand and avoid misinformation
"New from @NewsLitProject -- a concise one-pager with key insights, takeaways and reminders to help you and your loved ones better understand and avoid misinformation:
More about misinformation -> https://t.co/8UTBmli8NO
One pager -> https://t.co/3FyPn4Wg4a"
News Literacy Project --> a concise one-pager to better understand and avoid misinformation |
Wednesday, December 1, 2021
"Whoever controls big data technologies will control the resources for development"
"President Biden came away from his summit with China’s President Xi Jinping on Nov. 15 committed to prosecuting what he called “simple, straightforward competition” with China. Yet Beijing is already beating the United States and its allies in one crucial domain: data.Data is the oil of the 21st century, the indispensable resource that will fuel artificial-intelligence algorithms, economic strength and national power. The wellspring of this data is all of us: our health records and genetic sequences, our online habits, the supply chain flows of our businesses, the terabytes of imagery guzzled by phones, drones and autonomous cars.The competition for global influence in the 21st century will require protecting and harnessing this data to achieve commercial, technological and military advantages. So far, China is winning, and the West is barely even engaged."
Illustration by Alvaro Dominguez; Photographs by Alessandra Benedetti - Corbis, MEHAU KULYK/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY, and Peter Dazeley via Getty Images |
Sunday, October 24, 2021
MA city/town COVID-19 daily new cases
MA city/town COVID-19 daily new cases |
Monday, October 4, 2021
60 Minutes "a betrayal of democracy" leads to decision that Franklin Matters Facebook page to go away Dec 1, 2021
"The version of Facebook that exists today is tearing our societies apart and causing ethnic violence around the world," says former Facebook employee France Haugen. She points to Myanmar, where the military used Facebook to launch a genocide.
“The version of Facebook that exists today is tearing our societies apart and causing ethnic violence around the world,” says former Facebook employee France Haugen. She points to Myanmar, where the military used Facebook to launch a genocide. https://t.co/WU4IumjHkO pic.twitter.com/cy9Ed9MgbH
— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) October 3, 2021
Note: this is a continuation of the revelations about Facebook since the Cambridge Analytica scandal. in 2018 I attempted to remove Franklin Matters updates from Facebook at that time and the readers, followers on Facebook created an uproar so I stayed reluctantly.
As a data security and privacy professional I can no longer condone the Facebook business model. Effective Dec 1, 2021 the Franklin Matters Facebook page will go away. You are given notice to find one of the other options to obtain the valuable information shared but not longer directly by me on Facebook.
- You can subscribe via email to the daily update (an easy way) https://www.franklinmatters.org/p/welcome.html
- You can subscribe via RSS and get everything as it posts (actually the best way) The 7 best RSS Readers for 2021 (I personally use Feedly) https://bloggingwizard.com/free-rss-feed-readers/
- You can follow Franklin Matters on Twitter https://twitter.com/FranklinMatters
Someone can also set up a way to take what I share and share it themselves to Facebook. I have no way to stop that. Folks occasionally do so on their own today.
- Franklin Matters attempt to shut down in 2018 was announced with this post -> https://www.franklinmatters.org/2018/04/fixing-companys-problems-will-take-years.html
- Data leak reported in April 2021 (actually occurred during 2019) -> https://blog.mozilla.org/en/privacy-security/facebook-data-leak-explained/
- Data leak in 2017 -> https://techcrunch.com/2018/09/28/everything-you-need-to-know-about-facebooks-data-breach-affecting-50m-users/
- Cambridge Analytica aftermath -> https://techcrunch.com/2020/09/25/cambridge-analyticas-former-boss-gets-7-year-ban-on-being-a-business-director/