John Osterman

The sand in moonlight seems like snow

Wed, 02 Oct 2024 00:00:00 GMT

The barren expectations of American male friendship

Fri, 24 Nov 2023 00:00:00 GMT

Maintaining friendships is hard. Being a work-from-home 46-year-old dad really doesn't provide the cultural milieu that being a 23-year-old Peace Corps volunteer did.

Why my guitar barely speaks

Tue, 12 Sep 2023 00:00:00 GMT

I was interested in guitar—very interested!—and that interest was very satisfying, but I wasn't doing what I needed to do to become fluent.

Coup d'état!

Mon, 05 Jun 2023 00:00:00 GMT

I found out after dawn that there'd been gunshots and explosions at the presidential palace. Later it was clear: Mauritania was in the middle of a coup.

Peace Corps in a time of war

Thu, 06 Apr 2023 00:00:00 GMT

In early 2003, the drumbeat of a war was reaching a fever pitch and things in Mauritania were getting tense.

(WashPost) Mauritania's ancient libraries could be lost to the expanding desert

Mon, 20 Mar 2023 00:00:00 GMT

It's not everyday that Mauritania makes it into the Washington Post, which today has a beautiful photo essay about the town Chinguetti and its libraries.

February 28, 2002, was a good day

Tue, 28 Feb 2023 00:00:00 GMT

February 28, 2002, was one of those good days when I had time to just sit and think about how incredible and satisfying it felt to be so far from home, still alive, still breathing, still myself.

ETR and phone home

Wed, 18 Jan 2023 00:00:00 GMT

It was during my Peace Corps service that mobile phones really spread through Mauritania. At first, my town had no phones, fixed or cellular, and no access to the internet.

Christmas in Kankossa

Thu, 05 Jan 2023 00:00:00 GMT

The contrast with Tintane was stark. I’d been forming a theory about it: too big to be a village and too small to be a town, Tintane had the benefits of neither. Kankossa had the charm of a small village.

Desert (no island) books

Wed, 07 Dec 2022 00:00:00 GMT

Reading books in Mauritania was better than it was before or has been since. I had enough time to become immersed in the stories. But more than that, books just seemed more vivid somehow.

Thanksgiving 2001

Mon, 21 Nov 2022 00:00:00 GMT

Thanksgiving 2001 was in the midst of what might have been my hardest stretch in Mauritania. My second journal actually opens on November 18 with this admonishment to myself: “avoid cataloging mood swings—your last journal is not very flattering.”

Learning Hassaniya

Tue, 08 Nov 2022 00:00:00 GMT

One of the first phrases I learned in Hassaniya was "mnayn makaresh," which can be best translated as "where's the butt pot?"

My second school year starts

Sat, 22 Oct 2022 00:00:00 GMT

My second year teaching started in late October, when the annual rains were all but done and the “cool” season was around the corner.

2023 in Review: Embracing Subgrid, , and Container Queries

Tue, 02 Jan 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Check out the features I reached for in 2023. Major browsers have been implementing new features at a decent pace, semantic HTML elements with native methods have had some big wins, and CSS is exploding with good new syntax and features.

Auto image sizes are coming—rejoice!

Mon, 26 Jun 2023 00:00:00 GMT

Auto sizes for lazy-loaded images will greatly simplify providing the right size native image for the target display size and resolution.

CSS container queries are here!

Thu, 12 Jan 2023 00:00:00 GMT

Container queries are coming, and they will make reusing responsive components in different contexts much easier.

How to use environment variables in SvelteKit (process.env)

Tue, 30 Aug 2022 00:00:00 GMT

SvelteKit has a new way to bring environment variables into your code.

Easing the pain with continuous deployment

Fri, 24 Sep 2021 00:00:00 GMT

Setting up continuous deployment can really ease the pain of web development.

How do you spell propagation?

Thu, 12 Aug 2021 00:00:00 GMT

One of the things I look up all the time: how to spell "propagation."

How I make using Mapbox easier, part two: accessing data with dummy features

Sun, 03 Jan 2021 00:00:00 GMT

Accessing the entire dataset behind a Mapbox layer is hard; attach data to a dummy feature and use that instead.

How I make using Mapbox easier, part one: async adding sources and layers

Tue, 29 Dec 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Use a small npm package to work with the async nature of adding sources and layers to a Mapbox map.

Is viewBox camelCased?

Fri, 02 Oct 2020 00:00:00 GMT

One of the things I look up all the time: viewbox or viewBox?

Four questions to ask about your data visualization

Wed, 30 Nov 2016 00:00:00 GMT

There's a ton of advice out there about how to do data viz well. At the very least, you should ask yourself four questions about "the AIMS" of each piece.

Writing for the web: why you should encourage skimming and scanning

Wed, 09 Nov 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Reading online usually involves a lot of skimming and scanning. Embrace it.

Energy use intensity of multifamily dwellings: map and data visualization

Wed, 26 Apr 2023 00:00:00 GMT

What began as a request for some data viz help from a former colleague turned into a full-fledged web app for multiple clients.

Interactive dashboard of Philadelphia’s post-COVID economy

Tue, 03 May 2022 00:00:00 GMT

This project to chart Philadelphia's economic recovery was one of my last while at Pew, and one of the hardest.

Chart building web app

Sun, 07 Mar 2021 00:00:00 GMT

There are off-the-shelf charting solutions not too different from this but none cross the print-web divide as well.

Netting Billions 2020: Global Values and Trends for Tuna Fisheries

Sun, 28 Feb 2021 00:00:00 GMT

This data viz illustrates commercial tuna catch and value from 2012 to 2018 compiled by Pew researchers.

Pennsylvania retirement savings data viz

Sun, 01 Nov 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Charts and maps documenting the health of Pennsylvania's retirement savings.

D3.js data dashboard: The State of 10 Cities

Mon, 02 Dec 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Analyze data from 10 U.S. cities on key economic, social, and demographic indicators over the past decade.

Broadband policy explorer: data tool to find state laws about broadband

Wed, 31 Jul 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Explore broadband programs, competition and regulation, definitions, funding and financing, and infrastructure access.

Art directed data story: 10 trends in Philly over 10 years

Thu, 11 Apr 2019 00:00:00 GMT

An art-directed digital-first report with animated graphs and immersive imagery.

A tool for better debt comparison: data viz of state debt

Tue, 02 Apr 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Compare debt levels across tailored peer groups, including comparing states with similar borrowing practices, constraints, and needs.

Mapping data from the National Flood Insurance Program

Wed, 04 Apr 2018 00:00:00 GMT

This map plots 93,541 flood policies and characterizes them as either high- or low-deductible plans.