Very good use of flash at Breathing Earth

I’ve written in the past about the use of flash in websites. I must confess that I’m not a great fan of it. I usually get annoyed when I see a website done in flash when its use is for no particular reason. Of course, designers will say that when using flash they can control the font sizes and layout and thus maintain full control of the design, yadi, yadi, yada. This argument is best left for a discussion in a pub with lots of drinks.

However, more and more sites are now using flash quite cleverly. Via Darren, who found this site via Todd, I discovered the Breathing Earth. This flash site uses an interactive display of real time carbon dioxide production, birth and death rates by country. Watching what takes place in the world is truly fascinating.