Seinfeld episodes and characters, a visual exploration
Several years ago, Andy Kirk watched every episode of the sitcom Seinfeld, all… Tags: Andy Kirk, Seinfeld, television
TechDesign
FlowingData.
Nathan Yau exploring how statisticians, designers, and data scientists use data to understand the world.
Recent essays
30 of 44Less natural gas, more expensive fertilizer for crops
Reuters reports on the strain of natural gas supplies due to the war… Tags: cost, fertilizer, Iran, natural gas, Reuters
✚ Color for categories
This week, we talk colors and categories. Tags: categories, color
Hone your gerrymandering skills with a daily game
Gerrymandle is a daily game that shows areas with voting preferences, and the… Tags: game, gerrymandering
Mapping what is close to you
When deciding where to live, most people want to know what’s nearby so… Tags: proximity, walking
Map of underground fungi network
Researchers are studying an underground, global network of fungi that acts as a… Tags: fungi, Moritz Stefaner, SPUN
Exploding cyclosporiasis outbreak
Since the U.S. federal government is of little help in providing information about… Tags: cyclosporiasis, diarrhea, Katelyn Jetelina
Generated book slop
Upon discovery of a generated biography on Amazon about her, NYT journalist Kashmir… Tags: biography, Kashmir Hill, New York Times
George Lucas on the horse and buggy
For A Rabbit’s Foot, Andy Hazel interviewed Star Wars creator George Lucas, mostly… Tags: George Lucas, movies, Rabbit's Foot
Application error probably caused tears in Reflecting Pool
The Washington Post used satellite imagery, photos, and videos from when the blue… Tags: error, reflecting pool, Washington Post
✚ Ideas, data, and graphics
This week, I provide an update on my own process from start to finish, in 2026. Tags: workflow
cosmos.gl, a WebGL library for visualizing network graphs
If you’re into visualizing networks, cosmos.gl looks like a fun library to play… Tags: network, WebGL
Geography guessing game, so you can see how bad you are at locations
MapTap is a daily guessing game for geography. You get a location in… Tags: game, geography, guess
Map of AI archetypes
AI Compass is a quiz of thirty questions that asks for your opinion… Tags: archetypes, quiz
Maintaining a vibe-coded internet
The internet runs on a foundation of open-source software, but codebases, the learning… Tags: Financial Times, open-source, Sam Learner, vibe-code
World Cup data portraits
Alexander Bogachev is making animated data portraits for each match: A football match… Tags: Alexander Bogachev, soccer, World Cup
Making two degrees looks like a lot
Care of Fox 8 in New Orleans, a baseline just below 92 degrees… Tags: baseline, temperature
Students use chatbots to cheat on exam
Roberto Serrano, a Brown University economics professor, gave a take-home midterm and it… Tags: Brown University, cheating, ethics, Inside Higher Ed, Roberto Serrano
✚ Wrong chart for the data
This week, a bar chart was the wrong choice. Tags: baseline, tool
Netflix second-season slump
Netflix shows tend to draw a lot of viewers in the first season… Tags: Bloomberg, netflix, television
American ancestry map
For dumb reasons, there are people in power who like to put down… Tags: ancestry, immigration, New York Times
Least ethical NBA championships
Throughout NBA basketball history, there are many what-ifs and fan-forced asterisks for championships… Tags: basketball, championship, injury, Pudding, Russell Samora
LeBron James longevity in minutes played
Fun stacked area chart by Todd Whitehead for Sportradar, showing the share of… Tags: basketball, LeBron James, Sportradar, Todd Whitehead
Near impossibility of storing carbon dioxide pollution underground
Oil companies have funded research for decades to figure out how to store… Tags: carbon, pollution, ProPublica, storage
Best times to visit national parks for less crowd and better weather
National parks are increasingly crowded, which kind of detracts from the peaceful wilderness… Tags: Bloomberg, park, visiting
Interpolated time-lapse of Aurora Australis, from space
Seán Doran stringed together time-lapse photos from the International Space Station and interpolated… Tags: Aurora Australis, Seán Doran, space, time-lapse
✚ Automated data to charts to insights
This week, a framework of AI agents enter the game to automate all the steps of data to charts to insight. We're not cooked, yet. Tags: agent, automation
Burning Money candle
Dries Depoorter makes the “burning money” metaphor more literal with a tick-marked candle… Tags: candle, Dries Depoorter, money, physical
R creators awarded $1 million prize
The R Core Team was awarded the biennial Rousseeuw Prize for Statistics, which… Tags: R, Rousseeuw Prize
American pride declines to 25-year record low
Gallup has been surveying U.S. adults about American pride since 2001. The question:… Tags: America, Gallup, pride