Primer for geospatial embeddings
For Development Seed, Kiri Carini and Martha Morrissey explain what embeddings are and… Tags: Development Seed, embeddings, geospatial, guide, training
Department
Design.
Creativity, aesthetics, and user experience.
Lately on the shelf
30 of 301What happens to math going forward
Terence Tao has become the unofficial spokesperson for the future of mathematics. Elisabeth… Tags: math, New York Times, OpenAI, Terence Tao
When AI comes for purpose
Mathematician and Cornell professor Steven Strogatz was a guest on NYT’s Daily podcast… Tags: math, New York Times, purpose, Steven Strogatz
✚ Avoiding charts by default
This week, we switch the chart defaults to non-defaults. Tags: creativity, default
Cost of electricity from investor-owned vs. public
If your electricity provider is an investor-owned company, it’s likely you’re paying more… Tags: Bloomberg, cost, electricity
Rising to top net worth, by age
Results from the Survey of Consumer Finances were recently released, which means it is time for a rendition of seeing who has a higher net worth than you. Tags: net worth, wealth
[RODEN] Digger Is Good, Notebooks, Please Be Weirder
Roden Readers — Hello from the other side of hiding in Europe during Japan’s extended summer / record-breakingly rainy September. It is I, Modo-san. I was working on a book in London. And then co-leading a Walk and Talk in Norway. And then participating in an…
Increasing number of shots in movies
Stephen Follows counted the number of shots in movies, from 1920 through 2025.… Tags: movies, shots, Stephen Follows
Calculation volumes for AI training
More big numbers coming in. For NYT’s the Upshot, Aatish Bhatia demonstrates the… Tags: Aatish Bhatia, calculations, scale, training, Upshot
[RIDGELINE] A Notebook Fit for a Walk
Ridgeline subscribers — Oh, hello. I made a notebook: ⬤. You can buy it here. I didn’t mean to make a notebook but, you see, I had no choice. A couple of years ago the Japanese edition of Kissa by Kissa came out. While iterating over materials and size, a hand…
📈 Now You're Cooking! - Announce Postmortem
A little over two weeks ago, I announced my roguelike deckbuilder Now You’re Cooking!. As promised, here’s my postmortem on the announce. Read more...
Warming Stripes as a screensaver
This is fun, or I guess very serious depending on your point of… Tags: climate change, Georgios Karamanis, screensaver, stripes
Scale of proposed billionaire wealth tax in California
There is a proposition on the California ballot this year to impose a… Tags: billionaires, California, New York Times, Nicholas Konrad, scale, taxes
✚ Getting to know a dataset
This week, I walk through my own thinking as I poke at fresh data. Tags: analysis
Richest getting richer
This is really going to surprise you, but the wealthy people in the… Tags: rich, Wall Street Journal, wealth
🌆 Indie Is Not A Genre, It's A Scene
Indie is not a genre. Nor is indie synonymous with “low budget”, “self published” or “small team”. Each of these definitions have counter examples–I encourage you to come up with your own before expanding the spoilers. Spoilers If Rockstar developed Balatro, i…
People holding up the internet
In reference to the xkcd comic that illustrates the internet as a stack… Tags: Internet, open-source, sheets.works
Searchable database of the enslaved in former British colonies
The Centre for the Study of the Legacies of British Slavery published a… Tags: database, Guardian, Legacies of British Slavery, slavery
Learning is the thing
Daniel Willingham, a professor at the University of Virginia, argues that students should… Tags: Daniel Willingham, education, students
Decline in American social activities
Data for Progress compared social activities among American adults in 1995 against 2026.… Tags: Data for Progress, social
[RIDGELINE] Walking and Not Walking a Castle in Italy
Ridgeline subscribers — Hello! It’s me, Craig Mod. I’m doing an event with David Marx in Tokyo this Friday night (17th) at Tiger Mountain, a small, hip bookshop. The in-person tix are all sold out, but it will be livestreamed, and there are still tickets for t…
Interactive map of the Hebrew Bible
Torahmap by Danyel Fisher is an interactive visualization of the Hebrew Bible. Each… Tags: Danyel Fisher, Tanakh, text
Population pyramid in 3-D and over time
A population pyramid shows the age distribution of a population, usually with counts… Tags: Karim Douïeb, population, world
✚ Draw attention visually
This week is about helping data stand out in the land of many points. Tags: attention, contrast
When data shows that everything causes cancer
Harvard researchers published an analysis arguing that risk of cancer increases when people… Tags: Breakthrough Institute, cancer, causation, Costco
Beliefs in life after death
Is there something that comes after we die? For the Pudding, Alvin Chang… Tags: Alvin Chang, life, mortality, Pudding, religion
Exposure to tariffs in Canada
Researchers at the School of Cities, a center at the University of Toronto,… Tags: Canada, School of Cities, tariff
Sound smart about charts
Duncan Bradley made a zine of one-liners from data visualization folks. It is… Tags: Duncan Bradley, guide
Color gradients that are accessible and perceptually steady
It has been a whole ten minutes since posting a color selection tool,… Tags: color, gradient, Joshua Stevens
Extract color palettes from images
OKpalette is a tool to grab a color palette from an image. Load… Tags: color, Elastiq, palettes