Blog

Data visualizations to explain our world

This blog focuses on research, design, and the presentation of data visualizations on the web. I also write about outer space, healthcare, and books I've read.

Learn about data visualization here, explore an overview of my work below, or even better, send an email to get in touch.

Posts

Alex Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals celebrates after scoring his 895th career goal during the second period against the New York Islanders.

Sports

New goal standard

Alex Ovechkin's path to top scorer in the NHL

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The Electoral College vs. Popular Vote

Politics

Picking a president

The Electoral College vs. Popular Vote

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Pagers exploding in unison.

Bombs in Beirut

Operation Grim Beeper

How Israel turned batteries into bombs

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Ukrainian soldiers launching drones in a field.

Buzzkill

Drones in Ukraine

A thousand snipers in the sky

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Sign stating Breathing kills with an image of a child and adult. Below, it reads, People of colour are more likely to live in an area with illegal air pollution levels. A red bus and buildings are in the background.

Data viz

Choked Up

The link between child poverty and air pollution

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US Presidents assassinations graphic.

USA

Assassinations

Days since a US President was last shot

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Stacked bar chart showing percentages of terrorist attacks in the U.S. by ideology from 1994 to 2020. Categories include far-right, far-left, religious, and other. Far-right attacks increase significantly in the later years. Data source: CSIS.

USA

Domestic Extremism in America

The enemy within

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A stacked bar chart depicts global renewables growth from 2000 to 2023, highlighting substantial increases after 2016. A quote by Brett Christophers discusses Chinas significant impact on perceived global growth rates.

Power Up

Charging Forward

China leads the way in renewables

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Comparing hot sauces on a matrix of tangy to sweet, smoky to spicy.

Data viz

The spice is nice

Hot sauce power rankings

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Lunar landings: debris on the moon graphic.

Technology

Space Waste

Mapping lunar debris

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A step chart showing the progression of SpaceX rocket flights by year since company inauguration.

Out there

SpaceX

Reusable rockets are becoming reality

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US Presidents by birth year graphic.

USA

Time in office

US Presidents by birth year and age.

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A graph showing global surface temperature changes from 1880 to 2020. Points transition from blue to red, indicating a rise in temperature over time. The y-axis represents temperature change in Celsius, and the x-axis shows years. Data by NASA.

World

Global Temperature Trends

It's getting hot in here.

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The Keys to the White House: Forecast for 2020

USA

Keys to the White House

Historically based prediction system

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Map of the United States showing states with same-sex marriage legality: fully legal (blue), fully illegal (red), and mixed legality (green). Data source: Wikipedia.

USA

Altered States

Marijuana laws in the United States

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Artwork depicting students with obscured faces at desks, surrounded by a red, graffiti-like background.

USA

Thoughts & Prayers

Mass shootings in America

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Line graph showing the decline in U.S. union membership from 1970 (29.3%) to 2018 (10.5%). Notable events: 1970 Postal Worker Strike, 1981 PATCO strike, 1993 NAFTA, and 2018 Janus v. AFSCME ruling impacting union density.

USA

State of the Unions

Union membership is on the decline

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Map depicting parts of Eastern Europe, including Ukraine, Moldova, Romania, and Russia, with the Black Sea. Red asterisks depict strikes in the sea near Crimea, highlighted in green stripes.

Ukraine War

Black Sea Fleet Losses

"Russian Warship, go fuck yourself"

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A scatter plot shows the relationship between gun ownership and firearm deaths per 100k people in various countries. The x-axis represents guns per 100k people; the y-axis shows firearm deaths. Data points are scattered with a trend line, highlighting the U.S.

Guns

Lethal Passage

Sensible gun control recommendations

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A scatter plot shows deaths per 100k people versus a gun regulation index. Colors range from light to dark red indicating higher death rates. A downward trend line suggests that stricter gun regulations correlate with fewer deaths. Data: Epidemiology Nov 2023.

Guns

Gun Regulation Index

Restrictive gun laws save lives

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A world map illustrating the voyage of the HMS Beagle from 1831 to 1836. The path is marked in colored lines, highlighting stops at the Falkland Islands and the Galápagos Islands. Map includes text about Darwin’s theory. Data by Marilyn Waldman.

Data viz

The voyage of Charles Darwin

Aboard the HMS Beagle

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A series of five U.S. maps showing the growth of Wal-Mart stores by decade from the 1960s to the 2000s. Blue dots represent store locations, expanding from a few in the central region to widespread coverage across the country over time.

Data viz

Sprawl-Mart

The growth of Wal-Mart stores

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A line graph showing ages of the worlds oldest people from 1960 to the 2010s. Females are indicated by orange dots and males by blue. Notable figures include Jeanne Calment, who appears prominently with labels. Ages range from 110 to 122 years.

Data viz

World's Oldest Person Titleholders

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A plot graph showing various cities, with lines and dots connecting data points. Notable cities labeled include Fairfield, Conn., San Jose, San Francisco, Houston, Washington, D.C., and Chicago, indicating varying data ranges across the chart.

USA

Inequality in America

From 1980 to 2015

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Graph titled Work in progress showing WeWork funding rounds from 2010 to 2023. Financial growth starts at $0B in 2010 and reaches $45B by 2021, with notable increases marked D, F, and the epic SoftBank round at G in 2019.

Work in Progress

WeWork Valuation

A balancing act

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Comparing Rio in 2012 and 2016 after the Olympic construction boom.

World

Rio: A city transformed

An olympic revitalization effort

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Map of the contiguous United States showing the area codes where rapper Ludacris claims hoes.

Inf-hoe-graphic

Where rapper Ludacris claims hoes

Based on "Area Codes" (2001)

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A light grey poster with the word CHILL in the center. In the bottom right corner, text reads: OFF-WHITE c/o VIRGIL ABLOH™ Defining the grey area between black as the white color Off-White™.

Design

"Off-White"

OFF-WHITE c/o VIRGIL ABLOH™

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A circular emotion wheel displaying various emotions organized by intensity and grouped into categories: sad, mad, scared, joyful, powerful, and peaceful. Each segment includes related emotions from light to intense.

Design

The Feeling Wheel

Created by Gloria Willcox

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Line art drawing of a man in a hoodie walking alone.

Design

Wondering about social distancing?

From the NYT

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📚 Books and Culture

Drunk by Edward Slingerland cover art

Lit Crit

Drunk

A history of getting hammered

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Apple in China illustration by Ricardo Tomas

Lit Crit

Apple in China

Can Apple extricate itself from China?

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Grand Theft Auto 5 cover art

Gaming

GTA V Turns 10

A satirical exploration of American culture

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Demon Copperhead

Lit Crit

Demon Copperhead

A journey through Appalachia

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A classical painting of an idyllic paradise filled with animals and people, with large yellow text overlaid that reads “PAVED PARADISE.”.

Lit Crit

Paved Paradise

How parking explains the world

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An open book with each page on a different medium, rock painting, Clay tablet, Chisel stone, Bible, newspaper and screen

Lit Crit

Nexus

My review of Yuval Noah Harari's epic Nexus

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Illustration of a framed picture hanging on a pink wall. The picture depicts a simple sailboat on water with two clouds. Below, a plaque reads Scene From Moby Dick.

Doh!

The Simpsons

My favorite dysfunctional family

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A bar chart illustrating the timeline of events covered in Gibbons Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. The events range from page 1 to 3,737, covering significant chapters like the foundation of Constantinople and ecclesiastical discord.

SPQR

The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

From historian Edward Gibbon

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The Red Hot Chili Peppers logo

Music

Red Hot Chili Peppers Tribute

Suck my kiss

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Code

Illustration of a digital brain and a globe with a large HTML codesymbol radiating between them. Illustration: Rose Wong.

Tech

The demise of Stack Overflow

Death by LLM

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Accessibility For Websites (A11y)

A11y

Web Accessibility

Build something that works for everyone.

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A grid of 36 colorful icons representing various charts and graphs, including bar, pie, line, and scatter plots, each depicted in a minimalist style.

Code

Charts & Graphs

Data visualization options compared

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Scatter plot showing Titanic survival analysis by gender and class. Categories include children and adults among females and males, across 1st, 2nd, 3rd class, and crew. Data from R project.

Data viz

Titanic survival analysis

A ship of gold in the deep blue sea

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A heatmap showing daily activity from 2019 to August 2024, with months listed horizontally. Color intensity ranges from light yellow indicating less time to dark red indicating more time spent. Activity varies across different months and years.

Data viz

Crossword Puzzle Stats

Hold my Oreo

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An image showing five columns of NBA team logos linked together, representing tournament matchups or standings. Teams include the Bucks, 76ers, Hawks, Nets, Cavaliers, Heat, and others. Lines connect logos across columns, suggesting progression or timeline.

Sports

Basketball stats

Data visualization in the NBA

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Four scatter plots with green dots, each labeled 1 to 4, titled The same data graphed. A trend line with a shaded confidence interval is present in each plot. The x-axis ranges from 5 to 20, and the y-axis ranges from 4 to 12.

Math

Anscombe's Quartet

The importance of visualizing data

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Illustration of four people interacting with large, floating digital screens displaying data and graphics, including a semi-circle dial. The scene suggests teamwork and technology in a modern workspace.

Terms & Conditions

Data visualization glossary

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The image shows the entropy formula: \( H = -\sum_{i=1}^{k} p_x \log(p_x) \), where \( k \) is the number of possible outcomes, and \( p_x \) is the probability of a specific outcome.

Math

Equations that changed the world

Eureka!

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Apple logo above text on a dark background. Text reads: Hello, WWDC16. and /* June 13-17 */ in a mix of white and green colors.

Apple

WWDC16

Apple Worldwide Developer Conference

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Importance of Bayes Theorem

Statistical techniques

Bayes Theory

In praise of Bayes

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Just for fun

A bingo card titled Conference Call Bingo with humorous phrases like Sorry, I was on mute, Child noises, Can you e-mail that to everyone? and Uh, X, youre still sharing! Each square contains a typical virtual meeting mishap.

Zoomies

Conference Call Bingo

Sorry, I was on mute

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A stick figure person.

Comic Sans

XKCD Security Tips

Use a burner laptop

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