Vol. II · No. 259
Established 2025

smallweb

Wednesday, September 16, 2026
174 writers in the library
Tech · 2 shelves
TechDesign

FlowingData.

Nathan Yau exploring how statisticians, designers, and data scientists use data to understand the world.

Recent essays

30 of 106

Hand-drawn illustration library

Open Peeps by Pablo Stanley is a library of people illustrations. You can… Tags: illustration, Open Peeps, Pablo Stanley

Hotter days and more of them

Summer 2026 is likely the hottest summer on record since 1895. The NYT… Tags: climate change, heat, New York Times

Consuming more than the Colorado River provides

The Colorado River is at risk due to drought and states using more… Tags: Colorado River, consumption, drought, Reuters, water

Japan requests revision to UN-supported map

The United Nations voted to support the Equal Area map projection, which more… Tags: cartography, Guardian, Japan, world

9/11 in Realtime

9/11 in Realtime, developed by Robbie Byrd, replays the news on the day… Tags: 9/11, news, real-time, Robbie Byrd

Wealth inequality in America, updated for 2026

In 2013, a video on U.S. wealth inequality was posted to YouTube by… Tags: politizane, wealth

Cultural trends through kid drawings

Riley Walz charted drawing trends on student art portfolio Artsonia. Kids shape culture,… Tags: Artsonia, drawing, Riley Walz, trends

✚ Application of charts and data

This week is about adapting our visualization workflow as the tools change dramatically. Tags: analysis, tools

Terence Tao on the paradox of solving mathematical problems

Mathematician Terence Tao, a 2006 Fields Medal winner and professor at UCLA, discusses… Tags: Big Think, math, paradox, Terence Tao

UN votes to support map projection that accurately shows the size of Africa

Last year, the African Union pushed for wider adoption of the Equal Area… Tags: Africa, area, cartography, Guardian, projections

Estimating a much stronger than usual El Niño

For Climate.us, Emily Becker explains why it looks like El Niño is going… Tags: Climate.us, El Niño, estimation, NOAA

Form a curve, make a pot

Imagine a pottery wheel that turns clay on an axis. A potter forms… Tags: curve, Karim Douïeb, pottery

✚ Making a bunch of line charts

This week, I describe the many small choices one must make while working on a set of charts. Tags: behind the scenes

Logistics of fueling aircraft and feeding sailors with a limited supply chain

There are thousands of crew members aboard U.S. warships in the Middle East.… Tags: Iran, logistics, New York Times, war

Observable notebooks get a rewrite

Observable, known for visualization-centric notebooks to share code, restarted fresh to adjust for… Tags: notebook, Observable

India enlists 3 million people to count the full population

Due to Covid, India’s census count is overdue by five years. But they’re… Tags: Bloomberg, census, India, population

Cooling down less in the evening

The summer of 2026 will most likely be the hottest summer on record… Tags: global warming, temperature, Washington Post

Uncounted heat-related deaths

The U.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention count causes of death, and… Tags: Boston University, climate change, estimation, heat, mortality, NPR

Map of flood in Nepal

For the New York Times, Pablo Robles, Leanne Abraham, and Josh Holder mapped… Tags: flood, Nepal, New York Times

Darth Vader makes the case for Flock cameras

Flock Safety has been getting some hate lately, because as it turns out,… Tags: Darth Vader, Flock, privacy

A third of new webpages written with AI

It is trivial to generate bodies of text on infinite topics, so of… Tags: Internet, Pew Research, writing

Amazon shutting down Mechanical Turk

Annie Palmer for CNBC: “We regularly evaluate our programs, tools and services and… Tags: Amazon, CNBC, Mechanical Turk, shutdown

✚ Visualization tools, datasets, and resources — August 2026 roundup

Here is what happened in August. Tags: roundup

When politicians turned against data centers

For the Washington Post, Jeremy B. Merrill analyzed newsletters and social media posts… Tags: data center, politics, Washington Post

Mathematical rivers

There is a simple law from John Hack that says the length of… Tags: drainage, Quanta, rivers

Why Americans are not working

Older people are working later in life and younger people are not entering the labor force as early. Tags: labor force, work

Trustworthy data visualization

Kieran Healy, a professor of sociology at Duke University, gives an enjoyable lecture… Tags: Kieran Healy, trust

Steep rise in electric vehicle sales

For the New York Times, Mira Rojanasakul and Brad Plumer report on the… Tags: electric vehicle, New York Times

How the U.S. national debt got to $40 trillion

When you spend more than you make, you get debt. For the Washington… Tags: debt, government, revenue, spending, Washington Post

✚ Seeing data from different perspectives

This week is about changing perspectives so we can find and visualize new insights. Tags: perspective