The Planet Money blog at NPR bought their very own mortgage based toxic asset a few months ago (and named it “Toxie”). Not surprisingly, it’s not performing very well. The related articles are worth a read if you want a solid, simple explanation of how this stuff works.
There are a lot of these out there, but most of them are pretty crappy. This one is very well done – data dense, yet easy to read.
Deficit Busters
4 May 2010Select a UK political party, then choose what programs cuts you would make to lower the deficit – then see the effects of those cuts. Why have we never seen one of these in the United States?
Hmmmm. turns out there have been some attempts in the US.
From the LA Times on the California budget: 
From the Congressional Budget Office: 
Massachusetts budget calculator (from 2008, I think)
Anyone know of better ones?
Color Color and more Color
4 May 2010XKCD performed a lovely survey of his readers on color perception.
which made mention of the below humorous comic from Doghouse Diaries.
which inspired xkcd to use the same presentation for his real-world results:
Also, Mike Lewis sent me a link to the below “Coulours in Cultures” wheel by Information is Beautiful.
Which reminded me of Cymbolism’s survey and graphs of colors and emotions:
Europe Debt Maps
4 May 2010The NYT uses several annotated maps to explain EU problems.
You’ve probably seen the “Afghanistan Stability” chart below, and some of the commentary (e.g. – Guardian or the discussion at FlowingData). My personal favorite is the parody by John Stewart below which extends to Patton, Star Wars, and beyond.
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Afghanistan Stability Chart | ||||
| ||||
How We Transport
In: Maps US Economy
3 May 2010Cool maps of transportation in the USA. (via)
Freight tonnage: 
Future Highways: 
Top water ports: 
Here are some more from the same DOT site.
50 Best Restaurants in the World
3 May 2010According to “Restaurant Magazine”. I’m not sure what mapping them accomplishes — besides making it obvious how few are in the USA.
European Dominoes
3 May 2010How the PIIGS are connected. An interactive from the Guardian.
Too Many Eco Labels?
3 May 2010A 2009 survey identified about 600 labels that denote some definition of "environmentally friendly" worldwide, including more than 80 on products sold in the United States.
Web of European Debt
3 May 2010Why economists are worried about Europe.
Flickr Tag Galaxy
26 Apr 2010Interesting way of browsing Flickr photos – you enter a tag and then drill down the solar systems of related tags until you get to the subset you want; then it displays them on a 3d globe. Thanks to Wil Etheredge for passing it on.
The New Benjamin
26 Apr 2010Anyone else think the 3d ribbon down the middle is butt ugly? And the liberty bell inside an inkwell? Ick.
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