While Model Trains

Read data blog posts.
Carefully handpicked.
Presented 3 at a time.

20 ideas for better data visualization

Taras Bakusevych

A list of 20 tips for great data visualization, including "Always start a bar chart at a 0 baseline" and ""Pick a color palette that matches the nature of your data".

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Variance after scaling and summing: One of the most useful facts from statistics

Chris Said

"What do R2, laboratory error analysis, ensemble learning, meta-analysis, and financial portfolio risk all have in common? The answer is that they all depend on a fundamental principle of statistics that is not as widely known as it should be. Once this principle is understood, a lot of stuff starts to make more sense."

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Are Pop Lyrics Getting More Repetitive?

Colin Morris

A fascinating visual essay that utilizes the Lempel-Ziv algorithm (which powers GIFs, PNGs, and most archive formats) to analyze if pop songs are becoming more repetitive.

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