Anatoly Zenkov provides this nifty tool (Mac and PC) to track your mouse pointer. Really simple. Just start it, let it run, minimize the window, and carry on as usual. In the end, you get this image that looks something like a Pollock. Circles show areas where the pointer didn't move while the tracks show movement.

The above is my own activity during the past couple of hours. I was just randomly browsing while watching the Laker game, so it's kind of all over the place. Run while using a single application for a while, and you might see something like Zenkov's tracks on Photoshop.

What do your tracks look like?

[via feltron]

A few months back, the Caltrans Performance Measurement System (PeMS) opened up a brand spanking new forum where people could discuss how they used the group's traffic data. They created an email list to tell everyone about the new forum. The problem is that PeMS used a single address to email everyone. So when someone "replied all," he would in turn email every single person on the list.

What followed was a long thread of emails that (entertaining) morning. This is that email thread. It got ugly quick (and kind of inappropriate towards the end). Let this be a lesson to you site administrators.

Here are some links and stuff to chew on as you wait for the Super Bowl, in between the beer, pizza, and wings.

Pink Floyd Timeline, 1960-2000 - A highly stylized timeline of music from Pink Floyd over the years.

The making of the NYT’s Netflix graphic - The interactive showing the geography of Netlfix rentals was a big hit around the Web. Detailed, engaging, interesting, and a great ad for Netflix.

An Interview With Nicholas Felton, Creator of the Feltron Annual Report - It manages to make a bigger splash every month. Felton gets into some of the details of compiling the report [thanks, Mike].

Multiplayer Basketball - Nothing to do with data or visualization. Just pure, simple multiplayer fun [via Waxy].

If you're an undergraduate with an interest in data and statistics, you should definitely consider applying to this one-week summer program: Explorations in Statistics Research. It's in Boulder, Colorado and your travel expenses, along with room and board, will be covered.

The seven day workshop is designed so that students get a sense of how statisticians approach large, complex problems. Several different topics will be presented over the course of the week.

You'll also get hands-on experience with computing and visualization tools. Basically, you're going to have fun with data when you're there.

And since three of the four organizers are either past or current advisers of mine, I can tell you first-hand that you're going to learn some cool stuff during the workshop.

Get your application in now. The deadline is March 3.

In case the in-flight pamphlet isn't enough for you, everything on this Kulula airplane is labeled for your convenience.

Look, there's even a spot to put your boots. So convenient.

[Thanks, Fernando]

Back in May last year, the US government launched Data.gov as a statement of transparency, and the Internet rejoiced. After the launch, excitement kind of fizzled with the actual Data.gov site, but big cities like San Francisco, New York, and Toronto got in on the open data party.

Then just a couple of weeks ago, Data.gov.uk launched, which brought me back to the US counterpart. How do the two compare? Here's my take. Continue Reading

Just a quick update for those who ordered the World Progress Report. It's been with the printer this past week, and I expect to have the prints physically in my hands tomorrow. I'll start mailing them out as soon as I get them. Thanks for your patience.

By the way, together we raised around $2k for Haiti earthquake relief. Way to go, FD readers.

Update (2/5/10) - First batch of prints went out today.

NPR shows projected employment changes from 2008 to 2018. Large circles represent major employment sectors and are sized by current employment numbers. Smaller circles are areas in the respective category.

Oddities

Maybe my eyes are playing tricks on me, but the sizes of the large sectors look funky. For example, is the bubble for Education, health, and social services really ten times the size of the bubble for Information? I don't think so (and it should be).

It'd probably aslo be worth distinguishing between negative and positive growth. You know something simple like making the 0% line solid or color-coding the declining sectors.

What do you think?

[via The Big Picture | Thanks, Barry]

Are you using the most efficient typing technique or are your fingers jumping all over the keyboard? If it's the latter, I implore you - there is a better way. Your arms don't have to be tired after typing for ten minutes, and you just might finish that novel before the end of the decade. See these finger movement diagrams form Weather Sealed if you don't believe me.
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President Obama announced his 2011 budget proposal. How does it compare to last year's budget? Shan Carter and Amanda Cox of The New York Times compare the two plans. Red indicates a decrease in the percentage of the budget dedicated to the respective area, and green is for growth. Zoom in for a better view of the smaller areas.

Big decreases for Medicaid grants, veteran benefits, and unemployment insurance. Major increase for education, Medicare, and administration of justice.

This of course takes budget forecasting into account, which Ms. Cox shows isn't all that accurate sometimes.

[via @nytgraphics]

I started the FlowingData Flickr group a little while ago, but didn't come back to it until now. Here are just a few of the graphics you all have added. Click on the images below for the full-size versions.

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