xkcd: U.S. of movie backgrounds

“Let the data speak” they say. But what happens when the data rambles on and on?

A closer look at the age old question of where there are more bars than grocery stores, and vice versa.

We’ve seen that we can learn from what people search for, through the eyes of Google suggestions: state stereotypes, national …

The data goes back to 1960 and up to the most current estimates for 2009. Each line represents a country.