Investor expectations for interest rates compared to reality

This chart by Eric Wallerstein for the Wall Street Journal shows expectations against reality. They often don’t match up.

See also: how rate projections change over time.

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How much more income people need to be happy

For the Wall Street Journal, Joe Pinsker reports on income and happiness, or more specifically, on the raises people said they needed to be happy. The more people have the more they need.

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Map of Lahaina buildings destroyed in wildfire

Most of the Maui town Lahaina was destroyed by wildfire. The Wall Street Journal reports. The map shows the buildings that were destroyed in red.

Terrible. Here is a list of reputable sources to donate to help people affected.

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Flowchart showing the splits, mergers, and acquisitions of the former Bell Telephone Company

Bell System’s monopoly broke up in 1984 leading to independent phone companies, which have merged with or were acquired by other companies. The Wall Street Journal used a flowchart to show the history, which is how companies like AT&T and Verizon inherited a system of lead-covered cables.

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Testing the TikTok algorithm

The Wall Street Journal tested out the TikTok algorithm with bots to see how quickly the app converged towards a user’s pre-specified interests. As viewing time of videos as the main signal, and to nobody’s surprise (I think), it only took a couple of hours for TikTok to narrow down interests.

This is how most social services work these days? The concerning part is that almost all TikTok videos are served based on the algorithm, which makes it easy to fall into terrible rabbit holes.

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Map of people moving during pandemic

It was only a matter of time before someone showed dots moving across a map to show migration during the pandemic. Again, using USPS change of address data, Yan Wu and Luis Melgar for the Wall Street Journal (paywalled) showed where people moved in the country.

As shown through other views, a lot of the movement wasn’t out of the ordinary, but in some areas — mainly San Francisco and New York — the pandemic appeared to motivate people a little more to move.

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Worst performing circuits mapped with fire risk

This month PG&E has been shutting down power to thousands of households in northern California because of high winds and wildfire risk. A lot of electrical equipment in the area is dated and in need of a repair. The Wall Street Journal mapped fire risk and bad circuits together.

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Calculating wind drag in the cycling peloton

When cyclists ride in that big pack during a race — the peloton — the ones that aren’t leading get to ride with a reduced wind resistance. Researchers found out the magnitude of the reduction.

Joshua Robinson for The Wall Street Journal:

According to a new study published in the Journal of Wind Engineering and Industrial Aerodynamics, riders in the belly of a peloton are exposed to 95% less drag than they would experience riding alone. Which explains the sensation all riders describe of being sucked along by the bunch while barely having to pedal.

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Rhyming schemes in Hamilton the musical

Hamilton rhymes

Hamilton is unique in its use of complex rhyming lyrics. Joel Eastwood and Erik Hinton for the Wall Street Journal algorithmically break down the lyrics into sounds and then clusters into rhyme families. I haven’t seen the musical, but this makes me want to.

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Games to test your skillz against Olympians, from your computer

Running time

The last couple of Olympics, news graphics desks went with gloriously detailed explainers about the intricacies of the main events. This year seems to be a bit different. The opening ceremony is today, and I haven’t even seen much coverage. I think everyone has their hands tied with the horribly weird election season.

Anyways, to get away from the horribly weird election season, the Wall Street Journal offers a set of mini-games to test a very specific subset of skills that help Olympians succeed. Test your reaction time against sprinters or your rhythm-keeping against rowers.

Good, simple, and fun.

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