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Increasing alcohol-related deaths

Alcohol consumption, based on ethanol volume estimates, has been rising over the past couple of decades. The pandemic appears to have sped that up, leading to more deaths. For The Washington Post, Caitlin Gilbert, David Ovalle and Hanna Zakharenko report:

At the same time, the number of deaths caused by alcohol skyrocketed nationwide, rising more than 45 percent. In 2021, alcohol was the primary cause of death for more than 54,000 Americans, causing nearly 17,000 more deaths than just a few years before, in 2018, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Tags: alcohol, mortality, Washington Post

Fonts primer

The Washington Post provides an introduction to fonts with mini-quizzes and straightforward examples. You can also change the font of the article:

You make font choices every day. You pick type designs each time you use a word processor, read an e-book, send an email, prepare a presentation, craft a wedding invite and make an Instagram story.

It might seem like just a question of style, but research reveals fonts can dramatically shape what you communicate and how you read.

Everyone knows Comic Sans is always the best choice.

Tags: font, readability, text, Washington Post

Competitive hot dog eating requirements

Nathan’s Famous hot dog eating contest, so gross to watch but impossible to look away, is coming up in celebration of America’s independence. Joey Chestnut is likely to win another title. For The Washington Post, Carson TerBush provides the timeline and explains the physical requirements to shove multiple hot dogs into your mouth in a small amount of time.

I knew Chestnut has been improving over the years, but I’m surprised the rest of the competition hasn’t really followed. Also, plus points for the cute, little hot dog symbols on the time series chart.

Tags: eating, hot dog, Washington Post

A year of flight paths, for someone with an unlimited pass

United Airlines sold a lifetime unlimited pass in 1990 for $290,000. Tom Stuker bought one and has since flown 23 million miles over the decades. For The Washington Post, Rick Reilly, with graphics by Youyou Zhou, described the flight patterns of a man who figured out how to turn his unlimited miles into unlimited upgrades and gift cards.

Tags: flights, Tom Stuker, United, Washington Post

Using gaps in location data to track illegal fishing

Speaking of non-location in the seas, researchers at the University of California at Santa Cruz, NOAA Fisheries, and Global Fishing Watch are trying to use the absence of data to identify boats fishing illegally. Harry Stevens for The Washington Post has the maps showing when fishermen turned off their transponders to hide location.

There’s plenty of (missing) data, but the tricky part is figuring out if the shutoffs are during illegal activities or are just fishermen keeping their spots private from competitors and pirates. [Thanks, Michael]

Tags: fishing, geolocation, missing data, Washington Post

See if you are middle class

What counts as middle class depends on who and where you’re asking. Even if two households, say a single-person household in Montana and a five-person in California, earn the same income, the latter probably has more expenses than the former. The Washington Post broke it down with various comparisons. Enter a ZIP Code to see where you are.

Tags: income, middle class, Washington Post

Map of donut federations

In a fun one by Alyssa Fowers, for The Washington Post’s Department of Data, a map of the most common donut shops in the United States:

We kicked off our investigation with our friends at Yelp, who shared all the doughnut shop listings on the review site. By grouping stores with the same name and calculating the most common doughnut shop in groups of census tracts around the country, we found that our reader’s observation was right on: The United States is a federation of at least nine distinct doughnut nations.

All hail Small Brand Fiefdoms.

Tags: donut, Washington Post

Swipe left or right to cut the national debt

Cutting the national debt is a complex process that involves a lot more than personal preferences of an individual. But what if you simplified the task to a bunch of yes-no answers and made it into a Tinder-style swiping game? Szu Yu Chen, Chris Alcantara, and Jeff Stein for The Washington Post put you in charge of the choices.

Tags: debt, game, Washington Post

How much AI will affect your job

Research by Edward W. Felten, Manav Raj, and Robert Seamans provides estimates for how occupations will be impacted by artificial intelligence, such as ChatGPT and Midjourney, based on AI exposure and demographics. Yan Wu and Sergio Peçanha, for The Washington Post, provide a rundown and searchable charts for the work so that you can check your own occupation.

Tags: AI, Washington Post, work

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