Great blog post discussing the question if university is still worth your time. As a protection against unemployment a university degree still works like a charm. Source: blog.waldrn.com/p/the-colleg...

Brilliant work by Benjamin Bartholet. He turns real ship traffic through the Strait of Hormuz into an imaginary coastline: outbound vessels shape one shore, inbound vessels the other, and the channel narrows as traffic falls. The data draws the map. Source: github.com/telohtrab/st...

Well, I guess it was a success of sorts? In 1998, Honduras built a bridge designed to survive any storm. It survived a Category 5 hurricane perfectly but the river shifted, leaving it spanning over dry land. Source: www.reddit.com/r/geography/...

Is it theoretically possible to turn the whole world blue? Map source: buff.ly/cHOnklM

Lovely New York Central System poster from 1946 by American illustrator Leslie Ragan (1897-1972). The feeling you must’ve gotten as a visitor to the US during the steam engine boom must’ve been one of looking into the future.

Same waterfall, radically different housing markets. The Canadian side benefited from tourism, population growth and Ontario’s property boom. The New York side suffered decades of deindustrialisation, population loss and urban decline. Source: www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/co...

Fun geography trivia from @civixplorer: Alaska is closer to three foreign capitals than to Washington DC.

Boink! Many more uncontrolled objects re-enter Earth's atmosphere compared to a decade ago. Source: www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeau...

Inflation-adjusted energy cost of driving in America since 1993: Petrol swings wildly with oil markets and geopolitics. Home-charged EVs remain much cheaper and very stable. Predictability matters for household budgets. Source: buff.ly/x9BPuVL

Is it right to claim that Chicago is the 21st century version of Vienna or is it just a #badgeographyjoke?

Who is the thiccest is our solar system? No, it's not your mum! It's our sun. Source: buff.ly/BoZKT1F

This map shows the first permanent European settlement in every US state and Canadian province. The pattern is clear: settlement followed coastlines, great rivers and trade routes. Source: buff.ly/JEVka7z

Defence spending across Europe differs widely. Seeing what Ukraine has to pull off is quite remarkable. Source: buff.ly/hfQ3Tem

Donald’s AI version of himself has him sign a map?!

Map shows the approximate current Jewish population in European cities. Some numbers are likely inflated as the sources tend to confuse city and regional boundaries. Nonetheless a super interesting bit of data. Source: buff.ly/3KWEpqc

US Americans are much more likely to not be happy than before the pandemic.

Wealth and income are two different stories now. Don’t worry about data saying how much tax the top 1% of income earners are paying now compared to a few decades ago. Relative tax paid by net wealth would be interesting but is of course hard to come by.

This animated globe shows 24 hours of heat and fire detections captured by NASA satellites, with the previous week’s burn scars in the background. Not every dot is a wildfire. Many are agricultural burns, industrial heat or gas flares. Source: buff.ly/uDYWs3t

Deforestation isn’t a modern phenomenon. Humans have been clearing forests for thousands of years. Reforestation is. Once countries reach a certain level of economic development, forest cover often starts to recover.

Here @econovisuals shows us in a dramatic way just how much the Iran war impacts maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.

Interesting to see how much money a 10h flight makes the carrier. Fluctuating fuel prices can make profits go up and down.

Globally the shift towards cities merrily continues. This means lots of construction. If you are in this sector or sell something like steel or cement, you’ll be doing well. Source: buff.ly/WZoQp60

Every trend creates a counter trend. Great to see people looking for real connections again.

Global obesity is on the rise as a consequence of is becoming richer. Countering this trend is crucial. Source: buff.ly/hzVgD90

In advanced economies, only a small share of people work in agriculture.

"The costs of tariffs are becoming clearer. Uncertainty is weighing on investment: half of business leaders [...] report low confidence in carrying out their investment plans." Trump stands for an unstable investment environment and manufacturing needs certainty. Source: buff.ly/fBU6rjM

What weird or niche museum do you live next to? This global weird museum map has the answer! I live close to wool, sex, and surfing museums. Find your museums on this map: buff.ly/nqIi8BR

In case you have 48 boxes to tick but very little time. Here is the shortest driving route through all 48 contiguous US states. Source: buff.ly/eHYsMAx

This meme counts as demographic content, right?

An analysis of 3,500 couches featured in IKEA catalogues from 1960 to 2021 shows that European interiors became noticeably greyer in the 2010s. Design trends of course don't last forever. IKEA is now bringing long-forgotten colours and patterns back from the archives.