A Data Visualization Newsletter

Last Friday was National Doughnut Day in the United States. To commemorate the occasion, The Washington Post collaborated with Yelp to determine the most popular doughnut brands in each area of the country. Their analysis shows that the U.S. can be divided into nine doughnut “fiefdoms”, with larger brands dominating as you go farther east.

In the mid-1990s, a hip-hop producer named J Dilla pioneered an experimental approach to musical rhythm. Instead of making the bass and drums notes perfectly spaced — a style referred to as a “straight groove” — he instead started to “shift” some of the notes slightly, which created a sort of looseness and tension in his beats. It’s a style, now called “Dilla Time”, that continues to be influential to this day.

Axios and Harris Poll recently released the results of their 2023 survey, which gauges the reputation of the most visible brands in America. Some of the brands near the bottom — Twitter, FTX, Spirit Airlines — come as no surprise. But can you guess the ones at the top?

Many Americans think of themselves as members of the middle class — up to 87% by one measure — even if their income is not. That’s because the definition of middle class isn’t fully agreed upon, and often comes down to comparing yourself to your most immediate neighbors. This article from The Washington Post helps you benchmark what it means to be middle class and whether you qualify.

For the last 20 years, a survey administered by the OECD has asked teenagers a simple question: what job do you expect to have when you’re 30? Many teenagers answer with a variety of well-respected professions — doctor, lawyer, athlete. But more recently, a concerning trend has emerged: more and more teenagers are unable to name any job, signaling a potential lack of preparation and planning for the future among the world’s youth.