"Everything Starts Out Looking Like A Toy" (No. 19)
"Everything Starts Out Looking Like A Toy" (No. 19)
Observations where data and systems meet by Greg Meyer
This week’s toy: a developer decided to scrape election results from an NYT page to provide near real-time data about US Election results. I’m pretty sure I refreshed this link a lot between Tuesday and Saturday this week. Edition No. 19 of this newsletter is here - it’s November 7, 2020.
The Big Idea
I tried to write something important, but I’m a little distracted by the election and today’s events. In the US, we’re all going through something right now, and it’s going to be new. We’ll have a new President, a Woman VP (awesome!), and a lot of challenges as a country.
There are also a lot of opportunities to build for the future.
Let’s make Good Change.
What’s the takeaway? Find a friend, call someone, and ask them how they are feeling. Providing support during a significant historical event might help their stress.
We’d like to know …
Since this whole newsletter today seems to be election related … how are you feeling?
Click the tweet to tell us how you’re feeling about the Election
Links for Reading and Sharing
These are links that caught my eye.
1/ ECommerce is booming - Online Holiday spend this year will surpass $189 billion, up 33% year over year, according to Adobe. What, I wonder, will replace going to the mall? It’s going to look a lot more like “shared online retail experiences.”
2/ Heads up Display for your computer - Raycast.com is a way to take frequently used commands and put them front and center. Think of this as macros for the things you do all of the time.
3/ Meow - It’s possible that Your Cat Might Be Trying to Tell You Something. This app (plus a collar in development) uses machine learning to determine common intent from a cat’s meow. This could all be a feline plot, or a way to make it easier for your cat to get fed more often.
On the Reading/Watching List
How Charts Lie - Getting Smarter about Visual Information - this book, by Alberto Cairo, shares tips on how to read the infographics all around us. What can we gain by improving our data literacy and seeing the truth in the visuals we see? A lot.
All Sean Connery Movies, Ranked by Tomatometer - the fine folks at Rotten Tomatoes have compiled a helpful list of Sir Sean’s movies to watch in memory of his passing this week. I can personally attest to watching #26 (The Rock) this week to avoid thinking about election jitters.
What to do next
Hit reply if you’ve got links to share, data stories, or want to say hello.
I’m grateful you read this far. Thank you. If you found this useful, consider sharing with a friend.
Want more essays? Read on Data Operations or other writings at gregmeyer.com.
The next big thing always starts out being dismissed as a “toy.” - Chris Dixon