Dataviz by Sunlight

Shining a light on DC campaign finance

Over the last two years, money from 47 other states has poured into DC municipal contests, raising intriguing questions about what interest contributors might have in races where the debate often centers around parking restrictions, charter schools and creating dog parks. Our analysis shows that contributions from outside DC made up 30 percent of the funding used to fuel local political campaigns.

We’ve just added several years worth of D.C. campaign finance data into Influence Explorer. Dig in here.

What does tax lobbying look like in the 112th Congress?

Our visualization of the vast network of tax lobbying clearly shows clusters emerging around different sectors of the economy. We detect at least 15 distinct lobbying clusters. The densest thickets of activity center around: electricity generation; renewable energy; finance; and the high-tech industry.

Motion Time Lapser Generates Time Lapses From Folders of Phone

Time lapse videos can be stunning, but they aren’t very easy to make, at least not well. Motion Time Lapser is a unique Windows app that automatically crops photos for use in time lapses, complete with advanced panning and rotation animations.

Teaching a computer to play Mario… seemingly through voodoo

Some people know [Tom Murphy] as [Dr. Tom Murphy VII Ph.D.] and this hack makes it obvious that he earned those accolades. He decided to see if he could teach a computer to win at Super Mario Bros.

See-through brain lets scientists spot the connections

Stanford researchers discover a way to make the brain completely transparent so they can study its structure without the need for slicing.

Hospitals can now track which workers have washed their hands

GE has just announced a new technology for hospitals. The AgilTrac Real-Time Location System will allow hospitals to make sure doctors, nurses, and other workers are washing their hands enough.

Personal Space

How much space each person has in some of the world’s major cities

City Plates

City Plates are 12-inch porcelain plates that have grid maps of 24 different cities on them, from Boston to Brasilia to Berlin.

Status Board, A Detailed Information Dashboard App For iPad by Panic

Status Board by Panic is a detailed information dashboard designed for the iPad. The app displays the time and weather, as well as your calendar, email, Twitter, and RSS feeds in an organized, customizable way.

Real-time map of all forests on Earth launches next month

An online map that tracks in near real-time the vegetation area of all the world’s forests simultaneously will launch next month, after a preview was shown at a United Nations summit yesterday. Called “Global Forest Watch 2.0,” the map is a project years in the making led by the World Resources Institute, a nonprofit advocacy group focused on ecological issues.

odditiesoflife:

Long Term Exposure of Mating Gold Fireflies

Japanese photographer Yuki Karo goes to various places around Maniwa and Okayama Prefectures in Japan and uses long exposure to capture some stunning shots of mating gold fireflies.

The Hidden Costs of Aging, Video Features People Aged 1 to 102

“The Hidden Costs of Aging”is a short video that looks at some of the costs and statistics of aging, including how many calories we consume, how many hours of commercials we watch, and the amount of money we spend on healthcare.