Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Alex Wein @alexwein.bsky.social · 20h

deeply haunting

Alex Wein @alexwein.bsky.social · 2d

shit...damn...motherfucker

1

Alex Wein @alexwein.bsky.social · 2d

i feel like this is going to sound ironic but it's 100% not: I want so badly to know what Kieron thinks about pie charts

1 2

Alex Wein @alexwein.bsky.social · 2d

not enough discussion of charts and graphs

TLDR Comic Book Club @tldrcomicbookclub.bsky.social · 3d

🔥 FRIAR SIDE CHAT 🔥

DIE is set to return, so we simply had to chat with @kierongillen.bsky.social

Between his series with @stephaniehans.bsky.social returning and his other can't-miss @imagecomics.com with @casparw.bsky.social, THE POWER FANTASY, this was a loaded interview 😏⬇️

Kieron Gillen's Charts and Graphs (and DIE)

Podcast Episode · TLDR Comic Book Club · 10/13/2025 · 1h 1m

podcasts.apple.com

2 1 2

Alex Wein @alexwein.bsky.social · 2d

Reading this prompted a rewatch of Julio Torres's My Favorite Shapes. Bunch of good shapes in there.

Alex Wein @alexwein.bsky.social · 6d

when i started my job, i talked a lot about how valuable good documentation is. but now I have to write good documentation and I do not want to.

5

Alex Wein @alexwein.bsky.social · 7d

fun stuff...although after reading, i am less certain i understand either what a theory is or what a shape is

Matthew Kay @mjskay.com · 7d

to appear at #alt.vis 2025: THEORY IS SHAPES

sure "theory figures" are great, but @matthew.wiki, @maryamhed.bsky.social, me, and Carolina Nobre wonder: why always a 2D plane or a flowchart? why not icebergs, horseshoes, Möbius strips, or BLT sandwiches?
arxiv.org/abs/2510.01382

#ieeevis #hci

Abstract and teaser figure of the paper "Theory is Shapes" by Matthew Varona, Maryam Hedayati, Matthew Kay, and Carolina Nobre.

The teaser figure is an "iceberg" theory figure, showing four levels: the tip of the iceberg, containing a nested set diagram and a Cartesian plane. The next level down (just under the water) has a complicated flow charts and a combination flow chart and matrix. The next level down has the iceberg figure itself and a horseshoe. The final level contains a Möbius strip and a BLT sandwich.

The abstract reads:

"Theory figures" are a staple of theoretical visualization research. Common shapes such as Cartesian planes and flowcharts can be used not only to explain conceptual contributions, but to think through and refine the contribution itself. Yet, theory figures tend to be limited to a set of standard shapes, limiting the creative and expressive potential of visualization theory. In this work, we explore how the shapes used in theory figures afford different understandings and explanations of their underlying phenomena. We speculate on the value of visualizing theories using more expressive configurations, such as icebergs, horseshoes, Möbius strips, and BLT sandwiches. By reflecting on figure-making's generative role in the practice of theorizing, we conclude that theory is, in fact, shapes.

1 2

Alex Wein @alexwein.bsky.social · 14d

had to get into some of the nuances of marvel snap's in-game currencies with my therapist this week

Reposted by Alex Wein

brooke husic @xws.bsky.social · 15d

i wrote more here: blog.puzzmo.com/posts/2025/1...

Learn the grammar of crosswords with Puzzmo minis

Today is the first day of a series of 30 mini crosswords designed to help you become a better crossword solver. They’re free for all players, and you can solve the first one here. In college, I accide...

blog.puzzmo.com

3 3 7

Reposted by Alex Wein

Reo Eveleth @reveleth.com · 16d

This is my first story for @coyotemedia.org and I'm pretty proud of it! I think it will surprise and delight you, even if you don't live in the Bay Area. Plus, it includes a recipe for pie. www.coyotemedia.org/where-did-th...

Where Did the Fairyland Dandelions Go?

For more than 45 years, three huge steel and bronze dandelion puffs reached for the sky outside Children’s Fairyland only to disappear without a trace. COYOTE went on a quest to find them.

www.coyotemedia.org

4 7 43

Alex Wein @alexwein.bsky.social · 16d

2 hours and 50 minutes? maybe a few of those battles could have happened concurrently. (the runtime was fine actually, i just needed to get the dumb joke out of my head.)

Alex Wein @alexwein.bsky.social · Oct 25

I know that complaining about long movies makes me a philistine, but I would have enjoyed the 3.5 hour movie more if it were shorter.

1

Reposted by Alex Wein

Benjamin Tausig @burrata.bsky.social · 17d

This was a really fun conversation. I don’t get too many chance to talk about puzzles as independent media, but I really believe in the point and Phil is a pretty brilliant interlocutor.

Philip Moscovitch @philmoscovitch.bsky.social · 17d

For my @halifaxexaminer.ca morning file today I spoke with @burrata.bsky.social about crosswords as independent media, and the editorial choices that inform puzzles. Plus, links to a whole bunch of stories by Examiner colleagues. Enjoy.
www.halifaxexaminer.ca/morning-file...

Crosswords as independent media: a conversation with AVCX editor Ben Tausig - Halifax Examiner

"We don't want to be famous, we don't want to be rich. We just want to be a really robust, healthy community."

www.halifaxexaminer.ca

1 8 30

Alex Wein @alexwein.bsky.social · 18d

this morning i discovered that my blog has been down for a month...back up now, but still no new posts since april alex-we.in

Alex Wein @alexwein.bsky.social · Apr 4

"wanting to blog" is such an embarrassing hobby

Alex Wein @alexwein.bsky.social · 19d

you can add an S to the end of 56k words (in wordnik) and get a valid word. Of the 56k there are 112 already end in S.

a screenshot of an Obserable notebook. It contains a table with columns: tail, n_words, n_words_5plus, n_words_8plus. The value for tail is always a unique single letter. Below the table is the following duckdb sql query:

with tails as (
from wordnik
select
word,
substring(word, 1, length(word) - 1) as head,
substring(word, length(word)) as tail,
where substring(word, 1, length(word) - 1) in (
select word from wordnik
)
)

from tails
select
tail,
count(*) as n_words,
count_if(length(word) >= 5)::int as n_words_5plus,
count_if(length(word) >= 8)::int as n_words_8plus,
group by all
order by n_words desc

Alex Wein @alexwein.bsky.social · 20d

just listened to it again this morning bsky.app/profile/alex...

Alex Wein @alexwein.bsky.social · May 23

not totally sure how it happened but my album of the year so far is 2009's "It's Blitz!" by Yeah Yeah Yeahs

1 2

Alex Wein @alexwein.bsky.social · 21d

i enjoyed the part in one battle after another where junglepussy said "hi, i'm junglepussy" www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQuo...

Junglepussy - State of the Union

YouTube video by JUNGLEPUSSY

www.youtube.com

Alex Wein @alexwein.bsky.social · 21d

is anything else in the works for the "Voices" line?

1

Reposted by Alex Wein

Alex Wein @alexwein.bsky.social · Aug 27

unironically, i love it every time there's poptimism discourse

1 1

Alex Wein @alexwein.bsky.social · 22d

I love this though! I made my own janky bird based word search game earlier this year loopyletters.val.run/birds

Loopy Letters

loopyletters.val.run

1 1

Reposted by Alex Wein

Jer Thorp @jerthorp.bsky.social · 22d

I had an idea yesterday about making a word search that, when solved, would be a data visualization.

So, I coded it up... and it worked!

This shows abundance of three bird species in Brooklyn Bridge Park over a year.

It feels like there are some fun possibilities here.

📊🪶

10 24 140

Alex Wein @alexwein.bsky.social · 22d

It might be easier if you provided the starting letters in col 1. The letters in a series aren't necessarily adjacent, but they will mostly be close-ish (unless something interesting is happening!): if I had a starting point, I might be able to find the next letter.

2

Alex Wein @alexwein.bsky.social · 26d

another good debbii dawson single. this one is produced by luka/elvira (who did all of addison) and has a writing credit from max martin (jessie j's "domino")

My New Favorite Song @mynewfavoritesong.bsky.social · 26d

My new favorite song is "I Want You" https://open.spotify.com/track/0POZcZCXYeUF7fC4EnRlVp

I Want You

-

open.spotify.com

1

Alex Wein @alexwein.bsky.social · 26d

in my last role i had a peer with an overlapping skill profile and workload, but i'm more siloed now and my sql is going to get way more idiosyncratic

Alex Wein @alexwein.bsky.social · 26d

i was in the snowflake docs a little while back and noticed asof join (added last year), and i now have a load-bearing asof join

1

Reposted by Alex Wein

Data Visualization Society @datavizsociety.bsky.social · 28d

📊 Academic papers can be challenging to read, especially for students new to a field.

Alyxander Burns shares an activity that uses data comics to help students better understand and engage with academic literature.

www.nightingaledvs.com/learning-academic-papers-making-data-comics

Learning to Read Academic Papers by Making Data Comics, Nightingale

Learning to read academic papers is a considerable challenge for many college students.

nightingaledvs.com

2 6