Here’s a few things we loved recently: beautiful data, inspiring investigations, a boring winter, and six spoonfuls of sugar.

Spies in the Skies

(BuzzFeed, April 6, 2016)
Incredibly detailed data on the thousands of U.S. government aircraft used for surveillance, including where they fly, what’s onboard, and what they’re capable of. A time-lapse of flight tracks shows what areas really get aerial attention.

The Dark Side of Guardian Comments

(Guardian, April 12, 2016)
How toxic commenting affects the web and its journalists, told with elegant visualizations and candor.

Chicago’s Boring Winter, Told in 6 Boring Charts

(Chicago Tribune, March 21, 2016)
Sometimes data just isn’t that exciting, and that’s totally noteworthy. This story digs into the snowfall that wasn’t. On the other hand, here’s the surprisingly fascinating inner workings of a bridge or credit card.

Spring Break’s Cleanup Crew

(Slate, March 25, 2016)
An interactive quiz shows how time (and, therefore, money) slips away for hotel maids when spring breakers trash their lodgings.

How Much Sugar is in Our Food?

(Australian Broadcasting Corporation, March 20, 2016)
Experts say we should only eat six teaspoons a day. But just what does that look like? Here’s six teaspoons of sugar, depicted as foods like juice, yogurt, and, of course, Weet-Bix.

Kids Have Brought More Than 185 Guns Into America’s Schools Since the Start of the Academic Year

(The Trace, March 25, 2016)
One map shows the enormity of our schools’ gun problem, marking each of 185 times that a student was caught with a gun on school grounds.

Even More Things

So many swimming pools in Los Angeles. How to redesign a tax refund. How film dialogue keeps women hushed. A portrait project with a comprehensive picture of people in tech. A historical perspective on the aesthetic and potential of interactive journalism. How (and why) FT.com tests and builds for speed.

A Call and a Call

SRCCON proposals are due April 20th at midnight, and we need your pitches for collaborative, peer-to-peer sessions. SRCCON is a hands-on conference about the practical challenges news technology and data teams encounter every day—in Portland, OR, July 28 and 29. More on sessions and pitching.

On the last OpenNews community call, we talked about the BuzzFeed Openlab Fellowships and much more. Missed it? Fear not. Here’s the notes.

Let’s talk more soon. Our next call is Thursday, April 21, at noon ET.

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