Danyel Fisher
@danyelf.bsky.social
Data visualization; user experience with data analysis; general joyful data nerdery
I’m less enchanted with the question “what does a lefty with the power of Trump” look like, because the best possible outcome is a world where every few years we lurch between lefty utopia and corrupt dictatorship.
Lefty think tank @cmmonwealth.bsky.social is homing in on Democrats' response to the affordability crisis and figuring out what a future Democratic president must do to pick up the pieces once the Trump administration is out of the White House. From @ryanlcooper.com:
trib.al/a5JDVBG
trib.al/a5JDVBG
How Do We Rebuild After Trump? - The American Prospect
Many Trump critics are focused on what he is doing to our basic democratic compact. But there’s a reason that all the presidents who led us through our worst previous crises also had an aggressive program of reform—including public provision and ownership.
trib.al
November 3, 2025 at 11:49 PM
I’m less enchanted with the question “what does a lefty with the power of Trump” look like, because the best possible outcome is a world where every few years we lurch between lefty utopia and corrupt dictatorship.
Reposted by Danyel Fisher
How many times, in how many contexts, from how many internal and external researchers, or from how many CEO's are people going to have to receive this message before they believe it:
"Hallucinations" are an inherent part of the large language model architecture.
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
"Hallucinations" are an inherent part of the large language model architecture.
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Can researchers stop AI making up citations?
OpenAI’s GPT-5 hallucinates less than previous models do, but cutting hallucination completely might prove impossible.
www.nature.com
September 8, 2025 at 6:17 PM
How many times, in how many contexts, from how many internal and external researchers, or from how many CEO's are people going to have to receive this message before they believe it:
"Hallucinations" are an inherent part of the large language model architecture.
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
"Hallucinations" are an inherent part of the large language model architecture.
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
I carried out the same exercise in metric, too: the number of hours during which the temperature (in C) is the latitude. Cooler equatorial oceans -- and a long span of northern Africa and south America.
danyelf.github.io/degree-degree/
danyelf.github.io/degree-degree/
August 12, 2025 at 4:32 PM
I carried out the same exercise in metric, too: the number of hours during which the temperature (in C) is the latitude. Cooler equatorial oceans -- and a long span of northern Africa and south America.
danyelf.github.io/degree-degree/
danyelf.github.io/degree-degree/
A friend posted a photo, sunbathing from Scandanavia a little bit ago, captioned "60 degrees at 60 degrees!" That made me wonder how often that really happens -- where on earth is the temperature the same as the latitude, and how often? I answered that at danyel.github.io/degree-degree
August 11, 2025 at 9:03 PM
A friend posted a photo, sunbathing from Scandanavia a little bit ago, captioned "60 degrees at 60 degrees!" That made me wonder how often that really happens -- where on earth is the temperature the same as the latitude, and how often? I answered that at danyel.github.io/degree-degree
The other day, I watched a (small local) LLM melt itself down. I was testing out Ollama with the 8b Deepseek model. I gave it a moderately-challenging technical question -- how to make a Javascript and Python package talk to each other -- and hit "go". Three hours later...
August 4, 2025 at 6:04 AM
The other day, I watched a (small local) LLM melt itself down. I was testing out Ollama with the 8b Deepseek model. I gave it a moderately-challenging technical question -- how to make a Javascript and Python package talk to each other -- and hit "go". Three hours later...
Reposted by Danyel Fisher
Strunk & White stole all their ideas from that spider
July 16, 2025 at 4:08 AM
Strunk & White stole all their ideas from that spider
Reposted by Danyel Fisher
This is hilarious - ChatGPT hallucinates repeatedly about a nonexistent feature on another website (confusing people), eventually leading the site's owners to implement the feature.
www.holovaty.com/writing/chat...
www.holovaty.com/writing/chat...
Adding a feature because ChatGPT incorrectly thinks it exists | Holovaty.com
www.holovaty.com
July 7, 2025 at 7:07 PM
This is hilarious - ChatGPT hallucinates repeatedly about a nonexistent feature on another website (confusing people), eventually leading the site's owners to implement the feature.
www.holovaty.com/writing/chat...
www.holovaty.com/writing/chat...
Reposted by Danyel Fisher
Given that these grotesque abuses are being conducted for our supposed benefit, what do you imagine they'll do when Jews are not sufficiently grateful?
What will be the punishment?
And which Jews and Jewish orgs will cooperate?
May God give us soft hearts and strong spines.
What will be the punishment?
And which Jews and Jewish orgs will cooperate?
May God give us soft hearts and strong spines.
BREAKING: The Trump administration will begin screening immigrants’ social media for “antisemitism.”
This will NOT fight antisemitism.
This is simply using Jews as an excuse to move a cruel, anti-immigrant, authoritarian agenda.
We refuse to be used this way.
www.uscis.gov/newsroom/new...
This will NOT fight antisemitism.
This is simply using Jews as an excuse to move a cruel, anti-immigrant, authoritarian agenda.
We refuse to be used this way.
www.uscis.gov/newsroom/new...
DHS to Begin Screening Aliens’ Social Media Activity for Antisemitism | USCIS
Today U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will begin considering aliens’ antisemitic activity on social media and the physical harassment of Jewish individuals as grounds for denying imm...
www.uscis.gov
April 10, 2025 at 7:35 PM
Given that these grotesque abuses are being conducted for our supposed benefit, what do you imagine they'll do when Jews are not sufficiently grateful?
What will be the punishment?
And which Jews and Jewish orgs will cooperate?
May God give us soft hearts and strong spines.
What will be the punishment?
And which Jews and Jewish orgs will cooperate?
May God give us soft hearts and strong spines.
Reposted by Danyel Fisher
Oh, my God, it's the HUD sucker proxy.
March 3, 2025 at 7:29 PM
Oh, my God, it's the HUD sucker proxy.
The White House is pretty much issuing revised official photographs that no longer show out of favor politburo members.
February 26, 2025 at 3:14 PM
The White House is pretty much issuing revised official photographs that no longer show out of favor politburo members.
If something reduces death by 30%, then removing that thing increases death by 50%.
There are about 40,000 deaths by flu annually, placing it just behind liver disease and self-harm as a leading cause of death.
With no vaccine, I bet we could make it up to 60k and hop 3 steps in the rankings!
There are about 40,000 deaths by flu annually, placing it just behind liver disease and self-harm as a leading cause of death.
With no vaccine, I bet we could make it up to 60k and hop 3 steps in the rankings!
Influenza is essentially always a top ten cause of death, contributes significantly to the morbidity of cardiovascular and neurological disorders, and costs America tens of billions of dollars per year.
Sorry that "only" a 36% reduction isn't good enough for you.
Sorry that "only" a 36% reduction isn't good enough for you.
February 24, 2025 at 11:40 PM
If something reduces death by 30%, then removing that thing increases death by 50%.
There are about 40,000 deaths by flu annually, placing it just behind liver disease and self-harm as a leading cause of death.
With no vaccine, I bet we could make it up to 60k and hop 3 steps in the rankings!
There are about 40,000 deaths by flu annually, placing it just behind liver disease and self-harm as a leading cause of death.
With no vaccine, I bet we could make it up to 60k and hop 3 steps in the rankings!
I suspect that the person at OpenAI who saves 5% on a power cost gets a much smaller promotion than the person who shows how to get a 5% increase on a loss function. Cost isn’t the issue, so cost isn’t an issue.
Newsletter: The DeepSeek situation is a moment that should fill Silicon Valley with shame, a monument to the lack of vision and herd mentality of the American tech industry. OpenAI and Anthropic have no moat, no business, no innovation, and I believe no future.
www.wheresyoured.at/deep-impact/
www.wheresyoured.at/deep-impact/
Deep Impact
Soundtrack: The Hives — Hate To Say I Told You So
In the last week or so, but especially over the weekend, the entire generative AI industry has been thrown into chaos.
This won’t be a lengthy, tech...
www.wheresyoured.at
January 29, 2025 at 11:26 PM
I suspect that the person at OpenAI who saves 5% on a power cost gets a much smaller promotion than the person who shows how to get a 5% increase on a loss function. Cost isn’t the issue, so cost isn’t an issue.
I seem to have two different blog entries -- or, perhaps, rants -- half-written. Help pull me off the fence before I go away for vacation! Which would you rather see?
Option 1: Visualization Is About Comparison (and anyone who disagrees is trying to sell you a gauge)
Option 1: Visualization Is About Comparison (and anyone who disagrees is trying to sell you a gauge)
December 10, 2024 at 10:13 PM
I seem to have two different blog entries -- or, perhaps, rants -- half-written. Help pull me off the fence before I go away for vacation! Which would you rather see?
Option 1: Visualization Is About Comparison (and anyone who disagrees is trying to sell you a gauge)
Option 1: Visualization Is About Comparison (and anyone who disagrees is trying to sell you a gauge)
Finally got a chance to read these comments on box plots.
I think it’s really important to realize that the visualization forms of the mid 20th century were doing really different work than 2”we do today.
I think it’s really important to realize that the visualization forms of the mid 20th century were doing really different work than 2”we do today.
1. Wrote "Practical Charts" (Amazon #1 New Release, used at Yale) www.practicalreporting.com/pc-book
2. Might have killed box plots nightingaledvs.com/ive-stopped-... and bullet graphs nightingaledvs.com/why-i-stoppe...
3. Saw the pie chart light nightingaledvs.com/have-i-resol...
2. Might have killed box plots nightingaledvs.com/ive-stopped-... and bullet graphs nightingaledvs.com/why-i-stoppe...
3. Saw the pie chart light nightingaledvs.com/have-i-resol...
Practical Charts (Book) - Official Page — Practical Reporting Inc.
The official page for Nick Desbarats’ Practical Charts book.
www.practicalreporting.com
December 5, 2024 at 9:09 PM
Finally got a chance to read these comments on box plots.
I think it’s really important to realize that the visualization forms of the mid 20th century were doing really different work than 2”we do today.
I think it’s really important to realize that the visualization forms of the mid 20th century were doing really different work than 2”we do today.
Reposted by Danyel Fisher
For #30DayChartChallenge - day 26 - ai
I wanted to make a chart that showed generative AI generates expected seeming results consistent with the kind of corpus associated with the prompt, with no understanding of truth, facts, logic, or causality. So I had chatGPT supply the data for the graph.
I wanted to make a chart that showed generative AI generates expected seeming results consistent with the kind of corpus associated with the prompt, with no understanding of truth, facts, logic, or causality. So I had chatGPT supply the data for the graph.
April 25, 2024 at 7:18 PM
For #30DayChartChallenge - day 26 - ai
I wanted to make a chart that showed generative AI generates expected seeming results consistent with the kind of corpus associated with the prompt, with no understanding of truth, facts, logic, or causality. So I had chatGPT supply the data for the graph.
I wanted to make a chart that showed generative AI generates expected seeming results consistent with the kind of corpus associated with the prompt, with no understanding of truth, facts, logic, or causality. So I had chatGPT supply the data for the graph.
It’s surreal. Vaccination is one of the easiest-to-quantify, mind-boggling successful health discoveries ever. A solid “w” ticked on the human column.
between this and RFK Jr telling us that he’s going to be in charge of the health agencies, it sure looks like a second Trump administration is going to try to pull federal approval for vaccines
I don’t mean Covid vaccines, I mean all of them
seems pretty fucking high stakes to me
I don’t mean Covid vaccines, I mean all of them
seems pretty fucking high stakes to me
COLLINS: Vaccines are safe
TRUMP TRANSITION CO-CHAIR HOWARD LUTNICK: Why do you think vaccines are safe?
COLLINS: Because they're proven
LUTNICK: They're not proven
COLLINS: Kids get them and they're fine
LUTNICK: Why do you think they're fine?
TRUMP TRANSITION CO-CHAIR HOWARD LUTNICK: Why do you think vaccines are safe?
COLLINS: Because they're proven
LUTNICK: They're not proven
COLLINS: Kids get them and they're fine
LUTNICK: Why do you think they're fine?
October 31, 2024 at 5:29 PM
It’s surreal. Vaccination is one of the easiest-to-quantify, mind-boggling successful health discoveries ever. A solid “w” ticked on the human column.
We tried. It’s weirdly unavailable to stream right now.
Teri Garr dying two days before halloween is going to lead to an incredible uptick in people watching Young Frankenstein tonight. RIP queen 👑
October 30, 2024 at 9:53 PM
We tried. It’s weirdly unavailable to stream right now.
Reposted by Danyel Fisher
Hi new website! I'm Alper and I work on the Power BI Core Visuals team as an software engineer at Microsoft. I try to bridge the gap between research and practice in driving effective visualization authoring and consumption experiences for people of varying data and visual fluency.
October 30, 2024 at 3:11 AM
Hi new website! I'm Alper and I work on the Power BI Core Visuals team as an software engineer at Microsoft. I try to bridge the gap between research and practice in driving effective visualization authoring and consumption experiences for people of varying data and visual fluency.
I've been blogging for a big about the concept of "genre" in data visualization -- and this final entry helped me clarify why I think it's a useful tool. Does this breakdown make sense to you?
danyelfisher.info/blog/2024/10...
danyelfisher.info/blog/2024/10...
Designing for Genre — Danyel Fisher - Visualization and User Experience
The last few entries in this blog introduced the concept of “genre” as a way to frame visualization. I analogized visualization to literary genres: different genres of visualizations use the same perc...
danyelfisher.info
October 23, 2024 at 4:38 AM
I've been blogging for a big about the concept of "genre" in data visualization -- and this final entry helped me clarify why I think it's a useful tool. Does this breakdown make sense to you?
danyelfisher.info/blog/2024/10...
danyelfisher.info/blog/2024/10...
I've been thinking a lot about how to interview for UX well recently. Smarter people than me have written books on this, but I've run into a few recurrent issues. Here's a few big ones:
danyelfisher.info/blog/2024/2/...
danyelfisher.info/blog/2024/2/...
How to Ask the Right Question — Danyel Fisher
danyelfisher.info
February 21, 2024 at 11:27 PM
I've been thinking a lot about how to interview for UX well recently. Smarter people than me have written books on this, but I've run into a few recurrent issues. Here's a few big ones:
danyelfisher.info/blog/2024/2/...
danyelfisher.info/blog/2024/2/...
Reposted by Danyel Fisher
I never understood survivorship bias and I turned out okay.
February 20, 2024 at 10:04 PM
I never understood survivorship bias and I turned out okay.
I feel like new frontiers in data visualization can be explored with this approach. (Or did Tamara Munzner already cover this? graphics.stanford.edu/papers/webvi... )
January 22, 2024 at 11:49 PM
I feel like new frontiers in data visualization can be explored with this approach. (Or did Tamara Munzner already cover this? graphics.stanford.edu/papers/webvi... )
It's time for the IEEE Vis conference. I'm not in Oz this year, but the paper listing is online ieeevis.org/year/2023/in.... Authors are pretty good about putting their papers on arxiv ; I've been downloading and following along.
October 20, 2023 at 5:40 PM
It's time for the IEEE Vis conference. I'm not in Oz this year, but the paper listing is online ieeevis.org/year/2023/in.... Authors are pretty good about putting their papers on arxiv ; I've been downloading and following along.