Alex Lundry
@alexlundry.bsky.social
Data scientist, data visualizer, pollster and (adjunct) professor. Husband, father, dog-owner, musician, and prolific reader. Northeast DC via Northern New Jersey.
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Alex Lundry
@alexlundry.bsky.social
· Nov 9
New followers! I’m a data scientist for national companies, associations, foundations, and advocacy organizations. I previously led Mitt Romney and Jeb Bush’s presidential data operations. I teach dataviz at Georgetown and Johns Hopkins. Play piano and sing. Husband. Father to 4 kids and 1 dog.
Seems a little young to be teaching parameters, tokens, and quantization…
May 24, 2025 at 3:20 PM
Seems a little young to be teaching parameters, tokens, and quantization…
This chart, from Ben Fritz’s excellent WSJ article on Marvel today, tells a hell of a story…
May 3, 2025 at 1:49 PM
This chart, from Ben Fritz’s excellent WSJ article on Marvel today, tells a hell of a story…
More intermissions please! This is the (re)innovation that the movie theatre experience needs.
January 15, 2025 at 1:06 AM
More intermissions please! This is the (re)innovation that the movie theatre experience needs.
And we thought cell phones at the theater are bad…
December 26, 2024 at 3:34 PM
And we thought cell phones at the theater are bad…
Does it bug you as much as it bugs me that the shortest day of the year doesn't also have the latest sunrise and earliest sunset? I don't like that asymmetry...so I made a dataviz to help me better understand it and maybe see the underlying pattern better. 📊 #dataviz
December 21, 2024 at 5:59 PM
Does it bug you as much as it bugs me that the shortest day of the year doesn't also have the latest sunrise and earliest sunset? I don't like that asymmetry...so I made a dataviz to help me better understand it and maybe see the underlying pattern better. 📊 #dataviz
Apparently every holiday season student volunteers at University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana run a 24-hour "Dial-A-Carol" hotline. A student volunteer will sing a carol of your choice! Try it - tonight is the last night! 217-332-1882
A Beloved University of Illinois Tradition Sings On: Dial-A-Carol Goes Live Dec. 12
Looking for something fun to break up your day this holiday season? Kids love using the phone? Call Dial-A-Carol. It's FREE!
www.chambanamoms.com
December 19, 2024 at 1:10 AM
Apparently every holiday season student volunteers at University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana run a 24-hour "Dial-A-Carol" hotline. A student volunteer will sing a carol of your choice! Try it - tonight is the last night! 217-332-1882
Dick Van Dyke is one of the all time greats, and it's absolutely beautiful to see him get his flowers in this video by Coldplay and Spike Jonze:
Coldplay - ALL MY LOVE (Official Video) (Directors' Cut)
YouTube video by Coldplay
www.youtube.com
December 12, 2024 at 7:29 PM
Dick Van Dyke is one of the all time greats, and it's absolutely beautiful to see him get his flowers in this video by Coldplay and Spike Jonze:
Reposted by Alex Lundry
"The Earworm Eraser is a 40-second audio track designed specifically to squash earworms — a song on repeat circling around and around in your brain that can't easily be shaken off."
All I want for Christmas is ... help getting this song out of my head: www.npr.org/2024/11/27/n...
All I want for Christmas is ... help getting this song out of my head: www.npr.org/2024/11/27/n...
December 3, 2024 at 11:45 PM
"The Earworm Eraser is a 40-second audio track designed specifically to squash earworms — a song on repeat circling around and around in your brain that can't easily be shaken off."
All I want for Christmas is ... help getting this song out of my head: www.npr.org/2024/11/27/n...
All I want for Christmas is ... help getting this song out of my head: www.npr.org/2024/11/27/n...
“The Hike” by Drew Magary: This is what you would get if Guillermo Del Toro rewrote “The Wizard of Oz” with a middle aged male protagonist. An engaging breezy read that gave me some super weird dreams and got me wondering if I had successfully gotten myself off of my own “path”. 4/5⭐️
November 30, 2024 at 3:27 PM
“The Hike” by Drew Magary: This is what you would get if Guillermo Del Toro rewrote “The Wizard of Oz” with a middle aged male protagonist. An engaging breezy read that gave me some super weird dreams and got me wondering if I had successfully gotten myself off of my own “path”. 4/5⭐️
“The Kaiju Preservation Society” by John Scalzi. This book is pure bubble-gum sci-fi in the best possible way. So much fun. I’m sure the movie rights have already sold; what an incredible addition this would be to the Godzilla-verse! 4/5⭐️
November 26, 2024 at 5:10 AM
“The Kaiju Preservation Society” by John Scalzi. This book is pure bubble-gum sci-fi in the best possible way. So much fun. I’m sure the movie rights have already sold; what an incredible addition this would be to the Godzilla-verse! 4/5⭐️
This is SO good. Worked really beautifully on mobile too.
Ever since The Nib ceased publication, I've been missing that quarterly does of thoughtful, deeply felt non-fiction comic storytelling. This, a story about baby monitors and also about parenting in an age of abundant data, hits that feeling perfectly www.theverge.com/c/24278723/c...
How to watch a baby
A digital comic by Kristen Radtke.
www.theverge.com
November 25, 2024 at 9:48 PM
This is SO good. Worked really beautifully on mobile too.
Finally tried the Spotify AI playlist generator. It did not do well. First ask? Songs that are like the Beatles that aren’t by the Beatles. It gave me a list entirely of Beatles songs. After revision I asked it to only give me songs recorded after 2000. It failed.
November 25, 2024 at 12:18 AM
Finally tried the Spotify AI playlist generator. It did not do well. First ask? Songs that are like the Beatles that aren’t by the Beatles. It gave me a list entirely of Beatles songs. After revision I asked it to only give me songs recorded after 2000. It failed.
Also just finished “Nexus” by Yuval Harari. Not the tour de force of Sapiens or Homo Deus, but an important big picture look at AI. I have a ton of thoughts to put in longer form, but until then know this is a worthwhile “big think” book if you’re at all interested in our AI driven future. 4/5 ⭐️
November 23, 2024 at 10:51 PM
Also just finished “Nexus” by Yuval Harari. Not the tour de force of Sapiens or Homo Deus, but an important big picture look at AI. I have a ton of thoughts to put in longer form, but until then know this is a worthwhile “big think” book if you’re at all interested in our AI driven future. 4/5 ⭐️
Just finished The Afterlives by Thomas Pierce, a sweet reflection on life, death, and the potentially soft barrier between them wrapped up in a cozy haunted house story. 3/5 ⭐️
November 23, 2024 at 10:40 PM
Just finished The Afterlives by Thomas Pierce, a sweet reflection on life, death, and the potentially soft barrier between them wrapped up in a cozy haunted house story. 3/5 ⭐️
Two fantastic small music venues in DC - The Pocket and Rhizome - have been awarded a "Toolbox Grant" from the Live Music Society. Well deserved - congratulations! www.livemusicsociety.org/news/live-mu...
Live Music Society Announces $290,000 In Funding For 34 Small Venues in the U.S. To Assist With Needs That Enable Growth — Live Music Society
Surpasses $1 Million in 2024 Funding with Largest-Ever Toolbox Grant Round Non-Profit Has Given $4.1 Million To Support Small Music Venues Since 2020
www.livemusicsociety.org
November 22, 2024 at 9:50 PM
Two fantastic small music venues in DC - The Pocket and Rhizome - have been awarded a "Toolbox Grant" from the Live Music Society. Well deserved - congratulations! www.livemusicsociety.org/news/live-mu...
3 songs in and Father John Misty’s new album is EXCELLENT. Those strings on “Josh Tillman and the Accidental Dose”? <chefs kiss>
November 22, 2024 at 2:42 PM
3 songs in and Father John Misty’s new album is EXCELLENT. Those strings on “Josh Tillman and the Accidental Dose”? <chefs kiss>
This is great - will be useful for the peer review component of my dataviz course. 📌
I just uncovered a critique guide I wrote for a SRCCON session some years ago and I think it still holds up
November 22, 2024 at 2:01 PM
This is great - will be useful for the peer review component of my dataviz course. 📌
Reposted by Alex Lundry
"Consistent differences suggest that singing isn’t just a by-product of speech, yet why it evolved is still unknown. Perhaps it developed to unite people, an idea called the social-bonding hypothesis."
Hidden Patterns in Folk Songs Reveal How Music Evolved:
Hidden Patterns in Folk Songs Reveal How Music Evolved:
Hidden Patterns in Folk Songs Reveal How Music Evolved
Songs and speech across cultures suggest music developed similar features around the world
www.scientificamerican.com
November 21, 2024 at 6:45 PM
"Consistent differences suggest that singing isn’t just a by-product of speech, yet why it evolved is still unknown. Perhaps it developed to unite people, an idea called the social-bonding hypothesis."
Hidden Patterns in Folk Songs Reveal How Music Evolved:
Hidden Patterns in Folk Songs Reveal How Music Evolved:
👀 that 18-29 year old number - nearly half!!
% who have ever asked an AI chatbot for help with making a decision
U.S. adults: 27%
18-29: 47%
30-44: 36%
45-64: 18%
65+: 9%
today.yougov.com/topics/techn...
U.S. adults: 27%
18-29: 47%
30-44: 36%
45-64: 18%
65+: 9%
today.yougov.com/topics/techn...
November 22, 2024 at 12:47 PM
👀 that 18-29 year old number - nearly half!!
Tonight’s sight reading project. There are some funky chords in there!
November 21, 2024 at 3:12 AM
Tonight’s sight reading project. There are some funky chords in there!
This seems like it could be really helpful! 📌
10. Lots and lots of additional Bluesky tools.
This GitHub page has a long list of loads of Bluesky tools, including analytics, feed builders, migration apps, and more.
ht @timfduffy.com
github.com/fishttp/awes...
This GitHub page has a long list of loads of Bluesky tools, including analytics, feed builders, migration apps, and more.
ht @timfduffy.com
github.com/fishttp/awes...
November 20, 2024 at 11:34 PM
This seems like it could be really helpful! 📌
Excellent breakdown; will be useful for my spring dataviz class.
Trying something new:
A 🧵 on a topic I find many students struggle with: "why do their 📊 look more professional than my 📊?"
It's *lots* of tiny decisions that aren't the defaults in many libraries, so let's break down 1 simple graph by @jburnmurdoch.bsky.social
🔗 www.ft.com/content/73a1...
A 🧵 on a topic I find many students struggle with: "why do their 📊 look more professional than my 📊?"
It's *lots* of tiny decisions that aren't the defaults in many libraries, so let's break down 1 simple graph by @jburnmurdoch.bsky.social
🔗 www.ft.com/content/73a1...
November 20, 2024 at 11:31 PM
Excellent breakdown; will be useful for my spring dataviz class.
Ok, who at NY Times Graphics do I need to convince to update their neighborhood and fridge "guess how they voted" games with 2024 data? www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
Do You Think You Can Tell How a Neighborhood Voted Just by Looking Around? (Published 2021)
An interactive, street-level tour of America’s full political landscape.
www.nytimes.com
November 20, 2024 at 2:17 PM
Ok, who at NY Times Graphics do I need to convince to update their neighborhood and fridge "guess how they voted" games with 2024 data? www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
Gorgeous!
November 20, 2024 at 12:51 PM
Gorgeous!
This is mesmerizing!
As the nights draw in in the northern hemisphere here is a #dataviz to show night vs day at different latitudes as the year progresses. Note how at the solstices the speed of day length change slows right down meaning it takes a long time to change from those long nights and short days!
November 19, 2024 at 12:09 PM
This is mesmerizing!