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Updated example of using baby names to illustrate bimodal distributions.

The thing about my way of teaching stats is that my cool, novel examples get old really fast. Like, pop culture is on a thirty-day cycle. Anyway, YEARS ago, 2014 to be exact, I blogged about illustrating bimodal data distributions  using baby name data from the Social Security Administration. Specifically, when an older name comes back into vogue, it has a bimodal distribution when you plot time on the X axis.  I stand by this example. However, all of the data illustrations come from 2014. When our traditionally aged college students were 6 or 7. Which makes this example feel a little stale. However, here is some data,  courtesy of Redditor  fevaah ,  showing  old names that are back in vogue through 2025 ! And Eleanor, Violet, Nora, and Hazel are here, illustrating bimodal distributions for a new generation. If you used my old baby-name data, this is a quick, easy refresh for your lectures (or a fun new addition if you didn't).  If this idea was help...

Pretty Stats Stock Images

Have you ever looked through stock images for data and statistics? They are fine. They aren't great, they aren't awful, they are just fine. Like, they either look like something from The Matrix:

Or like statisticians are magicians:


Some images are a combination of the first two, with a statistician-magician freeing himself from The Matrix:


Again, they aren't terrible but they aren't beautiful. 

Lucky for you, I'm a magpie collecting interesting statistical things, including interesting statistics/data images accompanying news stories.

Many talented artists have created beautiful, abstract stats images to accompany their articles. They look very nice as a background on a PowerPoint, an opening page on Blackboard, or an image on a syllabus. Here are some of my favorites. I've included citations or where I found the images where I can and plan to reverse Google search the rest someday. Needless to say, I created none of this. 







https://twitter.com/RetractionWatch/status/1332459268881178626?s=20



Various types of graph in behind a telescope
https://twitter.com/DD_NaNa_/status/1332715675828121602?s=20














http://www.karolinschnoor.co.uk/


by Rayomond Biesinger, http://fifteen.ca/





https://twitter.com/PaintedBraiNews/status/1334175758370156545



https://hbr.org/2020/12/covid-19-vaccine-trials-are-a-case-study-on-the-challenges-of-data-literacy

Getty Images, TCmake_photo

https://flowingdata.com/2021/02/04/process-125-uncertainty-words/
HBR Staff/MirageC/Getty Images

Beatrix Boros/ Stocksy








https://www.stuffthatworks.health/

https://www.stuffthatworks.health/

Getty Images statsy photo
iStock/Getty Images


An image expressing a metaphor for data analysis.
Found at: https://www.timeshighereducation.com/campus/spotlight/designing-assessments-support-deeper-learning

Found at: https://www.timeshighereducation.com/campus/spotlight/designing-assessments-support-deeper-learning

I think this looks like a confidence interval
Illustrator: Paul Blow










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