Information is Beautiful has trawled 22,000 of horoscopes to come up with this visualisation of those words most commonly used. What does it tell us? Well that each zodiac sign has pretty much the same vocabulary. The RED words are ones that occur uniquely as the top 50 words for that sign. My red words (Virgo) are "totally" and "prefect". Hmmm..... Click the image to go to the full version.

They used it to make this 'meta-horoscope' from the most common words in 4,000 predictions:

"Ready? Sure? Whatever the situation or secret moment, enjoy everything a lot. Feel able to absolutely care. Expect nothing else. Keep making love. Family and friends matter. The world is life, fun and energy. Maybe hard. Or easy. Taking exactly enough is best. Help and talk to others. Change your mind and a better mood comes along..."

Never a truer word said!

ps - feeling geeky? Here's a link to the raw data.

(Via).

...as drawn by a seven-year-old boy.

From Information is Beautiful

(courtesy of Miss H. Lawrie)

https://docs.google.com/present/embed?id=df7rw7vz_338cz6ngnd6&size=m Warning: this will make you procrastinate

Yanko Tsvetkov has produced a fantastic series of maps looking at the way we see stereotypes. You can see the full set and buy large prints on his website - but these are some of my favourites. Where I Live Map. Digital illustration. Editorial for Süddeutsche Zeitung, June 2009

Europe according to Germany Map. Digital illustration.

Europe according to Italy Map. Digital illustration.

Europe according to Britain Map. Digital illustration.

Europe according to Gay Men Map. Digital illustration.

(ps, thanks for the spot, Max)