Amanda Shendruk
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not-ship.com
Amanda Shendruk
@not-ship.com
1.2K followers 1.1K following 280 posts
https://www.not-ship.com/

Explaining the world through data and design • Newsletter: Not-Ship • Formerly Washington Post, Quartz, the Guardian 🇨🇦 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿
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not-ship.com
What's your favourite technique for trying to understand big numbers? I like turning them into time! In my newsletter this week I look at ways to wrap our heads around large values. What did I miss?

www.not-ship.com/large-numbers/
This is a table showing how large numbers convert to time. 1 million seconds is 11.6 days, about as long as a vacation. 1 billion seconds is 31.7 years. About the length of a career. 1 trillion seconds is 31,700 years, which is longer than human civilization.
July 15, 2026 at 9:42 AM
not-ship.com
Look at the black line in this chart. That's the kind of sheer plummet that says "something is really wrong here". I thought this was a Trump 2.0 specialty. I was wrong.

In the last decade, academic freedoms deteriorated in 67% of countries.

www.not-ship.com/uh-whats-goi...
This chart shows the decline of academic freedom in the US. The decline is very sharp and starts around the beginning of 2025.
July 9, 2026 at 9:58 AM
not-ship.com
For decades, Americans haven't been feeling too optimistic about their country.

Now, on its big anniversary, I gave the US a 250-year performance review. How do you think it's doing? Meets expectations? Room for improvement?

Full performance review here: lnkd.in/ePYdgmjy
This line chart shows the percent of US adults who say they are satisfied or dissatisfied with the way things are going in the US today. It starts in 1990 and goes until 2026. Around 2000, the portion of those dissatisfied became greater than the portion of those who are satisfied. It has been that way ever since.
July 3, 2026 at 10:19 AM
not-ship.com
Things are really heating up in Europe. So, in today's Not-Ship the focus was heatwaves. I was floored by this: Heatwaves are clearly on the rise globally, but the "dirty thirties" were such an extreme outlier that you can't even see that rise on this chart of the US.

www.not-ship.com/heatwaves/
This is a chart showing the Annual heat wave index for the US. The spike in the 1930s is so extreme that it dwarfs all other data by at least three times. During the 1930s, the US experience extreme heatwaves as part of the Dust Bowl.
June 24, 2026 at 9:33 AM
not-ship.com
I wanted to find the most-recommended book of summer 2026. So, I gathered over 1000 recommendations from 49 different lists. Enjoy!

www.not-ship.com/summer-books...
June 10, 2026 at 4:59 PM
not-ship.com
What actually unites the right? Left vs right has traditionally been defined by economic policy. But today, Europe's far-right parties are far more closely aligned on social values (vertical axis).

More data, charts and analysis here: www.not-ship.com/what-unites-...
This is a quadrant chart. The vertical axis is Libertarian to Authoritarian. The horizontal axis is extreme left economic policy to extreme right. All the far-right parties cluster together at the top of the chart. United on the Authoritarian axis, but spread across the economic axis.
May 21, 2026 at 10:38 AM
not-ship.com
Talk is cheap, especially when it's about the future. There's a new addition to the corporate greenwashing playbook: Futurewashing.

Read all about it in this week's Not-Ship newsletter: www.not-ship.com/doublespeak-...
This scatterplot shows the quality of each company's climate targets compared with the prevalence of future-focused language in their annual reports. The vast majority of companies have either no targets or poor targets. Yet they still have lots to say about the future.
April 22, 2026 at 10:27 AM
not-ship.com
AI is changing the online privacy game. One of the most unnerving risks may not come from what we divulge to chatbots knowingly, but from the personal details they can determine that we NEVER EVEN TELL THEM.

@helloeujin.bsky.social and I break it down for you.

www.straitstimes.com/multimedia/g...
April 15, 2026 at 9:33 AM
not-ship.com
It's not just you: Democracy is STRUGGLING. The US has lost its status as a liberal democracy. And we may now be in a wave of autocratization. 🫣

www.not-ship.com/democracy-in...
This chart shows the number of democratizing and autocratizing countries since 1900. During that time, there have been three waves of democratization with following reversals.
April 1, 2026 at 10:35 AM
not-ship.com
I'm not usually one to "weigh in". But ...

AI job predictions are nothing more than 'statistical theatre.' Hunches wrapped in percentages and charts imply that someone, somewhere, has measured something real about our future careers.

But they haven't.

www.not-ship.com/the-problem-...
This is a screen capture of the Anthropic job chart that has been going viral online. I've annotated it to say: "Theoretical AI coverage: A series of assumptions, judgments and guesses." and "Observed AI coverage: Actually just the use of Claude for work-related tasks, not the wider AI ecosystem."
March 11, 2026 at 12:33 PM
not-ship.com
Looking for the rich? Check in the shadows. 👀

This week's data dive has it all: Detailed city maps! Calling out the wealthy! Shadow puns!

www.not-ship.com/wealthy-shad...
This is a map of Sydney showing the average shade across different regions. Gentrified and trendy, Surry Hills and Strawberry Hills have relatively more shade.
March 5, 2026 at 11:54 AM
not-ship.com
Economically, the Olympics almost never work out for the host city. They ALWAYS go over budget, and rarely make enough to cover the astronomical costs.

Olympic economics are fascinating. But it does leave you wondering — why do cities still do this?

www.not-ship.com/hosting-the-...
This chart shows that between 1964 and 2018, only five Olympics have had a surplus.
February 18, 2026 at 5:00 PM
not-ship.com
I'd like to introduce you to "joy watching". It's the act of watching birds, and thinking about how much joy they give us. Maybe we could use some of that right now.

🦉 🦜 🦅 Which birds bring YOU the most joy?
www.not-ship.com/birds-might-...
This is a chart showing the mean joy rating for various birds. The Long-tailed Tit is at the top with a ranking of just over 9. The Woodpigeon ranks at the bottom. But with a rating over five, it still brings joy!
January 28, 2026 at 8:59 AM
not-ship.com
It's been on the rise, anyways.
January 27, 2026 at 11:29 AM
not-ship.com
This surprised me: The US seems like a pretty diverse country. But when compared to everyone else? It's actually middle of the pack.

Do you ALSO like surprising data?

Have I got a newsletter for you!
www.not-ship.com
This is a chart that compares the US's ethnic diversity with other countries. Of 156 nations, the US is 68th in terms of most ethnic diversity. Liberia is at the top, with the most diversity, while Japan is at the bottom.
January 27, 2026 at 11:05 AM
not-ship.com
BTW, I see you work in development stats. It's surprising to me that, if this is indeed an error, it would stay wrong for so long. It's not like this data is hidden, or even a one-year blip. It's not like it's not noticeable! Lol. Does it surprise you too? Or do you see this kind of thing often?
January 14, 2026 at 11:04 AM
not-ship.com
Good point! Though in this case, it would only make the US look a tiny bit less extreme, given how huge the American number is compared with any other country. This is what the data look like.
January 14, 2026 at 8:54 AM
not-ship.com
Discovered some great data. You know that law of the sea: Women and children first? Yeah ... nope. The numbers show it's "every man for himself."

www.not-ship.com/data-detours...
January 7, 2026 at 12:40 PM
not-ship.com
Maritime capitalist Barbie

www.not-ship.com/data-detours...
January 7, 2026 at 12:35 PM
not-ship.com
New year, new uncertainties.

Me? I combat the overwhelming feelings with data. That's why I launched Not-Ship: a newsletter where we navigate ~It All~ together. Come chart the chaos with me.

www.not-ship.com
January 6, 2026 at 9:47 AM
not-ship.com
What feeds our curiosity? Entertainment and recent deaths. Last year, more than 50% of days had a most-read Wikipedia page in one of those two categories.

Here's the ENTIRE list of most-read English language Wikipedia pages for 2025.

www.not-ship.com/wikipedi/

What do you find most surprising?
This is a screenshot of a graphic from the shared piece. It shows the most-read Wikipedia page for the first two weeks in January, 2025.
January 2, 2026 at 9:56 AM
not-ship.com
As someone who believes runaway capitalism is one of the main ills of our time, Christmas gift giving requires some uncomfortable mental gymnastics. But I've found a way to feel a bit better about it.

Let me make the case for a B Corp Christmas.

www.not-ship.com/the-hypocrit...
December 4, 2025 at 4:46 PM
not-ship.com
An analysis of major US retailers found most items were discounted more often than sold at the 'regular' price.

In other words, the 'discount' is the real price, and the 'regular' price is just there to make you feel good about paying it. 🫣

www.not-ship.com/theres-somet...
December 2, 2025 at 11:19 AM
not-ship.com
When Amazon uses "was" (or "typical" in the US), it actually means the median price PAID over the past 90 days (not offered at). That means half of people bought the item at a higher price and half at a lower price.

And they don't include limited time promotions in that calculation.
A chart showing the previous price of a pair of headphones from Amazon.
November 28, 2025 at 11:34 AM
not-ship.com
Do you see "RRP" before that crossed-out price? That's the suggested retail price from the manufacturer.

BUT! Items don't ever have to be sold at that price. Here's an example from Amazon.

RRP: 64.99. Was only sold at that price super briefly two times in the last almost four years.
Chart showing how often a PlayStation controller on Amazon sold for the RRP.
November 28, 2025 at 11:29 AM