[Video link] The presidential limo is a 1987 VW Bug. The presidential pooch has only three functioning legs. The presidential laundry hangs on the line, washed in water hauled from a well in the yard. The president himself, Jose Mujica, who won a landslide victory in Uraguay's 2009 election, carries six bullet wounds in his body, a legacy of his time with the Tupamaros guerrillas in the '60s and '70s. He also spent 14 years in a military prison, including two confined to the bottom of a well. Mujica donates 90 percent of his $144,000 annual salary to charity, bringing his effective income...

One of Contrarian's favorite websites, FlowingData, has produced a year-end list of the five best data visualization projects of 2009. Topping the chart is Britain From Above, a UK-based visual effects and animation company. FlowingData's Nathan Yau describes the result: GPS traces from taxi cabs and airline flights scurried to locations; telephone communications glowed in the sky; ground lights twinkled as if the roles of sky and earth were switched; and internet traffic burst from computer to computer. With all that data on display, patterns emerged - zero air traffic in no-fly zones and taxis taking alternate routes to avoid heavy...