Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Beautiful Public Data @beautifulpublicdata.com · 14h

✨📊 Pilot Manual for a 1940's U.S. Navy Blimp

This 122 page manual contains all of the operating instructions and technical details needed to pilot this sleek, silver, 250 foot long, weaponiz…

https://beautifulpublicdata.com/pilot-manual-for-a-1940-u-s-air-force-blimp

Pilot Manual for a 1940's U.S. Navy Blimp

This 122 page manual contains all of the operating instructions and technical details needed to pilot this sleek, silver, 250 foot long, weaponized anti-submarine dirigible.

beautifulpublicdata.com

Beautiful Public Data @beautifulpublicdata.com · 2d

✨📊 Cold War Military Slides

A reporter stumbled upon a treasure trove of Department of Defense slides from the 1970s and 1980s depicting data from missile systems, Soviet capabilities and America’s nuclear ars…

🔗

https://beautifulpublicdata.com/cold-war-military-slides

Text "MISSION AND ORGANIZATION" is overlaid on a fragmented map with a blue grid and multicolored sections.

A dynamic painting depicting U.S. Air Force and Navy missiles and aircraft in flight against a colorful sky background.

A pie chart from the 323D Flying Training Wing displays FY 1979 graduate assignments, with SAC at 46%, TAC at 36%, MAC at 15%, and other at 3%.

A pie chart from AFSC FY 80 showing the distribution of total funds managed, totaling $17.4 billion, with sections for procurement (43%), RDT&E (25%), foreign military sales (21%), and other (11%).

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Beautiful Public Data @beautifulpublicdata.com · 5d

✨📊 US Government UFO (UAP) Footage

For decades, the public suspected that the US Government was hiding secret intelligence about UFOs — (now known as UAPs). Turns out…it kind of was.

https://beautifulpublicdata.com/us-government-ufo-uap-footage

A rough, triangular rock fragment is placed on a white surface with a black-and-white scale ruler beside it for size reference.

Beautiful Public Data @beautifulpublicdata.com · 7d

✨📊 US Government UFO (UAP) Footage

For decades, the public suspected that the US Government was hiding secret intelligence about UFOs — (now known as UAPs). Turns out…it kind of was.

https://beautifulpublicdata.com/us-government-ufo-uap-footage

A small, rough stone fragment is placed on a surface with black and white rulers arranged in an L-shape for scale.

Beautiful Public Data @beautifulpublicdata.com · 9d

✨📊 The Naughty Words the FAA Removed From the Sky

New FOIA records from the FAA shed light on the frantic effort in 2015 to rename navigation waypoints related to Donald Trump and reveal the list of naughty…

https://beautifulpublicdata.com/trump-naughty-faa-waypoints

The Naughty Words the FAA Removed From the Sky

New FOIA records from the FAA shed light on the frantic effort in 2015 to rename navigation waypoints related to Donald Trump and reveal the list of naughty waypoint names that were changed over the years.

beautifulpublicdata.com

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Beautiful Public Data @beautifulpublicdata.com · 12d

✨📊 Wild Horses

The Bureau of Land Management wants to pay you $1,000 to adopt a wild horse. But the program has been criticized by animal rights advocates and subject to scrutiny by Congress.

https://beautifulpublicdata.com/wild-horses

A black horse standing in a fenced area with sunlight casting shadows on its face.

A brown horse with a black mane stands in a trailer, looking towards the camera, with another horse partially visible behind it.

A black horse with a braided mane stands in a sunny outdoor setting.

A brown horse stands between metal bars, with sunlight casting shadows across its face.

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Beautiful Public Data @beautifulpublicdata.com · 14d

✨📊 Pilot Manual for a 1940's U.S. Navy Blimp

This 122 page manual contains all of the operating instructions and technical details needed to pilot this sleek, silver, 250 foot long, weaponiz…

https://beautifulpublicdata.com/pilot-manual-for-a-1940-u-s-air-force-blimp

Pilot Manual for a 1940's U.S. Navy Blimp

This 122 page manual contains all of the operating instructions and technical details needed to pilot this sleek, silver, 250 foot long, weaponized anti-submarine dirigible.

beautifulpublicdata.com

Beautiful Public Data @beautifulpublicdata.com · 16d

✨📊 Cold War Military Slides

A reporter stumbled upon a treasure trove of Department of Defense slides from the 1970s and 1980s depicting data from missile systems, Soviet capabilities and America’s nuclear ars…

🔗

https://beautifulpublicdata.com/cold-war-military-slides

Illustration depicting Soviet strategic offensive forces, featuring a submarine, missile, aircraft, and the text "Soviet Strategic Offensive Forces" on the side.

An emblem with an eagle and sword surrounded by stars is above the text "Readiness is Our Profession."

A stylized image shows a vintage telephone with the words "Automatic Secure Voice Communications" and "AUTOSEVOCOM" against a blue background.

Stylized illustration of a military aircraft with the word "THREAT" above it, accompanied by images of tanks and artillery.

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Beautiful Public Data @beautifulpublicdata.com · 19d

✨📊 Trademark Design Codes

The United States Patent and Trademark Office has a system of 1,400 descriptive "design codes" allowing you to search for trademarks with "Rickshaws", "Centaurs" or "Mechanical w…

https://beautifulpublicdata.com/uspto-trademark-design-codes

Trademark Design Codes

The United States Patent and Trademark Office has a system of 1,400 descriptive "design codes" allowing you to search for trademarks with “Rickshaws”, “Centaurs” or “Mechanical women”.

beautifulpublicdata.com

Beautiful Public Data @beautifulpublicdata.com · 21d

✨📊 Utah Highway LiDAR Scans

Utah's Department of Transportation uses state-of-the-art 3-D laser scanners to capture the surfaces and area surrounding 15,000 miles of its roads.

https://beautifulpublicdata.com/utah-lidar

Utah Highway LiDAR Scans

Utah's Department of Transportation uses state-of-the-art 3-D laser scanners to capture the surfaces and area surrounding 15,000 miles of its roads.

beautifulpublicdata.com

Beautiful Public Data @beautifulpublicdata.com · 23d

✨📊 Mapping the Sea Floor

USGS research vessels equipped with cameras, sonar and scanners created a map of 125 square miles of the sea floor off Cape Ann, MA.

https://beautifulpublicdata.com/mapping-the-sea-floor

A shark is swimming underwater in murky, dark green water.

A group of small, translucent shrimp swim underwater over a sandy seabed scattered with shells.

A lobster lies on a sandy seabed surrounded by scattered shell fragments.

A flatfish camouflaged against the sandy sea floor with a small white shell nearby.

Beautiful Public Data @beautifulpublicdata.com · 25d

I have a story about how researchers are using LiDAR to measure the damage from the January 2025 fires in Los Angeles in the September/ October issue of MIT Technology Review (@technologyreview.com) on newsstands now!

How lidar measures the toll of climate disasters
By creating 3D scans, assessing infrastructure, and monitoring impacts, this tech allows researchers to be better informed

The Eaton fire: Red indicates lost elevation (like when a building burns), while blue shows a gain (such as tree growth or new construction) between 2016 and 2025.

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Beautiful Public Data @beautifulpublicdata.com · 26d

✨📊 Design for the People: The US Web Design System and the Public Sans Typeface

The United States has an official web design system and a custom typeface that belongs to the people. This thoughtful pub…

https://beautifulpublicdata.com/us-web-design-system-public-sans

Design for the People: The US Web Design System and the Public Sans Typeface

The United States has an official web design system and a custom typeface that belongs to the people. This thoughtful public design system aims to make government websites not only look good, but to make them accessible and functional for all.

beautifulpublicdata.com

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Beautiful Public Data @beautifulpublicdata.com · 28d

✨📊 Design for the People: The US Web Design System and the Public Sans Typeface

The United States has an official web design system and a custom typeface that belongs to the people. This thoughtful pub…

https://beautifulpublicdata.com/us-web-design-system-public-sans

Design for the People: The US Web Design System and the Public Sans Typeface

The United States has an official web design system and a custom typeface that belongs to the people. This thoughtful public design system aims to make government websites not only look good, but to make them accessible and functional for all.

beautifulpublicdata.com

Beautiful Public Data @beautifulpublicdata.com · Sep 8

✨📊 Special Database 18: 3,248 Mugshots Used for Training Image Recognition Systems

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has maint…

https://beautifulpublicdata.com/nist-special-database-18-3-248-mugshots-used-for-training-image-recognition-systems

Special Database 18: 3,248 Mugshots Used for Training Image Recognition Systems

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has maintained a dataset of mugshot photos of 1,573 people for decades, including 175 minors, until we asked about them.

beautifulpublicdata.com

Beautiful Public Data @beautifulpublicdata.com · Sep 5

✨📊 The Naughty Words the FAA Removed From the Sky

New FOIA records from the FAA shed light on the frantic effort in 2015 to rename navigation waypoints related to Donald Trump and reveal the list of naughty…

https://beautifulpublicdata.com/trump-naughty-faa-waypoints

The Naughty Words the FAA Removed From the Sky

New FOIA records from the FAA shed light on the frantic effort in 2015 to rename navigation waypoints related to Donald Trump and reveal the list of naughty waypoint names that were changed over the years.

beautifulpublicdata.com

Beautiful Public Data @beautifulpublicdata.com · Sep 3

✨📊 Visualizing Ship Movements with AIS Data

Explore the beautiful, intricate paths of ships over a year—tracked from America's busiest ports to the open ocean via AIS marine tracking data.

https://beautifulpublicdata.com/visualizing-ship-movements-with-ais-data

Visualizing Ship Movements with AIS Data

Explore the beautiful, intricate paths of ships over a year—tracked from America's busiest ports to the open ocean via AIS marine tracking data.

beautifulpublicdata.com

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Reposted by Beautiful Public Data

Jon Keegan @jonkeegan.com · Aug 30

☕️ For your weekend reading:

How LiDAR measures the toll of climate disasters:

Comparing LiDAR data from before and after the January 2025 fires in Los Angeles reveals the scale of devastation in ways satellite imagery can’t match.

www.beautifulpublicdata.com/how-lidar-me...

A visualization of damage from the LA fires showing lost elevation in red, gained elevation in blue. Red indicates destroyed structures.

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Beautiful Public Data @beautifulpublicdata.com · Aug 29

✨📊 Utah Highway LiDAR Scans

Utah's Department of Transportation uses state-of-the-art 3-D laser scanners to capture the surfaces and area surrounding 15,000 miles of its roads.

https://beautifulpublicdata.com/utah-lidar

Utah Highway LiDAR Scans

Utah's Department of Transportation uses state-of-the-art 3-D laser scanners to capture the surfaces and area surrounding 15,000 miles of its roads.

beautifulpublicdata.com

1

Reposted by Beautiful Public Data

OpenTopography @opentopography.org · Aug 26

Topographic differencing of lidar turns wildfire impacts into measurable change. OpenTopography’s Cassandra Brigham is quoted on rapid differencing after the 2025 LA fires.
⬇️
www.beautifulpublicdata.com/how-lidar-me...

How LiDAR measures the toll of climate disasters

Comparing LiDAR data from before and after the January 2025 fires in Los Angeles reveals the scale of devastation in ways satellite imagery can’t match.

www.beautifulpublicdata.com

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Beautiful Public Data @beautifulpublicdata.com · Aug 27

✨📊 All of the 8,331 License Plates in America

States now offer a vast menu of personalized plate options for a dizzying array of organizations, professions, sports teams, causes and other…

https://beautifulpublicdata.com/all-of-the-license-plates-in-the-united-states

Tennessee license plate design featuring an illustration and the text "Dolly Parton's Imagination Library."

Arizona license plate featuring "Alice Cooper's" branding and promoting Solid Rock Teen Centers, with a red background and placeholder zeros.

A Louisiana license plate featuring dolphins against a sunset background with the text "Protect Wild Dolphins."

California license plate featuring the tail of a whale emerging from the ocean, with text "Protect Our Coast & Ocean."

Beautiful Public Data @beautifulpublicdata.com · Aug 25

✨📊 The Pillbox Database

The National Library of Medicine's Pillbox dataset contained 8,693 photographs of pills, with an accompanying database of drug information. It was built to help with the identification of u…

https://beautifulpublicdata.com/the-pillbox-database

Two orange and purple capsules with the label "ETHEX 002" on a peach background.

Three capsules with purple tops labeled "AMNEAL" and orange bottoms labeled "670" on a purple background.

Two yellow and orange capsules with black bands and "TSLO" labels on a brown background.

Oval yellow pill with the imprint "E 11" on one side and plain on the other.

Beautiful Public Data @beautifulpublicdata.com · Aug 25

New post: Comparing LiDAR data from before and after the January 2025 fires in Los Angeles reveals the scale of devastation in ways satellite imagery can’t match.
www.beautifulpublicdata.com/how-lidar-me...

How LiDAR measures the toll of climate disasters

Comparing LiDAR data from before and after the January 2025 fires in Los Angeles reveals the scale of devastation in ways satellite imagery can’t match.

www.beautifulpublicdata.com

7 5

Beautiful Public Data @beautifulpublicdata.com · Aug 22

New post next week! Added some new merch to our Etsy shop. - A new T-shirt featuring declassified blueprint for the AVROCAR, a secret UFO-shaped experimental aircraft.
- New framed print: One year of ship movements AIS data visualized around New York City.
More here: beautifulpublicdata.etsy.com

a product shot of a purple t-shirt with green ink - diagram of a ufo shaped ship

a product shot of a black t-shirt with green ink - diagram of a ufo shaped ship

Product shot of a colorful ship movement visualization map

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Beautiful Public Data @beautifulpublicdata.com · Aug 22

✨📊 The Army and Navy Style Guides

These fascinating Army and Navy brand style guides define the look, feel and voice of our armed forces.

https://beautifulpublicdata.com/army-navy-style-guides

A collage of U.S. Army soldiers engaging in various training and community-building activities, accompanied by text emphasizing connection and teamwork.

A collage of U.S. Army-themed photographs showcases helicopters, soldiers, and landscapes in warm, natural tones with accompanying descriptive text about the color palette.

A collection of dynamic U.S. Army photographs showcasing various activities and perspectives, accompanied by explanatory text and a checklist on photography qualities.