The Nine Thirty-Six
A letter from Shri & Rob, most Mondays around 9:36AM.
Usually weekly. No ads. Unsubscribe whenever.
- No. 07June 1, 2026
How Traffic Lights Work, and the NBA Finals in Charts
Shri on the new How The Heck explorable about traffic lights, plus a hand-coded chart of his month in steps. Rob on the Spurs–Knicks Finals as a tale of two sizes, told through shot charts and the passing wheel that started PerThirtySix.
- No. 06May 25, 2026
Where Chart Labels Should Go, and a Peek at How The Heck #5
Rob on why labels belong inside the chart, not in a legend or down the left, with two before-and-afters. Shri previews the next How The Heck: how traffic lights actually work, from 1868 to today’s lidar.
- No. 05May 18, 2026
When 1% Looks Like 100%, and a Short Word on Tables
Shri on a White House chart that turned a 1% steel increase into a 100% one, and what an honest version looks like. Rob on tables as the most underrated data viz, with three dashboard before-and-afters.
- No. 04May 11, 2026
The Curry Paradox and How The Heck Do Solar Panels Work
Shri on the new Solar Panels explorable, climate stripes, and visualizing data as art. Rob on why a less surprising make can be more impressive than a wilder one.
- No. 03May 4, 2026
How the Heck Do Solar Panels Work (Preview); Craftsmanship in the Age of AI
Shri previews his upcoming explorable on solar panels. Rob on craftsmanship in the age of AI, with a scorebug to prove it.
- No. 02April 27, 2026
Winning by Trading Down at the NFL Draft, and a Cosmic Timeline
Rob on team-by-team positional draft efficiency and the losing math of trading up. Shri on a few favorite explorables and a data viz about feeling small.
- No. 01April 20, 2026
How the Heck, and the Loser’s Curse
Shri on GPS, Shazam, and AI-generated music. Rob on pVAR and twenty years of NFL drafts.
Prefer RSS? Subscribe to the feed .