Data Vis Dispatch, October 7: German unity, U.S. government shutdown, and housing shortages

The 30th anniversary of German reunification on October 3 was an occasion for journalists to take a look at each federal state's sympathies towards the others and the ongoing differences between east and west.

This week also marks two years since the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. These days, we see widespread destruction in the Gaza Strip and tens of thousands of lives lost.

The U.S. government has been in shutdown since Wednesday, October 1, after lawmakers failed to pass a funding bill. A variety of historical reviews of shutdown duration and occurrence were produced, which come in a range of colors and visualization formats.

Other U.S. visualizations address the aftermath of the shutdown and its impact on government employees, as well as the rare occurrence of passing spending bills on time. Additional topics include new election districts in Texas and their effect on the political landscape, and delayed HIV aid deliveries.

Czechs voted in elections this past weekend, in unusually high numbers. The occasion also inspired a look back at the history of speeches and reactions in the Chamber of Deputies.

Housing is currently associated with one word: shortage. Cities in Portugal are experiencing an unprecedented housing shortage, largely due to short-term rentals. Meanwhile, on the other side of the Atlantic, Manhattan is attempting to counteract this crisis with large-scale construction projects.

How does your alcohol consumption impact your health risks? And how do you compare to others in your age group? These visualizations may give you the answers.

In the realm of energy, newsrooms covered rising electricity costs near data centers, government subsidies in Malaysia that keep oil prices low, and the distinct energy politics of China and the U.S.

A comparison of women's and men's U.S. basketball revenues, as well as the decline in the use of battery factories in Korea, demonstrates how effective line charts can be with the help of data points and annotations.

Other visualizations this week covered love and religion, and the war in Ukraine.