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Bad Chart Thursday’s Mysterious Disappearance

Bad Chart Thursday is back! But I’m sure I’m not alone in wondering where it disappeared to over the past few months. I asked it, but of course, its responses were inconsistent and unverifiable.

Did Bad Chart Thursday get lost when we moved servers and travel thousands of cyberspace miles to find us? Or did it disappear when charting the Bermuda Triangle? Maybe our beloved BCT got involved in a numbers racket or was kidnapped by creationists and forced to illustrate their textbooks.

The mystery has consumed me, so with BCT being less than forthcoming, I’ve decided to conduct a skeptical investigation into all the most likely possibilities.

BCT traveled back in time to change events to suit its bad data. (The U.S. flag looks a lot like a combination scatter plot and bar chart, doesn’t it? Coincidence?)

President Harding Visit
 
 
Bad Chart Thursday was abducting aliens.

Author's reconstruction
Author’s reconstruction
 
 
BCT took on part time work in graphic design. (Statistically significant, with a p value of < #00FF33)

Color chart
 
 
BCT has been hiding out in surrealist and cubist works of art. (Statistically significant, with a p value of < manatee)

Dali graph   cubism
 
 
BCT has been trapped in a diner pie case off route 60.

Author's reconstruction
Author’s reconstruction
 
 
BCT just needed to get lost in the city for a while.

BarChartCity

 
 
BCT got involved in the Sasquatch DNA project.

DNAsquatch copy
 
 
BCT has been working for Fox News this whole time. (Likelihood: %193)

FoxChart

To clarify the theories for analysis, I of course plotted them on a chart:
LikelyExplanations2

At the end of this rigorous and complex mathematical investigation, I am still not certain of what the real explanation is for the disappearance of Bad Chart Thursday, and I am sure there are possibilities I did not think to investigate. Perhaps Bad Chart Thursday was here all along. In our hearts.

ECG

Or we’re just lazy.

Image credits: Mountain View Grand; Gerhard A. E. Uhlhorn; Jouissance; The Bargeman, by Fernand Léger; kielmaru

Melanie Mallon

Melanie is a freelance editor and writer living in a small town outside Minneapolis with her husband, two kids, dog, and two cats. When not making fun of bad charts or running the Uncensorship Project, she spends her time wrangling commas, making colon jokes, and putting out random dumpster fires. You can find her on Twitter as @MelMall, on Facebook, and on Instagram.

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6 Comments

    1. I’m pretty sure that’s baby BCT, fathered during the mysterious disappearance by either Sasquatch or President Harding.

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