Sure, you collect a lot of data, but if you don't use it effectively, it's essentially dead. And I'm talking "a tree falls on you in a forest and nobody's around to help" dead. This occasional blog series aims to give you some inspiration for creatively interpreting and using your data.

101. Track an Illness

Google doesn't really need the press, but they keep doing cool things. To wit: Google.org has developed a way to track flu outbreaks based on aggregated search data that trends two weeks ahead of government warnings. It passes the common sense test: as people get sick, they search for their symptoms; the more people searching, the higher the probability that something nasty is spreading. This being Google, they tested their results by comparing several years worth of past search data against the CDC's database of actual outbreaks. It correlates.

100. Track Anything

New kid Trendrr promises to let you "compare the popularity of anything, across any input, and draw your own conclusions." That's quite a claim. Right now, we're obsessing over why mentions of "NTEN" from a Google blog search declined .07% today. Do you love us .07% less today, cruel world? Oh, wait, we've only been tracking it for 2 days. Right. Trendrr may end up being just another diverting time suck, but we like the potential.

99. Make Art

Photographer Chris Jordan's new series of photorealistic images depicts everyday detritus on a massive scale, like the 2 million plastic bottles used in the U.S. every 5 minutes. We know these images have been digitally manipulated -- and we lust after the PhotoShop set-up he must have -- but they're seamless and, for the most part, quite beautiful. You can find more on his web site.