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"A picture is worth a thousand words. But if you include an entire database, make it interactive, and add filtering options, the word-to-picture exchange rate is even better.\nInfographics at their best are more than just pictures \u2014 they can provide new understandings, succinct summaries, or just plain old fun. In that respect, reading newspaper archives isn't the only way to get a deeper understanding of current events. Infographics can help us get a better grasp on what's going on.\nCheck out these 10 visualizations to learn more about the news with a quick look.\n1. Google\u2019s Appetite for Acquisition\n\n\n\n\n\nLast month alone, Google acquired social-search service Angstro, visual shopping search engine like.com,  and social currency company Jambool. Google has been on an acquisition binge for some time, and it\u2019s getting tricky to keep track of its appetite.\nThis graphic shows a timeline of Google\u2019s activity in three categories: \"Building Revenue Streams,\" \"Cutting Competition,\" or \"A Little of Both.\" \n2. Gay Marriage Chronology\n\n\n\n \n\nThe campaign for gay marriage has passed a multitude of milestones over the last decade. Unfortunately for those trying to keep track of them, the victories and setbacks vary drastically by state. Decisions are reversed and in some cases overturned by higher courts, which makes progress hard to track. \nThis map from the LA Times shows the status of gay marriage in each state by month. Click on a state for its most recent ruling or watch the country change from being legally similar in its treatment of same-sex couples in 2000 to sharply divided in 2010.\n3. IED Attacks from Wikileaks' Afghanistan War Logs\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe frequency and fatality of IEDs (homemade bombs) in Afghanistan was highlighted when WikiLeaks published more than 90,000 secret documents about the Afghan war. Anti-war activists published this illustrative video that includes all of the incidents reported in these leaked documents.\n4. Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill\n\n\n\n\n\nOn April 20, an explosion on a BP drilling rig started what has become the largest accidental oil spill in history. Despite numerous strategies that were deployed to plug the leak, it wasn\u2019t capped until July 15. \nThis video graphic by New Orleans online newspaper NOLA wraps timeline, graphic, and cumulative damage data into one easy-to-digest piece of media. \n5. CIA World Factbook Dashboard\n\n\n\n\n\nThe CIA World Factbook has always been a great resource for putting news stories into the context of their geographic location. But now it\u2019s also easy to get the information at a glance. \nThe World Factbook Dashboard allows you to color code the countries of the world by population, population growth, infant mortality, agricultural GDP, industry GDP, services GDP, total GDP, GDP/inhabitant, or inflation. Clicking on a country zooms in for more information.\n6. Geography of a Recession\n\n\n\n\n\nThis map from The New York Times illustrates not only which areas suffered the highest unemployment rate after the recession, but also offers the option to filter data by metropolitan areas, areas with housing bubbles, rural areas, and manufacturing centers.\n7. Afghanistan and Pakistan Regional Violence Map\n\n\n\n\n\nThe Wall Street Journal updates this map constantly with violent conflicts in Afghanistan and Pakistan. If you want to learn about the day-to-day details of the war or understand its scope, there\u2019s no better visual resource.\n8. What Does the Health Care Bill Mean to Me?\n\n\n\n\n\nEven if you read through every health care bill article, it could be hard to exactly pick out what the law would change about your insurance coverage and taxes. The Washington Post made it easy by providing this nifty tool. Input whether you have insurance coverage, your family size, your income, and your marital status, and it will tell you how health care reform will impact your life.\nFor the broader picture on healthcare reform, see this subway-style map from GOOD Magazine. \n9. Obama\u2019s $787 Billion Economic Stimulus Plan\n\n\n\n\n\nThe government is still busy spending much of the $787 billion it allotted for the economic stimulus in February of last year. This infographic effectively illustrates how that huge chunk of change is being distributed.\n10. American Casualties in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Beyond\n\n\n\n\n\nThis chilling interactive graphic from USA Today simply illustrates the deaths in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars. Information seekers can search deaths by personal factors like name, age, gender, race, or home town as well as by military service details, date, cause, or place.\nCNN has a more elaborate version here.\nMore Graphics Resources from Mashable:\n- 5 Fab Twitter Follower Visualization Tools- 10 Beautiful Social Media Infographics- 5 Amazing Infographics for the Health Conscious- 10 Essential Free E-Books for Web Designers- 12 Beginner Tutorials for Getting Started With Photoshop"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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