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We are excited to announce new integrations with Spark on Azure HDInsight, a cloud-hosted Apache Spark service, and Azure SQL Data Warehouse, a fully-managed relational data warehouse-as-a-service.

In 1753, Jacques Barbeu-Dubourg took on the non-trivial task of creating a timeline showing the complete history of the world. It was a noble effort, and his final chart came in at a whopping 54 feet (16 meters) wide! Barbeu-Dubourg didn’t have screens, of course. Instead, he had to be creative. He created a mechanical scroller. And believe it or not, his work can teach us a few things.

Our goal is to communicate effectively with data. Software tools provide nice templates for you to show your data. But sometimes the inspiration won’t come from the screen; you're likely to get something better from a piece of paper. If you’re trying to come up with a better way of communicating your insights, step away from the screen and take up the pencil.

Do you know a passionate Tableau evangelist? Is that person constantly seeking to help others visualize their data? Then that person is a potential Tableau Zen Master. Throughout July, we are seeking your nominations for the 2015-2016 Zen Masters.

As with many other social and political issues, data is a powerful tool for adding perspective. Here are several compelling vizzes from the Tableau community that show how this divisive issue has evolved over the years.

How many people died of heart disease last year? Is child obesity on the rise? What’s the biggest health threat Americans face? The answers to these questions can help save lives by driving improvements in care and prevention. And thanks to open data initiatives, the public has access to the numbers that hold the answers. But that’s not enough, says Ramon Martinez, a health metrics adviser with the Pan American Health Organization.

How do you know your work is effective? And how can you improve it? One way is to emulate the 17th century coffeehouse patrons who led the age of Enlightenment.