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Just because you mess around with spreadsheets and databases all day long doesn’t mean you’re some humorless nerd who can only relate to people through charts and graphs.

You still have a sense of humor. It's just that your limited social skills mean you may only be able to convey it through the aforementioned charts and graphs.

Well, have I got a website for you, my geeky friends. You and anybody else who can spare a few hours to waste company time on something other than facebook.

Check out graphjam.com.

It’s a site loaded with pages and pages of nonsense fever charts, bar graphs and venn diagrams built by graphjam users. You can easily build your own graph and post it.

A few samples:

Since taking this job about a year and a half ago, I’ve discovered that there’s data everywhere, and people everywhere who are fascinated by it, if not obsessed. There are whole online communities out there built around data and sharing it.

See:

www.swivel.com

Many Eyes

FlowingData

Graphjam, to my mind, is just one more sample of how we're using the Web to make sense of the world in different ways, ways that are increasingly visual. And, some would say, increasingly meaningless. Is there meaning in the graphs above? Well, it ain't Shakespeare, but each represents a comment on life that resonates with us because we recognize in it some piece of our own personal truth.

And some are just fantasies:

Thirty-six were redshirted.

One had his scholarship revoked after he was caught selling pot.

One failed to meet NCAA eligibility requirements and lost his scholarship.

A handful opted for another year of prep school before heading off to college.

All in all, the vast majority of Virginia's top 50 high school football recruits in the class of 2008 finished the year with little or nothing to write home about. But that's not all that uncommon, especially all the redshirting.

You can check out the fates of all of the state's top 50 recruits -- as rated by Roanoke Times sports writer Doug Doughty -- in our updated database in the DataSphere. Sports staffer Brad Foster tracked down the latest on each player. There's also a database of Doughty's top 100 for this year, as well as the latest on the recruiting classes of UVa and Virginia Tech.

Some players in the class of '08 did have something to write home about, you'll see.

Dyrell Roberts, a wide receiver from Smithfield, played in all 14 games at Virginia Tech this year, and started five. He caught 17 passes for 227 yards, among other highlights.

Stephen Meadows, out of James Monroe in Fredericksburg, played in five games and started one for Youngstown State. He recorded a total of five tackles and 1/2 sack.

That's just a taste. I don't want to give it all away.