Sunday 3 May 2009

Mapping the Seven Deadly Sins

Last month, the Las Vegas Sun reported on an unusual study in which researchers attempted to map the distribution of the seven deadly sins. Researchers primarily looked at Nevada, which for some unexplained reason is associated with sin, but the maps they put together for the U.S. as a whole are far more interesting, particularly the maps showing standard deviations from the mean. They arrived at these maps by finding a statistical stand-in for each sin:

  • envy is represented by thefts,
  • wrath by violent crime,
  • lust by the rate of sexually transmitted diseases,
  • gluttony by the number of fast food restaurants per capita, and so on,
  • with pride as the aggregate of the other six.

The Sun calls it “a precision party trick — rigorous mapping of ridiculous data.” More fun than useful. Via Catholicgauze.

See http://www.mcwetboy.net/maproom/2009/04/mapping_the_sev.php

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