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Darqcyde
Joined: 11 Jul 2006
Posts: 9086
Location: A false vacuum abiding in ignorance.
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 Posted: Sun Aug 23, 2009 9:15 pm Post subject: Mapping sin state by state |
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One nation, seven sins
Geographers measure propensity for evil in states, counties
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2009/mar/26/one-nation-seven-sins/
By Abigail Goldman (contact) Thursday, March 26, 2009 | 2 a.m.
| Quote: | The question of evil and where it lurks has been largely ignored by the scientific community, which is why a recently released study titled “The Spatial Distribution of the Seven Deadly Sins Within Nevada” is groundbreaking: Never before has a state’s fall from grace been so precisely graphed and plotted.
Geographers from Kansas State University have used certain statistical measurements to quantify Nevada’s sins and come up with a county-by-county map purporting to show various degrees of lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy and pride in the Silver State. By culling statistics from nationwide databanks of things like sexually transmitted disease infection rates (lust) or killings per capita (wrath), the researchers came up with a sin index. This is a precision party trick — rigorous mapping of ridiculous data.
Their findings were presented Tuesday at the Association of American Geographers’ annual meeting at the Riviera, where Kansas State geography research associate Thomas Vought fielded questions while standing next to a poster of his research. Seven maps of Nevada, in seven different colors, for seven different sins.
The darker a county, the more evil it is.
Greed was calculated by comparing average incomes with the total number of inhabitants living beneath the poverty line. On this map, done in yellow, Clark County is bile (see map on Page 2).
Envy was calculated using the total number of thefts — robbery, burglary, larceny and stolen cars. Rendered in green, of course, Clark County is emerald.
Wrath was calculated by comparing the total number of violent crimes — murder, assault and rape — reported to the FBI per capita. Vought and his colleagues used the color red to illustrate wrath, so Clark County looks like a fresh welt. Washoe is slightly statistically duller. Everywhere else is a friendly pork pink.
Lust was calculated by compiling the number of sexually transmitted diseases — HIV, AIDS, syphilis, chlamydia and gonorrhea — reported per capita. Here again, Clark and Washoe counties are worst. Carson City County is a close third.
Gluttony was calculated by counting the number of fast food restaurants per capita, and this is one category where Clark County is bested. First in deep fry goes to Carson City.
Sloth was calculated by comparing expenditures on arts, entertainment and recreation with the rate of employment. Here again Clark County is beat, scoring only average on the scale of sloth.
And pride, lastly, is most important. The root of all sins, in this study, is the aggregate of all data. Vought and his Kansas colleagues combined all data from the six other sins and averaged it into an overview of all evil. So pride, mapped in purple, shows the states two darkest bruises: counties Clark and Carson City.
Yet, in the grand scheme of things, maybe we’re not that bad. While Vought and his colleagues spent four weeks on the detailed Nevada study, they also ran the numbers on some 3,000 counties across the country, a nationwide survey of sin.
Turns out Nevada is unremarkable when compared with other states. Sure, we have a little discoloration around Washoe and Clark counties when it comes to wrath, and Southern Nevada as a whole stands out in the nationwide map of greed, but other than that, we’re almost colorless, boring even, when compared with Texas, which ranked high for gluttony, or wrath, which was concentrated in Florida and surrounding states.
Moreover, the Kansas geographers also compared the level of sin in 10 top casino markets, and while the Las Vegas Strip ranked first for greed, it could muster no better than third place for pride, the aggregate of all sins. It was the southern gambling cities — Lula, Miss.; Biloxi, Miss.; and Shreveport, La., that came out on top of the bottom. Why, exactly, remains to be seen. The Kansas geographers started this project, it seems pretty clear, for the erudite amusement; something to stand out at a 6,000-person convention consumed with the world’s heavy questions. But if Tuesday’s convention crowd was evidence, the sin study was interesting to other scholars as well. So Vought and colleagues plan to continue their national study of evil.
“It’s too much fun,” Vought said, smiling in a way that suggested, if not pride, then a good deal of pleasure. |
Yes I saw this in this month's Wired, but this explains it a bit more. Also, you need to look at the maps to really appreciate the findings.
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gally912
Joined: 03 Nov 2008
Posts: 661
Location: Afghandi-land. Like candy-land, only not as nice.
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| Posted: Sun Aug 23, 2009 9:41 pm Post subject: |
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Wouldnt these be better in the Random News Topics?
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Mizike
Joined: 09 Jul 2006
Posts: 5120
Location: Iowa City
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| Posted: Sun Aug 23, 2009 10:30 pm Post subject: |
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+1, gally.
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"It is laudable to know something, it is disgraceful to not want to learn"
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Yorick
Joined: 11 Jul 2006
Posts: 12066
Location: Mary's kesh
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| Posted: Mon Aug 24, 2009 2:16 am Post subject: |
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total up the numbers and let's find out who's the worst! that's where to have the next Sin-fest!
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Darqcyde
Joined: 11 Jul 2006
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Location: A false vacuum abiding in ignorance.
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| Posted: Mon Aug 24, 2009 2:33 am Post subject: |
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| gally912 wrote: | | Wouldnt these be better in the Random News Topics? |
fuck that shit, then things get lost.
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Darqcyde
Joined: 11 Jul 2006
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Location: A false vacuum abiding in ignorance.
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| Posted: Mon Aug 24, 2009 2:35 am Post subject: |
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| Yorick wrote: | | total up the numbers and let's find out who's the worst! that's where to have the next Sin-fest! |
Then it'd probably be Florida
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mouse
Joined: 10 Jul 2006
Posts: 15467
Location: under the bed
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| Posted: Mon Aug 24, 2009 8:52 pm Post subject: |
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i think some of their choices of measures are questionable, though. combining all robberies for envy...i guess their basis is that you want what others have, but i think a lot of robberies are more 'i need money, i'll take whatever you have that might be worth something' and less 'i envy your possessions'. people can be extremely envious, and never commit a burglary.
and considering expenditures on art and recreation as 'sloth'? what if your idea of recreating is mountain-climbing - i would hardly call that a slothful activity. and art? art is equivalent to sloth?
and pride as the sum of all sins? again - if you are envious, that seems like the opposite of pride.
interesting concept, they just need to think through their measures a bit. i suspect they were a bit slothful, in choosing measures that were easy to get data for.
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CTrees
Joined: 21 Jul 2006
Posts: 3619
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| Posted: Mon Aug 24, 2009 9:22 pm Post subject: |
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| mouse wrote: | | and considering expenditures on art and recreation as 'sloth'? what if your idea of recreating is mountain-climbing - i would hardly call that a slothful activity. and art? art is equivalent to sloth? |
Let me tell you, that painter guy, Michelangelo? What a goddamn lazy fuck he was! |
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mouse
Joined: 10 Jul 2006
Posts: 15467
Location: under the bed
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| Posted: Mon Aug 24, 2009 9:24 pm Post subject: |
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yeah - i heard he lolled on his back while he was doing his painting.
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Jinx
Joined: 09 Jul 2006
Posts: 3522
Location: America, fuck yeah!
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| Posted: Sun Aug 30, 2009 3:50 pm Post subject: |
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Well, at least he was amused by his work.
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The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifference.
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zeezee
Joined: 08 Jul 2007
Posts: 4410
Location: saint louis
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| Posted: Sun Aug 30, 2009 8:01 pm Post subject: |
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nyuk, nyuk, nyuk
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11bulletstop
Joined: 11 May 2007
Posts: 377
Location: Ft. Carson, CO
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| Posted: Mon Aug 31, 2009 12:30 am Post subject: |
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For an accurate measure of actual pride, it would be a race between Texas, New York, and California. Though honestly, I have no idea where New Yorkers and Californians get off with such big heads.
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Thy Brilliance
Joined: 09 Jul 2006
Posts: 3213
Location: Relative
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| Posted: Mon Aug 31, 2009 12:49 am Post subject: |
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| Hollywood. |
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Mr Gary
Joined: 30 Apr 2009
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Location: Some pub in England
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11bulletstop
Joined: 11 May 2007
Posts: 377
Location: Ft. Carson, CO
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| Posted: Mon Aug 31, 2009 6:33 pm Post subject: |
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| Thy Brilliance wrote: | | Hollywood. |
It was satire at my own expense because I'm from Texas, I wasn't really asking.
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