Fun with numbers: the Seven Deadly Sins
Go Deeper.
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OK, I'll start this off with the disclaimer:..
This is a precision party trick -- rigorous mapping of ridiculous data.
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...but it's interesting, nonetheless. A couple of geographers from Kansas State University wrangled up a host of national statistical databases, massaged the numbers and used them to quantify lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy and pride on a county-by-county basis across the U.S.
The story in the Las Vegas Sun tilts heavily toward Nevada, but the graphs are there for each state.
Sure, the sins tend to be value judgments — i.e., "Greed was calculated by comparing average incomes with the total number of inhabitants living beneath the poverty line" — though it's not meant to be a serious scientific study.
Although I would like to know why the folks in Pine and Kanabec Counties are so envious.
