Comments on: Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Sloth, Pride, Envy, and Dopey

Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Sloth, Pride, Envy, and Dopey

jtron — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 11:57:14 -0800

The seven deadly sins, mapped across the USA

By: jtron

jtron — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 11:59:26 -0800

via Catholicgauze

By: Burhanistan

Burhanistan — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 12:02:18 -0800

Ooh. Now do a time lapse from 1800-present!

By: Xoebe

Xoebe — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 12:03:22 -0800

Pretty damn funny. This only confirms what we already know about what goes on in small towns.

By: Joe Beese

Joe Beese — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 12:04:43 -0800

I assume torture gets classified as Wrath. And where might we see an unusual density of that?

By: total warfare frown

total warfare frown — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 12:05:18 -0800

I guess Faulkner was on to something.

By: GuyZero

GuyZero — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 12:05:28 -0800

The awesome thing about sloth is that it has a moderating effect on the other 6 deadly sins. I can't be bothered to get my wrath on.

By: hellogoodbye

hellogoodbye — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 12:05:36 -0800

Awesome. My eye was particularly drawn to the concentration of Lust, Pride, and Wrath in South Carolina.

By: sciurus

sciurus — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 12:05:42 -0800

Kentucky is apparently the most upstanding state.

By: small_ruminant

small_ruminant — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 12:08:18 -0800

Remember kids: it doesn't count as lust if you don't catch anything, so wrap it up!

By: EatTheWeak

EatTheWeak — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 12:10:17 -0800

My favorite is the "hot-spot" map. I can only speak for Washington State, but I'm absolutely tickled that all the greed seems to be on the side of the cascades with all the cities, where I live now, and that all the pride seems to be on the agrarian eastern side of the cascades, where I come from. Most curious, however, is the spread of envy in my dear state - according to this map, every county in Washington seethes with envy except the northeastern corner of the state, where we keep Colville and Kettle Falls and whatnot. I wonder what they're doing that the rest of us aren't? Aside from coveting, I suppose. I'm a bit surprised to see that Washington has no spikes when it comes to gluttony. Clearly, these researchers have never followed me to the crab shack in Seattle, nor been to my house on nacho night. As for the flatlined lust reading, well .. yeah. We don't tan so well up here.

By: solipsophistocracy

solipsophistocracy — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 12:13:31 -0800

They don't call it the dirty south for nothin'.

By: DU

DU — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 12:13:40 -0800

Lust was calculated by compiling the number of sexually transmitted diseases — HIV, AIDS, syphilis, chlamydia and gonorrhea — reported per capita Wouldn't an area prone to lust actually be less diseased due to the twin effects of Darwin and planning ahead? Also, does sin really work on a "per capita" basis? Is a town with only one resident, who happens to be a murderer, really more sinful than a town with 100 residents, 99 of whom are murderers?

By: FelliniBlank

FelliniBlank — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 12:14:53 -0800

My part of Michigan is apparently entirely without sin. And here I thought it was just my house.

By: LeLiLo

LeLiLo — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 12:18:44 -0800

Put me down in the Sloth column with GuyZero.

By: adipocere

adipocere — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 12:19:54 -0800

Both sloth and gluttony could have some factor from obesity rates. Health code violations at restaurants and citations for unkempt lawns could add to sloth. Heroin use could add to sloth; meth arrests could subtract from it. Gluttony, I think, should have extra weight given to restaurants which are all-you-can-eat buffets. Lust clearly could be helped by a faint touch of birth rates and divorces due to infidelity, as well as a number of crimes: public exposure, having sex in public, etc. I'd take a portion of the rapes away from wrath and donate them to lust. Greed could have another input: pork barrel earmarks in a Congressional budget. Envy would benefit by having an additional factor, which would rise as the variance in nearby home prices drops. The more your house costs the same as other houses nearby, the more you are keeping up with the Joneses. Envy. Pride could be mapped by density of local landmarks. Perhaps buildings and parks named after someone. Dammit, I want a more accurate accounting of local evil!

By: 1f2frfbf

1f2frfbf — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 12:21:46 -0800

My eye was particularly drawn to the concentration of Lust, Pride, and Wrath in South Carolina. And we're damn proud of it, are you tryin' to pick a fight, mofo?

By: xbonesgt

xbonesgt — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 12:22:02 -0800

>Put me down in the Sloth column with GuyZero. put your own damn self in the Sloth column, you lazy fu- oh, wait.

By: The Whelk

The Whelk — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 12:23:11 -0800

I suddenly have an excellent idea for a sequel to Afterlife.

By: jimmythefish

jimmythefish — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 12:24:13 -0800

Also, does sin really work on a "per capita" basis? Is a town with only one resident, who happens to be a murderer, really more sinful than a town with 100 residents, 99 of whom are murderers? You'd probably want to throw the sample size of one out given that it isn't statistically significant. But, from a practical perspective if you went to that one-person town and knocked on a door, there would be a 100% chance that you'd be talking to a murderer, as oppposed to a 99% chance in the other town. I like the odds on the latter town better - so it's less sinful in that it's not 100% sinful.

By: quin

quin — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 12:28:13 -0800

Man, that's so unfair. I want to be as envious as the upper North-West. They get all the good stuff; nice weather, cool people, lives filled with envy... I should have that.

By: dances_with_sneetches

dances_with_sneetches — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 12:29:23 -0800

Oh, that's right. Just help that serial killer from 7 pick his targets.

By: Horace Rumpole

Horace Rumpole — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 12:35:00 -0800

My part of Michigan is apparently entirely without sin. Hey, what are you doing with that stone? Ow!

By: Rock Steady

Rock Steady — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 12:38:01 -0800

There has got to be some effect from reporting standards, no? Otherwise why would certain states be so different from their neighbors? I'm looking particularly at Kentucky and South Carolina, as opposite sides of the coin.

By: Chocolate Pickle

Chocolate Pickle — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 12:43:41 -0800

That one's gotta be a candidate for an Ig Nobel Prize!

By: ColdChef

ColdChef — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 12:44:25 -0800

Either New Orleans is such a sinkhole of debauchery that it literally blinded the mapmakers with it's intensity or that Kansas State logo just cut it off. But I'd like to think the former.

By: doobiedoo

doobiedoo — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 12:49:33 -0800

So Vought and colleagues plan to continue their national study of evil. Abyss Safari!

By: LordSludge

LordSludge — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 12:55:50 -0800

My eye was particularly drawn to the concentration of Lust, Pride, and Wrath in South Carolina. A good portion of that is my fault actually...

By: DevilsAdvocate

DevilsAdvocate — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 12:58:11 -0800

OK, I know this is a "just for fun" thing and not to be taken seriously, but still: And pride, lastly, is most important. The root of all sins, in this study, is the aggregate of all data. Um, no. Pride is a sin all its own, independent of the other six. The fact that they just took an aggregate of the others because they couldn't figure out a good way to measure pride smacks of, well, sloth.

By: Ugh

Ugh — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 13:08:08 -0800

Lots of greed here in Arkansas, but no pride about it.

By: FatherDagon

FatherDagon — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 13:10:39 -0800

By: Flunkie

Flunkie — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 13:20:28 -0800

"Lust" was determined by STD rates? That doesn't really make a whole lot of sense. I assume that the fact that the South has higher STD rates is due, at least to some degree, to things like "abstinence only sex ed", and "poor general education system", and "Republican", as opposed to "lusty".

By: mandymanwasregistered

mandymanwasregistered — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 13:34:28 -0800

And here I thought pride would be measured by the number of cosmetic surgeons and tanning salons or something along those lines.

By: lysdexic

lysdexic — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 13:35:25 -0800

Man, people need to quit hating on these supposed sins. Greed, envy and sloth are responsible for half the technological progress in the world.

By: GuyZero

GuyZero — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 13:39:01 -0800

I'm pretty sure lust fueled the VCR revolution as well as driving about half all internet traffic.

By: quin

quin — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 13:41:09 -0800

"Lust" was determined by STD rates? Maybe in that it implies an urgency which supersedes rational thinking about things like condoms and getting to know your partners history? Personally, I would think that tracking porn usage would be a better and more pervasive metric.

By: Flunkie

Flunkie — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 13:46:55 -0800

Maybe in that it implies an urgency which supersedes rational thinking about things like condoms

Yeah, but again, there are things other than "urgency" which supersede rational thinking about things like condoms. Fundamentalist Christians in control of school boards imposing abstinence only sex ed upon teenagers, and parents who do the same (at best) for the same reason, for example.

By: Bokononist

Bokononist — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 13:56:28 -0800

MetaFilter: Rigorous mapping of ridiculous data. (I'm not doing any more of these)

By: Afroblanco

Afroblanco — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 14:10:57 -0800

Man, what the fuck am I doing in the Northeast? I gotta move me down south! The Southern States : The New Lust Belt

By: Johnny Assay

Johnny Assay — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 14:18:27 -0800

I have to say that had I been asked to speculate on the most gluttonous places in the U.S., I would not have picked Odessa, TX, Charleston, WV, or the Norfolk/Newport News/Virginia Beach area.

By: Horace Rumpole

Horace Rumpole — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 14:24:36 -0800

I have to say that had I been asked to speculate on the most gluttonous places in the U.S., I would not have picked Odessa, TX I lived in Odessa. There's nothing else to do there.

By: namespan

namespan — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 14:31:17 -0800

Lust is measured by STD rates? Aaugh! This makes their maps completely useless when trying to decide where you should move to if you want to get it on more.

By: robtf3

robtf3 — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 14:33:55 -0800

All these people here in Alabama getting them some and I'm single. I must be doing something wrong.

By: desjardins

desjardins — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 14:39:24 -0800

This is mapmaking for the sake of making maps. The data choices are ridiculous and meaningless. Nothing useful can be derived from this, so I wish they'd just come out and say HEY WE WERE FUCKING AROUND WITH ARCGIS AND OOOH LOOK AT THE PRETTY MAPS. because that's what i do when i'm bored

By: bibliowench

bibliowench — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 14:43:56 -0800

South Dakota? Lust? Seriously?

By: It's Raining Florence Henderson

It's Raining Florence Henderson — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 14:56:31 -0800

They totally screwed this up. STD rates is a measure of sloth, not lust. Lust is measured by kittens per capita.

By: maxwelton

maxwelton — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 14:57:03 -0800

South Dakota? Lust? Seriously? They put the "mount" in Mount Rushmore?

By: googly

googly — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 15:05:57 -0800

You'd think that Carson City would score much higher on the envy scale. After all, it is the capital of NV.

By: little e

little e — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 15:06:33 -0800

My Kentucky home county is way, way, WAY more slothful and gluttinous than they're getting credit for here.

By: little e

little e — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 15:08:06 -0800

gluttonous, that is.

By: aeschenkarnos

aeschenkarnos — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 15:16:00 -0800

From wikipedia: Pride is a desire to be more important or attractive than others, failing to acknowledge the good work of others, and excessive love of self (especially holding self out of proper position towards God). It's probably pointless to measure that, in a similar way that it is pointless to measure relative humidity inside a swimming pool.

By: Slarty Bartfast

Slarty Bartfast — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 15:45:16 -0800

Shreveport, LA, A town that has converted an entire indoor shopping mall into one giant mega-church, is in the top 10 in each category and places first in two of them.

By: cogneuro

cogneuro — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 16:06:38 -0800

is there any way to see all of the US maps on a larger scale? Like the wrath one on catholicgauze? It's pretty poor that the announcement from the university where the research was done only links to the Nevada newspaper story. Cool work.

By: desjardins

desjardins — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 16:22:13 -0800

Shreveport, LA, [...] is in the top 10 in each category and places first in two of them. Those lists only contain casino markets, so that's not so amazing. is there any way to see all of the US maps on a larger scale? If you hover over the graphics on the news article, there's a full screen icon in the lower right corner.

By: ricochet biscuit

ricochet biscuit — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 16:58:18 -0800

I had no idea Delaware was so wrathful.

By: ricochet biscuit

ricochet biscuit — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 17:02:30 -0800

Also, does sin really work on a "per capita" basis? Is a town with only one resident, who happens to be a murderer, really more sinful than a town with 100 residents, 99 of whom are murderers? I would wonder about the hundredth person. Is he an exemplar of sloth? Or if there were an equivalent map for the seven virtues, I suppose we would see an example of Fortitude ("forbearance, endurance, and ability to confront fear and uncertainty, or intimidation") here.

By: scratch

scratch — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 17:31:06 -0800

My ~~Kentucky home~~ central Pennsylvania county is way, way, WAY more slothful and gluttonous than they're getting credit for here. Mine too, based on a random sample of the size of the asses in my local supermarket relative to the size of the economy-size box of krunchy cheezballs.

By: justkevin

justkevin — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 18:16:51 -0800

Lust: HIV rates Sloth: Investment in the arts Pride: Mix of a bunch of unrelated stats Methodology: Retarded

By: Pope Guilty

Pope Guilty — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 22:15:53 -0800

My county appears to be a hot spot for Wrath, so good work, Catholics!

By: ScotchRox

ScotchRox — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 07:05:44 -0800

As I suspected, Florida is the root of all evil.

By: phrontist

phrontist — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 11:45:18 -0800

Kentucky is apparently the most upstanding state. Yeah, when we aren't producing most of the region's weed, organizing large horse races, or distilling bourbon.

By: mindless progress

mindless progress — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 16:35:32 -0800

Afroblanco: "38Man, what the fuck am I doing in the Northeast? I gotta move me down south! The Southern States : The New Lust Belt" I believe you mean "The Antichastity Belt" Though that makes me think of an antigravity belt. Perhaps a combination...