Ah … everyone loves a statistical map, and this collection takes the cake!

A Kansas State University geography PhD student, Tom Vought, created density maps of the seven deadly sins across the US. The operationalizations of some of these constructs are unquestionably up for debate, but this is a totally fun demo to play around with, anyway. Interesting how the Bible Belt seems to be most deeply entrenched in sinful behavior … if asked for a retort, I bet they would point out that the seven deadly sins is a catholic concept, anyway.

The first article linked below describes the project, including the statistics that were used to index each of the 7 deadly sins. The second link goes straight to interactive maps of the US for each of the seven deadly sins. Classic!

RTFA: http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2009/mar/26/one-na…

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.

Interactive Graph for the US:

RTFA: http://www.lasvegassun.com/photos/galleries/2009/mar…

RTFA: http://glassbooth.org/

Although many Americans already know who they will vote for, it never hurts to check yo’ self before you wreck yo’ self, n’est-ce pas? So, I decided to see how closely my views matched with the 2008 presidential candidates. This sparked a quest to find the best candidate-matching websites/quizzes available for the U.S. 2008 Presidential Election.

First a few notes about my selection criteria and general process. I evaluated websites that asked the visitors for their opinions on at least a few current issues and then attempted to match visitors with a like-minded candidate. I evaluated every website that appeared on the first page of Google search results for the following 3 keyword phrases: “candidate matcher,” “who should I vote for?,” and “choose a candidate” (14 unique websites). I wanted to test the veracity of results provided by each site, so I actually completed the survey at each site THREE TIMES: 1) According to my true views (I tend to span the political spectrum in my stances on specific issues); 2) In line with a prototypical democrat; and, 3) In line with a prototypical republican. As you can imagine, I received much more variance in candidate recommendations when I filled the surveys out according to my personal beliefs, because I almost always got Obama when I went mainline-democrat and McCain when I went mainline-republican, with one notable and downright scandalous exception. Below, I list the best sites as well as those that elicited rage, and elaborate on the features which made or broke each site.

Who Rules

1. GlassBooth Election 2008
   
   • Strengths – GlassBooth had the most novel and interesting model of the sites I evaluated: The first page asked you to weight the issues you cared most about, and the second page only asked you questions regarding those issues. The issues were the most current of any of the other quizzes I tried, including questions about the bailouts of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and AIG. The questions were set up such that you indicated your agreement or disagreement with a particular policy instead of forcing you to choose from a limited set of proposed solutions to a politicized issue. They also allowed you to skip questions that you felt were irrelevant. Your responses were compared with non-major party candidates (so, it went beyond the McCain/Obama binary choice set). The results also showed how much you matched your recommended candidate through percentage agreement on the issues you said you cared about in the first page.
   • Weakness – The only downside to GlassBooth.org is that they only displayed your results for one candidate.

(more…)

RTFA: http://jtaplin.wordpress.com/the-cost-of-empire/

It is of course one of the defining articles of faith of the conservative movement that Reagan militarily spent the Soviets into bankruptcy. But it is a Big Lie. Of course the Soviet economy was a hollowed out shell in 1989, but it also held an extrordinary number of assets including one of the world’s largest oil reserves and an well educated work force. Freed from the need to compete in an arms race, the Russians were able to turn their talents to business. Today, the Russian central bank and the Central Bank of China, our other cold war foe, now control over 20% of the U.S. Treasury debt, and we control none of theirs. Exactly who spent who into bankruptcy?

Interesting point, but Taplin’s essay is LOADED with many such insights. This is well worth the read, although you won’t find some magic-bullet solution in the closing paragraphs. Consider these details, and arrive at your own conclusion.

RTFA: http://www.pewcenteronthestates.org/news_room_deta…

One in 33 homeowners is projected to be in foreclosure primarily over the next two years, as a result of subprime loans made in 2005 and 2006, according to a new report released today by The Pew Charitable Trusts. In some states, the outlook is especially grim; for instance, nearly one in 11 homeowners in Nevada is projected to be in foreclosure and one in 18 Arizona homeowners may face the same circumstance over the next two years. Homeowners being foreclosed upon may not be the only homeowners affected, according to data cited in the report. An additional 40 million neighboring homeowners may see their property values and their municipalities’ tax bases drop by as much as $356 billion, largely over the next two years.

Compassionate Conservativism will create real wealth by putting every American family in a house.

RTFA: http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Pope_to_skip_White_H…

The White House has scheduled a dinner next week in honor of Pope Benedict XVI’s first visit to the United States, but one guest will be conspicuously absent from the proceedings: the pope himself.

There are no competing events listed on the pope’s schedule, and the White House was unable to explain Benedict’s absence from the dinner.

Several Catholic overlords will sit in for the Pope during the feast. Meanwhile, the Pope himself will be across town, writing his memoirs: “great dinners are those in honor of one’s self, but the best are those that you need not even attend.”