Call it Six Degrees of Separation of the Seven Deadly Sins. Fark linked to The Atlantic which linked to Neatorama which linked to MetaFilter (yay!) which linked to Las Vegas Sun article. Kansas State University geographers embarked “a precision party trick — rigorous mapping of ridiculous data,” by creating maps of the frequency of the seven deadly sins across America, per-county. Many of the techniques are debatable, which is perhaps where the “rigorous mapping of ridiculous data” comes from: envy is graphed based on burglary and theft statistics, for example, and envy is based on a ratio comparing median income to people living below the poverty line. Gluttony is based on the number of fast-food restaurants per capita, which renders just a few bright red spots in the nation. And pride is seemingly just the average of all the others, which hardly makes any sense.

Here’s the full graphics, which can be viewed much larger full-screen. Despite the “rigorous mapping of ridiculous data,” I can’t help but notice trends. Greed seems most prevalant in areas right on the water. Lust seems much more common in the “Bible belt,” but their neighbors just to the north are at the extreme opposite end of the scale. The South is high on wrath, while the North is abnormally low.

What does this data actually tell us? Next to nothing, I’d wager. And yet I can’t help but find it intriguing.