According to geographers at Kansas State University, I live on the edge of the "Contentment Belt."  They plotted the distribution of the 7 Deadly Sins across the United States.  The Midwest contains a belt of low scores for Envy, Lust, Pride, and Wrath.  They also ranked 10 casino markets across the country.  My current home in St. Louis consistently scores as one of the most boring (our highest score is in Sloth).  Las Vegas (Espanol for "The Vegas") has a total Sin Score four times higher than The Lou, while at a quick glance Shreveport, LA appears to be the overall sinniest.  See my handy pie charts to see how St. Louis and Las Vegas distribute their sin.


I suspect that Las Vegas' Envy score may have been biased upward due to increased feeling of inadequecy by Las Vegas residents during the awe inspiring visit of fellow Scientific Blogger Bente Lilje Bye.  Bente, before you are insulted that I did not say a more fun sounding sin like Lust, take a look at how the distributions were established.  The geographers used, among other things crime data from the FBI.  A high Lust score is bad, genital warts bad.  Of course, this one accounts for almost 20% of St. Louis sin, but only 16% in an area with legalized prostitution.