But the general public will just get the wrong idea and make baseless generalisations - as evidenced by comments under this post. All in all, this is bad science communication.

Perhaps, but to be clear, that’s on The Economist, not the researchers or scholarship. Your criticisms are valid to point out, but they aren’t likely to be significant enough to change anything meaningful in the final analysis. As far as the broad conclusions of the paper, I think the visualization works fine.

What you’re asking for in terms of methods that will capture some of the granularity you reference would need to be a separate study. And that study would probably not be a corrective to this paper. Rather, it would serve to “color between the lines” that this study establishes.

Alright, but dismissing the study as “pretty much bullshit" based on a quick read-through seems like a huge oversimplification. Using canonical syllables as a measure is actually a widely accepted linguistic standard, designed precisely to make fair comparisons across languages with different structures, including languages like Japanese. It’s not about unfairly favoring any language but creating a consistent baseline, especially when looking at large, cross-linguistic patterns.

And on the syllable omission point, like “probably” vs. “prolly," I mean, sure, informal speech varies, but the study is looking at overall trends in speech rate and information density, not individual shortcuts in casual conversation. Those small variations certainly don’t turn the broader findings into bullshit.

As for the bigram approach, it’s a reasonable proxy to capture information density. They’re not trying to recreate every phonological or grammatical nuance; that would be way beyond the scope and would lose sight of the larger picture. Bigrams offer a practical, statistically valid method for comparing across languages without having to delve into the specifics of every syllable sequence in each language.

This isn’t about counting every syllable perfectly but showing that despite vast linguistic diversity, there’s an overarching efficiency in how languages encode information. The study reflects that and uses perfectly acceptable methods to do so.

In most cases, being vague requires more informational transfer. To be vague but still connected to whatever is the signified, you need to give more information around the idea rather than simply stating the idea. Think about being vague about how you feel versus being blunt about it.

Dear god why

“Americans travel to other countries trying to regain their humanity and recall what empathy looks like.”

The hardest working states are the ones right down the middle, from North Dakota to Texas. The least hardworking are generally the northeast (excepting the redder states of NH and ME) and west coast.

Somewhat unsurprising if you realize that most of the states down the middle have some of the lowest unemployment rates in the nation–e.g., North Dakota has an unemployment rate under 2%, whereas states like California, Washington, and New York have some of the highest.

Hardest working also factors in rates of overtime or multiple jobs (i.e., average hours worked per week), so realistically you want to be somewhere like Mass or Vermont (and others) that have both low unemployment and reasonable weekly hours.

That makes those states less “hardworking,” but I would bet the standard of living/happiness indices are higher in those states. Regardless, by these metrics and in general, red states do work more hours and have more of their state’s people gainfully employed.

It’s basically where people exercise more and/or have an outdoors-y culture.

Levels of sedentary lifestyle by state:

If that map was more granular, I bet it would match very closely.

Lazy ass Rhode Islanders.

What a narcissistic set of questions.

Also:

Does our knowledge somehow live on beyond death?

… yes? Look around. Humanity is a long, collective enterprise.

“Tiger got to hunt, bird got to fly; Man got to sit and wonder ‘why, why, why?’ Tiger got to sleep, bird got to land; Man got to tell himself he understand."

She’s disturbingly close to Juggalo territory here.

I usually just soak them in Oxiclean Free in a bucket overnight once 4-6 are dirty (or PBW cleaner when I had it around when I would homebrew). You can also just put the Oxiclean in the bottles and let them sit overnight.

I also have a narrow bottle brush that I’ll use that fits in there, but honestly the oxiclean basically cleans everything, even crusted junk, with an overnight soak. Then I just rinse them thoroughly.

I’ve also added coarse salt and rubbing alcohol and shaken the shit out of them then put them in the dishwasher for a box of like 30 of them that I bought at a garage sale for $1 (I don’t think the dude ever even rinsed them after drinking the beer), but that’s before I discovered how well oxiclean soak works.

If they’re not particularly crusty, I’ll just add a little dish soap and hot water and shake. Cleans them fine for me for me for the ones that get used more quickly/regularly.

You could move the Brita to the counter top to recover some fridge space if you wanted since you’re chilling the bottles. Good re-use of those bottles though!

I love Grolsch swing top bottles. I use them for everything. Water, homemade sauces, “use” bottles (I buy stuff like vinegar, oils, etc. in bulk and top up grolsch bottles for actual use), etc.

The post is pretty transparently intended as a joke using wordplay.

Vegans use silly insults “out of a profound concern for animals…At social events, [they] sometimes gave graphic accounts of the slaughter of animals in an effort to make…dinner guests shun meat.”

Edit: oh whoops, no, that was Hitler. My bad.

Because that’s what the “exo” part means.

Same rules if you’re a woman and dealing with an aggressive man.

Most of the spots where I live aren’t close to the doors. They’re not handicapped spots. They’re just located next to the shopping cart return chutes, which are usually generally found in the center of the parking lot. That CAN help someone that struggles to walk, because they can use a cart to support them as they walk from the middle of the parking lot, but it’s probably less ideal than a closer parking spot (if available).

Hey, thanks for your understanding. It is much appreciated.

I do return the cart when I can!

Excellent! Though, you would be surprised how often they’re taken just because they’re the closest available spot.

And agreed, my car does get bonked by shopping carts fairly regularly when I’m in those spots.

My car has cameras that monitor the exterior when I’m parked, and the amount of times I’ve come back to watch a video of someone on their phone and just ramming the cart directly into the rear is… more common than you’d think.

But! They were returning the cart, so it is kind of a win-win, I think.

It isn’t about their “sanity,” and you’ve made quite a few assumptions here.

And you’re this mad about people not privileging your interests when it comes to checks notes shopping carts being returned? I take it you still ride inside them rather than push them? 🤣

Blocked.

Edit: I was going to block, but I checked your comment history.

Hey. I love my kids. I do try to take care of them in parking lots. They run around in the woods pretty freely, they travel often, and I’m very proud to be their parent.

Everyone deserves supportive parents, and I’m sorry that your parents can’t support who you are. That isn’t fair to you. That is THEIR problem. It is THEIR flaw. You didn’t do anything wrong. I bet more people than you even realize love you for just who you are. Focus on them! Let them be your support.