
Mapping OKCupid answer data: rape fantasies and hygiene by state - timr
http://blog.okcupid.com/index.php/2009/06/25/rape-fantasies-and-hygiene-by-state/
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snewe
The article makes some strong claims about the statistical validity of their
results. However, 1,000,000 observations is not always better than 3,000
observations. If the data are not representative, then a Gallup poll (which
is) of a order of magnitude smaller sample is much more powerful.

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shalmanese
Counterintuitively, if the sample is truly randomly distributed, you gain very
little additional information as you go beyond 300 samples. This is why every
political poll has an error margin of + or - 3%.

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jules
Right, but that doesn't mean that 300 (or 3000) samples total is enough. You
can't make the detailed map about burning the national flag with 3000 samples.
More data is helpful until you have 300 samples per pixel.

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viggity
Selection Bias much?

Volunteer polling is about as un-scientific as you can get. Did it not occur
to them that people who are willing to answer poll questions about sex are
probably going to have different opinions about sex than someone who isn't
willing to seek out the poll?

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thomaspaine
Selection bias doesn't explain the inter-state difference, which is what the
visualizations are attempting to display.

For that to be an issue here, you'd have to argue that there's something about
living in Nevada as opposed to New York, independent of your attitude towards
sex, that would affect whether or not after seeing this question, you chose to
answer or pass.

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swombat
Perhaps not, but ratios of males and females might explain most of the
differences between east and west.

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mynameishere
Re: Showering.

I have this tragedy-of-the-commons thing going on with the other tenants in
the building. The water is "included" in the rent and so I sometimes shower 3,
4 times a day for the hell of it. I've seriously considered heating the place
by running the shower nonstop in winter, but someone would probably catch on.

Right out of college, dirt poor, I had a place alone, and would turn the water
heater on 45 minutes before I'd shower, then turn it off again.

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newaccount1
I had a similar situation. During a heat wave I filled up the bathtub and
sinks with cold water to absorb some of the heat. A few days later they sent
someone to check for water leaks in my apartment =).

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Dilpil
I'm not sure that is actually such an inefficient method of cooling your
place- water is after all, famous for its high heat capacity.

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jrockway
Wow, it scares me that _anyone_ thinks flag burning should be illegal.

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Kadin
The interesting thing is that almost _everyone_ believes that flag burning
ought to be totally legal; the argument is just over the circumstances.

As is routinely pointed out, burning a flag is the approved way of "retiring"
one when it's no longer fit to be flown. If you fly a flag every day, this
will be about once a year or so. In my area, the American Legion or Boy Scouts
do "flag retirements" as a fund raiser once in a while; you turn in your old
flags and they respectfully burn them. (Maybe they play Taps at the same time
or something.)

So the argument isn't over flag burning per se, and it never was. It's over
flag _defacement_ or "desecration," i.e. burning the flag in the context of a
political demonstration, or as an overtly political act.

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LogicHoleFlaw
Technically you don't burn a flag during a retirement. It is cut into quarters
first. Or at least it was when I was doing these ceremonies with the Boy
Scouts.

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physcab
I have to move back to California

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menloparkbum
The Bay Area is hands down the worst place I have ever lived for dating.

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strlen
It's not nearly as bad if you're willing to be open and try non-conventional
ways of meeting people, e.g. online. Sites like OKCupid have many women who
are either intellectually inclined themselves (i.e. "nerdy") or are looking to
meet a guy who is; this way, you are much more likely to find someone who
appreciates and likes you for who are you than at a sports bar or a night club
(whether in Bay Area, or elsewhere).

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derwiki
Given the tech-savviness of the Bay Area, I actually think how well OKCupid
works out here almost makes up for the fact that it seems to be harder to meet
girls in the real world here than anywhere else. Given, you won't always
"spark" with someone you meet online, but if you do, at least it means you
probably get along with them on a deeper level than just "you're at the bar
and look cute."

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quizbiz
I fail to understand why anyone would fantasize about anything remotely like
rape.

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sho
On the off chance that you are genuinely curious about the phenomenon, here is
a good start:

[http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/brainstorm/200805/why-
do...](http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/brainstorm/200805/why-do-women-
have-erotic-rape-fantasies)

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quizbiz
Thank you. I was/I am.

