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The United States of Autocomplete
Posted: Mon Jan 27, 2014 8:19 am
by Ibanez
http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/a ... te/283356/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
We are a nation, in other words, of curious people. And our curiosity can lead us to weird places (those places including, apparently, states that are haunted). We know all this in part because of the good folks at @Amazing_maps, who ran Autocomplete searches for each of the 50 states in our Union, tracking the top search returns (as they stand as of January 2014). They then mapped those results. Those results are ... revealing.
They're also not unique. There is, at this point, a long (in-Internet-time) tradition of using Autocomplete for map-making purposes. Renee DiResta created a similar "why is [state] so..." map in 2012 (it features different results from those of @amazing_maps, since Autocomplete results change over time). Flip Collective created a U.S. map that's coded according to states' top fill-ins for the search "the United States is..." There's one for stereotypes of Manhattan neighborhoods, and of Europe.
So why is [@Amazing_maps' rendering] so [notable]? Because many of the Autocompletes it unearths are themselves so ... surprising/hilarious/weird. Why, indeed, is Illinois so corrupt? Why is Texas so big? Why is Oregon so good? Why are people wondering these things?
Perhaps we should ask someone from Massachusetts, the only state on the map whose top return was "smart."
Re: The United States of Autocomplete
Posted: Mon Jan 27, 2014 8:26 am
by Grizalltheway
I assume "loud" is the second most popular?
Re: The United States of Autocomplete
Posted: Mon Jan 27, 2014 8:28 am
by Ibanez
Grizalltheway wrote:I assume "loud" is the second most popular?
My Google says it's "Cold, expensive, big, sparsely populated."
Re: The United States of Autocomplete
Posted: Mon Jan 27, 2014 8:30 am
by Ibanez
South Carolina is poor, stupid, violent, boring. Damn...
Re: The United States of Autocomplete
Posted: Mon Jan 27, 2014 8:31 am
by CID1990
"mormon"
and
"racist"
Re: The United States of Autocomplete
Posted: Mon Jan 27, 2014 8:43 am
by kalm
Liberal
Rainy
Expensive
Then there's the other 2/3'ds of the state.
Re: The United States of Autocomplete
Posted: Mon Jan 27, 2014 8:48 am
by Grizalltheway
kalm wrote:Liberal
Rainy
Expensive
Then there's the other 2/3'ds of the state.
Dry
Trashy
Boring
Re: The United States of Autocomplete
Posted: Mon Jan 27, 2014 9:08 am
by andy7171
Maryland is rich, expernsive, boring and liberal.
Re: The United States of Autocomplete
Posted: Mon Jan 27, 2014 10:10 am
by HI54UNI
Democratic
windy
liberal
cold
What's funny is I would say we are not Democratic or liberal. We are a purple state. Our congressional delegation is split 50-50 - 1 R Senator and 2 R Reps and 1 D Senator and 2 D Reps. Our gov is an R, our statehouse is house R, senate D (barely). The other 5 statewide elected offices have 2 D and 3 R.
Re: The United States of Autocomplete
Posted: Mon Jan 27, 2014 10:11 am
by Chizzang
kalm wrote:
Liberal
Rainy
Expensive
Then there's the other 2/3'ds of the state.
Whoa there Nelly...
We just had 4 days in a row of 50 degree weather
I went mountain biking in a tee shirt on Saturday
Re: The United States of Autocomplete
Posted: Mon Jan 27, 2014 10:58 am
by kalm
Grizalltheway wrote:kalm wrote:Liberal
Rainy
Expensive
Then there's the other 2/3'ds of the state.
Dry
Trashy
Boring
Shut your whore mouth....hater:
Lower Crab Creek drainage/saddle mountains:
http://
Colville National Forest:
Swawilla Basin, Lake Roosevelt
Palouse River:
Re: The United States of Autocomplete
Posted: Mon Jan 27, 2014 10:58 am
by kalm
Chizzang wrote:kalm wrote:
Liberal
Rainy
Expensive
Then there's the other 2/3'ds of the state.
Whoa there Nelly...
We just had 4 days in a row of 50 degree weather
I went mountain biking in a tee shirt on Saturday
I know. If I had the time, I'd find Z's seattle hating rants.
Re: The United States of Autocomplete
Posted: Mon Jan 27, 2014 11:02 am
by CAA Flagship
Missouri = Conservative
Surrounded by Flat, Poor, Democratic, and Corrupt.
If THAT'S not the definition of "Middle of Nowhere", I don't know what is.
Re: The United States of Autocomplete
Posted: Mon Jan 27, 2014 11:07 am
by CAA Flagship
Chizzang wrote:
Whoa there Nelly...
We just had 4 days in a row of 50 degree weather
I went mountain biking in a tee shirt on Saturday
Re: The United States of Autocomplete
Posted: Mon Jan 27, 2014 11:22 am
by AZGrizFan
Chizzang wrote:kalm wrote:
Liberal
Rainy
Expensive
Then there's the other 2/3'ds of the state.
Whoa there Nelly...
We just had 4 days in a row of 50 degree weather
I went mountain biking in a tee shirt on Saturday
And it's such a rare occurrence that you have to brag about it!
Re: The United States of Autocomplete
Posted: Mon Jan 27, 2014 11:25 am
by AZGrizFan
Re: The United States of Autocomplete
Posted: Mon Jan 27, 2014 11:25 am
by mrklean
BAMA is good.......lol
Re: The United States of Autocomplete
Posted: Mon Jan 27, 2014 11:40 am
by Grizalltheway
How far would you have to go to find something like that?
Re: The United States of Autocomplete
Posted: Mon Jan 27, 2014 11:51 am
by Chizzang
AZGrizFan wrote:Chizzang wrote:
Whoa there Nelly...
We just had 4 days in a row of 50 degree weather
I went mountain biking in a tee shirt on Saturday
And it's such a rare occurrence that you have to brag about it!
It's not actually
Its just that its ZERO degrees in the mid-west / so I wanted to just put that out there
Re: The United States of Autocomplete
Posted: Mon Jan 27, 2014 12:15 pm
by AZGrizFan
Grizalltheway wrote:
How far would you have to go to find something like that?
From where?
Re: The United States of Autocomplete
Posted: Mon Jan 27, 2014 12:24 pm
by Grizalltheway
AZGrizFan wrote:Grizalltheway wrote:
How far would you have to go to find something like that?
From where?
Umm...where you currently reside...
Re: The United States of Autocomplete
Posted: Mon Jan 27, 2014 12:30 pm
by AZGrizFan
Grizalltheway wrote:AZGrizFan wrote:
From where?
Umm...where you currently reside...
Well, I'm not the one trying to convince people that 2/3 of my current state isn't dry, dusty and ugly.
Re: The United States of Autocomplete
Posted: Mon Jan 27, 2014 12:39 pm
by Chizzang
I simply have to walk out my back door to see this...
and the trail around the lake...
Re: The United States of Autocomplete
Posted: Mon Jan 27, 2014 1:02 pm
by AZGrizFan
Chizzang wrote:I simply have to walk out my back door to see this...
and the trail around the lake...
Only it usually looks like this:
Re: The United States of Autocomplete
Posted: Mon Jan 27, 2014 1:19 pm
by kalm
AZGrizFan wrote:Grizalltheway wrote:
Umm...where you currently reside...
Well, I'm not the one trying to convince people that 2/3 of my current state isn't dry, dusty and ugly.
The Tri-Cities and Moses Lake are not 2/3 of the state (althought they both have some interesting scenery close by). Other than the central basin you're mostly within an hour's drive of mountains and trees...if not less.
Your geography is worse than your meteorology...
For me, 45 minutes from Mt. Spokane:
Here's a picture from the Okanogan Highlands. They occupy about 1/4 of the state:
