Estimating the heights of New Yorkers from their scuff marks

This is a good description, and similar to my favorite game to play in public with my kids: “Find the normal distribution”

Of course the most frequent ones are on door handles or pushes. Then usually parking space oil stains around an entrance. Etc…

Desire paths are also generally very tight gaussians.

You can learn a lot about pattern of life just by looking at how humans wear down the world

Nah that last image caught me off guard

Why are scuff marks assumed to be from shoes? Why not bags/briefcases hitting the wall while leaning against it? Might explain the “implausibly tall”.

I can't get to the blog for some reason. Web archive is also failing to archive it.

Anyone have a mirror?