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Methods have been developed of assigning `` weights '' to statements ; ;

that is, it is known empirically that names beginning with R are more common than those beginning with Z ; ;

that fewer women are named Miranda than Elizabeth ; ;

that in the United States more people die of heart disease than of smallpox.

So each reading can be given a weight and each reading a score by adding up these weights.

Specific dates would be important, as would double names.

Various categories have been explored to find out about these `` empirical probabilities '' against which to measure the readings.