• bias

    Study: 'Excellent' Journalism Apparently Nice to Everyone

    Dear Project For Excellence in Journalism: please just stop. Stop doing these studies or just stop releasing your so-called "empirical" findings to the press. Because Howard Kurtz "reporting" that the press is so mean to John McCain and so nice to Barack Obama all the time is not "excellent journalism." It is more like "the Project for No Context and More Bullshit in Journalism." Christ, PEJ, how does it further excellent journalism, learning this factoid: More »

    9:40 AM on Thu Oct 23 2008
    By Pareene
    1,327 views, 30 comments

    Most discussed Aaron Altman: But Pareene, even if McCain reads the study, or news of the study, chances are Palin won't. more »

  • advertising

    Mmmm, Cancer

    Deep down, the smokers among us knew that this day was coming: a new study says that warning labels on cigarette packs subconsciously make people want to smoke more. Does this mean the City of New York will stop running all those anti-smoking ads with the tracheotomy dude who can't swim any more and the amputee lady who lost her fingers? No, those are just good old-fashioned punishment. [Ad Age]

    3:46 PM on Wed Oct 22 2008
    By Hamilton Nolan
    2,512 views, 126 comments

    Most discussed emsigh_the_third: Anyone who smokes and knows the consequences it will have on his/her health deserves everything bad that's going to happen more »

  • horse race

    After Only 219 Years, Americans Tire Of Negative Ads

    Negative ads usually work, despite the fact that everybody whines about them. Not this year! Political scientists (A real job title? Not sure) say that this year's campaign is—as old Bob Schieffer grouchily pointed out last night—the most negative in the history of history. But they also say that this time, that negativity is actually backfiring, for once. Apparently "imaginary bullshit" ranks lower on voters' priority lists than ever before: More »

    11:21 AM on Thu Oct 16 2008
    By Hamilton Nolan
    2,557 views, 19 comments

    Most discussed Lysergic Asset: Since "political science" is an actual graduate/postgraduate major, I'm guessing that "political scientist" is the (for-real) derivative job title. more »

  • what we need more of is science

    Scientists Explain Why People Vote For Republicans

    Every election season, commentators trot out the old statistics about how more education makes people more likely to support Democrats, more studies are published on how liberal Daily Show viewers are so well-informed, and various smart people try to explain why anyone would ever vote for a Republican, against their "self-interest." This month has seen three alarming and remarkable scientific investigations into Americans' inexplicable habit of voting for George Bush and John McCain. Which means: trend! Hooray! Let's take a look at what America's top scienticians say about fucking idiot flyover losers and their stupid voting: More »

    12:08 PM on Fri Sep 19 2008
    By Pareene
    41,745 views, 248 comments

    Most discussed ADismalScience: I'm educated, a moral relativist, and an avowed atheist. I view the world rationally, and I have voted for both more »

  • Sex

    Activists Demand More Married Boning On TV

    The sad television image: while single people run around coupling with any and all sweaty bodies in their path, married people are sick of each other and never have sex. Not tonight, honey! The happier truth: in real life married people actually do have sex! Or so we hear. This disconnect is a matter of concern to certain segments of the right wing pro-marriage fringe, who feel that TV's bias against showing boring husband-and-wife sex is—I don't know—making people not get married? It's unclear. What we know for sure is that our networks must do more to promote fucking within marriage; particularly NBC, which has an obvious preference for "bestiality and necrophilia": More »

    9:36 AM on Wed Aug 6 2008
    By Hamilton Nolan
    2,064 views, 75 comments

    Latest by KatyaMoskva: You know what show has a lot of married sex? Big Love. Bill pops Viagra like it's candy to keep more »

  • usa

    We Are The Champions. Of Drugs

    Shed a patriotic tear, fellow Americans: we are the most drugged-out nation in the world. A new study (of 17 nations) shows that more than 16% of Americans have done coke, and more than 42% of us have smoked weed, absolutely blowing away second place finisher New Zealand and the rest of the civilized world. Suck our woolie blunt smoke, Kiwis! Fetch our crack pipe, Netherlands lightweights! All it takes is one look at this handy chart to see... did you lock the front door? Did you hear something? Click to enlarge. Dude, awesome.

    3:56 PM on Tue Jul 1 2008
    By Hamilton Nolan
    6,922 views, 82 comments

    Latest by Drunken Economist: Just think: At the turn of the *last* century, this graph would have been upside down. South American Indios doin' more »

  • public relations

    Bloggers To Flacks: Pay Us

    PR firms are mighty enthusiastic to have relations with bloggers. Close, close relations. APCO Worldwide—a scarily connected lobbying and PR superfirm with all types of ex-politicos on its payroll (including former White House flack Scottie McClellan!)—just released a survey on "The State Of Blog Relations," that asked both bloggers and PR people about their ideas on how they can make nice with each other [via PRWeek, where I used to work]. So the flacks all came off like devious bastards, right? Well, some, but the bloggers also came off like money-grubbing sellouts! More »

    3:14 PM on Mon Mar 24 2008
    By Hamilton Nolan
    1,729 views, 11 comments

    Latest by GloriaPuget: Comment on Bloggers To Flacks: Pay Us Actually, it's impossible to draw a conclusion from the pay-for- placement question in more »

  • sex

    French Women Keep Getting Sexier; French Men Do Not

    A huge new study of sexuality in France has just been released, with a shocking conclusion: French women like sex. They are becoming more like men in the age they first have sex (17-ish), the number of sexual partners, and the length of their sex lives—90% of women over 50 say they're still getting laid, versus a mere 50% in 1970. But more surprising than that is a worrying trend among young French men: they're just not that interested in this whole sex business, thank you very much! More »

    11:50 AM on Fri Mar 7 2008
    By Hamilton Nolan
    11,246 views, 28 comments

    Latest by famousauthor: As George W. Bush said, "The trouble with the French is that they don't have a word for 'entrepreneur'." more »

  • marketing

    Ads Will Follow You Everywhere

    Advertisers are figuring out that traditional TV ads are getting less and less effective as a way to reach all you hungry consumers. So many people have DVRs these days that ads are getting skipped more than ever before, and the Internet is cutting into TV as a medium (fa sho!). In a new study, 62% of advertisers said that TV continues to suck. But have no fear, because they are finding new and more devious ways to get their marketing messages into our brains. Online TV shows, video on demand, and even " set-top-box menus" are all in line to get more ads. Great! You cannot escape. SonyCokePepsiMcdonalds. [Broadcasting & Cable]

    4:01 PM on Wed Feb 20 2008
    By Hamilton Nolan
    743 views, 13 comments

    Latest by acridsheep: If they can't use TV to get into your wallet they'll soon be using mobile to get into your pocket. Ringy more »

  • things to snort

    Sugar-Free Gum is the New Cocaine!

    According to a study, chewing Orbit and other sugar-free gum can make you lose weight. Chewing a lot of Orbit makes you lose a lot of weight! On the other hand, it also makes you use a lot of toilet paper.
    [A] 21-year old woman reported experienced severe diarrhea four to twelve times per day. She'd lost 11 kilograms and had a body mass index of 16.6, substantially below normal. Patient interviews revealed she was chewing about 15 pieces of sugar free gum per day. She stopped chewing the gum and her symptoms disappeared.
    Whatever, BMI: 16.6 and good breath all for a dollar fifty? We're in.

    7:27 AM on Mon Jan 14 2008
    By Joshua Stein
    3,631 views, 38 comments

    Latest by minx: same principle as the Jane Fonda-shit-yourself diet of the 70s: take laxatives, quicker results. Long term downer: you end up more »