Yes, he wrote that series. No, it is not a good series to read, nor is it a good series, period. However, it is to the taste of many, despite its (many) objective problems.

Starred for the shout-out to Pierce’s Pit! Good on ya!

Somebody hire Andrew. That was priceless.

I’m a fan of the old podcast “12 Byzantine Emperors”. If you haven’t, you should check it out.

Visiting the British Museum one time, they had a display case that included—I forget the details, but, like, an earl or rich benefactor, or something like that—the response of this guy to Gibbon’s sending him his most recent volume:

I’ll bite: what “works for its hosts” is what’s dumb about this, because this isn’t about working for the hosts. The way it works now is the way that the IOC and its partners feel like they can make the most money. That’s it!

Isn’t saying “alkalinity is a stabilizer the prevents pH from wildly swinging up or down the spectrum” somewhat like saying “shortness is a stabilizer that prevents height from wildly swinging up or down”?

Assuming the reference to urban dictionary is some next-level Kinja shit. Urban dictionary is where you go to find out what morons think of things.

Good kinja, there.

Well done. This is how to do a “distillation take.”

Alas, Babylon was a lot happier. Written in the 50's, I think. Not very accurate, but it wasn’t bad for the tweener times when I read it.

Reminds me of the book I read in 9th grade: Alas, Babylon. I think by Pat Frank? It was pretty good.

Same! UFO 54-40 messed with my very young head.

That’s...beautiful and sad. We’re happy to have you here, for right now.

Lance Armstrong is a great case—he was even more pointed and forthright than King has been, and for longer. Maybe she’s right, and anyone (like me) who has doubts about her authenticity is being influenced by what’s happened before, and the only solution is total banning. Except that the testing is often easily…

True. I was kind of put off by King’s holier-than-thou attitude a bit, but it’s a hell of a lot more understandable than the “pearl-clutching” of sports journalism.

No. You misunderstand me. I’m not saying the graph itself is having an effect, or that the graph is misplaced, or even that it’s not a good, informative, helpful graph. I’m saying that the graph is showing the effect of other media (aside from 538). I was too succinct at first, and I’m sure I’m too succinct now, but…

Starred for your spelling, you plucky Candadian? Brit? Australian? Either way, yeah, here where it’s spelled “favorite”, the rage and shock are manufactured at a terrifying pace. :-)

This here is a great example of media bias affecting the outcome. The media’s largest bias is for conflict. The media doesn’t benefit from a runaway election. It is in every media-person’s best interest to do everything in their power to create as close a race as possible.

Remember that news is just a form of gossip. It’s entertainment dressed up for people playing at “adulthood”—which is fine. Everyone’s just playing culturally conditioned roles anyway, but it helps to remember that.