Damn. I'm having a lot of trouble searching for the 80% porn thing (predictable, given the presence of "porn" in the search terms) but it sounds interesting!

Damn. I'm having a lot of trouble searching for the 80% porn thing (predictable, given the presence of "porn" in the search terms)

Yeah, I can see that being difficult to search for. I've heard that 80% of the Internet is porn.

Emily, I remember the 80% porn thing too. It's several years back, maybe late '90's. I think one of the "authors" either was a pornographer, or later became one, and the academic credentials were iffy. The magazine cover was kind of famous -- it was a kid with an eerie blue computer monitor glow on his face.

Of course, I can't remember any Googleable details.

There was an intelligence test that asked what you should do if you're in line for something and someone cuts in front of you. The correct answer is that you should tell the person to get out of line. Supposedly, someone of Chinese background would do nothing, as s/he would assume that if someone cut in line they must have an important reason to do so.

Good lord. I would fail that question because, most of the time, I'd rather wait an extra minute than get into a confrontation with a stranger.

Neilsen Media Research recently released a press... release showing that "people meters" had a dramatic impact on ratings for African-American viewership, as opposed to set-top boxes, something along the lines of a 40% difference. It's not clear why their methodology is flawed, but it seems clear that one or both are misrepresenting black viewership in the ratings.

Emily, this is the original article. (You have to pay to read the whole thing, though I bet it's on Lexis-Nexis.)

Edit: And here is some debunking.

Damn. I'm having a lot of trouble searching for the 80% porn thing (predicta

Try this:

[link]

or this:

[link]

or this (pdf, starting on page 10):

[link]

I googled for 'time magazine internet study' (without the quotes)

tommyrot, we should fight crime together through Googlefu.

tommyrot, we should fight crime together through Googlefu.

Heh. That made me laugh outloud (good thing my bosses weren't nearby).

Anyway, the best strategy is probably to not use "porn" in your google at all.

tommyrot, we should fight crime together through Googlefu.

He's a midwestern computer geek and connoisseur of vintage automobiles and penguins. She's an east coast journalist and fan of new music and fanfic. They fight crime.

the best strategy is probably to not use "porn" in your google at all.

I used "time magazine computers porn children cover" for the article and "Time cyberporn debunk" to get to the hotwired page. But your advice is probably good in general.