Extending The Annals Of Dumb

Dylan Byers of Politico turns his misapprehension of statistics into an attention-grabbing blog post about Rush Limbaugh:

Rush Limbaugh took a significant ratings hit in some key radio markets last month in the wake of the Sandra Fluke controversy.

The conservative radio host's ratings fell 27 percent in the key 25-54 demo in New York City, 31 percent in Houston-Galveston, 40 percent in Seattle-Tacoma, and 35 percent in Jacksonville, according to a selection of the March 29-April 25 Arbitron ratings provided by an industry source.

This is making something out of nothing. The story notes that the Fluke controversy, which generated huge attention for Rush, was in early March, so this may be a return to normal.

Secondly, the statistics are noisy city by city:

Radio uses what's known as the Portable People Meter, or PPM, an electronic measurement created by the marketing research firm Arbitron that tracks the activity of a limited number of listeners and uses that data to make estimates about the entire market. This means that when a few listeners change listening habits, it can account for a significant shift in the monthly numbers. As a result, data can swing significantly month to month while actually looking relatively stable over an extended period of time.

As evidence of those drastic swings, Limbaugh's numbers were actually up significantly in some markets -- by as much as 79 percent in both San Francisco and Las Vegas -- even as he took losses in Dalls-Ft. Worth, Tampa-St. Petersburg, Kansas City, and the cities mentioned above.

So there's your headline - Vegas and Frisco love their slut-bashers. Whatever.

What's fun, in an entirely predictable way, is the loss of nuance at Media Matters, which only notes the lead.

Comments

[sailor]

This is getting to be ridiculous! I believe that nothing the media reports is ever true. The sad thing is that The Muddle will believe all of this.

[matt]

MSM...keeping the meme alive at all costs....

[sailor]

What can be done about this? If all The Muddle ever reads or sees (on the ABC/NBC/CNN/MSNBC networks)is untrue, how can we combat this? Yes, I know the internet is doing a good job, but these people will never read the blogs that tell the truth. Sad.

[narciso]

Well it is Politico, Byers is following where
Ben Smith left off on the Journolist.

[Ignatz]

Speaking of things falling, poor Mark Zuckerberg lost $6.4 billion over the weekend. Of course he's still worth $18 billion if your eyes are tearing up in sympathy.

[narciso]

Yes, it seems to seep into unlikely places;

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304723304577369913528826798.html

[narciso]

Here is the segment I was talking about;

…”Did you hear [U.S. Attorney General] Eric Holder the other day say how much he loves Al Sharpton?” she asks as we park ourselves at the breakfast table in the suburban Washington, D.C., home that she shares with her husband and sometime collaborator Stephan Thernstrom, a Harvard historian. “This is a very poisonous message. The black leadership is suggesting that George Zimmerman is a typical white. That they’re all alike. Yes, he calls himself a white Hispanic, but they’re suggesting that inside the breast of every white is a willingness to kill a Trayvon Martin. It’s ridiculous, it’s sad, and it’s destructive.”

!!!

[Dave (in MA)]

Uh, he said "annals". Heh heh

[MarkO]

Apparently, about half of the country finds this sort of thing to be just fine. We seem to be right on the edge of, dare I say, doom.

[Gus]

We are all George Tierney Jr.

[Chubby]

OT, but the desperation is getting even more desperate:

((WaPo Attacks Romney for 'Mormon Militia' Action 150 Years Ago
11:00 AM, May 21, 2012 • By DANIEL HALPER))

Weekly Stanard article LUN

[Captain Hate]

Of course he's still worth $18 billion if your eyes are tearing up in sympathy.

I had some back and forths with my fellow morons this morning (including one not fondly described as a moron) over whether or not the snafus around the IPO have injured Suckerberg. Although I doubt that even he has enough hubris to ever really go flat broke, I think jabbing his monstrous ego impacts him as much as anything ever will.

[Have Blue]

When those Personal People meters were first introduced they were a bone of contention and the subject of probably one lawsuit. The reason?

They showed that Rush and other talkers were more popular than the previous methods had and that rap and hip-hop were vastly less popular.

Some (the usual suspects)claimed this demonstrated proven racism in the conspiracy to harm minortiy interests.

[Janet]

No new info, but it is on a celebrity gossip site. That's good....breaking into some new territory!

Did President Obama Lie About Being Born in Kenya?

[Captain Hate]

WaPo Attacks Romney for 'Mormon Militia' Action 150 Years Ago

But Jeremiah Wright is too old of a topic to bring up, right?

[Janet]

Also this -
Hawaii responds to Bennett's Obama birth records request

"The Hawaii attorney general’s office has reportedly told Bennett that there are steps he needs to take in order to confirm President Obama’s birth records.

Those steps include Bennett proving that he legitimately needs confirmation in order to update the records at his office."

So essentially they said they aren't sending anything.

[tom banks]

take me off Google?

[narciso]

Rove, Murphy, to the white courtesy phone, for a Gibbs level slap.

[narciso]

I think this fits in the category;

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/05/21/as-obama-preaches-patience-mattis-prepares-for-war-with-iran.html

[daddy]

Good Morning OT,

ON Local Talk right now I am listening to a live interview of the Sackett's. They are the couple who "purchased a 0.63-acre lot for $23,000 in 2005 to build a home near scenic Priest Lake in Idaho. After obtaining local permits in 2007, the couple began grading the property with soil and rock in preparation for construction of a three-bedroom house."

"But the project came to a halt after EPA officials arrived at the site and informed the Sacketts that the property was a wetland. The regulators said the couple’s efforts to grade the land constituted a form of pollution under the federal Clean Water Act."

Eventually the Sackett's wound up being fined $37,500 each and every day by the EPA for non-compliance, and by the time their case was heard in the Supreme Court their outstanding fine was over 100 Million dollars. They said that when the EPA"s Attorney opened his argument to the Supreme's by proudly citing the fact that the couple owed over 100 million Dollars in fee's, that that one fact so immediately appalled the Supreme's that the case immediately started going their way.

In March 2012 they won at the Supreme Court, but they say that all that they really won in that 5 year long battle with the EPA was the Right to challenge the EPA"s designation of their Property as a "Wetland". They did not win permission to build their proposed house on their lot.

They say they are now forced back into dealing with the EPA and they must now prove to the EPA why they think their property is not a "Wetland", and then apparently await the EPA"s ruling on that.

They say that their lot is in a subdivision of many other houses, that no lot in the subdivision was ever before designated as a "Wetland", and that their proposed house was a small 2 story of about $260,000 in proposed construction costs.

They sound like a bright, decent couple, who have had their lives disrupted by this episode in hundreds of ways, but they say that at this point, after so many years dealing with an out of control "crucify them" EPA, they are determined to fight the EPA to an ultimate resolution of this case. Good on them.

They will be speaking up here tomorrow at some local venue. I'll try to be there.

An out of control EPA is a message that definitely resonates up here, ala' the EPA"s recent preemptive strike on the Pebble MIne Project.

[narciso]

Maybe this explains our 'bearded spock' reality'

http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2012/05/20/brian-greene-welcome-to-the-multiverse.html

[Jane]

Speaking of things falling, poor Mark Zuckerberg lost $6.4 billion over the weekend.

He also married his college sweetheart. I was awwing to Amy this morning about how romantic it was for him to marry her the same day he became so amazingly wealthy.

Her response: "I bet he had a hell of a pre-nup"

Crash.

(BTW D lived up to the expectation, and everyone loves him.) And Clarice I asked Amy to float the idea of a story when the time is right.

[Clarice]

"D"?

Thanks, Jane.

[daddy]

Oh Geez,

Obama claimed he's a Cherokee.

[jimmyk]

They sound like a bright, decent couple, who have had their lives disrupted by this episode in hundreds of ways

Sad that this country has begun to sound like a Kafka novel:

Someone must have been telling lies about Joseph K., for without having done anything wrong he was arrested one fine morning.

[Jane]

D is the retarded boy who turned out to be deaf.

[Extraneus]

I was awwing to Amy this morning about how romantic it was for him to marry her the same day he became so amazingly wealthy.

I would think he waited so that the IPO proceeds are pre-marital assets.

[Captain Hate]

Keeping On Topic, does "under-covered" mean "extremely poor ratings"? http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2012/05/20/ed-schultz-most-under-covered-story-right-now-wealthy-not-paying-fair

[Porchlight]

If I were Zuckerberg I would sell FB, start a family, spend time with my kids and new wife and do charity work the rest of my life.

I guess the world doesn't look like that from his age and vantage point, though.

I did get a kick out of FB's losses today, though.

[daddy]

"The Hawaii attorney general’s office has reportedly told Bennett that there are steps he needs to take in order to confirm President Obama’s birth records."

Janet,

I guess they were just unprepared for the notion that anyone would care to see the Birth Records. Obviously the Hawaii Attorney General has lived on Mars the last 5 years.

[Captain Hate]

Porch, in Yuckerberg's defense (a phrase I don't planning on using much again) there's a certain pride of ownership (which he relinquished a major part of) in software that makes smart people act not so intelligently.

[Captain Hate]

geez, "a phrase I don't plan on using much again".

[narciso]

To be fair if it wasn't for Hoft and Bozell, would Sgt. Schultz have an audience;

[Clarice]

I think so, too, Ext, but I also think Amy was right about the pre nup.

[daddy]

Narciso,

Speaking of Multiple Universes, when I was a kid Halley's Comet was pronounced "HayLee's Comet", not something that rhymes with "Yeah---Heah Lee's Comet."

Then yesterday I was listening to a weekend Science Show. Physicist Michio Kaku was hosting and speaking of the Large Hadron Supercollider, he called it "Hay-dron", not "Had-dron."

What the hell is going on? I seem to have entered a Universe where they alternate the pronunciation of the first syllables of Astronomical crap that starts with letter H. Whats next, the Hoo-ble
Space Telescope?

I want my Hay-Lee's and my Had-Dron back, not some dicked up Heah- Lee's and some "Hay-Dron."

Bastards!

And I want my Pluto to be a Planet, and my president to be born in Kenya where he's supposed to be born, not born in Hawaii. And I want my Spock to have his mustache back also.

Dammit' Jim, I want my old Universe back!!!

[narciso]

Did you look for the blue box, daddy,

[DrJ]

I seem to have entered a Universe where they alternate the pronunciation...

It's not just astronomy, daddy. When I was a kid, one was ha-rass'-ed. Now one is har'-essed. Similarly, ne-go-she-ation become ne-go-see-ation. There are many other examples.

I figure it is done to figure out who is in the "in" crowd.

[jimmyk]

there's a certain pride of ownership (which he relinquished a major part of) in software that makes smart people act not so intelligently.

More a matter of control than ownership, I suspect. He may, rightly or not, think that his control is essential, so he wouldn't be able to sell out without trashing the value. Steve Jobs is a case in point, though he was pushed out.

[narciso]

For what it's worth;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hadron

[daddy]

I flipped a coin Narciso. I took the yellow box.

In further proof that we have entered a different Universe, Penn Jillette, on a rant about Obama and Pot Smoking, says that if Obama had been arrested for blow and sent to jail "he would not have a beautiful, smart wife." Yeee gads!

It must have happened the last time I thought I was landing at JFK:

[daddy]

har'-essed.

Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

[AliceH]

--a Universe where they alternate the pronunciation...--

Even as I still resisting the shift from har-essed' to har'-essed, I watched an episode of BBC series (Rumpole, I think) where the lead complained of the sudden shift from har'-essed to "the American" pronuciation of har-essed'.

I was already well past the point of being lectured about "proper" pronunciation by a people who say "fi-let" for "fillet" (fi-lay), and "SA-lawn" for "sa-LON". Pfui.

[Janet]

President Obama’s birth records.

[glasater]

Ear leader is having a presser from Chicago in a few minutes.

[Rob Crawford]

Whats next, the Hoo-ble Space Telescope?

Nope. The Harble Telescope.

You don't want to know what you can see through it.

[Rob Crawford]

Penn Jillette, on a rant about Obama and Pot Smoking, says that if Obama had been arrested for blow and sent to jail "he would not have a beautiful, smart wife."

When did Obama remarry? I thought that would have been bigger news...

[Manuel Transmission]

daddy, our local fight against the loss of property rights is progressing apace. We have managed to put the prog slugs up at the dais so out of sorts that some are leaving or choosing to not rerun for their positions. "Can't we just all get along???"

What's interesting about our situation is that it is a county level ordinance that is being reviewed while the state Dept of Ecology is supposed to be an advisory source. What really happens is that the ecoterrorists here and at the DoEc gang up and try to force changes that the local conditions DON'T show any need for. Basically we could just say things are fine like they are; we'll check back in ten years to see if anything changed. Of course, that doesn't get the progs what they want.

[daddy]

MannyT,

I think part of, if not the primary reason the EPA is preemptively issuing hypothetical damage assessments on Alaska's Pebble Mine is because Maria Cantwell called them.

They wanted to come up here and shut development down regardless but I believe she gave them political cover to come in and shut us down.

If I ever become King I will declare the mercury lightbulbs in the individual houses of every one of these sonsuvbitches is toxic, and I will bulldoze their homes and make them pay for it.

[narciso]

Daddy as I recall from Michener's Alaska, those concerned about statehood were worried
that it would otherwise become a colony of Seattle interests,

[daddy]

I do recall that narciso.

And here I thought that was a work of fiction:(

I know you've been paying attention to the Pebble Mine/EPA situation up here but I didn't want to clobber the threads with too much local stuff. Quite depressing and plenty of folks angry, but until we get this current bunch out of office, what the heck ya' gonna' do.

All I can say is that if we are fortunate enough to clean house come November, our work will have just begun.

[nike air jordan 5]

Sie wollten hier herauf zu kommen und schloss die Entwicklung nach unten unabhängig aber ich glaube, sie gab ihnen politische Deckung zu kommen und uns nach unten geschlossen.

[GED Online]

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