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All 47 Sports and Fitness Activities, Ranked

Hamilton Nolan · 02/08/12 04:10PM

In this world, there are many ways to exercise. Some are actual sports; others are specific types of exercise; all will make you sweat, somehow. We have ranked them in scientific order, based on the following criteria: Physical Difficulty; Amount That You Would Be Humiliated If You Tried to Just Waltz In and Do Them Like Some Big Shot Because You Thought They Would Be Easy; and Overall Hardcoreness. Fake bullshit sports are not included. All rankings are final.

How Mark Zuckerberg Accidentally Endorsed Mitt Romney on Facebook

Ryan Tate · 02/08/12 02:41PM

Sometimes you do something on Facebook — comment, post a link, "like" a status message — and it gets totally misinterpreted. And amid the backlash from family, friends, and strangers, you just have to be, like, "Facebook is fucked up, not my problem." Mark Zuckerberg doesn't have that luxury.

Cell Phone Cameras and The End of the Fair Fight

Hamilton Nolan · 02/08/12 02:06PM

Here we see two young women grab each other and start fighting at yesterday's Giants victory parade. A large crowd gathers around them. What the crowd does: point their cell phone cameras and film the fight. What the crowd does not do: make any move to break up the fight. Cell phone cameras have given us a fine excuse to become a bunch of moral zombies.

Reporters: There Is Nothing Wrong With PR Firms Doing Research on You

Hamilton Nolan · 02/07/12 04:01PM

We take a backseat to no one when it comes to spewing forth venom at the public relations industry. But we feel compelled to stand up and make this point: PR people doing research on what reporters have written and making a file on that topic is not a scandal. It is the same thing that reporters do, okay?

Why Moms Are Breastfeeding In Facebook's Face

Ryan Tate · 02/07/12 03:45PM

Angry lactivists - that's the term, stop snickering - showed up in front of Facebook's offices in Austin to breasfeed their babies. They were part of a wave of such "nurse-ins," all designed to protest the social network's staggeringly dumb policies on breastfeeding photos.

The Koch Brothers Are Advertising Their Anti-Journalism Site on Pro-Journalism Sites

Hamilton Nolan · 02/07/12 02:05PM

Cartoon-villain Republican billionaires David and Charles Koch hate the (non-right wing) press, because the press tends to point out the various villainous activities of the Koch brothers. The Kochs waged an extensive campaign to discredit Jane Mayer's 2010 New Yorker story about them. Like many despised corporations, Koch Industries set up its own PR website, KochFacts.com, to try to counter the "dishonest reporting" of various news outlets.

Giants Fans Occupy Zuccotti Park, Demands Unclear

Adrian Chen · 02/07/12 10:50AM

Hundreds of New York Giants fans have occupied Manhattan's Zuccotti Park, to watch today's Super Bowl victory parade. The crowd of peaceful, if slightly-scruffy demonstrators have no unified message, outside of a vague sense of elation over their team's victory in the world's most hyper-capitalist sporting event. Many, we assume, are unemployed.

An Unnecessary New Cable News Network Could Be Coming Soon

Hamilton Nolan · 02/07/12 09:59AM

America currently has three major 24-hour cable news networks. The repugnant right wing propaganda one that's actually successful, and the one that's trying to be left wing propaganda that's less successful, and the one that used to be the "real news" one and is now pretty much down for whatever in order to avoid being the least successful.

NBC's Heavily Hyped Smash in 45 Seconds

Matt Toder · 02/07/12 12:36AM

NBC has been pushing Smash like crazy so everyone knows it's a show about a musical about Marilyn Monroe. Finally airing on TV tonight after being online for weeks, the show has big numbers and lots of talk about Marilyn and talent and being a star. Here's the pilot in 45 seconds.