Tuesday, October 30, 2018

Tweet of the Day (Don't Stick to Sports Edition)

I like this tweet by Jeremy White, co-host host of a morning sports talk show on WGR 550 in the Buffalo market. Jeremy ventures into politics on his Twitter feed, and stiff arms criticism that people who work in the sports radio format should only talk about sports, and nothing else. Here, his peer group shows support for Nate McMurray, who is running for a seat in Congress against Chris Collins, who is under indictment for insider trading. Jeremy's group was tailgating before last night's game between the Buffalo Bills and New England Patriots. As I blogged about recently at Everyday Sociology Blog, the Bills tailgates may be famous for shenanigans, but there's much more to Bills fans than partying and breaking tables!

Tuesday, October 23, 2018

Song of the Day - "Cool" by Soccer Mommy

Heard this song for the first time today. It came on Sirius XMU this morning while I was dropping off my kid at school. Then I heard it on the station again in the afternoon.
On a different note, I was just reading a good article about Idaho and how voters have taken a liking to Paulette Jordan, who is running for governor. Very interested to see what happens. I just wanted to bookmark the article.

Tuesday, October 9, 2018

Correlation is Not Causation, Taylor Swift Edition

Correlation is not causation as they say. But damn. Sure looks like Taylor Swift has youngsters making moves.

Here's a quote from a Buzzfeed article: “We are up to 65,000 registrations in a single 24-hour period since T. Swift's post,” said Kamari Guthrie, director of communications for Vote.org."

The Gaudian's on it too, with this headline: Spike in voter registrations after Taylor Swift pro-Democrat Instagram post

First the post, then the increase in registrations. We got time order and association.

Scholars, holler if you can think of reasonable alternative explanations for the sudden change in registrations.

Or have you already concluded a cause and effect relationship is in place?

Time is happy to use the word "caused" in their headlineTaylor's First Political Endorsements Caused a Swift Spike in Voter Registrations

The New York Times credited Swift by saying she "had something to do with" the voter registration spike. The author of the article, Matthew Haag, wrote that Swift "appears to have contributed to a flurry of last-minute registrations".

Slate played it cautious, asking in their headline: Did Taylor Swift’s Instagram Post Really Cause “a Massive Spike In Voter Registration”?

Journalist Kimberly Atkins does not believe the Taylor Swift hype.
 Going to follow this story and listen to Taylor Swift much more than usual in the meantime.

Since you're here, did you read my post after Taylor got tenure?

Saturday, October 6, 2018

Many Things Are Terrible, But We Have This Cover of Highway to Hell

Earlier this week, spinning around town in my Hyundai, listening to Pearl Jam radio on Sirius for a minute, I learned that Bruce Springsteen teamed up with Eddie Vedder at a concert in Australia to cover Highway to Hell. Exhilarating for this middle-aged classic rock grunge sociologist. I'm stealing Vedder's poor dance moves the next time I'm at a wedding.

Wednesday, October 3, 2018

The Man Who Started His Day the Right Way

6:30 this morning, I was out walking the dog. In childhood I had a dog, and then 30 years passed, and now I have a dog again. I forgot what it's like to pick up dog shit. It's not something I like to do. A gloomy morning, but just as it looked as though the light was about to appear, a man hopped into his car with the radio blaring. It was Queen's "We Are the Champions." I sang some of the lyrics as the man did a three point turn and pulled out of the neighborhood.

As he disappeared I thought to myself, that's a man who started his day the right way.