Porous Media for Dummies

Porosity vs permeability

We've noticed over the years that a lot of freelancers seem to think they know simple answers to complex questions but, in reality, know little more than whoever asked the question in the first place. We noticed that again today when we ran across an English major (albeit from Harvard) who seemed convinced that she knew how to answer the deceptively simple question "What Is a Porous Medium?" at WiseGEEK niche site AboutMechanics.com. We're here to tell you that E. A. (Elizabeth) Sanker didn't do a very good job.

Mortises for Dummies

A hinge mortise has no tenon

The adage would have it that "Half a loaf is better than none," but we aren't so sure. We especially aren't so sure when some freelancer attempts to define a term that five minutes ago had been unfamiliar; and even more so when said freelancer doesn't do a particularly good job. That's what's wrong today: freelancer Maggie Worth attempted to answer "What Is a Mortise?" for the WiseGEEK niche AboutMechanics.com, but only managed to compile half an answer.

Joists for the Dummy Builder

Joists vs. rafters

We often wonder where our DotD nominees come up with their topics. We know that at eHow.com, members selected from "titles" that had been scraped from internet searches; hard-core freelancers at sites like InfoBarrel and WritEdge have long used SEO apps to (supposedly) inform them of hot topics. As for WiseGEEK.com, we have no idea – all we know is that some of their writers' reach exceeds their grasp of their topics. Topics like "What is a Joist?" as attacked by B. Turner for the AboutMechanics.com niche site (with editing by W. Everett).