Loose Slot Machines for Dummy Casino-goers

slot machine

Staffers here at the Antisocial Network aren't particularly big on casino gambling, mostly because with all these geeky types in the place, we're pretty well aware of the probabilities involved. Sure, there's card counting in blackjack and the difference between skill and luck in poker, but when it comes to slot machines? They're not even pure chance: those one-armed bandits are programmable, and you can be pretty certain that they're programmed in the house's favor. Except maybe "loose" slots... but when it comes to "How to Calculate a Loose Slot Machine,"¹ we don't think eHow.com's Melissa King (Melissa Howbert) is much help (now located at OurPastimes.com).

Shear Rate for Utter Dummies

Shear rate and viscosity

If we had to pick a college major whose graduates are responsible for some of the worst offenses against scientific literacy at content farms, it would be difficult choosing between communications / journalism and English. Only a few of these self-appointed "experts on everything" have the background to write about anything more complicated than a lever -- and eHow.com's Soren Bagley is definitely not one of them. The English Lit major proved our point with his uninformed answer for "How to Calculate Shear Rate,"¹ which Leaf Group has moved from eHow to Sciencing.com.

Latitude and Longitude for Dummy Grade-Schoolers

Latitude-longitude grid  

According to the old saying, half a loaf is better than none. We agree that, if you're hungry, half a loaf is indeed better than none – unless you're hungry for knowledge or information, because in that case half an answer just leaves you with more questions. At least we think so... which makes us wonder whether "veteran home-school educator" Kathryn Hatter would feel that her students were well-served with the half-answer she offered in her Sciencing.com post, "How to Understand Latitude and Longitude."

1099-MISC Forms for Freelancing Dummies

Form 1099-MISC

You'd think that someone who regularly raked in a pile of cash for freelance work would be somewhat familiar with the ins and outs of the IRS forms for self-employment income and, especially, the infamous IRS form 1099-MISC. After all, that's the official record of a freelancer's pay, as many of our staffers know. Given that eHowian Rebecca Mecomber claims to be a "professional blogger and writer," she should probably be more familiar with 1099s and "How to Print a 1099 Miscellaneous Form" than her post seems to suggest... (see the post at BizFluent.com)¹

Pavers for a Dummy Patio

Patio pavers aren't six inches thick

We find it amusing sometimes – well, a little amusing and a little infuriating, to be honest – when we find "advice" on how to carry out a simple DIY project that was written by someone who had never carried out that same project. To be honest, we can't be sure that Janet Beal had never built a patio out of pavers before she wrote "How to Level Out the Ground for Patio Pavers" for eHow.com (and Leaf Group moved it to Hunker.com), but if she did, she sure didn't follow her own directions...

Generating Electricity for Dummies

Faraday's law of induction

We all know the saying, "Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime" -- right? Well, around the Antisocial Network we're really big on teaching people to fish, at least in the metaphorical sense. That's why, if the topic "How to Convert Mechanical Energy Into Electric Energy"¹ were to come across our desk, we're pretty certain we'd have a discussion about magnetic fields, coils of wire, and induced currents. That is not, whoever, what eHow's Kurt Schanaman decided was the answer. No, Kurt handed this particular OQ a fish (and Leaf Group thinks that fish belongs at Sciencing.com)...

Cherry for Dummies

cherry wood

One of our founders worked at a custom cabinet factory in summers while in high school. It may have been more years ago than he'd like to admit, but he learned a lot about wood and the craft of cabinetry. As a result of a couple of large custom orders, he's probably seen more cherry wood than most people – especially people like Tonya Kirkpatrick, a freelancer who attempted to share some "Helpful Facts about Cherry Wood Lumber" for readers of HubPages.com.