Vinegar and pH for Dummies

Acetic acid, found in vinegar

Another day, another scientifically illiterate liberal arts graduate... or, perhaps in this case, someone who just didn't quite get what the OQ was asking. Today, we'll visit Leaf Group's Hunker.com, where longtime eHowian Janet Beal will address the topic of "How to Adjust the pH of Water with Vinegar." What the reader ends up with is a half-baked answer that definitely doesn't rise to the level of "sciencing" (whatever that is...).

Unfortunately, in transferring the post from its original home at eHow, Leaf Group lopped off Beal's references, so we can't see where she came up with the moronic definition of pH within her introduction:

Trapezoids for Geometry Dummies

Ummm, Audrey? these are hexagons, not trapezoids...

In case you haven't noticed, we tend to be rather dismissive of the Demand Media Studios (DMS¹) family of websites... well, they're the Leaf Group family now, but six of one, half-dozen of the other. That's because they so often allowed innumerate and scientifically illiterate liberal arts types to write about math and science in articles fact-checked by other scientifically illiterate and innumerate liberal arts graduates. Sigh. Well, today we have another example: BA and MA English graduate Audrey Farley, attempting to explain "How to Find Angles in a Trapezoid" at Sciencing.com.

LDPE Plastic Explained for (and by) Dummies

LDPE structure vs HDPE structure

There's a logical fallacy known as "to beg the question." Contrary to popular usage, it doesn't mean "to raise the question"; instead it's a form of circular reasoning. Today's DotD doesn't exactly beg the question when she attempts to tell her readers "What Is LDPE Plastic?" for Sciencing.com, but it's pretty clear that Amanda Hermes didn't know enough about the topic to actually answer the question.

Charging Batteries for Dummies

charging a car battery

We often notice that our DotD candidates manage to get a few kernels of  accuracy in their posts, but whenever they stray more than a couple of "degrees" from their areas of expertise, they tend to botch the details. Such is the case of today's candidate, Cameron Holmes (like Madonna, Cher, and Rihanna; known only by her first name, at least to eHow.com). Observe her attempt to explain "How to Charge a Car Battery Indoors," which Leaf has moved to ItStillRuns.com.

Wells, Septic Systems, and Water Pressure for Dummies

well vs. septic system

At staff meetings the most common question (besides, "Who ate the last muffin?") goes something along the lines of "Would you let this person do the job he described?" Sure, no one would voluntarily let their plumber pull a tooth or ask their barber to lay a brick wall. Still, hundreds of "communications," journalism, and English lit graduates appointed themselves "freelancers" for Demand Media and pumped out utter bull about home repair for eHow.com, much of which is now at HomeSteady.com – utter bull like the post "Water Pressure in a Well & Septic System," cobbled together by Charles Pearson.

Curves and Angles for Dummies

Road curvature angle

We may have mentioned this before, but what the heck: you probably didn't read it. We're aware from both first-hand experience and observation that many a Demand Media Studios (DMS) writer would grab several "titles" that appeared related and then pound out variations on the same answer for them all. Since the people  supposedly fact-checking the articles (aka content editors) only checked for format, the result is something we call "compound ignorance" – and today's DotD is a prime example. Ryan Menezes dipped his pen into the algebra well (at least) three too many times, one of which is "How to Find the Angle of a Curve" at Sciencing.com.

Latitude and Longitude for Total Dummies

Latitude and Longitude in DMS vs. DD

Although we don't have a cartographer or a geographer on the Antisocial Network team, we do have staffers who've done extensive work with mapping software and all that entails. As a result, they've absorbed more than a little knowledge of map projections and their use. We suspect that experience is much more on point than the life experience of Alan Li, who posted "How to Read Longitude and Latitude" to eHow.com (which Leaf Group moved to Sciencing.com)¹.