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Raised on a steady diet of Technicolor musicals and library books, Cristen Conger always wanted to be a writer when she grew up. While working toward her journalism degree at the University of Georgia, she learned to avoid starry-eyed statements about childhood dreams and stick to hard facts. After graduating, Cristen decided she'd spent enough time chasing down REM band members in Athens and hitched up the road to Atlanta and HowStuffWorks.com. Childhood dream now fulfilled, she writes on a variety of topics each week and co-hosts the "Stuff Mom Never Told You" podcast with Molly Edmonds. Keep up with Cristen on Twitter and Facebook.
Most Recent: Cristen Conger Postings
Americans bought around 2 billion Christmas cards in 2010, according to the Greeting Card Association. Despite women making 85 percent of greeting card purchases these days, we send and receive Christmas and holiday cards thanks to a British fellow (kind of like how men invented high heels).
How the Kinsey Report Fueled Whiskey Sales
by Cristen Conger | December 20, 2011
While browsing through Brenda R. Weber’s study on the public discourse around Alfred Kinsey’s 1953 “Sexual Behavior in the Human Female” this caught my eye: “…newspaper coverage on Kinsey’s volume on women not only displayed but fostered several important discursive phenomena…ranging from augmented sales of Kinsey whiskey (no direct relation) to increased audiences for evangelical denunciations of Kinsey’s ‘morally dangerous’ report.”
A quick perusal of NYT “Weddings/Celebrations” reveals a certain similar cache among that envied in-crowd. For instance, Katie Baker over at Grantland noticed how boarding school alumni, people with Roman numerals attached to their names and Ralph Lauren employees…
7-Second Sex Stat Debunked
by Cristen Conger | November 29, 2011
Ever been suspicious of that old saying about men thinking about s-e-x every 7 seconds? There’s good reason to be because it’s complete bunk. First, if sex were to cross men’s minds roughly 12,342 times every 24 hours, they’d get very little done (especially if the stereotype of male as less adept multitaskers is true). [...]
A new study from the Maryland Mind Perception and Morality Lab uncovered some surprising similarities in the inferences we make about semi-nude females and males alike.
Last year, the Stuff Mom Never Told You Halloween episode discussed the ubiquitous and ridiculous “sexy” costumes, and we asked listeners to let us know what they donned for the Best Night of the Year. It’s getting down to the wire yet again to come up with a costume, so I culled a list of ideas from listeners and historical figures and female characters we’ve discussed on the podcast.
If Caroline and I hit up any Halloween happenings together, I might insist on us going as that mother-daughter duo mentioned below.
I often catch myself saying, “as we talked about in previous podcast…” — but what if listeners understandably don’t know which podcast episode to reference or how to go about hunting it down? From time to time, I’m going to start posting All-Star MomStuff playlists of five or six previously released episodes that happen to all focus around a broader topic to help break down the Stuff Mom Never Told You library into more digestible bits.
Bronies: For Men Who Love ‘My Little Ponies’
by Cristen Conger | September 19, 2011
I guess I was a little behind on my Internet memes when I received an email from MomStuff listeners Regina a couple weeks ago. She wrote in to tell Caroline and me about a group of fanboys collectively known as “bronies.”In a nutshell, bronies are male fans of the “My Little Ponies Friendship Is Magic” animated series.
Hormonal Birth Control Colors Women’s Memories, Study Finds
by Cristen Conger | September 14, 2011
A new study out from the University of California, Irvine found that hormonal contraception influences how women remember emotionally provocative events, compared to women who aren’t on birth control. Specifically, naturally cycling women may retain more details about an emotional event (i.e. the type of car involved in a fatal car accident, the accident setting, etc.), whereas women taking birth control pills may better recollect central information, or the “gist” of it.
Better Babies Contests: Eugenics Goes to the Fair
by Cristen Conger | September 8, 2011
In the 1920s baby parades evolved into Better Babies Contests, marketed as public health initiatives. At these contests, often held in rural fairgrounds, babies would be disrobed, measured, weighed and evaluated for temperament and intelligence. Winning babies might claim titles such as “Heaviest Boy Under 1 Year of Age.” If this sounds a lot like livestock competitions at homegrown fairs that’s because it was!
Recent Postings by Category
BrainStuff
- Thank You and Best Wishes to Marshall Brain
- Contest – Design a $300 house and win $25,000
- How the Philtrum works – the place under your nose where your face comes together
The Coolest Stuff on the Planet
- Traveling on the Orient Express
- Deep-fried Goodness at Carnival
- The Colors of the Running of the Bulls
Keep Asking
- Why can a 5 foot 8 inch man dunk a basketball on a 10 foot rim while some people of taller stature can’t?
- What happens to our sun once it runs out of fuel?
- How do we know the age of the universe?
Stuff Mom Never Told You
- Who invented the Christmas card?
- How the Kinsey Report Fueled Whiskey Sales
- How to Get Your Wedding Announcement into The New York Times
Stuff to Blow Your Mind
- Blow Your Mind: In the Lair of the Rat King
- Mandala: Memory Palace, Inception and Simulated Worlds
- Virgin Galactic: $200,000 Ticket to Ride
Stuff You Should Know
- The Southern Death Cult, the Maya and Georgia
- Deformed Baby Spider Brains
- Amazing Medical Conditions: Maple Syrup Urine Disorder
The Stuff of Genius
CarStuff
- Was Chrysler’s “It’s Halftime in America” Super Bowl commercial a little too political?
- Why is NASA studying car safety?
- Tips for in-car Navigation Systems
How-to Stuff
- How to Make the Most of a Gallery Crawl (When You’re on a Shoestring Budget)
- How to Swim with Dolphins (When Deep Water Terrifies You)
- How to Cure a Homemade Cookie Craving Without Turning on the Oven
PopStuff
- PopStuff Show Notes: Episode 40: Did movies ruin love?
- PopStuff Show Notes: Episode 39: Urban Legends
- PopStuff Show Notes: Episode 38: Defending Disney Princesses?
Stuff They Don't Want You To Know
Stuff to Change the World
- Who will own the Arctic?
- Obesity: The New Global Crisis
- Bill Gates Makes For A Pretty Decent Cartoon
Stuff You Missed in History Class
- Butch Cassidy: Should we read between the lines?
- Are we rooting for D.B. Cooper?
- Party Time: A Look at Unconventional Politics
