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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
Cheating No Longer the Top Reason for British Divorce
by Cristen Conger | September 1, 2011
Divorce lawyers at the firm Grant Thornton reported a new trend in couples severing nuptial ties: affairs aren’t the biggest factor pushing people apart. And, no, it’s not the economy, stupid, although tighter budgets might put a strain on the heartstrings.
A pair of communication studies researchers surveyed men and women on their courtship styles to understand why some women fall for “Pickup Artist” tactics that revolve around aggressive flirting that isolate them away from peers and often preys on possible insecurities.
When Caroline and I discussed women in freak shows recently on Stuff Mom Never Told You, we left out one of the most notable personalities: Lavinia Warren. We mentioned her husband, Tom Thumb, the little person made famous by PT Barnum, but we failed to discuss Lavinia and their marriage, which captivated the American public.
Do vegetarian and vegan diets affect menstrual cycles?
by Cristen Conger | August 10, 2011
A Stuff Mom Never Told You listener wrote in a couple weeks ago inquiring whether vegetarian and/or vegan diets can affect a woman’s periods. After doing some digging for studies and expert opinions, the simple answer is that there is no simple answer.
Research has been rolling out for years supporting the theory that tall folks make more money than their vertical underlings. And while researching men and height for an upcoming podcast, I stumbled across this bombshell of a statistic cited in Malcolm Gladwell’s Blink:
Men Use More Emoticons When Talking to Women
by Cristen Conger | August 5, 2011
A recent study of gendered language on Twitter got me thinking about emoticons. The analysis out of Scotland found that women’s tweets tend to be more emotive than men’s, riddled with “haha,” hehe, “omg” and “yay.” And — just to really cement the gender stereotypes here — “chocolate.”
In the Stuff Mom Never Told You episode on douching, Caroline and I discussed the advertising history of feminine hygiene products that revolved around scare tactics. In those early days, Lysol and Zonite pushed their wares as feminine hygiene products by convincing female consumers that if they didn’t douche, their husbands would lose sexual interest.
Cheaters More Likely to Rebound in Dating
by Cristen Conger | August 2, 2011
Ah, the rebound relationship. Many of us have become embroiled in them, despite their negative reputation as throwaway relationships we jump into in order to get over past partners. Maybe one reason rebounding has gotten such a bad rap has to do with the type of people who tend to hopscotch from relationship to relationship.
Although the golden age of rodeo lasted from 1919 to 1929, says the National Cowboy Museum, that cowgal style has stuck around both on and off the ranch since. popped in and out of fashion long after.
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
- Golden Fields of Canola
- The Park That Never Sleeps: Central Park
- Draw a Pretty Picture With Your Bike and Your Phone
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: Nebula in a Box
- Blow Your Mind: Three Minutes Till Impact
- Touching the Void: Psychedelics and Death
Stuff You Should Know
- Stuff You Should Know at SXSW
- The Southern Death Cult, the Maya and Georgia
- Deformed Baby Spider Brains
The Stuff of Genius
CarStuff
- Listener Mail: What’s the world’s largest engine?
- Listener Mail: What makes a “classic car” classic?
- Was Chrysler’s “It’s Halftime in America” Super Bowl commercial a little too political?
How-to Stuff
- How to Enjoy the Fruits of Your Labor
- How to Travel the World in 4 Days
- How to Smell Like Someone at HowStuffWorks
PopStuff
- PopStuff Show Notes: Episode 68: Astrology: What’s PopStuff’s Sign?
- PopStuff Show Notes: Episode 67: Collecting: PopStuff’s Cabinet of Curiosities
- PopStuff Show Notes: Episode 66: Tracy and Holly’s Running Playlists
Stuff They Don't Want You To Know
- Good News from the Oldest Mayan Calendar
- One Year Later: Colony Collapse Disorder
- Who Killed Martin Luther King, Jr.?
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
