explainers
What Is Going on With the Accents in Game of Thrones?
Max Read · 05/06/13 11:31AMFalse Flags and Roof Terrorists: Your Guide to All the Internet Horseshit
Max Read · 04/16/13 12:35PMIt's already begun: The wacko conspiracy theories about the Boston Marathon bombings are taking over the internet. (In fact, "it" began only 30 minutes after the explosions, when conspiracy kingpin Alex Jones pre-emptively declared it a "False Flag" attack.) Here's our rundown of the most popular—which is to say the dumbest—conspiracy theories and general internet horseshit.
It's St. Paddy's Day, Not 'St. Patty's Day'
Caity Weaver · 03/15/13 04:40PMWhat Does a Pope Do?
Caity Weaver · 03/14/13 10:31AMWelcome to the U.S. Copyright Alert System, Where Companies Can Slow Your Internet If You Download Illegally
Caity Weaver · 02/26/13 11:30AMHope you downloaded enough episodes of Game of Thrones Sunday night to last you the rest of your life; starting this week, the five major internet service providers (AT&T, Cablevision, Comcast, Verizon and Time Warner Cable) have free rein to harass you with notices, block you from visiting certain websites, and even slow down your Internet speed if you are found (or suspected) to participate in illegal downloading.
Kate Upton and Ryan Gosling Explain the Sequester
Max Read · 02/22/13 03:11PMDid you know that the federal government is on track to enact massive, across-the-board spending cuts one week from today—cuts that that could affect important government services, cost hundreds of thousands of people their jobs and greatly slow the growth of the economy? No? You didn't? It's okay: it's an incredibly boring story. But don't worry! We're going to make it interesting, the only way we know how: by putting it in the mouths of attractive famous people. Here now: Ryan Gosling and Kate Upton explain the sequester.
Are You Eating Horse? Europe's Growing Horse Meat Scandal Explained
Max Read · 02/19/13 04:26PMNestlé, the largest food company on the planet, announced today that it's recalling some of the beef pasta meals it sells in Spain and Italy. The reason? The "beef" contains horse DNA. And Nestlé's not the only company. Nearly all of the U.K.'s biggest supermarkets and many of their suppliers have been forced to remove horse meat fraudulently labeled as beef from the shelves as more and more companies are implicated in the widening scandal. Where's the horse meat coming from? How is it getting into the beef? Has the United States' supply been compromised? We've got the answers.
Your Guide to the Trillion-Dollar Platinum Coin That Obama Can Mint to Save the World
Max Read · 01/07/13 01:30PMToday, New York Times columnist and Nobel prize winning economist Paul Krugman wrote that President Obama should be "absolutely" prepared to mint a one trillion dollar platinum coin and use it to pay the government's bills. It wasn't a typo: a lot of people are discussing the trillion-dollar coin as a way to avoid a fight over the debt ceiling. But what is it? And why? And whose face will be on it? Here's our guide.
Will You Fall Off The Fiscal Cliff, Wage Slave? Let's See How Far
Max Read · 01/02/13 03:30PMYour Guide to the Mayan Apocalypse, the Secret Planet Nibiru, and the End of the World, Which Is Happening Tomorrow
Max Read · 12/20/12 12:35PMThe world is ending! Thirty-three schools in Michigan are closing "in part because the Mayan calendar predicts the world will end on Friday." The New York Post is trying to help a model have sex. And yet for some reason, you're at work, instead of your bunker/place of worship/celestial energy node. But that's because you knew that Gawker would help explain to you why the world isn't ending tomorrow, and why everyone else thinks it is.
Kill the Head, Hope the Body Will Die: Mexican Navy Arrests Leader of the Drug War's Most Violent Cartel
Miguel A. Rodríguez · 11/14/12 01:00PMOne might hope that the death of Heriberto Lazcano, or "El Lazca," together with the recent capture of Said Omar Juárez ("El Peluso"), a man close to Miguel Ángel Treviño Morales ("Z-40"), could point to the nearing end of the violent drug cartel Los Zetas. It could, but in reality, it is a far-fetched, unrealistic conclusion.
What Is Sexy: A Victoria's Secret Guide
Caity Weaver · 11/09/12 06:33PMThe Making and the Murder of a Mexican Cartel Kingpin
Miguel A. Rodríguez · 10/11/12 12:00PMEverything You Need to Know About R.A. Dickey, the Man Who Throws Baseball's Best and Strangest Pitch
Jack Dickey · 09/28/12 04:45PMR.A. Dickey, a starting pitcher for the New York Mets, earned his 20th win of the season two nights ago. Now everyone is talking about him, and you are standing off to the side smiling and nodding like an idiot because you thought the Met was a museum. You're a nerd, it's fine, but we wanted to help you out: Here, Deadspin's Jack Dickey (no relation, just obsession) breaks down the wonder that is R.A. Dickey's 2012 season.
The Non Sports Fan's Guide to the NFL's Replacement Referee Fiasco and Green Bay's Stolen Game
Max Read · 09/25/12 02:45PMLast night, a bad call by the NFL's replacement referees cost the Green Bay Packers a win, and everyone's talking about it. Everyone except for you, hiding in your office, unable to understand 50 percent of the words in the previous sentence, faking a coughing fit every time one of your coworkers passes by. Well, non sports fan, we're here to save you. This is everything you need to know about the NFL's replacement referee fiasco and last night's crazy Green Bay-Seattle game — tailored for people who've never watched a minute of professional football.
Your Guide to the Week of Kate Middleton's Boobs and the French Magazine that Published Them
Max Read · 09/20/12 02:30PMLast Friday, French gossip magazine Closer published a series of photographs of Kate Middleton sunbathing topless. Yesterday morning, police in Paris raided the publication's offices of Closer magazine, searching the building and inspecting the staff's computers in an attempt to find the name of the photographer. And today, the photos were printed, for the fourth and fifth time, respectively, in Sweden and Denmark.
A Guide to Chicago's Ongoing Teachers' Strike
John Cook · 09/12/12 03:41PMThat back-to-school chill is in the air, except in Chicago, where 26,000 public school teachers and support staff are on strike and more than 350,000 students are just fucking off all day instead of learning. Even though Chicago is a dull provincial city of little national import, everybody is talking about the strike because Rahm Emanuel is mayor and Obama used to live there. What's the story?
Daily Show Correspondents Explain Modern Campaigning to the Average American Idiot
Kate Bennert · 09/10/12 02:10PMIt's that time again. Convention season is over and our intrepid presidential candidates have taken to the road in a last-ditch, balls-out attempt to woo the American public in a ritual known only as "campaigning." But what exactly is this "campaigning"? And how does it work?