> ...What's the proportion of 500,000 Hustler readers who
> actually _read_ words on its pages, as opposed to just
> looking at pix and masturbating? Probably something
> like 1%, and only a small proportion of that 1% get to a
> particular article in the whole issue...
I kinda doubt that you ever hung out with lots of ill-educated young single construction-worker types who have copies of Hustler and Playboy and Penthouse lying on the coffee-table in their apartments. I have; you happen to be incorrect. Eight out of ten these guys read _each and every article_ in those magazines, with their pupils unnaturally dilated too. I'm talking about guys who have never once read a book, neither willingly nor under duress, in their entire adult lives.
Fact. I'm sitting there drinking beer, buzzing, and suddenly they start spouting off about the thermal efficiency of shale oil or the CIA's involvement in the dirty war in El Salvador or some such esoteric topic.
When I say, "You're kidding!" they reply, "No shit, it's right here..." (leafing through Hustler past dismal pictorials of faux-lesbians with rouge on their thingies) "...yeah here it is, read it yourself, man."
Yours WDK - WKiernan at ij.net