Worldwide Poll: Do you read books often?

Yes: 50.1%
Not so much: 49.9%
Men: 45.1% 54.9%
Women: 59.1% 40.9%
Prediction Accuracy: 47.9%

This is another one of those non-Yes/No polls where the wording on the "No" is important. I honestly think that was a very important part of making this poll have such close results.

Closest Call as of 3/7/08.

National Poll: I'd prefer to live in a house that has a... Swimming pool or Large backyard.

Swimming pool: 54.3%
Large backyard: 45.7%
Men: 53.1% 46.9%
Women: 56.6% 43.4%
Prediction Accuracy: 73.8%

National Poll: Which leads you to more personal success? Who you know or What you know?

Who you know: 42.1%
What you know: 57.9%
Men: 41.8% 58.2%
Women: 42.8% 57.2%
Prediction Accuracy: 51.8%

National Poll: Have you traveled further than 100 miles to attend a sporting event?

Yes: 40.4%
Never: 59.6%
Men: 42.3% 57.7%
Women: 36.7% 63.3%
Prediction Accuracy: 49.1%

This is the first time I've ever seen a Yes/No question go Yes/Never. I wonder what that is trying to say for the person who wrote this. The statewide results for this are not surprising. The "Yes" states are pretty much all of the plain states where you have to travel pretty far to get to a big city. Can't think of too many major sports teams around those areas.

National Poll: If you could fast-forward time, would you?

Yes: 46.2%
No: 53.8%
Men: 49.0% 51.0%
Women: 40.6% 59.4%
Prediction Accuracy: 38.5%

Interesting how 71.7% of people are OK with turning back time, but only 46.2% of people are OK with turning it forward. That must be because Back to the Future I & III were better movies than Back to the Future II.

PS-Happy 100th posting!

National Poll: When I come home I take off my shoes:

Yes: 81.8%
No: 18.2%
Men: 80.5% 19.5%
Women: 84.4% 15.6%
Prediction Accuracy: 82.4%

National Poll: Do you sing along to the car radio?

Yes: 69.6%
No: 30.4%
Men: 63.2% 36.8%
Women: 81.9% 18.1%
Prediction Accuracy: 77.3%

Worldwide Poll: If I received a gift of money, I would... Spend it or Save it?

Spend it: 50.2%
Save it: 49.8%
Men: 51.4% 48.6%
Women: 47.9% 52.1%
Prediction Accuracy: 62.0%

This poll held the title for Closest Call from 2/18/08-3/7/08.

National Poll: When you want snack food, which do you select more often? Sweet or Salty?

Sweet: 60.2%
Salty: 39.8%
Men: 58.4% 41.6%
Women: 63.8% 36.2%
Prediction Accuracy: 67.8%

National Poll: Do you recycle?

Yes: 69.0%
No: 31.0%
Men: 68.3% 31.7%
Women: 70.4% 29.6%
Prediction Accuracy: 68.9%

These numbers were much better than I expected them to be. I'm curious about the recycling programs in the green states (if there are any, that is). In my state, it's pretty tough. My major complaint is that there is no glass recycling anywhere nearby. Lots of paper, a little bit of plastic, and no glass. Also, do you have to pay for your recycling bins like we do? I heard that in California it's mandatory to recycle, so my assumption would be that the state pays for all of it as well. I'm curious to hear what your recycling programs are like! Let me know!

National Poll: Do you wear white clothes after Labor Day?

Yes: 48.7%
No: 51.3%
Men: 46.3% 53.7%
Women: 53.5% 46.5%
Prediction Accuracy: 49.8%

Is this seriously that big of a deal? No one really knows why they do this beyond possible fashion memes. The idea that this came from the south is also struck down pretty well by these results (or gamers in the South just don't care about fashion as much).

National Poll: If you accidentally spill salt, do you throw a pinch over your shoulder? Of course or Never?

Of course: 24.5%
Never: 75.5%
Men: 23.3% 76.7%
Women: 27.0% 73.0%
Prediction Accuracy: 72.6%

National Poll: Do you still watch movies on VHS?

Yes: 35.9%
No: 64.1%
Men: 33.7% 66.3%
Women: 40.4% 59.6%
Prediction Accuracy: 76.3%

National Poll: Which food do you order more often for home delivery? Pizza or Chinese?

Pizza: 84.2%
Chinese: 15.8%
Men: 84.7% 15.3%
Women: 83.2% 16.8%
Prediction Accuracy: 88.7%

Worldwide Poll: Which would you prefer to watch, baseball or soccer?

Baseball: 45.7%
Soccer: 54.3%
Men: 45.9% 54.1%
Women: 45.3% 54.7%
Prediction Accuracy: 64.5%

Didn't think that many US people liked Soccer.

National Poll: Which do you own more of? MP3s or CDs?

MP3s: 49.4%
CDs: 50.6%
Men: 52.3% 47.7%
Women: 43.6% 56.4%
Prediction Accuracy: 33.0%

I must admit that this particular poll is interesting to me for two reasons: 1) The evenness of the results (sure CDs won it, but we're talking within 1% here) and 2) The fact that most people thought that MP3s would have won the poll, myself included. The difference between genders I honestly attribute to pirating. I'm inclined to think that men will steal music more than women would (especially amongst a college crowd) and I don't think that this particular statistical breakdown shows the digital music spending habits of Wii console owners as much as it confirms how we tend to describe the average P2P users.

Revisiting point #1, while MP3s haven't completely overtaken CDs in this poll, this definitely confirms the fears that the RIAA hold that they're losing CD sales and explains why they're desperately trying to stop people from ripping CDs that they own.

On an personal note, I still prefer to purchase CDs over MP3s. I prefer to have a physical copy that I can re-rip without problems if for some reason my computer crashes (it's happened once to two different computers I own over the course of the last 3-4 years). Having a physical backup that doesn't count towards a time I can burn it (like with a lot of DRM'd MP3s) is reassuring. Additionally, I like to buy my CDs used from Amazon or Half.com. I can usually pick up really good albums from popular artists for $5-7 that are in near mint condition if I am patient enough to wait a year or so to get them. I don't mind doing this and it accomplishes varied different goals for me (the remainder of which I won't go through now).

The idea that music will, in the future, be all digital is kind of scary to me at the moment. The current situation of digital music isn't quite where I want it to be. On the bright side, DRM seems to be disappearing. Music labels seem to be giving up on that point. On the downside, it gets really complex (and sometimes downright impossible) to get replacement MP3s if for some reason I don't have a backup somewhere when I need it. I've read the iTunes horror stories and am glad that I've only ever downloaded their free music downloads instead of investing in albums with them. AmazonMP3 only allows one download ever, so they're not that much better of a prospect. Until this changes (which, knowing the RIAA, probably won't), I'm still going to look into CD purchases.

Any comments on this particular poll (or the state of digital music in general)?

National Poll: Do you sleep on your side or your back?

Side: 74.9%
Back: 25.1%
Men: 72.6% 27.4%
Women: 79.7% 20.3%
Prediction Accuracy: 71.3%

National Poll: If you could turn back time, would you?

Yes: 71.7%
No: 28.3%
Men: 74.0% 26.0%
Women: 66.9% 33.1%
Prediction Accuracy: 84.2%

You know, despite everything I've learned from Doc Brown, I probably wouldn't be able to help myself. It wouldn't be to change things I regret, but rather just to see if it actually worked. Imagine someone tells you, "Hey, you're able to turn back time!" Pretty hard to believe without a testrun. The downside is there's no guarantee that you can go forward again after you've turned back. That would probably be enough to keep me from abusing it too much.