There's been plenty of warming. It's just some people are stupid enough to go 'well if the planet is warming, why is it snowing in this one place?'. It's supposed to give a more accurate idea of what's actually happening, that is warming overall, but more extreme weather events locally, with some places getting warmer…

So you agree with me that not considering gender allows for greater diversity than just sticking everyone into one of two categories then? Great!

Um, not sure why you think that technical details of colours can be compared to that level of detail with gender, but just so you know there is actually no technical point of separation between colours as each colour is only separated arbitrarily in language and actually differs between cultures. So there is no…

Common usage may have changed (only in the past few decades), but you were arguing that 'he' is not the default pronoun in English. It is.

Um, I think I've missed something. What do you mean?

I live in Australia, where we have universal healthcare, and it does work great! I've had appendicitis, my partner has had multiple lung collapses, we were both taken care of quickly and thoroughly with no upfront cost, as we had already paid with our taxes. It's not perfect, but our healthcare costs are lower than…

You do know that 'free' universal healthcare in the countries lucky enough to have it are paid for by taxes, right? It's excellent value for money, especially that comparatively the American taxpayer pays more in tax for healthcare and then has to pay out on top of that for insurance, copayments and upfront costs.

It's actually pretty easy to make, too. And way, way cheaper.

I liked the ending, but not the final 'confrontation' with the Red King. What a letdown.

It's a pretty heavy hint though, and combined with the same short story explicitly confirming that he is not human I would say it's pretty conclusive what Gaiman wanted us to take away from it.

You'd have to take that up with Neil Gaiman, as in the short story 'Monarch of the Glen' which is set after American Gods, Shadow is explicitly confirmed to be Baldur.

Pretty sure Shadow was supposed to be Baldur, not Thor. Plus there are a few hints that he is dark-skinned.

Men are actually capable of producing milk and breastfeeding. so I would guess it's a 'backup' in case something happens to the mother's milk supply.

Interestingly, deindividuation (the precursor to 'mob mentality') can have positive effects too. There was a study where they caused people to deindividuate while dressed in KKK costumes and the subjects predictably started acting more antisocially. But when people were deindividuated while wearing nurse uniforms they…

Ah that's right. I would personally put 'who' as the best answer though, so it was strange for it not to be there.

Well it guessed New Zealand, Australia and Wales for me, and I'm Australian so I guess it's pretty accurate.

Well it's Saturday afternoon here in Melbourne, so I'm studying for exams during the day but tonight I'm heading to the Astor Theatre for one of their Miyazaki double features - this one is The Wind Rises and Porco Rosso.

Wow, seriously?

Did you read the article?

The thing I am most sad about is the end of Meredith's recaps. Even in the midst of that awful boardroom authority season, we had the consolation that in a few hours we'd be laughing through the recap.