A guy I work with has a degree in meteorology, but is always careful not to use "meteorologist" as his official title, as that legally requires a certain certification that can only (or mostly? I'm just going off what he told me) be obtained by working for Environment Canada, so while he is a meteorologist by…

Just War is something that has long been associated with Catholic theology, specifically Thomas Aquinas (although I seem to recall that it has its roots in Roman philosophy), but I do not believe it is actually a doctrine of the church. I think it has been referred to by catholic ministers in various countries…

...joins Florence Nightingale and Elizabeth Fry as the third non-royal to appear on British currency. She's replacing Charles Darwin...

“Why the fuck is Canada so lazy?”

You've gotta think that ESPN wants Silver to develop proprietary analytics for them right? Between Silver's history with PECOTA and ESPN's attempt a year or two ago with Total QBR, I think the obvious assumption is that the WWL is recognizing that most viewers want to see the stats, but also want to display them in a…

Both the Leafs and the Habs are huge draws in Florida, so that's a part of it. Travel-wise the distance for Florida and Tampa to get to the Northeast is not significantly different whether you're going to Pittsburgh and New Jersey or Toronto and Ottawa. Also by doing this the Metropolitan division keeps historical…

There's so much hate for Clarke in this thread. I mean, no, I don't think she's the best actress on the show either, but that's setting the bar really really high. Her character is also one of the weakest-written, and while she may not have transcended the material she does not bring her scenes down. I think people…

I'm not sure It's a lot of running, but it's a lot of exercise, the first thing to go when I get busy is always the lifting. It works for me, but the broader point is that mixing it up is what I've found to be key. It's not just about running 10k a day or about doing hill sprints every other day it's about trying to…

Or, you know, mix it up. These days I'm playing ultimate frisbee one or two days a week which I count as cardio days, so I try and do a least one more long jog (10k +) and maybe another shorter one (6-8k) on a light day. Mix that in with one or two days of intervals (hills, stairs, or tabata sprints) and a few days of…

Music festivals aside, I have twice in the last few years paid upwards of 50 bucks for a show, Foo Fighters and Black Keys. And countless times (most recently a week and a half ago for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs) I have paid $30-50. And although I complained about overpriced tickets about it at the time, in context it's not…

Blasphemy. Seasons 4 & 5 were way better than season 3, not just because of Vince (and the other new characters that nailed it, notably Jess and Luke) but also because of the lack of ridiculous murder plotlines and less screentime for the annoying new quarterback kid.

Very true. That's probably giving Hollywood a bit too much credit to be able to pull that off without making it seem cheap or exploitative, but if done right it could easily be a powerful story. My point was more towards the discussion of "why not make Peter Parker gay?".

Peter's relationships with Mary Jane and Gwen are pretty essential to how his character evolved.

It's funny (as in sad funny), because can you imagine a major studio making such an adamantly pro-choice movie these days? There's talk of remaking dirty dancing, I wonder if they're gonna sweep perhaps the most important plot point under the rug...

I'd have to closely examine their study to be sure of it, and there's no way I'm paying that much attention to something put out by the PTC, but I'm skeptical of their claims. Not that I think TV does a good job portraying teenaged female characters, since I just did a quick brainstorm and failed to come up with any…

Best joke I've seen on this so far:

To be fair (actually let's not be fair to racist assholes who appropriate the culture of others, but for the sake of an informed discussion at least) depending on the history and politics of a given group, there may indeed be many chiefs running around. For example, some First Nations distinguish between "hereditary"…

Agreed. White House Down may have been a bro-fest about two bros bro-ing out, but it was not as actively anti-feminist as Despicable Me 2, which manages to hit all the retrograde cliches of mainstream film: Introducing female character solely so she can be a love interest for the protagonist? Check. Taking that love…

I believe the opposite. While what Spitzer did was illegal, the only person he really betrayed was his wife, anything else that happened was between consenting adults. What Weiner did was sexual harassment, which in my mind is clearly worse. Spitzer's moral failing affect his marriage, Weiner's actions actively…

It's a common misconception that all football and basketball programs are cash cows for the schools. Sure they bring in sponsorship and donor dollars, but they also cost a ton to run (take a look at coaching salaries just to start, let alone travel and facilities costs). Only a handful of schools (mostly the big-time…