If we're going to talk about how class enters into wedding gift giving, then let's make sure we do it properly: many people give gifts (even, gasp, off-registry gifts!) because actual gift-gifts can be found at a bargain, and they cannot afford to give a cash gift that they don't feel embarrassed by. A gift is a…

UNCANNY VALLEY! UNCANNY VALLEY!!

In most of Europe at least, it's so that the police (specifically, Interpol) can track exactly where and when a given person was at any given time. The penalties for not having an ID document for a guest are harsh enough that even sketchy motels abide by it.

if you’re buying a bag of cookies, how many cookies will you actually consume before the cookies go bad?

I think you are generally doing the right thing by responding with proportional gifts. I do the same with my siblings' significant others at first. If they stick around for a few years, the presents get nicer because I get to know them more. Now both of my sisters are married, so the presents are full-on family-style…

It sounds like you've got the right idea. Most people like wine!

Yup. This is annoying. I'm not sure I qualify as a geek but I describe myself as a nerd because I like numbers, love to geek out over peer-reviewed research, and I'm a huge dork for very nerdy things. Do I like comics or sci-fi? Not really. Would I go out of my way to play D&D? No. Would I do cosplay? No. Am…

It's funny because I actually don't consider myself a geek at all, but I have a lot in common with some of those women. I've always tried to dissociate myself from geekiness by getting really good at doing my makeup, reading fashion blogs, going to trendy bars, having a passing familiarity with the Kardashians. I…

for other women, for other people who feel like outsiders in their chosen fandom(s), for every kid who sat at home reading SFF when everybody else out went to a party and they felt so very lonely

I watched the whole thing and read all the signs, and some of them said things like "I don't like comics but I'm still a geek" "I've never been to a Con and I'm a geek" and things along those lines. To me, it looked like a pretty good representation of the different types of "geek girls" out there. The basic idea is…

You get right to the nasty catch-22-y heart of the problem, dontcha. I encounter this a lot as a female engineer. I guess my middle ground is to support anything that makes a girl feel more empowered, for herself, and participate only in stuff that ends up making me feel empowered. I don't believe (and I might be…

The video is about how we shouldn't have to prove our "worthiness" as a geek.

Kind of depends on what you are doing doesn't it. Just finished my masters and going onto a doctorate and the pay is well above the poverty line. When I am finished with the doctorate the starting salaries are in the silly money range. It's helped by masters only being one year here but still if you couldn't afford to…

Latest article on PETA. Note the "sanctimonious", the accusation of hypocrisy, and noting it's behind the curve on protecting the dignity of animal life.

One year at a conference these were handed out from a pro-life info booth. My sister and her friends collected them (kids between the ages of 12 and 15), then they found a spooning couple taking a nap in the grass outside the conference and made a ring of tiny fetuses around them. Then, she hid and watched as the guy…

You can find some awesome pleather jackets. I had one for years that everyone thought was leather... and it was inexpensive. If you're looking at a blazer, look for something collegial (the Gap has a couple of nice ones), or has something special about it... like a military influence (patch pockets on the front with a…

Very well said, thank you! I'm one of 3 daughters and my dad always told us that he wanted daughters and it showed. My dad was the dad that both did our hair AND taught us how to mow the lawn. He played barbies (although between the 3 of us we only had a total of like 4 barbies, we all preferred toys based on the lion…

Haha. Don't feel shame! You may not be the world's best feminist (and really, who is), but you clearly give a shit and we NEED people who give a shit. Your daughter needs and will continue to need people to give a shit. In sum, thanks for giving a shit! :-)

This is an interesting perspective, and one I had not considered before (hey-o, childless!). I still struggle with the idea, though, that women always seem to be treated as though we exist to play a supporting role in a dudes life, and not to be the star in our own lives, which I think plays into this entire dynamic.…

I have the same reactions when one of my guy friends says this to me. "I didn't really believe in feminism until I had a daughter!"