But... you are "disappointed" when people react negatively to idiotic, stupid, frivolous, and tactless comments... why?

On the one hand, I want to agree with this article one-hundred-percent. But on the other hand, well, there's the next step here — okay, you want to win the culture war. *How* are you going to win it? Perhaps taking Haidt's approach would help...

Ah, your valiant quest against the evils of political correctness and "pussification" really just completes the caricature... :P

Hey, I like "politically incorrect" jokes sometimes. But Mel Brooks, you ain't... Even if you meant it as a joke, it really just comes off as an unfunny, creepy comment that evaluates the sexuality of some woman you've never met, and who you only know of from this thoroughly not-sex-related video.

The feathers are touched by the spirit of bird-kind, which blesses the arrow as a fellow flying-thing. Hence, it flies further. Science, people.

I am now imagining a hard-sci-fi version of Star Wars that eschews silly, unrealistically human-like aliens, and actually has one of these guys playing the role of Yoda.

I think in the vacuum of outer space — that is, outside of the atmosphere entirely, rather than just in its upper reaches — there wouldn't be much to see when a nuclear explosion goes off. There would be no debris, no air to interact with it... I imagine there would be a bright, momentary flash of light, and then…

American liberals will kill 80 million people!

I think it's pretty clear this isn't purely rational decision-making here. Culture and tradition will probably continue to have a huge impact on the relative "worth" of girls in the eyes of potential parents, regardless of how the practical implications change. This setting aside the whole creepiness of "bidding for…

According to xkcd (alt-text), the Lost Colonists of Roanoke founded Roanoke.

I must say I prefer this version: http://spacecoyote.deviantart.com/gallery/#/dreq44

Vote: Zebra F-301. They're inexpensive, but they look fairly nice, feel solid, and are durable. They give a consistent, thin, precise line. They're pretty much the only pens I use now.

I don't think evolutionary psychologists like admitting that anything is social instead of innate, to any extent, ever.

I'm not really an art philosopher, though these are interesting questions. In your second example, I'd say that the photograph wouldn't really be "art", no matter how beautiful it could be — I think there is a difference between something being aesthetically pleasing, even extremely so, and it being "art," as such.…

Don't get it. That worked for you, but why does it have to be the One True Way to propose and plan a wedding for everyone? Also, what relevance does the gender of the person putting forth the answer have here? Mrs. Skibum looked forward to planning the wedding and thought of the proposal as "your moment"? Great! That…

Heh. I was just reading The Mote in God's Eye a few days ago (a classic novel of first contact with aliens) and somewhere near the end it's mentioned by one of the characters — as part of a fairly important plot point — that in human religions, demons would never be portrayed as armed with guns...

Firstly, why can't he wear his engagement ring? I don't know if there's some rule that says that men shouldn't wear such rings, but I think it's pretty clear this couple has already tossed such rules out the window, so... Secondly, yeah, it is a tradition. Why the 'scare quotes'? Is it something more than a tradition…

Also agreement. It's very depressing. I remember being much younger and hoping that I'll live to see these attitudes of pressuring people into rigid gender roles fade away. But yet here they are, still going strong, amongst readers of a blog dedicated to progress and the future, no less... Someday, people's attitudes…

I really don't understand the logic of this. It's one thing to treat following such old traditions as a personal preference. You, personally, wanna do it the old fashioned way? Good for you, that's your and your SO's choice. But speaking of these traditions in terms of what other people *SHOULD* be doing here just…

I never much cared for Scott Pilgrim, but I love stories about couples that do cute, romantic stuff while simultaneously throwing aside old-fashioned gender roles. It makes me sad that a significant number of commenters here on io9 seem to have a problem with that.