One of my best friends presents as a total dude-bro and massive flirt/manwhore, but he's also unabashedly bi, identifies as a feminist, complains about poorly-written female characters in movies and on TV, loves good food, and cries at Pixar movies. Yet he finds Tucker Max mildly amusing and wears Axe deodorant. …

University of Kansas, actually. So maybe you're that third person he mentioned? :)

Did I know you in undergrad? Because I've only met one Japanese-Iranian person, and he always joked that he only knew two others...one of whom was his brother. :D

Well, there were plenty of Mexican, Chinese, and Japanese immigrants who came over during the 19th century, shortly before my own non-English ancestors immigrated here themselves (see the attached wikipedia links—not that hard to find, really). And really, there were Mexicans and Latinos living in parts of the U.S.…

The problem, though, is that typically whites are over-represented in positions of power. In a lot of sectors, the percentage of whites holding positions of authority is disproportionate compared to the percentage of whites in America. In places like the Middle East, where there is a division between Sunnis and…

I don't think I ever went through a Princess stage, but if my parents had put it to me that way, I would have been all over that shit. I was something of a tiny megalomaniac in my tender youth.

If it makes you feel better, I had the chance to meet Justice Ginsburg in 2008, and she talked about having a young daughter while she was in law school. I got the impression that she and her husband shared a lot of the burdens re: family, but I know that he was sick for awhile after their first child was born. She…

No, we aren't disagreeing—just chiming in with my two cents. My advisor is firmly in the "neuroscience is a complete boondoggle" camp. He's not completely unjustified, given that in our field (Linguistics) there've been some pretty questionable neuro papers. In any case, I spend a lot of time defending those…

There's a paper with Robert Zatorre as one of the authors, which basically shows that depending on which stats analysis you use, MRI (not even fMRI, just MRI) can yield big differences ("Sexual dimorphism in the corpus callosum: methodological considerations in MRI morphometry"). They used three different methods of…

This is the nature of most of my friends' (I use the term loosely) rants about Obama—liberals be moochin'. It's irritating to me, because 1) my socialist parents (not exaggerating—Dad subscribes to the Monthly Review) are the biggest workaholics I know; 2) I have at least one relative who is on disability, who would…

I haven't watched Elementary yet, only Sherlock (I know, I know...I'll probably get around to it, but TV's not much of a priority for me right now). I think the problem with Watson and Sherlock's relationship in all of the different canons (insofar as it's a problem at all) is that they've got a platonic friendship…

I had the privilege of meeting Justice Ginsberg a few years ago. She's got a mind like a steel trap, and shared a great story about a case of staircase wit ("No, Mr. Justice, tokens won't do" in response to Justice Rehnquist's remark, "You won’t settle for putting Susan B. Anthony on the new dollar?”). But, having…

Currently on the opposite coast, but the earthquakes this weekend have been a reminder to pick up stuff like water, canned goods, and a wireless radio to tuck in with my first aid kit. Emergency liquor didn't even occur to me, ha.

I went through something similar my first year in grad school—moved from the midwest to the Pacific Northwest. Even though I *was* able to take a week to go home for my grandmother's funeral (two and a half weeks into the term, I'm not even kidding), it was still hard to come back to school and grieve afterwards. …

What part of that is confusing? The litmus test for when it's okay to approach someone is pretty straightforward, I think:

It was a bit of a non-sequitur.

Particularly since it's not like it's impossible to keep hairy areas clean. Shower daily with soap and you're probably fine. But for some reason the very *idea* of hair is unseemly.

It sounds like you lucked out this time, but not everyone would interpret it the same way. I know that I tend to only give a guy my number or make plans with him if he's greeted me and chatted with me about our work, interests, etc. for awhile, and the chemistry seems right. If you like, I have some advice, which is…

I've never had someone come up to me if I'm working in a coffee shop. Instead, guys will sometimes stop me on the sidewalk, tell me I'm cute, and then try to have a conversation with me. On the one hand, I have a convenient escape route, because I'm usually on my way somewhere. On the other hand, I'm on my way…

Someone once asked my dad if he'd found Jesus. In response, he acted shocked and bewildered and said, "Oh no! I had no idea he was lost!" Apparently acting like you're crazy also helps scare people off, a trick I keep in mind when I'm walking home late at night.