I just rewatched this last week and it is still one of my top 5 favorite movies. So tell me this — is it just me, or is it really strongly implied that Keith David is also a Thing at the end?

I never read the book, but I heard that Eli turns Oskar into a vampire right after the train arrives at wherever it was headed.

The scene where Sutherland falls asleep outdoors and almost gets "replaced" was what really did it for me. It surprised me that 70's pre-CG special effects could be that visceral.

Ooh yes, this. Supposedly that actress wasn't informed about the twist ending, so her scream is pretty genuine.

My Taiwanese/Japanese friend informs me that certain signs of your cat transforming into a bakeneko are 1) eating human food, 2) walking around on its hind legs, and 3) talking like a human. As our cat does all of the above we're pretty convinced it's a demon too.

This is so neat; reminds me of the experimental suspended animation they're supposed to be testing in Pittsburgh for gunshot victims (which I first read about here). I really hope we see success with these kinds of therapies.

I feel you on undescribable symptoms. My friend has these intermittent episodes where she gets tunnel vision for no apparent reason, but we haven't been able to find any word in medical literature identifying this as a condition. At best it sounds like a symptom of a silent migrane, one without an accompanying…

I had also heard that about the Japanese word 'aoi' (usually I see it translated as 'blue-green'). I also find it interesting that Japanese color words which were added later have an obvious etymology: the word for grey translates to "mouse-colored", brown is "coffee-colored", etc.

In all seriousness, is there any reason to believe Neanderthals would have even possessed the concept of plates? We might not retain archaeological evidence if they were organic plates (leaves, wood, etc) but I thought the concept of a plate was much more recent than this.

All I can think is that these must be really effective warnings for people who can't read.

I can't speak for everyone, but I was raised Christian Scientist and we were absolutely all vaccinated.

You probably remember Jesus healing the centurion's son, right? The Greek text is ambiguous as to whether it was the centurion's child or just a very important servant, and the term used was also a common euphemism for a male concubine. So yeah, there's reason to believe Jesus wouldn't have judged homosexuals the way…

That's how it was with my family, too. Dad's a Christian Scientist and Mom isn't, but even though we went to a CS church every Sunday we also went to the doctor/hospital if we had any medical issues. And we were all thoroughly vaccinated too.

I remember when my science teacher brought red, green and orange fiestaware into class one day. She passed a geiger counter over the red and green dishes and it clicked a bit, but the counter went nuts over the orange plates. Crazy stuff.

Whoa. I once went through airport security with a live ammunition round in my bag (just forgot it was in there) and all I got was a scolding from a bored TSA agent. But then again I do live in Texas.

I once met a girl who was wearing what she described as a 'driving scarf' (a scarf in one continuous loop; I've also seen them called 'infinity scarves'), but I don't think she knew why it was called that. I told her the story about Isadora Duncan, of course.

Not to mention, unlike radium, people have known white lead is toxic since Roman times. It wasn't news to the Elizabethans.

Uh, I live in America and I just trimmed my hair with a razor/comb from the local beauty supply store. We do have these.

No, I completely agree with you on that. Being social creatures our survival largely depended on the group's survival as a whole, and when we perceive that group members are sick/suffering it empathically diminishes our own happiness. I don't think we'd find greatest-happiness-for-greatest-number to be something…

Seems like the human desire for "justice" might stem from superior ability for abstract thinking compared to other species. We can conceive of things being better than they are right now — more happiness for a greater number of people — without breaking any laws of physics. Being able to visualize it (and finding it…