When I was an exchange student in South America in the early 1980s, I was surprised (shocked, actually) that the local papers routinely ran front page photos of mangled dead bodies.

If you read the history of rebellions against ruling elites that have taken place since the mid-1800s, you'll see that there often occur false starts. OWS made the mistake of not having an end goal. If they would have said, "We're going to disrupt things for 2 weeks to draw attention to the disparities," they could…

Thanks. Hours and hours of therapy had removed that from my brain. [twitch, twitch....]

Sir, before the mugging, did you have your cash safely protected in a wallet, or was it just, you know, sitting there in your pocket, waiting for the first person to simply come along and take it? Was it possible that some of the money was even visible hanging out of your pocket, practically inviting the mugger to…

I found all the cutesy little 'in talk' between them nauseating.

No kidding. I think anyone over 30, if given the opportunity to spend a few hours talking with his or her 18 year old self, would end up wringing the younger self's neck like Homer and Bart Simpson.

You make some great points (including about the butt weasels). I'd like to know how you made it through "Lisey's Story." I was listening to it as an audiobook during my commute and nearly threw the CD out the window after the umpteenth 'strap it on.'

I keep a hurley (hurling stick) and sliotar (hurling ball). When I've got some time to kill, I can practice my skills, and I've got a nice defensive weapon if need be.

Probably just stuck with the job as copy editor for Gawker when he never heard back.

Came here to say that- unless she's titled nobility, for fuck's sake...

And Tonto is Spanish for 'silly' or 'foolish.' Maybe sidekicks just get shitty names.

Every time I read some person's comment on the internet about being afraid of going to Detroit, or needed to carry a gun to go there, etc. , I just laugh.

It's not as bad as certain media like to get mileage out of. I lived and worked in Detroit for years and years. Frankly, I find Los Angeles to be worse.

It may be in part because of the nature of slavery in the US. Most slavery before the Triange Trade was local, and in instances when it wasn't, like West Africans being enslaved and sent in Arab lands or Eastern Europeans being sent down the Volga to the slave markets of the Mediterranean, there wasn't such a glaring…

I think you pinpointed the reason the the series failed. I remember watching a few episodes and, yes, the writing and acting were top notch. It's just that I grew up in the suburbs of Detroit in the 1970s, so I have no nostalgia for 1950s Brooklyn.

My wife is from China. Last year, we were entering the doctor's office when a middle aged white woman with about six kids in tow was leaving. One was a lanky Asian girl about 8 years old. The woman stopped my wife and asked if she was Chinese. When my wife said that she was, the woman asked if she'd ask the girl…

I seem to remember reading that jet wash took out Gagarin's plane before, like at some point in the early 1990s. James Oberg maybe?

This reminds me of something I saw a few years ago. There was an accident on the freeway near Chicago and we got diverted onto neighborhood streets. It was summer- super hot and humid, rush hour and now I'm trying to snake through some lakeshore neighborhood to get back on the freeway when I pass this woman on a…

Which is why any person who actually drives on roads with other people and still tries to create a flying car is sort of crazy.