For what it's worth, as a woman who was good at math and science but opted to pursue a non-STEM career, I don't feel shamed at all. I've never seen any sort of value judgment placed on STEM or women who go into it vs. women who don't. It's just focused on how women who do want to go into those fields are subtly…

It's not mindblowing to me, but only because I lived in Oklahoma for a year. And that experience floored me. I'd of course seen some subtle dog-whistle-type racism growing up, but I was also used to it being roundly condemned by my awesome parents/family. But holy shit...three days into living in OK, I went to a party…

There are too many who laugh at stuff like this, and then even more who think it isn't a big deal or that black people shouldn't be offended by it. It's depressing.

Thanks for elaborating. :) Yeah, it definitely isn't allowed for SAR! That's all my experience with tracking dogs (well, and a little bit of Schutzhund), and we could never do that because it's too likely that you'd spend all day tracking the wrong person!

Hey, just move to Albuquerque. Not only would you not get arrested, you wouldn't even get fired! http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nat…

That's really interesting. Can I ask, how did they know who to track? I mean, I've seen tracking dogs who would find someone they knew without a scent article (I worked with one who did tracking generally, and would also track his owner's father who had Alzheimer's without a scent article, for example), but I've never…

I guess that letter just doesn't really seem threatening to me, is a big part of it. I definitely understand that stalkers will find their way around obstacles (and have been stalked in the past, so I really understand that probably better than a lot of people), but I just wouldn't be that worried in this particular…

They'd still need some kind of scent item to tell the dog which person he was supposed to be tracking. The letters might be a possibility, but odds are they've been handled enough that any scent on them would be too contaminated.

I don't know, I'd probably be a little creeped out but I don't think I'd be that scared. It didn't seem like he knew any personal information about her in the articles I read (which is why he described her so well that the police could track her down), and I feel pretty safe when I'm walking my dogs because I know…

Jesus's divinity was always central to Christian beliefs, so no, he was never considered simply a prophet (except perhaps by some heretical groups). He was just both God and human.

I know a lot of both documented and undocumented immigrants from Mexico, and I have not noticed the same resentment among most of them. Obviously there are some documented immigrants who are angry at undocumented ones, but they're pretty uncommon in my experience.

It has taken every ounce of willpower I have to not constantly be typing out, "That is not what Immaculate Conception means!" this morning.

I am. :) It's definitely a southwestern thing.

I guess I just don't understand how some people choosing to make public memorials has anything to do with your grief, or that of anyone who has lost a loved one. I don't think my grief is less valid than my aunt's, even though I would never consider making a memorial to my cousin had she not done it. And I've lost…

That is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. Whatever you're feelings on roadside memorials, it's the driver's responsibility to maintain control of the vehicle. The passenger could have said that about an oddly-painted house or a cool car parked in a driveway or a freaking deer by the side of the road.

In my part of the country, it is pretty normal to put up and maintain memorials at accident sites for months or even years. Not blocking right-of-way, nothing huge or overwhelming, but many families do it. My own family does it for a cousin who was killed by a drunk driver. I wouldn't set one up myself because I am a…

My grandmother's house had a basement like that when I was growing up. It had light switches, but it was separated into a bunch of different rooms and there was no master switch or anything, and it was all dim enough that if you turned off the light the room was pretty much dark. Our playroom was the farthest room…

It's not terribly old (was built in the 1940s IIRC), but it's definitely just a storage cellar. There were even a few mason jars with preserves on the shelves, and the equipment is all farming equipment. It just looks like the perfect place for a ghost story or slasher flick. ;)

I once thought I had a ghost. I was living in this old farmhouse where I knew someone had committed suicide years ago, but it wasn't creepy. And then we did some renovations and suddenly things went haywire. My kitchen cabinets would be open in the morning when I knew I had left them closed, things would be knocked…

Seriously. I mean, with my friend's basement it's obviously just an old farm cellar and I know what all the tools and chains and stuff were used for (more or less), but it is still stupidly creepy.