My friend has a basement that we call the "serial killer's basement" because it's at the bottom of these super steep stairs and only has one bulb to light it (and you have to walk down into the dark basement with a flashlight and pull a string to turn it on, there is no switch!) and is all dirt and crumbling cement…

Honestly, and I say this as a person actively involved with dog rescue, I think the rescue comes off looking pretty badly there all on their own. From what I understand, they have a blanket rule of not adopting small dogs out to families with children under 14 (which makes no sense to me), and that's why they took the…

I have a 28 oz water bottle I carry around with me all day, and I go through about 4-5 of those a day, which some quick math says works out to the equivalent of 14 glasses of water (if I only drink 4 bottles). But, I live in a desert and have an active job that involves both physical activity and talking, so that…

I see it more as highlighting the absurdity of using the Bible as a basis for government. Of course he isn't going to throw the stone at her; that would be assault because our government does not use Biblical punishments and most of them are downright illegal, and I doubt the vast majority of even fundamentalists…

Right on. :) Sorry for assuming you didn't know, those are just kind of a pet peeve of mine because I hate that they rip a lot of people off, and I've also seen way too many people justify bad behavior as, "That's just how he is because he is part [insert rare breed here that he pretty much certainly isn't], so he…

How was that determined, out of curiosity? If it was DNA testing, don't trust it. Those are fun as novelty gags, but they're completely unreliable. I know someone who tested her 3 purebred GSDs and got 3 different mixes of breeds (only one of them actually had GSD in it, according to the DNA test).

Shiba Inus are a primitive breed, which means they can be independent to a fault. She kind of referenced it in her mention of cats...they mostly do what they want, regardless of how their owners feel about it. They also have exercise and training requirements that the average pet owner probably cannot meet, so that…

I think it's driven by paranoia and mental illness as a whole, but there are a lot of non-mentally ill people who buy into it as well. I think a big part is just that humans are really prone to ascribing meaning to random coincidences. If they're pretty gullible on top of that, then it's easy to buy into conspiracy…

I suspect it is a reference to some creepy guys who have a fetish for sniffing places women have been sitting. My run-in with one was a creeper who would sniff the seats of exercise bikes at the gym after an attractive woman was working out on them, and then I posted a thread about it on another forum and learned that…

This doesn't go into it very much, but it might interest you: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/… It's more about their lives after they left, but there are some references to their life in the cult as well.

If it helps, from the evidence I have seen there is not really that strong a prejudice in favor of mothers in custody cases. I am sorry, I am on my phone and can't get the link, but analysis has shown that fathers who actually fight for primary custody get it in about 70% of cases. Mothers do wind up with primary…

In most states it is gross income, but as others have said it takes into account your expenses, the amount of time you have custody of your kids, and anything you're already paying for your kids (like insurance, school fees, etc.). In my state, another thing is that if you're self-employed, you don't have to pay state…

FWIW, I'm not angered or offended at all. I wasn't joking...I never considered your perspective on it, and I am going to be thinking about it. I appreciated your insight in this conversation.

I can definitely appreciate your perspective, although I would argue that it isn't just about Soon-Yi. It's apparent (at least from the Vanity Fair article) that most of the kids did think of him as a father. Here's a quote from Fletcher Previn, one of Mia's kids: “To my siblings and me, you thought of [Allen] as…

I think we're just not going to see eye-to-eye on this one. ;) The more in-depth articles I have seen do go into the legal aspects of his relationship...but this is a Dirt Bag item on Jezebel, and calling Soon-Yi his stepdaughter seems like acceptable shorthand to me.

I guess to me it just doesn't seem like a denial of the truth or sensationalizing anything. The fact that he was not legally Soon-Yi's stepfather has absolutely zero bearing on the situation in my opinion—he still had that role in her life and that is what matters in a situation like this. It's not like his legal…

That seems like splitting hairs to me. He wasn't legally their father, but he filled that role in their lives for, what, 12 years? early in their lives. Calling him their father/stepfather seems to accurately describe the situation enough for a short blog post. This isn't hard-hitting journalism here, it's the most…

Seriously. Honestly, Tara is my favorite character because yeah, she's a bit whiny, BUT LOOK AT ALL THE SHIT SHE HAS BEEN THROUGH. When you actually look at her history and character, she's fucking amazing. She's definitely better than fucking Bill, who is far whinier and also brings all his shit on himself.

Yep, that's exactly why they tried to force that ban in Albuquerque, along with the state's (and city, by extension) large Catholic population. They thought it was going to be a pretty easy victory and fortunately were very wrong.

Tiller's clinic has been reopened, and there is also a clinic in Albuquerque, NM (Southwest Women's Options) that provides late-term abortions (up to 24 weeks IIRC; the University of NM Hospital also provides them up to 28 weeks but I think they restrict the circumstances more).