Yeah, I definitely wish police would get better about it in these kinds of public communications. It can be hard to switch gears when you’re in the habit of talking that way and I wouldn’t blame some random cop who was put on the spot for talking like that, but these are typically spokespeople for the department.

I can confirm that it’s definitely not just police who do it. I do search and rescue and we’re trained to talk and write that way as well. It really helps avoid confusion in situations that are often fairly chaotic and involve a lot of people.

Hey now, no scare quotes needed on “liberal” when referring to NM and abortion. It doesn’t have any real restrictions on abortion access that aren’t tied to a larger problem of healthcare access in the state (which is a huge problem but it’s because NM is poor as hell and relies heavily on religiously affiliated…

What always cracks me up about all that alpha/beta shit is that even wolves don’t actually act like that unless you force a bunch of unrelated adult wolves to live together in captivity (which were the conditions the studies that led to that behavioral model were performed in). In the wild, they typically live in more…

Thanks for mentioning this. I have several family members who are ministers in various denominations (apparently we like to preach but we can’t agree on the details haha), and none of them are remotely wealthy. Well, one is pretty well off, but that’s because he only does ministry part time at a small church and has a…

Yep. In my troop growing up, our parents weren’t even supposed to take the order forms to work with them like you see a lot now. We were supposed to handle each sale personally from start to finish because it’s about teaching business skills as much as it is about fundraising.

They still definitely do the door to door thing, at least where I live. I just bought some cookies from a Girl Scout who rang my doorbell on Friday. :)

It made me think of Beyonce’s Formation video, which I really like most of but those parts where she’s leaning way out of the window of the car as it’s spinning and her hair is all flowing down near the wheels just make me so nervous on a visceral level. Did we learn nothing from Isadora Duncan’s tragic fate?

I’ve known three US women who have gone to Mexico for abortions, and they’re earlier in the pregnancy (or later and desperate) and buy the drugs for medical abortions over the counter. Misoprostol (which is effective by itself like 90% of the time) is primarily labeled as a treatment for stomach ulcers. I’m not sure…

Same to you! <3

I used to keep a herd of milk goats and, while I don’t miss a lot of things (like the daily care in all weather, the constant little problems in need of treating, being tied to the farm around the milking schedule, etc. etc.), I *really* miss fresh goat milk. And they were just fun little things, although I can also…

HIV+ people can and have successfully received HIV- organs, but it used to be illegal to give *anyone* an organ from an HIV+ donor. So the big change here is simply that now, HIV+ donors can give organs to other HIV+ people.

Good for you. The raw milk fad drives me crazy because it is so dangerous. Sure, most of the time, it’s going to be fine. It was find most of the time in the past, too, which is why people continued to drink milk before pasteurization was developed. But when it goes bad, it goes so, so, so bad. And drinking raw milk…

I enjoy the taste of various animal milks I have tried, but if you’re buying it from the grocery store, 2% is the way to go. Whole milk just tastes like an awful mix of bland and fat and always tastes slightly off to me. Skim is too light. 2% is the best of both.

The Mirena IUD has really saved me. I had a lot of bad results from many forms of hormonal BC, and I also get that suicidal-level depression right before my period, even though I’m fine the rest of the time. Mirena has been a godsend. No period, which is convenient. But more importantly, no mood swings or depression,…

There’s a reason we follow Leave No Trace ethics now, and that’s because we have increasingly little natural wilderness left in the US, and increasing numbers of people are visiting it every year. Can you imagine if every dumbass couple who visited Sedona carved their initials into the rock? It’s not something like El…

In an area I used to hike frequently with some beautiful petroglyphs, some asshole rode through on a four-wheeler and shot them up with a paintball gun. Many could not be restored. Thousands of years of history ruined by some (probably) drunk asshole. Things like this make me so deeply sad.

Aw, thanks. I always get a bit self-conscious and like a crazy dog lady....but I am a crazy dog lady so here we are. It’s really nice to know that at least some people appreciate it. :) Especially someone like you, who I respect a lot.

I’ve seen a bunch do it but it’s mostly dogs that were always outside or are very young and never saw a mirror before. Puppies that grow up with them get accustomed to it and even those that don’t usually get used to it very quickly.

I have a one. Part of it is that I’m always hot, so when most people are okay with a full coat I’d rather just wear an insulated vest, but if I do just wear a vest, a lot of people ask how I’m not freezing. For some reason I don’t get so many questions with the coats (maybe because they are longer? IDK).