He did take the return delivery (of the new pizza without slices missing) so that the new guy wouldn’t have to go back. So I feel like he should get some credit for that.

You’re correct, and yours is a very balanced and mature reaction…I just get a little weary of the whole “are you sure you’re not pregnant?” go-round, or the jump to pregnancy as a likely explanation for every unrelated malady.

Oh, if you’re a woman between the ages of 14-50, they’re VERY quick to attribute any health complaints to a possible pregnancy. Because of course, our bodies really only do that one main thing, unlike the more delicate instrument that is the male body.

Oh, that’s really, really depressing. That was such a good show. I hate that that happened to you.

Wilmington is so, so lovely.

Ha, that just reminded me of the time I got onto an elevator with Lourdes Leon. She was with a woman I didn’t recognize (seemed like an employee of some kind), and they were having a conversation in English, but as soon as I got on she switched over to French. I understand enough French to know that they were not…

I think the idea is that people are more inclined to give a pass to super-famous people who are dicks like this, because you can say “well, they get approached all the time, they’re probably just so weary of it.” But there’s no way Dan Hedaya has to endure constant throngs of intrusive fangirls.

His message wasn’t wrong, but Bob Marley had a particularly weird kind of melanoma that isn’t linked to UV exposure.

He’s trolling you about “the negative side affects [sic] of being obese” when the very fact of your swimsuit makes it clear that you’re engaging in healthy physical activity? Dude is mean and stupid.

Already planning theme menu for viewing party.

I’m not sure if “Unfortunately, that story has proven to be false” is the way to go here? It’s unfortunate that the school was embarrassed, and that their superintendent is an idiot, and that this is giving the school, and abstinence-only morons in general, more of an excuse to avoid comprehensive sex ed. But in…

It increases risk in the same way that any exposure to radiation increases cancer risk. Not HUGELY, but the risk is there. It’s a constant risk/benefit calculation with this stuff.

I’m not a big fan of Chabon overall, but the one thing I do appreciate is how gracefully he’s able to move among time periods in his narratives. Some writers can’t do that without lots of clunky exposition and big distracting tonal shifts with every switch. Chabon is pretty seamless in that way.

Oh, like there was this passage from Kavalier & Clay that I remembered because I pretty much think that no literary description of pubic hair ever works at all…I just looked it up:

All this may be true, but when reading Jonathan Franzen’s writing about sex, we should nonetheless take a moment to be grateful that it could be so much worse and we could be reading Michael Chabon’s writing about sex.

In the U.S., tips are payment for service. Accepting service and not paying a tip is essentially theft of service. This custom is entrenched enough that it exists as a tacit contract you accept when you step into a restaurant here—you understand that you will pay the restaurant one amount for the food, and a separate…

Also, I mean—Scotland?

Yes, according to this post, by all means you should put your sticky, food-encrusted dishes back in the cabinet as-is, because your hand-washing is not adequately sterilizing them. if your dishes are not clean enough to serve as a surface for open-heart surgery, then you’ve done nothing. Just put out a little “WELCOME…

I feel so smart!!

I rinse my hands with oil (or whole milk) after, on the theory that the fats bond with each other and all come sliding off together. Which may be bogus, but seems to work for me. Gloves work too, but then I always wind up having to ask my dinner guests “you’re not allergic to latex, are you?” and they’re all “uhhhh…”