My cat really does play fetch. But only with pipe-cleaners. And only with pipe-cleaners which have been played with no more than 10 times, or a fresh pipe-cleaner must be provided. I mean, the cat wasn't going to make it easy for me, right?

Yeah, I expected something much more weird. This was pretty run-of-the-mill evangelical Christian rhetoric. I guess if you aren't raised around those people and/or aren't religious, you don't hear this stuff, but rest assured that many many Americans are hearing the same stuff in sermons every Sunday. I'm not saying…

Well, I'm not positive, but I don't think this is quite right. In pre-Victorian times (i.e. early-modern/colonial times), a woman would have a dowry (I'm talking here specifically about America and western Europe). She would receive a variety of goods (household goods, sometimes expensive-ish jewerly) upon marrying…

Even if he thinks of himself as a creative writer/author/whatever, he chose to publish this particular story on a site intended for true stories. He fully intended for people to think this was a real account of real rapes. In which case, I'm not sure we can make the judgement that he's a rapist-waiting-to-happen, but…

This, yes! Why, Tennessee, why? Wine doesn't belong in liquor stores!

Ugh, why can't grocery stores in my state sell wine? I would absolutely drag my ass to Target right now to take advantage of that sale in a similar manner. Curse you, conservative liquor laws.

Er, really? I'm glad I didn't read that about NASA, because it's pretty infuriating. :(

I get that some names and modes of dress are truly ambiguous (although I do have to point out that Hilary was a historically male name, whereas I'm not aware of Laura having a similar history). Asking when unsure is an excellent strategy. Electing to call someone with an ambiguous presentation 'it' or 'thing,'…

The bathroom thing gets brought up in almost every article about trans women. Can you elaborate on why this makes you uncomfortable? Would you be uncomfortable with a trans man being in the men's room with you? As a woman, I could care less if a trans woman is in the same bathroom as me for three reasons: (1) Women's…

You don't think the comedian knew her name? If someone's name is Laura, I'm going to go with the pronoun "her" unless I'm told otherwise.

I think it's a little more complicated than that. The statement she made was, in the most straightforward sense, pro-choice. But she supports legislation that is fundamentally anti-choice. I'm not sure she realizes that, but when you require clinics to be ambulatory surgical centers, you shut down the majority of…

Yep. The same argument was trotted out when women ski jumpers sued to be included in the Olympics—err, sports'll hurt their ovaries!

It really depends on what particular scary stuff you don't like. I find ghosts and demons terrifying (you can't see them, what the fuck, no!!), so only a few bits of season 2 were really scary to me. I would say that, overall, it's less scary-horror than disturbing-horror (and season 1 was straight-up camp, rather…

Nah, I think some people just have bugs up their asses today. It's the equinox, y'all; chill out and have a good equinox!

I agree and don't blame her for just cuddling a cute animal without giving it a second thought. I think, however, there's a slow shift going on in regards to wild animals, and not just endangered species. For example, people are starting to realize that places like Sea World are pretty barbaric. I can remember going…

Eh, I'm not going to pass judgement on her because (1) sometimes people aren't in a position to walk out on a job and I don't know what her particular situation at that time was, and (2) that shit is endemic in Hollywood, especially among 'high-brow' directors like Kubrick. Hitchcock is another notable example of a…

I'm surprised at how much push-back you've gotten because I don't think there's anything shocking about what you've said. I'm totally there with you. A fetus is a fetus until it's born and becomes a person. I have friends that have miscarried and I felt really terrible for them, but the fetus was a non-entity. I think…

Aw man, I'm bummed to hear that. I was planning on marathoning it (it's gotten pretty okay reviews on i09), but this thread is making me rethink that.

You can blame Kubrick for terrorizing her so thoroughly that she began to lose clumps of hair from the stress. Kubrick's treatment of his actresses really doesn't do much to discount King's argument, does it?

You almost just blew my mind with that aside about Narcissistic Personality being removed from the DSM 5! I looked and apparently they've majorly revamped the criteria for all the personality disorders (and the concept in general), but haven't deleted NPD. I don't even begin to understand what they've done in the…