It doesn't matter, in the child welfare context, whether a mom is doing the best she can. If she's not meeting her kids' basic survival needs, the kids deserve a safe home regardless of her best efforts. Some people doing the best they can still can't meet their kids basic needs for daily care because they are very…

Maybe I'm not understanding your comment, but if a parent can't protect a child from abuse, why does it matter why the parent can't protect the kid from abuse? The point of the child welfare system is to protect kids, not to decide how blameworthy parents are. Children deserve safe homes, even if the parent's…

The question is a perfect Michael Scott question.

While interesting, this point seems irrelevant to the problem at hand. Yes, a few cc's of air pumped to high pressure would probably get hot. But the majority of the air in the ball won't get hot. Adding a few cc's of highly-compressed, high-temperature air won't raise the mean temperature in the ball substantially.

Wouldn't any scenario where the seas rise dramatically involve vastly warmer worldwide weather? In which case, why would there be ice in Chicago? I don't understand how "more ice" and "higher sea levels" are two compatible concepts.

Well, you wouldn't feel much pain for a bit after consuming, certainly.

For me, the issue is much simpler. While I generally believe that music is for everybody, "Strange Fruit" is on a short list of songs that I don't think white people need to cover. Some songs are so deeply personal or unique in tone and content that they defy performance by the people that they are not about. "Me and…

Probably the earlier meaning comes from the original English term "knacker" meaning someone who renders animal remains (for glue and other purposes). The "tired" meaning of "knackered" likely comes from a comparison to aged, tired horses whose next stop is the knacker.

By the same token, let's please serve pureed soups in moderation. It is still okay to have basically identifiable ingredients in soup.

There were some funny, first-night growing pains. Maybe most painful was the introductions, where the camera for each panelist went on just as each panelist turned squarely around to acknowledge applause from the audience. The first thing we saw of the panelists was the backs of their heads.

This seems like a great idea for any hygiene items that people are buying at Costco or similar wholesale stores; sometimes the packages give you too much for a single person to use. Maybe buy the large size of things you use and set aside one or two packaged units for your local shelter?

Man invents new way to be a dick to someone, ends up unhappy. EVERYBODY FEEL BAD FOR HIM.

and 500,000 women said in unison, "if I get pregnant and decide to have an abortion, I'm never telling the guy and this is why."

Clearly, you have no idea how many domestic violence cases are dismissed when someone fails to show up to testify, in plenty of families where nobody has enough money to bribe anyone.

Yes, the most likely explanation is that "girls" don't want to handle the most coveted position in film, one so universally desired that "what I really want to do is direct" is a Hollywood punchline. We should also explore whether the reason women make less than men is because they don't like money.

Ignoring all the issues around Gone Girl (the movie and the book), I find it extremely bothersome that whether she's going to write a book depends on whether people agree to star in the movie based on the as-yet unwritten book. I'm perfectly happy for people who've written books to turn them into movies afterwards.…

I didn't say that. But being clueless afterwards is not necessarily the same thing as nonconsent.

The problem is not that copyrights and patents exist. Copyrights and patents are excellent devices to encourage the creation of ideas, concepts, and devices that benefit everyone. If copyrights and patents were protected in a way that generally gave people a sufficient incentive for creating useful ideas, concepts,…

I hope to god someone responds with a well-photoshopped "Face/Off" poster.

I think a mix of things affected the price and its desirability. A hundred years ago, live lobster was basically unavailable anywhere not within 100 miles of the New England coast. Once refrigerators and jets became common, it was easier to ship them all over; then you could put whole, fresh lobster on the menu at a…