For fuck's sake, I do not GET transphobia. Why the hell should it matter to anyone whether Laverne Cox considers herself to be a man or a woman? Who is this Hill asshole to insist that no, she's actually a man? Arcane questions of natural law aside, why does he — I'm almost 100% certain it's a he — care? He's never…

Replying to myself to add: I found the monument! http://womenofscotland.org.uk/memorials/ston…

I don't think I can speak about sexual violence per se, but damn, the Scots were big on persecuting witches. My grandfather's family was from a tiny fishing village to the Northeast of Inverness, and I went there a few years ago to do some family history research. While walking through an adjacent town, I stumbled…

There is NO way the Queen changes George's diapers. Just - no. Surely that's the prerogative of every grandparent, never mind royalty.

I would just like to point out that the .gif of Michelle Rodriguez is from her first and my favorite of her movies, "Girlfight." It's not a brilliant movie, but she's great in it:

That Chris Martin gif, where the camera pulls away to reveal that he's lying on a dirty pool mattress? THE STUFF OF NIGHTMARES.

A bunch of my husband's fraternity brothers worked for the PTC after they graduated from college. Their job was to watch hours upon hours of recorded television and to note any instances of offensive content — nudity, curse words, alcohol and drug use, etc — so that the PTC could file complaints (and press releases,…

You do have to be vested for Family and Medical Leave in the U.S. FMLA-eligible employees must work for a covered employer (local, state, and federal agencies, including schools, plus private employers with 50 or more employees working for at least 20 workweeks per calendar year); have worked for that employer for at…

Inversely proportional? I know that if we have to travel halfway across the country to a wedding, we generally give a less expensive gift than if we had to travel across town.

I'm with Ariana Grande on the importance of grammar. The chorus to that Timbaland song — "I'm about to strip and I'm well equipped/Can you handle me the way I are?" — always makes me wince, both because of his penile braggadocio and because of that grating "I are." If your rhyme doesn't work without butchering the…

I have to ask — wasn't there a, erm, problem with the hot cheese and sauce?

Yup! And the financial element was definitely at work in Salem as well. Plus just petty human nature — it was an opportunity for a lot of people to vent their frustrations with their neighbors.

You're right, and the non-Terran community has my sincere apologies.

Right - Danvers is totally missing out on the opportunity to sell Danvers-branded Ouija boards!

I guess I don't mind the alien thing so much, because they weren't real people. Who died. Because their friends and neighbors accused them of being witches on the say-so of a bunch of teenage girls. I don't know why the Salem thing maddens me so much, but it DOES.

As a recovering American history major, Salem has always ground my gears — NONE OF THE PEOPLE WHO DIED DURING THE SALEM WITCH TRIALS WERE WITCHES. THEY DIED BECAUSE THEY REFUSED TO FALSELY CONFESS TO BEING WITCHES. And yet downtown Salem is now full of stores selling crystals and pointy hats and scrying mirrors,…

I know the woman who did the costumes, and she's awesome. Does it help to know that you supported her by seeing that movie?

I'm sorry - it sounds like you're dealing with a lot. Besides all the good recommendations of the people below, I would try avoiding Facebook for a while - I've realized that it presents a totally sanitized, picture-perfect version of most people's lives. I've actually taken people off my feed if they only post…

Kudos to Lands End. On a related note, I've been struggling to find baby boy clothes that don't all have footballs or cars or baseballs on them. Why does a newborn need to wear a "MVP" onesie? Or a onesie that looks like a business suit, complete with a tie? Can't a baby be a baby for 30 seconds before we start…

Ha, that's great. A friend just emailed me and suggested that I at least capture video of the kid's kicks when he's really active. In all seriousness, I think the best way to reduce teenage pregnancies would be to be brutally, brutally honest about how WEIRD it all is.