Good heavens, folks. Being slim and fit isn't healthy "forever." We are all going to die. Life, even fit healthy long life, is fatal. And expensive.

True enough. I don't know how to do the math, but I've never seen anyone try it.

Somehow I never hear the calculation of how much 10, 20, 30 additional years of being alive will cost for those who don't die prematurely of obesity-related illnesses. That's a lot of check ups, flu, dental appointments, and geriatric care!

Aaaargh. Glad to hear she's okay. Been there, and it's horrible.

MY GOD, YOU'RE RIGHT. Combined with the Oxbridge Stutter, it's redeemable for a Nobel Prize.

See also "Valley Girl" talk ... which is as much Surfer Dude as anything else. The minute adolescent girls pick something up, it's suddenly the Most Annoying Thing and deadly to your credibility. One day, 16-yr-old girls are going to bust out with Shakespearean English and people will complain that they've ruined the…

I hear you, and yet the annoyance at this phenomenon annoys me.

It's not the choice of words or the rhythm of speech, but the "growliness" that results from discontinuous airflow. You might have it waking up, really tired, while whining, or when imitating a goat. You know, if you imitate goats ever.

Just thank you. I get smarter every time I read something you've written.

I can see looking around one's social circle and saying, hey now, this is just one kind of person here, and what am I not doing that would allow me to meet a broader range of excellent humans? If you're looking for a school to sent your kid to, you might look for one with a diverse student/teacher body. I can see…

Double win.

Putting the Bits in AlphaBits.

Hah! I haven't been watching the show, but that scene is beautiful. Like, use-in-class beautiful.

It's so important to use transparent containers.

I have thoroughly enjoyed this thread. That is all.

Strength and healing, lady.

I'm headed straight for the gin with a dog cuddle chaser.

Hands to yourself, exactly. Hate them if you like, I guess, but it's not as if they're using up some limited amount of geek so they're be none left for you. Furthermore, if they're buying product and paying registration, they're helping subsidize your geek.

I dig this Tumblr and the point it's making.

I'm in favor of much more education for everyone about English and Englishes. The high school-educated adult should know, for example, what code switching is and least a little about some of the other varieties of English, official and unofficial, prestige and stigmatized, written and spoken, that a person can run…