I agree. I think it's completely unethical of them to oversell space on planes, in cargo and in the cabin.

There is a chance your bags simply got bumped. The airlines don't tell you that this can happen if their cargo is full, because lots of stuff besides passenger bags can be down there. Flying is a nightmare, I hope everything gets to you soon and in one piece!

My furry idiot likes to chill on the stove top, particularly if it's still warm from being on earlier, or if the oven is on. It's like she wants me to cook her in a pie. I try to keep her off food-prep areas for obvious sanitation reasons but in practice I end up just cleaning the surfaces constantly.

My cat loves laying on the counter over the dishwasher because when it's drying, the steam warms the countertop. They only care about warmth.

My cat loves going places on her harness. She wasn't even a kitten when we started, she was well over 3 years old. I think some breeds are more relaxed about that sort of thing.

I made sweet potato pie instead of pumpkin this year and it was superior in every way. Fresh ingredients that weren't a pain in the ass to deal with, smoother and more velvety texture, prettier color, plays well with the same pie spices. I whipped the egg whites and folded them into the mixture and the result was…

Can we please just stop having graphic rape in our entertainment? There are ways of having it in a story without aestheticizing it.

No, I don't suppose it is possible to hurt the feelings of one so padded by ego that he believes he knows better than the entire humanities and social sciences fields, and the experiences of women who have actually had a speculum used on them.

Yeah there is no way they can top that version. LEONARDO DA VINCI IS HER FAIRY GODMOTHER YOU CANNOT TOP THAT.

Okay, well thanks for missing the point entirely. If you feel like there is no room in your brain for the concerns and methods of several humanities and social science disciplines, I really don't care about you enough to try reasoning with you.

Ha - very good point! You might really enjoy this essay by Jennifer Roberts called "Lucabrations on a Lava Lamp: technocracy, counterculture, and containment in the American sixties," in a book called American Artifacts. It is a much more eloquent example of this philosophy than my clumsy example here. It's…

I'm speaking very broadly, referring to Roland Barthes' Death of the Author. Basically, the idea that the author of something does not circumscribe its meaning or interpretation, that his biography or intentions are not the key to understanding the text. But terms like "author" or "text" can simply mean "the dude…

I feel like it's worth pointing out that, while a speculum is a medical tool with no inherent evil to it, used for a routine and necessary cancer screening procedure, in fact it is often quite traumatic for many women to have it used on them, despite having typically consented to the procedure. That the speculum was…

I would not call it historical spite, and I don't even think it's a matter of looking for alternatives in some cases. I think it's more about acknowledging that these devices, many of which are considered crucial to our technological or medical knowledge, were built on the backs of subjugated people. Such…

You know, I have a near flawless record in the "Sargent or Boldini" game, but I can almost never explain what the difference is even though I seem to know it when I see it. It's like a reflex more than a skill. Does anyone else have this problem? I'm an art historian so I feel like I should shame myself for not…

Oh, wah, social interaction has changed get off my lawn. Sorry, but, it happens.

No, personhood most certainly does not start before the baby is born.

It's pulled out of woman-hating. It's pulled out of wanting to punish women for having sex.

Peeta this is a little excessive, no?

I know a lot of Marvel fans are dismayed about Civil War and I share this concern simply because I am sick to fucking death of RDJ and Iron Man, who is I think the least interesting Avenger and now we are back to everything revolving around him. Yawn.