That clip of him was equally hilarious and fascinating. I’m going to try following Australian politics more. Politics over here just makes me hope for an alien invasion or some other quick end to our misery.

So are all Melbournites humorless curmudgeons?

I suppose she kept the Jehovah’s Witnesses away?

Australia. If it’s not spiders in the car, it’s crocodiles tearing people to pieces.

I know spiders are beneficial and most are harmless and even those that aren’t harmless don’t seek humans as prey. But that does not change the fact that these sneaky things with all their soft creepy legs (way too many legs) and hairy neckless bodies are lurking soundlessly in a dark crevice, for days at a time,…

That. I never watched the morning show so didn’t know about the creep rumors. What I disliked about him was his interview show - all those wealthy, pseudo-intellectual pretentious guests . No hard questions, just mutual admiration. The last show I saw even part of, he was flaunting an Apple watch the day it first…

They count on you freezing up. Be prepared. Rehearse it in your mind. Next time it happens, be ready with what you want to say. Don’t wait a second- there’s no acceptable time limit for being handled without permission by a stranger. “Take your hands off me!” Loudly and with a hard glare so that when people turn…

Ok so now you’ve given up on the idea that women earn enough from selling their hair to buy their own sewing machines and start their own business. A small glimmer of reality seeps in! But now your argument is that the hair is donated not sold.

Read the book “Entanglements” by Emma Tarlo or just the review below

I read what you said. Again, Jessimina was talking about human hair extensions as an unethical product. She was talking about Kim’s hair  because that was precisely the subject of the comment she was replying to. If you want to publish a thesis about ethical products and high fashion that includes analysis all…

People in the US donate their hair for use in products for cancer patients. Not to beauty product companies to sell at market prices to celebs. Surely you know this. So it’s a pretty cynical basis for accusing someone of racism. There’s enough real racism, without cheapening the accusation by trying to use it in…

The thing is, a woman in a village in India is unlikely to get any benefit from selling her hair as the husband controls the money. She’s not in college, and doesn’t have much hope of living a better life. The trade in human hair in impoverished parts of the world is deeply exploitative.

Why would Jessamina be talking about Rihanna or murdered silkworms if that wasn’t the subject she replied to? I can understand that it is uncomfortable to defend the use of products taken from impoverished Indian women (who often don’t even get to keep the money) but Jessimina has a right to call out this practice. …

Impoverished village women sell their hair - their only saleable asset and important aspect of beauty in Indian culture as well as ours - and often their husband/family take the money. You are choosing to ignore that reality to accuse someone of racism. Beauty standards in our culture are racist. But two wrongs…

“But her emails!”

People on the left have often defended the freedom of speech from groups they consider vile, starting (in my recollection) with neo Nazis wanting to march in Skokie. I don’t often hear the same from the right, some of whom have worked hard and successfully to get “radical left-wing” professors fired. You are…

“Pappy” is so repellent. Maybe because it sounds like a mashup of nappy and pap smear. Not to say it doesn’t work for Penn.

Check this out:https://toddshelton.com/blog/jeans/selvage-denim/amp

If you are not Black and you use the word, you are an idiot. Doesn’t matter if you claim to be from another country. The context you ask about is “intelligence test”.

I agree with not demonizing people. Poor whites in the rust belt are disadvantaged, but compared to a black person in their same community they are advantaged. Some of the advantages of being white carry through economic status - less likely to be assumed to be criminal, under-educated, etc. I don’t think it is wrong…