Thanks for answering! I'll try not to kill myself now that I know I'll never be rid of them. And by global warming, I meant that the warmer weather seems to have assisted in their spread. Unless they are hardier than I believe them to be? I swear I've seen the Asian tiger mosquito in my apartment in the middle of…

Is the Asian tiger mosquito here to stay in the U.S.? I understand they are an invasive species, and I've heard the advice to get rid of any standing water to limit their breeding … but I've also read that they can breed in a very small amount of water. I don't know how we can ever be rid of this pest, especially with…

You'll have to create a venn diagram with the comments you've received. I'm seeing a lot of writers and scientists and an appreciation for beer.

That's too bad. Haven't heard anything about a leaked pilot, but I was rather looking forward to the show (not that I've gotten around to watching all the shows that have been recommended to me). I liked Keanu in the Constantine movie, but I get that Matt Ryan looks more (and acts?) like Constantine as he's depicted…

Hello, I'm an editor working in educational publishing in New York City. I've been reading the Gawker sites for several years now and appreciate the quality of the comments on these sites.

Ha, I ran a half marathon about 10 years ago. I like to joke that that accomplishment makes me feel like half a person .

Yup, I've been a neti pot convert since using one towards the end of a cold, and it washed all this mucus out of my sinuses. I feel like one reason it's not more well known is because it's cheap and effective—salt without additives + water (tap if I'm feeling lazy, boiled if I'm doing it safely)—and doesn't have the…

I bet he's also the kind of person who swears being a dad is the most fulfilling thing in the world and looks down on people who choose not to have children.

Yup, I grew up with this in the medicine cabinet. Had no idea other people had different earwax.

But … but … but it's so much fun to remove ear wax. It's like picking at a scab.

I like too that there seem to be people pushing the ball. Makes it more of a challenge, an our team vs. their team spirit. For that matter, maybe they should just evolve it to running dodgeball.

That's awesome. Incidentally, a lot of my dorky, outsider high school friends were involved in theater, which I never got into myself because I was too self-conscious for that sort of thing. But yeah, how would you even quantify the impact of a teacher like Mrs. R or some of the life-changing teachers that I've had?…

Mrs. R sounds fascinating. I wonder if she herself ever felt out of place in your community (assuming it was small and rural). I always get angry when I read stories about bullied students—can't teachers <i>tell</i> when a student doesn't fit in with others? Maybe such teachers identify more with the bullies. Anyway,…

Glad I'm not the only one who was deeply bothered by this, even though I wouldn't characterize it as a horror movie. I just can't deal with depictions of torture on screen or on the page.

Oh man, that scene still gives me the heebee jeebies.

I don't think I'll ever be able to come across that name without thinking of Tom Hanks tearfully screaming "Willllsonnnn!"

That's nice of you. I used to foster kittens for a local rescue, and I never named them. I'd just refer to them as "cat" while they stayed with me. I figured whoever adopted them could have the honor of naming them.

The rat rescue group from whom I adopted my rat names their animals by theme. The rat I adopted was named Jonagold; his brothers were Cortland, Braeburn, Fuji, Spartan, and they were the Apple of My Eye litter.

Thanks for sharing the link! That was really interesting and a much more thoughtful read than I've done of that section. I am sort of glad that in the show, she's seen as running to the stones almost out of desperation. When I read the scene in the book, I kind of thought she was an idiot for ending up in BJR's hands…

Huh. I remember reading about something similar in … I think one of the His Dark Materials books, by Philip Pullman. I thought that was interesting, that this thing we take for granted as obvious (circle/sphere) would not be so obvious if not for the laws of physics we're aware of.