Yes, definitely. Thanks for sharing your experience. I hope your wedding did make you feel closer to your family. If I ever get married, I'm inclined to do something super simple with just my immediate family so there are no bad feelings among the other people in my life.

Is it true that couples feel compelled to invite people who had invited them to their own wedding? For some reason, that made me feel a little bit better about not being invited to the wedding of a person whom I thought I was closer to than that other person who was invited. It's not a big deal in the overall scheme…

So sorry about your mom. I fear the time when I will have to see my parents go through such suffering. Best wishes to your family.

Yeah, I'm only going by videos I've seen of more informed people scaring away bears (in places like Alaska where encounters with them are more common). I've never encountered one in the wild in real life so I'd probably react the way this person did.

I suppose this is different from allowing bears to associate humans with food? I would have thought people would be advised to actively scare bears away from their homes. But it being New Jersey, I'm not sure there's anywhere the bears can go. Do the bears ever prey on the deer?

Exactly! And if you don't respond the way they want you to, they get offended and scold you for being "rude." It has nothing to do with these men being nice and all to do with their trying to be dominant. And by their logic, that we should be gratified that we receive these compliments because we'll miss them when…

Hah, this sounds like me when I was playing Oblivion and Skyrim on the PS (didn't have to get up as early as 5:45 though).

I was reminded of Conan and Andy's staring contests. This video is from 1997 (!). Does Conan still do this on the latest incarnation of his show? Anyway, having a staring contest is not the same as a zoning out, but I'm certain if I tried to zone out competitively that I'd immediately see something that'd get my heart…

You're not "Kevin" in real life are you? I only know about the show because this guy Kevin, who used to do a movie podcast, once mentioned that Ray Wise's Satan was his favorite (during a discussion of the movie Constantine). I'd like to check the show out sometime.

I think your point too that "most of them are severely disturbed before they go on death row" is another indication of how capital punishment is flawed if not outright inhuman.

I hadn't even realized the video game was based on a series of books. (Haven't played the video game but noticed the ads because of the Witcher's striking appearance!)

This is on my to-read list! I hate starting a series that's not yet complete. I think The Caller is the final Shadowfell novel, if it's a trilogy?

Currently reading A Breath of Snow and Ashes in the Outlander series, though it'll be slow going (980 pages) and Maria Doria Russell's The Sparrow, a book I learned about through io9. I recently finished John Connolly's The Book of Lost Things, which was a sweet, short read.

I'm waiting for someone to post that History channel interviewee "Aliens" gif.

So true. It's awful that your MIL feels as if she has to stay in an abusive relationship for the sake of her children but also because she sees no reasonable options. Good for you that you're willing to offer a refuge.

I'd never encountered the term "competence porn" before. It would totally explain why I'm having trouble with certain characters in the middle books of Gabaldon's series. While Claire and Jamie make mistakes, they're both confident and assertive, unlike another couple who are introduced later. I'm sure that couple…

I was thinking ambrosia as well, from reading the d'Aulaires' book of Greek myths. If it was good enough for the gods …

Wow, I wish I could feel that invested in some of the comics I've read. I tend to grab my reading from the library, including graphic novels/collected comics, but I've never felt that attached to any of them (Fables, Sandman, Saga). I think there's just something about the format that doesn't draw me in as much as a…

<shudder> Those things freak me out.

I know about the heat thing from getting poison ivy. Water as hot as you can stand it can help stop the itch, as well as using a blow dryer on an itchy spot. Use caution obviously.