After having my extremely well trained, well behaved dog for 12 years, a firework unexpectedly went off near us while out on a walk and she slipped her collar and took off. She’d never done that before, I didn’t think she *could* do that. I was left holding the leash, collar, and tags.

I’m pretty sure if Beto thought that physically tackling climate change would get him the poll numbers, he’d be all over it.

I’ve got a terminally ill dog and while her life is pretty freakin’ good right now it’s not that good!  Maybe I should be doing better!

I know it’s way more likely to be attacked by someone you know, but one time two guys grabbed me in front of my apartment building and tried to shove me into a car (they were strangers). It was the single most terrifying moment of my life. I’ve also been a victim of date rape, and that also sucked [an understatement] b…

So USC, which has been plagued by scandals, has hired someone from the outside with a record of cleaning up scandals and standing up to administration.  I’m unclear as to why this is a bad, rather than brilliant, move.

It’s not “what dogs do,” it’s “what abused and/or neglected dogs do.”

Wasn’t she fired because she had the rest of the statue removed, while the rest of the administration wanted to build it a new home?

I just switched to LA Fitness this year, and I’ve been so amazed by the women in the locker room. There seems to be this multi-generational group (I’d guess mid-20s to 60s), white and POC, that are on the same AM gym schedule, and the times I’ve been there I’ve heard them talking about a) the best non-profits…

I do highly recommend lying about your job in those situations!  In my experience, most variations on “[something something] consultant” and they’ll end that conversation as soon as politely possible.

I’m a scientist, not a PR person.  And no, it’s not my job to be on call to explain climate change to strangers 24/7.  And climate change isn’t the issue I work on, so doubly so.

As soon as I started reading this, I was thinking “Please let this little kid tell people it was a knife fight!” and I was not disappointed.  

I always lie about my profession to strangers. I’m actually a scientific advisor to policy makers in an extremely politically charged environmental issue, so EVERYONE has an opinion about my work and I generally don’t want to get it into it (especially with people I’m never going to see again, like on a plane). I like…

Nope, that one night was such an exception to my normal behavior! It was wildly successful but I’m pretty sure it was a one-off and could never be replicated. I never really lacked for dates (I’ve been married for years now so it’s all past tense) but making the first move was never my style.

The semester I went for study abroad, I ended up living in a house with three Swedish models. Every cliche ensues-they are bitchy, they routinely backstab each other, they’re slobs, none of them are very bright. I am not very attractive and I am very academic-nerdy, and the whole semester unrolls like a terrible…

Something similar happened to me as a kid. Almost 30 years later and my closets don’t have doors and I don’t leave the shower curtain all the way closed when I’m not showering.

I’m pretty sure the Madame Tussaud’s wax version of these two will look more life-like than the real thing. 

Also a statistician here, clicked through to say the same thing. Professional question: are you also always pointing out false correlations and poor sample sizes to normal people?

Glorifying spanking a child... not so good.  But the rest of the trailer looked awesome!  I’m torn.

My NYE resolution 2 years ago was to learn Spanish (sometimes resolutions stick!  I’m reasonably fluent now).  I just learned this one recently- when you roll your eyes in Spanish, you literally put your eyes in the white, or put on your white eyes.  I rolled my eyes = puse los ojos en blanco.  I’m not sure why I get…

For anyone who is interested in the value of building these types of organizations and connections before disasters- and why that’s so valuable- I highly recommend the book “The Resilience Dividend: Being Strong In A World Where Things Go Wrong” by Judith Rodin. Strengthening and empowering our communities from the…