If you want people to have nuanced discussions about privilege within society, blanket statements like 'gay men have it harder than women' isn't helpful, since there are plenty of women who have it worse than gay men, especially if those women are non-white and non-straight.

I know I'm stating the obvious here, but Brett Easton Ellis is fucking douchecanoe.

People who have been there? Maybe she has friends in Detroit. Or she just visited. Or maybe Detroit is the new Peoria.

The original comment you responded to (by me) wasn't weighing in on whether or not he was in on the hoax. Just that you don't have to be incredibly stupid to be taken in by one of these things — it happens enough to be notable, to people who would objectively be labeled smart.

Actually, a lot of people 'met' JT Leroy as well. That's well documented.

"If we believe Manti speaking to her on the phone, then there'd have to be a female accomplice. "

I can't vouch for Manti Te'o's intelligence, but lots, and lots of intelligent people have been taken in by scams like that. Armistead Maupin, for one.

I'm sort of confused by which part of the story is the idiocy? Because you have to be more specific.

She's not slamming Detroit. She's using it as an example of a non-Hollywood city. By Hollywood — which has incredibly skewed definitions of what 'average', 'fat', and 'thin' mean — standards, she's fat, but by normal, every day American standards ("Detroit") she's a regular, average bodied person.

I'm just gonna help push this towards the top of the responses by replying to you.

Trollpatrol:

Some libraries are experimenting with lending out ereaders with books preloaded on them, to be checked back in like a regular novel. I imagine this will become slighting more popular as the technology gets cheaper, but there's a similar kind of program for audio books preloaded on mp3 players and I don't think its…

Yeah, but how was the output? Because I know many MA students who'd like to have no memory of writing their thesis.

Its not flawed, because it doesn't give you the option of not returning it. You just end up keeping it for the full length of the borrowing period. And no renewals, not at least through the Overdrive check out system.

Why do they need 5000sf for an electronic library collection? I mean, I can get the basics — computer stations, maybe a circ desk/reference desk. A meeting room. So what are they doing with the rest of the space?

You know that. And I know that. Apparently it was lost on Jessica Porter.

I don't believe that Tina Fey was endorsing the term 'MILF' with a saucy wink when she wrote 'MILF Island'.

Thank you.

"As I understood it, with the old system, you could just avoid responding to trolls and so their comments would get buried by all the legitimate discussions. Discussions with the most responses would get bumped up to the top of the page... and I think people who had been hearted by more fellow commenters would also…

Well, that explains why it appeared on the countertop. Never fear, I'm not getting rid of it.