My wife and I (inexplicably) use a lot of military jargon from Generation Kill in our texts, e.g., RTB = Return to base; Godmother Actual = her; Hitman = me; Hitman Victor = my car; Godmother Victor = her car; Oscar Mike = on the move; ass = heavy traffic on the Interstate; sit-rep = What’s up.”

I started out as an English major in 1969 intending to go the full route through a PhD, with the hope of teaching at the college level. Three years into my undergraduate degree, I concluded that even among the professors whose classes I really enjoyed, most of them were there for the nookie (boys a/o girls). That…

History, like Truth and Fact, is a flying fuck at a rolling doughnut--it all depends on whose hand controls the hands at the keyboard, cf, public school textbooks in Texas.

It happens.

IKR? I get that a lawyer is bound to do all he or she can for his or her client, but this crosses an ethical line we can all see. I do not understand how the equivalent of the bar in Ireland can justify not sanctioning her for this defense.

The rapist’s lawyer is named Elizabeth O’Connell. Dox the witch.

Same here. I signed up when the service was first introduced, and all three credit scores were still frozen. I don’t remember what questions I had to answer, but I don’t remember them being especially difficult for someone else to find the answers to.

Children do stupid things because they don’t fully understand cause and effect.

Will forward to like minds.

Long shot, but are there any halfway interesting college towns nearby? Could you negotiate a deal with your husband to say, okay you get the perfect job, but as a concession, we live in [reasonably cool town] and you commute 30 minutes.

Life is not a contest to see how much you can do without.

Life is not a contest to see how much you can do without.

I’ve never had a celebrity sighting, but once when I was on a really bad blind date in Philadelphia, the cashier at a seafood restaurant on Spruce Street gasped when he looked up from the cash register drawer and saw me standing there waiting to pay. He laid his open hand just below his throat and said, “Oh my God, I…

I think it’s fair to call him a collaborator at this point.

Getting a CCW permit is so easy (I know; I took the course), I’m sure most people who have never touched a pistol could pass the live-fire qualification. The prospect of four or five of them opening fire in a closed space is terrifying

It’s sad how often “You can’t fix stupid” sums up any discussion of U.S. politics and elections.

Yep. With a semi-automatic firearm and 2 or 3 high-capacity magazines. in a large crowded room full of terrified people, a blind man could be an efficient killer.

My mom, who passed away in September at age 96, wore a Phillips Lifeline bracelet or necklace 24/7. She lived alone in her own condo (her choice) right up until December of last year. A few times in recent years she stumbled at home—twice when she was alone and twice when I was there. Each time, the Lifeline folks…

I think in a lot of cases, the reader/viewer’s having no foreknowledge of the event (rape, murder, suicide) is essential to the writer/film maker’s intent to show just how shocking and devastating out-of-the-blue violence can be for the victim and her/his loved ones. I have a problem with the idea that artists have a…

You read my mind.