I struggle with this. I lived in Florence for a while, and I still can't find a way to talk about it without sounding like an elitist jerk.

No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No.

Stop it! Stop doing this to my childhood, you jerks!

These examples never cease to entertain. Oh, football, please never change.

I had all male friends as a kid, I don't think that protects you. One of them molested me, repeatedly, around the age of 13. I didn't know what it was at the time, but I remember one particular instance when I felt so violated that I decided enough was enough. I was embarrassed and ashamed, and only told my mother…

Really? I always thought the center was made with lard. Is it vegetable lard? The chocolate cookie part doesn't surprise me, it's so hard and dry I really doubt there is any butter or milk products in there. But I always thought the center was sugared animal fat.

I was thinking the same thing. All this proves is that rats like Oreos better than rice cakes. Who doesn't? Would we make the same comparison if the rats were consistently picking apples over carrots? TONIGHT AT EIGHT: APPLES AS ADDICTIVE AS COCAINE? SCIENCE SAYS YES.

Hi there, I'm going to jump in as a woman who was also not super pumped about pregnancy and recently went through pregnancy and childbirth. Here comes the really long post train! Just one caveat, this is based entirely on my own, pretty normal experience with pregnancy. Other people might say different things, but I…

There's probably something to this. There's nothing wrong with having children later in life and there are definitely benefits to it, but an aging body is not one of them. It's really too bad that our physical peak for having children is at age 18, which financially and emotionally is just about the worst time to have…

Hm, you make some interesting points about Steampunk and fantasy. I've long wished there were more mainstream writers of fantasy who are also people of color. Even in books I enjoy like George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series, I can see the problematic treatment of non-Anglo-like people (i.e. the Dothraki,…

Seriously. Fuck this. I get so damned outraged at people for falling for it and not considering the people who are already working a shitty wage slave job, and even more so at stores for being so unethical as to attempt it anyway.

They're both pretty big deals. I would go home for both. Friends who lived too far away to go home for both would usually come to Thanksgiving with someone who did live close by, or get together in groups to celebrate.

I'm not so tired of the messages as the sensationalist depiction of either, which isn't doing anyone any favors except to reaffirm what either party already feels. Telling horror stories of rare conditions like torn muscles scares people and makes pregnancy seem like some unholy, unnatural state that we aren't built…

What? How could you even think such a thing. That's impossible!

Having been through pregnancy and childbirth, I'm kind of sick of both attitudes. "Oh noooo, my pristine body, so grosssss" and "Pregnancy is wonderful and beautiful and totally amazing you guys YOU SHOULD LOVE IT" are both getting on my nerves.

I totally agree that I wish Winston were a little better developed. He's the funniest character on the show but never really gets his own storyline, especially not a touchy-feely one. His breakup with his last girlfriend went from poignant to joke in about 30 seconds and is now an ongoing joke involving a cat. It's…

Oh for sure. I wasn't making a knee-jerk defensive response, just bemoaning that my daughter just does not respond to cry it out methods yet. But she's young yet. Still, we've found a way around it to make sure she has a consistent bedtime even if she needs to be rocked to sleep. She goes to bed at 7:00, the latest,…

I think you said it right there — it depends on your typical schedule. I get home by 5:00, the latest, so there is time to cook and clean and do the bedtime routine. My job is flexible enough to have earlier hours to get home to my family. And my husband works odd hours as well and is sometimes home earlier than I am…

Thanks. I think I got stuck on the idea that "No, she is old enough now, she's supposed to go to sleep on her own! Why isn't she going to sleep on her own!" and kept trying to get it to work when it clearly was not going to. Especially when the alternative isn't bad and actually pretty pleasant when she nods off in…

I know! It's only extremely sad if they really wanted to eat with someone else, or got stood up or something. The act of eating out alone itself isn't necessarily sad.