Required post for any dolphin story:

I've seen black poms that look like monkey-bears. True fact.

I know it is trite, but don't be afraid to fail, and look at any wasted materials as "tuition."

Take your shoes off when you enter your apartment. I have a shoe-area right near the door and it keeps both noise and dirt out of the apartment.

The slimmest and buff-est I've ever been was in graduate school. I called it the High Stress, Low Income diet where the only recreation I could afford was the gym two buildings over from my office. That was 50 lbs and over 50K per annum ago.

I think one of my best zingers was when some incredibly poetic and charming fellow shouted "Nice tits!" at me. I looked him up and down and said, "Nah, yours are better."

She looks like a woman who has shit to do, rather than someone who has shit done for her. Also, maybe, exercise?

Uh, boys, my eyes are up here.

What's interesting about the MRAs commenting/whining that this is unfair to men (but ladies rape too!) is that nowhere does it claim that all the victims are female or all the rapists are male, in fact it explicitly says

I'm guessing he never watched Grizzly Man.

Plus (size) One to you, prestocaro!

Huh, and here I thought blonde hair was associated with the mutation that produced blue eyes and fair skin, which turned out to be useful in parts of the world where there wasn't enough sun year-round or it was too cold and much of the body was covered with clothing, thus diminishing the amount of vitamin D available,…

You seem to know (not being snarky here, you do seem to know), what is the average score for men in infantry? I ask because I've been reading that the military has been lowering standards across the board in part due to the obesity epidemic in the US. Have they been lowering combat standards too? If so—yikes!

Well then, it sounds like something that the men should deal with in training. The morale issue has been deployed to justify discrimination against African Americans and as recently as rescinding Don't Ask, Don't Tell. If your troops are that badly disciplined, then there are broader problems to address.

No, what I'm saying is, with my *current* level of physical fitness (I am a 47 year old woman), I would easily pass the minimum standard for a 27 year old male. The fitness levels for all ages are ridiculously easy. Twenty years ago, I'm sure I would have scored in the 240+ range ON THE MALE TEST.

The headline here is that the office mates were not total dicks about someone else's allergy and actually made an effort to ensure some modicum of safety for a co-worker.

Just checked out the Army Physical Fitness Test (APFT) and as a 47 year old woman, would pass the fitness test for males 20 years my junior. I don't think I'd want anybody in a combat zone, whether trained as a combatant or not, who couldn't score over 85 in their age group for men, of either gender.

Which is an argument for not allowing men to serve.

A few years ago, when she was still a teenager, my niece said something along the lines of wanting to be an artist's muse. I sat her down and explained that it is far better to be the artist than the muse (I was an unwilling muse when I was just a few years older than she and it was fucking horrible).

I've been to Iceland four times and one of the things the tour guides always stress (so take that for what it is), is that the Icelandic language really hasn't changed significantly over the past 1000 years and that a speaker of the language can read the eddas and sagas as easily as if they were written today. …