The most important part of yesterday's story about the brand new cold-loving cockroaches of New York City is the discovery that scientists have learned nothing from Jurassic Park and will damn us all with their hubris and lack of foresight. The likelihood that the new species will mate with the locals to create a hybrid super-roach is slim. "The male and female genitalia fit together like a lock and key, and that differs by species," Evangelista…
Lawful Good: A lawful good character acts as a good person is expected or required to act. He combines a commitment to oppose evil with the discipline to fight relentlessly. He tells the truth, keeps his word, helps those in need, and speaks out against injustice. A lawful good character hates to see the guilty go unpunished. While strict in their prosecution of law and order, characters of lawful good alignment follow these precepts to improve…
Previously: The Beatles, In Ascending Creepiness. Perfectly Pleasant: "I Need You Baby (Mona)" I tell you Mona what I wanna do I'm gonna build a house next door to you Can I see you sometime? We can blow kisses through the blinds Yeah can I out come out on the front And listen to my heart go bumpety bump I need you baby that's no lie Without your love I'd surely die Only Vaguely…
If you have ever leafed through an issue of The Economist or any other glossy magazine meant for the upwardly mobile as they wait in first-class airport lounges, you have seen a Patek Philippe ad: a blond father and son, usually on a boat, are laughing sternly at the sea, while the tagline reminds you that You never actually own a Patek Philippe. You merely look after it for the next generation. And yet the father never…
Other entries in the series can be found here. Most recently: Olivia Benson, Alex Cabot, SVU and Hope. There are installments of Femslash Friday where I can convince myself that in some way I'm striking a blow for lesbian and bisexual visibility in the culture at large, and then there are installments where I just have to admit that I would like to see two good-looking cartoon characters make out. I think this week…
Oh, no! You've managed to successfully pull yourself up by your own bootstraps -- but you're pulling yourself up too high! You're leaving everyone behind, and drifting over fenceposts and low-hanging rooftops! You've got to stop pulling yourself up before it's too late!
Ennigaldi lived in the 6th century BCE. She had 3 careers. One was as a school administrator, running a school for priestesses that was already over eight centuries old when she took over. Another was as a museum curator. And still another was as a high priestess (the en-priestess). Archaeologist Sir Leonard Woolley notes in his work that her father king Nabonidus called her Belshalti-Nannar when she became the High Priestess of Nannar at Ur. Ennigaldi became high priestess in 547…
I have no whimsical or intelligent introduction with which to frame this. Sometimes things just happen: The female chief executive officer of Archie Comics is being sued for gender discrimination by her male employees. Nancy Silberkleit’s lawyers claim the suit is baseless because the employees, all white men, don’t belong to a protected class. You have my attention.
You must be so tired! That day was your day. You went to Great Places! You went off and away! You had brains in your head. You had feet in your shoes. And you steered yourself In directions you'd choose. You went on your own. And you knew what you knew. And you were the one who would pick what to do. You walked up and down streets. Looked them over with care. Some you…
The Bodyguard is a 1992 romantic thriller starring Whitney Houston and Kevin Costner. I have never seen it. I would like to take this opportunity to make public my strongly felt views that this movie should be remade with Kanye West in Whitney Houston's role and Gwendoline Christie (Brienne on Game of Thrones) in Kevin Costner's. It is my understanding that Kanye West would make a deeply charming and vulnerable actor, and I would like…
I have been accused, sometimes on this very site, of having an excessively morbid cast of mind, but you must admit that it is not my fault that this world is a breathing, pulsing carnival of roiling horrors. I did not invent ants. I am not responsible for them, nor for the fact that they occasionally join up in a twitching ball by seizing one another in their respective, wretched jaws and take to the sea as…
Here's a look at the most likely of animal interactions -- those that hew closely to predictable predator/prey relationships. As you might expect, the majority of these animals have never met and have no particular bond with one another, although we can guess that if they were to ever meet, their reactions would range from general indifference to outright hostility, as this is the way of all things. Here are a cat and a baby…
