Shakesville

Love This

Jess Luther and Shaker Livi both sent me this stunning video of 25-year-old Ukrainian dancer Sergei Polunin dancing a contempotary ballet, choreographed by Jade Hale-Christofi, to Hozier's "Take Me to Church." The video was directed by David LaChapelle. It's so beautiful.

I'm not even sure how to transcribe this video, because my ability to describe dance is possibly even worse than my ability to describe ice skating. So I'm just going to try to capture the feeling of the dance as best I can.

A young, thin, white, tattooed man wearing tightly-fitted shorts close to the color of his skin and light-colored ballet shoes dances in a brightly lit white instrustial-designed room, with white-stained floors and grey-washed wood-beam walls. There are lots of windows, outside of which can be seen tall, green-leafed trees. His movements are strong, powerful, vulnerable, graceful, explosive, and precise as he moves like liquid under tension. As the music ends, he falls to his knees, lowers his head, and breathes.

Two-Minute Nostalgia Sublime

Mariah Carey: "Dreamlover"

In the News

Here is some stuff in the news today...

[Content Note: War] "A ceasefire in eastern Ukraine intended to pave the way for a comprehensive political settlement of the country's crisis has been agreed in Minsk following a fraught 16 hours of overnight negotiations between the leaders of Russia, Ukraine, Germany, and France. The marathon summit in the Belarus capital resulted in a pact early on Thursday providing for a ceasefire between Ukrainian government troops and Russian-backed separatists from Sunday, the withdrawal of heavy weaponry from the battle zone, which is to be demilitarised, amnesties on both sides and exchanges of prisoners and hostages. The agreement is clearly fragile. Previous attempts at a truce have utterly failed... The Germany chancellor, Angela Merkel, spoke of a glimmer of hope that the agreement might take the edge off what has quickly become the worst security crisis in Europe since the end of the cold war, with the potential to assume much more dangerous dimensions." I hope like hell this agreement holds.

[CN: Video may autoplay at link] RIP Bob Simon, longtime CBS correspondent, who died last night in a car accident in New York City at age 73. "Bob was a reporter's reporter. He was driven by a natural curiosity that took him all over the world covering every kind of story imaginable," 60 Minutes Executive Producer Jeff Fager said. "There is no one else like Bob Simon. All of us at CBS News and particularly at 60 Minutes will miss him very much."

Here's just a great story in the Wall Street Journal, which is a publication that definitely always has the best interest of liberal politicians in mind: "Unease Grows as Hillary Clinton Stays on Sidelines: Some Democrats Want the Former Secretary of State to Begin Actively Campaigning for the Presidential Nomination." Hahaha this is a NEWS STORY. A bunch of powerful men want a woman to bend to their will. Film at 11.

[CN: Police brutality; misogyny; miscarriage] Kenya Harris is suing the City of Albany, Georgia; police chief John Proctor; and officers Ryan Jenkins and Richard Brown, Jr. in federal court for excessive force, assault and battery, and infliction of emotional distress after Officer Jenkins allegedly assaulted her because he "did not appreciate the tone in which she was communicating with him," which later resulted in Harris having a miscarriage. Fucking hell.

[CN: Police brutality; racism; death] Also in Georgia: "Police in Georgia are to review why a man who was fatally shot by an officer at his home was handcuffed to his hospital bed for the last two days of his life and barred from visits by his family, who allege that he was isolated to stop him disclosing full details of the shooting. ...His sister, Delisa, spent his final hours begging police to allow her to see him, but they refused until he died. 'They denied us access to him because they didn't want him telling us what really happened that night,' she told the Guardian. In his last known remarks, Davis told a medic that an officer simply arrived at his home 'and began shooting.'"

[CN: Anti-vaxxing] Although some of these numbers of unvaccinated children in Silicon Valley may be explained by outdated data, not all of it can. This is terrifying.

[CN: Environmental hazard] Oh dear: "About 40,000 residents in the towns of Igualada and Odena were ordered to stay indoors and keep their windows shut after an explosion at a nearby chemical company sent a massive orange cloud of potentially toxic fumes into the sky."

[CN: Body shaming; choice policing; rape culture] I've seen an awful lot of jokes about Republican Montana State Representative David Moore's campaign against revealing clothing (and yoga pants), and it is fucking hilarious because OMFG THESE DUDES, but there's also a serious aspect to this: This is rape culture. This is the idea that men can't contain themselves around women wearing certain types of clothes. The old "wolf with uncovered meat" chestnut. And it's super gross.

In other Republican Dude News, Governor Scott Walker, who wants to be president, is touring Britain and literally got fucking laughed at by an interviewer when he refused to say whether he believes in evolution. "Nooooooooo! Really?!" Welcome to the Republican Party, friends across the pond. Yes, really.

[CN: Racism; privilege] Vince Vaughn says incredibly stupid shit about affirmative action. Kaiser's commentary made me LOL: "It's always nice to hear from a white man who has been given tons of opportunities to succeed–even after failing spectacularly many times–discuss how level the playing field is for minorities. Thank you, Vince Vaughn."

[CN: Ad may autoplay at link] "Genetic Code Behind Evolution of Beaks in Darwin's Finches Found." Neat!

And finally! This video of a tiny tortoise eating a bean sprout might be the cutest thing you'll see all day! Unlikely but true!

Democratic Convention to Be Held in Philly

Big news for anyone who lives in Philadelphia or loves conventions: The Democratic Party has decided that Philadelphia will host the 2016 Democratic convention after the city "aggressively wooed the selection committee, touting the city's vibrancy, history, landmarks, transit and hotel capacity. The city had also sought to assure the selection committee it could line up the funding necessary for the convention, and that the announced mayoral candidates were as supportive of hosting the event as current Mayor Nutter."

So, congratulations to the city leaders and all the already-rich people who will be making even more money, and my condolences to everyone whose daily lives will be fubared by this thing for days.

Last summer, the Republicans announced Cleveland as their selected venue.

No Tears

[Content Note: Privilege; tone policing; misogyny; transmisogyny; disablism; fat hatred.]

Jamelle Bouie has written a piece for Slate about why Jon Stewart was bad for the liberals who loved him. And it's an interesting piece, in which Bouie makes some very good points about the nature of the cynical indifference inherent to Stewart's brand of humor, although it's critical to note that "the liberals who loved him" loved him precisely because he gave them permission to be indifferent to things they already didn't want to care about; to be judgmental about marginalized people; to tone police anyone who urged seriousness about what is routinely referred to in disdainful tones as "identity politics."

I am shedding no tears over Jon Stewart's departure from The Daily Show, and it's because I am a liberal who didn't and couldn't love him. Not for a very long time. Because loving Stewart was contingent on ignoring disablism, fat hatred, mockery of intersex bodies, reproductive policing (with more fat hatred), jokes about how feminists are so scary and violent, etc. That's hardly a complete list. The Daily Show, with Jon Stewart at the helm, did a lot of punching down, when it should have always been punching up.

Which might have something to do with the fact that its writing staff was always very white and very male.

And, sure, we all like problematic things, and we all draw our lines about what is too problematic in different places.

For me, to continue to be a fan of Jon Stewart's The Daily Show would have obliged me to navigate way too much shit. And to be a fan of Jon Stewart himself would have obliged me to overlook his contempt for people like me.

I didn't share Jon Stewart's privilege. Most of the people I know don't share his privilege. And thus I had zero appreciation for his tone policing and concern trolling, rooted in the luxury of believing that our biggest problem in this country is a lack of moderation and compromise.

Some smug dipshit sneering at me a false equivalence between the left and the right that equates marginalized people fighting for our basic rights and very lives with the privileged bigots who oblige us to right in the first place isn't something I find funny or charming or cool. It's indecent.

Stewart was always contemptuous of people who yell. No matter if they leaned left or right: If you yell, you're an extremist, and extremism is what's tearing this country apart.

Welp.

I yell because I HAVE TO.

People die because of the hatred disgorged, practiced, legislated, and codified by people on the opposition. I'm not going to be made to feel guilty because I don't respond to deadly antipathy with moderation.

The shame belongs to someone so fucking privileged that he didn't feel obliged to yell, too.

Open Thread

image of a mandrill, a large monkey with a bright blue and red muzzle and a collar of yellow fur

Hosted by a mandrill.

Question of the Day

Suggested by Shaker Drazil: "What factors help you to get your best sleep?"

Total darkness, a firm mattress, and a fan. Although I am pretty famous among friends for being able to fall asleep anywhere haha. I once grabbed a quick nap at a Flaming Lips show, when the second act didn't interest me, and I wanted to be wide awake for the main event.

Parks & Rec: The Final Season

[Spoilers are delivering fresh oranges herein.]

image of April and Leslie in DC, from Parks & Recreation

Ladies, amirite?
So, I am still feeling all the things about Parks & Rec's last season, and last night's double set of episodes was a perfect example of why.

It was a great reminder of why I loved the show as a political nerd; there were cameos from Senators Barbara Boxer, John McCain, Corey Booker, and Orrin Hatch, as well as an amazing cameo by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright OMG.

And it was a great reminder of why I first fell in love with the characters: The scene where April thanks Leslie and hugs her; the scene in which April tells Ron that she hid his key under a strong old tree that reminds her of him; the scenes of Leslie and Ben turning the "Pie Mary" on its head and, later, Ben handing the mic over to Leslie, who uses her platform to tell "The Male Men," Pawnee's MRA group: "The Male Men? Where are you? You're ridiculous and men's rights is nothing," before launching into a speech destroying the press' treatment of women in politics:

I'm now going to give you permanent answers to all the silly questions that you're going to end up asking me and every other woman in this election in the next few months. Why did I change my hairstyle? I don't know. I just thought it would look better, or my kids got gum in it. Are you trying to have it all? That question makes no sense, it's a stupid question, stop asking it, don't ask it. Do you miss your kids while you're at work? Of course I do! Everybody does. And then, you know, sometimes I don't.

If you want to bake a pie, that's great; if you want to have a career, that's great, too. Do both or neither, doesn't matter. Just don't judge what someone else has decided to do. We're all just trying to find the right path for us as individuals on this earth.

And then there was the scene with Gary and Donna. Oh my heart. Gary drops his wedding band down a grate, then proceeds to lose down the same grate his keys, his watch, his phone, his belt, his back-up wedding band, and his heart medication trying to retrieve it.

Donna watches all of this, laughing at Gary at first, as per usual. She buys him dinner. They reminisce about his doofy maneuvers of days past, and he tells her about how Gayle calls him a bozo when he loses his wedding band and sends him out for fresh oranges as penance.

Suddenly, it's like Donna sees him as fully human for the first time. She thanks him for the walk down memory lane, and, the next morning, she shows up at his house with all his lost items, care of a handyman to whom she called in a favor, and a bag of oranges. She calls him her buddy.

This is a scene that I wish had come much, much sooner. That it didn't, and that it involved only Donna, thus ensuring Gary will still be the punchline and punching bag for everyone else, was a great reminder of why my love faded.

Anyway.

"You're ridiculous and men's rights is nothing." FOREVER.

The last time I saw MRAs being mocked on a TV show was on The Kroll Show. I like to imagine that Amy Poehler and Nick Kroll just sit around their flat drinking wine and writing MRA jokes.

Possibly because Iain and I sit around drinking wine and making MRA jokes, but no one pays us for it.

Discuss!

Number of the Day

[Content Note: Animal cruelty; death.]

More than 900: The number of racing greyhound who have died on the track just since 2008, "according to what is billed as the first-ever national report on greyhound racing." The report also found that more than 11,000 dogs have been injured on the track in the same period.

The humane groups Grey2K USA and the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) compiled the 80-page report, and are mailing it to lawmakers in an effort to pass greyhound protection legislation and bring an end to the sport, which remains legal and operational in seven states.

"Thirty-nine states have already made the humane decision to ban greyhound racing, but this cruel sport continues to exploit greyhounds despite public outcry and overwhelming financial losses from a dying industry," Nancy Perry, senior vice president of government relations at ASPCA, said in a statement.

...Citing more than 600 sources, including state racing commission reports and records, veterinary journal articles, necropsy reports, National Greyhound Association documents, books and newspaper stories, the national report on greyhounds said at least 909 greyhound deaths have been documented. In Florida, a racing greyhound dies every three days, according to state records.

The report also documented 11,722 greyhound injuries, including fractured skulls, broken necks and electrocutions, and 27 cases of animal cruelty, including dogs starved to death and denied veterinary care.

Emphasis mine. And, because greyhound racing was made an exception to the US Department of Agriculture's Animal Welfare Act, the horrendous conditions in which the dogs are kept does not even qualify as animal cruelty:

In addition to the deaths, injuries and abuse, the new report said dogs are kept in "warehouse-style" kennel compounds for long hours each day in cages too low to stand fully erect. The dogs are also fed "4-D" meat from diseased animals in an effort to reduce costs, the report found.

This report is bad enough—but it also does not cover the thousands of greyhound deaths every year before the dogs even reach the track, nor the disposal of animals once they've been deemed unfit for life at the track:

Most greyhound pups are bred at breeding farms, where "only a select few actually become racing dogs. This massive over-breeding is done in order to produce winning dogs. The unwanted pups, those who don't measure up to racing standards, are simply destroyed. The racing industry also sells some of the dogs considered unfit for racing to laboratories, which use them in experiments."

Of the dogs who become racers, most aren't champions—and many would-be champions are injured before they ever reach their potential. Most of the dogs who fail to make money are destroyed in the cheapest way possible, frequently by gunshot or having their throats cut. Some are simply left to starve. Even the most successful racers are usually retired by age 4, at which point they, too, are killed unless they are fortunate enough to be rescued.

Even with rescues doing as much as they can, as many as 20,000 dogs are still killed (and nearly half that number of rabbits illegally used to train the dogs) each year in the US alone.

Greyhound racing is a despicable sport. Many of the breeders and owners claim to love their dogs, and I'm sure some of them do, but no dog that I love, not my greyhound, would ever be kept in the conditions in which racing greys are kept. And Dudley's life is not dependent on making me money, at the potential cost of his life.

This is what racing did to Dudley. And he was one of the lucky ones, because he survived.

If you live in the US, please take a moment to contact your representative and ask hir to read the ASPCA's report and take the necessary steps to eradicate greyhound racing in the United States, once and for all.

The Wednesday Blogaround

This blogaround brought to you by hues of blue.

Recommended Reading:

Shaadi: [Content Note: Misogyny; racism; gender policing; hetero- and ciscentrism] For Those of Us Who the World Is Not Ready, Qualified, Able, or Willing to Love: Happy Valentine's Day

Mitch: [CN: Trans hatred; transmisogynoir; violence] New Orleans Sees Fifth Trans Woman of Color Murdered in U.S. in 2015

Carla: [CN: Racism; police brutality] New York City Cop Indicted in Akai Gurley Stairwell Shooting

Brian: [CN: Homophobia; Nazi reference; Christian Supremacy] Mike Huckabee: Gay Marriage 'Lies' Reminiscent of Nazi Germany

Ragen: [CN: Fat hatred] Things Obesity Isn't

Prison Culture: [CN: Racism; misogyny; carcerality] Prison Prep for Black Girls

John: [CN: Homophobia] Ted Cruz Reintroduces Anti-Gay Bill to 'Defend' States' Right to Regulate Marriage

Mustang Bobby: [CN: Privacy violations; misogyny and homophobia] Reply All

Leave your links and recommendations in comments. Self-promotion welcome and encouraged!

Daily Dose of Cute

image of Dudley the Greyhound and Zelda the Black and Tan Mutt sitting next to each other on the couch, squeezed lengthwise, looking at me plaintively

"Pet me!" "No, pet ME!"

image of Dudz and Zelly nudging each other with their muzzles

image of Dudz and Zelly nudging each other with their muzzles

"Shut up." "YOU shut up!"
As always, please feel welcome and encouraged to share pix of the fuzzy, feathered, or scaled members of your family in comments.

Yes, Please!

Laverne Cox is coming soon to a television near you, co-starring in a new CBS legal drama where she'll be playing an attorney in a role conceived and written for a transgender actress.

Laverne Cox is going from Litchfield Penitentiary to the courtroom.

The Orange Is the New Black breakout has been tapped to co-star in CBS' buzzy legal drama Doubt, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.

The drama revolves around a yet-to-be-cast smart, chic, successful defense lawyer at a boutique firm who shockingly gets romantically involved with one of her clients who may or may not be guilty of a brutal crime.

Cox, in one of the biggest showings of diversity yet this pilot season, will co-star as Cameron Wirth, a role specifically created for a transgender actress. The character is described as a transgender Ivy League-educated attorney who is as competitive as she is compassionate. She's fierce, funny, and the fact that she's experienced injustice first hand makes her fight all the harder for her clients.

Bring it on!

ETA. Based on the description, there is, of course, a lot of space for this to go horribly wrong. But I think there's also a lot of space to hope that it will go right. Fingers crossed!

Two-Minute Nostalgia Sublime

Faith Hill: "Breathe"

In the News

Here is some stuff in the news today...

[Content Note: War] War, war, and neverending war: "President Obama on Wednesday formally asked Congress to authorize a three-year military campaign against the terrorist group the Islamic State that would avoid a large-scale invasion and occupation but in addition to air power could include limited ground operations by American forces to hunt down enemy leaders or rescue American personnel. ...[I]n a letter to Congress accompanying the proposal, Mr. Obama, who has said there would be no boots on the ground in Iraq and Syria, envisioned limited ground combat operations 'such as rescue operations' or the use of 'Special Operations forces to take military action against ISIL leadership.' He also said the legislation would allow the use of ground forces for intelligence gathering, target spotting and planning assistance to ground troops of allies like Iraq's military."

[CN: Death] Oh no: "At least 300 migrants are feared to have drowned after attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea from North Africa this week in rough seas, the UN says. UNHCR Europe director Vincent Cochetel said the incident was a 'tragedy on an enormous scale.' ...The UNHCR said [that four dinghies] left Libya at the weekend. Those rescued on Wednesday morning had spent days drifting without food or water in two of the other dinghies—with each said to be carrying more than 100 people. The survivors said the fourth dinghy disappeared at sea. Carlotta Sami, a spokeswoman for the UNHCR, said the victims had been 'swallowed up by the waves,' with the youngest a child of 12. ...The UN said the latest incident should be a message to the European Union that the current search and rescue operation in the Mediterranean was inadequate. 'Europe cannot afford to do too little too late,' Mr Cochetel added."

[CN: Homophobia; transphobia; video may autoplay at link] What the actual fuck: "State workers [in Kansas] are no longer protected based on their sexual orientation or gender identity following an executive order by Gov. Sam Brownback on Tuesday. ...His order rescinds a prior order from former Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, which expanded the protections." What an absolute asshole.

[CN: War on agency] And anti-choicers' strategy of chipping away at Roe continues unabated: "On the heels of a record-breaking number of new abortion restrictions that have been enacted over the past four years, state lawmakers are continuing to push forward with a stringent anti-abortion agenda in 2015. By last week, states had already introduced more than 100 bills intended to regulate access to abortion, according to researchers at the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Lawmakers are working to restrict the procedure in more than half the states in the country."

[CN: Sexual assault] I don't even know what to say about the trial of former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who has been repeatedly accused of rape. He is clearly a sexual predator and an unrepetant liar.

Speaking of liars, Brian Williams has been suspended from NBC for six months without pay, for his tall tale of coming under fire in Iraq. Ian Milliser observes: "BREAKING: Brian Williams becomes first person in human history to suffer professional consequences for lying about the Iraq War." Boom.

Something something Jon Stewart is leaving The Daily Show. Okay. Who cares.

Wisconsin's problem wants to be a national problem: "Scott Walker, the Republican who leads the presidential pack in Iowa polling, is the first of the 2016 White House aspirants to open an office here." Good grief.

Want to see popcorn explode in slow motion? It's pretty cool!

And finally: This goat loves peanut butter. "This tastes way better than a tin can!"

News Break

Let's all take a moment and watch this video and/or read the transcript of baby pandas playing on a slide!

Video Description: Two young pandas crawl onto a large swing on a wooden playset and tumble around and wrestle and it is adorable. Cut to a researcher/caretaker (?), a young thin Chinese woman, leading the two babies up the ladder to the top of a slide. She slides down and they tumble after her and it is adorable. She runs back to the ladder and they chase after her excitedly because THE SLIDE IS SO FUN! Back up they go, and a third baby panda joins them. She runs down the slide, the the babies come sliding after her, tumbling into one another at the bottom of the slide like a backed-up escalator landing. A fourth baby joins the fun, and there is more sliding and more silly landings! The baby pandas crawl up the slide, and the woman gently pushes them back down. They go sliding and tumbling into a pile and IT IS ADORABLE.

Today in the Culture of Violent Male Entitlement

[Content Note: Guns; death; violent entitlement.]

Here is another story about which you probably won't hear anything outside local news:

Dane County [Wisconsin] Sheriff David Mahoney said Tuesday that Dean M. Sutcliffe, 17, was arrested on suspicion of two counts of first-degree intentional homicide...in a shooting that killed his former girlfriend's sister and a 39-year-old man [who was dating his former girlfriend's mother] Monday night.

The teen was arrested at the scene. Officials say he was upset after ending a relationship with a 15-year-old girl in the household. ...The former girlfriend was not home at the time of the shooting.

...Mahoney said Sutcliffe armed himself with a handgun from his home before going to the trailer park. He said deputies had previous contact with Sutcliffe, but nothing involving criminal charges. Mahoney said Sutcliffe is cooperating with investigators.

I am so sorry for this family, who lost two people at once in a most heinous way, and I feel so profoundly sad for the 15-year-old girl whose ex-boyfriend did this terrible thing to her family. It's not her fault, not even a little, but I can't imaging being the person who has to carry the burden of that, even if you know it isn't your fault. I hope this family has access to the resources it needs to process and heal.

It isn't clear what "previous contact" deputies had with Sutcliffe, or whether any of those interactions were related to his former relationship with this girl. I am certainly curious, however, whether those previous interactions were part of a pattern of escalation that ended with these murders.

In any case: Here is yet another dot in the series of dots we refuse to connect. Just another in a disconnected series of violently entitled young men who kill because women insisted they are not these men's property. Not a pattern. Not a reflection of toxic masculinity endemic to the culture. Not something we need to talk about.

Just another "crazy" man who has nothing to do with any of the other "crazy" men who kill women for the exact same reason.

And so the story goes.

[H/T to Eastsidekate.]

Shooting at Chapel Hill

[Content Note: Terrorism; guns; death; Islamophobia; anti-religiousness.]

Yesterday at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, 46-year-old Craig Stephen Hicks, a white man who strongly identified with the anti-religious sentiment promoted by leaders of movement atheism and posted anti-religious views on social media, shot and killed three Muslims, husband and wife Deah Barakat, 23, and Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha, 21, and Yusor's sister Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha. He then turned himself into police.

My sincerest condolences to the family, friends, and colleagues of Deah, Yusor, and Razan.

A couple of notes:

1. This shooting happened around 5:00 ET yesterday. I didn't hear a single thing about it until this morning. Not an alert about an active campus shooter, not a notification about a campus lockdown, not a single news item in any of news sources I check regularly.

2. In the coverage that's finally showing up on mainstream news sites, there is no suggestion that Hicks is a terrorist, despite the fact that he targeted Muslims. Which of course is not surprising, but is enraging: Hicks is white and his victims are Muslim, which flips the script entirely on what constitutes "terrorism" in the United States.

This is how it's being reported at CNN [video may autoplay at link]:

screen cap of CNN story reading: 'A 46-year-old man has been charged with murder in the shooting death of three Muslim students in an apartment near the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill campus. Police haven't said what may have compelled the accused, Craig Stephen Hicks, to allegedly carry out the attack Tuesday evening. He turned himself in to police later in the night. But given the victims' religion and comments the alleged shooter apparently left on a Facebook page, many social media users wondered what role, if any, the victims' faith played.'

"What role, if any, the victims' faith played." As opposed to, you know, what role their killer's hatred and bigotry toward people of their faith played.

That's some smooth-ass victim-blaming, right there.

3. It's amazing how a white man who just murdered three people managed to turn himself into police alive. Good thing he wasn't selling loose cigarettes. Ahem.

4. This should be a day of reckoning for the most visible leaders of movement atheism who routinely engage in hyperbolic anti-Muslim rhetoric. But of course that won't happen. What will happen is that anyone who dares suggest that they are fomenting hatred—and that, although Hicks is accountable for his own actions, they don't exist in a vacuum—will be accused of opportunistic and mendacious attacks, even if they are fellow atheists, like me, who simply refuse to pretend we don't understand how culture works.

Open Thread

image of a brightly colored panther chameleon sitting on a branch with its tail curled into a tight spiral

Hosted by a panther chameleon.

Question of the Day

What is one of your favorite nostalgia-inducing activities?

Iain and I love Trivial Pursuit, and we have a bunch of different sets of cards, including a set from the 1980s, when the game was first released. Playing with those old cards is always a hilarious walk down memory lane.

Finish This Sentence

My favorite game to play on my mobile device is...

...Peggle. Forever Peggle.

Acceptable answers include, but are not limited to: I don't own a mobile device; I hate mobile devices; I hate games; and please for the love of Maude stop sending me Candy Crush requests.