Yeah, Allyson. I'm not a science person, and it's not a term I've heard before.

You think he's actually a prick or you're just upgrading him because he's a murderer and killing people is prickish in your book?

Killing people isn't in yours?

I don't think going around killing other killers is a prickish thing to do. (It may be morally hazy, but prickish? Hm.) If he were just killing random people on the street, sure, then he's kind of an asshole, though. But, mostly, when ita asked about prickish characters like House, I was thinking personality-wise. And Dexter isn't a prick.

Wikipedia actually has a very good explanation:

[link]

Critics assert that many hypotheses put forward to explain the adaptive nature of human behavioural traits are "Just-so stories"; neat adaptive explanations for the evolution of given traits that do not rest on any evidence beyond their own internal logic. They allege that evolutionary psychology can predict many, or even all, behaviours for a given situation, including contradictory ones. Therefore many human behaviours will always fit some hypotheses. Noam Chomsky noted: "You find that people cooperate, you say, ‘Yeah, that contributes to their genes' perpetuating.’ You find that they fight, you say, ‘Sure, that’s obvious, because it means that their genes perpetuate and not somebody else's. In fact, just about anything you find, you can make up some story for it."

I think House is more of a prick than Dexter, myself. Firstly, I think House is making a choice, and he enjoys what he's doing, and he enjoys doing it to everyone. Dexter's ill, and he's channelling what he does, and in theory is only doing it to bad people. He has some modicum of control, and gets that what he's doing is less than optimal.

But I've probably watched more Dexter than House, but neither recently.

What is a "just-so story" in this context?

Isn't it just "how the penis got it's head" instead of "how the elephant got it's trunk"?

Or, what Jessica said.

I just spent the last five minutes seriously pondering whether there was any way in which Hitchens doesn't piss me off, and I came up with exactly nothing.

No, wait. Back in the early to mid 90s when I was still subscribing to The Nation and Hitchens was toppling on the brink of the sneering right-wing chasm he currently inhabits, but not quite toppled, he would intermittently write a thoughtful, sensible column that didn't make me cringe. But the good ones were always sandwiched in between six weeks or so of bile that made me want to either scratch my head or punch him in the neck. And then The Nation finally, mercifully (for the subscribers, at least) sacked him.

So, uh, I guess there was that time twenty years ago when he was occasionally less than 100% unbearable. Thus endeth my praise and extolling of his virtues.

JZ Meyers

The internet already has one of those. His name is Fred Clark.

Dear construction guys on the roof,

I know it's been very rainy lately and you kind of have to work on weekends in order to get this shit over and done with, but if you wake my daughter up from her third attempted nap of the day, I WILL CUT YOU.

Love,

4th floor-apartment dweller.

(PS, but if you're also putting in the back doors downstairs, I will bake you a cake. See how fickle I am?)

JZ Meyers

The internet already has one of those. His name is Fred Clark.

I love you, JZ, and I am going to stealz you from your hubby. Start packing your bags.

I don't know. Will I be stashed amongst the lawnmowers, or can you bribe Tim to rig up a Jilli-quality gilded cage for me?

If you leave her outside with the drill press, somebody will surely walk off with her.

She's worth her weight in copper.