Very few people (who aren't my father) are into all sports (he lays claim to liking to watch any physical competition), or every comic, or all movies, even within a genre (or starring any actor, or by any director), so, you know...varies. That part was a given before you even showed up.

At its simplest, it's really simple. Then again, so is religion. When you get to the point where athletes are given credit for more than athleticing, and coaches are given free passes to commit crimes, or tearing your own city apart is a reasonable response to both winning and losing--that shit is just people being hateful and stupid.

But I get why I cry when Usain Bolt wins his race--that was beautiful. I can only imagine what it feels like to push yourself across 100m like that--that fast--how amazing that must feel for the scant nine and a half seconds, how the iteration of training and striving comes to fruition with millions of people watching, and your whole country has turned out to cheer you on--you can wrap up feeling good about being from a podunk poor-as-shit country that's never putting anything into space for just a little while, because he's really fast and he's one of us.

And I totally fail to get the shot put, or American football, or downhill skiing, but I do at least get that you just have to swap words out to get there, not feelings.

Holy ded from the cute: Baby kangaroo and baby wombat:

[link]

When I say I don't get football, all I mean is I have a hard time following the game play. My dad watched football like it was ballet. It was very clear to me that he was seeing something I wasn't.

I need to stop bashing my head against arguments with people who won't differentiate between "I don't see anything there" and "There's nothing there."

It's not the end of the world to say that other people are communicating with a lexicon you don't share--most likely because you have no interest in it. But to tell them they're not communicating? You can't tell you sound stupid?

Plumber just gave me the "actually, don't put anything other than water down your garbage disposal" talk. Which...I haven't had in 12 years, so I was due for a reminder. He also reminded me that flushable wipes aren't flushable. Luckily tampons didn't come up (API).

Burrell, it is good that he's gone--problem is, I don't think he's replaced.

Plumber just gave me the "actually, don't put anything other than water down your garbage disposal" talk.

What the heck are they for, then?

Yeah, that's some bullshit.

Can somebody explain to me why people were criticizing Gabby Douglas' hair? I've seen a bunch of "She went in front of the cameras with THAT hair?!" type comments, and I can't figure out what people are objecting to. She had a ponytail, which seems fairly standard for gymnastics. When I exercise with my hair in a ponytail, my sweat tends to make the front part curl and frizz out, so that there's a bunch of hair sticking out around my face, but she had enough clips in so that didn't happen. What are people seeing that I'm not seeing?

I think it wasn't the ponytail, but the kind of "this isn't really a bun but I've doubled-up my ponytail in a half-ass looking way" part? I thought it was a little weird, given how slicked back and glittered and baretted the front was, but...

that's some bullshit.

It's consistent bullshit, if at all. The last time I had a plumber work on a blocked garbage disposal, their caution was "nothing fibrous--nothing you wouldn't put into a dishwasher--whatever's left after you scraped your plate into the garbage."

So I believe them, and that I'm skating on luck inbetween blockages.

Can somebody explain to me why people were criticizing Gabby Douglas' hair?

Racism and hair politics, in a nutshell. Your hair might frizz out, but at the end of the day, you're still white.