There's one roundaout near Portsmouth, NH, that is enormous and frightening, and I've always driven it at night, which is extra scary. I can't see how a three or four laned traffic circle is safer than a traffic-lighted intersection. But I also live in NJ, and can't understand how a jug-handle with an unprotected left turn with the clearance of two car lengths is safer than a green left arrow.

I moved to NJ after living in Virginia and Tennessee, where we don't do roundabouts or jughandles, and I was *terrified* of the traffic. I didn't know how to negotiate those things, and hesitating for two seconds made the person behind me so annoyed they'd lean on their horn, which startled me and undid all the cognition I'd gotten done, and I'd arrive home in tears. Mike couldn't understand why a person who could find backroads he'd never known about despite having lived there all his life, would be upset by traffic. But I got better. Eventually I was driving in NYC all by myself, honking my horn and shouting at people like a true Jersey girl.

In the housing complex being built on the mountain behind me, there are two roundabouts, and I love them. So much easier and faster and safer than negotiating four-way stops. There's a five-lane four-way stop near me and I'm surprised every day that no one has been killed there. No one has any idea who has the right-of-way.

OK, just got home, and my package is here! And an infonotice??? WTF?

The God of Deliveries heard your plea! Make a sacrifice to Hermes, quick. He likes coins.

I promised photos of 3D Tetris - The Home Game.

aurelia, wow! That's impressive.

Does anyone here like MPREG? Do you feel it's the same psychology as the forced/alien impregnation trope where the victim is female?

No, and no. Well, I qualify the last one because the MPREG I've read has all been "ooo, I'm having your babby I'm so happy!" crap. I'm sure there's forced MPREG out there. Oh, wait, I read some last night, somebody projecting their issues onto poor Loki and his weird babies. If the writer is female and making the male character be the unwilling host of her issues, then yeah, I guess it's the same. (Do male writers ever write MPREG?) Speaking of Loki, I'll qualify my first reaction too, because I've liked some LokiPreg fic I've read, except... it's Loki. He does that all by himself. A god who can and happily does change shape and gender is just not the same as a regular all-male-all-the-time guy getting a fetus implanted somehow. That's just creepy to me. Actually, I don't like FPREG fic either. "Body horror" is a good term for it.

I think that's part of Loki's appeal in Avengers Fandom. Canonical MPREG. Well, that and Hiddleston.

Yeah. Some folks are really into it. I stumbled across a whole segment of Tumblr that's girls wailing over Loki being raped by a horse and all poor Loki's poor babies being taken away *SOB*. Yikes.

The heteronormativity of much slash never fails to amaze me. Such an investment in penetration being dominance, but from the people *I* had assumed would know that was not inherent--the people traditionally penetrated. Once it sunk in, I started feeling alienated, to be honest. It hadn't occurred to me that was such a pervasive interpretation of sex, *including* from straight women.

Just quoting this so I can say "Word."

I'm gonna stick with talking about Loki and suchlike, and stay away from the rage-making thoughts about Michigan vaginas. Seriously, I'm about to have to call a personal moratorium on anything political for a few weeks. I'm reaching insane levels of rage.

I moved to NJ after living in Virginia and Tennessee

Virginia may be starting to change its mind on roundabouts. Traffic was so bad at the intersection of Routes 50 and 15 (in Loudoun County, about 40 miles west of DC and 10 or so miles west of Dulles Airport) that the traditional intersection-with-stoplight was replaced with 4 -- yes, 4 -- roundabouts.

I navigate them every weekend on the way to the animal shelter. It's a little awkward sometimes when I have to figure out when I can merge into traffic, but it's a lot better than waiting forever and a day for the 273 cars in front of me to turn left.

Driving in Northern Virginia always drove me crazy with the way that a road would suddenly have every lane be exit-only for different roads, and then, once you read the five thousand signs and figured out which lane you were supposed to be in, it would do it again, and you'd have to read five thousand more signs and shift lanes within like twenty feet.

I don't mind jughandles. I don't like turning lanes, though -- people going into them always slow down in the left lane, which makes the entire concept of "passing lane" worthless. I like knowing that I've got to watch out for people slowing down in the right lane, but people in the left lane will just keep going. Also, I'm always scared that someone else will be coming into the turning lane from the other direction just when I'm going into it.

Driving in Northern Virginia always drove me crazy with the way that a road would suddenly have every lane be exit-only for different roads, and then, once you read the five thousand signs and figured out which lane you were supposed to be in, it would do it again, and you'd have to read five thousand more signs and shift lanes within like twenty feet.

SO MUCH THIS. The only reason I'm not still driving in circles around the Pentagon trying to find my in-laws' house is that my TomTom GPS tells me which lanes to be in at all times. It is TEH BEST FEATURE EVAR.

Check out Victoria's Secret catalog pics from 1979 - [link] (NSFW due to lingerie). Reminds me of the episode of Dukes of Hazzard with Mabel's Mobile Madams.

New Orleans signage is laughable at best. More frequently, it's just missing. I've never seen so many signposts without signs. And lane markings? It took me weeks to figure out where St. Charles has two lanes and where it has four. Lanes end abruptly with no merge sign, sinkholes are marked with one cone if you're lucky, and blocks get closed off for street work with no warning whatsoever. When C and her husband were here visiting the other week, she remarked several times how Moldovan the roads are. That's not a compliment, y'all.

I am up earlier than I wanted to be, and the farmer's market doesn't open until 9. But I'm hungry now.

On the continued Times-Picayune debacle, check out this unbridled chutzpah - [link]

Cosplay fails. (Warning: cameltoe)

Calling the Rogue a fail is a bit harsh. It's a great costume. She just needs to adjust herself. I have no idea what the other guys were thinking, but I'm gonna hope they had fun.