The first modern-style menstrual cup was patented in 1932, but that wasn’t the first time inventors turned their skills to the problem of keeping bloody goo off women’s clothes. Take, for example, this little gem from 1884. It’s a menstrual cup, attached to a reservoir big enough to last for days.
Think it’s easy being a Koala? Sleeping and munching eucalyptus 24/7? Hear all about the life of a Koala..from someone who would know best…..a Koala.
You know when you get a new haircut and even your best friends don’t recognize you? Like on the makeover episode of America’s Next Top Model? The only one worth watching per season? Well, now you can watch the same thing happen, except the surprised friend is a judgy-as-hell chicken.
Eddie Huang's sitcom Fresh Off the Boat got a LOT of attention around its premiere, and for good reason. It was a monumental show, but we were all waiting to see if it was also a good show. And it turns out, it is. We can get pretty pretentious around these parts (and I mean that as a term of endearment) with our Fargos and our True Detectives, but that doesn't mean we don't enjoy a good sitcom too. And this is a good sitcom. Not the horrible braincell-killing Big Bang Theories, but more of a Goldbergs nostalgia-fest with the racial-political commentary of Black-ish or (occasionally) Jane the Virgin. It mixes humor and Big Events with such a light hand, as was apparent this week, with one of the greatest father-son sex talks of all time.
In this episode, every student in Eddie's grade was sent home with a sex ed book to help parents talk their kids through the birds and the bees. Unfortunately, the book is full of convoluted metaphors even worse than birds and bees:
So Eddie's dad, Louis, takes it upon himself to be honest. As he puts it, half the reason he came to the U.S. was so that his son could have lots of sex. I mean, not really. But kinda. He tells Eddie "Taiwan was so conservative. You couldn't really have sex before you were married. You didn't know if you and your wife were compatible that way." So he sits down to tell his son "the truth." And what follows is a beautiful montage of weird and useful and more weird advice about the act that is "way better than video games."
"And, most important, like we always say during the SNL monologue when a musician hosts,"
There you have it. Everything a kid needs to know (and a lot he doesn't) about sex. Oh, except maybe one thing.
She's got that part covered, though.
Cool piece of statement art: Street artist Plastic Jesus deposited this beautiful sculpture of the Oscar statuette sniffing cocaine right on the corner of Hollywood Boulevard and La Brea Avenue, in the vicinity of the Academy Awards ceremony venue.
My kind of workout
Photo: Manuel Alvarado (Twitter)
Just in from Wendy Z.: “Today the BBC showed a graphic showing how to tell how deep the show is by “Can you still see your dog” showing six breeds. Sounds like an awfully cute way to tell – apparently one and a half chihuahuas equals one french bulldog?”
Snow depth in Boston 22:00 GMT (17:00 EST)
Snow depth in Boston 18:00 GMT (13:00 EST)
Snow depth in Boston 14:00 GMT (09:00 EST)
Snow depth in Boston at 08:00 GMT Tuesday (03:00 EST)
Snow depth in Boston 22:00 GMT Monday (17:00 EST)
I’m sure this thing tastes like ‘guácala,’ but it’s always good to know we (i.e. the mamacitas of the world) have options.
Hat tip: @Bathtubmedia
If you're not familiar with Cameron Esposito, let's change that. Esposito is a comedian who's been killing it over on the A.V. Club with posts like this one about harassment and this one about gay kids and Halloween. Now she's done an "Ask a Lesbian" video for Buzzfeed. Buzzfeed, like Playboy, has been trying really, really hard to raise its reputation for "laughable" to "not laughable" lately, and if that goal is even marginally attainable, utilizing awesome people like Cameron Esposito is only going to help.
Do you have questions about scissoring? Birth mothers? Sinning? Side mullets? Esposito's here to help.
Via FB.
As you're planning where to purchase the necessary components to gift wrap all your holiday presents, consider Anthropologie, a store where you can buy some practical and well-priced items , like a "large" spool of Baker's Twine for $36. Looks like a previously sold version of this twine was quite popular, though the reviews are not in on this stunning beige decorative rope.
Somehow, photographer Julia Christe got all these photos of puppehs bouncing up in the air.
From Vajda B. as seen on Fubiz.net.
Yes, this is an actual print promotion of the ‘Cambiados al nacer’ initiative
From the “Only in Mexico” and “Not The Onion” archives, comes Cambiados al nacer (Switched at Birth,) an initiative launched by a group of citizens in Toluca, Mexico, informing people born between July 23 and 24, 1974 that they might have been given to the wrong set of parents.
So far, the Facebook page of Cambiados al nacer has a mere 418 followers, but heck, they even got a story in a local newspaper, aptly titled: Se equivocó la cigüeña (The Stork Made a Mistake.)
I personally find this very amusing, mostly because I was not born in Toluca in 1974, but if you did, you should be worried. Very. Worried.
Hat tip: @Oscargutiez
Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium recently announced that it had welcomed a five-week old orphaned Southern Sea Otter pup from the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS).
Photo Credits: Shedd Aquarium / Brenna Hernandez
The female pup arrived at Shedd on October 28th from Monterey Bay Aquarium in California, where she spent the first four weeks of her life being stabilized. The pup has been doing well since her arrival, receiving continual care behind the scenes of Shedd’s Abbott Oceanarium, and she currently weighs in at just under 6 pounds and 22.6 inches long. She is the second pup from the threatened Southern Sea Otter population to reside at Shedd. Currently referred to as “Pup 681,” Shedd’s animal care and veterinarian teams are providing the continual, round-the-clock care she needs to thrive.
The small, vulnerable pup was found on September 30th on Coastways Beach in California, and, at that time, was estimated to be only one week old and weighing around 2 pounds. A citizen on an evening walk heard the newborn otter’s cry and quickly notified The Marine Mammal Center (TMMC). TMMC staff contacted Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Sea Otters Program, and scientists determined the pup could not be safely retrieved that evening due to the remote location and impending darkness. The following morning, the pup was still in the same location and determined to have been orphaned, and it was estimated she had been separated from her mother for at least 16 hours. Scientists from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) and the Sea Otter Program responded immediately to recover the pup and transport her to Monterey Bay Aquarium.
The Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Sea Otter Program has been studying and helping recover the threatened Southern Sea Otter since 1984. The program works with other aquariums, such as Shedd, and wildlife rescue facilities to respond to every sea otter that comes ashore in distress along the California coast. Over the past 25 years, nearly 700 sea otters have come through this program.
Stranded Sea Otter pups require extensive round-the-clock care and there are only a handful of facilities in the United States with the available space, staff and experience to provide the appropriate care. Shedd officials and animal care staff quickly accepted Monterey Bay Aquarium’s call to provide the stranded pup with a permanent home.
To ensure the pup receives everything that she needs, a rotating schedule of six to eight animal care experts provides care and attention 24 hours a day, seven days a week. During this intensive nurturing period, she will remain behind the scenes in the Regenstein Sea Otter Nursery as she develops certain behaviors, such as grooming, foraging, and feeding, as well as regulating her own body temperature by getting in and out of the water.
As she acclimates to her new surroundings, Pup 681 reaches new milestones every day, including taking formula from a bottle, eating solid foods such as shrimp and clams and even climbing upon white towels when she gets wet to help her groom and regulate her body temperature.
More info and amazing pics, below the fold!
Annual surveys, from the United States Geological Survey (USGS), indicate that the Southern Sea Otter population index reached 2,944 in 2014. This number was a slight growth from 2,939 in 2013. Marking its 50th year of service assessing 74,000 species, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) classified Sea Otters as “Threatened” on the Red List, referencing the slow recovery of Southern Sea Otters in California. Southern Sea Otters were listed as “Threatened” under the U.S. Endangered Species Act in 1977. The population of Southern Sea Otters has failed to grow consistently despite decades of federal and state protection.
With a long history of involvement with marine wildlife rescue projects, Shedd Aquarium is one of the first institutions to conduct training with Sea Otters to further their survival and care. After the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989, Shedd participated in the wildlife recovery efforts and took in many orphaned pups. The aquarium is now recognized as an expert in rehabilitating sea otter pups. Nearly all of the Sea Otters residing in the Abbott Oceanarium at Shedd were rescued pups: three northern and two southern subspecies, including Pup 681.
Last night's featured segment on Last Week Tonight with John Oliver tackled Miss America pageants, which seemed strange for a major news issue program that devotes 15 minutes a week to one topic. Miss America pageants? I mean, sure they are frivolous and sexist, in ways that pundits have been bemoaning for years, or even decades (not that it's done much good, because women in swimsuits are still trotted out and judged like cattle), but why does it make it John Oliver-worthy?
You'd be surprised.
Oliver does go back over some of the sexist terrain, as well the absurdity of the current events questions that are asked of the pageant contestants. (Solve ISIS. You have 20 seconds. GO!) But besides describing Donald Trump as a "clown made of mummified foreskin and cotton candy," the best bit from the segment was on the Miss America scholarships.
Yes, yes, the Miss America beauty pageant is all about philanthropy -- the organization is "the world's largest provider of scholarships for women." Of course. And it's important we see scholarship contestants in bathing suits before we award them money. Obviously. These things are known.
But what of the claims that through the organization, $45 million is made available annually for scholarships? That was made at last week's pageant, at which Miss New York Kira Kazantsev became Miss America 2015. Mind you, it's made available to its participants, who have to be young, single, without children, and look good in a bikini. But $45 million? That was enough to send John Oliver and his Last Week Tonight team down a rabbit hole of sequins and butt glue to track down tax forms and follow the money. The key is that the organization claims the money is "made available." That's not the same as giving it away.
Shockingly, the numbers don't add up. Oliver and team couldn't even get a total close to $4 million going to scholarships for contestants, let alone $45 million.
Can we drop the pretense already, Miss America? Can we drop you?
Sarah Carlson is Television Editor for Pajiba. She lives in San Antonio. You can find her on Twitter.
The trailer for the film that took Jon Stewart away from us for an entire summer, Rosewater, has arrived. The film is based on the memoir of Iranian journalist Maziar Bahari, Then They Came for Me: A Family's Story of Love, Captivity, and Survival. Gael García Bernal stars as Bahari.
She’s a Chocolate Shar Pei named……ready?
Princess Potato from the Kingdom of Tater Tots.
I think the Emmys are on to something here. I don't like commercials, you don't like commercials. No one likes them. No watches them. But maybe if all commercials were six minute videos with Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul, we'd actually pay attention.
Be prepared to watch this video, in which Julia tries to pawn her Seinfeld Emmy, twice. Because if you can focus on anything the first time through besides the weirdness Aaron Paul is doing with his mouth, your brain is incredible.
Did you watch it to the end? Watch it to the end, Breaking Bad fans.
I don't usually go for videos of kids acting out television scenes; often they end up being too cutesy or on the nose. But these little thespians are kinda spunky and funny. I especially love little Daenerys' attitude, and Rust Cohle's hysterical hair and mustache -- and the pint-sized Frank Underwood is absolute perfection. Also, not for nothing, but I'm pretty sure little Aaron Paul's advice is sound...bitches.
Cindy Davis, (Twitter) hopes Kevin Spacey gets to see his mini-me in action.
Many of us take pride in experimenting with adventurous new foods, especially when we travel abroad. But, as tempting as these mysterious delicacies can often appear, some of them can make us violently ill or even worse can be fatal. So without further ado, here are 10 of the world’s most dangerous foods according to Conde Nast Traveler, that you can eat but probably shouldn’t. You have been warned!
1. Raw Cashews. Most of us wouldn’t hesitate to buy a bag of these delicious nuts from the local bodega. But, what you don’t know is that the ‘raw’ cashews you purchase from the store shelf are not exactly ‘raw.’ The kernels have actually been steamed to remove the dangerous chemical urushiol which is related to poison ivy and can cause an unpleasant reaction on your skin. In large amounts, raw cashews can be fatal, so steer clear!
2. Elderberries. While elderberries are often used as a medicinal plant and found in homeopathy remedies to treat skin wounds and colds, the leaves, twigs and seeds contain a deadly chemical related to cyanide, which can cause severe illness and nausea if ingested. While some varieties are safe to eat, those that aren’t ripe or cooked properly can cause diarrhea and seizures.
3. Fugu. Also known as the puffer fish, fugu is a Japanese delicacy that if not prepared correctly can kill you or cause asphyxia. The fish, normally eaten raw, can only be served by highly trained chefs with years of experience in preparing fugu. This is because its internal organs contain the lethal poison tetrodotoxin. This substance is 1,200 more toxic than cyanide, which for the more daring foodies provides a slight tingling sensation. When consumed, the toxin does not enter the “blood-brain barrier” so a person can remain completely unaware that his/her central nervous system is slowly closing down, before experiencing paralysis, according to News.com.au. But this hasn’t stopped the Japanese, who continue to consume 10,000 tons of the fish every year.
4. Cassava. Cassava is a tropical root crop, known also as tapioca, that is found in South America, Asia and Africa and used as a filler in chips and cakes. Imported raw cassava is particularly dangerous because it contains a toxin called linamarin which the body converts to the deadly cyanogenic glycoside when eaten raw. The only way to ingest it safely is to first peel it and then boil it thoroughly.
5. Blood Clams. Blood clams are harvested in areas of the Gulf of Mexico, the Atlantic and the Pacific. Unlike other varieties of clams that are safe to eat, the blood clam can ingest viruses and bacteria including hepatitis A, typhoid and dysentery because it lives in lower oxygen environments. Conde Nast Traveler advises to query where exactly your blood clams herald from when dining and to especially avoid all blood clams from Chinese waters which have been known for hepatitis outbreaks.
6. Casu Marzu. Ready to be turned off your food for life? What the Sardinians call tradition and an aphrodisiac is none other than rotten maggot cheese. Say what? Yes, this sheep’s-milk cheese is laid outside in the open to allow flies to lay eggs inside which then hatch into maggots and feed on the cheese causing fermentation. When ingested, the larvae survive and wiggle through your intestinal walls causing severe illness. This “delicacy” has been banned by the Europe Union but there’s still a black market for it and shepherds continue to produce it, according to reports. When consuming, local recommend wearing eye protection because the maggots can jump six inches into your eyeballs. Enough said!
7. African Bullfrog. Those thrill seekers trekking across southern Africa may come across this amphibian on the menu in places like Namibia. But be warned: the African bullfrog contains a variety of substances toxic to humans. Locals say that young frogs who have not yet begun to mate are the most lethal because of a toxin they carry. But, even if you eat the wrong parts of a post-mating frog at any time of the year, you risk kidney failure. Best advice? Avoid eating or as many others around the world do - keep it as a pet!
8. Hákarl. Described as the “worst tasting food on earth,” this rotten smelling shark from Greenland is considered a traditional Icelandic food and makes the list because it does not have a kidney or urinary tract. Why does that matter, you ask? Well, put simply, it means all the waste and toxic substances are filtered directly into the animal’s skin so is essentially a recipe for food-borne illness. In order to filter the waste appropriately to ensure it is safe for human consumption, chefs must ferment the shark and hang it to dry for up to six months.
9. Ackee. Taking a bite of Jamaica’s national fruit can cause severe vomiting known as Jamaica Vomiting Sickness thanks to a poison it contains called hypoglycin. It can also cause coma or death if eaten before it's fully ripe. Originally indigenous to West Africa, the black seeds of this fruit are always toxic, but the yellow-hued flesh is apparently okay to consume if the red fruit has burst open. Best to avoid.
10. Sannakji. Last on the list is this Korean raw baby octopus, which is particularly deadly because it continues to move after it has died even after it has been chopped up into small pieces. Even when the limbs have been removed from the body and covered in sesame oil, its suction caps still conserve their gripping power so they are able to latch onto your mouth and throat, becoming a choking hazard for novice eaters and causing asphyxiation. Then again sannakji connoisseurs actually get off on the sensation of the octupus’ legs attempting to climb back up the throat. Advice for beginners? Chew before swallowing!
I mean, will you just LOOK at that first photo?
“Mona, a.k.a. Monalicious, is our 3 yr old English bulldog…” says Mona’s mom, Fran M.
“…and she’s such a mush who is OBSESSED with belly rubs!”
Oh, the nerve!
On top of not being able to spell properly in English -or Spanish- the owners of this Brooklyn building want my people not to do what we do best: haraganear (i.e. be lazy.)
Or maybe they meant to say hanguear?
Hat tip: Bathtubmedia.
As spotted on Bored Panda: this small store in Tokyo has one of the friendliest (and furriest) clerks you’ll ever meet!
Now that Uber has received an $18.2 billion valuation from investors, making it worth more than rental car giants Hertz and Avis combined, it would seem the ride-sharing company’s days as a scrappy young tech startup are done. But in the days since the valuation was made public, the Uber hype machine—which insists that the company is revolutionizing the monopolistic, overly bureaucratic taxi industry—has gone into overdrive.
In one of the eight articles on Uber that the New York Times has published in the last two weeks alone, Farhad Manjoo refers to the company as “the hottest, most valuable technology start-up on the planet.” In the opinion of Mitchell Moss, director of the Rudin Center for Transportation at New York University, “Uber is transforming mobility in big cities and has been one of the great innovations in transportation in the last decade.”
With its revolutionary “disruptive” potential, app-based technology and clever marketing—one campaign involved a kitten delivery service in honor of National Cat Day—the service is almost a parody of the quintessential millennial company. But make no mistake: despite the populist, user-focused language of Uber promoters and company reps, the ride-sharing service is a prime example of the neoliberal economic model at work. Uber’s brand of tech sector neoliberalism relies on deregulation, an absence of government oversight and a healthy amount of political spending to sway the rules in their favor. By adhering to the narrative of innovation, efficiency and market disruption, for the good of the people, powerful tech companies can avoid discussing other topics: how their services compromise existing industries, fair labor practices, the security of passengers and drivers. Here are five ways that Uber is just like any other exploitative capitalist enterprise,
1) Regulation Free
Uber and other ride-sharing services have fought for an astonishing lack of regulation in most of the cities where they operate. Unlike traditional taxi drivers, Uber operators don’t have to file for licenses, adhere to fixed rate standards, or comply with other county and state regulations that determine when and how a for-hire car can be booked. According to Uber founder and CEO Travis Kalanick, who has referred to the taxi industry as a “protectionist scheme,” these sorts of rules serve as outdated, industry-friendly ways of cutting out competition.
But, as Ralph Nader would tell you, auto regulations are essential for ensuring quality of service and protecting the safety of passengers and drivers alike. In New York City, for example, taxi drivers go through a multi-month training and examination period, and face high standards for continued licensing, including fines, penalties and even arrests for violations. Uber drivers are unburdened by these requirements, needing only a driver’s license, a background check and an insured car to get on the road. This ease of entrance to the field and lack of oversight makes it much more difficult to ensure that drivers are up to snuff and to monitor illegal pickups, a longstanding headache for regulatory officials.
In airports and large urban centers across the US, independent drivers haggle with customers for rides in their personal vehicles, but with the growing popularity of Uber, it is more difficult to determine who is a freelance agent illegally turning a profit and who is a ride-share operator. According to Bhairavi Desai, executive director of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance, NYC’s union for yellow taxicab drivers, “When it’s just individual drivers doing these pickups, you can educate people and build a public consciousness around that, but that’s much harder to do with a large corporation with a multi-million-dollar PR apparatus at its beck and call.”
2) Avoiding Accountability
Alongside an absence of regulation comes a lack of accountability. While Uber maintains a $1 million commercial liability policy, the company’s approach to insurance coverage is grounded in the concept of plausible deniability. According to its website, “this policy provides up to $1 million in coverage for each and every incident that occurs from the time a driver has accepted a trip and is en route to pick up passengers or is transporting passengers to their destination.”
Yet if the app isn’t turned on, or if an accident occurs while a driver doesn’t have a passenger in the backseat, it is not considered an official Uber ride and insurance won’t cover any bodily injury or vehicular damage. The most disturbing example of this is the New Year’s Eve accident that killed 6-year-old Sofia Liu at an intersection in San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood. An Uber driver, Syed Muzzafar, hit Liu with his vehicle, but the company argued he was not using the app at the time and it has no responsibility to ensure him, given that all Uber drivers are independent contractors rather than employees.
Uber’s deferral of responsibility has also been thrown into sharp relief by several prominent cases of sexual assault over the past few years. A 20-year-old woman in Washington, DC accused an Uber driver of raping her in her Northwest Washington home. A female LA club-goer was allegedly kidnapped by an Uber driver and taken to a seedy motel. Not to mention all the incidents in which women have reported being chatted up, groped, threatened or otherwise made to feel uncomfortable when riding alone in Uber vehicles. In these cases, Uber’s default response has been to issue statements affirming that they deactivate any driver accused of criminal activity, yet the company can legally pass the buck in a way traditional taxi companies cannot, with the simple excuse that the accused individuals aren’t Uber employees.
3) The Perils of Surge Pricing
One of the most beloved aspects of the Uber model is the automated paying process. At the end of a ride, passengers can hop out of the car without stopping to count out bills or mentally calculate a tip. Instead, riders’ credit cards are billed directly. Yet there is a flipside to this ease of payment: the ease of ripping people off.
As any Uber rider knows, during peak pickup hours, holidays and periods of inclement weather, the company automatically raises its prices to attract more drivers to accommodate this spike in demand. So the same crosstown ride you take at 5pm could cost five times at much on your return trip at midnight. In one notorious incident a Los Angeles woman was charged $357 for a 14-mile one-way trip to Hollywood. Though customers receive notice when making a reservation that prices have increased, “surge pricing”—especially if customers aren’t paying attention—seriously detracts from the utility and accessibility Uber claims to espouse. The company is meant to be a transportation alternative, offering options to people at odd hours or in off-the-beaten-path locations, but it operates as a monopoly in this market. Yes, you can get a cab home at 2am when no trains or buses are running, but you will pay for it, dearly.
4) Labor Exploitation
The lack of regulation, oversight and affiliation with management leave Uber drivers uniquely vulnerable. As Bhairavi Desai of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance points out, Uber markets itself as a side-job for urban dwellers, not a full-time form of employment. Originally, the company was intended to allow people who already owned a car and happened to be on the road the chance to pick up a few passengers and make some extra bucks. Yet in cities like San Francisco and New York, where ride-sharing services are most firmly entrenched, many Uber drivers drive as their full-time job. Despite their geographical know-how, experience and critical role in spreading the popularity of the app, under this unspoken arrangement Uber drivers are technically not considered “workers” at all. This means they don’t receive any of the protections afforded to full-time laborers, such as workers’ compensation or corporate representation.
According to Desai, “Ride-share companies like Uber are informalizing driver labor. Throughout the world, whenever workers’ labor is deprofessionalized, they lose protections and rights….As much as Uber supporters talk about their model being something modern, I really think it seems quite backwards as far as workers’ rights are concerned.”
Needless to say, traditional taxi drivers—particularly those in cities like New York and London, where the training and examination standards are the most strict—have been economically undercut by Uber drivers, who don’t have to waste precious time or gas cruising around looking for passengers. Earlier in June, taxi drivers across Europe erupted in protest, blocking traffic in some of the continents’ largest cities to protest the advantages held by app-based services that aren’t subjected to the same fees and regulations as the established taxi industry.
5) Blinded by Boosterism
A key part of Uber’s egalitarian, modern image is the idea that it is grassroots-supported, providing a data-driven, useful service to thousands of hip young urban professionals who need an easy way to get around town. This public face makes it easy to forget that it is a multi-billion-dollar, multinational company with an enormous financial incentive to “disrupt” the traditional taxi industry. Beyond hiring political fixers to help overcome regulatory roadblocks in cities from Denver to Houston, Uber retains the services of the Franklin Square Group, a DC-based tech lobbying firm, in order to help sway public opinion in its favor.
In Seattle, the cradle of the tech industry, the public battle over ride sharing has been particularly hostile. Socialist city councilwoman Kshama Sawant and other local officials have argued in favor of a cap on the number of ride-share drivers allowed in the city as a means of protecting traditional taxi drivers. In response, the ride-sharing services launched a massive public relations campaign and lobbying effort linked to Seattle’s reputation as a center for tech innovation. In June, Uber and Lyft got their way, with a first-in-the-nation agreement that lifts the cap of 150 drivers per service in the name of customer satisfaction and competition. According to Democratic mayor Ed Murray, by eliminating the cap on for-hire drivers, “We have deregulated a highly regulated monopoly.”
For now, there is no real danger of Uber wiping out the traditional taxi business. Ride-sharing companies work best in large urban centers that already have a wealth of transportation options, like the Bay Area and New York City; they aren’t designed to operate in suburbia or even mid-size cities with a smaller customer base. But Uber and its copycats will only expand their reach in the coming years, and progressives shouldn’t swallow everything they hear about the radical innovation of ride sharing. After all, when Uber is being defended by the likes of Michael Bloomberg—who once claimed he would “fucking destroy” the taxi industry—while Kshama Sawant and unions are arguing for the protection of drivers, maybe the rush to advance "innovative" ride-sharing services merits rerouting into the slow lane.
This note, unearthed by The Bold Italic, is pretty much the most perfect passive-aggressive note one can receive in their mailbox from a neighbor. It's got everything: humor, pathos, an antichrist symbol left on a doorstep, and a screaming match with a poodle. It's basically a Stephen Sondheim musical waiting to happen. Is Bernadette Peters working? Because have I got a role for her.
I don't know who I love more on Twitter these days: Carice van Houten (Melisandre from Game of Thrones), the hot, sexy mess who sings in her car and hangs out with Bill Murray, or Allison Tolman, who shuts down body shamers with an impeccable sense of humor.
This last week saw the season finale of Fargo and Tolman take home the Critics' Choice Award for Best Actress. Tolman has been on a Twitter tear. Following up on the hilarious tirade she went against folks for calling her fat, she did ask that fans keep her Twitter feed out of the ensuing attacks:
Then she apologized to her mom for the excessive use of profanity on Twitter:
The next day, she met with some "professional contacts," probably about future opportunities, and she handled the follow-up like a CHAMP.
With the Emmy nominations due soon, she also did a little lobbying on her own behalf.
Late last week, when she won the award for Best Supporting Actress at the Critics' Choice Awards, she handled herself with class and poise.
From 
Klassy with a K. pic.twitter.com/VFs3KJoYba
— Allison Tolman (@Allison_Tolman) June 20, 2014
Her cat, however, remained non-plussed.
One last thing- here is Annie not giving a fuck about her mom's win, already in bed and snoring cat snores. Night! pic.twitter.com/OIpZLNrNuI
— Allison Tolman (@Allison_Tolman) June 20, 2014
Best moment of the night was not hanging with the big-time blockbuster celebrities, it was the high-five she shared with her driver.
Favorite moment, hands down, was hopping in my car and yelling at my driver Jacob, "I WON!". The following high five was amazing and joyous.
— Allison Tolman (@Allison_Tolman) June 20, 2014
Don't worry about that raisin she dropped.
Yes airport bystanders, I'm aware I just dropped a raisin down my shirt. EVERYBODY JUST BE COOL. I'm handling it.
— Allison Tolman (@Allison_Tolman) June 20, 2014
And, of course, a special selfie to the three people on the planet shipping these two:
Our ship name was Molvo. #fargo pic.twitter.com/qlMDOAswbu
— Allison Tolman (@Allison_Tolman) June 22, 2014
I seriously love this woman. She's got the acting talent of Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and the kick-ass attitude of Courtney Enlow.
Source: Twitter
Take a look at THESE Peeg Pix, as seen on The Panda Of Boredom. More photos at Lieveheersbeestje’s website. (Disclaimer: I think the first two shots of The Peeg With Glasses is Booboo, and the rest are part of his crew.)
The National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest returns with a Big Ol’ Honkin’ Batch O’ The Qte. Thanks as always to the mighty Marilyn Teeeeeee.
“Who said I can’t climb mountains?” by Miroslaw Kwasnik:
Sheepishly curious by Kiri-Ana Libbeson:
Just hanging out by Jorgen Tharaldsen:
Gentoo walking on water by Shanu Subra:
Look what I found by Magendran Muriandy:
Guardian of the temple by Kelly Morgan:
Don’t leave any food on your plate by Gavin Werbeloff:
A mother’s love by Yaron Schmid:
Lorikeet secrets by Pam Gill:
Bear snack by Mike Eggett:
Bebeh Mountain Goats by Joan Reedy:
Squirrel with bird feeder by Ke Qiang Ruan:
Mother + daughter time by Duane Baker:
Hanging out on a sunny day by Patricia Petersen:
Peek-a-boo by Christine Haines:
A well-deserved rest in the jungle by Robin Kluck:
Coquerel’s Sifaka Lemur by John Freedman:
