Don Edwards

Prof, I think it's just possible that those cats might be spoiled.

Prof, I think it's just possible that those cats might be spoiled.

Prof, I think it's just possible that those cats might be spoiled.

Well, I finally got caught up with reading the NP comics I missed only to land in this debate.
So for what it's worth -
Goonmanji II should not be a video game.
It should be a spectator sport with mandatory audience participation.
Could you imagine the disclaimers on the tickets or Pay-Per-View receipts to meet the "Informed Consent" requirements?

A rich Alpha Bitch would not be immune to the desire to have others demonstrate her dominance by bringing her gifts. And a less-than-rich Alpha Bitch can occur through sheer force of personality; most commonly, but not always, this person will be an oldest or youngest child in a large somewhat-dysfunctional family.
On the other hand, a person who obviously has what it takes to be Alpha Bitch and obviously rejects the role (such as Susan) weakens the power of the role. This is good for other students who can't, or don't want to, play those games.
Much the same is true on the male side, albeit manifesting slightly differently. Elliot, being obviously athletic (quite possibly one of the top athletes in the school) and apparently having little interest in school sports (plus having an obvious nerd and a couple of brainy non-cheerleader girls as his best friends), makes things a lot easier for non-jock/non-cheerleader schoolmates. Even without him making any effort to do so.

A rich Alpha Bitch would not be immune to the desire to have others demonstrate her dominance by bringing her gifts. And a less-than-rich Alpha Bitch can occur through sheer force of personality; most commonly, but not always, this person will be an oldest or youngest child in a large somewhat-dysfunctional family.
On the other hand, a person who obviously has what it takes to be Alpha Bitch and obviously rejects the role (such as Susan) weakens the power of the role. This is good for other students who can't, or don't want to, play those games.
Much the same is true on the male side, albeit manifesting slightly differently. Elliot, being obviously athletic (quite possibly one of the top athletes in the school) and apparently having little interest in school sports (plus having an obvious nerd and a couple of brainy non-cheerleader girls as his best friends), makes things a lot easier for non-jock/non-cheerleader schoolmates. Even without him making any effort to do so.

Badly thought out laws... in the US some years back there formed a notion that it would be better for parents to abandon unwanted newborn infants at hospitals or fire stations or other such places, as opposed to out in the woods or in a dumpster behind some restaurant, so laws were passed in a bunch of states allowing such abandonment (along with surrender of all parental rights) without legal penalty.
One state neglected to put an age limit on the children thus abandoned.
During the ten weeks before this oversight was corrected, 36 children who had already had their first birthday - and in quite a lot of cases their thirteenth as well - were abandoned in compliance with the deficient law. The oldest was 17. (But you do have to have some sympathy for the abandoning parent in that case - a recently-widowered father with nine minor children; he turned them all over to the state.)
Six of those 36 children turned out to be legal residents of other states, so were sent back to their parents; presumably the suitable authorities of those states were notified.

A rich Alpha Bitch would not be immune to the desire to have others demonstrate her dominance by bringing her gifts. And a less-than-rich Alpha Bitch can occur through sheer force of personality; most commonly, but not always, this person will be an oldest or youngest child in a large somewhat-dysfunctional family.
On the other hand, a person who obviously has what it takes to be Alpha Bitch and obviously rejects the role (such as Susan) weakens the power of the role. This is good for other students who can't, or don't want to, play those games.
Much the same is true on the male side, albeit manifesting slightly differently. Elliot, being obviously athletic (quite possibly one of the top athletes in the school) and apparently having little interest in school sports (plus having an obvious nerd and a couple of brainy non-cheerleader girls as his best friends), makes things a lot easier for non-jock/non-cheerleader schoolmates. Even without him making any effort to do so.

I would object to turning people into "loving and cheerful" (or "gay") anything-at-all without their informed consent, even to a greater extent than non-consensual shape-changes. It's a mind-control issue.
 
But while we're on the subject of shape-changing...

Yesterday we went shopping for lunch meat, and in a store I noticed they had eggs in clear plastic cartons with a slight green tint. I thought about the contents of our refrigerator for a moment, and picked up a dozen.
Yep, we bought green eggs & ham.

As a computer systems analyst I spent 30+ years figuring out conditions for a situation and writing extremely-detailed plans to achieve a desired outcome...

...you have no idea of how hard I just had to struggle to stop myself from making a joke about LGBTQ* insurance policies and reparative therapy for them.

No, it would be the One True Bowtie.
Two triangles, opposite each other but sharing one common vertex.

Well, we tried for "the rain in Plains falls mainly on the flames" but so far we haven't even gotten any rain for that to apply to.
(There's a big forest fire on a hilltop about 30 miles west of Plains MT. During the Sanders County Fair, in Plains, the flames were visible from the fairgrounds at night and there was ash falling all over everything. So some rain would be much appreciated.)

Well, we tried for "the rain in Plains falls mainly on the flames" but so far we haven't even gotten any rain for that to apply to.
(There's a big forest fire on a hilltop about 30 miles west of Plains MT. During the Sanders County Fair, in Plains, the flames were visible from the fairgrounds at night and there was ash falling all over everything. So some rain would be much appreciated.)

And the answer is, of course, that after Tuesday even the calendar said WTF.

Looks more like they aren't interested in defeating until they are rested.

Prof, pure speculation, but I think if you could get the various pains under control the depression would lessen.
Which is hardly helpful... in fact it probably doesn't qualify as advice... but it may be comforting.

Translation devices never cease to amaze me. Twitter has an exceptionally talented one.
I received a tweet that was basically a mocking comment on a previous one. It went something like, "LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL *gasp for breath* LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL."
At the bottom of the tweet, Twitter kindly offered, "Translate from Filipino."
To think that I could have gone my whole life without knowing that that was actually Filipino. I am truly blessed.

Yeah, sometimes the damnthings are pack hunters.

Well, considering the general level of competence of government, I think that keeping the people who run it from advising future generations might be a really good idea.

Tell her that the cats will never learn to speak proper English if they are always addressed in babytalk.
 

In most cities where I've seen a lot of bicyclists, that would be a GOOD day. On bad days it's more like 99%.

An uncomfortable and unexpected change, with no known cause? Since it's sufficiently non-severe that you're taking time to ask, it is probably not ER-worthy. But doctor-worthy, sure, particularly if it persists for a few days or continues to grow.
On the other hand, if you describe it to someone who actually knows something about medicine and they say "go to the ER", then do so.

Cookies in general are not inherently magical, but Akiko has a cookie-based magic affinity. </sillyspec>