Bullets

• Dubya's manspreading trumps Clinton's chubby thighs, but Gore tucking his tee shirt into his running shorts wins.  (And that's not even the worst thing about his, um, ensemble.)
• The teachers at my catholic grade school would have just paddled. Then, I don't know, because I wasn't "out" as an atheist until high school where it didn't make too much of a difference to anyone, save for one ardently pro-life teacher who was probably convinced I was going to hell anyway.
• "Shut up and listen." I hate this. Not for allowing marginalized voices to rise to the top on issues that affect them, but because many people -- mostly women -- take this to mean to not engage at all. I have a real visceral reaction to being told "Shut up," in general, and its intent to keep women in their place.
• I also loathe when strangers call me "dear." Some dude did this yesterday, then continued to sneer at me in a lascivious way and the only thing that stopped me from going apeshit was that I was with my mother at the time and she'd rather I not "make a scene." (Or what I call standing up for myself.)
• Short story of the day: Rick Moody's "Boys" from Demonology.  Summarily perfect. This is the way I want to write -- the essence of a story paired down to only what's necessary to get the feeling across. Moody does this better than most.