I canceled my Amazon order of Sam, leaving them a polite but pissy note as to why, and ordered them again through the Plus One Press storefront.

Thanks, all. Amazon is a stupid bitch. I'm unhappy, but there's not a lot I can do about it. I'm a tiny dust speck on the back of their collar. They could beat me with sock filled with rocks and razor blades and I'd have to send them a thank you note.

Aaron Sorkin explains his understanding of the plight of the little man.

I can see his point about credits for writers that basically do an entirely different script, but acting as if the vast majority of the union is just coattail-riding hacks is really obnoxious. Also, the idea that the moment an individual does better than he would do in a union = leave the union? Smacks of the same kind of assholes who are products of public schools, scholarships, etc. and then leave the country for a tax shelter the moment they get rich.

His attitude towards those who engage in social media is annoying as well. Which is really too bad because I love his writing.

Allyson, I hope you can get it ironed out with Amazon. I had trouble with them acknowledging that they'd received my CD from CDBaby. It took several calls and emails back and forth but eventually it was solved. I hope it all gets hammered out for you soon.

Aaron Sorkin is very VERY talented, but a huge dick. Really respected writers we know who have worked with or around him say he is monomaniacal, controlling and dismissive of all ideas other than his own.

He also tried to get my DH fired once, long ago, so we don't like him in this house.

Brains are fascinating -- researchers bring toddlers into a room with some toys, have the kids play with the toys for a little while, then take the kid out, replace some of the toys with miniature versions, and bring the kid back in. This is what happens: [link]

My impression is that Hilary Clinton is a lot more of a hawk than Bill, at least where the Middle East is concerned. But I don't recall that becoming really apparent during his terms, more after her post-First lady political career took off.

That thing with the babies is quite creepy, and seems to say much about us as pointless creatures of habit.

Toddlers don't work to scale.

Thank Zod for the internets. I woke up from a dream that was populated by TV actors from the sixties and seventies. I was thinking, "What's that actress's name? The one that was on original Star Trek, and she was like Diana Muldaur and Jessica Walter in that she played patrician characters but she was blonde or sometimes redhead..."

So I found a Star Trek website and scrolled through the pictures until I found her. Whereas I would have been bugged for days back in the 80s until I (a) tracked down a Star Trek episode guide in a bookstore and skimmed through every episode looking for her; or (b) randomly encountered her in channel flipping and stayed until the credits to catch her name.

I'm glad I live in a world of IMDB.

NOVA had an episode about dogs this week, and included a segment about a dog that is shown a miniature toy and then goes fetch the full-sized toy from another room. Compared to the babies in that video, it's a genius.

(Incidentally, Mythbusters investigated how easy it is to take candy from babies this week, which was easily one of the most adorable investigations they've done.)

That's wild, Theo. I've always suspected that the Biscuit is smarter than me.

I cannot believe I missed the adorableness of Mythbusters with babies. Thank goodness it replays eight billion times. Is this a good time to reiterate about the Navajo first laugh party? I always talk about it because I find it so charming. When a baby first laughs, whoever made the baby laugh has to throw her a party. At the party, she is given candy and is made to put the candy in the hands of each of her guests. Presumably this is to make her generous throughout her life. And I think it works! Navajo people are super generous in my experience.