My grandmother and mother watch the Game Show Network at night at times

If I'm down there, I watch with them. Now, unlike NY1, the GSN is not predominately sponsored by the Humane Society with their awful ads that made Ana cry hours later. (I told her flat-out that they WANT you to cry so you send them money without checking first to see where the money goes. I think it's an incredibly tacky move and will support just about any animal organization *first*, no matter what the percentage of tortured rescues is.)

No, they seem to be largely sponsored by Lysol. Ah, Lysol - the people who give me terrifying ads about how bleach "doesn't really clean" toilet bowls.

My grandmother's reaction to this is "But why don't they ever clean the outside of the toilet?"
Mine is "WTF? Who CARES if the inside of your toilet bowl is 100% sterile? You're just gonna poo in it again, and it's not like you drink from it! (And if you do, it's a toss-up as to whether dirty is really worse than sterile-but-full-of-toxic-chemicals. Don't drink out of your toilet, guys.) HONestly.

Yesterday they had a new one talking about how the pump of a soap dispenser can (logically) get covered in germs, and that's why they're selling new pump-free dispensers for home use.

Aside from the fact that it's highly unlikely that your family members are carrying plague, here's an interesting question: Once again, who the fuck CARES? It's the pump of your soap dispenser! You pump. You soap up, you rinse. At this point, any germs you picked up from the dispenser are now safely in the u-bend of your sink. End of problem.

I mean, unless their argument is that their soap is so sucky it barely kills pre-existing germs, much less the ones you pick up in the bathroom, I think I'll pass. Real soap is better for your skin than detergents anyway, isn't it? (Yes, yes it is.)

So, I read The Hunger Games, as I said.

Good book, really. Can't believe I never read it sooner, but you know, it never came out in paperback that I saw.

One thing, though. Is there an outside world?

I see this in a lot of books. Somebody lives in a non-worldwide dystopia, or they live in a fantasy world where they're in some degree of trouble... and, I don't know, if people thought I killed a man here I'd run for the border right away!

These people don't. Oh, they might talk about the border, but that's the border into wilderness, there's no chance of people being out there.

But I'm reading this book going "Well, okay, SOMEthing happened, and now the country stretches out as far as the Appalachians. Okay. Well, there's a few more thousand miles of land between there and the next coast. Nobody has settled in any of that land? Nobody whispers, however quietly, about running so far you can't be tracked and caught? Nobody even mentions how their government trades with other governments to the north or across the sea? Seriously? Even the least politically minded person in the real world can name at least *one* other existing country or trade partner in the world!

I mean, I suppose it's possible, but then I'd expect a comment about how "Yup, as far as we know, nobody's left". And these people have technology, too, so if they don't know at all what's out there it's only because the Evil Government doesn't want them to. But even in their cynical little thoughts, nobody seems to think "Gee, maybe it's not so bad if we get just a littttle further out and we've been lied to".

And it's not restricted to this book, either. Fantasy books where your pal is a wanted criminal - well, they don't have high tech, and you're out beyond guards, so why are you rambling around the countryside instead of LEAVING the countryside and going to where nobody knows your name? Countless books where you have a closet rebellion that doesn't think, first things first, to see if they can get some aid from their country's enemies... and they certainly don't offer or come up at all. Endless stories where the prince marries any random peasant because, you know, it's not like he has to make alliances with other countries, not like they'll be upset he snubbed THEIR royalty for this little nobody.

It gets on my nerves sometimes, but then, maybe I just want to travel a bit too much.

My nieces, as I may have mentioned before, like to hide.

They hide under beds. They hide in closets. They hide in cupboards, and in laundry bags, and under blankets in the middle of the floor. They hide behind trees and bushes and houses. They hide and sneak up behind you.

Hiding is a way of life for them.

Ana can hide very well where we have no idea where she is, but she mostly doesn't bother. The point isn't to be hidden, after all, the point is to be found! Evangeline... not so much. She's only four, after all, so she's bound to talk or fidget sooner or later.

My sister and I have independently had the same thought: Fun as it is for them, how hard must it have been to hide small children during the Holocaust? Not just hiding and being quiet for a short time, and then yelling "COME FIND ME", but being hidden for days and days (and years and years, but children think in days, don't they usually?) all the time?

Or hiding on the Underground Railroad with children, or hiding in any of the other situations in history where you needed to smuggle your children to safety as quickly as possible.

I have no idea how these people managed. Even cadging one day out of the hiding abilities of a preschooler, no matter how much self-control they had back then? That's an enormous undertaking. It's a depressing thing to think of as you watch the laundry bag inch its way across the floor, but I think of it every time - how on Earth were those people lucky enough to manage this?