The Trouble with Binge TV, The Case for Lowering the Voting Age to 16 and Phishheads on the Phish Phan Running for President

As if I needed more reasons to want to vote for Pete Buttigieg: He’s a proponent of the Green New Deal; he’s pro-union, for gun control and wants to enact a single-payer health-care system; and he knows the subtle difference between a Type 1 jam and a Type 2.

That last one might not make sense for anyone who hasn’t seen or heard a Phish show, but if you ate your share of heady goo balls like I did in the early aughts, it’s an important distinction. For current and retired Phish fans like myself, the recent revelation that Buttigieg is a “Phan” definitely gives the South Bend, Indiana mayor a leg up in the now-crowded field of Democrats running for president.

After all, who better to guide us out of this acid trip we call the Trump presidency than a guy who probably knows his way around a dose or two?

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Push Away from the Remote

Netflix is like the dim-sum palace of television. From the moment you sit down, it’s instant gratification. And just when you’ve thought you’ve binged enough, there’s always another cart — or series — around the corner. But like dim sum, binging TV comes with a downside: While it can be fun to consume consume consume, you often never stop to savor the flavor.

Sixteen is the New Eighteen

If you haven’t yet seen the incredible video of 17-year-old Australian Will Connolly slamming an egg into the head of Queensland senator and Islamophobe Fraser Anning, watch it now:

As you can see from the video, “Egg Boy” — as Connolly has since been become known — took a beating for the team practicing the only form of democracy available to him: Direct action. And it encapsulates why the voting age should be lowered to 16. Because as long as teens are aware of how decisions made by the government directly affect their future and the future of the planet, they shouldn’t have to resort to egging their representatives to make their displeasure known.

So Not Punk

Beto O’Rourke was forced to disavow his “punk” past this week when misogynistic screeds he wrote for a hacktivist collective in the 1990s were released to the public, prompting an apology from the embarrassed presidential hopeful. But if we went back and found angry hacker-teen Beto, he’d probably tell us he finds present-day politician Beto, the lanky suit who’s better known for standing on countertops than standing for actual policy ideas, even more embarrassing.

Stuff Your Face

Food is one of life’s most infuriating ironies. After all, it’s the crap we like to eat the most that will double our size. But what if we could snack to our heart’s content on something that was both delicious, and good for us? Ian Lecklitner asked a dietitian for a list of snacks that are still kinda healthy even when you stuff your face till your waistband explodes.

Get Out While the Getting’s Good

In the current job market — and in a big change from the job market of our parents’ generation — leaving your gig and finding another is the best way to make more money. But how long should you stay at one company before hopping to the next? We asked a corporate recruiter for advice on the best way to balance loyalty with career opportunism.

Basic Dad Advice: Can’t Win ‘Em All Edition

Unless you want a full-fledged meltdown on your hands, it’s a good idea to let your kid win — at Candy Land, at hide-‘n’-seek, at discussions around when “here” becomes “there” — for the better part of their childhood. But all good things must come to an end, and at some point they’re going to have to learn to live with disappointment. We asked a professional baseball player, a board game designer and others for advice on when it’s time for them to start losing.

Gotta Go Gotta Go Gotta Go Right Now

Taking a piss works something like this:

1. Your bladder sends a gentle signal to your brain that it’s time to go.
2. Walking toward the bathroom makes the signal get stronger.
3. Lifting the lid of the toilet, the urge to pee begins to cloud your vision.
4. As you unbutton your fly, the odds you piss your pants becomes 50/50.
5. Ahhhhhhnnnd release.

Why the urge to urinate builds the closer we get to the john is anyone’s guess. Just kidding — scientists have known about it for years, and even have a name for it: “Latchkey incontinence.” Here’s why it happens.

Pete Buttigieg, Phish Head

Anyone who’s been to a Phish concert has seen the dreadlocked dude outside in the patchwork shorts, or the stoned-looking girl with the butterfly wings, finger in the air, looking for a “miracle,” i.e. their ticket to the big show:

For presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg, Phishheads might just be his miracle. Because with one Twitter mention of a Phish song, Buttigieg is earning himself a diehard and extremely loyal legion of “Phans.”

To find out just how important this revelation is to Phans, we reached out to as many as we could to talk about Buttigieg’s chances in 2020.

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Jeff Gross

Jeff Gross is MEL’s senior editor for social media and content marketing. His daily ICYMI column, which chronicles all things meta on the site, is the quickest way to catch up on MEL, and the funniest thing you’ll read all day. Follow him on Twitter.