I have immense respect for anyone who can make any kind of identifiable doodles on these things. Never found the Etch A Sketch remotely entertaining. It was just too frustrating.

Good one. My mom used to do this with us! I also recommend popping the kids in a cool bubble bath. Mine can stay in for an hour, playing with cups and straws.

Antinous, I want to hear MORE stories. *delicious shudder*

Yeah, I have a hard time believing fingernails could DO that. But I grant that it's possible over time. Possible, not terribly likely.

Ooooh! Ooooh! I know two kids with this kind of hair. At least, I think this is what they have. They are exQUISite, with fine, perfect features and absolute THATCHES of this hair, sort of dusky blonde. They look like elfin children or something. They are otherworldly-looking. I always want to touch their hair. Some day I'm gonna cop a feel very casually. Actually, I'd like to pluck a few strands and get a look at a cross-section.

But really, I'm no a danger to children. Really.

Kerry: Calling your boyfriend's co-worker's wives "baby factories" is demeaning and condescending, and sounds like something that would be said in a sexist environment.

Women who choose to raise children are contributing no less to the world than women who work in the IT field.

Technogeek wrote: "Bush has been the best collaborator that any terrorist could have hoped for."

Absolutely true. If I were paranoid... oh never mind.

The photo Takuan posted just broke my heart. Yesterday I finally decided that I have enough pairs of summer shoes (I've bought about six pairs. All at VERY good prices, but still...). Seeing that photo makes me feel like a greedy materialistic American. Very humbled.

Interesting. While I admire us for trying, and appreciate the knowledge, I hope we never solve some mysteries. I think there should be a little mystery surrounding the great phenomena: birth, love, death.

Mazel Tov, George and Brad!

Giovanni, we are all entitled to our opinions, as long as we're not assholes to the people we disagree with. Or, that's how I see it. I fully support gay marriage and parenting, but I can understand the opposing viewpoint.

I knew a few kids in NYC who had out, gay parents. We were all teenagers at the time. The ones I knew weren't particularly screwed up. They just seemed more... lonely.

My MIL was neighbors with two gay guys who were raising children born by surrogate. She's very old-fashioned, but the only objection I ever heard her raise about them was that they were "all into that fruity organic hooey stuff... why do people waste their money on it?"

I can't believe a "counselor" at the school condoned this message!

Check out the work of Weston A. Price.

Bad teeth are hereditary and a product of poor nutrition. My father grew up on a farm in a teensy town in Slovenia with no electricity or plumbing. (This was in the 1940s!) He was the middle child of five. There was no dentist in town, save the guy who would pull out rotten teeth with pliers. He ate whatever his family could grow or kill. He drank raw milk straight from the cow. He drank well water. They brushed their teeth with ashes from the fireplace.

His teeth are perfectly straight and white. The only cavity in his mouth occurred after he had been living in the States and served in Vietnam - he was in his 30s.

Teenagers....

(or was it TERRORISTS?)

FanTAStic!

They have a point on this one, but PLEASE don't count on those "fitness" magazines for terribly reliable nutrition advice. They plug foods like microwave popcorn and fat-free Splenda-sweetened yogurt as "healthy" snacks. Come on.

Well, no one would fool ME if they had that library.

See, when people have a REAL library, the books are all different ages and sizes and bindings. Maybe you'd have a few shelves with consistently leather bindings - an encyclopedia, a set of law or medical reference books, you know... A true bibliophile will also have books piled up on tables or floor, with post-its and bookmarks sticking out all over.

I'm sure their customers are mainly McMansion owners and TGI Fridays.

#22 posted by martha_macarthur : "Many people complain about overpopulation and are often pointing fingers at those of us who breed while failing to take into account that death control is a large part of the problem as well."

Agree completely. The older people with whom I am close enough to discuss this (a surprising number are eager to discuss it!) have all expressed the same wish: to die with dignity, preferably at the time and place of their choosing. All support Dr. Kevorkian.

I can't stand that some life is considered more precious than others.

I have IMMENSE respect for and awe of police forensic artists. That's all.

And Metronicity, I loved your link.

So I'm not the only one who thought "Scientology"!

Phew.

I'm immune. Scratch that. I'm allergic.

As several posters have already pointed out, most of the coupons I see are for processed, boxed, ready-to-eat or canned foods I don't eat. Or cleaning products that I don't use. Still, the odd Hellman's mayonnaise or baking soda sale comes in handy.

An honest mistake. Meanwhile, there are children being horribly abused all over the place and no one does anything about it.

They removed the child from his parents because of this, but there are children living in appalling conditions, with evidence of systematic and monstrous physical abuse.

2 posted by ryuthrowsstuff:

"Actually the mall near where I live here in NY has had one of these for several years. Might be a different model though. Its got this sort of high pitched ear splitting chirp thing going on. Thing is I'm in my mid twenties, and I can still hear the damned thing. As can my mother, who's almost 50."

WHen I was a kid, some of the department stores had this high-pitched thing, too. My mother asked about it, and SUPPOSEDLY, it's to make people feel a little frantic and excited so they will spend more money. Kinda like the stuff they do in casinos. It never worked on us, though, becuase we just avoided that store.

I have to ask about good/nutritious food being affordable. There may be the argument that poor people only have convenience stores in their neighborhood, and access to fresh fruits and vegetables may be limited.

Well. I think it's more a matter of people not wanting to eat healthier foods.

We were POOR when I was growing up, but my mother always managed to make healthy meals from whole foods (bought with food stamps). Whole wheat bread she made from scratch, beans and rice, peanut butter and honey sandwiches, frozen vegetables, fruit that was in season(and therefore cheaper). We ate organ meats like liver which were cheap and nutritious. Lots of soups and stews with leftovers.

I argue that poor people are not educated about nutrition and they have developed a palate for processed foods. I guarantee that I spend less on groceries than a "poor" person because I don't buy many packaged foods at all.

That is just terrible.

Hitch-hikining is damn dangerous. For anyone. If you're hitching a ride, you don't know if the driver is dangerous. And if you're a driver, you don't know if the hitcher is dangerous. Back in the 70s, my father was robbed by a hitch-hiker he picked up. Luckily he only lost his watch and cash.