At least a hundred schools in 17 states already have four-day weeks, and many hundreds have 4 1/2-day weeks, where the kids get out early one day every single week. NPR did a story about it: [www.npr.org] I thank God we left Hawaii and moved back to the mainland, as they have 4 1/2-day weeks, and finding child care…

Because the point is to save on costs by shutting off the electricity, heating, etc. on that extra no-school day.

It's getting more and more common as schools have less and less money. There are already hundreds of U.S. schools that only go 4 1/2 days a week and have a half-day off every single week (which makes child care a fucking nightmare for parents). But they definitely don't need shorter days! Most kids are only in the…

The point is that the word "workaholic" (or "tanoholic" or whatever) doesn't make sense grammatically. "-oholic" does not mean "addicted to," and "alco-" is not a prefix you add to it to mean "addicted to alcohol."

"'The scores of black parents who've lost children to random violence and an apathetic justice system' are completely irrelevant as far as determining guilt or innocence in this case goes."

I absolutely read it that way too, and I was like, "Damn, Alex, can I get in on that action?"

"(Want your daughter to run a company one day? Give her a one-syllable, serious-sounding name, like Kate.)"

You couldn't figure out how to file taxes at 15 years old? Assuming you just worked a regular, after-school job, the 1040EZ is a single sheet of paper with about ten lines to fill in. My parents made me do my taxes when I was 15 after I got my first job (they checked to make sure I did them correctly before I…

Yes, he was exploiting the system by doing it en masse, but he was completely following the rules, right? Their promise was that if you sent in a warrantied broken iPod, they'd send you a fixed one. No limit on how many or what you could do after that, right? I don't understand how they could have gotten him in any…

Pitocin? God, that stuff was a nightmare from hell, and it cut right through that epidural and left me screaming until the nurse anesthetist came back and gave me an extra bolus of the epidural.

Or just don't go in for an induction—it's not as if your hospital can force you to have your labor induced.

Just a few weeks ago, Diana Rehm had doctors on her show discussing Dick Cheney's heart transplant, and they were arguing in favor of and against having an opt-out system instead of the opt-in one we have now. You can find it here: [thedianerehmshow.org]

Going to 42 weeks has nothing to do with dates being off—anything between 38 and 42 weeks is a perfectly normal variation in pregnancy length. If you conceived later than you thought, then yes, you could go even further than 42 weeks, because you actually aren't as far along as you thought.

Really? Other than Taylor, none of those names are common for boys. None of them are made the top 100 boys names last year, and I've never met a man under age 50 who had any of those names, except Robin, which I think I knew one of in elementary school, 25 years ago.

You are not the only one. What is the point? Just to be pretty? Or does it actually serve some useful, office-related purpose?

@Whazzit2: He is absolutely performing masculinity as much as she is performing femininity. The difference is that his is a hell of a lot more comfortable and less sexualized, and it takes far less time to prepare for in terms of makeup and hair.

Anyone who isn't sure what "performing femininity" is just needs to see this photo. Her: Stiletto heels, shaved legs, expensive short dress, matching purse, carefully colored and styled hair, and jewelry. Him: Comfortable boots, jeans, tee-shirt, partially shaved face and head.

Troop Beverly Hills! It's a classic.

That doesn't end, either. I've been married for ten years, and I still struggle to say "I" instead of "we" so as to not become That Couple, because That Couple is so fucking annoying.

Get one of those little things that looks kind of like a pacifier but has a bit of netting on it that you stick food in. The kid can gnaw on it all day long and work on feeding himself. I loved them when my kids were babies.