Respectfully, your view that we should let kids' immune systems "develop a little" is not supported by the evidence.

Heh. I'm glad, because I admit it came straight from the tough-love-I-didn't-sleep-so-well-last-night school of advice!

Maybe this is just because the process of getting a PhD in the US seems to me to be pretty crazy for slim-to-no reward, but...

Ooh, what's he been in?

It's been years since I had any use for the place, but I met my husband on there back when it was Mighty Big TV. I'm not sure the glory days of Dawson's Wrap (yes, I was there that long ago) can ever really be topped.

This just reminds me too much of this Robot Hugs comic: http://www.robot-hugs.com/body-policing-…

Well, morally, yes, but a lot of cultural taboos are about contagion, contamination & cleanliness. Corpses pose a health risk if not handled properly, so it's not surprising that, culturally, dealing with corpses has often been stigmatised work. Adding a sexual element to that is just taking it to the next level - the…

Agreed. Heaven = just-baked bread dipped in olive oil with rock salt.

Do you get Booja-Booja ice cream in the US? It's made of cashews, and I find it outrageously creamy and delicious. The chocolate flavour is GORGEOUS. It's not cheap, but it keeps this vegan more than happy. I have to say I can't really stand soya-based ice cream, although I'm more than fine with soya yoghurt and milk.

Kind of not true that the placebo effect only works on "subjective conditions"; it also works like gangbusters on stomach ulcers, which are either there or not. There is a distinction between conditions it helps and conditions it doesn't; a guy called Dylan Evans has a pretty interesting book discussing a theory on…

I have an additional worry: "alternative therapists" often advise or pressure people to avoid using conventional medical treatments or getting vaccines, etc. It doesn't appear that this "energy healer" did that to Tracy, but I can imagine how it would be hard to disagree with your lovely energy healer that makes you…

Riding bikes is also, once you've paid for the bike, free.

Fifty points to Gryffindor for Augustus Gloop reference.

Well, there's nothing definitive about Hamlet's age in the play, but actors up to their mid-forties have played him; few actors below 25 or so could really carry the part off due to the range and weight required, I don't think. There are hints that he is 30 in the text, but also that he is younger, somewhere around…

AGREED.

I don't believe we get a proper full-mast shot, but it's not gonna get any smaller, so I couldn't see it being disappointing, unless it somehow pretzels into a knot or something.

It's quite the, uh, bender. I think there was a collective gasp/sigh of appreciation in the cinema.

I totally saw Shame only for the Fassweiner.

Is anyone pretending that, though? Culturally, the barometer is way far the other way. I mean, look at the women who have posted on this story who were getting shit for drinking a latte in public.

DUDE. I love it when people bring the psychology. Good points. This is just such an ill-advised quick fix, with a lovely side of slut-shaming. It doesn't take an idiot to see that the cost-benefit on reduction of FAS with this proposal is marginal to nil.