Fun fact: there is some evidence, instead, that men with more older brothers are (very, very) slightly more likely to be gay than men without: [en.wikipedia.org] I hate that sneaky-women, feminine-gays stereotype, although I would guess that the author and his sisters might actually be mocking it, to some extent :).

I'm curious about your use of fluent here. I've only ever heard it used to refer to a person's ability to engage in interactions and activities in a given language (speaking fast, understanding colloquial conversations, thinking without translating, etc.). In that sense, unless linguists use the term in a more…

I feel like the only way to watch this without being utterly creeped out would be to have adults re-enact the entire thing.

I agree that violent porn needs not be misogynistic, but I think that the standard porn available for free online isn't thoughtful enough to manage that balancing act. Asides from how it is produced (and unless one specifically searches out ethical companies, only easily-found porn produced in ways that are not…

In some versions of Pinocchio, the land of lost children has porn (along with candy, etc.) available freely and in large quantities - it's one of the vices that the teens can pursue. Xanax could be a reference to Snow White chocking on the apple/getting a bite caught in her throat. No idea for the Redbull or needle…

Cats and condoms: a bad combination! My cats just found my condom pile a few weeks ago, and figured that they were amazing toys. The good news is that all the tiny tooth and claw marks were noticed on time; the bad news is that it was a pricey and ill-timed affair!

They only hire people who fall within certain very narrow parameters (height, weight, appearance, etc.), and police their appearance during their period of employment - weight gain can get someone fired, for instance.

My guess is that they think that by excluding a large segment of the population of people who could even afford their clothes from ever being able to wear them, they are trying to make themselves look more exclusive? So basically banking that there is enough fat-phobia around that people who can wear them will pay…

Same here! I hate scented candles almost as much as I hate plugins. Most of them have such intense smells that if it's something that triggers a migraine, you'll be stuck with it for a while because it permeates your hair and clothes.

My family didn't have much money when I was growing up, but my parents are both grad-school educated (they were students at the time), and come from very educated families. They had trouble affording clothes, transport, and food, which was genuinely hard and stressful for them. At the same time, though, many of their…

True - I like trashy foods as much as the next girl (chocolate mini-eggs? why yes!) but if she is going to go down the food-snob route, I will happily out-snob her. Camembert is such a conventional cheese - a true lover of the artisanal would have more creative taste!

They only looked at SSRIs.

It's necessary to use both types of twins for this kind of epidemiological study.

It's a tiny, tiny increase in a tiny, tiny risk though (even more-so if autism doens't run in your family). And it's only been demonstrated by one study so far. Many ob-gyns recommend continuing to use antidepressants if you need them, because all demonstrated effects are relatively minor - so there might be hope if…

I don't have beef with either of them (I'm overall indifferent). While I've never watched any of her shows or followed her tweets, Kim Kardashian sounds like someone who has worked hard to become and remain famous, by doing things that many people are interested in watching - all in all, good business savvy on her…

Terrifying, but somehow still less terrifying that glass balls.

I think that one problem with that line of thinking is that just like certain medications can have terrible impacts on foetuses during the early phases of their development (in ways that go on to affect them in the long term), various natural conditions are also known to have such effects. Women with maternal…

I think that the study itself is good - it is small but the results were still statistically significant, and it builds on a small study that had suggested a similar pattern based on less well controlled evidence. The authors are careful about qualifying their findings and are very upfront about the various…

True, but I think that that only makes legislation more necessary. It is possible to enact effective controls on the use of certain substances - the Montreal protocol has actually had a huge impact and has dramatically reduced emission of ozone depleting chemicals; similarly, DDT has largely gone out of use except in…

I agree with all of your criticisms; in fact the study used medical records (not questionnaires) to ascertain mental health history, so if anything the problems are actually even more severe than those you point out in your comment on the use of self-reporting.