She had a BRCA mutation of the kind that comes with an enormously elevated risk of breast and/or ovarian cancer. Her mother and aunt both died young because of BRCA-related cancer. A relative of mine by marriage died of a BRCA2 cancer, and her sister, who also carried the gene, survived breast cancer but had to have a…

If your mother had a rough time, that doesn’t necessarily mean you will. My mother and I both went through abrupt surgical menopause — Mom at 51 because of dysplasia, and me at 46 because of endometriosis. She was plagued by hot flashes — she had to go off estrogen for other reasons, and the flashes lasted for years.…

I wonder if Ascaris is taking evolutionary advantage of transmission by contact within households. If it alters the immune system in a way that reduces the number of miscarriages or failed implantations, then an infected woman will have more children — producing more potential hosts for Ascaris.

The rumor back in the 1970s, when the song first came out, was that the entire song was about Warren Beatty.

with “herbs or homeopathic remedies, getting hit or punched in the abdomen, using alcohol or illicit drugs, or taking hormonal pills.”

I don’t think it’s necessary to blame HIV-phobia for someone simply wanting to stay far, far away from Charlie Sheen. Just like it’s not necessary to blame douche-phobia for someone simply wanting to stay far, far away from Justin Bieber.

No, I honestly like the way they look. Despite not being conservative or a purist in any general sense, I tend to be an extreme Puritan/Luddite about cars for some reason. I like extremely plain-looking cars that get you from point A to point B and that’s it. Which is interesting, because very little else in the 80s…

I was just thinking that I really liked 1980s cars. There’s something about them that just screams ... Well, to me at least, that just screams “Car!”

I thought that was strictly an Antipodean thing. I first encountered the babycino at a coffee shop during a conference trip to Adelaide. Has anyone spotted them in North America yet?

This is actually sort of funny. Trump is up there ranting and spewing bile, and his cheering section boos people who leave — and people think one of the attendees was rude for taking out a book to read when she just couldn’t tolerate any more?

Something is deeply wrong here. Trump, like Carson, has been sounding more and more unhinged every time he opens his mouth. My first assumption about someone who has made that sort of spectacle of himself is usually that he might be drunk, but Trump claims he doesn’t drink. Not that I think Trump wouldn’t lie, but…

Was it you or another writer who referred to Trump as a “hot pork balloon” a few months ago? That one always brings a smile to my face on a bad day!

Criminalizing the white race? Just for pointing out that the predominantly white idiots who make racist threats online are, in fact, committing crimes? Making “terroristic threats” is at least a low-level felony in Missouri.

Dear Ronda,

I love it — orange things make me happy! But I think it should also contain pumpkin pie spice!

That’s brilliant!

I’m ecstatic about this although I’ll probably never live in Canada again (damn, I really liked living there!) Maybe because it gives me a tiny bit of hope in the face of U.S. election disasters like the one that just happened in Kentucky.

I made leczo for the first time. It’s a Hungarian stew that’s apparently quite popular in Poland as well, because I had it for the first time in a local Polish café and loved it. It’s one of those things for which you can find a gazillion recipes online, and most of them contradict the others. Basically, it’s lots and…

You won’t know until you try. The herbal flavors tend to be something people either love or hate. Also, different brands are made from different recipes.

“Okay, you pray for me, I sue you, and let’s see who comes out ahead.”