Yeah, I really don't like the videos with the kids. To see them flip out when one of their parents shows up at school or whatever seems sweet at first, but honestly some of those kids just melt. They seem so exhausted and can't process the emotions. Surprising them involves a couple extra days of them worrying…

The only announced stop is at the Iowa State Fair, which has about a million visitors during its 10-day run.

About a month ago I stopped drinking and have been attending Alcoholics Anonymous. I'm younger than many of the people there and many of them have reached much lower rock bottoms than I did. I have no idea if you do have a drinking problem, but I think it's worth noting that someone can only be "high functioning"…

I can think of two reasons:

I like how she says she's the last to reach "the stop" of turning 30 amongst her friends, given their youth obsession I bet her friends loved it too.

I don't remember the name of the guy who lived in the nicest apartment I ever hooked up in. I do remember the apartment.

This music video was posted by Andrew Sullivan on his site this week. I'm obsessed.

This was also the plot line for an episode of "That 70s Show".

I think those moms were totally right to complain and say it was their job to protect their daughters. One way I will protect my future children is by never allowing them to be on "reality" tv.

I agree with you that all of IP law is a balancing act, and it seems like we just place different valuations on the various moving parts at play here.

Well talking about the market always sounds callous, because it is. However fashion designers are saying that we should use government power to fine and potentially imprison people for copying their designs. While that would undoubtedly enrich them, they have not made an affirmative case for how it helps the rest of…

The fact that there are new and independent designers, proves that no copyright protection is needed. People are being creative, right now. Prints are protected, as are certain design elements, but that is besides the point. Broad copyright protection for fashion design is not needed, because people are already…

Yeah, I thought about plus-sized women because I often see their complaints on this blog. However, the solution for that problem, does not lay in government intervention at all. It's going to be about clever marketing, branding, and societal shifts. Extending the plus-sized analogy to copyright would mean that just…

I understand the scenario you laid out, but it describes an imperfect market. Copyright protection is premised on a perfect market. I just don't believe the retail industry, as competitive as it is, would leave consumers on a mass scale unsatisfied. If there was a true hunger for these related interpretations…

Your new technology argument, resonates more with me than any other, as to why now, at this moment, copyright protection for fashion design is needed all of a sudden.

Scafidi is the one who brought up consumers, I believe, in an effort to try and make some shaky argument in favor of copyright because it forces multiple interpretations to market, when the real beneficiaries are the fashion designers who would receive extended protections, and those interpretations could exist with…

Yeah, I totally agree with you. However, the question is, whether market forces and consumer demand should drive the creation of such a design interpretation, or whether an interpretation exists instead of a direct knock-off because the government forbids more direct copies.

"H&M, Zara, and Topshop — don't knock off designers' works with anything close to Forever 21's avidity, Scafidi pointed out. "They're based in Europe," she explained, where copyright protection does extend to clothing designs. This, she argues, is better for the consumer, because anyone interested in, say, "those…

Yeah, totally. The tone of this Jezebel write-up really bothered me, because it clearly was written without any sense of gay perspective and just wholesale adopted the dismissive tone of the conservative advocacy group.

Yeah, it must be painful to recount the details of the crime. Makes her lack of empathy for Elizabeth Smart all the more disgusting.