Obviously somebody wasn't paying attention in 6th grade science class during the scientific method lecture: Correlation does not necessarily equal causation. Sample must be large enough to be representative.

@thebestofjillhives: I think that's what annoys me most about parents who refuse to vaccinate - it's so parasitical. They refuse to "take the risk" (however unlikely as you said) for their own kids, but in doing so make it that much more imperative for everyone else to undergo the very actions that those parents are…

I'd also like to point out the difference between shy and anti-social. I used to be shy and socially anxious, then got over it by getting a job that is basically talking to people all day every day about their issues and how to fix them (even when they don't necessarily want to).

I'd second the "ask people questions about themselves" tactic. There's nothing more interesting than someone who's interested in you. It's something I do a lot around new people, and it's great for when I'm feeling shy or anti-social, and the bonus is I don't really have to think much about what I'm going to say!

@achilleselbow: "make the ho say no...unless you're Blackwater...then it's a go!"

@thebestofjillhives: I understand that - I used to work with those parents and their kids, and it's totally heartbreaking. Parents blame themselves, each other, vaccines, everything. But the fact remains that no matter what is happening personally to your children, you still have a social responsibility.

@yaylo: These sorts of things are happening everywhere, because people are refusing to vaccinate their kids, putting everybody at risk. I worked in the healthcare field in SoCal and have seen totally preventable diseases ("that nobody gets anymore") put a kid in the hospital; my aunt works as an RN in New York and has…

I used to work with developmentally disabled kids (including those with autism) and I HATED this vaccine study, and hated it when parents let the irrational fear of the unknown (the vaccine) override their solid knowledge of the known (diptheria and polio are serious business, people!).

@mordicai: It's a lot like evolution that way.

Interesting that all this is happening after the US citizenry voted in all these Republicans...coincidence? I THINK NOT?

I understand being stressed, I really do. You know what I do when I'm stressed? Go get a massage. See a therapist. Take a sick day.

Pretty white woman gets attacked by scary man of color! Front page news!

Fun racism fact: The USA was one of the last signatories on the anti-genocide convention (37 years late, I think) because of Southern legislators' concern that the institutionalized racism of the Jim Crow south could be interpreted as an attempt at genocide.

@la.donna.pietra: Another thing that always strikes me about I Love Lucy - there were more representations of Latinos on network TV in that period than there are today.

During the Prop 8 insanity in California, I constantly quoted from the Loving case and other anti-miscegenation rulings, and Prop 8 supporters were all "well of course racism is wrong but this is totally different!" Conservative Logic Fail.

@TeaCats: I think it speaks to the tyranny of "proportions" and mass-manufactured clothing. I sometimes wonder if people had the same obsession with "perfect" proportions when clothes had to be made specifically for your body?

When I'm feeling peckish, I drink water. People often mistake hunger for thirst.

@paddlepickle: My BFF and I joke that we're "platonic life partners" - at one point her new coworkers thought I actually was her partner, the way she talked about me (she made a crack about how our long-distance relationship only survived because she promised to move back home.)

@LaSirenita: He really likes holding her by the neck, I feel like so may photos of them are like this. It makes me cringe every time - it looks like he's holding on in case she tries to flee.

@feministabroad: When I was single, I refused to hook up with white men who had only dated Asian women, in order to avoid creepy yellow-fever. A Black friend of mine once hooked up with a white guy, who then complained that she wasn't as "dirty" as he had expected a black girl to be.