I'm sure that many a man has paid for this in brothels throughout history.

I'll be the pedant. They Might Be Giants covered 'Istanbul (Not Constantinople)'. It was originally released in 1953.

His eyes open.

From the first moment I heard they'd cast him I've thought this will have something to do with the Soong clan.

With a dash of 'Kid Nation' thrown in (that show with no adult supervision of the kids).

The lack of female characters was a real issue when I was four. When we would play Star Wars we would end up with about 8 Princess Leia's and the occasional gender bending Chewie. Think of the children, George!

Further research is indicating that suicide rates dropped after that peak, but that's wikipedia, so ... take it as you will.

Right, sorry!

Google says that teen suicide is indeed rising, with a statistically significant jump in 2004 (most recent year for which I could find a proper citation quickly). This, of course, brings up causation vs correlation. I'd say online viciousness is, at the very least, a contributing factor.

My spouse's theory regarding children: All children are assholes and parenting is the process by which one turns them into reasonable human beings. So if nothing is done, children just continue to be in their natural state, that of assholeyness.

Or folks who grew up on TNG. I tried, god I tried ... to enjoy TOS, but I just couldn't get there. I adore TNG, DS9 and really enjoyed Voyager and Enterprise. More than any other universe, Trek formed my ethical core. I have found that this new vision of the original crew to be absolutely wonderful and full of the…

I remember reading about this in something like Redbook when I was 13 or 14 and it completely freaked me out. I refused to see a male doctor for 10 years because of that article.

Hrm. I'm not sure why the idea of having children = lifestyle choice is bothering me as much as it is. Perhaps it's because we all benefit from children being born. When birthrate drops it causes all sorts of problems (hey there Japan!). These can be offset by immigration of course, but it's not like the USA has that…

Charlie Jane is da bomb and she doesn't need to prove her geek cred OR her education to you. I try not to engage in grrr-arrrrgh on the internet, but you'd best not attack our Charlie Jane.

I fear it might be something worse. I fear it might be a regular Twinkie that someone has Semi-Homemade Sandra Lee'd.

But ... that's what a 5'6" person _should_ weigh ... I know doctors are just overly educated mechanics, but I guess I figured they'd be able to read a chart!

I just had the exact same thought!

One word: Perspective. Science Fiction, more than anything, has given me the tools to step back and look at things and realize that nearly everything can be solved with perspective. Stand back far enough or look closer and the answer comes. In Star Wars, when Luke is freaking out that Obi Wan lied to him, he retorts…

That is a perfect way to put it.

I'm with you too, I hope it's fantastic.