The thing that's sad about this all is how consumerist it is. It sounds like trading in an old car for a new one. People aren't cars. They're people. Whenever we treat people like things we can buy at a store, we start treating ourselves like we're commodities too. It's really gross.

Borrowers and Rescuers? NO! They can't be lost in the foamy folds of comfort! I need them to find my missing buttons and pins! This is a tragedy!

Wow, is this guy condescending or what? He reminds me of many of the guys I've known who say, "I'm a nice guy! Why don't girls like me?" It often turns out the reason is that they aren't willing to release some control, they handle relationship conflict poorly, and have a variety of other problems with their social…

I can almost understand why they're doing this, since L.A. water from the tap tastes horrible. Maybe I was spoiled growing up in San Francisco with our lovely tap water, but when I went to L.A. for college, the chlorine content in the water alone put me off. Most of the people in my dorm got themselves water coolers…

I believe I've read somewhere that the minerals in water aid in helping hydrate your body, which could be why you felt dehydrated after drinking the pure water.

I hope you saw that there are also loads of people in San Francisco who are anti-bottled water because of the wastefulness involved. I know plenty of people out here (including me) who carry their own water bottles and refill them because they don't buy into the commercial b.s. of it all and don't like the…

What I don't get is this: if 100% of women in the TMZ office said they thought it was cute, and 100% of the men in the TMZ office thought it was ugly, then why does that mean, at TMZ, that it's ugly? Do the women's opinions mean nothing? I guess so...

Well, Storm has been around for a while (1968, I think?), and I always thought she was one of the best characters in the comic books. That aside, I had an amazing experience with second grade aged kid I did counseling for. He was struggling with behavior in school and believed that his teacher didn't like him…

I worked with a little boy in counseling a few years ago. He was experiencing a lot of anger and frustration, partially because he was black and he felt his teacher gave the white and latino kids preference over him. One day, I got some new toys, little figures of police, EMTs and firemen and brought them into the…

I have a female friend who works in tech. A few years ago, she started at a new job to do actual tech work. The men were so confused by her presence that they kept trying to convince her to work in the human resources department. Let's see, she got hired to do tech and they want her to work in a totally different…

I work with kids in childcare, I was raised by a mother who was a preschool teacher, and I've also worked with kids who have been abused as a counselor. You are absolutely right in that it starts that early with teaching kids personal boundaries. But teaching small children personal boundaries is a tricky thing…

I've thought about this, but from a different point of view. My father died when I was three years old. I don't have much left from him except for stories about him and my last name. It's going to be a very hard decision for me to make if I ever get married whether or not to keep my own or take on the name of my…

I went to Antioch College, also in Ohio. We had similar things happen every semester (we'd call it the "Antioch Issue") and a lot of students believed it was usually caused by someone off campus most of the time. There were plenty of townie kids who thought it was fun to watch the Antioch kids get upset, hold…

So, he was an honorably discharged Marine. Does that make what he did okay? Does saying that make him a better person? I don't care what kind of job he held and what kind of record he's had at work. What he did was wrong. Plain and simple.

Gee, is it just me, or did the Equal Rights Amendment pass? I mean, I do know that women have civil rights due to the Civil Rights Amendment, but last time I heard, the Equal Rights Amendment has not yet been ratified. Also, last I saw, women are still making about 20% less income than men are. Frankly, I can't…

Here's the thing. You need to start them on a wide range of veggies when they first start eating. Most kids will just keep eating them once you start them early. I work as a nanny for two families. In one family, the parents did just that, and both kids love to chow down on things like broccoli (yay! Little…

I had to take a class on psychological testing in grad school to get my degree in counseling. I've administered two different forms of the I.Q. test (there is more than one way to test a person's I.Q.) What I learned in class is that whatever I.Q. score you get, you actually function within a range of 10 around that…

I'm okay with leggings under certain circumstances. I never wear them unless I'm wearing them under a casual dress or a long tunic, so in a way, I'm using them more like tights and less like pants. I also think they're cute under short denim skirts (another "more like tights, less like pants" situation.) But…

You say, "Why not show some dwarf women fleeing the Lonely Mountain?"

Saoirse Ronan is not going to be in the films. There was a character they were developing for her, but she ended up getting cast in The Host and was no longer available for The Hobbit. The character was later re-designed and Evangeline Lilly was cast for the role. So to sum it up, Saoirse Ronan is not in any of the…