It also drives me crazy that we correlate our infant mortality rates with things like whether we use doctors vs. midwives.

The difference in general between birthing first and second babies is considerable. I gave birth to both in a hospital, and my first labor was longer and I tore more. My second labor was shorter and I barely tore. Recovery time really depends on how many stitches you have.

This comment should be way at the top.

This is AMAZING.

The plot is somewhat similar. Government rounds up a bunch of kids in a contest, where they all have to walk at a steady pace, no stopping. Anyone slows down? Government shoots them. Stops? Shot. And they have to keep walking, for days, and the last one walking wins. There's no reason why all these kids have to…

The book really explains some of the backstory from the child "villains", so it was a good read.

The best part of the story is that there's just no reason behind it. No real logic or backstory as to why the walk has to take place.

Exactly. King is the master of horror. The Long Walk freaked me out.

Yes, but Stephen King also wrote a similar story before BR called The Long Walk. In which a bunch of kids have to walk forever until they each die, for no apparent reason. The Running Man movie - also done before these - is similar as well.

No, that was Collins point. Her message, and one she wanted to convey to her readers, is that War Is Senseless. It doesn't matter even if you're on the "right" side, both sides will use anything to win, and the winners will eventually do the same things the losers once did anyway. That was epitomized by Prim's…

No, she's 17. It would have been her last reaping had she (her sister) not been chosen.

While i like Sherlock, I can't help but think that Cumberbatch is a poor man's Alan Rickman.

I agree.

It's so true. First of all, it's easy to love someone in the beginning. I had some unforeseen health issues in our first year of marriage, and after sitting there screaming in pain in a hospital bed with my husband at my side, I realized that if I thought i loved him before, it's nothing compared to now.

It's been really bad lately. And the number of people justifying it is horrendous. I just spend time at Gawker arguing with someone why a coffeehouse owner posting anti-semitic crap on Instagram is not instantly okay because somewhere in the world, a Jew behaved in a way you don't like.

No vaccines with the possible exclusion of the flu vaccine contains thimerosol or any other mercury product.

Giada literally flavors everything with lemon. And not just a little lemon. It's like, lemon juice, lemon zest, and then just throw the whole lemon in there.

Your kids are in public school? We got those requests too, and we just ignored them. It's not like they're going to kick out my kid for not having it. I pay property taxes, and awfully high ones. Use some of that cash for the paper towels.

As someone who lives in California, and has dealt with LAUSD, it frustrates me to no end to witness the fiscal irresponsibility that goes on. I don't think that teacher costs are the issue, not when they now have one vice principal for two or three schools. Our teachers are paid pretty well, but the cost of living…

What world do you live in where eighth graders are nine years old? My child is 12 and he's in sixth grade.