No. But there is a class system that has pervasive influence than in some places on how people communicate. The article mentions Sydney, so I'm assuming this happened in Australia.

It turned out that way, but not because of prudishness. More out of neglect. The sex ed teachers were local people who had very strong religious views and maybe no one really thought about what they were teaching kids. Other locals weren't so nutty.

I wonder if expectations were higher in your area? I think one of the problems in my area was that there weren't any female role models—people who had managed to do something different with their lives.

Yes, they were. It was sad, because many of them did it deliberately, to get away from abusive parents. And it is easier to get help as a pregnant teen than as one in a bad family situation. I have done related volunteer work ever since, and I think many people would be surprised at how common this kind of thing is…

We started out with 15 girls. It was a small town with few activities...

Well, you said it yourself... Mum has had a gutsful, right? You're not commenting that her language is shocking!

It's an Australia / New Zealand thing. I spent years living in that part of the world and that kind of language is not unusual in all but the ritziest families.

Well, calling your kid's friends bitchy is probably not the best example of parenting. But I'm not going to judge her. All but three of the 15-year-olds in my high-school class were / had been pregnant. I would be freaking if I were in the mother's position.

It is surprising to realize that I'm at the age where people are saying that they stopped making good music when I was a teen. I'm so used to people saying that they stopped making good music in the 70s.

That's an excellent point about the monastic orders. I have never understood why it happened.

I couldn't agree more. I have seen the exact same things.

Well, Jesus taught us to help the unfortunate. When we chose not to do that and instead focus on concerns (like abortion and gay marriage) that require no work on our part, that's when I start wondering about whether there's a God.

Well, there are features that people seem to be OK with. I think of it as the newslady look—a strong jaw, a wide mouth, cut cheek-bones, a narrow nose, wide/broad eyes, and defined eyelids. Connie Chung has all of that.

I am now an atheist, but grew up with a religious parent. She was raised overseas in another English-speaking country, as was I for most of my childhood.

I don't want to be a pedant, but I don't think it is right to describe his attitudes as "hip." His focus (on helping the unfortunate and love) is a lot more traditional than that of the people who think Christianity is about abortion and gay marriage.

Well, maybe I should give it a shot. If it can make that much of a difference, perhaps I can make my nose look more refined.

You know what, at least they did the measurement. Judging from the faces we see on screen, at fashion week, and in the movies, our current method seems to be to exclude anyone who doesn't look Caucasian.

Connie Chung always struck me as looking very American.

You may be right. I'm focusing more on the edges of the nose. Even with contouring, it is difficult to disguise where the nose edges are.

You're right about the lighting, but if we look at the edges of her nose and draw a line straight up to her eyes, the line comes out at different place at her eyes.