LadyCrimson

Food/drink definitely affects the smell and taste of sweat, but I'm not sure it affects the hormonal aspect the article is talking about. I definitely prefer the way hubby smells a few hours after a shower, not right after - assuming he spends those hours doing mellow things rather than strenuous physical activity like cleaning an outhouse or something.

Yeah...the Blockbuster one.

Some funny/interesting/weird commercials or spoofs. Fat cat exercising - just bizarre http://youtube.com/watch?v=dPSBWkIDJL0 The Calrton Draught 'big ad' commercial http://youtube.com/watch?v=GYf2z0exgmU Supposedly an ad for an odd Asian family game, might be a spoof Parental Stress Syndrome - animated animals, cute/funny Rick Mercer's Blackberry Spoof Kaupthing w/John Cleese #3 http://youtube.com/watch?v=nc1eRmk7ijc xbox360 - redneck hunting (I'm not sure it's funny, but it's weird) http://youtube.com/watch?v=StOJr2k5Y-U Captain Morgan rum - guy's bar friends help him fool the g/f into thinking he's at home watching TV Turkish ad using people and top down camera to create the images - it's just cool And of course, the classic Thai tea catepillar ad

O/T... I didn't watch the game, but looking at a page w/all the commericals, the click a mouse one is pretty damn funny...

I guess in terms of economics and greed, we'll just have to hope that one day we'll be as enlightened as Starfleet and not use money as a motivator for anything.

I know the cost isn't the main issue - but if the government/state gets involved, the cost is (part) the issue - at least, that was my impression, since you and a couple others mentioned figures of how much it would cost the government to implement the program. If the government stayed out of it, the drug company would continue to sell/market their vaccine, right? Hospitals and such would continue to offer it, health benefits would continue to cover it or eventually cover it. Thus I thought one of the anti-government-involvement arguments was that people could choose/volunteer to get the vaccine w/out government interference, making such unneccesary. That was my point in asking how much it would cost to the citizen who had no health benefits.

I don't remember the voice acting being bad. It was having to stare at those funky, goofy faces so often while the voices spoke, that I found irritating. Since I never finished the game (something that happens to me ever more increasingly w/games as years go by...) I doubt I'll buy this. Oblivion was a fairly good game; more involving than Morrowind and certainly beautiful - but like Cant, I never bought the expansions to Morrowind either...I think I've given them all the money I care to give for now.

Media-image wise, the original Octavian as he was looked too childishly innocent for that, I agree. Tho mostly I think it's because of his long curly hair. I wasn't sure if they were going to cut his hair and use a little more makeup and such to give him a more mature mein or a use a new studly actor. When he disappeared from screen for a bit, I knew it would be a new actor. With the guy they picked - who doesn't look so much more "mature", really - I think they would have been just as well off giving the original actor a haircut etc.

I agree about Wayne Palmer. I suppose they may have wanted to show a President that wasn't a towering inferno of stoic righteousness and strength (or "evil"), but as before...just not very compelling. The difference between the 1st and 2nd seasons and the ones after are quite stark, imo. Not to mention...just how many 'worst days of his life' can Jack have? I keep thinking they'll eventually try to groom a new agent to take his place - I remember thinking that's what they originally intended w/Kim's CTU boyfriend that one season but got rid of him when people didn't like him...and of course, I wonder if the series would survive w/out Jack as the main man. Probably not....

On that issue - do the low-cost/planned parenthood type places offer these vaccines to people at a very low cost/free? If they do, that helps soothe my personal morality feeling a bit, as my worry is that there are still plenty of people in the United States who do not have the income or the job to aquire/maintain even basic health benefits. Those are the ones who likely couldn't afford or would be unwilling to pay for the cost of the vaccine w/out help and thus wouldn't get it because they're more worried about other costs. They may not be bad parents persay - it may simply be a matter of money. It's easy to say from above "well it's health, health comes before everything" but when you're in a situation where it's schoolbooks or clothes or rent or the fare to get to your crummy job vs. a 3-visit vaccine, it's not so easy or so obvious to them.

My reference to polio was mostly an effort to remark that a stance of absolute non-government involvement except when "too many" people might die, feels inconsistent to me - what I would call ethical convienence. Doesn't sit well with me personally, that's all - not only for healthcare, but for other issues as well. I know that's a subjective belief system issue - which while possibly interesting and oft debated, imo isn't very helpful for analytical evaluation of logistical benefits vs. costs of topics like these - someone I know took me to friendly task for that recently - so sorry if I took things a bit off track.

The problem as I see it is they've turned 24 into an 'action' series rather than a 'character+action' series. It's still entertaining - just not as compelling.

I fully agree that funding for medical research is woefully lacking. Not to mention, if health care/drugs wasn't becoming so outrageously expensive for the average soul to get/aquire, perhaps more parents would voluntarily go get vaccines in the first place. The general problem for all these things, imo, is human nature - people in general don't like to give money to things that do not appear to have immediate visible and/or guarenteed results (or harm) to them personally. If there was a voting option that said "the government will fund either of these projects, please choose one" - I'd pick the research over the cervical cancer mandate. If I look at the vaccine mandate by itself, I'm still for it. For one thing, if carried out, in 50-80 years we'll have new data - vs only emotional speculation - regarding this type of cancer, the vaccine, and eventual costs.

While I can understand the point of view, I also think some people are too touchy and have no sense of humor. I think it's more likely tho that they just saw it as an oppurtunity to get some media spotlight attention for their issue. The commerical isn't very funny regardless...it's like a bad Sat. Night Live skit.

(Young) children typically don't have the capability to understand the long-term ramications of certain decisions, imo, no. And parents are sometimes not objective enough, also imo. That's just human nature. Of course the government isn't always great at deciding things either - as I already stated earlier, there are cases where a vaccine may not be proven effective or safe enough for me to think it's worthwhile...yet. There is also always the consideration of whether too many vaccines may eventually backfire via stronger worse mutations. And like many, I often object to too much government meddling in what I can or cannot "do" - while also fully aware that sometimes that's more a psychological reaction rather than a rational reaction...heh. There's a lot of things in play, a lot of things to consider. My objection here, I suppose, stems mostly from the seeming objection about the cost of such mandates. To me, saving potential lives shouldn't have a dollar value assigned to it - $100 is ok, $300 is not - or at least, that shouldn't be the primary objection.

That wasn't too bad - but it wasn't really good either. World Trade Center was better than United93, as far as those types of movies go. Less sensationalist perhaps. Not that I loved that one either. I still can't believe how many reviewers gave it 5 stars and such. :dry: Maybe 3.

The hair thing did make me laugh. Not only is it suddenly straight - which might be ok, some people w/curly hair cut very short get that way - it's now brown instead of blond.

So in lue of even the most basic parenting skills you advocate the government "taking charge" of those pesky decisions and deciding for you? Well, youve got me there, I have no adequate response for that. So if the most 'basic parenting skills' means they're going to trot their kids down anyway, what's they objection to a mandate to cover those that aren't? People can be very "good parents" overall and still be in complete denial about playing the odds with their children's future health. What I advocate is not allowing children, who can't make such arguments/decisions on their own, to be deprived of an option that may (or may not - nothing's ever certain) save their life in the future.

Precisely.

Children can't protect themselves and not all parents have the education/awareness or the mental...uh...acumen to "trot their children down" to do it for them.

So only certain people are worth the cost of protecting against death by disease?

I'ts my understanding that it'll only work in someone if they have not yet been infected with the virus - since it's easy to get HPV and it often has no symptoms to let a person know they've contracted it, the obvious "target" of vaccines are young children before they've ever had any sex. Regardless of how one may morally feel about it, in this day and age, and in some cultures, that typically means the very young.

Areas in California are also beginning to discuss or pass ordinaces/laws/whatever about not allowing many "bad" foods to be sold in schools, as well, particularly vending machines.

That surprised me not at all. I had a hunch they were going to change actors as soon as Octavian became "grown up" or a battle-leader or what have you. They didn't do too bad a job picking the new actor physically, and his voice seems pretty similar, but the original guy had a better screen presence. We'll see. I think they should just kill off those two bitter and arrogant rich-women characters and have done with it. I miss Niobe. I'm still lovin' the show, tho - especially some of the more minor characters with a few great lines now and then, like a couple of the Senators. Roman soap opera was never so entertaining.

I have the feeling my warped sense of humor caused me to read this really wrong, but it sure made me LOL. I love pets but if I had kids I probably wouldn't let them have one until they were fairly old. Well, maybe a hamster...