I know a couple people who had him as a high school teacher, pre-Angela's Ashes, and both said he was an excellent teacher and a very nice person. Peter

"Gibson left his plain pre-fame wife of 26 years for a younger, hotter trophy specimen, and that resulted in one of the most expensive divorces in Hollywood history. Most of his fortune and his entire reputation for 3 years of sex with a 40-something single mom. If only Gibson had "learned" "Game" he would have left his average wife in the 1980s as soon as he was famous, and he could have shagged 1000 Oksanas by the time he was 50." Or maybe he could have done something truly heretical and (gasp!) *stayed* with his first wife. As for nailing 1,000 women, I'd strongly suspect it would become totally boring and repetitious after the first 100 or so. Peter

[The group of young people most likely to obey the prohibition against pre-marital sex is Harvard Students. To quote the Harvard Crimson, “According to a Crimson survey of the class of 2009, in their four years at Harvard, 52 percent of the students had one or zero sexual partners.”] Despite what popular culture would lead one to believe, most younger people are *not* running around Hiding the Salami with multiple partners. Agnostic and I think Inductivist have posted statistics about sexual behavior of young people. You'd be surprised at how little casual sex there really is. Peter

An important question is the degree of risk faced by people in Ciudad Juarez who are not themselves involved in the drug trade. Of course there'll always be a danger of being caught in crossfire, or now bomb explosions, but if law-abiding residents are rarely targeted the city would be more livable than if everyone is at high risk. Peter

"How long can the liberal arts remain attractive to students who aren't going to a top 25 college when tuition is inflating faster than (pre-Obama) health insurance premiums?" For as long as the government makes student loans freely available (though not *free*!) without regard to the marketability of the degrees being sought. Peter

It's an excellent essay, more applicable than ever, but you do understand, don't you, that absolutely *no one* is going to decide against law school after reading it? Most prospective law students are in their early 20's and suffer from terminal cases of it-won't-happen-to-me syndrome. And as I've said many times, law school has a tremendous attraction to liberal arts types because it's easy: no math, no science, no computers. Peter

"You're still assuming, despite lacking evidence, that Kagan is a lesbian, ignoring the distinct possibility that she's simply single because she's unattractive and wonky. Very smart overachieving women who are not physically attractive are severely limited to a pool of men that are almost entirely unacceptable for partnership. Very ugly but very smart/successful men aren't subjected to the same reality." She could have had her pick of nerdy and/or introverted men. Plenty of these men are highly successful, often in STEM fields, and wouldn't be scared off by a successful woman. I still don't think Kagan is a lesbian, however. She seems more like one of the never-married, childless, no-serious-boyfriends, indeed seemingly sexless women often found in positions of power. Heck, right on the Supreme Court, Sonia Sotomayor is mostly like that, albeit with a brief youthful marriage. Peter

Stupidest. Thread. Ever. Peter

Why did you do that? Peter

[The half-your-age-plus-seven rule doesn't really apply unless the older partner is 16 or so. It also doesn't make much sense for people over 45 or 50.] "I disagree. 13 year olds shouldn't be dating at all." In that case the prohibition on dating should be expressed in terms of a minimum age rather than the half-your-age-plus-seven rule. Two 13-year-olds could date each other without violating the half-plus-seven rule. Peter

"if the equation to determine non-creepy dating range is x/2 + 7 harrison ford should be in the clear 67/2 + 7 = 40.5 [HS: So that means a 14-year old dating a 13-year old is creepy.]" The half-your-age-plus-seven rule doesn't really apply unless the older partner is 16 or so. It also doesn't make much sense for people over 45 or 50. Peter

A few hours ago I turned on one of the stove burners. We have an electric stove with a flat glass surface. Some time earlier, probably last night, one of the cats must have relieved itself on top of the stove, a not-uncommon event if we don't keep the cat boxes spotlessly clean. Because the stovetop is black glass, it can be difficult to see liquids on it. As was the case today. Suffice to say that the smell of cat urine steam is horrendous. Peter

OT, but you'll appreciate this. Earlier today another agent and I went business canvassing in an upscale Nassau County downtown area. All of the business people we spoke to were polite, with one glaring exception: a personal injury lawyer's office. The receptionist treated us like we were a couple of lepers with Ebola virus. Peter

Be glad your kitten doesn't do what our cat Maggie does. On all-too-frequent occasions Maggie will start howling outside the bedroom door, at godawful times like 3:30 in the morning. I get up, let her in, and invariably within 30 to 45 minutes she'll start howling to be let out of the bedroom. A couple of times we tossed her down the basement to prevent this, but it caused too much of a guilt trip. We were worried that she'd be lonely. Fortunately, none of the (many) other cats do anything similar, though of course they have plenty of other bad habits. Peter

"Get a guinea pig. They squeal when you open the fridge (hoping for a piece of lettuce) but they don't jump on your keyboard or your head." And if you get tired of keeping the guinea pig, well there are several Ecuadoran and Peruvian restaurants in Queens .... Peter

One of our cats has an insatiable appetite for people food including all forms of raw meat. Trying to change his habits is totally impossible, and more to the point it doesn't seem to have any ill effects. For the most part, we give the cats dry cat food, with the moist food being an occasional treat. Giving it to them is a chore because they fight over it. Peter

"I've also noticed cats are commonly found in "hoarder" households and in those cases large numbers of them are often found nesting and breeding in walls." Well, I may be part of a, ahem, multiple cat household, but none of them are living in the walls. Yet. Peter

It's probably just some technical glitch that will be corrected soon. Donald surely wouldn't have shut the site down without announcing it first. Peter

"Plus, feeding snakes involves tossing live mice at them, which points to a dumb, vicious, cruel, and contemptible character." It's more common to buy frozen mice. Some snakes are finicky and will only eat live ones, but that's not the usual practice. Peter

What's more, if you have a cat and a dog you may not have to clean the catbox too often, as dogs frequently eat cat grogans. Peter

Helpful article, thanks for the link. Peter

Kagan may not be a lesbian at all. What she is, instead, is part of an all-too-common stereotype, namely the never-married, childless, seemingly sexless high achieving woman. Other politically connected women in the category include Harriet Miers, Condoleeza Rice, Janet Napolitano, Sonia Sotomayor (albeit with a brief youthful marriage) and Susan Collins. There probably are many others I can't think of offhand. Peter

Gotta say, I agree with just about everything you wrote. Except for one minor quibble - many Manhattan residents travel to the Hamptons via luxury bus (Hampton Jitney or Hamptons Luxury Coach) or train. Peter

"I live 45 miles from the center of the major city that anchors my burb. I am the only person I know of in my neighborhood (defined as the cul-de-sac I live on, roughly 40 homes) who drives more than 10 miles to get to work." I live on Long Island, which has long been stereotyped as commuter territory. One would be excused in thinking that the majority of working residents commute into Manhattan. In reality, it's just barely one-fifth. -- "HS: I've been to Santa Monica and it was my favorite neighborhood in the LA area." I never would've thought you'd like the Peoples' Republic of Santa Monica. Peter

"Yes, a bunch of childless Swipples are moving back to the core city in areas where NAM's are priced out." Not all core-city SWPL's are childless. What happens is that if they have children, they'll stay while the children are infants and toddlers but move out once the children reach school age - an example is the Disappearing White Children of Manhattan Syndrome. Peter