I'm an ornithologist, whose wardrobe pretty much includes only practical, field-type clothing. I haven't worn a pair of high heels since my high school prom, even wearing black, comfortable flats to my wedding. My aunt was a fashion and cosmetics buyer for high-end department stores. She is always dressed to the nines. So when we're out together, we never look like we've dressed for the same event. Politically, I'm at the far left end of the spectrum. She is a genuinely conservative Republican ("genuinely conservative" meaning she didn't ever vote for Shrub, but is situated to the right of center.) She and I are entirely different.

But she and I are entirely alike in one way--we both are passionate about living life fully and about our own interests. And so we communicate deeply and have enormous love and respect for each other. Having such diverging interests simply means we have MORE to talk about.

When the LW's mind and heart eventually open up, allowing her to focus at least occasionally outward rather than toward her own personal navel, she'll see that many of those people she perceives as so different from herself and dismisses actually have tremendous gifts to offer. Even if our existence has no meaning, life can be a wonderful ride if we accept its gifts.

I just hope the members of Radiohead aren't as close-minded as the LW, or they'd be mortally offended to find out I'm one of their fans.

After watching psychiatrists experiment with the right meds for a couple of people very close to me, playing trial and error games that had tragic results in one case and close-to-tragic results in two other cases, I know for certain that psychiatry is at best an inexact science. And I have personally had a "virtually unique" medical condition that specialists at an excellent teaching college had never seen before, so I know for a fact that unique medical situations are possible.

That's why I found this article somewhat amusing. I have no idea whether "the man who lost his past" is for real or not. But I learned during the Terry Schaivo tragedy that doctors have no business making diagnoses based on videotapes, and suspect that a psychiatrist basing a diagnosis on a documentary isn't any more legitimate.

Neurologists still don't know everything about the human mind and memory. As I noted, I had a unique physical condition that neither my family doctor nor any of the specialists at an excellent teaching hospital had ever seen before, nor had ever read about. The main specialist I'd seen insisted my condition was "in your head." It wasn't until surgery, when he looked directly at something he'd never seen before, that he was forced to concede that yes, my strange symptoms were based on a physical, not a mental, condition.

I don't think it's any more appropriate for a neurologist to make a diagnosis based on a documentary and interviewing the movie director--not the patient--than it would be for any other doctor to base a diagnosis on such evidence. Is his real name Frist?

I've had a Prius since 2004. I walk to the store, the Post Office, and everywhere else within 1 1/2 miles of my house. I bike in summer, but I live in a very hilly, very cold area in northern Minnesota, so no way is it safe to take a bike when roads are slippery. So I do drive. And my car, over its lifetime, frigid winters included in this, has averaged 51 mpg.

I'm not perfect. It would be better if I could walk or snowshoe everywhere in winter. Or just stay at home and freeze to death rather than burn fossil fuels to warm myself and my family. But I've done a fair job of keeping my own and my family's energy, water, paper, and other resource consumption very low. And when I do have to drive, often to another state to talk about how saving resources helps birds as well as humans, I have a lovely pleasant drive. Hypocritical? Well, then, hypocrisy rules. I know plenty of people who drive their SUVs more than I drive my Prius, and I don't see them doing anything to reduce their use of anything else, either.

When we bought our car, we couldn't consider the Insight because we often have 3 or 4 people in it. We compared the Civic to the Prius--the Civic wasn't nearly as comfortable, there was less than a $1000 difference in cost, and the Civic got poorer mileage. I didn't give a shit about appearances--the point was to save energy in a nice car. Period.

Seems to me that Al Gore has a daughter who has written for The Simpsons and done all manner of creative work in the public eye. Interesting that she wasn't mentioned in the litany of daughters of other campaigners past and present.

If I were a bus driver, I'd be pissed at any celebrities who got on it conspicuously enough for Salon readers to know about it.

I wonder how many people who are starting to feel a bit guilty about their over-consumption are swayed by an absolutist "walk or move" approach compared to a more gentle, positive approach? I suspect that a nation of 300 million people will realistically make far, far greater improvements in both the short and the long run by encouraging people to drive, when they must, in cars getting better mileage, and making other positive but incremental improvements, than by scolding them with this all-or-nothing, sanctimonious approach. Leave sanctimony to the extremist Christian right.