Years ago, as I recall, Johns Hopkins was doing lots of research on this. They would do extensive psychological testing and counseling, etc.. They also would do follow up with those who had surgery. What they learned. and please recall it is two decades since I looked at this research, was the problems people had before the surgery, they had after they surgery. They stopped performing the surgery due to their own research. I will repeat, it has been two decades since my doctoral studies and this might have changed since then. Thank you.

What can be said that would wash away the horror of this? People ignoring what their hearts should be telling them.... I think they should be criminally charged so the people who know them will know who their friends are in a pinch.. Maybe the public square and stockade? No stoning.. No that would be wrong....

take care..

I was Friday Night Lights and the floor fell out from under me. I was stunned when they killed that guy. WTF?? I am glad I am not the only one. I have lost confidence in my "eye" as there is so little good stuff on the tube. Keep it up

All of this breaks my heart. As someone who saw The Dodgers Play in Brooklyn, I hate All of this. That being said, Your writing on this issue is free of bombast. More like it is badly Needed!

Thank you.

Charles

By the by, andro, the research shows quite clearly, does Not do the things it was advertised to do. Also, taking juice once or twice will do nothing for you really. If used, regularly over time, With Hard Training, then things will happen. I am not too annoyed with the people who tried it once or twice. They broke the law Sure. The ones who should be crucified are the ones who, with the aid of a trainer, took it for years, "running up the score" as someone might have said..

Somewhere in my apt. I have the page on which this Ms. SH wrote her last column for the UT student paper.. We have moved up in the world.. One thing I would have liked mention is the proof of the absinthe that we are reading about. Some of the Absinthe that I read about over the years was 150 proof or so!? That level of alcohol could make you cut off your ear. Or at least consider it.... I liked it better when there were six of us who knew about it.. a nice exclusive club. Hook'em

Sadly, I was taken in by that show. Except for "Tony, Game On!", who should have been found in the pool one morning..face down. The rest of the people seemed to be semi-honest in their duplicitous dealings with each other.. Even the winner who kept all her money instead of sharing it with the person who saved her skinny ass. All just de-lish! I just find Nothing in the other "reality" shows that grabs my inner limbic system like that one.

Happy 2008 To everyone and to you as well Ms. Havrilesky..

When I was a young boy, ten or so, I was in NYC with my parents. My father hated it, he worked there, my mother thought it glamorous, she did not work there. I recognized someone across the street. I was all noise and wanting to saying Something to them. My father set a gentle hand on my shoulder and said, "Charlie, those people deserve time alone with their family". To this day I leave people alone unless we are in the check out lane at the grocery store together. All I expect from them when I see them perform is All Their Damn Loot. I want all their skills there for me to see and appreciate. I do not see what the entertainment value is of watching someone's, anyone's life dissolve around them. Very good article by the by... have a Happy New Year ....

And I can't really put my finger on "why"? It is just kids playing, right? Or does corporate America have some insidious idea about warping the moral fiber of our young women.. Hmmmm, I vote for corporate America. What I would like to know is if the marketing branch is made up of uber twelve year olds or not. This can't be the idea of men over the age of seventeen. If it is I don't want to know... I don't know why but I think this is culturally significant in a yuckky way..

I will not be watching the second one. I found it difficult to have much empathy for these characters. Fox would show a fight between two people where one was killed, For the Rating..

Or maybe not. I always flinch when I read about the manipulations people will use in the guise of "improving" their relationship. This smacks of the fifties and that morality. Sadly, I have married men friends who are in those type of relationships now. They are unhappy, their wives are unhappy. I wonder if it has anything to do with no one being honest about their needs? Naaaaaah, probably not..

We want to hear about the conversion.. However, record collecting is Not nerdy.. Take that..

Somebody is trying to kill you, you do what you have to do. Not real complicated actually. In texas we take that a bit too far however. One person pounding another person, self defense seems to be the way to escape alive. I am not familiar with a law that allows unfettered, "I get to beat the crap out of you" for free.

Like many suicides, this one could have been prevented. Depression is treatable.. Really

At least, let us not cannonize this man. He was not a saint.

thank you.

Charles..