As a soon-to-be bohemian artistic creative type, preparing to leave her day job and concentrate on bohemian activities to earn her way in the world, the last two people in the world I want defining the word "bohemian" are Richard Florida and James Hannaham.

(And I'd like to second the "WTF" on the comment about "David Brooks, then a conservative....")

~AS~

Uhhh... really... who cares? I've used/owned Macs and PCs, and, for the most part, have been well pleased with the performance/cost of both. I've found that, every now and then, I'll be doing something where one is better suited than the other. I've also been fortunate enough to discover that both last a long time, if well-cared for.

I'm so sick of this trumped-up, tired-out, waste-of-daylight feud (provoked solely by a bunch of six-figure-earning ad people with offices overlooking Madison Avenue) about how one is vastly superior to the other that I could just scream. Can we not find something relevant or important to discuss, rather than this triflin' bullshit?

Healthcare?

War?

The Boston Redsox?

ANYTHING?

God ahmighty....

Off to read the Huffington Post now.. buh bye.

~AS~

I do. You're right. You have sussed my dirty little secret. I long to be able to shout it from the highest rooftops. I love me some Dennis Kucinich.

But I'm not voting for him either. And yet.... my love abides unabated....

I guess that's why they call it a "feeling" and not a "thinking."

(sigh)

~A~

Ms. Weir seems to have unintentionally linked Natural Balance with the pet foods that have been listed as contaminated. At the very least, she vaguely indicts the brand for doing something -- over advertising, false advertising, being too posh and celebrity-laden -- I'm not quite sure (perhaps she's not either).

Just to clarify what this articles is saying, since I have three cans of Natural Balance in the cupboard, are we saying that Natural Balance IS or ISN'T one of the pet foods contaminated with melamine and other toxins? It WILL or it WON'T destroy an animal's liver?

Because, to paraphrase Lewis Black, it's 7 pm and I gotta feed my cats.

~AS~

I like Katie Couric. No, really. I'd love to have her and the girls over for a BBQ this summer. And I've so wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt. But the truth is that Katie Couric's skill as a serious interviewer have not been honed since her goofy, guileless clumsy days interviewing Norman Schwarzkopf during the first Gulf War. Back then, she was cute and perky and that was enough. But unlike her predecessors who started their careers as "the pretty" but came to develop their journalistic chops (Barbara Walters, Diane Sawyer, Connie Chung), Katie has not matured and flowered into an articulate, thoughtful interviewer.

If the Edwards interview shows us nothing, it demonstrates that Katie Couric is sadly adrift in a job that is way, way to much for her to navigate. There comes a time when someone somewhere just has to make the tough decision and cut the cute girl loose, for her own good and everyone else's.

Zany and adorable just doesn't cut it at this point.

~AS~

Just when I think I've outgrown you... just when I'm ready to let go and move on to other advice columnists, other Letter Writers... you go and write a response like this, and I must fall in love with you all over again.

Listen to him, LW. The man knows whereof he speaks.

~AS~

If a health plan bans birth control pills, diaphrams and contraceptive shots, the result might be that a woman becomes unintentionally pregnant, directly impacting her health. If a health plan bans vasectomies and condoms, the result might be that a woman becomes unintentionally pregnant, directly impacting her health. So, it would seem that only women suffer health consequences from the banning of contraception, regardless of method.

Now, I'm no lawyer, but....

~AS~

I laugh every damn time. Samantha Bee is a twisted, sick individual.

She's my favorite.

~AS~

I may not agree with the content, but I love the execution. And it actually does play well in Japan.

~AS~

I was struck by Ms. Lipkin's perception that these men felt that their own endless fertility was not an obstacle to become a later-in-life dad, but the woman's was.

How interesting that, just a couple of weeks ago, the scientific community came to the conclusion that sperm has a chomosomal half-life too. An increased likelihood of autism has been directly linked to paternal age. Men over forty have a "significantly increased risk of having autism spectrum disorders compared with those whose fathers are younger than 30 years," according to the Archive of General Psychiatry (a JAMA/Archives journal).

Perhaps its time we stop telling our children of both sexes that they can have it all, and start letting them now that if they want to be mothers and fathers, they're going to have to make some sacrifices and tough choices. And, should they decide to choose not to be parents in their younger years, they should brace themselves for the consequences later.

I finally realized that online dating was a big waste of time about two years ago. Every now and then, around the time my memory dims and I start to think, "Hmmm... Maybe...," my long-fallow profile at some dating site will recycle, and a whole new wave of "winks" and "waves" will come my way, usually from newly divorced men in their fifties and sixties, just to remind me.

(sigh)

~AS~