Thanks for speaking out about at least one of the insane conspiracy theories out there now - could you take a stab at death panels, please?!

But, you damage your credibility, and make yourself sound like "an arrogant pilot" by slamming that wingnut for being a flight attendant (peanut and/or pretzel comments) when you need only slam her for being a fame-addictive irrational nutjob.

You are contributing to the harmful myth that flight attendants are dumb and that their primary job on the plane is to serve peanuts.

Do you think surly, nasty, raging passengers will behave better or worse when the authority they deal with on board is given zero respect by the rest of their crew and their industry?

I doubt you would go around your town and try to convince the population that the police force is ignorant and stupid and beneath contempt. Because they are protecting you from god-knows-what on the street.

It makes no sense for you to tell the flying public that flight attendants are stupid and worthless. Especially because they are the only thing standing between you and your buddies and 300 unknown members of the public when you are all trapped together in_a_tiny_tin_can_at_30,000_feet!

Didn't 9-11 teach you that the relative calm on board is a precious illusion, a delicate balancing act maintained by your flight attendant coworkers against the natural inclinations of all the passengers? They are outnumbered, what, 50-1 on most flights? They are the "thin blue line" on your aircraft. They deserve more respect from pilots than from anyone else.

I know and love some flight attendants. They also happen to be people with Masters degrees, professional pilots, and practicing attorneys. They are not dumb or incapable by any standard.

How about you don't do that any more and we'll just pretend it never happend. mmmkay?

It's only abuse if we feel violated. How about somebody selling underwear that says "F--- you loser" when you look at it from the upskirt angle.

Even the IRS expects you to submit your own work. And they have way more than 2 editors.

Wow. What a lot of strange responses.

This lady doesn't like to date in the way that movies and magazines and tv shows tell us normal Americans date. She is saying "Wow, I don't like this system. Am I alone here? Does anyone else hate this? Is there another way?"

Well, yes. I hate the dating 'norm' that we see on tv. Cary's advice is great. It is perfectly reasonable, in fact wise, to get to know someone before divulging my address, my phone number. There is no reason I should rely on someone that I don't know for transportation.

Other cultures don't date the way we do. There is no reason to imagine that this is the only way, or that LW is deficient if she doesn't like this way. In fact, 'dating' has changed radically many times in the past 100 years in this country. Check out "From Front Porch to Back Seat," and recognize why this system makes people uncomfortable (I don't remember the author).

By all means, we should find a place to be socially available on terms that we find comfortable. It is the only thing that makes sense. I would never date someone who thinks that getting to know me in a public place without any strings attached - is abnormal!

Oh Heather, I love your style. The way you tell me, through the small screen of my monitor, about life, filtered through the small screen of bad TV.

I love that you hate pink espadilles and how the telling makes me laugh. I love how you tell it without stuffing it into a suit and pantyhose and standing it up on a pair of pumps and serving it with a bundtcake you made yourself.

Laugh at the crying christians and the tedious hippies and the people who scowl because we're wearing that army jacket. And then write and tell me about it.

Keep on doing what you do!

We can't blame "men" for thinking this was a good idea, really. It is clearly something an 11-year old would come up with. But a grown man has done this, apparently on university time. And a newspaper has picked it up and printed it, without any satire intended.

Two addressable problems seem to be the university, for paying this man to do something so patently ridiculous, and the newspaper that legitimizes it. Broadsheet has taken the first to change it, by bringing it to our attention.

What can we do? Write to this newspaper. Write to this university. Slashdotters leave their(our) imprint all over the web. Can 'Broadsheeters' do the same?

So, suppose that after years of hard-won wisdom -- or just the luck of finding a pair of jeans with amazing lifting properties -- you have made peace with your behind. You may not love every dimple, but when you catch a rear view, you can say, "It's me. I'll take it."

AAACK!!! I've never "had a problem with my butt." Why is Broadsheet implying here that every woman has a problem with her butt? This kind of talk is propogating the body-image problem as much as that sicko with the equation.

I would have been a Broadsheet reader when I was 10 years old, if there had been a Broadsheet. My 10-year-old self would have taken the message loud and clear - "sophisticated Salon-reading grown-up women struggle to make peace with their butts - so I think I will too."

Think of the 10-year-olds out there deciding how to feel about their bodies.

Thank you sandra m. No one feels a need to write articles in mainstream publications about the damage men do to their physiques or their fertility in pursuit of sports. This public fretting about womens' bones and breeding capabilities is a way of saying "let no woman forget, your body is *our* business".