I'm not sure that there's a particular "female" attitude toward cars, but I remember how frustrated I was when I was looking for a car a few years ago. Most of the car sites focus on things like how big the engine was, how fast it could go from 0 to 60, how "cool" it looked. (I think of those features as "guy things", although I know women who love this stuff, and men who couldn't care less.)

I wanted to know, how long will it run without needing major repairs. How reliable was it. How many bags of groceries could I fit in the trunk. To me, a car is like a toaster - I just want to turn it on, have it work, then turn it off. It's not that I feel like I'm "too girly" to know about cars, it's just that I don't really care - I know how to change a tire and do some basic maintenance (although living in an apartment limits what I do myself) but honestly, I have a lot of other interests and I'd rather spend my time on them. I don't get a thrill from admiring a car engine.

Most car sites just don't cater to buyers like me, so if the "female friendly" sites do, that would be great. If so, I'll bet there are quite a few men who'd be happy to visit too - not all men are "car crazy" either.

I love to cook, and I'm glad to use fresh, local ingredients when I can. But I think people who live in California (where evidently there are 24 hour farmer's markets on every corner) are a bit clueless at the state of farmer's markets in other parts of the country, especially when you get out of a couple of big cities, not to mention the realities of working a job that requires you to be at work at certain times.

I recently moved, and tried to find a local farmer's market. I found two fairly nearby - one that ran 10-2 on Tuesdays and another that ran 11-3 on Fridays. Hmmm, which one of those is compatible with an 8 to 6 job? I finally found a Saturday farmer's market that entailed a 40 mile round trip. I got there by 8 am and the place was practically empty - evidently if you aren't there by six, you can't get anything decent. I'm not willing to get up at 5 am on a Saturday so I can drive 40 miles to buy a few vegetables. (Maybe you morning people think that's fun, but not me.)

And this isn't unusual - I've lived in four different places, and it's always been hard to find a farmer's market that's open at workable times. I'm not a huge fan of Whole Foods, but at least I can shop there after work. I don't want to spend all my time trying to work my schedule around the extremely limited hours of the local farmer's market. I'd rather spend that time cooking and eating.

The "free market" doesn't work very well for non-hospital medical care either. I had a high deductible medical plan for many years, the kind that Bush and other Republicans think is so wonderful. The problem is, it's nearly impossible to check prices, or budget for medical expenses, because almost no doctors or hospitals will tell you what they charge. The insurance companies have tables of rates for various procedures, but they won't share those with you either. So even for routine care, you can't find the cheapest provider, or budget $X for your doctor's visits, because there's almost no way to find out in advance what they will cost. (And then, if you go to a doctor, and you require additional tests, you are usually sent to one specific lab or testing center that the doctor uses - a lab that also won't quote prices.) Not exactly free market.

49 Up has been out on DVD for a while, and I grabbed it on Netflix as soon as it came out. I hope more people find it on PBS. Although I loved the early episodes, I thought the best one in the series was the last installment, 42 Up. It really showed the changes in each participant's life, and how far they'd come since their early days. 49 Up was enjoyable, but not quite as satisfying.

But if it introduces people to this marvelous series, it's a great starting point. I hope more people look up these films on DVD - they're all available, starting with 7 Up, and 42 Up has a fascinating commentary by the director.