As resident of Monterey County, i would like to know if these outbreaks cluster at any certain time of the year. The deer population around the county is very large, and about this time of year, the forests get dry and the forage gets sparse. We see a lot more deer on the roads and in our yards, looking, I presume, for water and food. The spinach fields and lettuce fields would be very tempting for them, I am sure. As far as I know, the spinach and lettuce fields are not near the cattle ranches, but the deer could serve as a vector. but I agree with the previous posters--is part of this article missing? Now quite exhaustive on that deer question.

Well, you are getting a lot of advice--you ought to write a book. I have written lots of books while having children (now teens and adults) and here is my advice.

1. Have a babysitter come to your house for two hours every weekday, and use that time to write (or, at first, nap). Start balancing the writing with the baby from the second month at the latest. Two hours is a good break that gives you time to recharge. If possible, don't use your partner for this--men like to help, but they also tend to complain about it, thereby making you feel guilty.

2. Remember that placating is bad and indulging is good. Children feel that you love them when you are kind, generous, open, and affectionate, just like everyone else. But if you find yourself giving in because you are afraid of them and their reactions, then you are placating, not indulging. Never give in when the child threatens you.

3. Don't try to protect them from their culture. Barbie? TV? Video games? Go ahead--excess is bad in anything, but this is the culture they live in--they need to learn to manage it, not to flee it or long for it.

4. No religious training. It scares them. They will discover that on their own later, when they are old enough to handle it.

5. Pay attention. When you pay attention, even if you make mistakes, that's when they feel that you love them. Their job is to push you away. Give them something to push, and don't feel hurt when they do their job.

"de rien" and "de nada" are French and Spanish conventions. "You're Welcome" is standard American English, and therefore more proper. I am getting old, though, and have gotten into the reflexive habit of answering "thank you" with "Thank You!". Bad habit, and makes no sense. Garrison is a little grumpy, but then, this piece is about how invigorating being grumpy is, and we can just be thankful that he's married to someone else, and enjoy his work.

Take all our baby advice? Do you feel better now?

I always thought that the Nobel committee made up for the Hamsun prize when they awarded Halldor Laxness, who was an open opponent of Hamsun and a sometime Marxist, and set out, in his great novel Independent People, to make fun of Hamsun's Growth of the Soil (which isn't bad either, if you read it entirely out of the context of fascist ideas of the time). I think the saddest Nobel story is that of Sinclair Lewis, who was very conscious of the fact that his fellow writers didn't believe he deserved the prize. It was hard for mid-20th century writers to escape the requirement that they declare their allegiance to right or left. If you read Lewis today, it's amazing how prescient he is, and what insights he has into certain political currents, both in small towns and in larger nations. But it has been very hard to resurrect him. Anyway, the Nobel was itself quite parochial for years, and often went to Scandinavian writers who weren't all that good rather than to other writers who were more cosmopolitan. Novels come and go, and come again. Having recently read both Lewis and Sholokhov, I think Lewis holds up better, but Laxness is one of the best--highly recommended!

Bush and Cheney were lying and cheating from the day of the November 2000 election, and it was evident at the time. They were and are liars and cheaters, and anyone who thought they would reform and tell the truth all of a sudden when the opportunity to invade Iraq came up was a fool--and a self-deluded fool at that. Those of us who have always been onto them never get the credit we deserve! I am screaming now! What was there about them that could have fooled anyone? I don't see it.

Garrison--

Read a book called Albion's Seed, by David Hackett Fischer. Then you will know. No kidding. Love,

is in, folks. And when they have claimed their "victory", they will have a "mandate" to do things we haven't even thought of yet.

switchgrass hemp switchgrass sugarcane hemp switchgrass sugarcane hemp switchgrass sugarcane! Corn has to go! Corn fed beef has to go! Corn sweeteners have to go!

The woman claimed that no part of her breast was showing, so what was the problem? Not that anyone could see her breast, but that they could see the baby doing something to the breast. I do not think that the woman should have willingly covered her baby's face with what is essentially a plastic blanket (not to mention the germs). The flight attendant sounds like an interfering busybody who went too far and screwed up.

It's the voice and the angst. Leonard Cohen!

This is a perfect example of why art criticism is silly. Two pages about a show that seems to be relatively interesting and unusual and the only conclusion is that the reviewer didn't like it. I have to say, so what? Usually I am not one of those Salon readers who simply disapproves of wasted space (except when Farhad Manjoo writes about elections), but this is wasted space.