Well, it bears mentioning that the european 'concerns' about transgenic crops are primarily concerned with AMERICAN transgenic crops. Many European objections are protectionism in sheeps' clothing-- once European companies have caught up (they're working on it but are a step or two behind) you should expect many if not all of these restrictions to disappear. The profound lack of scientific basis behind the transgenic boogeyman is disturbing to say the least.

I'm really, truly not surprised that a female writer is not going to get the problems of dating from the male perspective. I'm not saying one set of issues is any more or less difficult than any other, because I surely wouldn't trade places with girls in the dating arena, but the things that men have to do to get dates are fucking ridiculous.

Regarding the pickup community, as it were, all the issues you're talking about have and are addressed in a variety of venues. The problem you've got is that you're taking a very, very shallow slice of the pie, namely this Mystery guy and his show, who is a pantload and completely obsessed with lines and tactics. (Note that this doesn't make him wrong. Most of his stuff is dead-on and works well for what it's intended for.) But if you're going to meet a woman of any intelligence and character and keep her around for any length of time, you're going to have to have an honest interaction with her. Women are absolutely not stupid and don't get tricked into relationships. Not the ones you want anyways.

The thing is, all this you-have-to-have-a-real-human-interaction-stupid stuff is in the material, but the focus necessarily has to be directed towards the part of the interaction that most guys have the most trouble with-- specifically, when you see a girl on the street that you'd like to get to know better, how do you demonstrate to her that spending time with you (in a sexual kind of context) is worth the bother? Any reasonably attractive girl has plenty of offers, whether she recognizes them or not, and you have to cut yourself from the herd.

And *you* are going to have to do something, and no, having a human conversation is impossible, because society dictates that you are an automatic douchebag if you're talking to a girl you don't know. "Why don't guys just talk to me" BECAUSE THEY CAN'T UNLESS THEY KNOW WHAT THEY'RE DOING. I'm pretty good at this, but I got that way because I worked at it. You have to cut through a lot of bullshit just to have an actual conversation with a girl you don't know and it's very, very hard. It's easy to just meet people through friends or work, but if you don't have those social connections, what do you do? I guarantee there are a lot of nice guys out there who you'd like to meet, who'd like to meet you, but they don't have the skills to cut through the social barriers, and women, as a general rule, are not going to do it for them. The community, as it were, is providing the nice guys who you'd like to meet an avenue to make this happen. If that VH1 douchebag came up to you, who really would be fooled if they didn't want to be? I mean, seriously.

Listen, the STD thing is no joke. Most can be gotten rid of quickly, and HIV isn't as common as you'd think, but herpes *is*. You know somebody with herpes, every last one of you, I guarantee it. Not a friend of a friend, not a distant relative, somebody you know.

I have *many* good friends who have to have a really uncomfortable talk before having sex with someone and while the disease isn't a real burden that talk emphatically is. I would be honestly surprised if it wasn't already in the picture. Tell the guy.

@ololon

To put things in another context:

Nobody should have their car stereo stolen. It's a hassle to get a new one, to fix your broken window, etc. And it's your stereo and nobody has the right to steal it from you no matter where you parked. We can all agree on these points. But we live in a world where there are bad people out there who are ready, willing and able to break into your car. So when my friend leaves his car downtown in an alley, unlocked, where the stereo not getting ripped off is completely reliant on no bad people happening by and taking things that do not belong to them, he's taking a chance. Will it be his fault the stereo got stolen? Of course not. Some criminal robbed him. But it'll be his problem. The cops aren't ever going to get your radio back. You can file a police report and an insurance claim, and maybe put the guy who robbed you in jail, but that radio is gone to the big pawn shop in the sky. So please don't think it's chauvinist to suggest people use a little sense about things, and at least try to look out for reckless friends.

That applies to friends putting themselves in other, more dangerous, situations as well. Car radios are cheap.

What the heck is 'financial abuse'? Emotional abuse and battery I understand, but financial abuse I just can't parse.