Yeah it's a vanity thing and guys have bald/hair issues and women have body image/weight issues. These two aren't all that different, although the psychology and psyche attached might be...but it's a start.

It's a cliche but look at things from the reverse and do some thinking. Imagine yourself 10-15 years from now - him bald as a queue ball and you frumpy from having 2.6 kids. Is it worth projecting, do you see it...or do you vomit at the thought?

Uncle Siggie would probably go on about how Karl's biological father abandoned the family at a very young age, how his gay step-father divorced his mother, who eventually committed suicide afterwards.

Indeed, if anything. Karl Rove is the poster boy for the campaign "against the lack of love" and the need for a liberal state. If little Karl's first Dad wasn't a run-away and had some state/gov support he might have stuck around. Perhaps if it wasn't a HUGE embarrassment and shame to be gay in 1970's and 80's America, Karl might have a positive relationship with his step-father and not feel queer himself...and his mother might not have killed herself.

It seems fair that Uncle Siggie would have thought the hate, shame, embarrassment and rejection Karl felt was funneled towards those he disliked, ironically the very people whose general policy initiatives might have lead to him leading a better life. Or Rove has a small penis and it's not a cigar.

Instead Karl Christian Rove turned into this generations Goebbels - a hate filled mo'fo'er who should be tried as a criminal. Instead this piece of work will probably become a highly paid board of directors for major corps, and in the process figure out how to screw the U.S. even more.

Lets hope history reveals Rove to be what he really is, a shorted-sighted evil prick.

As a life-long Dodger fan who just remembers watching Wes Parker as a kid and I wouldn't vote for him. He was good but my vote goes to Mattingly and I hate the Yankees and I hate AL baseball.

Re: shortstop, I could never vote against Ozzie Smith but for pure arm Concepcion was the man. The Big Red Machine was scary.

On that note King - how about the "All Arm" team (fielders only). That's half of being a good fielder and it won't ever get a sponsor and is about as baseball geek as you get. I'll start it off with Benito Santiago at catcher, the rest is yours.

Yaz only 6th?

"And how about this surprise: Carl Yastrzemski finished sixth among outfielders, ahead of Ichiro."

It shouldn't be surprising and I'm surprised RSN allowed Yaz to fall to #6. Playing the toughest field in baseball, he was a magician playing balls off the Monster. Maybe he was docked for his end of career move to 1B?

Rawlings didn't pick Yaz because he was sponsored by Spalding his whole career. Every kid has a Yaz glove from Blue Chip Stamps. I had the Rawlings fastback Belanger glove.

Given the LW is a grad student, perhaps he should explore Pahnke's Good Friday Experiment where Harvard divinity students either took or didn't take magic mushrooms.

If I remember correctly, the outcome was that the majority of "takers" stayed in the ministry, whereas many non-takers left (n larger numbers). The conclusion...take drugs, see god.

Personal use of "recreational" drugs has its purpose in society, legal or not. Abuse is another real issue.

My thought is that the LW might consider some drugs (pot is pretty safe), not to see god but to understand the nature of control and lost of control as opposed to simple fear. Fear is a really crappy way to live a life...and it seems like it might wreck a pretty decent relationship.

Sure compromise is a crappy solution but it's the next best thing if you don't have the wherewithal to put your foot down and do or know what you want to do. It'll also buy you some time to explore and get the 'rents off your back.

How would I compromise? I'd go to a career counselor that can help plan and back up this info -- that a BA in the arts or humanities along with all the med school prerequisites and a decent MCAT score, stands as good as a chance (or better) to get into med school (if you choose to go).

Why and how can this be? Because medical school often look for well-rounded candidates beyond the specifics of science. They look for the human as well. It's not a guarantee but it sure beats 4 years of pre-med/bio-chem and will allow you another major.

If you go this route, by the time you get out of school you might have figured out what you really want to do or how to stand up for yourself. It also leaves the possibility open. At worse it's like 24 extra units and you might learn something, as un-fun as it might be.

Ultimately the parents will come around if you're happy and reasonably successful...they just won't know it until you get to where you're suppose to be.