I agree that this is the usual trotting-out of a lot of hype and nonsense.

I am the mother of a soon-to-be nine year old girl. Third grade. Yes, she's interested in sparkly nail polish. She also likes to collect rocks, play the violin, do science experiments, and ride her bike. She is the proud possessor of a tube of clear sparkly Hello Kitty lip gloss (it looks like Chap Stick to me, but what do I know? It smells like a fruit stand.) She loves art class. She's a normal kid.

Yes, she gets her hair cut at a salon (mine) because my hairdresser does cheap haircuts for all her clients' kids, and I wouldn't trust myself anywhere near anyone's hair and a pair of scissors. I had to endure years of "mom trimmed my bangs with her sewing scissors" and I won't do that to my kids. But highlights and pedicures? Um... no. At least not in my suburban, fairly high income elementary school. I saw one fifth grader with a pink stripe once, but it washed out in a few weeks.

I guess this hooey sells magazines, so someone somewhere can pick it up and say "oh dear, what is the world coming to" but from where I sit, I don't see a flock of sexualized "tweens." I see a lot of kids.

If the Big Three automaker CEOs had been using Amazon's philosophy, they wouldn't have been caught with their pants down when the Prius hit the market. It's no accident that it still takes a serious wait time to get one because Toyota can't build them fast enough.

Yes, there's a market for big SUVs and enormous trucks. But it doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that producing only that and ignoring all small car technology is a bit shortsighted. Anyone interested in a reliable small car buys Japanese. Not because of price... similar American cars are cheaper. But American compacts and subcompacts are crap, and everyone knows it.

This didn't have to be a buggy whip manufacturer situation, but the big three CEOs made it so. They could have diversified their market, and built high-quality cars and trucks that people want to buy. But even in the SUV and truck market, a Toyota or Nissan is more reliable and lasts longer. Kinda irks me to bail them out for producing substandard products that no one wants.

my pop-up trailer is a Coleman. I highly recommend them. There are a lot of moving parts on a pop-up trailer, and a lot of things can go wrong. Colemans are well built and long-wearing.

... but not the demographic in your article. I'm not retired, I have a family and a big dog, and we have a pop-up trailer that lives in the garage in the winter.

I'll admit, our trailer came from my desire for luxury when the first kid was born. We love to camp, but I couldn't see weekends in a tent with a kid in diapers and hot water in a pot on the camp stove. I know lots of people do it, but not me.

Camping for the last 10 years in a family size pop-up trailer, it seems that demographic is growing. When we go to our local Forest Service campgrounds and state parks, we see tons of pop-up trailers (all shapes, sizes, ages, and variations) that have the advantage of being small enough to go in the garage (no storage fees). Light enough to tow behind an ordinary car.

This article is right, that smaller and lighter is the way of the future. Some of the European designs for trailers, camper vans, and so forth, are ingenious, lightweight, and small. American manufacturers could learn a lot from them.

Where do I stand in line for my Subzero fridge? Is Uncle Sam handing them out?

I've got some credit card debt which I spent on a whole bunch of stupid stuff I can't even remember. Can I get a bailout too?

Where do I stand in line for my piece of the action?

Oh yeah. I'm just a little person. And yes, Andrew, I feel like heading for a barricade some days.

My brother is heading into divorce proceedings with his wife. She's hit him on multiple occasions. He kept his cool and didn't hit back. The most recent incident, involving a one-sided hitting fight that went on for an hour, he left.

He moved out the next day.

He knows well and good that if he lost control and hit her, he'd lose any chance at shared custody of their children, and he'd probably get a restraining order and jail time. But for her to hit him? No big deal. He's just supposed to be a man and take it. I'd be willing to bet that this incident will have no bearing on her fitness as a mother, but would have had a huge implication on his fitness as a father, had he engaged in the same behavior.

The upshot... he kept his cool but she doesn't have to.

Bigger or smaller stature does matter, but no one should have to put up with abuse.