I thought they just had to cover their own hair in public, and it didn't much matter how they do it--but a lot of them do wear wigs. Am I wrong?

I think (I'm a cultural and completely secular jew) that it's true that the 'requirement' is for married woman to just shave their heads. The point is to not to look attractive to men besides their husband, I think, cause there's an inherent problem in that but when has that ever stopped religious dictates?

I think the babushkas and wigs (and I'd but money on the fact that wigs a relatively recent concession) are to help the woman feel better (conrol and all that good stuff).

I can be real cynical and I've already admitted to being almost unreasonably anti-religion but, it's my opinion that the hassidim prefer Friends over Seinfeld, generally, cause it's enjoyable

for them to watch non-jews being stupid (I know Rachel and Ross are jewish but that doesn't keep the show from being about a group of gentiles) but watching a group of jews being stupid (again, I know the characters weren't all jewish but hey, Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David creators?! And besides, 3/5 of the actors are jewish) is not so much fun.

Not that some of them don't watch friends cause they like to look at pretty Jennifer or the other good looking woman (people -- there are gay hassidim ya know, have to be).

Oh MY God! There is life after giving birht to a baby! While I do not really care what Britney does or where she goes, there is a lot of this nonsense in the media about her and being a mother. What, after giving birth you are supposed to be parked by the stove, barefoot and pregnant? It does not make you a bad mother to once in a while hire a sitter and have some fun on your own. People who completely give up their personal lives and dote on their kids day and night are coincedentally not the best parents. Actaully, the kids of such parents are most likely the ones that were the subject of a recent Salon controversy about kids not being allowed in restaurants and airplanes. Everthing in life has to be on moderation, even taking care of the kids. They learn a lot more in life when given a chance to be with other caregivers, taking care of themsleves and seeing their parents have lives outside the house.