My hope at this point? Next season on Lost, a new lostaway shows up. His accent is flat, American. He can converse with Jin in his native Korean, he throws in some Spanish with Hurley, he can chat with Danielle in French and with Sayid in his native language, as well. His backstory flashbacks, if there are any, are carefully constructed to leave, shall we say, Sark-room. So, not Sark, but not NOT Sark. Now, that would be hot.

Love it. Heh. I'm another person who started out loving the show and then gave up on it midway thorugh the 3rd season. I can't recall the exact episode, but after rolling our eyeballs during most of it, the hubby promptly deleted it from our TiFaux lineup. However, I often wondered what happened over the last 3 years. Maybe I'll rent the DVDs on a cold, snowy winter weekend so I can get some closure.

Also, when did becoming the routine act of becoming a parent imply some sort of heroic self-sacrifice? Strange.

Thank you, KStone. Must be a generational thing, but my and my peers parents (with kids born in the early sixites) certainly didn't feel like they were owed some sort of medal of valor for having children. It was just life. I too am a little tired of hearing the bloated self important statements from a FEW parents that the time they spend raising children is more important than anything a non-parent might do with their lives.

I asked the 4 parents in my dept. if they'd want to bring their babies to work. The general response was "hell no". One woman said that work was the only "quiet" time she gets in her entire day. Small sample, obviously, but probably not unusual.

So, why are all the scolding, "I'm not amused" letters by vegetarians that ones that got the editor's star? Talk about a tempest in a teapot. If I hadn't read these letters I would never have given a second thought to the "breaking down a vegetarian" aspect of the strip. It's frakin' hilarious to me because everyone I know vegan, veggie, meathead alike has craved bacon. Right on, Keith!

Arizona has lots of problems, but did nearly every book recommendation have to include a swipe at the state and its residents? What a downer.

"Speaking of ultrasounds, why do abortion clinics, supposedly the "safe" medical alternative, never use them? Because once the woman sees what's actually inside her, she almost always chooses life."

Yeah, because without that ultrasound they think that there's uh...duh, a jelly donut inside of them? Get a clue man and stop insulting women. You suck.

Renowned? To .002% of the population, perhaps. I get the impression that if she was a dowdy, overweight woman, folks wouldn't be quite so interested.

What a sad little article. OK, so the snooty, rhapsodic, ramblings of *some* chocolate snobs can make the eyes roll. How is that any different from any other commodity that snobbish elitists latch onto (wine, cars, high thread count sheets). However, it doesn't mean that at the core there is something elitist with taking delight in and enjoying the myraid variety of chocolates that are now on the market.

Like others have said, I've been eating dark chocolate for a long time and I could hardly be described as an elitist. I'm solidly middle class living in the midwest. I'm just a garden variety chocoholic. My dark chocolate fascination began in elementary school in the 1970s when I begged my parents to let me have the Special Dark instead of the regular Hershey's milk chocolate bar. I'm thrilled that so many interesting varieties are now available all over the country, including a number of fair trade options. And, dark chocolate is healthier than other kinds of chocolate. So what's not to like?

I suspect that Oliver doesn't like his pretentious friends. If they'd have been going nuts over sheets, maybe he would have written about that instead.

Most disturbingly of all, the author of an article that takes note of a buying trend becomes a target of hate (not just the article -- its author!).

Is this the first time you've read the letters section? The letters inspired by this article are downright tame compared to those you'll typically find on Salon. I also didn't see anyone say they hated the author. People disagreed with his premise and expressed it. What is disturbing about that?

It's funny that Jones was given permission to say whatever she wanted to the press and to pretend she wasn't canned, but then when she criticized the addition of Rosie O'Donnell to the show, a woman who's criticized her in the past, she was not only shown the door but publicly shamed in the process.

From everyting I've read, canning Star had nothing to do with Rosie. Her contract wasn't renewed prior to Rosie being brought on board. Baba was pissed that Star didn't announce her departure when and how the powers that be at the show wanted Star to announce it. That's why she will no longer be appearing on the show.

Funny, but technically Linklater is a Boomer (1946-1964). As is Douglas Coupland, the author of "Generation X".

"Every last one of them thanks those of you who contributed time, money, and prayers in their time of need. They are humbled and grateful for everything that you have contributed. The way that individual Americans stepped up to help after the tragedy was awe-inspiring."

Seems like the only letter in 14 pages to say anything like this.

Supernova is about as silly as Damnocracy, the pre-fab band chronicled in Supergroup on VH1 recently. Damn you, Heather, now I'm going to have to check out at least one episode of the latest Rock Star debacle. Nice response, by the way.

Why is it that people who vociferously rant about "real life" are the ones most likely to waste their time in meaningless online tete-a-tetes?

He looks like an extra from "Stayin' Alive".