OK, this is what I don't get. When a person survives a tragedy, there is always a Christian Greek chorus of "God saved him because he was faithful/obediant/ (insert positive quality here)". When the person doesn't survive, it's because "God called him to a better place". So you can't lose for winning?

Any doctor I've seen in the last ten years has been mildly thrilled that I read up on my symptoms and/or diagnosis. It allows us to make the best use of my time in the office. Also I have a child with Down Syndrome and we go online often to get appropriate growth charts, check for recommended tests, etc. I don't expect the local pediatricians to know everything about care for a child with Down Syndrome and I see bringing this information as working with the doctor, not supplanting the doctor's knowledge or authority.

It doesn't make sense to talk about what marriage is or isn't. Marriage is what the two people make of it. A great marriage is heaven and a lousy marriage is hell. I know.

when your life requires making nice and being understanding and seeing both sides yada yada yada, it's fun to stop being nice and be a bitch now and then. Not that I would know.

Most women don't have a clue how much they really give up when they have a child. Hobbies? Goodbye! Free time? Goodbye! Personal goals and dreams? Goodbye!

I have two children and I have hobbies, personal goals and dreams, and occasionally free time. They're different and less of a focus but they're there. The first year or so of parenting is very demanding but the demands lessen and change after that. You don't have to subsume your sense of self completely into parenthood. It's another facet of you, not all of you.

Enough of the morality police regarding hiring a cleaning service. Paying someone to clean doesn't mean you think cleaning is beneath you, it's buying time and energy. The time and energy you would spend cleaning is freed up to do something else. In the case of the LW, it's more than a matter of time or energy but for a lot of people it is. Do you buy bread instead of making it because bread-baking is beneath you? Do you have your hair cut professionally because hair-cutting is beneath you? Same thing with cleaning.

People who clean for a living do so because they lack training or education for other work or because they need flexible schedules to deal with their kids or other commitments. If you pay decently, it's a quid pro quo situation. I've known several students who cleaned rather than work at McDonald's. They made more money, the work wasn't any harder and they could set their own hours.

I do have a suggestion for the LW. Throw away anything that is clearly trash and rent a storage unit for 6 months (or a year if you live in an area that has very definite seasons). Put everything that doesn't get regular use in the storage unit. After the time period is up, donate or ebay everything in the storage unit. If you haven't used it by now, you don't really need it. It's amazing how much easier it is to clean or organize when you're not confronted with clutter.

Kori called the administrator's house at lunchtime, not the wee hours. Some of the people who called after her returned message was posted did so in the wee hours, but Kori did not.

BTW I'm not really backing either party but I think the wife was clearly in the wrong while the kid could have been a little more patient, and I'm 47.

the only person who looked at that ad and immediantly thought of Jon-Benet Ramsey?

This has probably come up already. I am firmly convinced that part of the reason for overspending and having debt (other than medical expenses and layoffs) is the tendency to go to the mall for entertainment. For a lot of people I know, if they don't have plans they often go shopping. Hey, the mall is climate-controlled and usually safe and is convenient for meeting friends. I've tried and mostly succeeded at stopping recreational shopping.

Now if I could quit recreational e-Baying....

It is indeed true that the risk of schizophrenia in most cultures is around 1%, so a 67% increase is small. So from the point of view of one person's risk, it's not that serious.

However, given the population of even the US, a 67% increase...should it ever take place....is pretty serious. According to schizophrenia.com, there are 2.2 million people in the US with schizophrenia and that number is dwarfed by the China and India statistics. If the US went from 2.2 million to 3.7 million, that would seriously strain support services for schizophenic persons (obviously, that's a worst-case scenario) and one would expect rebound effects in area of the economy. After all, that would be 1.5 million people who would be less likely to work and pay taxes, etc.

Bottom line: this seems more of a public health issue. If there is a serious nationwide stressor such as a terrorist attack or George Bush somehow getting a third term, an increase in schizophrenia should be expected roughly 20 years later and planned for. It would be a good idea, public-health-wise, to develop ways to reduce or prevent serious stress in pregnant women (for example, facilitating attempts to leave abusive situations) not only for the women but for the children and the ultimate bottom line. For an individual woman that is not under the level of stress described in the study, this finding is probably not relevant. She should stick to avoiding contracting influenza...that is known to increase schizophrenia risk to 2 or 3% (depending on the study).