Well, they have yummy chocolate mousse desserts, but I'm not sure the cute girls are going there for them.
- MiniMage TKDteacher of FF
Depends on your definition of "cute", I guess. At mine I've seen Julia Roberts, Reese Witherspoon, Minnie Driver, Amber Valletta, and Mena Suvari. So, I guess you could say there's a little something for everyone. 8-)
- Anthony Citrano
So True, Me and afriend were talking about that a few days ago. Unfortunetely, the girls herin L.A. are looking for there next meal ticket.
- Michael Fidler
from twhirl
... can't believe nobody's said this yet, but here goes: "Pics or it didn't happen!"
- Chris Heath
"Your kid doesn't have an allergy to nuts. Your kid has a parent who needs to feel special. Your kid also spends recess running and screaming, "No! Stop! Don't rub my head with peanut butter!" Yes, a tiny number of kids have severe peanut allergies that cause anaphylactic shock, and all their teachers should be warned, handed EpiPens and given a really expensive gift at Christmas. But unless you're a character on "Heroes," genes don't mutate fast enough to have caused an 18% increase in childhood food allergies between 1997 and 2007. And genes certainly don't cause 25% of parents to believe that their kids have food allergies, when 4% do. Yuppiedom does."
- Thomas Hawk
from Bookmarklet
The one Stein article I'm still laughing at days later.
- Anika
Since food allergies kill about as many people as lightning strikes each year, we probably don't need to ban peanuts from schools or put warnings on every product saying it was "made in a factory that also has a break room where a guy named Dave often sneaks in a King Size Snickers despite this 'diet' he says he's on."
- Thomas Hawk
I dunno, I would tend to go the along with Thomas except that 4 years ago when my son was 1 yr old we gave him Yogurt (first dairy product we ever gave him since he was breast fed) and he had an anaphylaxic reaction. Massive swelling in the ears and tongue. Luckily his airway stayed mainly open. Very very scary. Paramedics didn't know at the time what the problem was. A large dose of Benedryl seemed to bring things back to normalcy. After some hospital time and testing we found his multiple food allergies.
- Brian McCartney
I had a friend in high school with a nut allergy. She died shortly after graduation because she was exposed to peanuts, went into anaphylactic shock, and died. Edit: I could be wrong about what type of nut she was exposed to that caused her to die. It was some sort of nut, but as Steven pointed out in a later comment here, peanuts are a legume.
- Rochelle
Schools in the uk have in some cases banned any peanut products from the school, including childs own lunch boxes! What next ban the cars from the road outside? A sense of proportion is needed here. Another case of the world gone mad I think.
- Rob Brammeld
Haha great piece if it wasn't so anti-factual. A friend of mine has a kid with a peanut allergy. He's 2 years old and already been hospitalized twice. The first time was when they found out what he had - the second he grabbed a candy bar from a friend at a birthday party when nobody was looking.
- Tony Maro
Rob, my high school was the same because of the girl I mentioned. If she was even in a room where someone had eaten nut products an hour earlier, she would have a reaction. She didn't have to actually consume them herself for her to have the reaction. It was really sad.
- Rochelle
Of course, people are missing the point.Anecdotes are well and good, but the fact is, we have all these people running around claiming to allergic to this or that, when the reality is there is a much smaller number are actually are allergic to these items.
- Anika
My son is allergic to casein and gluten, but not to nuts and his allergies aren't life threatening. They cause eczema and alter his behavior among other things. I am amazed at the number of kids who have nut allergies, because I don't recall a single one from my childhood.
- RAPatton
a yuppie invention ... tell that to me when I'm in the middle of an anaphylaxic shock that will probably kill me. The doctor said after the last attack that the next time I'd better hope that there is someone handy who can do a tracheotomy because I probably wouldn't make it to the ER in time.
- Steven Hodson
When I was a wee tot (4-5 years old) I used to ride my bike a couple of blocks to go play at a friend's house, and I knew who lived in almost every house I passed on the way. Nowadays kids that age aren't allowed to leave the back yard. Parental fail?
- MVB (Curmudgeon of FF)
Anika: True, and hey, since only 1 in 100,000 will die, who cares? It's not your kid. <<sarcasm>> The thing is, it's PREVENTABLE. Justification for NOT saving a child's life is that you may not get peanuts at school? Think about that.
- Tony Maro
And just to clarify (which show how much the author knows WTF he's talking about) peanuts are not a nut. They are a member of the legume family.
- Steven Hodson
The point of Stein's article is that Yuppies want so much to be the focus of some kind of attention that they'll have fake allegeries to do it. He's clear that it's not everyone. I have several food and textile allergies, but I don't go out of my way to make everyone not have pork, pickles or latex around me.
- Anika
Anika, someone having a pickle around you will not cause an allergy, will it? Do you have to actually eat the pickle? For some people with severe allergies, like the nut girl I mentioned earlier, even being in the same room with it will cause a reaction. That's the difference.
- Rochelle
Personally I think it's good to have more disclosure about our food sources. I developed an allergy to pistachios at work one day. It was a really frightening experience. Since then I stay away from walnuts and pistachios, the rest of the nuts are fine for me. I'd been eating pistachios all my life till one day something flipped and my body decided I'm allergic to them.
- Bjorn Stromberg
I'm bothered by the people who claim allergies rather than say they just don't like something, because it makes those of us with allergies look like we're just crying wolf. Especially someone like me, who's allergic to SO MANY THINGS (and like Bjorn mentioned, sometimes I'll just suddenly have a reaction to something that's never bothered me before).
- Nine
Warning, this article contains a protein that made my immune system overreact and throw me into shock. Lucky I had my SUV shaped epipen handy.
- Todd Hoff
All people are born with a lactose intolerance because we were never meant to drink the milk of another animal. However, most people develop a tolerance by being exposed to a little at a time. Sometimes we become allergic to things by overexposure or a biological change we go through. If the anti-bodies that fought off your reaction to a food disappear at age 30, you just developed a late in life allergy. It happens all the time.
- Greg Tarnoff
Maybe the issue isn't a mutation so much as it's parental overprotectiveness preventing juvenile immune systems from developing normally. There's a study that says kids in homes with two or more pets are far less likely to develop asthma, probably because their bodies are forced to deal with all sorts of bacteria, etc. at an early age. Similarly, the overuse of anti-bacterial cleaners and other things means kids are exposed to far less in the home than they were in the past. IOW we are MAKING kids weaker.
- Kevin Pedraja
I'm still not exactly sure why my kid can't bring a peanut butter and jelly sandwich to school. When I was a kid we brought peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to school all the time. It seems odd to me, perhaps a little hyper-prevention -- if you're allergic to nuts, don't eat nuts, but what do I know.
- Thomas Hawk
what's the definitive difference between an intolerance, a reaction and an allergy?
- JoEllen
JoEllen: An allergy is the fast (within minutes) immune system reaction with IgE type antibodies. A sensitivity is the the slower (days or weeks) reaction from your IgG type antibodies. IgE causes anaphylaxis, rashes, itching, swelling, and other discomfort, while IgG reactions can range from headaches and pimples to internal tissue damage. There are other types of antibodies, as well, and most are quite mysterious in purpose and function. The complete human immune system is *incredibly* complex.
- Adam Collins
Pointing out that hypochondriacs and egotists exist, and yes exploit an issue more recognized today than just 30 years ago does not a yuppie invention make. I have always had a peanut allergy (moderate severity), so I know living with this first hand. Incidentally, if you can't eat M & Ms (even the "plain" have shards of peanuts) try Smarties - popular in Canada/UK). What's really annoying, though is within the last year I suddenly developed an allergic response to raw apple and pears - ahh! - I love those.
- Micah Wittman
supposedly it is possible to put apples and pears in the microwave a short amount of time which does not cook them but makes them ok for people with allergies. Don't remember where I read this but I remembered because I have a family member with an apple and birch pollen allergy (they supposedly go together often)
- Joelle Nebbe (iphigenie)
the "yuppie invention" is paranoia about children - rather than nut allergy. There are pedophile predators in every tree, and dangerous beasts under every grass blade, and dangerous poisoning in every dish, and not to forget the trillions of horrible germs... yes, it is very probable that some people think their child is allergic to nuts because the kid got indigestion on something with nuts - but peanut allergy is real. It is not common, but it can be deadly rather fast, unlike many other allergies.
- Joelle Nebbe (iphigenie)
I did not mean to be dismissive of the fact for some people this is a serious life threatening condition. I remember listening to a mother whose child had a milk allergy. She met with all the nursery staff, put a badge on everything her child wore there but still a temporary member of staff gave them a milk based cereal and the subsequent reaction led to the child dying. As a father I can only begin to imagine what that loss must feel like. I cried.
- Rob Brammeld
And keep in mind, Joel Stein is a satirical writer. He's 99.999999% unfunny, but this article was hilarious.
- Anika
Joelle, thank you for that microwaving tip! Btw, I have a blog post about the microwave oven coming out soon. *must finish*
- Micah Wittman
The article I orginally found was in french but here's a similar link, possibly based on the same original information http://health.usnews.com/article... Let me know if it works as my dad was too chicken to try
- Joelle Nebbe (iphigenie)
Greg Tarnoff, all people are *not* born with lactose intolerance. If that were true humans would have died off because breast milk contains lactose. A lot of people *develop* lactose intolerance. That has absolutely *nothing* to do with life threatening food allergies, though. Once a person is lactose intolerant it is life-long.
- Lisa
The comparison Stein made with being struck by lightning unfortunately isn't a very good one. Unlike the remote chance of being struck by lightning The Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network published research showing that the average person with life threatening food allergies has one reaction requiring the epi pen and a trip to the ER every few years. Once a reaction starts there is *no* way to tell how severe it will become. An epi pen is not a guarantee of survival so each reaction can be quite scary.
- Lisa
Continuing the above--in the past 5 years my son who has multiple life threatening food allergies has had 3 severe reactions and many other moderate and minor reactions. So, using the epi pen or having my son have a potentially life threatening reaction isn't some remote, theoretical thing. It is something that hangs over our heads daily.
- Lisa
People can have serious reactions to touching contaminated surfaces and then touching their eyes, nose or mouth. My son had a serious reaction to peanuts from playing with some Plah-Doh that other children had previously touched after eating. I had no way to know the Play-Doh was contaminated. It isn't as simple as just not eating a given food. There are people who have died from touching contaminated surfaces and then touching their eyes, nose or mouth.
- Lisa
Thomas, I've known a couple of kids who had the lethal kind of peanut allergy. Like ADHD, I think there is an element of overdiagnosis and an element of advancement in diagnostic techniques. It's such a scary thing...but I have more allergies today than I did growing up. Not sure if it's a function of age or being more used to smog than pollen.
- Karoli
This guy is an idiot who hasn't got the slightest idea what he's talking about.
- You.
Just because I have to eat the pickle to have a reaction doesn't mean the other items I listed and those I didn't can't be around me. That's nitpicking. Kevin seems to be the only one to get the gist of the article. And I agree with Ninth, people who claim allergies do make it harder on those of us who do.
- Anika
What bugs me most is the helicopter parent who makes sure that no dairy/nuts/gluten things are served because little Addison is allergic to all of that, yet looks at me puzzled when I say that I can't eat pork (or any of the 70 items that trigger my latex allergy) and say, "Well, can't you just pick it out or eat around it?"
- Anika
@Anika Your entire post could have been: "What bugs me most is the helicopter parent." and it would have worked for me.
- MVB (Curmudgeon of FF)
@mvandenberg me too. the hovercrafters drive me nuts.
- Karoli
Anika, I think the point was that for you there isn't a danger being around your allergens. You have to actually eat them to react. For many, esp those allergic to peanuts and nuts because they are super potent allergens, touching contaminated surfaces and then touching eyes, nose or mouth can cause a serious, even potentially life-threatening reaction. My link above--the allergymoms one is about a tragic death caused by contact ingestion in a child who didn't eat his allergens but touched something w/..
- Lisa
To the people who think this is some kind of invention or mass hysteria: what you're saying is plausible but has no basis in fact. Once you present some facts of your own, you may then challenge personal stories as mere anecdotes. Here are a couple of facts from the other side: my child has tested positive for nut allergies. Also, each reaction is more severe than the prior one, which is why people are so cautious.
- You.
Part of this seems to be due to skin tests that have a high false positive rate. Could it be that testing has simply increased significantly since 1997? http://www.unsw.edu.au/news...
- Ken Sheppardson
Interesting article Ken. Thanks for sharing.
- You.
i know someone who died from his non-existent peanut allergy. fyi
- @baratunde
"A study of Jews of similar demographics and genetics in Britain and Israel found that British kids were 10 times more likely to have peanut allergies than Israelis. That's probably because Israeli kids have other things to be afraid of."
- Frances Haugen
"Remember when entertainers really mattered? Suddenly they do again. Fey has the best comedy on TV in 30 Rock and scored a hit movie in Baby Mama and a multimillion-dollar book deal; if she'd just sing something, she'd be a shoo-in for queen of all media. But more than that, in 2008 Fey made smart sexy and nerdy cool, and she proved that comedy can still have serious political clout: her winking impression of Governor Sarah Palin defined the governor before she had a chance to define herself."
- Jason Toney
from Bookmarklet
I have the biggest crush on her. She never calls me back though
- Jon Lee
I have such a girl-crush on Tina Fey. I want to BE Tina Fey.
- Lis Miller
Revisionist history. When Baby Mama came out so many critics panned it and said that Fey wasn't enough of a star to pull off a marquee role. Ever since Palin, however, she's suddenly a media darling. This isn't a criticism of Fey herself (who has almost always been awesome) but of the fickle, fickle media.
- cecily
Lets face it, she's a hack. She can ride the :we hat Palin" train for a while, but then she will just fade away.
- Soulhuntre
from twhirl
@Cecily, I thought Baby Mama was really funny. And I have yet to see Tina do Sarah. I am now a huge fan of 30 Rock, but that was after I saw Baby Mama.
- Joey Gibson
@Lis, I have a crush on her, too. Shhh. Don't tell my wife, 'k?
- Joey Gibson
I want someone to make a "We Hat Palin" shirt to go with my "I love Lamp" cap.
- Jason Toney
Well, when she "fades away", she can fade in my general direction.
- Steven Perez
i'm still crushing on tina from like 4 years ago. i dig her and have never seen an episode of 30 rock. tina, if you are out there, keep doing what you are doing because it's working. and call me dammit!
- Morgan Haley
Joey, I really liked Baby Mama and couldn't understand why some critics panned it. It wasn't high comedy or anything, but it was a perfectly good movie.
- cecily
It's just a hype; I think every service got this stuff. Wait a few weeks, maybe month, and nobody remembers. I've seen this in ICQ over a decade ago.
- Uwe Schwarz
Uwe: yeah, I just think it's funny that some people will believe the lamest crap just because it's on the Internet.
- Robert Scoble
I just remember "Wag The Dog": "the war is over, I've seen it on TV". Same story, many people just believe instead of asking.
- Uwe Schwarz
Robert these 13000 people would not know what to do on Friendfeed and leave in less than 5 minutes of signing up.
- Bhavishya Kanjhan
this isn't the first or the last group like it, it's a good indicator of which of your friends are morons.
- Richard Lawler
Eldon: I hope I don't have that many idiots following me. :-)
- Robert Scoble
How about emails like these: "Bill Gates/Nokia/whatever will donate <something>, if this message is sent to 1000000 people". When I get something like this from some friend, I get disappointed on him/her...
- Jemm
there are 100 of these groups each week... everyone ignores them (well everyone important anyway ;))
- Thomas
Funny thing is - facebook is probably worth $3.99. Although I notice the French says $3.99 per month which would be a bit steep.
- Matthew Neale
but wait, i thought hotmail was closing the free service unless 2 million people add group Z ?
- Matt Randles
These groups are as old as Facebook itself. All they do is prove: heavy Facebook users = lemmings. :p
- Chris, Taskerrific Guy
There will always be a VIP group of sorts... back when Facebook started it looked like early adaptors were joining over there. Then came Twitter, now Friendfeed. If Friendfeed gets too mainstream (if that's possible) I'm wondering what's next.
- David Bisset (sn)
Why would they do that? They are already getting tons of money from sponsors and advertisers. Duh!
- Shevonne
@David: In the Web 2.0 world, there's bound to be something new and already in the works. I wonder what it is too, but I'd be surprised if it's not currently under construction, or even ready to launch.
- Chris, Taskerrific Guy
I wouldn't call them idiots. If they believe it, they believe it. So if it happens are the non-believers idiots? Hmmm
- Bwana ☠
:/... I doubt it will happen. They get enough money from advertising surely.
- ralphsaunders
This was the funniest quote I've seen microblogged in a while! Of course how many of these people use to (or still do) pay for Classmates or Reunion, so naturally they believe this garbage.
- manielse (Mark Nielsen)
Reminds me of the false rumors a few years ago about AOL, Yahoo, and MS planning to charge for email to eliminate spam. Move on - nothing to see here.
- Mike Doeff
It's already 39,265 members in that certain group…
- Daniel Schildt
One thing to notice in this compared to older rumors is the amount of speed people notice it.
- Daniel Schildt
I might join and post something saying "Suckas!"
- Shevonne
40,000 now. Wow. I kind of enjoy the silly little worries of people.
- Daniel Zarick
wow. morons. Everybody knows that friendfeed's not gonna start charging until 2010!
- Jim Hearts FF
These are the same idiots who are worried about being charged per email. I don't think they'd know what to do with friendfeed even if they were invited.
- Mr. Gunn
I wonder how many are over the age 0f 17. How many of voting age are in the group of 13,000.
- Franklin Pettit
I swear that first sentence just made my blood pressure shoot up 20 points. The second sentence rapidly lowered it. I have a few people added who unfortunately take everything forwarded to them as fact. They will never get an invite. This is my hideout from the people who shouldn't be allowed online.
- ilene
Chris, the group is not about pro features. They claim there will be NO free access to FB after Dec 31. Quite a different thing...
- Ray Metzen
And the group has 56,000 members now! Amazing... :(
- Ray Metzen
More than ever… 91,481 members at the moment of writing.
- Daniel Schildt
"You'd like to think you don't know anyone who would want one of these, but you know that's not true. You also know there's a little part of you wondering if this shot gun would bring a new level of sophistication to your gatherings. It won't. But heck - who needs sophistimakation when there's tequila? You slide the holster over the top of the bottle, and then deliver the shots through the gun. Salt, lemon and hot bar tender not included."
- FFing Enigma (aka Tina)
from Bookmarklet
I never noticed the scar until someone mentioned it. I was too caught up in all her hotness to notice a little scar. And while I vehemently disagree with her politically, I love 30 Rock, and I find her extremely hot.
- Joey Gibson
Man, that's been bugging me for years. She always used to say it was due to a childhood accident and wouldn't elaborate.
- Mark Trapp
I want a hi-res life-size blown-up version of that one where she's lying on her stomach holding her glasses. Hubba-hubba. I wonder if my wife would mind it if I hung it on the ceiling over our bed... Probably not a good idea...
- Joey Gibson
Is the scar the reason why her eye is weird?
- Anika
Bummer, site is blocked on my companies network :-(
- Jeff P. Henderson
I luff Tina Fey. I think she looks prettier without all that makeup, though.
- Brandon
I'd marry her tomorrow. She's such the perfect woman. funny. sexy. rich. glasses. brunette. no penis (i assume). too bad she's not into chubby, has-been sales guys....*kicks dirt*
- Morgan Haley
"In a world of Paris Hiltons and Kim Kardashians - people who are famous for essentially nothing...", that is so true. Glad we have Tina Fey this year.
- LouCypher
orionstarr: not here at work. they frown on that kind of thing in the office. go figure. and her glasses come off so she actually has 2 looks in one. what a bargain! ;-)
- Morgan Haley
she can leave the shoes on. i should be able to last longer than 5 seconds. maybe.
- Morgan Haley
Morgan, are you sure about that? 5 seconds is a long time.
- Mark Wilson
She appears to be skin and bone..and ultra white. She needs a tan and hit the gym put on some tone. Just my opinion though. But I'll stop now I don't want to hurt everyones feelings I know every guy loves her for some reason.
- orionstarr
Mark: ok, I better clarify what I meant. 5 seconds the first time. then after a snack and a redbull, give maybe 10 - 12 minutes, i'd be ready for round two. that should reach or surpass the 5 second point. but she is pretty hot. maybe if i try and think about baseball or goldfish...
- Morgan Haley
Where can I order the poster sized photos??!
- Percival
dude - of COURSE i let one strap hang down and my favorite shirts to wear underneath were either my long sleeve peach colored hoodie or my Hypercolor shirt
- Marco(aureliusmaximus)
I think I may have watched this episode when I was a kid.
- Neal Jansons
ROFL! You guys killed it with the Chess King/Z Cav/MGR flashbacks. /shiverz
- Carlos Ayala
I begged my parents to get me some overalls. When they finally got me some they said Caterpillar on the front. Totally uncool. Better believe I rocked those mugs one strap down though. I had the coolest authentic farmer overalls in the school.
- Got Love For DB™?
Omg, I loved the shit out of them back in the day. Oh god, did I just say that out loud?
- Carmen
The tall curly headed one (who is still working behind the scenes as a producer) married some former R&B singer chick. Can't remember who. And the lead singer...whoa, saw him on some VH1 reality show and has an addiction to liquor and Popeye's Chicken and Biscuits.
- Derrick
Is your gardar broken? I would say one gay, other 2 bi, the one in back probably questioning but is about one step evolved beyond mullet-land.
- Neal Jansons
one of my most memorable moments as a busboy in a hotel restaurant was taking a room service order up to CMB's room...they had all the furniture moved out of the way, and were in the middle of a dance rehearsal. luckily the room had a huge floor-to-ceiling mirror on one wall...
- Trent Olson
Neal, we've had this discussion. When it comes to gaydar, I turn into Helen Keller.
- Derrick
Tall curly haired guy, Sam Watters, is married to Tamyra Gray from season 1 American Idol.
- Ms_Krista
i used to see the kenny g impersonator stop by a record store i used to work at when i was a teenager. he was totally unassuming and just didnt seem like the type to play that kind of role. it was really odd. wasn't sure if he was "teh ghey," at the time, but then again what did i know
- Cee Bee
+1 Kristaphere. I knew it was someone of that ilk.
- Derrick
Lead singer looks like the dude from the Beauty and the Beast TV show.
- Got Love For DB™?