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How To Fly If You're A 'Customer Of Size' {Gadling}
Nov 14th 2012 2:02PM I think there should be an exception for flying with family. But I'm not sure how this would work, exactly. Studies show that members of a household tend to weigh about the same (although there are of course exceptions). So at least half the time, to get this exception, you'd put two people next to each other who spill over their seats so much they can't put the armrest down -- how would that work?
How To Fly If You're A 'Customer Of Size' {Gadling}
Nov 14th 2012 1:49PM I once sat next to a six-foot-plus professional hockey player. He wasn't particularly comfortable in his coach seat, but he fit. I still had my seat all to myself. So the problem isn't about people being taller; we haven't gotten that much taller in 50 years of commercial flight. The problem is about people being obese. Americans have become much heavier and wider in the last 50 years. But for 99 percent of obese and overweight people, the extra weight is something they chose by their actions. I do not believe that the airlines should accommodate those choices by making all the seats larger, which would increase costs for all of us. I don't need six more inches of seat, so I don't want to pay for it.
Road Test: Nude Underwear With Light Summer Pants {Stylelist (Main)}
Mar 27th 2011 3:56PM We women in the US are way behind our sisters in the UK for panties that don't make panty lines. We have to pay a lot to get them, but go to any Marks and Spencers in the UK, and you can get three pairs for 10 GBP -- about $5 or $6 per pair -- and they really don't leave any panty lines! I wish M&S would send their panties -- and their fabulous, inexpensive bra selection -- to the US!
How Bethenny Frankel Helped Me Get My Emotional Eating in Check {MyDaily}
Mar 2nd 2011 9:04AM I always crave carbs (bread, sugar, etc) when I'm tired. When I finally realized it, I also realized that if I'm tired, nothing is going to fix that except sleep. So it's a lot better now. I have also found that if I cut out sugar /entirely/, then after a couple of weeks I don't crave it anymore. If I'm hungry, I'll crave grapes, and they'll taste very sweet and satisfying. I guess my tastebuds adjust. I think sugar is a little bit of an addictive substance for me and that I'm better off avoiding it.
Elderly New York Couple Kicked Off Ship After Fight {AOL Travel News}
Oct 6th 2010 6:53PM The problem with stories like this is that the one party can talk and talk and say whatever they want, and the other party is effectively silenced. Sher can assert whatever she likes, but Cunard must be more circumspect. If they get more specific in their allegations, they'll have to name witnesses, etc., and their passengers don't want to be dragged into it. Essentially, in no way is this story good for Cunard's business.
Still, I think we can trust what little Cunard does say because Cunard can't lie. If they lied, Sher could sue them. If they're telling the truth, she won't sue them, because then it would all come out in court, with witnesses, with details and proof. It's possible that things would not look good for her.
Also, why would Cunard have kicked them off the boat unless they had seriously provoked it? They are rich frequent-floaters who often rented the best suite. Cunard must have had to do it, or else risk losing the business of the other passengers.
Now, if another person at dinner made a nasty remark about Jews, and there are people who say things like that, then by all means, that person should have been sanctioned. (Personally, I like the husband's reply: You are not a gentleman. It's dignified and true.)
But no way are we going to hear about the other person from Cunard, because it's not good for their business if prospective passengers think their cruises are full of uncivil people. They want this story gone ASAP. And the other person isn't going to volunteer the information if they did it. If Sher made the story up, then there is no one to come forward to tell about it.
Yeah, there's a whole lot missing from this story.
SmackDown: Should a Former Prostitute Be Allowed to Teach in Public School? {ParentDish}
Sep 29th 2010 11:30AM OK, we probably have lots of perfectly good and even excellent teachers who have done illegal things -- even things that harm others, like burglary or assault -- and didn't get caught. So I've got no problem with the idea that a prostitute sees the light and goes on to a more respectable career, even teaching. But if this woman has so little judgment that she tells everybody about her past "non-profession," then I don't think she should be teaching. Not because she was a prostitute (although she's apparently so deluded she refuses to call it that), but because she lacks the judgment to be in charge of children. Now, as well as in the past.
Adoptive Parents Ordered to Surrender 3-Year-Old to Biological Father {ParentDish}
Sep 28th 2010 8:08PM We're not talking about lovers, we're talking about a SON! If he doesn't care enough to remember the boy's birthday with even a card, what kind of parent is he going to be?
Adoptive Parents Ordered to Surrender 3-Year-Old to Biological Father {ParentDish}
Sep 28th 2010 8:04PM If the birth father is so loving, then why didn't he send birthday cards, or pictures, or Christmas gifts?
Adoptive Parents Ordered to Surrender 3-Year-Old to Biological Father {ParentDish}
Sep 28th 2010 7:59PM Let me first say that I think fathers get short shrift in custody cases, and I think they're as capable as mothers are in every area except breast feeding. In this case, though, I have a few concerns.
First, the biological father is suffering the potential consequences for any man who engages in casual sex. The woman's potential consequences are having to make a decision about what to do with an unplanned pregnancy, and whatever this does to her personal life or health. Second, the biological father sued for custody but made no efforts to contact the boy, to actually try to be his father. Doesn't look like he's actually aching for the son he lost. Third, the Vaughns had bonded with the boy by the time the biological father filed suit, so you can't expect them to give him up without at least a day in court -- which they still haven't had. Fourth, why the heck did Ohio not have a trial on the custody issue IMMEDIATELY, before the poor little boy bonded any further with people he might not be allowed to stay with? Finally, I hope everyone realizes that sometimes the biological fathers sue for custody at the "request" of the biological mother, who has decided she wants the child back. It may not be happening in this case, but don't assume pure motives on the part of the biological father. Especially, as I said, since he hasn't even attempted to do any father-like things for the last three years.
As far as I can see, the Ohio Supreme Court decided the case on the wrong issue -- the father's rights. All the adults involved, except maybe the adoptive parents, have behaved poorly, and their rights are immaterial as far as I'm concerned. The only person whose rights, whose welfare, matters at this point is the boy's. Surely it's best for him to stay with the only parents he's known. He can find out when he's 21 that his birth father wanted custody. In the meantime, he won't have abandonment issues from being ripped away from parents he's actually met.
Did Elle Magazine Lighten Gabby Sidibe's Skin? {BV on Style}
Sep 17th 2010 9:53AM Sidibe's skin was probably made to look lighter. I think most models' skin is, even if they are white. They get rid of freckles, even normally darker areas or shadows under the eyes. Also, very dark skin means that the contrast between skin and shadow, which is what gives you the shape of the face, is reduced. So some lightening would make the picture clearer due to the limitations of photography in general. The editors might have gone a bit overboard, though.
As for picturing her in a full-body pose... First, the way editors "match" photos is to make the face size the same. If you made Sidibe's face the same size as the other models' faces, her body would fill the cover of the magazine, and the covers still wouldn't "match." I'm just pointing up mathematical facts that the editors had to deal with. So they chose to make her cover a portrait, so her cover is different -- by design.
Besides, while I can think of many overweight and even some obese women who are pretty, many studies prove that humans are hardwired to find healthy attributes attractive. And that much extra weight is not healthy -- or attractive, in my opinion. I hope Sidibe loses some weight in a healthy, natural way. Not so she can look better on a magazine cover -- I don't read fashion magazines anyway -- but because she will be healthier and live longer if she does. She's a talented young woman. It would be great if she could share her talent for as long as possible.
