A very good documentary about a family encountered with the choice of getting their children cochlear implants or not is "Sound and Fury". It came out when the cochlear implant was a new (but already fairly proven) procedure and is a good watch even if you could care less about the implants themselves.

If anyone has Netflix, it's currently available to watch online, I believe.

Number23- Cochlear implants don't help people with hearing loss due to the receptor hair damage, that's true. But congenital deafness is almost always due to malformations or missing parts in the middle ear. Sometimes it's due to the brain not being able to process sounds, in which case the child will never hear. But cochlear implants help a lot of kids with severe hearing impairment or deafness, especially kids born with a cleft palate. They often end up with lots of ear problems at the same time.

Miss Celiana, you're lucky that your children at least seem to be developing some semblance of taste as they get older...the most hardcore fans I've seen have been between 13 and 17.

On a related note, it's a shame Oatmeal didn't read the rest of the series, because from what I hear, there's a baby ripped from Bella by the vampire dude because it's eating her from the inside (?), and as soon as it's born the werewolf guy falls in love with it and chooses it as his mate. WHEN IT'S BORN.

Twilight: One girl's decision between bestiality and necrophilia, as a werewolf discovers his true pedophilic self.

Now, I'm no health nut, nor do I think kids should be relegated to eating only compressed tofu and the like, but I must raise my eyebrow at someone who calls crayons made primarily from fruity pebbles and marshmallows "healthy", no matter what other ingredients are in them. I'm sure it's better than feeding your kid Twix, but I have a lot more suspicion about the product when it makes claims like that...

Pish tosh, Clotho, why force people to choose one or the other? Doing both works, too!

While I'm waiting for comment moderation, I do have to say that my favorite Oatmeal pieces are the infographics.

One of my profs last semester posted the there/their/they're infographic on her door and said we now had no excuse for what horrible grammar was being displayed in our papers. Well, "our" in the general sense. I don't remember ever being graded poorly for grammar, but then again, I don't remember much of that class anyway.

Twilight is one of the worst things that has ever come along for gender equality. And seriously...you've read it, right? Even Robert Pattinson said he felt like he was acting out "the author's dirty story" that wasn't meant to be seen by others. It's written like an obsessive pre-teen girl, with the same unrealistic-yet-vague descriptors used needlessly over and over.

Yes, I read the entire first book. It was difficult for me (as someone who enjoys reading quality literature). I won't be reading any more of the series. I don't care about the films. It would take some damn talented actors and a massive re-write to get that "story" to any semblance of watchable.

I love the ThinkGeek utility towel :D A lot of people celebrate today as a general Geek Pride day, too.

Saffron-I've always wondered that about her! The Japanese couple that lives across the hall from me is exactly the same way o_O I know in Tokyo people have very little space to live as it is, so keeping it clean maximizes the available area, but outside of Tokyo, I dunno.

you know, I'm all about exploring unappreciated places. but if I have to hire a bush pilot or chopper to get there, I think I'll take a pass for now. Not that I want roads built in those areas...there are enough places to visit with roads near them!

That just doesn't seem at all like a safe sport. At least I know I couldn't stand it without fainting.

Hey now, the camera can't focus through the screen, so of course he had to sneak into the patio!

They may be terrible but they're still better than the London 2012 logo.

Yeah, and it's quite effective. Problem is when it gets in other creatures...proven to cause fish to swim slowly close to the surface of the water (I think that's the only non-mammal to be affected) and seriously messes up a lot of other mammals.

I wouldn't pass it along as gospel until quite a few more studies are done, but the supposed effects on humans do make a lot of sense given what it does to others. Kind of creepy that a parasite can do so much.

Interesting! Mice who are infected with Toxoplasma gondii (the parasite that is why pregnant women are advised not to change litterboxes) show no fear of cats, and are actually drawn to their scent. It's not the same as this- the sex centers in the mouse's mind are mildly stimulated by cat scent when it's infected instead of just indifferent to danger, but I wonder if that organ has anything to do with how/why T. gondii is able to rewire the mouse brain.