Miss Curly, it actually is illegal to make people sit in the back of the bus on public transit based on any protected category: gender, race, religion, etc. A private bus would be different. This bus is not private, but is contracted with the public transit authority.

Not all the people riding the bus are Orthodox; it is available to the public. And I have read many accounts of women being assaulted and manhandled on the gender-separated buses, here and in Israel; it is much more common than on regular public transit, as the men do not believe that they have to answer to secular authorities.

I have no problem sharing a restroom with men. I'm an adult, and it certainly would not cause me to be inflamed with sexual desire.

Didn't they cover the additional issues in "Better Off Ted," such as the meat tastes like "despair?" Serious, serious problem.

Being forced to sit in a separate section of the bus sounds a lot like Jim Crow to me. Why is it okay just because it's women being inconvenienced?

The remark that God is the one who made up this rule is hogwash. There is nothing in the Torah to this effect, except the physical separation of a woman who is menstruating. All of these rules are just crap made up to force people into little tiny boxes of behavior that brainwash them and allow their leaders to control them. It doesn't matter what religion (I'm looking at you, you Wahhabis and fundamentalist Christians). Just because there are a lot of people who are part of the religion, does not alter the fact that they use cult methods to indoctrinate, separate and control their members.

As noted by others, if it were men of color being moved to the back of the bus, there would be people marching in the streets. If Muslims were being forced to the back of the bus, if there were American Indians being forced to the back of the bus, if there were anyone male of any race or religion ordered to the back of the bus, there would be riots. But it's just women, and there's some cultural/religious claim, so it's cool.

As pointed out, there is a contract with the city to provide the service. As part of the contract, they must obey laws governing the general public. They must obey those laws to keep the contract. My guess is the Hasids wanted to provide bus service for their community (they have private bus systems in their local communities out in rural areas), but didn't want to incur the entire cost or go through the legal requirements necessary to run a private service in New York City, so they set up the contract with the idea that non-Orthodox locals would ride the bus and pay the fare, and help alleviate the financial burden on their Orthodox community.

The Hasids regularly play the system, obtaining welfare benefits they wouldn't qualify for if they didn't hide their income with the assistance of their community. There have been a number of Hasidic conmen who fraudulently acquired millions of dollars, which they then turned over to their communities here and in Israel, so the other Orthodox protect them and hide them, even helping them skip out of the country to Israel, where they disappear safely. They do not care about anyone but themselves, the rest of us can rot, yet they demand that we honor their religion/culture but show no honor for ours in return.

They want to be separate, let them pay for it themselves.

Thanks for posting the Youtube link; I'll have to watch it when I get a chance. The bits I have seen are much better than the English version, although Lugosi is much better than Villarias. Villarias is the one weak point, as he seems to be parodying Lugosi.

Once I learned about the intelligence shown by cephalopods, I gave up eating squid. They are incredible, amazing creatures, and I think that humans would never have risen as far as we have if cephalopods were amphibious.

Once all the icecaps have melted, I predict that, as human society fails, cephalopods will create their own underwater utopia.

I used to watch it with my kids. It was my older son's favorite show.

I still remember the order of the planets by mentally singing the planet song in my head. (sorry, pluto.)

There is some awesome 80's hair in there.

I got hooked on The Guild on Netflix. I watched all four seasons in a week. I'm having withdrawals waiting for Season Five, so I'm buying the graphic novel.

We certainly haven't evolved much.

We drove by a building with AOL on it the other day, and my kids, one of whom's a teenager, didn't know what it was.

I thought they were pictures of Jodhpur in India, at first glance. Fascinating and beautiful.

@synikol, that was the recorded message that the texter left on the theater voicemail.

@manticore, it's clear from the message that the complainer is lying, as she complains she was ejected for texting, then claims she was only using her phone for a flashlight, then says no other theater has tossed her for texting. She's a big ole liar.

As for the people who suggest cell phone jamming, many doctors and emergency personnel require their cellphones to be on, even on their free time. Jamming signals would interfere with this.

We used to have a couple of theaters like that, but they closed down. It was so nice to kick back, have some good food, and watch a movie in near silence.

In order:
My kids.
My computers.
My cellphone.

If I had pets (currently looking), they would come after the kids and before the computers.

Everything else is replaceable. I know, I know, the computers and cellphone are replaceable, but the information I have stored isn't.

@Gauldar, you make a point, but it's a simplification of the situation.

Rowe was right that blue collar jobs are viewed by many as beneath them. So kids aren't offered training anymore to do this kind of work. There's a negative attitude that I find dismally prevalent among those promoting immigration reform: we don't want THOSE jobs, so let the people who do want them have them. How degrading and dismissive. This leads to all kinds of abuses towards employees of all levels.

Contractors use cheap labor to not only keep costs down, but undermine negotiations with skilled workers. They move jobs overseas to save money, without recognizing that unemployed Americans will not have the money to buy their products. Employing the labor of employees who are here illegally allows employers to avoid paying taxes, avoid paying for insurance benefits, avoid paying for injured workers, and ignore health and safety standards. These employees are viewed as throwaway resources. So what if they die or are permanently crippled? What can they do about it?

There's also a great lack of appreciation for the truly skilled workers, such as machinists. I've watched them create parts out of a block of metal with tools, a lathe and their hands. It's incredible to me, yet they are viewed as just another blue collar working shlub. As noted above, a good plumber can do amazing things. And I worship electricians, because that stuff scares me. Carpenters, wordworkers, furniture makers, they don't just pick up a hammer and router and go to work.

I should just end my rant here.