DVD Players
 

The kid may have been an absolute shit (or more likely, severely ADHD, hyper, manic, or whatever), who, without such devices, could never have sat still for a meal out without exploding. If that's the case, the parents should be commended for trying such a device in order to more fully socialize the kid.

Generally, no, it's not normal. But, just remember that your baselines may be incomplete.

DVD Players
 

I have no idea -- it seems extremely anti-social to me; my children are not allowed to have toys at the table (or Yu-Gi-Oh ugh cards), except the two-year old, who is allowed something to distract him so that we can all eat together. At restaurants, however, we're a little more lenient -- but there's NO FREAKING WAY I'd allow a DVD player at the table. Maybe a game boy for a short period of time if it's starting to take a long time for dinner to arrive. One rule in our house about game boys is that if you cannot respond to people when they speak to you (and grunts don't count as responses), you're not allowed to play game boy. My kids find that the pause button comes in rather handy.

But I don't know this family's situation. Perhaps it is the only way for the parents to have an evening out without having a stark-raving five-year-old running around. I'm not about to throw stones over that.

Leaving the US until after the election: Poll
 

In my family, we pull out the portable chairs, get some popcorn and watch the show. Mrs. Flinty and I generally critique the technique..."He's going too fast" "Too much tongue" "Good inner ear negotiation". Then we go to Chevy's and order fajitas and talk loudly while ignoring the kids.

Gun photo
 

LONDONDERRY, New Hampshire (AP) -- The school board has voted to ban a photo of a student from the senior section of his high school yearbook because he is posed with a shotgun.

http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/2004/US/10/13...n.photo.ap.jpg

Kid with a gun
Last month the yearbook staff, adviser, principal and superintendent chose to bar the photo from the yearbook, saying the firearm was inappropriate.

Penny Dean, Douglass' lawyer, said she intends to file a complaint in U.S. District Court, and said the National Rifle Association will pay for the court case.

OK, granted, he shoots skeet. So take another photo. Come on. A lawsuit?

Gun photo
 

They're just trying to save him from embarrassment. Sheesh, look at it - his rifle's broke in the middle.

DVD Players
 

My son doesn't realize we own the DVD player which he watches on airplanes.

eta: Sorry, "that" he watches on airplanes.

Gun photo
 

It's not broken, it's just not in an aroused state. That would have been in bad taste.

Gun photo
 

Our yearbook gave a full page to each senior, and we could design them ourselves with any picture we wanted. The same thing happened to my brother. They wouldn't accept his picture with a gun in it. I think he just took another picture. It irritated me because two years before, Kenny, who was in my class, had a gun in his picture. The one I really objected to, though, was the editing of the guy who posed with the transvestite and the midget. They cut both of them from the picture entirely, and it ended up looking like a very bad photoshop job. They should have just made him submit a different picture.

DVD Players
 

Now that there is no smoking at all in many restaurants, I think they should divide into "kids/no kids" sections.

The single moms being hard up for sex and frequently wanting a sugar daddy is what I hear from guys, not what I have observed by taking kids to restaurants to eat.

Really.

Re: DVD players, I'm all for it if it keeps the kids' yaps shut. But that's me speaking as a fellow diner, not a parent.

Related question: What would your thoughts be if you saw a couple at a restaurant and they were both reading the paper or a magazine or whatever?

Gun photo
 

It looks aroused but crooked to me. With the bend so close to the tip, it's kind of like one of those g-spot vibrator thingies.

Gun photo
 

Did Cartman pose with his trapper-keeper?

Gun photo
 

Do those actually work? I haven't had the best of luck with g-spot specific vibrators, and I always end up going back to my old standby. That reminds me, I need batteries.

DVD Players
 

I've seen that. And I think it's sad. If you have so little to talk about that you have to read while you're out of the house, then maybe something is wrong with the relationship. I mean, I've done it at Starbucks while drinking a latte, but if you're going to go through the trouble of getting dressed and going out of the house for a meal, and all you can do is sit and read or sit and watch a movie, then just stay at home. Isn't the whole point of getting out of the house to socialize? I mean, at least part of it?

Gun photo
 

I don't know. I've just seen them -- never tried one. I stick with the rabbit-y ones.

DVD Players
 

http://www.sunnycorner.com/movies/fe...bum/hswalk.jpg

It's nice when two people can have a meal, and they don't have to talk.

aV