Mrs Mungo: For example, since you ask, look at regular news reports of women being prosecuted in Saudi Arabia because they have tried to drive a car. Plenty of such reports.

Chris in VA: YW. You see, 'there's method in the madness'! the way nose studs work have their own little rationale that 'fits'... :)

transientChris: Yes, some of the British detective stories have an atmosphere of their own, don't they? :)

Momma2Many66: Interesting! It can also work the other way. A couple that looks smooth, man in a silk necktie and business suit, accompanied by a trophy wife in immaculate stilettos and a pristine, new spiky haircut...may not even be creditworthy.

priscilla: I was simply using the 85% statistic that someone posted on here. Anyway, bottom line is that corporate lawyers and accountants are not going to act against their own, fairly narrow business interests. If they can, they will usually try to make a profit by more or less any supposedly legal means that they think may succeed. Comprehensive coverage isn't an idea that the business community thought of first.

Chris in VA: Unlike your earring studs, nose studs have a curved pin, which will extend down the inside of the nostril. So it can be firmly embedded, but with a different sort of 'backing'. In effect the curved pin acts as back, all in one.

pitterpatter: It's crazy, crazy. It's as if they are counting on their well-paid lawyers to have more intestinal fortitude than the patients' lawyers. Sometimes they miscalculate there, though.

Momto4kids: Actually I think it's more to do with what people are accustomed to and with personal taste. Like, if a teen gets a nose stud, when mom or an aunt already have one, it's hardly rebellion, I wouldn't have thought. (Did you know that even in the Bible, God gave Zion a nose ring, in Ezekiel 16.12?)

Wildiris: The opposite applies also: A smooth-talking politician in a conservative suit may actually be a wild radical.

Yes, I think we should all use the library and loans opportunities more. For some people and places it's an under-used resource.

Chris in VA: Yes, I agree; sometimes the most sensible and moderate thing to do is to look up the number of the nearest piercing parlor, so that there isn't the sort of 'accident' that you mention; if they want to do it, help them do it cleanly and hygienically and professionally (as long as there isn't some overriding principle at stake, which I don't think there is).

Sara in IL: Maybe ppl should be better educated about the Point of No Return. For example, yours and most people's are 20 or 18 gauge, I think. When progressively gauged to 10g, 8g, 6g, 4g, they will usually still return to the way they were eventually, if the jewelry is removed. But for some ppl the Point of No Return is around 2g or 0g, but it does vary.

delaney: Yes, it's an Alice in Wonderland situation, rooted partly in the unwillingness of politicians, with vested interests, being unwilling to grasp the responsibility.

PeacefulChaos: I guess with any system there are various aspects. One is waiting lists. Another the principle of comprehensive coverage. Another the nature of the partnership/competition between public and private systems in some countries. So some aspects may be awful, but others good: all simultaneously.

ravinlunachick: Yes, this stance is probably the wisest. Over 18, it's kind of their call, I guess.

Mrs Mungo: Good point, although I wasn't just thinking of the US, but also of countries geographically nearer to Israel.

sunflowers: Fact is, it seems that the media, with their own view of the world, and members of Congress, with vested interests in voter perception, so often talk, talk, talk in a certain way about certain countries, irrespective of the facts on the ground. It's as if they have long ago decided what they are going to say and do, irrespective of the facts.

Pretty in Pink: Yes, some are more widespread than others but they are not at all unusual. I think the OP is talking about labrets and monroes.

Cammie: Actually it's less unusual than some people may think.

Lara in Colo: Sorry about your difficulties. House almost makes me ill anyway; he and the producer have a way of mocking people's beliefs which is not respectful.

Joanne: Yes, context is important; not just the thing in isolation. So often the media, lawyers etc can portray things according to a narrative and context that is rather different from reality. In this case, we probably don't know fully all the facts and the related aspects.

Oops - I misread 'signing' for 'singing'. I need to read more carefully.

Fact is, some activists will latch hold of some reports about a country they may have an agenda against, and then will keep talking and talking about it, while maintaining a deathly silence about other countries, whether in the same region or not, where similar or worse things happen.

Started reading a book on the Life and Times of Charles Dickens, by Charles Mosley. I kind of dabble and dart to and fro, rather than always read a book cover to cover.

Little Nyssa: Well, this may be a good way of doing it, yes. My email server often seems to confuse the spam with the 'real' stuff, so I usually check the spam thoroughly, too, before I delete, 'just in case'. Anyway, seems I'm always signing up for this and that, by email. You never know what unexpected benefit might materialize, down the road.