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Such as the flu vaccine. I'm not a vegan, but I wondered if preventing disease justifies the use of eggs, or if using animal products for any reason is unacceptable. Thoughts?

My cat is almost 14 and in good health. She goes to the vet for a routine check-up about once a year. Is that fine for an older cat, or should I start taking her to the vet a couple times a year?

Say a little kid is diagnosed with leukemia. His doctor recommends a conventional treatment plan and the parents reject it in favor of homeopathy, which has not been shown to be an effective treatment for anything. Since it's basically the same as not giving the kid any treatment at all, could the parents be charged with negligence? Or if he ends up dying, manslaughter?

So, last night I get a call from an unfamiliar number. I answer, and he asks if this is Cicely, I say yes, he says his name. (Let's call him Joe.) I know a few Joes, but none of them have my number. I didn't recognize his voice.

This is where it gets weird. I ask him how he got my number. He gets all confused and says I gave it to him a little while ago at a certain store. He says he'd just seen me there. I'd been in my dorm all night working on a paper, so there's no way he could have seen me anywhere. I tell him he couldn't have seen me and end the conversation.

I'm really not sure what to make of it. Whoever he was, he knew my name and phone number. It might be a prank, but I don't think it was because Joe sounded genuinely confused and awkward. Unless I'm completely losing my mind and really did go out last night, someone pretended to be me. I have no idea who that might be or why she would do that.

It didn't really bother me at the time, but now I'm kind of freaking out because somebody is apparently borrowing my name and number and giving it to random people. So...what's your opinion? Am I overreacting? Should I try to figure out who gave Joe my number? Is there another possibility that I've overlooked?

It's today, so "what did you do?" might be more appropriate right now.

I don't like Autism Speaks, the organization behind it, but I participate in this day anyway. Raising awareness is one thing that pretty much everyone can agree is important, whether you think autism is a tragic epidemic that needs to be cured, or if you (like me) celebrate neurodiversity. I use autism awareness day to spread awareness of not just what autism is, but also of my perspective.

Along with some other students at my school, this week I've made and displayed several posters around campus educating people on what autism is, some of the famous people who have (or are believed to have had) an ASD, and the fact that vaccines don't cause it. (I also baked a cake for the occasion, just because.)

So, what have you done or seen other people do? And if you're also on the spectrum, what do you think of the holiday?

My cat is really well-behaved, for the most part. But whenever somebody walks into the kitchen, she follows them and has a tendency to get underfoot. Most of the time it's not a big deal, but if we're all in the kitchen making dinner she can get stepped on or tripped over. We have to shut her in another room sometimes so nobody gets hurt. I want to condition her to not go in the kitchen at all. I've tried picking her up and removing her from the kitchen, but she doesn't get the message. Has anyone else tried keeping a cat out of certain rooms? What techniques were effective?

The printer came free with my laptop. About a month ago I installed it and tried to print a test document, but it wouldn't work and it wouldn't cancel the print job. The other day I tried to print something else, and it printed out the test document as soon as I turned it on. Then it let me print the 8 pages or so that I needed to, no problems. But today I tried to print something else, and it's back to not working. It starts to print, but then stops after a second. I can't cancel the print job. Turning it off, unplugging it, and restarting my computer haven't helped. Has anyone else had problems with this printer? Is there anything I can do about it? Or is it worth exactly what I paid for it?

"Worst" meaning the most ignorant, insensitive, offensive, or just plain stupid.

A few months ago an acquaintance half-joked that people with Asperger's and autism should be euthanized. She didn't know I have Asperger's - it was kind of fun watching her try and backtrack when I told her.

I've had this potted bamboo for a few months, and it's not looking so good. There are a lot of dead leaves that are falling off, and the whole plant looks kind of dry. I moved it right by a window where it'll get lots of sunlight, and I plucked out all the dead leaves. I watered it, but it doesn't seem to be absorbing the water. It might be too late, but does anyone have any tips for rescuing a dying bamboo plant?

My 12-year-old cat was fine yesterday until she went outside. When she came in, she was walking with a slight limp in her back right leg. She's still walking stiffly and unsteadily today and hasn't improved. A couple of times she's actually fallen over, and once she nearly fell right off my bed. She is still able to jump and move around but has been particularly sedentary today.

She doesn't seem to be in any pain. I know that cats tend to be very stoic about pain, but even when I felt her leg, foot, and hip she didn't so much as flinch. This makes me think that the injury is minor. She does seem to be in some discomfort, though - right now she's sitting awkwardly and keeping her weight on her good side.

Aside from being even less active than usual, her behavior hasn't changed. She isn't acting irritable, she's using her litter box and washing herself, and her appetite is normal. The only odd thing is that last night she threw up - totally out of the blue; she hadn't been eating right before or anything.

Right now I'm leaning toward taking her to the vet tomorrow if she still hasn't improved at all. What do you guys think? Should I take her this evening instead? Should I wait a few days? And does anyone have any idea what the problem might be?

I'm 16 and I used a tampon for the first time the other day. I had no trouble putting it in or wearing it, but it hurt a little bit when I took it out. When I tried to put in another one, it hurt so I just gave up and wore a pad instead. I tried again the next day, and it still hurt. I don't know if it would be better now; my period's over. Why did it start hurting?

So, my sim went to a community lot, then he went home. Nothing out of the ordinary happened at the lot, and he was fine when he left. But as soon as he stepped out of the taxi, he disappeared. A message popped up in the corner of the screen - something like "Julian died at a community lot. His soul has returned to his place of death."

I'm not torn up about it because I didn't really like him anyway, but what's up with this? I've never heard of anything like it happening. Is it some sort of glitch?

Oh, and if it makes a difference, he'd almost died before, but his family saved him from death.

I have Asperger's syndrome, and social anxiety as a result. I don't want to take meds and there isn't any cognitive behavioral therapy remotely nearby, so I'm looking into acupuncture. Anyone who's tried acupuncture for anxiety, what's it like? How effective was it? Do you have to get it regularly for it to work?

After researching Asperger's syndrome I believe I have it. And no, I'm not a suggestible person who believes she has every disorder she learns about. I want to get a diagnosis (I'm 16, by the way) because I desperately need help. Who should I go to? My doctor? A psychologist? A specialist?