"My roommate is no longer eating foods with any chemicals in it,"

Oh my God, "toxins" and "detoxing". Sigh. To maintain my sanity, I think of it (as suggested by Ben Goldacre in Bad Science) as a universal cultural metaphor - rituals of purification and cleansing. But mostly I just try not to say... well, anything, to people who believe this stuff, because what's the point.

Why would it be annoying that people want to know that garlic is a) safe and b) works?

[looks down at pint]

I am jealous that you are an astrophysicist. Rock on!

$50? Ouch! Y'all need your own Bravissimo in the worst way. I'm actually a Brit, but do occasionally order things from either small US or European suppliers. It looks like the Polish company Biubiu.pl and the Russian one DD Atelier charge more like $10-15 Canadian for shipping to Canada, but I'm not shilling for any…

There are some really great shirts cut for big boobs available online, FYI. I don't have super-big boobs, but unless I buy ones specifically cut for the busty, I get the straining buttons/baggy waist combo.

Thanks :) I was the manager at the time, but my cashier sensibly referred the guy to me when he saw what the guy wanted me to do. He wasn't elderly in any way, either - I'd estimate mid-30s. He may, of course, have gone 10 minutes to the next nearest branch and tried again, but my conscience is clear.

It's not completely that though; a lot of people are cared for at some point by their children, but women are often the ones who end up caring for their husband's parents on top of their own.

I've noticed this with my husband. He's not exactly a blowhard, but where neither of us really knows something about a topic, I'll say "I don't know" and he'll confidently pull something vaguely plausible out of his ass. Maybe it wouldn't make for a better world, but I wish girls were taught to do this too.

This isn't really about you, I just want this point to be made somewhere, BTW.

"not having had all the cycle" is the reason why the MMR is given as one jab, and why we should not support people who want to vaccinate, but as single vaccines.

Cognitive capacity does decline in the elderly even if they are still compos mentis by all medical standards.

Back when I worked in a bank, I once had a guy come in asking about the best way to send money to Nigeria and waving a copy of one of those "deposed Prince" letters. My approach was somewhere along the lines of "sir, we can certainly talk about the best method of transfer, but I need to advise you that is very very…

...bzuh?

Well, I think at least the point at which she went to "Wakefield is very respected" was the point at which even those who may have been inclined to give credence went "Okay, no". Yeah, that same Wakefield who was struck off the medical register for falsifying his data, concealing his sources of funding, and performing…

EW, CHRIST. Yes, of course it's because she wants the baybeez! I remember Caitlin Moran talking about how, every single female celeb she interviewed, her editor would tell her to go back and ask that woman how she felt about children, and when was she having them?

I dunno, I've always been entertained by the losing/loosing malapropism. Like, I think C Ortis is loosing some craziness on us right now!

She's more than one of his mistresses, all by herself? Damn, that sounds like hard work!

Re: your first question: yes, I do. No, a good boss wouldn't do that. But a good boss wouldn't be berating you to the point of tears in the first place, and if you ask "can I take 5" and your boss says no, well, you're kind of out of options. I do in-depth work with individuals that often touches on sensitive topics,…