I'm not saying that everyone does, but it is a cultural convention and most holidays are built around eating, all over the world. What is Thanksgiving but a shared meal? Why do people go out for dinner to celebrate birthdays or anniversaries. I'm talking about collective sentiment, not individual preferences. While…

You can try something like, "I've been craving soup all day"; "I have a big dinner planned tonight"; "I'm just not hungry anymore, thanks." But if your friends notice that you're restrictive all the time and don't make exceptions for social occasions, etc, it can make them feel like you're silently judging them…

You've got to accept high taxes, but if you see yourself as being part of a community and that the well being of everyone in the community is as important as your own well being, then it's pretty much a no-brainer to accept socialized medicine (which is our greatest expense as tax payers).

I used to have to refill a glass on my bedside table just for the cat. She would let me know if it got empty by pushing other shit off the table and meowing until I woke up to get her more water.

In Canada, abortions are covered unless you go to a private clinic and then there are some fees but mostly the procedure itself is covered. A woman might choose a private clinic if she can't get a convenient appointment with her doctor to have one scheduled, or can't wait at a walk-in clinic to see the doctor to get…

I know exactly what you mean. I'm pregnant with my second very wanted pregnancy and I can't imagine being denied an abortion should something go wrong - which it can and does (my mother is a pediatrician and has seen many disturbing things, so I know how often things do go wrong even though it seems like it hardly…

That sounds wonderful. You're very lucky to be able to have your child around while you study. I'm 4 months pregnant with my second child. My first turned 1 this week!

It's not about keeping or wrangling them. If you're teaching a seminar, it's important that your students come prepared and on-time. You can't have a seminar with unprepared or absent students, since seminars are based on classroom discussion. The issue is unexcused absences. This is when students don't bother to…

I wash my kid's diapers so maybe I can offer some advice. You can try to get them clean by doing a cold rinse and then a hot wash with soap, repeating the hot wash again if they aren't clean, but I'm not sure if this will take care of sheets that have already been through the dryer. You can put in bleach, but just…

Um, some women do need excuses to spend the night. There are a lot of cultural and social contexts in which its still not ok and a woman living at home with conservative parents even today could very easily have problems spending the night with a boyfriend. I know a few people who've kept relationships secret and have…

Buffy! The worst it gets language wise is "bitch"

I guess this explains why after 8 months of breastfeeding my boobs looked pretty much the same as they did before I got pregnant. A little less full, but they were always very dense so I guess that's why they haven't really changed. I'm hoping for the same results with this pregnancy.

I thought you were serious until I got to the lentils. Well played.

Its the hair and the arms. He's such a bro, doing bro things, with a touch of homo-eroticism that reminds them of their broships and the love within them. He's always taking on stupid challenges to prove his strength - like throwing toilets or seeing how long he and the male homeowner can lift a cast-iron tub with…

I'm loving that her favourite show is Canadian and that so many people love Income Property (also Canadian)- which is our favourite HGTV show at home. Scott is my husband's tv-boyfriend, he's seriously into the guy. I get upset when I watch American shows like House Hunters and people are buying McMansions for 300,000…

I'd choose the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

I don't have anything reassuring to say because you've been sold a false interpretation of the separation of church and state. The separation of church and state never meant separation of religious and secular beliefs. Its a separation of ecclesiastical authority from political authority, but it isn't a separation of…

I also wonder what makes him supposedly more conservative than Bush? We didn't see a roll back on abortion then, why would we see it now?

I'm rather unsatisfied with the explanation of the religious objection to abortion. First of all, there is more than one Christian perspective on abortion and more than one form of Christianity mounting opposition to abortion. But there are other religions in the US that don't strictly oppose abortion or seek to apply…

There's really no aversion in Canada to discussing what you call "ladyparts". The reason there is a strong resistance to "re-open the debate" is that it's not re-opening a debate, it's creating a debate. There has been no public debate since there has been no legislation about abortion for 40 years. Abortion is viewed…