I read once about a newer process for creating diamonds in the lab (some tweak on vapor deposition that is able to create large crystals, iirc) that even jewelers can't tell apart except possibly that it ends up too perfect to be natural. But I don't recall the name of the company that was doing it or if it ever made…

Dear twoheadedgoat:

Chocolate itself is perfectly vegan (incidentally also vegan: Oreos), it's just that it often has milk added.

I must say, "Our Lady of Negotiable Affections" is one of the best usernames ever.

Not sure about how common it is to be specifically allergic to gluten, but I do know that wheat is a fairly common allergy, and since all wheat has gluten, anything gluten-free would therefore also be wheat-free.

My test, when I worked in a sandwich shop, was, "do you need us to change gloves and use the separate gluten-free surfaces? It does take a bit longer, if you're in a hurry." I figure at least 85% of the people who gave an enthusiastic yes to the question actually had diagnosed gluten/wheat issues, and at least 85% of…

I said that one to myself out loud four times to get just the right Jersey accent on it, because I felt like the story just needs to be spoken for full impact.

Enabler? That is, the father is the primary narcissist and the mother provides his narcissistic supply and silences dissent from the children.

While I understand your point that the perception of the homeless as somehow defective and that sufferers of mental illness are likely to be violent criminals is indeed problematic, I didn't read either of those assumptions into that comment. Rather, I felt like the comment was drawn from the fact that many homeless…

I still miss Marvin Zindler.

Wow. I don't know how that guy sleeps at night. Also, you just made me grateful for my terrible ex-husband, because for all his other faults, if (heaven forbid) the worst were to happen to our son, and some greedy dickbag of a funeral director tried to sell us on that shit, I can't imagine my ex doing anything but…

I agree with you except that rear-facing seats are now recommended for kids up to two years. I had mine rear-facing until he was two. Also .6 miles != a sixth of a mile. But even so, I have ADHD and even on my worst day before I got medicated, I would've had to drive more than .6 miles to forget my kid.

Right? I mean, if I had accidentally killed my kid, probably the next thing I would do (well, after the incoherent wailing) would be to scan my surrounds for the most expedient way to commit suicide.

I do that already, and I fully support others keeping an eye out as well.

The Washington Post article on the subject mentioned one woman who got all the way home before she found her baby's body. So I could see how he might not have seen (or smelled) the kid there if it were an accident.

I live in a 100+ year-old building in North Carolina and the windows are all east-west oriented (three windows on the west side, one of which doesn't even open, and one small window on the east side). It's ridiculous. Of course, part of the problem could definitely be the four or five windows on the south side that…

That's approximately as much as an average laptop.

Oh, okay, I misunderstood your point. And I do think that, as a species, we can all just shut the fuck up about the morality of sex. Sex is sex, and as long as nobody's getting hurt and everyone is enthusiastically consenting, morality can stay the fuck out of it.

That's actually a very good point. The internet makes all these social interactions so complicated.

Because it's a toddler? And not a postpubescent, sexual body?