Yep - homemade cake at Christmas time as gifts to the various admin and support staff (mostly women themselves) at my workplace always meant I had good relations with them, which made asking for favours or help a bit smoother during the rest of the year :)

It's weird to me that people would be so squicked out by using a bacterial sample in this way - our microbiota is an important part of our bodies, and the impact of our bacterial flora on our overall health is actually a really fascinating and fast-growing area of research, for example:

The (frankly, kind of funny because I'm a terrible person) health issue I've noticed in my Aunts, Uncles and Dad is that they all suffer from terrible indigestion pains after meals, because they eat too fast and their stomachs get overloaded with food that's not been chewed properly :P

My dad is from a family with 9 kids and they all (men and women) eat like wild animals, even now. There wasn't enough food to go around, so you ate really bloody fast or someone else would steal food off your plate :(

YES. I worked with someone once who chewed like this, even with gum, which she had constantly and chewed with her mouth open! Nom slurp spit noise nom slurp nom all freaking day >:|

This series is good (and on netflix!) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt310278… covers a heap of random stuff - body modification scene, prison life, LARPing, bodybuilders, etc all in a really informative and surprisingly non-judgmental way :)

YES - little boobs always seems to equal LOTS OF PADDING AND UNDERWIRE YOU MUST LOOK CHESTY bras, when all I want is to not have my nipples show at inappropriate moments.

Heh, weaselsnot. Yeah - so far as I can tell, the influx of Italian migrants to Australia happened post world war 2, after the invention of the espresso machine, so the country got their coffee culture along with food. Whereas the wave of Italian migration to America happened before the invention of the espresso…

The entirety of Australia joins you in being too much of a snob for Starbucks (they kinda failed miserably over here...)

My cousin found a good compromise for our stupidly enormous family (20+ grandkids, ranging in age from 5 to 35). Kids at the ceremony, fine. No-one under 18 (legal drinking age in Australia) at the reception, for fear of illegal alcohol consumption.

Yeah - plastinated stuff gets very same-same in terms of texture and colour. I've only ever taught with fixed specimens, so at least they retain some texture/colour features.

YES - I've had students point at cadavers (sliced in half on the sagittal plane) and enquire as to whether they are male or female. When you can see the cut in half penis in the case of the male, and the uterus in the case of the female. I even had the same student do it twice in one semester, both times with female…

Shame-story - I once lived in a house with a lovely tree in the backyard, the leaves of which would fall all over our washing on the clothesline. During my time in this abode, there was a period of about three weeks where the mister was experiencing occasional stabbing pains during sex, which I never felt. One day, he…

Same - I seem to be one of the few women who loses weight easier than her mister, whilst generally eating a greater amount of food - he would be happy with two meals a day, I need three meals and at least two snacks spaced at regular intervals, otherwise I get shaky and nauseous (he calls me his ferret). I've had my…

I had a monkey in Vietnam steal my water bottle - one of those big plastic ones with the handle - it charged and dived at me, the bottle swung once and I let that shit go! Ran off with it, bit a hole in the bottom and drank all the water - apparently there's a lack of fresh water on the island they live on and they…

Also an Aussie - out where I grew up in regional/rural Australia, there are a heap of seasonal harvest/fruit picking jobs. If you don't mind physical work, then following the "harvest trail" around Australia can be a pretty cool way to see a heap of the country, meet a bunch of awesome like-minded travellers and earn…

You don't happen to be related to the current Australian Foreign Minister, Julie Bishop, who is famed for her death glare?

So much yes - why should I make an effort to be friendly with people who spent years being arseholes to me, when there are plenty of other lovely, interesting and kind people in the world to be friends with?

no wuckas :) always glad to spread the word about great writing!

Clementine Ford is (in my opinion) one of the best writers in Australian media at the moment: http://www.dailylife.com.au/news-and-views…