"This is the last year I get sucked into the advent calendar nonsense," writes Lacey from Green Bay. "If you get to December without the bloody thing being pilfered, you're lucky. A week on and I'm still recovering from the 5am wake up call from December 1.The damn things aren't even Christmassy - all movie merch or teddy bear twee hiding a teeny morsel of old chocolate. But the worst is the negotiations. Because one is never enough. 'Can I have another one? No. Please? No. Just one more? No' ... And if you think you could leverage some good behaviour out of a daily nub of chocolate, well, you're right, you can. But all you can hear is the sound of your own parental whinging on high rotate - 'if you don't put your shoes on/brush your teeth/eat your broccoli then you won't get that dried up crumb of orangutan-killing palm-oil-laden chocolate'. Ugh."
Romance is dead
Why do people stay in bad relationships? A study in Portugal enlisted 1000 subjects who were asked to imagine themselves in a loveless, 10-year marriage. Would they stick or split? They were divided into four groups. The first group were just told they were in an unhappy marriage. The second were told they'd been married for only one year. The third were told that they'd bought a house together. The final group were told they'd put a lot of emotional effort into trying to save their marriage. The results found that 35 per cent of people who'd put money or effort into the marriage would stay. They called this the "sunk cost effect": which is basically if you feel you are going to waste effort or money you put in, you will hang around.
A man tries to get rid of an unloved item of clothing.
A witty Trade Me ad is a thing of beauty. This guy's attempt to rid himself of this fashion misfire reads: "This large sized men's shirt has been worn once and I personally intend to keep it that way. I have too much respect for the Sallies to put it in one of their bins. Possible uses: Your wife/significant other has a workman fetish ... You have been chosen to man the first tunnelling expedition to the Earth's core ... If you got lost in the bush you could use it as a rescue beacon ... You happen to be an optometrist and need something to test blindness. And the 'Rebel' bit on the chest? Just wing it and say you are part of an Aussie bikie gang."
Protest causes a sizzle
A group of activists from Women in Film and Television dressed up as sausages and stormed the red carpet at the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts awards in Sydney. The protest was designed to draw attention to gender inequality within the Australian film industry. The sausage costume refers to the "sausage fest"' where the number of males overwhelmingly exceeds the number of females.
Some distasteful gag giftware from those 'pre-C' times. Via @RememberingNZ on Twitter.
Local:Vote here for the Massey University's Quote of the Year 2016 (there are a couple of standouts for me).
