Cocktail sticks and toothpicks supplier

[Bob Obar]

The technique I've always used instead of toothpicks is the real 
inexpensive pointed or circular plastic loops that many suppliers 
(such as Elkay, american Scientific, etc.) sell; you pick the colony
with the tip of the loop, touch the medium in a sterile tube with it
(so that you can grow an overnight culture if the PCR result 
warrants it), then touch the tip into ~50 ul of water in a 1.5ml 
microfuge tube, and cut off the end of the loop so that it falls 
into the tube.  Cap the tube, boil for 10min, spin, and you've got 
PCR-ready DNA.  This also works well for phage plaques.

-- Bob O.
(No unethical affiliation with any of these companies)