mike carey

Haha, I wondered when you would chime in!!

Used as a sex toy, I'm sure it would. Oh wait, you're talking about an impact on taste. My bad.

Oh, I don't know, the parenthetic comment clarifies the meaning, how could anyone misunderstand it? Dubai Ports use their company initials in advertisements around cricket games where they are the main sponsor. I never once think about any possible alternate interpretation of those signs.

It's still officially winter for another full day here, but here we are, over 20 degrees.

But but but, it's horrifying to have to go under a river on a tunnel train .... God forbid it's true that he's now in ... shudder ... Noo Joisey. (fake accent that nobody uses))

Maybe, but they're here.

There is an axiom that disasters are of general interest in the West in rough proportion to, and there's no way to say this that does not sound uncaring or even cruel, the extent to which the West cares in general about the place in which the disaster occurs. Nepal is the sort of place that is generally low on that totem pole, initial interest that fades rather quickly. Another uncomfortable fact often emerges. Interest increases when people from 'the West' are involved. We saw it with the Boxing Day tsunami. 'We' were more interested in the admittedly almost incomprehensible level of death and injury in the Thai resorts, but paid rather less attention to the quarter of a million people who died in Aceh. We understand tragedy by seeing things that are familiar in it. The Guardian published an article drawing Australians' attention to how this tragedy has affected people who live amongst us. We should perhaps remember John Donne's reminder that no man is an island, we are all part of a whole and the loss of any one of us diminishes the whole. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/aug/29/what-we-know-about-the-australians-missing-in-the-nepal-floods

The ITV news piece I saw this morning mentioned that he had embraced environmental causes and travelled to the Amazon to advocate for them. HM King Charles III had similarly embraced causes as Prince of Wales. Constitutional monarchs can and do adopt politics-adjacent causes safely in this way. Alt for Norge.

In August 1940 he travelled to the United States from Petsamo on the Barents Sea coast of Finland (now Pechenga in Russia) on a US Army transport ship and spent the war in the US.

Indeed, much the same as most European monarchs (and some republics where the president is largely ceremonial).

The King of Norway passed away at 6.35am (CET) on 28 August. He was 89. He is succeeded by Crown Prince Haakon, now King Haakon VIII. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-08-28/norway-king-harald-dies/107091974

Isn't it your responsibility to eat garlic to ensure the second item doesn't occur? 😀

Didn't they rename the city of Ontario in California to something else?

There may be an easier way, but for starters if you go to the top on this thread and click on the Canada tag, it searches for other places it's been used. There are only three instances of this so far, so it depends on the extent to which any tag is used, and that isn't common practice in this forum. @BillJenBill

This Blue Sky post captures some of the sort of person she was. Requiescat in pace. Tap on the post to open it with replies.

If the trade winds are blowing as they usually do, Hawai'i - the south side of Oahu, at least - is bearable, you don't notice the heat so much. If they stop, which can happen, it can be hell.

https://rent.men/meatvenezuelabig

Going back to your originally posted question, and considering what @Vegas_Millennial just said, I'd like to throw something in, not to suggest you need to do it, but simply to consider. If you are trying to recover from significant debt, you have to keep spending some money, but what should you spend it on? I don't suggest rice and beans and nothing else, but resonable restraint can be important. Your airline voucher is something that you can probably only use by spending more money (how much more is a fair question). Would that money be better spent on something else, or used to retire some of your debt? Is any asset that you can only cash out by spending more really an asset, or is it a liability wearing fancy clothes? Letting it expire could be the best use of it, but that's for you to decide. The rest of us have no skin in the game, only opinions.

There is an older thread that;s been dormant for some time for anyone interested in previous discussion.

To add to this, there is an older thread listed in the results in the link above, in the Spa. It contains no recent substantive content so it can remain separate, but the Moderators have moved this thread to the Spa.

I can relate to that. There are too many of these shirts to buy in any one lifetime.

I make no comment as to whether I should or will buy any of these tee-shirts.

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