mike carey

I restate my previous comments on my preferred images of Dallas. And no Gucci in sight.

There's a subtle distinction that needs to be made in this story. The conference was the source for all of these cases, but it's not to blame for the scope of the spread. That is down to the local preventative measures taken in the places to which the conference delegates returned. If their measures were good there would have been fewer cases, but conversely if the conference hadn't happened, the areas that it affected badly would most likely have been seeded by another source of infection. There has been a similar fallacy playing out here. Over 80% of Victoria's deaths in the second wave were in federally regulated aged care homes. The federal government blamed them on the state government, which managed the quarantine facilities from which the wave of infection had originated. It's true that that is where the infection came from, but the real problem was the failure of the federal government to ensure that measures to manage a wave of infection in the homes were in place. (There were no deaths in the smaller number of state regulated care homes.)

Probably counterfeit Gucci in many cases.

You paint an alluring picture.

There's no talk yet of when they will allow tourists in at all, much less without quarantine, from most countries. New Zealanders (or to be precise, people who have been in NZ for the previous 14 days) can come here now without quarantine, but they have to quarantine when they return home, so not many short term visitors. That may become a two-way bubble in the coming months. I somehow doubt that they will admit other visitors until they can do so without quarantine, possibly with some limited individual exceptions. NZ may ease its restrictions enabling people to do a NZ then Australia trip, but I wouldn't hold my breath.

That may be the image by which you characterise the city, and I cannot disagree, but I would prefer an image of Mr Nicholas.

Thanks @bigjoey, you reminded me of Robeson's having sung for the workers on the site of the Sydney Opera House in 1960.

It only seems like yesterday I received the e-mail from InnDulge cancelling my booking for this year's meeting. Last week, the Australian government extended the emergency ruling to keep our borders closed up to 17 March 2021. It could change before then, but I'm not confident. With no cases here, except for returning travellers in hotel quarantine, there isn't the urgency there is in the US and UK for rolling out the vaccines, and that is only likely to start in March (they aren't looking at emergency authorisations). I haven't bothered to renew my passport yet.

'Is not rat, Mr Fawlty, is hampster.'

Yeltsin was president of the Russian SFSR, one of the 15 union republics, at the time and the attempted coup was against Gorbachev who was president of the USSR. I was in the middle of my RAAF Staff College year and this was of obvious interest to a bunch of military officers.

I didn't know for sure, but guessed that would be what it was.

Yes,, but before the decline of the USSR. I crossed the country on the Trans-Siberian Railway, stopped in Irkutsk and Moscow, then went to Leningrad. A fascinating country at the time. I'd love to go back, but with my government work history I'm not sure I'd feel safe in what can be something of a capricious legal system.

Not that I know of.

To my great regret, he retired three of four years ago. I understand he has moved on to a successful career. I'd love to see him again to chat about his new life.

In summary, invest in stocks, that market goes up over the longer term. Recognise the power of compound interest, but picking winning stocks is a mug's game. Also, buy a house when and where you can afford it even if you only half like the area. Above all, do what makes you happy, not what you think you should do, or worse what others think you should.

Depends which 'public' you're talking about.

It's a NW England term. Roguish young man. Derived from scallywag. OED definition: https://www.lexico.com/definition/scally

A typo makes for a rather alarming forecast published in the SMH. As the person who tweeted it noted, 'Maybe best we all stay home on Thursday.'

(And I thought русский , but it's been a while.)

Ha, of course!

In English or Russian?

It still has 'Ask for Tyler Dickson' if you go to his phone contact in RM.

There is interest, but few people will post anything about it giving the impression that it's of no interest. I must confess that in past years I have changed my profile picture to a red ribbon but this year I didn't. Part of the reason is that I have been less active here. Rightly or wrongly, this year we have been distracted from HIV/AIDS by CoviD-19.

I know I've had food items like spices too long if they are in cans or bottles labelled in ounces. It's quite some time since we went metric, or since I lived in the US. I've moved with spices and kept using them, but I make a conscious effort to use up the older ones. Often using twice as much as prescribed renders old spice effective in a recipe. I have furniture from my mother's house and that which I had when I was living between two houses in different cities, and I need to get rid of some of it. Inertia, inertia! This thread has been a wake-up call, whether I'll act on it is a separate question. One thought, if you're hiring a removalist, the cost may be the same whether you fill or half fill the truck or container, so if in doubt taking stuff with you and deciding to junk it later may not cost you more.

Lol. No, it was the Bundesmarine until 1995 but since then it's been the Deutsche Marine.