mike carey

I suspect to make their advertisers aware of what was changing rather than leave the impression that they were making random edits of their ads.

I know, off topic. This comment in the thread broke me up (my emphasis): 'There's this one neighbourhood in Toronto where if you step on their foot, they don't say sorry.'

No, foreign ministries only provide travel advice for travel abroad. DFAT has no 'do not travel' alerts for Australians travelling to the US, although it does urge us to reconsider our need to visit the US Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. The advice does warn that rates of crime are typically higher than in Australian cities. This is their advice for Mexico: http://smartraveller.gov.au/Maps/Mexico.gif The number of homicides in a city is not a direct measure of the overall danger levels there, especially for tourists. Crime is often concentrated in certain areas and among certain groups of people.

No subtitles for you!

Source Casper the Ghost is a cautionary tale about how Richie Rich's parents killed him for the insurance money. Thanks to @Abel Rey for retweeting this.

I have difficulty believing anyone could have an unsatisfactory experience with you, @Mikegaite, but I guess that's the thing about chemistry. But even so there's a world of difference between 'unsatisfactory' and 'bad'. My advice to anyone who is unsure, believe the good reviews.

Not that I'm in any position to comment on the veracity or otherwise of the comments!

Eric, you left this part out!

Osso bucco is a delight, I see it as melt in your mouth rather than 'stringy'. I have a good recipe from a Time Life cook book. On similar lines, braised lamb shanks are sublime. I had lamb shanks [lower half of lamb legs] in a restaurant in Perth with a gentleman, and I've also had them in restaurants in Sydney with official visitors from the US when I worked there. They have also become something that supermarkets sell as prepared meals these days.

Hate to admit it, found this on Joe.My.God's blog. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/mar/25/first-non-stop-flight-australia-britain-lands-17-hours-qantas ... And a review of premium economy on the flight... https://www.ausbt.com.au/review-qantas-boeing-787-9-dreamliner-perth-london-premium-economy

Perhaps it was good that you said 'level or interaction' rather than 'depth if interaction', but what would I know about such things!

@trav05 I've only used Qantas PE, and it's ages since I've flown domestic US AA first, but I agree PE is great. I've chatted with AA flyers who use CX and JA to fly to Asia. I have looked for flights to the US from Australia and CX PE has been a good deal, even when I've looked at including connecting flights on domestic carriers at both ends (rather than buying those separately). It's years since I have flown CX, but I've chatted about them and I remember them as being great.

There are ways of doing it, but they are not easy and not cheap. There are cruise ships that do it as part of grand cruises, and there are cargo ships that offer cabins. It may be easier to go the other way. It's relatively easy to travel overland from the UK to southeast Asia (through South Asia or through Russia, China and Vietnam, and to travel by ferry through Indonesia. The last gap is not easy, from Timor to Australia. There was a time in the 90s when PELNI (the Indonesian state ferry company) went to Darwin but Timor ended that. [it's a short flight from Bali, Kupang or Timor Leste to Australia though.]

I suspect that route is AA (CX metal BKK-HKG). Emirates do it one stop via Dubai.

I agree, once you're on board for a long haul flight, you might as well stay there. I'm 1.87m and for me SYD-DFW was not much more onerous than SYD-SFO, although I can understand if, for whatever reason six hours is a hard limit to exceed. And, on QF anything above economy gives you enough space and comfort to manage it.

The Qantas Dreamliner to make the maiden journey from #Perth to #London is VH-ZND with Captain Lisa Norman, Captain Jeff Foote, First Officer Dave Summergreene and Second Officer Troy Lane. Source

Yes, that's an anomaly. It can be the longest flight if they fly eastwards (15,000km) rather than polar/westward (12,395km). The route it takes depends on tail winds (eastwards). That must be the one Qantas was referring to in their media release yesterday as well. [A quirk I should have mentioned to go with my comment about NYC-HNL and HNL-SYD is that SYD-SFO is shorter than SYD-LAX.]

It is listed as sixth longest (great circle route). The longest was, and still is Doha - Auckland, followed by PER-LHR, AKL-DBX (EQ), LAX-SIN (UA) and IAH-SYD (UA). Qantas claim PER-LHR is only the third longest. Qantas touts its seating on the 787s as less crowded than other carriers, and IIRC it has longer seat pitch in economy. Part of the reason for fewer seats is that they have 42 business and 28 premium economy, so there's less space for economy. Seventeen hours is a long haul. I've flown SYD-DFW in economy on the A380 and survived, it wasn't too bad but I'd prefer to avoid it if I can. I've been to the US twice in the last couple of years and the other three trans-Pacific flights were SYD-SFO, SFO-SYD and LAX-MEL (all B747), two of which were in premium economy (points upgrade not cash), and they were good. If you want a serious break Hawaii is the best bet (if you're flying from NYC, HNL-SYD is the longer flight). Fiji Airways (stop or stopover in Fiji) is also an option. If you just want a flight that lands so you can stretch your legs, there is also Air Tahiti Nui that flies LAX-Papeete-AKL, then QF or NZ on to Sydney or Melbourne.

Ok you may shoot me but, 'Also the thread should be titled "How Does . . ." not "How Do . . . " Spelling and Grammar do matter!' [i probably should have put some commas in there too.]

@Russ does that number work for international calls and/or texts?

Roughly equal to the tonnes of fun to be had!

Yes, the legal tender rules only say what a business is obliged to do, they can choose to accept whatever form of cash they want. And before anyone asks, with 5c being the smallest coin, the law here is quite prescriptive. If the amount ends in 1, 2, 6 or 7 cents, you must round it down to 0 or 5, if it ends in 3, 4, 8 or 9 you can round it up to 5 or 0 when people are paying in cash. If you pay with a cheque or electronically they must charge you the exact amount.

Serious question. In Australia copper coins are only legal tender up to 20 cents. That is, you do not have to accept payment in them for amounts greater than that. (It's moot now, one and two cent coins have long been removed from circulation but they are still legal tender.) Other coins have higher legal tender limits, 'silver' coins (5, 10, 20 and 50 cent: $5) and $1 and $2 coins $10 and $20 respectively. Banknotes are legal tender for any amount. I suspect that the law is less prescriptive in the US. Would you even have to accept a shit load of pennies?

ABC radio has a daily (weekdays) interview program that features an hour long interview with someone, occasionally famous but more often just interesting. A couple of days ago it was with the Sydney public transport historian who spoke about the over 150 year history of Sydney Harbour ferries. Today was a South African woman who had migrated to New Zealand who had, basically on a dare from her work colleagues, joined a stand-up comedy competition and won it. She's on a comedy tour of Australia at the moment. (http://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/conversations/) Anyway, in the course of the interview the fact that she was a lesbian came up, and she talked about meeting her wife and their decision to have children. When they discovered that a baby was on the way, she told of calling both of their families to tell them the happy news. When they called her wife's family, someone on the other end of the line excitedly asked whether the pregnancy was planned or not.

Is 'impactful' even a word?