mike carey

When I was in the air force I had one guy of Asian descent work for me. His last name was Ng. When people asked him where he was from he would say he came from a little fishing port. And then add, 'Fremantle'.

I know I am speaking from afar and that Las Vegas is in my future not my present or past, but 12 months ago I was prepared, if I were to visit, to contemplate Mr Atlas despite his bad rep. The last year as brought no public indications that he is improving, quite the contrary. I wouldn't have had a prearranged Plan B, I think that is disrespectful. I may have had an emergency replacement contact list, as Latbear suggests, but more likely to use the next day rather than immediately. (I wouldn't plan nightly trysts, just a small number over a few days.) Peter would have been my Plan A, and as I read his posts over the last while, nothing has changed my view. Now, to arrange that trip!

In the list of conversations, check the boxes to the left of the titles you want to delete from your list, and in the dialogue box click the down arrow for the dropdown menu to appear, and select 'leave conversations'.

To me the term 'dinner party' is the key, and I'm not sure my interpretation is the same as would apply in the US. To me, a dinner party is one where tables are set, and there are only place settings for the invited guests, in which case the guest list should be the end of it. If one of the hosts invited an additional guest, they would only have done so if catering and seating could be adjusted, and as a host they would know whether it could. If it were a buffet dinner then there could be more flexibility, but unless +1 was specified, a guest bringing someone with them is not appropriate.

It's been explained somewhere before, the default start time of the underlying program for the forum is 0000 hours UTC on 1 January 1970, and some bios don't have an actual start date so default to that time and date. If you are in the US when you read them it shows up at what your local date would have been then, and that would be 31 Dec (as it would have been 1900 EST etc on that day). If I look at those same bios I should see 1 Jan 70 as that day had already started here at 0000 UTC.

Bon anniversaire!

Yes, the legislation was introduced into the Senate on Wednesday and the second reading began on Thursday, the whole day devoted to it. Next sitting week will debate amendments, and even the more conservative ministers are saying that as important as religious freedoms are (or 'might be', I would say), they are a separate issue and should not be included in this bill, it was about one thing. The senator who introduced the Bill and the leader of the opposition in the Senate both spoke movingly about their experiences and the importance of the change, and both received standing ovations from the whole Senate. When it passes the Senate it will go to the House of Representatives, and it is anticipated that the House will not rerun the amendment debates that were run in the Senate. The expectation is that it will pass before Christmas. Senator Dean Smith, who introduced the Bill has said he plans to have a Royal Assent party. The latest speculation is that 15 Dec will be the start date, which given the requirement for 30 days' notice of intention to marry would mean January weddings. The sister of the former (anti-equal marriage) PM, who had planned a 2 Feb wedding at the British Consulate now plans an Australian wedding on the same date.

The 2010 World Cup final was played at Soccer City. Ia Australia, the Australian Football League and Football Federation Australia involve completely different sports. Rather than two sports in the US, when used colloquially, the word 'football' could be used of four different sports depending on where and who you are.

Well, it's not the first time that this interpretation of 'Fly United' has prevailed!

So, on national television, from the Yes celebration in inner Canberra, the gay anchor of the ABC TV evening news bulletin in the ACT interviews the gay Chief Minister about the 74% yes vote in the territory!

No-one on the yes side wanted the ballot, correctly predicting some nastiness in the campaign, and there was initially talk of a boycott but that evaporated within days (well before the ballots were even sent out). The advantage we now have (and I remember Panti Bliss saying this in interviews here) is that it was the whole country that decided, not 'meddlesome judges' or members of Parliament, so it should be settled now.

The yes vote won in every state and territory, and in 133 of the 150 federal electorates. The former PM, a prominent no campaigner, had a 75% yes vote in his conservative electorate. My electorate, a rural one that surrounds Canberra it was 64.9% and in the Australian Capital Territory it was 74%. The total turnout in what was a postal ballot rather than voting in person, was 79.5%. The legislation will be introduced into Parliament this afternoon.

@Gar1eth Thanks, such a relief.

This is odd, his jocks appear to be mirror reversed but his tattoos are the right way around. Even the fake Devanagari one.

I've had one PO Box for 30 years, and have had others for shorter times when I've lived in different towns. I kept that one because I knew I would always go back there, and it provided a 'permanent' address as I moved around the country. Even when one lives in the same city all the time, it provides a permanent safe place for delivery that isn't affected my local kids or by the weather if you're away for a few days. Obviously there are fewer concerns if you live in an apartment building with the mail boxes in a sort of secure area. When I order things on line, I use my home address if I know I'll be there for the delivery but the PO Box if I'm not sure, works for me. Australia Post sends an e-mail when mail is delivered to my PO Box.

That looks to me as if it is him, not the website that has made the error.

I don't know about elsewhere, but the term is standard Australian slang for an idiot or jerk. Calling someone a complete tool is similar.

Soft plastic like straws and plastic bags can't go in the normal recycling but here one supermarket chain does collect them (not at all its shops) for a specialist recycler.

@Tarte Gogo That +54 number doesn't compute, but the second number is a BA mobile phone number [011 is BA, 15 is the mobile prefix, the rest is the phone number]. The international number should be +54 11 15 6488 5602. (+ is the international standard to apply the local international access code to the number) I don't know how widely (or otherwise) WhatsApp is used in Argentina, but I wouldn't assume anyone used it (or used the same number as their mobile) unless they say so. When I've put a number into my contact list it detects whether that number is on WhatsApp. (That number doesn't.)

Happens kerbside here, almost universally. Some places also have green waste bins as well as the yellow lids (recycling) and red (garbage). Sports grounds and railway stations typically have separate recycling bins. Takeaway coffee cups are an issue, they have layered paper, plastic and paper so can't be recycled. You never see polystyrene cups or takeaway containers here any more. Maccas either wrap burgers in paper or use light-weight cardboard boxes.

That's incredibly sad. Life is rarely as sad or unbearable as we think it is. The sad thing is that people don't realise that there are others who would help them, and that their suffering is not unique.

Dan Savage had a riff at the start of this week's podcast on how refreshing the 'so what' reaction to this news was. He speculated that if it had been at a US university he would have been fired. Isn't it nice not to have an instant moral panic?

No, but you never know what might happen as a result of a respectful conversation.

@Lance_Navarro, is that a way of saying that one shouldn't care about size? Of course I agree about the pasta and wine part!!

Don't leave, just learn to filter out the negative comments. They are usually obvious.