mike carey

After the ceremony, Her Excellency and the Prime Minister announced that His Majesty the King had approved the award of the Victoria Cross for Australia to the late Private Richard Norden, for most conspicuous acts of gallantry in action in Bien Hoa Province on 14 May 1968. Private Norden was killed in a motor cycle accident in 1972 while on duty as a police officer in the Australian Capital Territory Police Force. May he rest in peace.

Today marks the 106th Anniversary of the Armistice that was signed in a railway carriage at Compiègne, and which came into force at 11am, drawing a close to the 'War to End all Wars'. I am just watching the broadcast of the National Remembrance Day service at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra. The Address was given by Her Excellency Sam Mostyn, the Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia. Here in the small town where I grew up, the Eleventh Hour was marked by the siren at the local fire station sounding for one minute, a commemoration that I had forgotten occurred. As the hour for commemoration approaches around the world, I wish all those who served and those who love and care for them the peace of a period of quiet reflection on the sacrifice that they and countless others made. The optimism of those who 106 years ago dared to hope that the memory of what they had witnessed would make further wars unthinkable has sadly been unfulfilled. We can but hope that those who follow us will continue to strive to achieve what we and those who came before us have not. Lest We Forget

A summary usually is that buying or holding shares should be influenced by market fundamentals first and foremost, but also on prospects and predictability. We all have our own reasons for how we assess the predictability of the shares of any company, and our reasons and assessments change over time. ESG is still a thing for some investors and that might include character assessments of CEOs and management. And yes, certainty in market conditions can be affected by external factors, and this appears to be such a time. In this forum, we need to keep some of our reasons for our assessments to ourselves and we all know what to keep to ourselves here.

It's easy to dismiss Whoopi as clueless but doing so assumes that she is sounding off on her theory of life, the universe and everything. Maybe she is, but more likely on any programme like the ones she appears on there are researchers and producers who are setting the topics she raises, to air a bigger story that the network wants to promote (or provoke) discussion of (and appears in this case to have succeeded in doing). So it's potentially naive to dismiss something as just her uninformed opinion. The role of corporations in setting grocery prices is such an issue as it's part of a wider concern about inflation. It's not a perfect market, so supply and demand are not the only things in play. Retailers, processors and food producers all have a stake in the market (in some cases a single corporation may own producers and processors in the same commodity). The bigger the player the more they can be a price setter, and the closer to a monopoly or an oligopoly there is, the greater control over either the prices they pay for inputs or that they charge for their product. A hypothetical 'Big Egg' would be able to set what it pays farmers, and set what it can charge wholesalers and retailers (a Walmart may be able to force some change but smaller players may not). Does it happen in the egg market? Who knows. And in any other grocery line? Maybe. But does market power allow some corporations to set prices without regard to costs. Of course it can.

Mauritius is in the Commonwealth, so the sovereignty transfer of the Chagos doesn't reduce the scope of the organisation.

That said, I'm happy to pay any way the provider prefers, I have cash ready but am more than happy to use PayID (bank-run direct payment) or credit/debit card (never happened). In the US card or cash would be my only options.

At the risk of keeping this thread off topic - remember, the question is about why clients want to pay only in cash, not a general Lounge appropriate discussion about whether cash still has a role - in this country cash is a fading payment method but, unlike cheques is not dead. Cash is legal tender but that doesn't mean you are always entitled to use it. A contract trumps the right to use cash and can specify how you have to pay. A sign in a shop saying 'No cash' is part of your contract to buy something there. You can always decide not to patronise them, but if they only lose say 1% of their business they may not care. Some politicians chasing publicity have caused a momentary fuss (that usually lasts for about a New York minute) but Parliament usually only passes things the one of the major parties want it to.

Arrest him. Now his rig is stopped it's no longer moving air. Calm air isn't sailboat fuel.

Today marks the 107th anniversary of the October Revolution in Petrograd, an event that started the civil war and precipitated the fall of the provisional government.

Really? I'm shocked. But Malta and Cyprus are. (I listened regularly to a podcast called 'Remainiacs' (you might be able to guess what it was about), and still do now it's called 'Oh God What Now'.)

Indeed, and the Commonwealth Heads of Government Conference or CHOGM was just held in Samoa (not a former British colony, it was a German colony governed by Aotearoa after WW1). There are others that were colonies of Commonwealth countries rather than Britain, and several African countries (Cameroon, Gabon, Mozambique, Rwanda and Togo) that were Belgian, French or Portuguese colonies. Of course there are also former British colonies that are no longer, or have never been members of the Commonwealth. Two member states are also members of the EU. The Commonwealth is home to 2.7 billion people.

Gentlemen, this topic was always going to be close to the line on politics, but was avoiding it by talking about feelings on the day. Talking about policies, the actions of players or perceived players in how the day went, or what effect it will have on you clearly cross the line into content that we don't allow. Please go back to the sort of general discussion that we began with.

A quick search revealed two separate dictionaries with definitions: - a person (such as a writer or painter) who deliberately debases their talents (as for money) - a person who willingly uses their talent or ability in a base and unworthy way, usually for money. And in British usage, a slightly different version of the same thoughts: - a person who offers his talent or work for unworthy purposes

... and the Gold Coast, Orange Free State and Transvaal Republic.

True, but we too easily mistake information for knowledge, or worse for wisdom.

Remember, remember! The fifth of November, The Gunpowder treason and plot; I know of no reason, why the Gunpowder treason Should ever be forgot!

Climb every mountain, ford every stream etc etc And good luck when you find your dream, whoever he is. But @azdr0710 taunt you? Heaven forfend!

This sounds about right. I see rates all the time for escorts that aren't in the US (when the advertiser posts them, not all do). I rarely if ever see rates for anyone in the US (whether resident escorts, or visitors whose rates I have seen when they were elsewhere). If my recollection is correct, there were version differences for US ads with rates that had been posted before the RM rule came in. Some RM versions continued to show them but later ones do not. I suspect RM did not intend for them to still appear and they shut it down in updated versions.

Curious. The message option opens when I click on 'Message me' on his ad on rent.men. I'm logged in, if that makes a difference.

Is this in Queenstown?

Closet? @pubic_assistance? I must have been misunderstanding things here to an epic level.

Yes, the link is active but the ad is not. It would be odd if Alex had opened a new ad while he had one that was still up on RM. But he may have.

@ApexNomad, it appears I wasn't making it clear what I meant. Of course he shouldn't have said it. But he did. He was talking about a hypothetical meeting in different circumstances, not a reset of the ground rules. Of course he should have foreseen that it could sound as if he was. Having had an escort appointment colours everything that is said and how things are interpreted. In the hypothetical he only talked about talking to you. Your anticipation, hope or expectation of 'further' comes from that context, not what he said. In this case, he may have had clear ideas about what he would have done if there had been no appointment, and also clear ideas about what he was prepared to consider given it had happened. But he didn't say. My 'further' in my previous post was what you might have hoped for in a 'no-escort-meeting' hypothetical, not one that was raised during a meeting. That context would naturally have raised expectations (or hopes). Bottom line, he should have realised that in the context he raised it, it would sound as if he was open to meeting in different circumstances. He should have said nothing or been specific.

I have a slightly different take, and one that perhaps isn't helpful for future dealings with that individual. To me it sounds like an honest opinion, but it's a 'quiet part said out loud' sort of comment. It's as if he's saying that he has a private life and if he had first met you in a different setting he would have talked to you if you had approached him. But that didn't happen, and the rules of engagement have now been set in client-escort mode so (probably) won't change. 'Met in civilian capacity' is now a counterfactual so that pathway is closed. It was insensitive, or perhaps just clumsy of him to say it, but it was still a compliment, and one that you can take on board for meeting other hot guys. Just bear in mind that firstly, you've established in his mind that you're happy to pay him for his time, so why would he see you for free, and secondly, even though he said he would have talked to you, he didn't say that it would have gone any further, and it seems that the 'further' was always in your hopes.

Noah in Valencia?