mike carey

If I'm not mistaken, for the US military to retain jurisdiction there needs to be a status of forces agreement between the US and the other country, otherwise the host country is entitled to retain it. A SOFA could specify that the US retains jurisdiction for all alleged offences or cede primacy to the other country for some. I think I recall murder cases in Okinawa were although the US was entitled to retain jurisdiction, diplomatic considerations led to a trial in a Japanese court.

I would venture to suggest that in business where there is negotiation it is about the terms of the entire arrangement not just for the price element of it. Negotiation about price would generally be on the basis that what was to be delivered would be subject to change in order to arrive at the customer's preferred price. In this, and some other businesses, what's being offered is a defined product that neither party is much interested in changing. Here, time is the central element of what is on offer, so understandably most providers are reluctant to vary the price for their time (and what they do with the client in that time isn't part of their price structure). For longer engagements there are things within the time involved that are amenable to negotiation, such as private time for the provider, degree of exclusivity, the cost of incidental activities and meals, and the like, many of which should be agreed in advance so both parties are clear on expectations, irrespective of whether they will affect the price.

Time is one thing of which some of us are lucky enough not to have a shortage! As Dame Edna said, Australia is so central, you can just hop on an aeroplane and in 24 hours you can be somewhere interesting.

I too experienced totality in the mid 70s about 200km south of Canberra. Unfortunately I chose somewhere where it ended up being overcast. Still as totality approached it gradually became darker, but as the sun was completely obscured a noticeable shadow moved across the land despite the clouds. Whether that happens in any particular eclipse may depend on how heavily overcast it was at the time.

To me homoerotocism relates to something where any reference to homosexuality is under- or unstated, or even unintended. That cannot quite be said of Brokeback Mountain.

Finally! No issue for me, but I use the forum's dark mode. The reason that I said 'finally' is that this is a frequent occurrence for me and can be resolved by switching modes. To do this, at the top of the page click the crescent moon at the right end of the line of icons (where the notification and private message icons are), after your screen name. The icon will change to a light globe when you're in dark mode. I think the issue is caused by text being pasted in and bringing colour (in this case) or background attributes that override the default (or automatic) text attributes that will change to work in the mode being used.

To me there are two separate issues involved here, friendship and physical intimacy. The relationship between two people can start as one of those and develop to include the other. Money may be an essential part of the whole deal but it may not remain that way. The money can drop out of the equation in more than one way. Without it the whole arrangement could end, or the other two elements could both remain. Alternatively the friendship could remain, but absent the money the physical intimacy could cease. So the answer to your question could be (and I'm speaking in the general case, not for @Rod Hagen) spend time yes, physical intimacy no.

I can't speak with any certain knowledge about this, having used neither, but could it be that both google voice and burner apps are apps on your phone, which has a regular PSTN number, and that Grindr, also an app, can detect your PSTN number and disallows the burner number as they don't match?

Moderator's Note Gentlemen, please remember that this thread is about the role (or not) of karma or a god, in this case in reference to HIV and to drag queen legislation. Discussions of the motives for the enactment of the laws, or their merits cross firmly into the realm of politics. Please help us to keep politics out of the Lounge.

'Ah say, son ...'

Imagine for a moment that your conclusion that English is not his first language is incorrect. That perhaps it was typos that made what he typed less clear. Your comment is insulting and unworthy of you.

Typical! Kiwis and their pictures of decks!

'870,000 acre feet.' It's been a while since I've heard that water measurement! It used to be standard fare here (along with SydHarbs, the supposed volume of water in Sydney Harbour). Now, discussion of water flows and storage is always expressed in megalitres and gigalitres (a million and a billion litres). My water bill is in kilolitres, another way of saying cubic metres. (Rough guide, if you would have used gallons for measuring the volume of something, such as liquids, then you would generally use litres, or kl, Ml, Gl.) I guess that lake could be said to contain one teralitre of water, although I've never heard that used, 1,000 gigalitres would be more likely! Although neither really conveys how much water there is any more than shit-tonne would.

Simon! Stop posting things that make sense! You'll develop a reputation!! /s/

Sorry Simon, I'm an iPhone illiterate, strictly android. Not that I could set that up on my phone! As an aside, I've loved your sensible contribution to the forum.

Indeed, similar but different. An answering machine carried the promise, or at least the implication that 'I'll get back to you', whereas an auto-reply is almost 'Fuck off, I'm too busy/couldn't be bothered'. Not always, and almost certainly not intentionally, but still. Of course, an auto-reply followed in reasonably short order by an actual response cancels that impression.

There are two separate things going on there. One is playing the credit card system for redeemable miles, the other, less lucrative, is playing the system for loyalty points or whatever path to status an airline uses. Most people would be chasing redeemable miles in which case their success in shutting others out would be only whatever luck they have in finding a reward first (the number of miles in your account doesn't help with that). Apart from American, credit card activity is of marginal help in earning status, if any, and there are more productive uses of your credit card spend (or rolling credit card applications) than AA status.

That's a pity but I guess the banking landscape is crowded in the US. There are few HSBC branches here, only one in Canberra, and they aren't chasing mainstream customers, but there are enough branches if you live in larger cities. Even the high street banks are closing branches here, to the exclusion on many suburbs and not-so-small towns, and internet banking and apps are king these days. HSBC here has foreign transaction fees if your transaction doesn't draw on local currency already in your account.

I don't think they do, they're Star Alliance and they do fly IAH-AKL (United also flies IAH to SYD.) As far as I know, Fiji Airways only flies to the west coast.

I feel a certain degree of cognitive dissonance posting this after posting about spending cash to buy J class tickets rather than chance an award ticket or points upgrade, but here we are. My excuse (and I'm sticking to is) is that I'm looking for value in both cases. It's also a topic that comes up from time to time. The consensus always seems to be to pay with a card that offers points or no foreign transaction surcharges or preferably both, and for cash (sometimes cash is king) use a local ATM at your destination after researching what your bank charges. Not everyone agrees of course! I had generally followed that script but also bought currency at the Travelex at the airport which had reasonable rates, and no commission if you ordered online to collect at the airport. In planning ahead I'd again done local research online and then went into my bank (HSBC) to ask them. After a brief conversation, somewhat at cross purposes, with the concierge (or whatever he was) who seemed to be saying that they didn't do random exchanges of currency notes, turned out they do it for customers. Their rate (with $10 flat commission) was 1.5 cents better than what I'd found on line. My account is multi-currency and if I'd chosen I could have withdrawn US cash directly from the US funds in the account (which I'd bought at 10 cents higher than today's rate and which I can add to at the prevailing rate any time online). (Later, if I need to, I can deposit any US cash back into the account without converting it.) [Any purchases I make or cash I withdraw in the US with my HSBC debit card come from my US funds.] Not for everyone but another data point in the travel money conversation. I have to thank @Tarte Gogo for suggesting the Honkers and Shankers as a good bank if you travel, or are something of an itinerant resident.

QF has non-stops from DFW to SYD and MEL, and AA to AKL. SYD is daily and MEL 3 or 4 per week. I don't know about other airlines but QF has an upgrade auction. Seats offered to members who request an upgrade at the QF fixed points rate are allocated before auction bids are considered.

They are gone, and went quickly, and from my unreliable observation were easier to score on AA and AS sites than QF. But their news releases cite how many points were redeemed on a single day, so there must have been plenty of seats moved on the QF site. I'd rather they released more seats consistently rather than a heap at once, and improved the search page, but that's not how they do things, and as Ben says you need to work with how the airlines run things not hope they'll change. It seems QF likes the big seat dumps to prompt members to rush in and book. They don't have free changes and cancellations, but at a flat 5,000 and 6,000 points respectively, it's pretty much small change. @BenjaminNicholas's point that at 250-300k miles a year loyalty makes sense especially as flights on any airline in the relevant alliance count. How your chosen airline treats you in IROPS matters, and they do differentiate. Fewer miles than that and the case is less persuasive. A couple of weeks ago QF expanded its redemptions on China Airlines and said that it would mean onward seats would be available from Taipei. I couldn't find any but there was plenty of availability from here to Taipei.

AA's program to which I've paid the most attention in the US seems to be losing its point. Part of the issue for it is that they threw all the cards in the air and reassembled the deck differently and people either haven't worked out what it means to them or don't like it because it's different. With Australian airlines gold status (=AA platinum) you get lounge access and I value that (QF has a second domestic tier of lounge that you get with platinum). Free upgrades are not a thing here but points upgrades are and the higher your status the earlier they'll offer it and the higher your priority for getting one. For me gold is worth the effort and with only two domestic airlines there's less scope to fragment your flying. Obviously international is different. (And yes, my QF status gets me free checked baggage on AA and AS if it's not included in the fare. It's always included in QF fares.) Even so, like @Unicorn I'm reassessing. QF award availability and ease of access is rubbish so I'm piling up points with limited scope to use them. Upgrades on international (and even domestic) trips is an option but I have to buy a QF ticket to get them. Like others I'm looking at buying the fare class I want based on price and convenience. Most airlines I'm likely to choose will contribute to my QF or VA status.

You can't do it yourself. Report the post (use the three dots at the top right of your post) and ask the moderators to move it.

Adding to Rob's reply, if you were referring to the 'Ask a Provider' forum rather than the two forums about individual providers, it's been reconfigured as: https://www.companyofmen.org/forum/80-question-about-hiring/