mike carey

Kyrgios: I don't have a coach, I wouldn't put that burden on anyone. Canberra boy done good!

Shame Ajla Tomljanović bowed out tonight, but I'm enjoying watching Nick Kyrgios in the quarters. I know it sounds shallow (guilty as charged) but I must say Cristian Garín is easy on the eye.

Early twentieth century Antarctic exploration observations: According to Mawson, there is nothing like a steaming hot bowl of porridge in the Antarctic. Mawson remarked that Scott would have survived if only he had eaten oats. Rather dark, however.

I remember travelling in northern Washington and turning on the TV inadvertently to a BC channel. Having lived in the US for almost two years at that stage I almost choked on my dinner when the weather forecast was for 10 degrees the following day. These days I sometimes translate in here, sometimes quote both, and at other times just use Celsius (work it out for yourself) and I don't always specify which scale when I use C. Weather reports here give the temperature just as a number (only C without saying that's the scale used), and I noticed from the cricket coverage from England this week that the same practice applies there. I used to know how many stones and pounds I weighed but now have no idea in anything but kilos (I never had any idea what it was in just pounds), but I know how tall I am in both feet and inches, and in centimetres (or metres and cm). Some measurements I understand in inches, although those inches don't necessarily equate to the ones on a measuring tape. Distances in miles? No idea! For the record today in Canberra it's ranged from 4 this morning to 14 now at lunch time. Now, time to heat some soup for lunch!

Ok, I'm not a big viewer of children's TV shows, but the animated series 'Bluey', about a blue heeler cattle dog pup, produced for our ABC, has been sort of in the back of my mind for some time. I haven't watched a single episode but this tweet and the accompanying thread has me thinking I should start. This is the text of the tweet that sets off the conversation: I chose a Bluey ep at random to see what the fuss was about. In it, Bluey's aunt can't have kids so has a hard time visiting them. Holy hell. Are they all beautiful short films about life's hardships? I thought it was gonna be “this is a triangle”, “we saw a duck” baloney. I understand it is available in the US either on a TV station or a streaming service but I don't know which one. Has anyone been watching it? https://twitter.com/costaavg/status/1543914398984548352?s=20&t=BLMqGNTVfxWMvEfUQDLu7w

It's an 'alternative lifestyle' area with below average childhood vaccination rates. The other areas with low rates tend to be leafy suburbs where people don't remember or don't get around to having their kids vaccinated. Access to many childcare settings or to some lower income child welfare payments and tax rebates require proof. These wealthier parents either don't use this child care or aren't eligible for the payments.

Like @rvwnsd I can read written reviews on rent.men, although without needing to use a VPN from AU of course. I hadn't looked at the new version until just now, and can still see them in it. (At first glance I like the new version, with one thing I noticed being that you can see when the 'available now for six hours' started.) I'm using Firefox on a Windows 10 computer, and on my (old) phone I'm using rent.men on Chrome, so via a browser not the app.

Not related to Covid, but a timely reminder that complacency and denial (likely in this case given the area where it occurred) present an ever-present danger from infectious diseases: #BREAKING For the first time in a century a case of diphtheria of the throat has been detected in NSW. A two-year-old child from Northern NSW who was unvaccinated against the infection is in ICU at a Queensland Hospital. @nbnnews

Ok, so perhaps this is leaping too quickly to judgment, and rather too harsh, but ...

I needed to be able to use the haha emoji for this line and another for the whole post. 🤣

This is a great thread, and as one who came out very late, even to myself, there are things here that make me think. Being old, but young in gaydom, has its challenges and contradictions. I tended to embark on efforts to learn about this environment more by watching and reading than by seeking engagement with others, but for some things the latter was necessary, or at least would have been better. I didn't rush to make up for the missed opportunities of a gay younger life but rather to take up opportunities as they arose. When I did engage in a gay social group with a very mixed age profile, as expected there were others who could offer advice that was in effect mentoring after a fashion, many younger than me. On the other hand I had life experiences from years of engagement with work and the wider society that younger members of the group found useful. They knew I hadn't navigated that part of my life as a 'declared' gay man, but seemed to value what I had to say and were happy to discuss issues with me now that I was there as an 'older' gay man. I realise that the purpose of the thread is to ask people who have extensive lived experience as gay men to explore how they can pay that experience (or those resources) forward, but don't forget that there are young gay men who would be more comfortable discussing life matters that aren't particular to this community with an older gay man than with someone else.

I've hired him a couple of times as a top. Nice guy, nice muscles, knows what he's doing and good to chat with. He's not into kissing clients if that's important to you. I plan to see him again.

I would have thought it was about drag queens, whether one was tired of them, and people debating that proposition. I'm not entirely sure how 'getting tired of' could become the key to the thread rather than 'drag queens'. Perhaps I need to contemplate that further.

Indeed! Interesting that the RBA never did that here, the old paper currency is still legal tender but shops would likely refuse to take it (well, those that still accept any cash). We can take it to any bank. More than $10k would entail those awkward questions regardless of old or new notes. Fun fact: at the Sydney Olympics the Bulgarian team came with wads of $1 and $2 notes that had been out of circulation for over 10 years. They had come from their central bank's foreign currency holdings.

Moderator's Note Gentlemen, please consider any discussion of the role of religion in how people treat LGBTI family members as now being closed and confine your comments to what your experiences have been. You can say there was a religious basis but not analyse it. Posts not doing so will be removed.

Did you actually want tourist suggestions? Or hiring recommendations?

It's been moved to the Cumming Attractions forum.

Pepperoni or supreme?

This is it: (For some reason it shows up as being started on 1/1/70 - that's a system thing. @RadioRob?)

There have been threads in the past about cheap fares, and problems with the B787 and then the B737 MAX, but post-Covid new 'issues' are presenting themselves. And some things are staying the same. Over recent weeks the stories seem to be the same around the world: delays, bad service, airlines and airports seemingly forgetting how to operate their services, and baggage. Baggage! Bags not arriving en masse or individually, and taking days or weeks to be reunited with their owners (if ever). I've seen pictures of an auditorium sized area at LHR full of bags, and read that Qantas didn't load any baggage on one Darwin-LHR flight to take on extra fuel (thoughtfully not adding to the LHR bag mountain. Almost every airport seems to be understaffed resulting in interminable queues at check-in and security. I haven't flown for a couple of months so can't speak to it first hand. In the comments on an article about the issue on One Mile At A Time, one poster said (by way of contrast with the article) that his recent travels in SE Asia and Australia had been a breeze. You wouldn't know that from our news and social media. I'm plotting a trip later in the year and QF (my only useful pot of miles) has almost no rewards available, and those that are, only in economy. I thought 'typical bastards' but another OMAAT article said it's the same everywhere. Fares to the US are insane (for the most part) even though QF has a daily A380 to LAX and UA is adding services. Fares to Europe are the same or less than LAX. (I found a Lufthansa fare to Frankfurt for less than UA to LAX even though the LH trip was via LAX and on the same UA metal for the SYD-LAX sector.) Anyone else bemused by what they are seeing or frustrated with their own air travel experiences either in the air or in the attempts to book? Hearing the funny side of things would be good too!

(One of the most polarising issues in Australia is whether it is acceptable to have pineapple on pizza, with the 'No' case being the more vehemently advocated view. I apologise if this explanation was not necessary for a US audience.)

Welcome to the forum Sam, hope that you enjoy the fun here (just don't take everything too seriously). Love the set of photos you've posted in the gallery.

I think he may be here in spirit!

A little off topic, so sue me! A Canberran on their morning walk in one of the Canberra Nature Areas captured this image of a perfect winter morning for the solstice and shared it on Twitter. (The precise moment of the solstice is at 7.13pm today, 21 June.)