The No Topic Thread

[mike carey]

46 minutes ago, TonyDown said:

May I ask, is Thanksgiving celebrated across Australia on the 2nd Monday of October?  My Internet searching and Wikipedia are not clear on that. 

No, Thanksgiving here. It was a reference to Canadian Thanksgiving. 

[mike carey]

2 hours ago, mike carey said:

No, Thanksgiving here. It was a reference to Canadian Thanksgiving. 

Sorry, that should have said that we don't have Thanksgiving here. Even if we did, having it in spring wouldn't make sense. Harvesting would be the time to mark it, not sowing.

[+ Charlie]

On 10/10/2025 at 4:50 AM, 56harrisond said:

Men Aren't Washing Correctly. Here's How to Wash Your Penis

WWW.FATHERLY.COM

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A survey of men found that the majority of men are washing their penises wrong. Here's how to wash your penis the right...

 

Even though the standard medical advice, according to The Derm Review, says you should watch it daily, 21.6 percent of men surveyed fail to do so. 11.9 percent of respondents said that they only wash their genitals once every few days, and, worse, almost 10 percent wash their penis once a week or less.

That being said, it’s not all bad news — the majority of men who responded to the survey did say they wash their penis once a day (39.7 percent), and just about the same amount of men who responded they wash twice a day — but more isn’t always better, as there is such a thing as too much showering and overwashing.

“Washing too often can actually cause problems as well. The skin in this area is very sensitive and washing it more than once a day can cause irritation, dryness, and itching,” Elle McLeman of Derm Review says.

Still, worse than washing too often is washing not often enough, and Macleman points to the dangers of not washing your junk in blunt terms: “Infrequent washing will not only result in an unpleasant smell, but it is also a breeding ground for bacteria and can cause pain and infection.”

If this is true, then shouldn't you also wash your asshole every day as well?

[56harrisond]

30-year-old American left the U.S. for the Netherlands, pays around $680/mo for essentials like rent, health insurance, groceries and transit

WWW.CNBC.COM

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Austin Willingham moved to Rotterdam, Netherlands in 2025 on a Dutch American Friendship Treaty (DAFT) visa.

 

An American from Alabama relocated to Rotterdam, Netherlands, using a DAFT visa, citing a desire for better work-life balance and a clearer path to permanent residency compared to the U.S. The move was also influenced by the lower cost of essentials and a welcoming atmosphere in Rotterdam.

[56harrisond]

[mike carey]

I found this graphic that popped up in my Facebook feed interesting (if not in the best focus). It displays the ABS [Australian Bureau of Statistics] characterisations of Australia from metropolitan to regional and remote. The ' very remote' region in red includes the places one would expect, desert, outback, whatever you want to call it, but also several islands in Bass Strait (between the mainland and Tasmania) that are very remote based on their isolation and lack of easy transport to and from them. The 'inner regional' areas in green include the regions close to big cities but also the more closely settled areas further away, including more intensive agricultural areas (intensive irrigation areas in north-east Victoria) and the areas along the main highways and rail lines between Sydney and Melbourne (east to west to the north of the ACT and connecting to NE Victoria).

[BSR]

On 8/29/2025 at 11:07 AM, pubic_assistance said:

Dental insurance is crap. Never covers anything substantial. I've spent over $10K on my teeth over the last 15 years. 

After putting off dental work for far too long, I will finally buckle down and get everything done in Manila, where I’m hoping the out-of-pocket costs are 30% what they would be in the US.  I would have gone to the dentist in Madrid had I been there for 6 straight months, but the 90-day gap between stays complicated matters.  

[BSR]

On 8/30/2025 at 1:14 PM, purplekow said:

How is it that there are so many successful Russian and Eastern European tennis players, especially in the Women's game?  I know the government of some countries select out youngsters who show a proclivity for certain sports and then school them to succeed in that, usually the exclusion of other parts of their education.  Usually, here in the US, it is usually the parents pushing those grueling hours of practice onto their children.  Sometimes it pays of big like for "King" Richard Williams and two of his daughters. 

It was the vision of Philippe Chatrier, former president of the International Tennis Federation.  His first big project when he assumed ITF leadership in 1977 was to bring back tennis as an Olympic sport, with the goal of spreading the popularity of the sport to the Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc countries.  Not familiar with the impact of tennis’s Olympic return on other countries, but I know the Soviet Union almost immediately started junior development programs, which spawned champions like Natalia Zvereva, Yevgeny Kafelnikov, and Marat Safin.

Even though the Soviet sports factories shut down decades ago, tennis did manage to take root, with seemingly countless top 100 ATP & WTA players currently from former Soviet bloc countries.

[TonyDown]

I earned a nice eGift certificate from one of the large retailers in the States.  However, the link I received didn't work. 

I spent a lot of time on line and on the phone with various support people.  Ultimately, one solution offered from their troubleshooting playbook was to try the link using Microsoft Edge. 

That worked!!

 

 

 

 

 

Edited Sunday at 07:45 PM by TonyDown

[+ PhileasFogg]

“The rain in spain stays mainly in the plains”

it’s a lie!   Damn that Alan Jay Lerner!

 

[+ azdr0710]

On 12/13/2025 at 11:05 PM, mike carey said:

I found this graphic that popped up in my Facebook feed interesting (if not in the best focus). It displays the ABS [Australian Bureau of Statistics] characterisations of Australia from metropolitan to regional and remote. The ' very remote' region in red includes the places one would expect, desert, outback, whatever you want to call it, but also several islands in Bass Strait (between the mainland and Tasmania) that are very remote based on their isolation and lack of easy transport to and from them. The 'inner regional' areas in green include the regions close to big cities but also the more closely settled areas further away, including more intensive agricultural areas (intensive irrigation areas in north-east Victoria) and the areas along the main highways and rail lines between Sydney and Melbourne (east to west to the north of the ACT and connecting to NE Victoria).

Darwin doesn't even rate a green designation!

Edited Monday at 10:38 PM by azdr0710

[mike carey]

2 minutes ago, azdr0710 said:

Darwin doesn't even rate a green designation!

I noticed that, not even yellow. The big cities in tropical Queensland (Cairns, Townsville and Mackay) only rate yellow as well. I guess the real remoteness (huge distances, one road and one rail line, and limited, expensive air connections) trumps the size of the city, which is only 150K anyway. Darwin also has scant international airline service. 

The 'big' Tasmanian cities of Hobart and Launceston ('metro' populations of 250K and 90K respectively) at least rate green.