mike carey

No argument there, Australian and other contributions were at the margins for WW2. Japan did invade Russia in 1919 but that's a separate conversation.

No, you weren't excluded! In 2017 the second dinner was after the main formal meal, and was organised using the email addresses that all the attendees had provided. There was a Thursday get together at DavidSF 's place but I missed that. Anyway, none of that matters, there will be dinners for all of the attendees, private gatherings and individual arrangements at the 2019 function. What we did this year or in 2017 won't matter.

Quite so, I was contesting Avalon's assertion that it was US involvement in WW1 that was decisive. They certainly helped, including American forces under the command of an Australian general. I would contend that Monash was at least as important in the allied victory as the presence of US forces. (And yes, it may have been exhaustion rather than defeat, but the armistice favoured the allies.)

Take it to a watch maker, or adjust to correcting the time. My 40yo Seiko loses time, especially when I don't move my arm enough to keep it running. But seriously is your watch your main time-keeper?

So, what?

That is highly contestable. There is no doubt that America determined the outcome of WW2, but it is by no means clear that the US determined the result of WW1. It may have affected the timing of the result but not the outcome itself.

Amen to that, and bon anniveraire!

And people wonder why, despite not yet meeting him, I talk Peter up in here.

I was going by last year when there was one meal planned in advance but a second one was organised by e-mail in the couple of days before the weekend.

`American fare` is whatever the restaurant wants it to be.

I don't see airline food as a big deal. There is always more than enough over the course of the flight (note, my reference point is QF not US carriers), some of the food is good, some questionable. I've had some really good meals on flights. But if I don't like it, it's not as if I'm going to starve to death.

The basics are that there are several restaurant meal meetings and a pool party at Oliver`s house. There is a mixture of working guys and clients, some of which are paired off, but some just come for the chance to meet each other. If you search this site for threads about the Palm Springs weekend you will find several of them covering previous years. It`s a great weekend, friends, fellowship and intimate relationships all rolled into a few days. You can be as sexual or as social as you like, or not, it`s just great fun with a twist.

Bon anniversaire! Hope you had/have a great day. You plan events, I hope you have planned this one well.

I have fond memories of some of the restaurants in the old market district of Omaha.

Peter is one of a kind. A couple of years ago I was considering a potential trip to LV for a reunion and was asking in the forum about the city and its opportunities. He didn't know me from Adam but said words to the effect that if things weren't working out call him and he'd make things right. My trip didn't happen but he had been gracious and friendly since then. For me, that's a winning approach.

Lol, I suspect that he is not the only person to have added a trip to Las Vegas to their to-do list because certain gentlemen are there!

My experience in Germany is decades old, but an anecdote nonetheless. (In general I found enough people who could speak English to get by.) On the train from Warsaw to Berlin, the DDR customs/immigration guys were speaking Polish to the other people in the compartment but when I handed them my passport they switched to good English. I did not expect that from Ossies.

'Rooting' is far more general than that, it's generic slang for sexual intercourse. Here, boned has the connotation of being violated rather than just having sex. Boned is also used in a non-sexual context. I looked in the Oxford and it cites 'root' as Australian, NZ and Irish slang. Regardless of that, we tend to take up each other's slang more readily than we do American slang (although we generally understand that, so 'rooting' for a team doesn't always attract mirth as we know what you mean). We also use 'rooting around' in that sense. Perhaps as a derivative of its sexual meaning 'rooted' can mean exhausted (shagged and fucked can also be used that way).

Happy birthday, Brian! Hope you are having a great day. Even in Indianapolis.

Bon anniversaire!

Oh, it does mean that. Australians are constantly amused by Americans who root for football teams, and why they discuss that promiscuity so publicly.

Lol, it's not 'correct' (or incorrect for that matter), it's one convention of how to punctuate a list. Pro- and anti-Oxford comma advocates can be rather dogmatic in their views! IDGAF. Yes it does avoid ambiguity when there is ambiguity in the way the list is written. I use that comma, or other punctuation, if there is any ambiguity and omit it if there is not. I found it interesting having worked in both systems that the USAF writing guide mandated its use whereas the RAAF (actually Australian Defence Force) guide said the default was to omit it.

The Oxford comma is a cult.

Bon anniversaire!

The mass of your fee in pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters or pieces of eight is not something I had previously put my mind to. Something else to consider, @VictorPowers! I'm guessing that Australian or Canadian $2 coins is not something that would interest you!