mike carey

No-one on the yes side wanted the ballot, correctly predicting some nastiness in the campaign, and there was initially talk of a boycott but that evaporated within days (well before the ballots were even sent out). The advantage we now have (and I remember Panti Bliss saying this in interviews here) is that it was the whole country that decided, not 'meddlesome judges' or members of Parliament, so it should be settled now.

The yes vote won in every state and territory, and in 133 of the 150 federal electorates. The former PM, a prominent no campaigner, had a 75% yes vote in his conservative electorate. My electorate, a rural one that surrounds Canberra it was 64.9% and in the Australian Capital Territory it was 74%. The total turnout in what was a postal ballot rather than voting in person, was 79.5%. The legislation will be introduced into Parliament this afternoon.

@Gar1eth Thanks, such a relief.

This is odd, his jocks appear to be mirror reversed but his tattoos are the right way around. Even the fake Devanagari one.

I've had one PO Box for 30 years, and have had others for shorter times when I've lived in different towns. I kept that one because I knew I would always go back there, and it provided a 'permanent' address as I moved around the country. Even when one lives in the same city all the time, it provides a permanent safe place for delivery that isn't affected my local kids or by the weather if you're away for a few days. Obviously there are fewer concerns if you live in an apartment building with the mail boxes in a sort of secure area. When I order things on line, I use my home address if I know I'll be there for the delivery but the PO Box if I'm not sure, works for me. Australia Post sends an e-mail when mail is delivered to my PO Box.

That looks to me as if it is him, not the website that has made the error.

I don't know about elsewhere, but the term is standard Australian slang for an idiot or jerk. Calling someone a complete tool is similar.

Soft plastic like straws and plastic bags can't go in the normal recycling but here one supermarket chain does collect them (not at all its shops) for a specialist recycler.

@Tarte Gogo That +54 number doesn't compute, but the second number is a BA mobile phone number [011 is BA, 15 is the mobile prefix, the rest is the phone number]. The international number should be +54 11 15 6488 5602. (+ is the international standard to apply the local international access code to the number) I don't know how widely (or otherwise) WhatsApp is used in Argentina, but I wouldn't assume anyone used it (or used the same number as their mobile) unless they say so. When I've put a number into my contact list it detects whether that number is on WhatsApp. (That number doesn't.)

Happens kerbside here, almost universally. Some places also have green waste bins as well as the yellow lids (recycling) and red (garbage). Sports grounds and railway stations typically have separate recycling bins. Takeaway coffee cups are an issue, they have layered paper, plastic and paper so can't be recycled. You never see polystyrene cups or takeaway containers here any more. Maccas either wrap burgers in paper or use light-weight cardboard boxes.

That's incredibly sad. Life is rarely as sad or unbearable as we think it is. The sad thing is that people don't realise that there are others who would help them, and that their suffering is not unique.

Dan Savage had a riff at the start of this week's podcast on how refreshing the 'so what' reaction to this news was. He speculated that if it had been at a US university he would have been fired. Isn't it nice not to have an instant moral panic?

No, but you never know what might happen as a result of a respectful conversation.

@Lance_Navarro, is that a way of saying that one shouldn't care about size? Of course I agree about the pasta and wine part!!

Don't leave, just learn to filter out the negative comments. They are usually obvious.

Yes, I realised that. I was commenting in general not passing judgment on you or the person who had posted the original item.

Yes, but it was a week ago.

The details of the events are sent to participants as they are determined. The organisers will ask for email addresses to do that. It all works seamlessly. And it's not Easter weekend. Easter Day is 1 April.

@rvwnsd an educated and open gay community as opposed to a closeted and less informed one, perhaps?

But above all else, don't make assumptions. Find a guy, see him, if you want to top him and can't he won't make a scene, he will work out something else to do. If it's just nerves and not ED, he'll help you make it happen. Don't stress. They have seen it all before.

@Bigginuc if you are a confirmed top or bottom, look for escorts who are compatible. Ask here about ones you fancy. Check for reviews in the related site ('Reviews' top left of the screen) or threads about them. Most can deal with us older folk, are happy to do so, and do it with aplomb. I've met guys who post here, and I've read enough to know that there are others, who I have chatted to, who would do admirably. It doesn't take long to get an idea of who's who. Go for it.

Oh, I understand that completely, I was commenting, not judging. Some guys can take a few tricks on vacation, some just want to go in complete vacation mode. I can understand both. If you buy separate tickets to LAX or SFO and then from there to an overseas destination, you have to be sure you have plenty of time between the two flights. I'd say have a couple of days' stop to be safe (for an escort it could be a working stopover). Booking the whole itinerary on a single ticket means that it is the airline's job to ensure your connections work, and you can check your baggage through. A travel agent may be a good idea if you want to go to more than one city overseas on your trip as packaging long-haul and domestic flights can be cheaper. You do need a visa for Australia, but it's an electronic travel authority that you apply for and receive on-line for about $20. (Same as we need for the US.)

I would be inclined to lend someone non-specific luggage if they needed it (although I struggle to understand why they would not have their own) but I would be disinclined to lend something when their reason for wanting it is the cachet it has, like LV.

There are health reasons for staying away from there, but my understanding is that Hep C is only transmitted by blood-to-blood contact, so perhaps it should not be one of the reasons.

Yes I realise Victor may be constrained, either in the time he has or physically, but being in the same postcode is a start. Australian readers of the forum have the choice to wait for Victor or any other US provider to come here, or get their arses on a plane and go to the US and meet them or hire them (or both). From what I've seen, some escorts want to take international trips as combined vacation/working trips, others see them as only working trips. And I agree that air fares to Australia can be insane. There is limited competition on routes there. Doing a random search about a month out from now showed fares of $AU1200 RT from LAX to SYD, but that's picking a date rather than looking for alerts for advertised fares that you may not be able to find for the dates you try to book ($1200 is about $US900, it's just the aggregator I use quotes fares in AUD, and Australian consumer law prohibits omitting taxes and extras from quoted prices so the quotes may not be strictly comparable). The exact amount isn't the point though, the point is that there are relatively cheap fares out there if you look. Of course if you always fly with a particular airline because you have lounge access and the like, it may be harder to find a cheap fare.