mike carey

Oh, I agree completely. I didn't think that needed to be stated. Most people on both ends of such an exchange know the limits and can respect them. For those who don't or can't, there are laws that can limit their conduct. I was commenting specifically on what can be included as a 'workplace'.

Lol! Indeed, next month is Chuckles, the question was who was the one 86 years ago!

This. There is a difference but you are still in the delivery person's workplace and whatever local workplace sexual harassment laws apply will apply to you. In many jurisdictions they apply to customers as well as other workers and management. You as a customer may be liable, or harassment by a customer may leave the employer liable for failing to provide a safe workplace (they may even have a 'Don't react but tell us if a customer is a creep and we'll ban them' policy). It's not necessarily simply an issue of what is ethical, or of what is appropriate (or lawful) between two random members of the public.

Well, if you must treat Toronto as if you were still in California, things may not turn out well!

That would be the one!

Yes he did, but just for the pool party and he's left town now.

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.