mike carey

That last word you quoted from me should have been scrubbed!

I've seen them for a while, but there's a rush of them lately. They seem to be there just to post links to other sites, so I see them as spam advertising rather than bots. They typically have a black and white torso photo and nothing much else. RM takes the profiles down pretty quickly, so the visit still shows up when you log on but the profile is no longer there for you to check out. I'm about 50/50 catching them before they are scrubbed.

Indeed, and I see it wasn't the person I expected it to be, that person in fact backed you up! Yes, my bad, I apologise for misunderstanding what you were referring to in the second para. I had, however, read the entire thread as it was posted, Unfortunately, I didn't remember every detail about who said what, and I didn't go back and read it again to look for details of what you and others had said on this matter that might have provided context for your comment today.

Oh, I was unaware that there was a challenge to make some particular point in one's choice of an avatar or that using a photo of a boat in some way failed that (or some other) test. I'll read the TOS more closely.

I suspect that for some that is a happy conjunction of the two occurrences.

Yes, I know, and you've said as much before. It was never going to be easy, even more so with the current difficulties. I didn't raise it again here to re-ask the question but because guys like you needed to be mentioned in this thread.

In related news:

I'm hesitant to engage in a three way but the idea is attractive. For me, the other two being ready to play would be important. Two random players sounds like a recipe for disaster. Of course, if it involved meeting a hot couple like @TylerandAce I'd be in there in a NY minute.

I can relate to this. It's been around for a while, but I decided it needed posting here, even if that's again.

If you hold the shift key down while you hit Enter it works as a carriage return inside the one message instead of sending the message. The same hack works in WhatsApp.

Haha, very good!

*Takes mental note, 'How not to contact Mr Nicholas'.*

Thanks for canvassing this important issue, @Oliver, no one is unaffected by the pandemic and for the most part people's reactions have been understandable. I exclude those who have sought to deny it, who claim to have greater insight than the medical experts and who seem to regard the economy as being more important than our lives. I too am of a certain age, although not as certain as some other forum members. I am lucky to live in a country that has largely been spared the harsher effects of the pandemic, and the restrictions I've had to endure have not been particularly burdensome. I have managed the last six months reasonably well and coped with the spending most of my time inside my house. The internet has made it easier, as it brings so many things into my bubble, this forum not the least of them, as has the 'serious' network of our public broadcaster. There are things I cannot do, but I didn't feel constrained by it. That said, I am aware that I won't live forever, so the time I have to do things isn't unlimited. Even now, as I think about travel, i don't feel resentment at those or any other limitations, although I have the beginnings of a degree of frustration. I can travel to most of the country but not overseas, and I am looking at places around Australia with new eyes. Last night in a current affairs piece about the impact of the pandemic restriction on various communities around the country they covered a flash hotel that was at 10 to 20% occupancy and rather than just think 'That's interesting' I immediately thought about a short break there. (No, I haven't booked. Yet.) The possibility of travel to New Zealand seems to be tantalisingly close, and I'll be on a plane there pretty soon after it becomes possible. I recognise that if our restrictions were harsher I'd be more likely to feel oppressed by them and perhaps resentful, so I'm in no position to criticise others who are. Are they being selfish? Maybe, but to me wishing restrictions away is natural, it's not really being selfish unless you convert your frustrations into flouting the restrictions. For now, I'm content to count my blessings, plan on taking up opportunities as they arise and hoping for there to be more of them. And even to dare to hope that Palm Springs 2021 will be a thing, and one that I can travel for!

I second this, a class act indeed.

Oh, sorry, I misunderstood, By moving south I thought they meant PV of somewhere like that. Valparaiso in April could have been nice, although perhaps less pool-friendly than PS. It would be well into autumn, after all. But they meant that South!

'Cute' might not be the first word that comes to mind in relation to professional rugby players, but I'm sure some might attract my attention.

My travelling companions and I (and all of us are forum members) missed Christchurch this year, but it is a delightful city, my only reservation about living there would be that I would have to become a fan of the Canterbury Crusaders rugby team.

I have read Jeremy's blog. Unrelated to that, I would hire him in a heartbeat.

I watched a number of episodes when it was on the ABC here, and enjoyed it. I really must rewatch the whole series. I love this new world where Australian TV series have a wider audience, I've seen posters here comment on other shows like Miss Fischer's mysteries.

I met Mike briefly at the 2019 Palm Springs event, and was impressed but didn't take the opportunity to hire him. The lesson I take is, don't think 'maybe next year', as next year may not present an opportunity.

Thanks for this elucidation of my comment. I wasn't aware that this FT graph was available to illustrate what I was trying to say. Although it does represent total cases not those per million or per 100k. Regardless of that, it illustrates how a linear scale can downplay numbers in some contexts.

And an engaging set of photos they are.

Don't you live in Los Angeles?

Logarithmic scales on y-axes are pretty standard over the course of the epidemic. They make it possible to illustrate the variation over days in jurisdictions where numbers are low. With a numerically scaled y-axis you run the risk (note I am saying risk, not certainty in this case) of a meaningful graph of the higher figures and a flat line across the base of the graph for the lower figures. I agree that at a glance this gives a misleading initial impression, but a closer look makes it clear.

By the time you factor in currency rates, it's worse for those of us with lower valued currencies. I suspect most Canadians are, like me, painfully aware that in our home currencies it's a lot more dollars. But that said, we realise that everything is priced in local currency, so we have to live with that and not fixate on the converted price. I've found that there is a certain convergence of the ticket price for many goods and services in AUD, CAD, NZD and USD in the respective countries regardless of the conversion rate. When I'm travelling I tend not to convert prices to AUD, just think about them in whatever currency they're quoted (it was different in the 70s when I first went to Europe). (As an aside though, I would hesitate to pay a rate here that was the AUD equivalent of one that I might be happy to pay in the US.)