brett_jackson

Better still .... record all his conversations with you in advance, then make copies and confront him: "I've recorded everything you said to me. Please cease talking to me in such a manner or I will make the tapes available to people you wouldn't want to hear them. There are multiple copies that other people have, so don't even think about getting violent in order to retrieve the tapes from me." If he's married, threaten to play them to his wife. Or, even better, send Yamakishi to see your boss in the parking lot.

I'm the cook in my household. Partner cooks as well, but she likes mine better than I like hers. Having worked several kitchens in my younger years taught me the tips neded to do more than boil an egg. Faves: Mexican (Burritos, Enchiladas, Guacamole, Nacho's with different toppings etc) Italian (basically pasta with any sauce I can imagine) Creole (my chicken & Prawm gumbo is the bizz) Spanish (Paella with Chorizo, Chicken, Prawns, scallops & vegies) Roasts (Lamb, Beef, Pork with Honeyd Pears, Organic Chook with lemon up the date etc.) But my favourite cooking is ma

Star Wars III leaked footage - these are a collection of images which have obviously been leaked from Lucasfilm somehow. It's pretty much the entire story for Episode III told in actual shots from the film. SPOILER ALERT!!! (if you actually want to go along and be surprised, don't follow this link) http://www.tpu.fi/~t4jlaaks/ep3/ P.S. The link may not remain active for long. 20C Fox studio lawyers are threatening all websites who host this collection of images (as opposed to pointing to it like I'm doing here), according to this article: http://imdb.com/news/wenn/2005-02-22#

>What makes a democracy? - People in power who like Bush and agree with him. I think you've hit the mark there. I mean, I know I used to agree with the dictionary meaning of the word democracy, but since Bush has been in power, "bringing democracy to the middle east", I would have to assume democracy means: "...inflicting death, mayhem and descruction (or the threat of) on others, to the end result that they trade more with the US." (NOTE: Country to be invaded must have either strategic world location or valuable resource e.g. oil) Sanno - sorry if this is a stupid ques

I think the main problem is that a lot of doctors hand them out unneccessarily. The companies that make the antibiotics offer all sorts of kickbacks to doctors who recommend their drugs, so it's all a bit suss if you ask me. Your friend is right though ... plenty of rest, fluids and Vitamin C is the best thing to do when you have a common cold. The fever is a positive thing, it means your body is trying to fight off the infection. Any other medication to treat the symptoms usually supresses the cold even further (especially Pseudoephedrine).

Yamakashi - this was on Dec 20th from Tokyo - Nagano. I was in Car #1 and walked as far as Car #4 looking for an non-taped up rubbish bin (as GG mentioned) before I gave up. All the baggage storage areas were also taped up or closed off with stickers mentioning "security". I ended up just storing my suitcase in an empty seat section.

Do they have democracy in Iran? If not that could be another reason to attack. I hear the US Military have a surplus amount of democracy bombs all primed and ready to drop on the nearest distatorship. (which is frightening really ... at work the other day the receptionist purchased biscuits without it going to an office-wide vote. I think she has already been targeted for elimination ... and we know how 'accurate' those bombs are!!!)

When I took the 'Asama' Shink to Nagano, I noticed all the places at the ends of carriages where you normally stow your baggage were all closed off "For Security Reasons" (according to the sign). I wondered whether it was to prevent people from dumping a suitcase bomb in such an area, since you could just walk on, put it there and walk off without anyone being the wiser. Or is there some other reason these areas were closed off? Maybe they've always been that way....

HK's - Harmon/Kardon's (Harmon/Kardon is a brand of audio products, the HK's we are referring to are a speaker set for your computer - link to speaker set )

34 - thanks for putting those lyrics in there ("The sound of then"). That song still lurks amongst various TV & Radio advertisements to this day, and I've never actually known every word they say ... so a BIG thanks. Remember that particular ad, I'm pretty sure it was for beer but I don't remember which one, where a family of canefield workers (all young and attractive funnily enough) were relaxing on the deck of their house in the evening (before tea/supper/dinner) while the canefields burned and the lightning struck down, with that song in the background? Awesome ad - I had the plea

Torque (Tor-k) is the measure of a force's tendency to produce torsion and rotation about an axis, usually measured in Newton Meters (Nm). And yes boardbaka, a WRX has this (as does any car with an engine). Toque on the other hand (according to dictionary.com), is a woman's small, brimless hat; or a 16th C. plumed velvet cap. I was told by a Canadian it's pronounced 'took' (as in, rhyming with 'duke' or 'puke', not rhyming with 'look'). And the same Canadian said it was essentially a tall beanie/knitted cap (i.e. doesn't fit close to top of head), possibly with additional fluffy ball at

True 34 - Australia doesn't have culture the way other countires (that have been developed for hundereds of years longer) have. But 'Astraya' does in fact have 'culcha', which is different altogether ....I'm also sure it's spirit would be even stronger if it weren't for the fact that we totally f#$ked over it's native inhabitants. I used to call dinner tea - back living with the folks due to my Dad's folks being English. Now I call it dinner. Occaisionally I call it (and every other meal) 'fwaad' which is just 'food' said in a funny way: "...geez, must be about time for some fwaad".

Sunrise: not an iTunes user myself - it's far too limited in my opinion. I do know, however, that iTunes "... lets you convert your music to MP3s at high bit-rate for no additional charge." (from iTunes page on Apple site) It doesn't mention the exact bitrate, only that it's 'high'. As for 'no additional charge...' - I have no idea what that means. Everything you do on your computer should be free, that's why I use stuff from http://sourceforge.net - but there's not much stuff for Mac users there. 34: So your HK's only form of input is a USB port? In which case you need something to con

34 - Don't the HK's have a simple 'line in' RCA plug? In which case you can get the equivalent cable for your iPod and just plug it in?

Whoever came up with the grey-skinned, big black eyed idea about what aliens look like should've patented it. Imagine that, every time someone came up with one of their bogus "I was abducted" stories, they'd make a killing. As for what I think they look like:

Bose and Apple ... the perfect marriage. Essentially you can output your MP3 player to any amplifier/speaker combination to play music out loud. You could hook it up to something like this, from JBL (better than Bose): http://www.jbl.com/home/products/product_detail.asp?ProdId=CREATUREII&SerId=HMM&sCatId= Or this from Harmon Kardon: http://www.harmankardon.com/product_deta...TICKSII&sType=C Both sound pretty damn good considering their size, and all you have to do is run a line out from your MP3 player (iPod, iRiver, Sony, Creative .. whatever) to it and

"You are so big, was your mother a giant?" (funnily enough this was asked by little Japanese gilr while I was walking around Himeji castle, where the door through every boundary wall is about 20ft tall - I felt like responding "I think she was not as big as your ancestors")

Quote: I can see this biting him in the a*se Either that, or the whole saga will continue to blow out of proportion, and he'll release a book at some stage telling the story, and become psuedo-famous. Then again, we could sue him once we read the book and become unhappy with the quality of writing.

Gamera, if you're serious about losing weight, you should seek professional advice. No offence to anyone on this thread who may know a lot about weight loss etc, but each person digests food in a slightly different way and a professional dietician/naturopath/or even doctor would be able to determine what would work best for you. I do agree with JellyBelly though ... more excercise is definately a good idea. The older you get, the more important it is to keep active. Keeps you out of the nursing homes for longer

Quote: Then I feel it my lacking of English ability Trust me Gamera, having difficulty understanding things like slang isn't a reflection of your English abilities. There is some Australian slang I have to ask about 2 or 3 times and I've lived here for ever (particularly bush slang).

I know somebody who used to work pretty high up in BP (British Petroleum). Apparently before satellite technology aided in finding a whole heap more oil reserves back in the late 80's/early 90's, the oil companies were starting to think about the fact that one day they would run out of their resource. Apparently (anyone correct me if this is myth, but this guy seemed pretty genuine), in this moment of crisis, BP started going crazy buying the patents/rights to a whole heap of inventions, scientific studies, wacky ideas, and other things so that when they no longer had oil, chances where there

Is that a touch of cynicism?

I wonder if they'll re-release the Special Directors Editions of the LOTR movies since they'll be able to fit each movie on one disc?

I agree with emptyworld.

mmmmm ... Kangaroo loin. Marinate it in Mushroom Soy, Light Soy, Lemon & Garlic for 24 hours, then chuck it on the BBQ for about 3 or 4 minutes a side then slice it up & serve it on risotto or polenta