The totally off-topic thread

[medhead]

Sorry if you misunderstood my post. The TURC WAS A WASTE OF MONEY that found out nothing. How's this election message - "Vote for us because we wasted a big heap of money on a political witch hunt that failed." Great message.

Beside the TURC didn't even look into the biggest closed shop unions in the Australia - the AMA and the various medical colleges.

Not sure why you think I give a damn about the words of Shorten.
Lets be clear, I'm not attacking Hastie's military record. I'm criticising his politicisation of the uniform. His response to that problem was a disgrace.

Rather than waste more money of TURC2, why don't we have an investigation into the effectiveness of all these "free trade agreements". Then we might get into some real electoral fraud.

Sorry if you believe the union movement is squeaky clean.others don't-
Nocookies | The Australian

100 officials facing over 1000 indictments.

A judge doesn't agree with you-
Judge blasts CFMEU record as an 'embarrassment to unions'

And after the TURC 2 officials of the CFMEU are charged with blackmail.

And Hastie is a disgrace-even Bill Shorten said those trying to insult his army record are a disgrace.

Anyway I know you are going to take this as a personal attack-it isn't. Have your say but just as I cant change your mind you will never change mine.
goodbye.

 

[medhead]

That deficit won't be a problem they said....... Well that's quite true because those politicians who said that are long gone leaving a smaller group of taxpayers to pay subsidies to 50% of the Australian population.
It is a bit cute that most Australians don't think the national debt has anything to do with them and they seem to dream that they can get more out of the government.
All around me I have post war baby boomers dropping out of being large taxpayers to become zero taxpayers as they retire.
Sure the lame attempt to put the GST up from 10% to !5% and widen it instead of 12.5% on the existing items seemed crazy.
The Ken Henry tax review did not get anywhere so basically Australia is running on a creaking tax system and the international companies are messing with the ATO because they can.
We have the NDIS and Gonski education proposals that are not funded. Medicare costs are exploding and funding this and growing pensioners needs are a huge problem.

What's worse is that Australian's mostly seem to want to keep their various forms of government welfare and are not prepared to take a hit to deal with the debt. The last three years have seen our leaders try to avoid this truth. At the current election only one party offered a start at something approaching reform of the tax system. We're all stuffed if we don't bite the bullet and accept that everyone needs to take a hit to wind back all the middle class welfare. Even companies need to accept that now is not the time for a tax cut.

 

[Flashback]

Can someone please explain something to me? Why would someone sit next to me on a train (in a middle seat none the less) when there were at least 6 seats around me most with a spare next to them and no one immediately opposite?

The mind boggles. Maybe its my shirt. Same one I wore 2 weeks ago when someone tried to start a fight with me on the morning of the Brexit announcement...

 

[medhead]

Can someone please explain something to me? Why would someone sit next to me on a train (in a middle seat none the less) when there were at least 6 seats around me most with a spare next to them and no one immediately opposite?

The mind boggles. Maybe its my shirt. Same one I wore 2 weeks ago when someone tried to start a fight with me on the morning of the Brexit announcement...

You're just an attractive guy?

 

[Flashback]

You're just an attractive guy?

You got me! :mrgreen:

 

[medhead]

Used UberX for the first time in Adelaide, last Saturday. I thought it was strange that the guy was going a rather long and time consuming route to the airport. But hey it's flat fee right. Imagine my lack of surprise to see that the invoice included charges based on time and distance. So glad uber is saving me from those dodgy taxi tricks.

 

[medhead]

You got me! :mrgreen:

Still maybe a research project is warranted for that shirt.

 

[QF WP]

Can someone please explain something to me? Why would someone sit next to me on a train (in a middle seat none the less) when there were at least 6 seats around me most with a spare next to them and no one immediately opposite?

The mind boggles. Maybe its my shirt. Same one I wore 2 weeks ago when someone tried to start a fight with me on the morning of the Brexit announcement...

The obvious and alreay stated option, or...

2. They were worried about sitting at the end lest a bunch of thugs get on and get obstinate
3. They were expecting to meet somebody on that train, in that carriage and swap a parcel for $$
4. They wanted to read that shirt, because they'd heard about it
5. They were poorly sighted and didn't realise that they had sat so close to somebody
6. They wanted to read what you were typing (reading) on your laptop


Hey, I could keep going Flashware...but I have to go home to the clan...talk soon.

 

[Mal]

Still maybe a research project is warranted for that shirt.

At least a photo so we can assess it correctly.

Eg, Is it this one? If you can't say anything nice t-shirt | Zazzle

 

[rainbowgirl]

Maybe it was a case of tunnel vision or narrow vision field. Perhaps they were expecting the train to be crowded and decided to take the first seat they spotted thinking there wouldn't be anything else available.

I came in late to a talk at a convention a few weeks ago and went close to the front and sat between two people. A few minutes later I realised there were actually seats closer to the front and several seats in a row free. I'd gone to so much effort to get to the seats I'd found I didn't want to walk around the other people again to get out and go to the better seats.

 

[Foreigner]

Can someone please explain something to me? Why would someone sit next to me on a train (in a middle seat none the less) when there were at least 6 seats around me most with a spare next to them and no one immediately opposite?

The mind boggles. Maybe its my shirt. Same one I wore 2 weeks ago when someone tried to start a fight with me on the morning of the Brexit announcement...

You're a p**** magnet?

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I came in late to a talk at a convention a few weeks ago and went close to the front and sat between two people. A few minutes later I realised there were actually seats closer to the front ....

I was expecting you to say you realised you'd taken the seat of the keynote speaker!!

 

[OATEK]

Can someone please explain something to me? Why would someone sit next to me on a train (in a middle seat none the less) when there were at least 6 seats around me most with a spare next to them and no one immediately opposite?

The mind boggles. Maybe its my shirt. Same one I wore 2 weeks ago when someone tried to start a fight with me on the morning of the Brexit announcement...

I did a uni course some years ago that had a behavioral component. We were sent out to sit near people on trains, bus stops, cafes etc when there were spare seats elsewhere, and come back and talk about the reactions we observed the following week. Perhaps you were an unwitting participant in someone's evening course?

 

[Flashback]

It's a train that never gets busy, ever ..... so throws that theory out the window!

Anyway, just odd. First time I had that happen to me was on the train from Frankfurt to Munich.

 

[medhead]

It's a train that never gets busy, ever ..... so throws that theory out the window!

Anyway, just odd. First time I had that happen to me was on the train from Frankfurt to Munich.

Frankfurt to munich is easy to explain. Teutonic order - they had reserved that seat; they were probably wondering why you choose to sit so close to them with all the spare seats.

 

[Flashback]

Frankfurt to munich is easy to explain. Teutonic order - they had reserved that seat; they were probably wondering why you choose to sit so close to them with all the spare seats.

It was a regional train so no reserved seats and I was first in the carriage

 

[cove]

We were in a movie theatre with virtually no others and two senior ladies sat right next to us. We are still laughing about it.

 

[rainbowgirl]

We were in a movie theatre with virtually no others and two senior ladies sat right next to us. We are still laughing about it.

It sounds like they had allocated seating for the cinema even though it wasn't needed for such a small session. I find allocated seating in non peak times annoying. If I've got time I look up the seating plan ahead of time so I can give the cinema staff several options which will suit me. Of course, if I don't know the exact angle of the cinema it's hard to judge from a seat map when the best view is for me.

 

[anat0l]

Used UberX for the first time in Adelaide, last Saturday. I thought it was strange that the guy was going a rather long and time consuming route to the airport. But hey it's flat fee right. Imagine my lack of surprise to see that the invoice included charges based on time and distance. So glad uber is saving me from those dodgy taxi tricks.

One thing about UberX that catches out / takes getting used to is the concept that it's a charge comprised of both the time and the distance, as distinct from taxi fares where the time charge only kicks in after the speed drops to a certain number, otherwise distance is used for the calculation.

Still surprisingly cheaper in nearly all cases.

And only Uber Black in Adelaide is a fixed fee to the airport; not UberX.

Anyway, if you are really unhappy with your ride, make sure you make a complaint to Uber. They are usually pretty switched on and receptive to this stuff; you could have your entire fare refunded or some tangible resolution if you were really taken for a ride. If you gave your driver 5 stars before you became aware of all this, you might be able to get your rating changed.

There's little that one can do if a taxi takes you for a ride. You could complain, but the real impact, unless the act was bordering on clearly immoral or illegal, would be next to nothing - that's from second hand experiences, but yours may vary (especially if you had been a taxi driver in a previous life).

 

[Mal]

It's a train that never gets busy, ever ..... so throws that theory out the window!

Anyway, just odd. First time I had that happen to me was on the train from Frankfurt to Munich.

Well it seems like you have a new travel companion then. Will they be back on Monday? Perhaps. Or might pop down next to you at a random time in the future.

If they're watching your movements from your Palace, perhaps they will see you again...

Then again, why care about random incidents?
(that said, I'm used as a security blanket for many women on night buses in London. Really does surprise me, and I even chat to some of them (but not about why they chose the seat next to me))