The totally off-topic thread

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Flying mermaid said:
cash is sort of not what I wanted to do. I don’t know the girl particularly well and I just wanted to send some cute little clothes for her baby.... Botswana is a fabulous country and very honest - just totally forgot the parcel had to go via Joburg. :( I’ve been lucky - sent dozens of parcels to South Africa and never had one go astray - just taken 6 or 7 months!
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Totally understand but practically cash is better because generally speaking cash of the same value as cute clothing plus delivery goes much further in Africa than cute clothing.

I’m speculating that air freight originating in Australia to Africa goes via Qantas usually. That means JNB (if originated in PER maybe even with SA but will still be JNB). Then if sent via FedEx it would most likely still go on QF63. I remember when I ordered some tyres from the UK to AU via FedEx. It was sent on QF2. Air freight is usually a hub and spoke operation. In this case hub would be JNB

Many years ago our school decided to support Hamlin Fistula Clinic in Africa. The group responsible decided to send clothing and other supplies to the patients there. They found out quickly that the logistics was going to be expensive and the goods may be taken by others along the route. Cash (electronic) was king and what was cute and nice for us here may not be the same there and cash allows the purchase of important items from the local economy which then has an economic multiplier effect.

Sending donated medicines to places like that is also logistically very difficult. Refrigeration, sorting, storage and continuity of supply are important considerations. So hospitals here never send excess medications overseas.

Here are some links on what cash is better than “in kind” donations:
https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefw...-on-food-consumption-may-2013-final-clean.pdf

http://www.tcd.ie/Economics/assets/pdf/TCD_Econ_Seminar_Cash_and_Food_Aid_April_2011.pdf
 
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Our eldest son is enjoying using AA Miles for business class runs Perth to Sydney . A lot of those miles came from the old US Air deals that were incredibly inexpensive with the big bonuses. I miss US Air.
Using my US credit card to pay the small fees makes the redemption bookings really easy.
 
cove said:
We saw Bette last time in NYC. Just waiting for the Tony Awards for ideas on what to see in June.
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I’ve heard a few things about The Boys in the Band. And it certainly has an excellent cast with the likes of Jim Parsons and Andrew Rannells.
 
Denali said:
Lady at work would have terrible migraines, be in bed for days. She would sometimes say she needed a coke to try to avoid one - not all the time but it seemed to help her but it had to be the full strength coke.

Best thing was for her to go home and try to rest the migraine before it consumed her. Terrible
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Yes! It has to be full strength. I normally don’t touch it but pre migraine it’s the best thing! Post migraine I crave salt.

Mine still has not arrived. It’s dancing around the back of my head, I can feel it under my eyes/ in my cheeks and with an anxious feeling.
 
When looking for a show in New York/London etc go directly to the theatre and ask them if they have any tickets for sale for that day.

They often get returns and are quite happy to sell them for normal price. I got great seats at a couple of shows that way. It also helps only seeking a single seat, I literally got the last ticket for Kinky Boots in New York from the theatre. It was quite a good seat as well.
 
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Hvr said:
When looking for a show in New York/London etc go directly to the theatre and ask them if they have any tickets for sale for that day.

They often get returns and are quite happy to sell them for normal price. I got great seats at a couple of shows that way. It also helps only seeking a single seat, I literally got the last ticket for Kinky Boots in New York from the theatre. It was quite a good seat as well.
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Exactly - last time we were in NYC we managed to grab 2 tix to Hamilton - we could not have sat further apart. But it was a no brainer as the show was superb and we had practice in the A380 coming over - one was in F row 2 and the other in row 28 PE.
 
Quickstatus said:
Totally understand but practically cash is better because generally speaking cash of the same value as cute clothing plus delivery goes much further in Africa than cute clothing.

I’m speculating that air freight originating in Australia to Africa goes via Qantas usually. That means JNB (if originated in PER maybe even with SA but will still be JNB). Then if sent via FedEx it would most likely still go on QF63. I remember when I ordered some tyres from the UK to AU via FedEx. It was sent on QF2. Air freight is usually a hub and spoke operation. In this case hub would be JNB

Many years ago our school decided to support Hamlin Fistula Clinic in Africa. The group responsible decided to send clothing and other supplies to the patients there. They found out quickly that the logistics was going to be expensive and the goods may be taken by others along the route. Cash (electronic) was king and what was cute and nice for us here may not be the same there and cash allows the purchase of important items from the local economy which then has an economic multiplier effect.

Sending donated medicines to places like that is also logistically very difficult. Refrigeration, sorting, storage and continuity of supply are important considerations. So hospitals here never send excess medications overseas.

Here are some links on what cash is better than “in kind” donations:
https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefw...-on-food-consumption-may-2013-final-clean.pdf

http://www.tcd.ie/Economics/assets/pdf/TCD_Econ_Seminar_Cash_and_Food_Aid_April_2011.pdf
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i understand what you are saying, but this was a gesture from us to a lovely girl who was our waitress in one of the camps we stayed in. She somehow became a Facebook friend (I think she thought it was terribly exotic to have Australian Facebook friends :) ). So she is not “in need” - this was a gift in the same way I would give to any friend (or child of a friend), who had a baby. Money would just not be right.

I think Fedex would exercise a lot more control than Australia Post - I would be very surprised if South African postal services got their paws on their stuff!
 
Hvr said:
When looking for a show in New York/London etc go directly to the theatre and ask them if they have any tickets for sale for that day.

They often get returns and are quite happy to sell them for normal price. I got great seats at a couple of shows that way. It also helps only seeking a single seat, I literally got the last ticket for Kinky Boots in New York from the theatre. It was quite a good seat as well.
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yes this is true - unfortunately for Hamilton apparently the queues for returns are out the door :). However I am building up a list of fallback positions (one of which might involve staying at the Marriott :) ), We are going to need 4 tickets though. Given it is for a birthday celebration I would like a bit of certainty.

Edit - been doing more research on this and demand does seem to be slowing down, I think as long as I book as soon as the block covering May 2019 is released we should be fine.
 
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Quickstatus said:
This weekend planning to binge watch entire season one of Netflix lost in space
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Netflix is terrible :(. We try to limit ourselves to one hour of TV a day, but they keep on throwing all these interesting snippets when you first log in. We have just finished season 2 of Outlander and I want to go back to Black Mirror but Mr FM is being seduced by all the new stuff!
 
TheRealTMA said:
Watched first 2 episodes and seems not too bad. Just as well since the original was borderline cough.
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Hey don't be unkind to one of my favourite shows - when I was about 14 years old and watching it in glorious B&W:) I had a crush on Penny as she was about my age.
 
OZDUCK said:
Hey don't be unkind to one of my favourite shows - when I was about 14 years old and watching it in glorious B&W:) I had a crush on Penny as she was about my age.
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Yes I know many tragics like you.:) But, hey, it really was drivel, puberty aside.:p

I liked the show with Lloyd Bridges (?) and the young daughter but, yes, that also, in hindsight, was drivel. What as that called - Sea Hunt?
 
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