Have been planning to buy a new second hand car for months, but there have been issues, all the planets suddenly align and now I’m damned if I can find the kind of thing I wanted anywhere this side of town.
@billbennett If a Prius is a possibility, have a look at a Mazda Axela hybrid. These have much of the same power/drive train apparently. Mine has been rock solid for 3 years and the Toyota specialist I use for servicing has two for his family and swears by them.
Last time I get an Australia visa for my UK passport it took a couple of hours. This time it's been sitting unprocessed for 10 days. This really is a wake up call to get the New Zealand passport I've prevaricated over for the last 30 years.
@MikeBartley@billbennett I can here in 2005. Secured a job with a Work To Residence visa (after many interviews). Six months after that, gave my passport to my employer to get visa for an Oz work trip and got it back the day before I left. Visited 5 reference sites in 5 cities in 5 days. Tried to board late flight home from Perth on day 5, only to find the returning resident visa wasn't in passport and I wasn't allowed to travel. 1/2
@billbennett@CarolynStirling@MikeBartley An article (Guardian?) in which a UK based journalist recounts how he was invited on a press junket to help kick-start the US tourism industry after 9/11. In excruciating detail, they described the nightmare they experienced at the hands of US Immigration, Homeland Security and the TSA. All because their name was Arabic/Muslim. While unsuccessful, an internet search for the same article reveals the practice is still all too common.
@billbennett Definitely not alone. I have two smaller under-bed boxes; one with my small collection of Palms and PDAs (from the days when they held the promise of 'silver bullet' levels of productivity) and the other with bundles of cables and connectors. Given that I'm local, let me know if you need something and I can spend at least a good half hour looking before confirming that what you want is the only thing I don't have 😑
@ojala As a facilitator/trainer, I have been asking to provide highly detailed run sheets and workshop plans (at times, in a very specific format) by prospective clients or L&D organisations as part of their RFPs or procurement process. My answer is invariably some version of 'I don't work for free'. One even countered with 'Its a requirement - you could just whip one up with ChatGPT if you want'. [face palm]
@bananabob Nooo! My brother (who lives in France) is coming to NZ next week. Must aske him to bring some with him (start a NZ 'camembert mountain' stockpile).
@bananabob My cunning plan is foiled 😦 Funnily enough, I had run-in with a beagle last week, arriving back from a Pacific holiday. The beagle must have smelt the lingering whiff of prior packed lunches but, after checks, their human let me proceed. This was after a somewhat more concerning moment a few hours prior when, while going through security at Nouméa, I swabbed positive for 'Explosifs!'. After a brief and intimate encounter, I was waved on my way with a '*Pas problème, Monsieur'. *
@iangriffin
Dyatlov: What does the dosimeter say?
Akimov: 3.6 roentgen. But that's as high as the meter...
Dyatlov (ignores Akimov at that point): 3.6 - not great, not terrible.
I collect these. I call them "design in the wild" where end users fix design mistakes on their own. It's a bit shocking how often this happens. Think of how bad it has to be to reach this point. #ux
It's probably breaking yet another unwritten Mastodon law to even think this let alone write it, but if anyone is interested, I’ve a couple of BlueSky invites here. First in gets ‘em.