DesDownunder

Obviously, the dick was not, stirred.

I use to look good in shorts. Especially if they were being worn by somebody else.

We are.

In a rare moment of patriotic pride, I wept when I read of the sanity of my fellow Australians who went out of their way to support those who would be ostracised in some other countries because of what one insane man did. You don't need guns to love.

I'm quite enjoying the Neko story.

The details are here. A horrible situation with three deaths.

I guess that he's been replaced in Oz by his cousin Santa-mate. His sleigh would be drawn by kangaroos with Skippy in the lead, if he's sober enough to go on delivery. You'll know if he does, because instead of Ho, ho, ho, Santa-mate will shout "Coo-ee," in a thick Aussie accent. Also he will be wearing speedos as the Santa outfit is too damn hot. (It's summer here.). Forget the milk and cookies, he'll need some ice-cold beer and roasted peanuts with a rerun on TV of last winter's Grand Final football game. It's also advisable to lock up your daughters, or invite your parents-in-law to stay the night. Surfers, please note that no surf boards will be delivered this year as last year one slid off the sleigh and hit Skippy in the back of the head, prompting him to let loose with bloody foul language that shocked the koala bears. God rest ye merry Aussie blokes, Let nothing stop your play-ing around...

Those last lines are classic, Cole.

More on keeping cooked rice and then reheating it not destroying the spores of Bacillus cereus (bacteria, not a virus): http://www.foodauthority.nsw.gov.au/science/science-in-focus/foodborne-illness-pathogens/bacillus-cereus#.VIyIodKUd14 It's interesting to note that it's not just rice.

And just what happened to the ~five gold rings? Does the IRS know you haven't declared them?

We obviously need to form a group of us older guys reading our stories on social media. We would, of course, call ourselves, with Mikes permission, The Awesome Dudes. I just hope we could get an audience of screaming guys at all our interviews.

Intelligence is when you laugh at a joke you've only just told to yourself for the first time. Know of any "artificial intelligence" that can do that yet?

Okay, you caught me out, I'm laughing out loud.

Groan,

Thanks TalonRider, I needed a laugh.

Yes James, they tend to think that anyone who readily admits that they don't know is stupid for not believing their answer. At the present time the best we can say is that we know we do not know. Sadly, many people see this as an excuse to stop experiencing every day as a new and wondrous part of being alive.

I spend half my life forgiving myself for things I did, and the other half of my life forgiving myself for things I wanted to do and didn't. Know Thyself’ was written on the forecourt of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi. From Shakespeare's Hamlet Polonius says: "This above all: to thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man." Psychology tells us that we first have to discover that we exist...'I am'...thereafter we can pose the 'who, what, where and why' I am, questions. The comparison of East and West philosophies didn't really get any serious consideration until the late 19th century. Even then it took much effort on the part of the Theosophical Society to find the parallels, often seen as paradoxes, with the existentialist traditions of Buddhist thought. Refined, by such writers and investigators as Erich Fromm and Alan Watts, and others, the marriage between East and West began a long and arduous understanding that began to appear in 20th century literature. The quest to define the riddle of existence was exposed for anyone who wanted to examine it. It isn't that there weren't other influences on both East and West, and also on each other, it was just that it all seemed to have gained a greater understanding which began during and after the Enlightenment with its many humanitarian reforms. In authoritarian cultures, religions have imposed faith in their deities as being an answer, to the great riddle of life, that non-believers do not accept owing to a lack of scientifically verifiable evidence.

Jeff, I agree, but I've long realised that sometimes what we share with each other, whether it is our stories or our discoveries, can overwhelm people leaving them speechless. It's a little like the movie Spartacus, it can take time to realise the significance of the sacrifice 6,000 slaves made when they all proclaimed, "I am Spartacus!"

To my way of thinking, to be able to proclaim that it's you, is the mark of a man who is being true unto himself. .

The sheer hypocrisy of the Christianists is beyond comprehension. Atheists are not even interested in their god. We just don't believe what they do, and no amount of them self-flagellating in public is going to convince us to adopt myth as reality. We wouldn't even bother to call their beliefs, myths, if they would desist from trying to oppress us with their concepts of sin. If they keep it up then they leave us with little alternative than to reveal the irrational nature of their religious bigotry, and that's not persecution, that's progress in the name of reality.

I think we are having fun with flash puns of a fictional nature, but I could be wrong.

A fictional flash is always more interesting than a factual flush.

This is superb writing, even if it's not for the faint-hearted. It's the kind of story that leads you to feeling that we're better for having read it, for having wept with the tragedy of it all.

"....people will come." is also a line from several porn movies, and of course, these days, is a field of dreams for us older folk.