Graeme

Yeah, but you've got two right feet, too (at least every goat I've seen has, so I'm assuming you do, too). How that complicates your dancing ability remains to be seen, but it opens up some interesting possibilities....

It is not certain that it will out him, but it will certainly get some people wondering. There was a "youth parliament" in Melbourne last year that debated, amongst other things, same-sex marriage. The topic can be tackled as a social justice issue and there are (straight) people who do so on that basis. However, it is a risk to use this as a topic for a class paper and it should be acknowledged. Only Justin can make that call. One of reasons I suggested he research Warren Entsch is because 1. he's straight, 2. he's a federal politican and 3. he believes passionately in gay rights. He's also from one of the most conservative parts of the country. An email to Warren Entsch may get a response in time, as could an email to Justice Michael Kirby (an openly gay judge on Australia's High Court). Other public figures he could email would include Senator Bob Brown (the leader of the federal Greens Party, also gay) and Dr. Kerryn Phelps (former president of the Australian Medical Association, also gay). I can't guarantee any of these will respond, and I'm not sure where to get Dr. Phelps's email address from, but the email addresses of the rest are public information (check out the Australian Government web site).

Justin, as a suggestion, do some research on Warren Entsch. He's a Queensland Liberal backbencher in the federal government that is sponsoring a gay rights bill. Here's an article from The Australian from last month about it: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story...330-601,00.html A report from the Sydney Morning Herald on gay rights in Australia (also from last month): http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/not-su...ge#contentSwap2 And finally an article from The Age on a group of teens and young adults called WayOut that try to educate the community in rural Victoria: http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/way...0701485078.html There's lots there for you to work with. You could look at the link between legal discrimination and how it feeds society prejudices, as one option. You could discuss how ignorance and prejudice are often related. I'm sorry you've got homework over the school break, but I think that's more common now than it was in my day. My seven year old son is starting to get homework regularly now, though not for the school holidays.

Are you trying to get our goat with your cryptic hints?

Welcome, Justin! I'm glad to see another person from the same neck of the woods. Now we just need to finalise our plot for Australia to take over the... Oops... I think I've almost said too much... Anyway, G'day mate! Graeme

I've already had a welcome, but I'm not too proud to accept a second Thanks, CJ!

Happy Birthday, Misanthropicfiend/Miso/Luke I hope you have a great day Graeme

My job title at one point was Business Unit Manager -- usually abbreviated to BUM (and I'm not joking).

That's a thousand down... and how many is it to go again? I've forgotten. Congratulations, Joe!

G'day, Steve, I remember A Shot of Bourbon at CRVboy, though it's been a long time since I read it. I hope you like this place -- I joined about the same time as you and I'm really enjoying settling in here. Cheers! Graeme

Happy Birthday, theZot!

My favourite comes from the early days of Unix: RTFM -- Read the Manual (I'll leave it as an exercise for the student to work out what the 'F' stands for). I knew of a technical writing company at one time that was called 'RTFM'. They had an official explanation of the acronym, but they also got lots of smiles from those in the know....

Happy Birthday, Conner! Graeme

I may be wrong, but I think she also came up with the line, "Is that a gun in your pocket, or are you just pleased to see me?"

Right in the middle of my bed time.... Oh, well. I'll have a look in the morning to see what's going on.

The obvious answer for when it will be is 8:10am, which corresponds to member id 810 for Conner. The question will then be what timezone. Since Conner is listed as living in Vancouver, I'm guessing 8:10am Vancouver time.

Jalaki beat me to it. The problem with the above is that there's no closing tag for the URL. Put in the [/url] at the end of string and it will work.

A little bit of logic will show that there are only 60 possibilities for the time -- since the hour is mutable by just going to a different timezone. I'm personally guessing that they'll miss the day and I'll find the announcement on Saturday, not Friday... since the USA is almost a day behind us Antipodeans. Graeme

I'm still amazed with the impact that he's had on so many across the world. I've been sitting here watching as tributes flow for him from the across the globe. There is no doubt that he was an able, genuine ambassador for conservation, the environment and for Australia. Best wishes to his wife and two children.

Congratulations, Nick!

Happy 21st, Drew! Graeme

I understand what you're saying. After way too long, I'm ready to come out of the closet, but I have to be very careful to do so because I have a responsibility to my wife and two boys. I told my wife I'm gay two years ago and it almost caused a divorce, but we've held things together and we're still happily married now. If it was just me, I'd tell people, but my kids need to know first -- it's cruel for them to be told by others and not by me. They are still too young to really understand and my wife and I are waiting until they are old enough to take it in and able to cope.

Happy birthday, Jared!

It's obvious... the first item in the scavenger hunt is... *drum roll*... the hunt itself. Bonus points for the first person/team to find it!

I'm 43 and I'm STILL introverted. I can make myself extroverted in a situation where I'm comfortable with what is going on (like here), but put me somewhere strange and I'll go quiet. Some people are just like that, so don't worry about it. If I really have to mix, I'll find someone who's extroverted and stay at the periphery of their group. If they are a good person, they'll drag in the others over time. Not everyone has to be extorverted, so don't get worried because you're not. There's nothing wrong with taking time to make friends.