nomadpete

Hopefully we will soon hear about an eventful delivery trip. And all is well.

Does anybody have any contact details apart from the forum?

Just for you, OME..... DIN stands for "Deutsches Institut für Normung", meaning "German institute for standardization".

They mount on a DIN rail which is the standard in meter boxes.

Role models? The best role models are the people who fearlessly follow their own path, honestly, fairly and honorably. An when it comes to raising kids, I don't think the gender roles of parents matter. What matters is that the kids have caring cooperative, supporting, noncombatant parent figures to look up to. Further, I think two 'parent figures' is not enough. Kids do best when there is an extended family of sane, stable role models - grandparents can be a great guiding asset!

This fact is where spending large sums of money simply fails to protect the vulnerable. In my wife's case, her ex husband is the classic " well respected medical professional, church going, all around great guy". He has never had a police report for cruelty to farm animals, nor holding a gun to his wife head to get his way, nor for leaving bruises on his daughters neck during an argument. I expect there are many men (and women) out there who seem outwardly OK but are actually ticking time bombs, waiting for an unfortunate trigger to set them off..... People who have never experienced such a relationship, can never begin to understand the complexity of the issues at play.

Thank you. That does happen too often. People try to find a simple answer, a simple blame process. That is not possible.

I couldn't be bothered to go to all that trouble, who combs their cat? If it was up to me, I'd hang the bloody cat out and let the birds take as much as they want.

Random thought.... Is Alcoholism a cause, or a symptom of mental health issues?

Spacey, please at least get something like this..... (Bunnings Aerospace for $68).

Believe it or not, although my relationships were not being destroyed by alcohol, a visit to alanon helped me immensely. Until then I didn't know they are a support group for abused partners of alcoholics. They pointed out that trying to help the unhelpable only makes things worse - it turns the victim into the enabler - and in the end the victim is helping the perpretator to behave worse. I only went once but that realisation was the turning point for me. Enough! This was supposed to be random thoughts!

Totally agree. Western society has normalised violence as a conflict resolution answer. I wish I could have blamed it on drugs but a cause in my cases. It is more like "boiled frog" problem. Also, it takes a great deal of courage and mental strength to walk out on the one you love, when it is breaking a promise "in sickness and in health" (knowing mental health counts and knowing the perpretator needs help too). And to do it when all strength is gone and the victim is already very weak, and vulnerable. It is common for such relationships to have isolated the victim from their closest friends/relatives/ support, and they feel unable to seek the help they need. It may be hard to comprehend, but domestic violence is a (bad) outlet for the perpretator who at the time feels totally vulnerable, disempowered. It is their desperate attempt to regain lost power. In my opinion, a variation on "violence is the refuge of a coward". Perhaps a cultural change would help to build trust in seeking help outside the relationship. Maybe growing the courage to admit the behaviour to outsiders. Society presently sees that as a weakness. It seems frowned upon generally.

I would add one significant thing that is grossly lacking - specialist support for those suffering from psychological abuse. It is sadly lacking but is more effective than punisment. In most reports of partner physical violence, there is a common theme. Prior ongoing psychological manipulation by one person AND ongoing denial of that by the other person. Normalised deviance by BOTH parties is what facilitates the progressive worsening of violence. Laws and threats of jail or death penalty will do no good at all.

As I have said before, in my opinion, nobody in their right mind will harm the one they love. The problem is mental health. No amount of law threats will change the actions of a person who is having a mental health rage problem. Twice in my life I have had my life physically threatened by partners who were undergoing irrational rage episodes. On one occasion our teenage kids helped wrestle a knife out of my wife's hand. Later professional diagnosis showed it was all due to psychological problems. At the time of these events, no amount of rational discussion was possible. I can assure you, once a person is undergoing a psychotic episode, they are capable of dreadful stuff that none of their friends will believe.

Peter, I do agree with that. I don't agree with making a fuss about it because these folk are not desecrating anybody else's statuew - only their own. Besides that aspect, my only judgement of the pics you posted, is that some folk do stuff purely to draw attention, and to me, thats a waste of time.

Spacey, it was just an example to illustrate that gender change is only one of many things thata person might strongly wish ti change. . A person's desire to surgically modify their body is in my opinion frequently socially motivated, to the point of obsessing. Also, making the desired change does not necessarily suddenly bring happiness to the person. However, as Octave points out, that is none of my concern as long as it doesn't affect me. This thread was originally about whether a service provider has a right to exclude a person from their service, based on the client's body modification.

I think if we pass the hat around, we would raise the world's biggest donation to somebody's election fund as long as it got him a seat on that spaceship.

There is another psychological aspect to the broader gender change question. I happen to be tall. It is a result of the genetic combination that made me. Sometimes it is downright inconvenient to be tall. I kepp hitting my head on things that don't bother 'noemal' people. When I was a kid, my peers called me names. Over the years I grew strong enough to mostly ignore the discrimination. I came to accept the body that I inherited. That was not a conscious decision. But somehow I avoided going to a doctor to ask for surgical remedy to my unwanted physical attribute. What I am trying to get at, is that I struggle to see why it has to be a psychological imperative to surgically change any physical attribute that bothers a person . I apply this reason to all kinds of body modification. It all seems to be motivated by social expectations. And that seems a weak reason to take surgical action.

All the molecules in me, have ever been and will ever be in me, have been here at least ever since the big bang. Even though, like my passage through a birth canal 72 years ago, I can't remember any of it. After my 'demise' My molecules will continue on in many different arrangements until the next big bang. Life is the greatest adventure in consiousness, regardless of whatever one's spiritual beliefs are. All I can say is.... Awesome!

To me, that's proof enough that 'life, as we know it....' is a rare molecular progression. As such, I don't feel a need to justify it. So, I think we should try not to mess up the conditions that make life possible on this third rock from the sun.(and I try hard to behave accordingly). I care about life of future generations, too, which might be related to climate awareness and avoiding soiling our own earthly nest.

Marty might get a different deal (since he seems to have an aversion to 72 or even 71 nonspecific virgins). I do see a possible negative with that... who could stand an eternity filled with constant moaning, weeping and wailing? Marty and Jerry might get their own heavenly reward - a fully refurbished, central heated hangar filled with fully maintained eternally fuelled and serviced aircraft. And clear skies (except for isolated cumulus populated by unhappy muslim blokes and moaning virgins)

They are only there if they tread on a duck.

They were very close. So close somebody once said they were joined at the hip...pocket.

What? Not bloody mouse again! Haven't you got something better for us?

What? Not without a lock washer?