TeeSix

Living in NZ reminds me every day of how funky these little birds are. Great work Ziggy!

I've done a bit of reading and it'd seem the neutrinos travelling faster than light was an error/miscalculation, so physics is still correctly modelled. Tachyon-wise though, we haven't really got any conclusive evidence they're real or even if they're at all possible.

Ah yes, neutrinos, you're correct. Quite a conundrum to physics they hold. I can only imagine the wonders of knowledge that surround those tiny particles.

If Stephen Hawking is correct, we can travel forwards in time but not back. Forwards in time can be achieved by travelling very close to the speed of light, as time appears to slow around the traveller to stop them from breaking the speed of light. As a result less time passes for them than for everyone else. Backwards in time is theoretically impossible, as one would have to exceed the speed of light, a physical impossibility with our current model of the Universe's physics. However recently some particles of a nature I unfortunately cannot remember off the top of my head were reported to have reached a destination an extremely tiny fraction of time before light, so that may change things quite majorly. It is also worth noting that humanity, as far as we are aware, will never achieve reverse time travel, as we have as of yet received no visitors from the future.

I'll throw my hat into the ring with my adoptive home country of New Zealand's anthem; the first section is in the native Māori language for those curious.

I'm not a Communist, I swear on my life. I swear.

I know for a fact that, coming from Britain and living in New Zealand, both countries do the same thing. Unlucky 13 generally seems to be a more Western world thing, though I am by no means 100% sure about that.

If you ever get a chance to look, you might also notice that hotels will often not have a room no. 13, either skipping over it or having a 12A and 12B. It's just the whole stigma in numerous cultures worldwide of 13 being unlucky. Likewise in some Asian countries I hear that some hotels charge a little extra on room no. 7 since 7 is a lucky number in many Asian cultures.

Everyone keeps saying about how it looks too similar to Australia's; there are numerous more flags that look even more similar, and we had ours first. It's not a problem if people look a tiny bit harder. And the U.K.'s flag is there for a reason, we retain the Queen as Head of State and so I believe it should stay. Hands down, I think the flag should only change when/if we become a republic; besides, the numbers I've heard about say it's most likely the flag won't change, though not impossible.

I really don't like the new flag, I'm happy with our current one. You'd expect that from a British expat, but from what I hear not that many people support the new one anyway. It's less that likely it'll succeed. I just think the flag is unnecessarily complex with the fern fronds; I know it's a national symbol but if I was forced to choose any of the new flags I'd have chosen Red Roof, it emulates simple flag design while being very symbolic in what it stands for.

You're correct there. I'm getting used to it and not feeling so bad about it bit by bit, so it's progression of a sort

I admit, like a few other people in this thread, that I'm in love with a fictional character. I mean, Lightning Dust was a dick for the entirety of the single episode she appeared in, and somehow I've semi-fallen in love with her. It makes me feel a built embarrassed and shameful, yet not enough for me to move on from it. It's weird. I'm also inexplicably turned on by ladies in awesome outfits or armour. Yeah, I'm a strange, strange person

My opinion on cannabis/marijuana is the same for a lot of things; I'm all for legalising it, just as long as you maintain etiquette as if you were smoking tobacco; don't get it in people's faces since obviously not everyone supports it. Kinda the same rules being applied to tobacco, like where you can smoke it and all. Beyond that, as far as I care you can smoke whatever you want for all I'm worried. I live in New Zealand anyway, it'll probably be legalised soon, and most people, including the police, have a fairly lax attitude to it provided you use it responsibly.

The Italian Job, I love that film a lot. Abhorred the remake though, it was truly god-awful.

Sounds like you share the same opinion as me. Apparently both of us would fall under a banner called "Agnostic Atheists" in that we as individuals don't believe there is a creator/divine being/God but we admit that it's possible some form of higher being exists as we don't have the knowledge to truly say yes or no. Our choice not to believe there is one is just personal.

I can remember pointless trivia, like that the first 45 M4 Sherman tanks had circular engine air filters that generated so much heat they could melt leather, but then I can't remember important stuff, like where I left my keys. Seems to be a fairly typical problem with a lot of people

Neither of my parents are strict at all; I was slapped on maybe two occasions growing up but such a punishment was probably well-deserved on my part. That was before we moved to New Zealand, which has an Anti-Smacking Law in place which prevents much force being used by parents anyway. But largely I like to think I was a good kid anyway; I was much more scared of disappointing my parents or making them unhappy than I was of being punished.

Swear constantly, procrastinate like a king, get irritated/annoyed easily and by the smallest of things, say "I'll wing it" on something I most definitely should not and compulsively refuse to spend money, then regret buying something even if I really wanted it. And to all of you who bite your nails, I have nothing against you but people biting their nails genuinely makes me squirm a bit.

I'm quite opposed to the average joe owning guns, I come from the U.K. and live in New Zealand so they're regulated to within an inch of existence in both countries; I prefer to be interested in guns from an academic standpoint. I do however have a pretty intimidating butter knife. Fear me!

Well, since anyone outside of my immediate family lives halfway around the world from here, Christmas is a rather lax affair for me and my family. Especially since Christmas in New Zealand is already a laidback event nationwide, things have been pretty casual as always for me. Though timezones dictate that it's nearly Boxing Day here now