ZGeek - Stuff you want to know

Christmas parties.

Tomsy — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 05:19:04 GMT

I need ideas for team Christmas parties around Sydney as the PA didn't book bowls and now it is all booked out.

We have a team of about 20 people and event must include drinking. Would probably be a thursday arvo, work til lunch then go boozing/eventing.

Any tips you guys might have done?

Dwarfthrower - Why NIT?

Fitty — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 11:35:21 GMT

DT,

I can't find the thread I'm after, so forgive me if I'm remembering this incorrectly, but I recall you saying that one of the policies you supported was negative income tax (wiki link for those interested). It seems to me that the principal benefit of the scheme is the savings made on the administration of the tax and welfare systems - is that all it is?. Provided that I have remembered correctly, can you please explain why you think NIT is a better idea than our current system?

Scumbag

Hairyman — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 13:18:21 GMT

Is he perma-banned?

How to: Gardening

SG — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 02:51:30 GMT

Hello!

Does anyone here do any gardening or know a bit about it?

I have been growing potplants on our deck, which I really enjoy. I am trying to figure out why some of the plants die and why some of them thrive. I think one or two came with diseases from the nursery, but otherwise I suspect it is a sun/moisture problem. The plants I have been growing:

Several varieties of passionfruit. These seem to do really well, but they go through phases of looking a bit droopy and picking up again. I had one catastrophe, a passionfruit in a really sunny spot that was growing so well, it was spectacular. But then it started dropping and never really seemed to recover until it died completely.
Cactii. I have several little varieties of these, they are the easiest plants *ever* to grow. They thrive spectacularly in full sun on the deck.
Gardenia. I love these flowers, but I had them all die on me a couple of times. I'm not sure what I am doing wrong here. Two of them (got them from the nursery a couple of weeks ago) have very odd "holes" in the flowers. They're perfectly circular and I just can't fathom it out.
Viburnum (odoratissiumum). New plant from the nursery. Time will tell.
Pointsettias: I *love* the colours on this plant. Unfortunately I believe my cat killed on of them and the other two seem to be just hanging on. It might be a disease, the leaves look odd.
Michelia figo. Failed miserably.
White Fantasy (the plant!!) seems to be doing well but it is relatively new.
Mandevilia
Alternanthera
Miniature Rose. This thing is my anathema, it seems really difficult to grow. :X I have tried all sorts of things, like different positions and water amounts.

So I was wondering, particularly when you are growing plants, how do you know what you are doing wrong? Is it just experience? I thought about using a soil moisture probe to check how much I am "really" watering the plants - particularly with the random weather, are they any good? How do you tell if your plant is dying from a disease and/or what to do about it?

Also, I think the possums are chewing on some of my plants. How do you stop this?

Furthermore, what plants do you recommend to try growing in Sydney? I would like to try more pot plants but eventually I'd like to set up a patch of plants around the house in this really nice spot, with some kind of watering system.

I'll post some pictures later if anyone cares. :)

Anyone know what breed of cat this is?

Nalixor — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 07:12:39 GMT

Hey guys,

My mother is getting a cat, and she want's to know what breed of cat is in the picture below. Since my searches on the interwebs have come up empty, I thought one of the many catlovers here might know. In spoiler tags because it's a biggish image.

Thanks!

Hidden content: (may contain spoilers and traces of nut)

Question: Paintball Fields in Sydney

Elentari — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 22:42:56 GMT

I'm trying to organise a game of skirmish with some mates but have NFI where to go for it.

I was looking at Action Paintball Games and Heartbreak Ridge Paintball.

If anyone has tried either of these places, or can recommend anywhere else, I'd love to know.

<3

Question: What kind of phoneplan to get for a Windows Mobile

Urban3300 — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 10:27:51 GMT

Can a foreigner with a working holiday visa get a phone contract in Australia and what kind of phone plan should he get for a windows mobile in Australia?

* It would be preferable if it had some kind of data plan

Question: Police presence, when's it excessive?

That Bloke — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 04:59:41 GMT

During race week here in Bathurst they always bring in police from all around the state but the police presence this year seems a little ridiculous, over the past two days we've seen a whole coach load(that's a 60 seater) of cops, at least five extra patrol cars, one towing a trailer with four police trail bikes on it, five police road motorcycles, four booze busses(well that's normal), the police mobile water cannon, & four riot response armoured Landcruisers & this is just what I & people I work with have seen.

Question: mattress

ms edeity — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 13:00:53 GMT

it's been a long time since we've needed to replace our mattress and i feel like i've discovered a whole new world of clusterfuck with choice. we know about spring gauge, coil systems, latex, etc, etc and will be road testing them but it's getting to be a headache so i'm interested in other people's experiences.

what mattress have you loved/ hated and why?

cheers.

Question: Mike Rann

Pirate — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 20:48:17 GMT

I've been thinking about this R18+ thing and how the whole thing is being fucked up by Michael Atkinson refusing to let the discussion paper out.

So why don't we go one above him. To his boss. The premier of South Australia Mike Rann. We get up in his face and put pressure on him to tell Atkinson to get in line.

I don't know much about politics so I don't know if this would work. Anyone got any idea?

Anyone going to UK Subs in OZ?

Spades — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 07:55:26 GMT

Seems they are slipping under the radar but might be worth seeing. If anyone goes plz post details of how it went.

http://www.uksubscom.anarchistuk.com/cgi-bin/tour.html

No-one plays in Canberra :(

how to tell someone their stuff sucks?

Up_All_Night — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 14:49:41 GMT

Ok a friend of mine, she's a gorgeous sweet girl who is trying to be a singer. She recently launched a new myspace page and push for fame or whatever. She is hot enough to be popular.. hottest girl i am friends with, but her myspace launch looks horrible. It's cabaret level crap. Also the songs she has up aren't as good as stuff i've heard her write and sing in the past. Too generic.

How should I go about telling her to,

a) Improve the facebook/myspace thingy
b) the songs are too generic.

I want to help and be constructive but not sure how to approach it. Personally I am shocked she doesn't see her myspace as horrid as she's a classy chick.

Suggestions?

and no I am not baggin' my friend's stuff and then telling you who she is, so she can find out I am. Even though I am doing it for her benefit.

And no I aint wanting to help for my own benefit.

How to: Want to know where a particular ship is? Here is how to find it....

carsinogenic — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 15:24:00 GMT

I got linked to this quite handy site. It maps out all the ports around the world. Plus it as maps out all the registered ships, via gps, with useful info and a location on each. Got some quite interesting search functions too.

http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/

French & British Zgeekers

bronco — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 14:54:33 GMT

The missus and I are currently doing the Aussie backpacker thing and at the moment are in Spain testing my poor (at best) Spanish. For happy snaps go here. I�ll post an awesome summary when I get home. Anyway, in couple of weeks we will be in France before going to the UK, so here are some questions for the locals:

French Zgeekers
We will be having our 1st wedding anniversary in Paris and were wanting some recommendations, as baguettes under the Eiffel Tower might appear a bit cheap of me. All I�m looking for is some nice shows or good restaurants that might do me some good in the loving husband stakes.

British Zgeekers
We�ll be there around the start of November (I�ve heard the weather is best that time of year) and were wondering if anyone wanted to catch up for a brewski, or better yet if anyone participated in CouchSurfing, as we would be more than happy to abuse your hospitality.

Pod Casts

carls — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 15:23:46 GMT

Yo kids. I'm working 16 hours a day which leaves no time for reading, writing or 'rythamitic. But I'm fortunate enough to be my own boss and have a laptop next to me while I run the kitchen (I'm a chef) Question is, are there any recommended repositories for interesting podcasts? I'm interested in Science, philosophy, art history#, feats of engineering ... in fact, anything interesting. My NWA heavy playlist is great to cook to, but leaves me unsatisfied, empty and full of "nigger" at the day's end.