....in "Outside The Box"....and since I posted the last three posts in this forum in the last 4 (?) days, I'm starting to feel as if I'm in coventry.

Where are all the fun people putting forward opinions and ideas???

All inside the box. There's a party in there.

A pregnant silence?......takes two to create a pregnant silence. Where's your partner? I'm not here....

Poof....

Don't call me a poof. I believe the PC term is "gay". Besides, I'm not gay.

What is it that you like to talk about?

Nothing in particular.....I like reading other people's stuff....and adding my two cents.

I just thought it strange that no new posts or threads in a forum that has so much potential to stimulate thought and with so many interesting people around.

Don't call me a poof. I believe the PC term is "gay". Besides, I'm not gay.

I think he meant "Puff" you know when people dissapear in a puff of smoke

Yours sincerely, Arbitrator Jangles

Don't call me a poof. I believe the PC term is "gay". Besides, I'm not gay.

I think he meant "Puff" you know when people dissapear in a puff of smoke

Yours sincerely, Arbitrator Jangles

I know.....it's hard to get the right tone of voice when you can't see the sparkle in my eyes.

Come on guys, this is meant to be the serious side.

However, I have started my fair share of serious articles, don't disparage the lack of new items, I would suggest and encourage you to create a spread of your own.

I have found people prefer to comment on their preferred subjects, but leave others alone, the more diverse they are, the more chance of a catch all that spreads the net.

There are also those that just want a light hearted forum and that is fine too, I would prefer personally that this this sub-forum didn't fall into the same category and morph into Bedlam proper, or the Pub as was.

Alternatively, morph this sub forum into Bedlam proper and have the odd serious topic, but we have had this discussion before, Robski pressed for it and then did a runner, I need to track him down and encourage a few beers to be partaken.

I often forget about outside the box. Also, when i come to the forum there is usually enough serious things going on within the forum itself.. I always think of Bedlam as the fun house, the place where i can relax and what i say wont be jumped upon and taken out of context ..as much!

I often forget about outside the box. Also, when i come to the forum there is usually enough serious things going on within the forum itself.. I always think of Bedlam as the fun house, the place where i can relax and what i say wont be jumped upon and taken out of context ..as much!

:D

OK, let me give it a try.

After 9/11 and the July London bombings some people say that their freedom is more and more restricted/controlled by the government with their excuse of prevention of terrorism/violence. Camera’s everywhere (In some countries) that record everything that happens in a particular space.

This is done for your safety right, or is it?

Would you feel more free or scared if they did not do this?

And why?

And a seemingly unrelated question, are you against or for selective abortion?

(My apologies for the very bad English, I am not a native speaker but I hope you all understand)

Alex

I often forget about outside the box. Also, when i come to the forum there is usually enough serious things going on within the forum itself.. I always think of Bedlam as the fun house, the place where i can relax and what i say wont be jumped upon and taken out of context ..as much!

:D

Oh, you know what i was getting at. You're so mean!

I often forget about outside the box. Also, when i come to the forum there is usually enough serious things going on within the forum itself.. I always think of Bedlam as the fun house, the place where i can relax and what i say wont be jumped upon and taken out of context ..as much!

:D

Oh, you know what i was getting at. You're so mean!

"Mean" is my middle name!

And a seemingly unrelated question, are you against or for selective abortion?

i am against abortion but some fathers of some posters should have either worn a condom or pull out before...

Obviously you are in a bit of a bad mood today as can be seen from your today's posting's. I believe you would look great with a condom pulled over yur head, and it would show the proper use of it as well.

People with moving avatars should have to wear one over their avatar.

Noted!

Naam knows I am just kidding.

Maybe we should start a new sub forum?

"Outside the box or inside the condom"

....in "Outside The Box"....and since I posted the last three posts in this forum in the last 4 (?) days, I'm starting to feel as if I'm in coventry.

Where are all the fun people putting forward opinions and ideas???

I was an enthusiastic supporter of "outside the box" when it was started but ended up having some sort of disagreement about it... can't remember what it was about... format? with someone or some people... once again I don't recall.

But the sceadugengan are notable for holding long forgotten grudges so I generally ignored the place for a while.

Also, I'm at an age where I don't really care about what other people think. I can't be bothered trotting out repetitive arguments to people who have a problem counting past ten and I generally give politics and religion a very wide berth because discussing it's not fun any more.

Edit: And another thing... I've noted the worst thing you can do in open forum is discuss something that you really care about. Nothing breaks friendships and causes moderator intervention quicker. Regular posters withdraw to the local subforums in high dudgeon and we lose their input. A classic example was the Palestinian/Israeli "discussion" we had last year.

OK, let me give it a try.

After 9/11 and the July London bombings some people say that their freedom is more and more restricted/controlled by the government with their excuse of prevention of terrorism/violence. Camera's everywhere (In some countries) that record everything that happens in a particular space.

This is done for your safety right, or is it?

Would you feel more free or scared if they did not do this?

And why?

And a seemingly unrelated question, are you against or for selective abortion?

(My apologies for the very bad English, I am not a native speaker but I hope you all understand)

Alex

After 9/11 & the patriot acts we have lost many rights that were there for a reason.

No I dont feel safer & it seems the majority of Americans obviously feel the same as evidenced by the record breaking purchase of firearms in recent years as these laws intrude further & further.

As for abortion/pregnancy termination...... That is not my choice to make nor do I feel it is anyone's other than the creator/mother of the pregnancy. Just my personal opinion.............

OK, let me give it a try.

After 9/11 and the July London bombings some people say that their freedom is more and more restricted/controlled by the government with their excuse of prevention of terrorism/violence. Camera's everywhere (In some countries) that record everything that happens in a particular space.

This is done for your safety right, or is it?

Would you feel more free or scared if they did not do this?

And why?

And a seemingly unrelated question, are you against or for selective abortion?

(My apologies for the very bad English, I am not a native speaker but I hope you all understand)

Alex

After 9/11 & the patriot acts we have lost many rights that were there for a reason.

No I dont feel safer & it seems the majority of Americans obviously feel the same as evidenced by the record breaking purchase of firearms in recent years as these laws intrude further & further.

As for abortion/pregnancy termination...... That is not my choice to make nor do I feel it is anyone's other than the creator/mother of the pregnancy. Just my personal opinion.............

You bring up an interesting and no doubt controversial point that I have pondered before: It seems that the father has no decisive input, regardless of the paternity laws of a country.

This seems a bit unfair to me. He will be forced to pay for the next 18 years based on a mutual act, but a singular decision.

The other side to it is that a father may want to keep the child but is forced to stand by while the mother aborts his child....again, inequitable. (Although I do see that in this scenario, the mother's will should hold more weight).

Untill the pro-choice/anti-abortion debate is settled, fathers of unplanned pregnancies will continue to have to abide by the mother's decisions after a mutual act of negligence.

Untill the pro-choice/anti-abortion debate is settled, fathers of unplanned pregnancies will continue to have to abide by the mother's decisions after a mutual act of negligence.

Or until he can grow a uterus

or just wear a condom, or two.

or just wear a condom, or two.

One of my children is the result of a woman saying I don't need one and she doesn't want me to wear one.

I am certain that there are other fathers out there that were tricked or trapped into donating their sperm.

Ok it seems we have some kind of topic to discuss, abortion.

Teenage pregnancy is rising in some parts of the world and in some cases it is related to criminal gangs and the wish of those teenage girls to have a baby from some of those gang leaders thinking they would raise their status or hoping the guy would stay with them because of that.

Some of the unwanted pregnancies are a result of unprotected sex whilst working as a prostitute and clients willing to pay more to have unprotected sex, or the worker while being high on drugs just forgetting protection.

Some of the pregnancies are "Accidents"

(There are plenty more reasons but just want to give some examples).

Would it not be better to abort those unborn when calculating the chances of a good (future) live of the unborn child would be less then a certain percentage?

Would it not be better to abort an unborn when knowing both parents do not really want that child and have no means to support it?

Would it not be better to abort an unborn from a victim of rape if she asked for that?

Should there be guidelines to judge before, if people can have and raise children?

Alex, I suggest you start a new topic for this as it would get more hits and replies.

An article in today's online edition of my local paper.

Overseas students' alarming abortion rates

Article from: The Advertiser

ONE in three abortions at the Women's and Children's Hospital is performed on international students, University of Adelaide research has found.

A paper by the Discipline of General Practice says the terminations are predominantly carried out on Chinese students.

The high abortion rate has prompted calls for comprehensive sex education for the tens of thousands of students who make South Australia their temporary home.

Principal researcher Dr Adrienne Burchard found that international students had limited sexual knowledge, could become more sexually active while living in Australia, and did not always know how to access contraception information.

Focus group comments heard by the researchers include: "I heard the pill is harmful for our health . . . it can make you never be pregnant again", and "I wouldn't ask (doctors) about this (sexual health). Is it part of their job? I wouldn't think so."

The latest statistics available are from 2007 and show about 5000 abortions were performed in SA.

Dr Burchard could not be contacted for further comment, but an abstract of her project shows the study was started because of a "disproportionately high number of terminations of pregnancy on international students", and aimed to reduce the rate of sexually transmitted diseases, unwanted pregnancies, and abortions.

Sexual health agency Shine SA says international students should have easy access to health services.

"Coming to Australia for an educational opportunity should not be marred by a lack of knowledge about sexual and reproductive health," chief executive officer Kaisu Vartto said.

"Surely as a caring community we have a responsibility to ensure that those people we invite into our community are safe, have access to health care and education and are included in the fabric of our community."

International students do not have access to Medicare. Private health insurance is a visa requirement, but many cash-strapped students give up the insurance once they arrive. International students do have access to some health services through universities.

Further Education Minister Michael O'Brien said the State Government was aware of the problem.

"I've held discussions with Shine about student welfare in general and they made me aware of the statistics about the level of abortions among international students," he said.

"When I established (a task- force on students' experien- ces), I specifically asked mem- bers to look at international student welfare and wellbeing as one of the Terms of Reference."

Opposition families and communities spokesman Stephen Wade says he has been told the figure could be as high as three out of four abortions being provided to international students.

"Whether it's a third or three-quarters it's still a large number of students," he said. "I think it's really important that students, while they're in Australia, get the best of Australian healthcare."

Jill Michelson, Marie Stopes International's SA-based national clin- ical adviser, said about one in three of the women seeking an abortion became pregnant within their first three months in Australia.

"It is a concern. We're certainly finding a significant number of international students attending our services around Australia," she said.

"It's an issue of young people being free for the first time . . . we need to get on to them fairly fast and give them some good orientation and sex education."

Former Federal Liberal MP Bruce Baird is reviewing the Education Services for Overseas Students Act.

He said he had heard about high rates of abortions and inadequate sex education and provision of contraception, and it "certainly makes sense" to make sex education part of the induction process.

....in "Outside The Box"....and since I posted the last three posts in this forum in the last 4 (?) days, I'm starting to feel as if I'm in coventry.

Where are all the fun people putting forward opinions and ideas???

I was an enthusiastic supporter of "outside the box" when it was started but ended up having some sort of disagreement about it... can't remember what it was about... format? with someone or some people... once again I don't recall.

But the sceadugengan are notable for holding long forgotten grudges so I generally ignored the place for a while.

Also, I'm at an age where I don't really care about what other people think. I can't be bothered trotting out repetitive arguments to people who have a problem counting past ten and I generally give politics and religion a very wide berth because discussing it's not fun any more.

Edit: And another thing... I've noted the worst thing you can do in open forum is discuss something that you really care about. Nothing breaks friendships and causes moderator intervention quicker. Regular posters withdraw to the local subforums in high dudgeon and we lose their input. A classic example was the Palestinian/Israeli "discussion" we had last year.

What he said.

I've been too busy recently (some may have noticed my falling post rate all over TV and other forums of late, I may update my life thread if I am of a mind later) as such, OTB hasn't even been looked at for a while, not in the mood at the moment to put my serious head on...... normal service will hopefully be resumed as soon as possible. (but don't hold your breath)

And another thing... I've noted the worst thing you can do in open forum is discuss something that you really care about. Nothing breaks friendships and causes moderator intervention quicker. Regular posters withdraw to the local subforums in high dudgeon and we lose their input. A classic example was the Palestinian/Israeli "discussion" we had last year.

i am participating daily in two other forums (yes, the plural is forums, not fora! ). one exists since 1998, the other one since 2001. inspite of controversial views the behaviour is civilised and moderators neither exist nor did they exist. in my view it depends on the "quality" and characters of the members whether moderation is required or superfluous.

in that respect Thaivisa moderation speaks volumes

Where are all the fun people putting forward opinions and ideas???

Banned, trying not to get banned, or... well you've seen Logan's Run, right?

Robski pressed for it and then did a runner, I need to track him down and encourage a few beers to be partaken.

Crikey Moss, it's been ages hasn't it!? Well the year is nearly over and I'm not that far away.

Well....the pregnant silence has certainly given birth to a screaming, pooing, bouncing baby!