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12:02 AM

Yes, a "unified" answer (single) would be great but 18 pieces with a lot of duplication is not my concept of "canonical".

Ankur Banerjee

Fair enough but that's where voting comes in. If a user is happy, they can turn their answer into a "community wiki" answer anyone can edit.

pnuts

Give the top answer is RoflcoptrException♦'s, that in this case might just be viable - but then, why has he not done so :) - and little chance of others answering other questions doing so given that example.

Ankur Banerjee

Community wiki answers don't get reputation and are generally avoided :(

pnuts

Ah! But we are in the context of questions that verge on off topic. Such "reputation" is tainted.

Ankur Banerjee

I feel like we're discussing blood diamonds

:D

pnuts

12:27 AM

@mindcorrosive (sorry to bother you - just wanted to link to a specific day in chat). @Ankur if you refer to that conversation I should mention I have "nothing personal" against RoflcoptrException♦ :)

Ankur Banerjee

Yeah I didn't think you did! :)

Gayot Fow

2:32 AM

@pnuts Yeah, the OP asked two questions and both of them are duplicates. So it can't be marked as a duplicate? That wouldn't be right. No, pick the most important one and vote to close it.

@pnuts or put it forward in META. Surely we shouldn't keep a question open that brings nothing new to the table?

JoErNanO

5:19 AM

@AnkurBanerjee Good to have you here man!

How are you doing?

pnuts

7:26 AM

@GayotFow Has been dupe closed (though I think the other part-dupe would have been better). The whole of SE is predicated on one question at a time. So I think has to be dealt with (properly) by a mod. I sympathise though, both Qs are very closely related. But I did -1 (proof of no/ineffective research twice over). Why did not others -1? (And why have we constantly allowed multiple questions - brought this on ourselves.)

Unless we edit one question out and explain why to OP.

@GayotFow Indubitably.

hippietrail

8:00 AM

您好

Ankur Banerjee

9:50 AM

@JoErNanO I usually used to hang out here a lot. Going on holiday for three weeks, planning a trip to Bhutan. :D Should have more time to hang out here!

JoErNanO

10:10 AM

@AnkurBanerjee Good good.

:)

Ankur Banerjee

@JoErNanO How's things with you?

JoErNanO

Spending August in Helsinki as part of my work/studies.

Could be worse. :D

Ankur Banerjee

Small world! I'm flying via Helsinki in two days on my way to Bhutan via India.

JoErNanO

Are you stopping over?

@AnkurBanerjee We need you mod powers against this annoying heathrow taxi spammer.

He's got multiple accounts now

3

Q: Getting back to Heathrow for an early flight

I'm staying in central London (Islington, EC1V). I have an international flight from Heathrow (terminal 2) that leaves early Sunday morning (07:50). I'm overwhelmed with all the options. Here's what I'm looking for: safe, reputable service minimal time walking alone in London before dawn arrive...

@AnkurBanerjee We need you mod powers against this annoying heathrow taxi spammer.

See at the bottom there.

Man I hate spammers.

Ankur Banerjee

10:28 AM

Thanks. Deleted them

JoErNanO

Could you also do something with the account?

Burn it? Make their chair explode?

Ankur Banerjee

yes. there's a very satisfying button called "destroy" for spam accounts

JoErNanO

I need that. For reasons.

:D

pnuts

Though the quoted price did actually seem good value :)

Ankur Banerjee

11:00 AM

Uber's cheaper / better

pnuts

As reliable?

Ankur Banerjee

I'd say so as well yeah. I mean, within London black cabs do beat out sometimes. But Heathrow/London is a fairly easy route that can easily be GPS'd

pnuts

I was thinking of the question where somebody was departing central London for LHR to be there for a flight at about 7am on a Sunday.

My theory is that most cab companies are more flexible than Uber where breakdowns/traffic (oversleeping?) and such like are involved.

Ankur Banerjee

Flexible how?

Our company used a corporate hire company (Addison Lee) and for a central London a few weeks ago, they quoted me 30 minutes for a pickup. So unacceptable in the age of Uber.

(I use Uber 20+ times a week so I guess I'm hooked.)

pnuts

Taxis should have a radio to call in a substitute and a group of colleagues to act as substitutes. Mind you, I have never tried Uber and it seems I ought to!

Ankur Banerjee

11:15 AM

Depends on where you live ;)

Mark Mayo

11:27 AM

Uber is fantastic in Sydney, and just wow, the Uber Pool option in Los Angeles saved me a LOT of cash.

Ankur Banerjee

@MarkMayo OH HAI MARK

The Room - Roof Scene "Oh Hi Mark" HD 1080p

►

Mark Mayo

2:05 PM

Oh hey @AnkurBanerjee, what's up? :D

Ankur Banerjee

Going on holiday tomorrrow! :D

You seem to be tearing up the world all over the place as well!

Never knew bachelor parties were that well travelled

Mark Mayo

could be a worse reference, I guess... ;)

Check out the last 5 seconds of this

Bachelor party was just in Bahrain

then the wedding was in Tehran on the ... 23rd? It was a while back ;)

then 2 weeks travelling Iran

then a few days in Oman, then a couple in Singapore

and now my last 3 days in KL are up tomorrow night, nooooo

D7 214 to Melbourne tomorrow night

Ankur Banerjee

holy shit wow that's an awesome bachelor party

Mark Mayo

but then still 2 days in MEL and 3 in CBR, so it's not until the 17th that I'm back in Sydney

Ankur Banerjee

Hope you had a good time!

Mark Mayo

2:09 PM

yeah it's been fun, although exhausting

I'm used to having 'rest' days when travelling, but when you're with others you seem to see even more and do even more

now that I'm on my own again since Oman, I've been sleeping in till like 9am! I know!

Oh, this just triggered some memory from a few months ago

I'm sure @GayotFow was being negative towards Iran or sorts, making inferences about, you know, impending death ;)

(if it wasn't you I apologise)

anyway, Iranians are easily the friendliest people of any country I've been to. Almost too friendly!

@AnkurBanerjee did I hear you were off to Bhutan?

Ankur Banerjee

"sleeping till 9am" hahahahahahahaha

Mark Mayo

Are you having to pay the $200 a day min fee or whatever?

36

Q: Is there a 'minimum daily spend' in Bhutan, and does it vary on citizenship?

While reading an article about Bhutan today, I came across this surprising bit: However, visiting the country for Australians is not straightforward. While there are connecting flights from Drukair via Singapore and Bangkok, visitors need to book their trip with a licensed Bhutanese tou...

money regulations tours price bhutan

pnuts

Indians are exceptional.

Mark Mayo

ah, of course. lucky.

Ankur Banerjee

yeah I am!

No I don't actually! I have an Indian passport, so I get free access to Bhutan :D

Mark Mayo

2:22 PM

yeah, if I'd read the answer to the q I linked to, it mentions that (and Bangladesh citizens, etc). Very handy. I wonder if they're easy to come by...

Ankur Banerjee

What, the visas?

As long as you have the money, yeah

No quotas like N. Korea.

I can also cross by land instead of flying

Mark Mayo

No I meant Indian citizenship ;)

Ankur Banerjee

Lol

India doesn't allow dual citizenship :(

Like, if I get a British passport, I'll have to give up my Indian one

Instead, they replace it with a "Person of Indian Origin" (PIO) card which doesn't quite get you the same benefits.

Mark Mayo

bah

Bangladesh, perhaps? :D

Ankur Banerjee

Probably ;)

Maldives? They have visa free access to Bhutan as well

Mark Mayo

2:32 PM

ooh, Maldivine? Maldivinite?

Maldivian apparently

Ankur Banerjee

Maldivian sounds like a fancy vodka

Mark Mayo

3:43 PM

If I haven't already, I really must recommend the travel series 'departures'. It's Canadian, and the two main guys are just average dudes travelling, but they go to some quite unusual countries in addition to some regular ones - but seeing Ethiopia, North Korea, Ecuador and PNG on their episodes is pretty cool

departures

Ankur Banerjee

Will put it in my watchlist

Have you seen Gordon Ramsay's shows about india?

and south east asia

hilarious

JoErNanO

@AnkurBanerjee I protected that heahtrow question to avoid more spam.

pnuts

4:00 PM

@JoErNanO Jeff might not approve.

JoErNanO

@pnuts Why not?

pnuts

"It's entirely possible to get a great drive-by answer from a 1 rep new user on any old question -- I used to see it all the time on Coding Horror (before I had to require logging in to comment due to size)."

JoErNanO

Makes sense. But looking at today's spam wave...

pnuts

I'm only aware of the one 'unsuitable' answer to that particular question. Doubt Jeff would object if there have been many to the same question. ('unsuitable' rather than 'spam' because the flag reason includes "does not disclose the author's affiliation." for 'spam'.)

JoErNanO

There's three deleted answers to that Q.

pnuts

4:08 PM

I'd say enough to justify protecting :)

Mark Mayo

@AnkurBanerjee do you have a name for his series?

pnuts

Maybe Gordon's Great Escape.

Ankur Banerjee

10:16 PM

@MarkMayo Yep, @pnuts is right. Gordon's Great Escape 'tis.