Brain Tickler

For people of older generation, like my mum who is in her 70’s, who does not really require wifi because she doesn’t use the internet and is clueless about phone software updates etc, what would be a good smartphone that can receives pictures and perhaps a “keyboard” that enables her to type and receive messages in other languages?

Just trying to work out what our little one might call her grandparents after she's born, and wanted something other than "nan" and "pop."

In my 9-10th week now. This last week my abdomen has stopped feeling swollen and feeling like my period is still coming. Today, whilst my breast are tender are no where near as sore as the day before. And the muscle tightness in the side of my abdomen and stomach have suddenly disappeared. I've had no cramping or spotting as yet, but that probably takes time coming if it is a miscarriage right?

Should I be worried?

My friend has been on two medications for depession. For some reason, the doctor put him back on the first one even though it was causing him insomnia and he was just angry all the time. The second one just didn't do anything. It's impossible to convince him to go back to the doctors and stay on the medication when he thinks all doctors are useless and no medication works.

He's now an alcoholic and a drug addict and won't see anyone about it. One psychiatrist fell asleep during his session with him - and he feels none of the ones he has seen really give a s**t. He doesn't make that much money so the idea of giving his hard earned cash to someone who doesn't seem really interested in helping him just doesn't appeal to him. And I don't blame him for thinking that. But I'm at a loss as to what to do.

For those of you who have tried a few different anti-depressants, which one has worked the best for you?

What is the name of the test a woman does to check if she is still fertile? I think it checks the levels of hormones or something. Does producing a particular hormone mean a woman is ovulating?

I've also heard that there are certain times of the month where the test will be more accurate. Is this true?

I just advised someone to offer to pay her half (of dinner, movie or whatever) on a first date. But then it occurred to me that maybe that's not the "done thing" anymore with younger people these days. What do you young Gen Y. men do these days on first dates? Pay for everything or only your share? What are your expectations if you do pay for everything? What do you think of the young lady if she DOESN'T offer to pay her share?

I know someone who is constantly gossiping about other people, who will tell people so-and-so's faults or if they did something stupid, surprising or anything that this person either wouldn't do or doesn't agree with. And quite often it sounds like dibber-dobbing to these people's colleagues or people more senior whose opinion of the person of subject can be affected.

And this person is supposedly Christian. It just doesn't seem like a very Christian thing to do, and somewhat mean, especially if this person talks about faults of others and possibly affect their career or promotional chances etc.

I can understand the need to gossip as a way of bonding between colleagues, but I dunno, this seems to go beyond that.

Everyday I am fighting the desire to just give up on my boyfriend who is a drug and alcohol addict. He can't afford the time out or the money to attend any rehabilitation programs. He has emotionally stunted growth so is unable to talk about any of his anxieties, of which there appear to be many. He hasn't had a shitty childhood. So I don't really understand his emotionally stunted growth. But I am at my wits end. I don't know how I can help him and patience alone is not working.

I've heard it works with dog urine and other odours. But the company that makes it is based in the US. Am wondering whether anyone in Australia has seen this product for sale in Australia. Or alternatively offer another product that works and also available in Australia. Thanks.

I'm trying to figure out how deposits and cooling off period works in NSW, Australia. If accepted practice in NSW is that the vendor expects the buyer to sign a contract and pay a 2.5% deposit (that's a friggin lot of money on a house price above $400K!), but banks won't give a formal loan approval until AFTER they've seen the contract and do their own property evaluation, then it's quite possible that the bank can deny the loan if their evaluation is that the property is not worth whatever the price was offered (or whatever other reason they might give). But how many potential buyers can afford to put an offer in and pay a deposit and potentially lose the deposit because the bank could deny the loan based on their property evaluation during the cooling off period. I don't get it. Can anyone explain? Because both the real estate agent and mortgage broker told me that's how it works in NSW.

I may be just imagining this, but I've noticed the first week or so of my menstrual cycle, I wake up during the night and stay awake for hours before going back to bed. The closer I get to menstruation, the deeper and longer I sleep. What hormones could be affecting sleep, if it is hormones? I've only come across information on how sleep affect hormones, not the other way around. Anyone know?

Our house was broken into a couple of years ago. My wallet, amongst other things, were stolen. I've now been asked by a bank I've approached for loan pre-approval for "confirmation of status of credit bureau applications" for a couple of credit cards that have been applied for in my name. Apart from not knowing what is meant by this, I'm not sure how I can prove that I didn't apply for the credit cards.

Do I sign a statutory declaration to state I didn't? Would this be adequate? I can supply a police report to show my wallet was stolen around the time the credit cards were supplied but that doesn't really prove that I didn't apply for it.

Help. What do I do? How do I go about signing a Stat. Dec.? Is this a form on which I make a statement? If so, where do I get one? And where do I lodge the darn thing? or would I just give it to the bank who has requested information about the credit cards I didn't apply for?

Thanks.

We recently adopted a MS two weeks ago. He doesn't live with us but with my partner's parents and his dog, where there is more space. Luckily the 2-yr-old MS took to the older dog just fine (He used to live with five other big dogs). Every time we bring him to our home though, he absolutely hates it. He never comes to us when he's called. He just mopes and lies in his bed or under the coffee table.

But he's wonderful when we're at his other home with the other dog. He's all cheerful and happy to see us. His tail wags and he'll come to us and want to be pat. My concern is that he'll never be all happy and cheerful with just myself and my partner without another dog/animal around.

The first day we had him we had to take him to the vet because he apparently had a chronic flea condition which was somehow linked to an ear infection. And that very afternoon we had to start squirting three different kinds of liquids and shove antibiotic and cortizone tablets down his throat. It's been two weeks and we're still doing it to the poor dog.

Will he forever just see us as his tormentors for the rest of his life? He can't have bonded with the other dog that much and that quickly. It's only been two weeks. He surely couldn't get that depressed being separated from her, could he?

All I want is to have a dog that will be happy to see me and not mope. I get enough of that from certain people in my life as it is!

Just got wi-fied - woohoo. But the WLAN light on the modem/router is on ALL the time. Should it be? Even if our computers are turned off or on standby? Our account shows us to be connected almost 24/7. Or should I only be worried if our download gets outrageous? Currently it's not so I don't think anyone is hacking on to the network.

Thanks.

I deal with our company's employee share plans. There are a number of plans that are currently in various Excel spreadsheets. I would like to automate this as much as possible but also allow employees to be able to log on/in using their own passwords through the intranet or some sort of web portal so they can access their own holdings and see the value of their holdings etc.

Would an SQL hosted on the company's server enable the above? Would I be able to do some sort of a web interface that could extract the data from the SQL database?

If no to the above, is there anything else I might explore that could achieve the above?

Thanks in advance for any help.

After unsuccessful attempts using Parallels, installing Windows XP and then the PC games, we have since uninstalled Parallels, used the Boot Camp assistant to partition the hard drive yadda yadda. PC game STILL won't work. Any suggestions, anyone? Please.? My boyfriend is getting so down about not being able to play his PC games.

We've recently purchased an imac but the boyfriend wants to play his old Battlefield PC games. We've bought Parallels 3.0 and then installed Windows XP, then Battlefield 1, then Battlefield2 but neither will play. The BF1 just says its encountered a problem and asked would we like to send a message to Microsoft. BF2 looks like it wants to start, the screen goes black for a second and then it just stops. Any ideas anybody?

We've recently purchased an imac but the boyfriend wants to play his old Battlefield PC games. We've bought Parallels 3.0 and then installed Windows XP, then Battlefield 1, then Battlefield2 but neither will play. The BF1 just says its encountered a problem and asked would we like to send a message to Microsoft. BF2 looks like it wants to start, the screen goes black for a second and then it just stops. Any ideas anybody?

I get that Parallels is a "virtualisation" software/emulator. Does that mean after installing the Parallels software on the mac I would then need to install the Microsoft/Windows operating system BEFORE I can run any windows -based programs or PC games? Or can I just stick a PC game into the CD-ROM slot on the iMac after installing Parallels and away I go?

Thanks.

My partner and I are thinking about trying to have a baby.

Are there any/range of tests that we can do before trying to ensure we can have a baby?

I'd rather not wait another year or two before finding out there are problems as I'm getting on in age and probably don't have that kind of time to waste.

Thanks.