More to the point, he doesn't seem to realize that a simple "no thank you" will put a quick and painless end to this traumatic event so he can continue with whatever scintillating anecdote he was in the middle of dazzling his dining companions with.

[eta: Oh wait, here's the real heart of the matter:

Not everybody likes wine as much as I do. Many females, for example, confine themselves to one glass per meal or even half a glass. It pains me to see good wine being sloshed into the glasses of those who have not asked for it and may not want it and then be left standing there barely tasted when the dinner is over.

It's not refilling his glass that's a problem, it's refilling the glasses of all his lightweight lady-friends. Makes perfect sense.]

Yikes! [link]

Again, imagine this same tactic being applied to the food.

Oh, the utter insolence! Imagine if the waiters had the absolute temerity to inquire if one would also like dessert. Have they no sense of decency?

It's not refilling his glass that's a problem, it's refilling the glasses of all his lightweight lady-friends.

So basically this is the snootified version of crying "party foul!" when someone knocks over a glass of the precious alcomohol.

Huh. Chicago makes the cut

ATHENS - Chicago has advanced to the final phase of the contest to become host city of the 2016 Summer Olympics, although it has ground to make up on its three remaining rivals before the International Olympic Committee's 110 members choose the winner Oct. 2, 2009.

The IOC executive committee decided Wednesday to eliminate three of the original seven bidders, Prague; Doha, Qatar; and Baku, Azerbaijan. That leaves Chicago, Rio de Janeiro, Madrid and Tokyo.

eta:

Both the USOC and Chicago 2016 officials expected the report to show concerns about transport, given the aged nature of the city's subway and bus systems

No surprise there....

the new M. Night thing is a rapture thing, isn't it?

Probably a RickRoll thing instead.

I don't think so; I spent way too much time the other day looking for spoilers, and nothing was rapture-y. (I found one spoiler which, if it's true, is so inane and ludicrous that it's pure comedy gold.)

You mean like the actual spoilers for The Village?

Probably a RickRoll thing instead

Imagine the soundtrack cd.

...I guess I don't dine at the right restaurants, because where I dine, if they leave the bottle at the table, they don't touch it again till it's empty. Or else, if they do touch it again, they get their handses smacked for the trouble, because the people at the table misinterpret their pouring glee for taking away perfectly cromulent wine that hasn't been drunk yet.

Now, with something like refill coffee, that they have to bring to the table when they pour it, there is no hand-smacking. Although I have had several waiters fail to comprehend that "the coffee cup is on my right, and thus not easy for you to reach" means "please ask me before sticking your hand in my face and grabbing the cup." Usually, if I want a refill, I just put the cup at my outermost elbow and wait.

The thing that annoys me about waiters that pour wine for me, is if I am dining with friends and sharing a bottle, sometimes one person drinks faster. And if we're attempting to split equally, and the waiter goes ahead and refills for the faster drinkers, it makes it more difficult to share. So you end with one person who was drinking slowly (maybe they didn't order a salad, so were drinking slowly so they could enjoy the wine more with their entree?) and only gets one glass, and other people who, due to the waiter, end up drinking more like two. We hatesss that.

(I found one spoiler which, if it's true, is so inane and ludicrous that it's pure comedy gold.)

You mean like the actual spoilers for The Village?

That's exactly what I thought of. Because I liked The Village and was retroactively confused at the reactions to the spoilers.