A Circle Jerk - The NZ New Year honors role call.

171 people to be recognised in the New Year 2012 New Zealand Royal Honours.

Aside from Ralph Hotere who's dedication, focus and single-mindedness to his art which, which like it or not (the art) deserves recognition, there is little of merit in the other 170 names on the list.

Ok, so I'll back down a little and some of the names, those give selflessly and without reward probably deserve some wider recognition, and it is likely that within their own circle, their own community they are fairly well-known, or at least renown for their work, even if most people never have contact with them, or are likely to.

Haters gonna hate right? Not really. I've never understood the glee with which we recognize people for doing their job.

"For services to Business" Spare me.
"For being a Rugby Coach" Give over! What if the All Blacks hadn't won the RWC?
"For services to the State" - so for being a career public servant. Beggars belief.

There are a lot of unfathomable examples of awards, to a myriad of unknown people in unknown jobs. Fair play to them (mostly), but I question the reward for "doing your job".

I'm sure that if these accolades came with a big cheque then there would be slightly more scrutiny and not a "Meh" when they are published.

via Prominent artist tops New Year honours (+ list) - National - NZ Herald News.

Beer – #2 in a series

Today; Fullers London Pride

What can I say except this is a solid beer. Right on my beer button, middling taste not as harsh as a pale ale, and for me like a beer should be.

9 arbitrary stars out of 10 arbitrary stars

In the court of public opinion - #1

In the case of a 16yo in Turangi A particularly tasteless sex crime against a girl 5.

Thankfully public opinion and sentiment isn't the deciding factor in what if any punishments are due. There isn't much doubt about guilt, the teen, by all accounts, turned himself in, and is in custody, bail declined, for the duration.  The story will be one of why, and how. And we will all have an opinion on that.

But is you've been unfortunate enough to read some blogs then you'll find things like this, all anonymous all ignorant and all rabid;

• "Hopefully this scumbag will be jailed. He will last about 5 seconds in prison."


• "He should be fucking shot"


• "he big pity is ... the cunt is only 16 and  will create a feeding frenzy for lawyers, psychiatrist and the like all at our expence, besides that in jail nowadays most of the crims are in for similar shit, they will just fuck him."


• "16. Disgusting. And of course will likely not be convicted due to his age. Appalling."


• "I REALLY hope that the judge refuses name suppression in this case."


• "It's well past time minors got automatic name suppression. Hang em high"


• ime for a little social justice me thinks....Should get a lynch mob together outside Taupo youth court for a public castration and flogging. What a piece of trash cant wait till his lawyer (probably tax payer provided) blames his tragic upbringing."

And that's just from just one blog!

Twitter had is share of agony aunts and uncles, with one long and ill-informed back and forth about nature over nurture that I was (As was the whole of connected twitter) watching (or participating in).

Bottom line is not a one of us knows, and not a one of us will get to decide on this. The worst thing about this whole episode, in my opinion, is the level of faux outrage that  people have. The crime was sick and distasteful, all crimes against children are, but with a little nudge from the media and we have a circus born. And to the circus come the freaks, freaks with opinions, bloated, self-important or ill-informed, all there at one outlet or another.

This is the price we pay for democracy on the internet of course, we're all allowed our say and we're all at liberty to share it with who ever we like, where we like, and how we like.

Casting aside even our own sense of moral right and climbing on the high horse of public outrage doesn't end well. We're increasingly like a school of  sharks who encircle the next victim with a savage onslaught, only to move away quietly to the next victim, out faux outrage dissipated.

We've had this Faux Outrage at events such as, Pike river, Michael Laws, Garth George, The Tea Cup fiasco,  the Rena accident, and just about any time there is a child abuse case spread across the media.

It's ok to be disgusted, and to be confused by events that you don't have any control over, really it is, however it's not ok to assume that you are the arbiter of outcomes. It just doesn't work that way.

just saying.

Beer - #1 - Fullers - Honey Dew

Today It's Fullers Honey Dew 'Organic' beer.

It's a bit 'flat' and tasteless but does have a strange under-taste, It could be the honey.

On the Pdub-o-meter it rates an arbitrary 7 out of 10. You couldn't make a night of it and there aren't many redeeming features, but there is  comedy section on the label on the back that has a serve with suggestion.

 

Trying Teen Times – the grown up one – Part the Fourth

It's really difficult being a parent, especially one to a newly unemployed child. Unemployed because he quit at university, and has suddenly discovered that jobs are not like food in the pantry, always there (at least at home), but that you have to go hunt one out.

Not having a clue of course, and reluctant or willfully ignoring, advice, it's suddenly dawned on him that he has to get his A into G and find something.

Like a bull at a gate he goes at it. Today we have the "What I.T. courses should I study?" to which I reply that I'd told him  2 years ago that he'd be advantaged by studying on and getting into something like VoIP. Today I have to tell him that it's not like there is one qualification that'll get him a job, it's kind of bit specialized.

So I've sent him off to look at jobs he'd think he'd like to do, see what the qualification level is and go backwards from there, after all if he can find a bunch of "dream jobs" then he should  plan to work towards them knowing what the bar looks like?

Unless I'm wrong.

Today the driver is that 5 1/2 hours ago we mentioned to him that it would be a plan to keep searching for a job, and to be sending off his CV. I should be happier but when he sits next to me with a gamestaionboy device I know he's been more focussed on some qualification and experience in something that'll do him no good and have no relevance in anything he wants to do in life.

Honda CRZ - a quick drive around the block

MrsPdubyah had a call from Honda NZ, "would we please go drive one of their new cars?" She declined but knowing I'm an easy touch made them ring me. Of course yes, I'm always a bit keen for a bit of a thing.

They offered the Insight, I laughed, but I did say that I'd be keen on the Honda CR-Z, and so it came to pass, for a jolly entertaining and rewarding hour.

They had a white one available so I sat myself in had the pre-flight lecture and took off.

Initial thoughts: There are a few things missing inside, like an arm-rest - which is a big deal if you're a commuter having to sit for an hour or more in traffic, somewhere to rest your arm is important - to me.  And the view from the rear-view mirror is somewhat obstructed by the strange high boot lid design, not the end of the world, but restricted.

The steering wheel was a confusion of switches and buttons, some not so easy to get to, and some that did things that I didn't really get.

The dashboard! What can I tell you! it was like being in Tron - the movie.

The rev counter / speedo came in glorious blue. If you're being frugal the circle around the speed indicators turns green, if you're driving it with a lead foot it goes red, mostly it stays blue, a veritable disco dashboard.

The CR-Z has heaps of in drive view options  on the dashboard if you keep tapping the buttons, some I got  - like distance travelled, average speed,  but others not so much, technology for the sake of it, or that fact that I hadn't read the user encyclopedia. I had a look at it, not in it.

You can select - on the move - one of three drive modes, Eco, Normal and Sport. And the computer sorts it out. Accelerator bursts of energy are augmented from the battery - oh yeah it's a hybrid - should you need it, and it has a flappy paddle gearbox.

In the Eco/Normal mode if you flip the flappy paddle, say to change gear to overtake, it changes to that gear for 90 seconds before reverting back to automatic mode. In sport if you  change gears with the flappy paddle then you're driving it in manual mode, it doesn't switch back (I'm sure it has over-rides to make sure it doesn't blow up). Very trick, 7 gears, very smooth, and very fast. Very fast.

And talk about economical - I drove it a bit harsh and it peaked at 5.9 liters per 100 kms. No wonder it's only a 40 litre tank! I could get used to that economy on the commute.

Weirdest feature - the auto-stop. Honda have the technology that cuts the engine when you stop at a junction or lights, release your foot from the brake and it's instant on and away you go, not ideal in some circumstance but interesting, very trick, and a bit confusing at first.

Worst thing - it has 4 seats, and unless your passenger has no legs - no way - not ever- would you get anyone else in the back of the car. Worst thing (2) I have no idea where the front of the car was, it disappears over the front of the bonnet somewhere into neverland. I didn't even attempt to reverse.

Missing Feature: no GPS. I'm sure it'll get one eventually, but for the sake of a couple hundred dollars it seems a little odd.

Would I buy one? at $45,000 it's a big ask, but if you do it'd be very rewarding to drive, it handles surprisingly well, and it would be cheap to fill and run. Is it practical? not for a family man no. Unlike other Honda cars I've driven this one has a bit of personality and verve. It's looks will not suit everyone and is controversial, but then that's never stopped Honda in the past.

The Honda CR-Z then, 8 arbitrary stars out of 10 arbitrary stars, drive one you'll get it.

Christmas - the one the day after

Well that was a bit of a thing. Christmas at home instead of at the beach house.

Cocktails - we'd best not talk too much about those, the Cosmopolitans were in order for the ladies and I then made Margaritas, but I ended up drinking them all - and I'd made enough for a few.

We had my bromance friend around, he rarely visits but was forced to by his daughter. He came with a bottle of port, pre-dinner entertainment.

The Beef on the BBQ was just over cooked, I was working to instruction and the salads and other things were all wonderful. The Ham of course was magnificent.

During the lunch we discovered that my son's girlfriend is related to David Bain. I don't think we'll be going to his house for a party any time soon to be honest.

 

The Public Purse - Having your snout in it, or how Parliamentary Staff Cuts are the fault of John Key.

Someone is making a story up. The PSA are a very noisy union all about feathering the nest of those that have been employed at the cost to the public purse, they are troughers.

I do have to say that  that really is what a union is, the what's in it for the worker, regardless of the cost to the work (employers) mentality. IT's not about "fair" or "equitable" it's about "protectionism".

So then via Parliamentary Staff Cut - politics - national | Stuff.co.nz.

"The festive season is somewhat subdued at Parliament this year after advisers, managers, press secretaries, librarians and executive assistants lost their jobs.

Most of the staff employed within the parliamentary precinct are employed by the Parliamentary Service, which this year was reorganised in a bid to cut costs.

As with elsewhere in the public sector, back office functions are being amalgamated."

All of which seems very logical and normal part of cutting your cloth to suit your needs - we're not flush with cash as a country and there is over-population in some sectors of public service. Right then carry on :

"General manager Geoff Thorn said this had resulted in the senior management team being reduced from six to four."
and
"Much of the reduction had been achieved through natural attrition but two librarians were made redundant, he said"
and
"Executive assistants to MPs are employed on fixed-term "events-based" contracts around each election. That means their contracts terminate when the MPs they work for are no longer members"

Well excuse me if Labour had better policy and leadership they'd have more MP's, And that's about the long and short of it. How does Brenda Pilott -  http://www.psa.org.nz - get to her statement that this is only bad for opposition MP's. And that this was picked up and re-tweeted by Trevor Mallard - who knows who pulls the strings.



When you realise that the PSA values are the core of the Labour party then it all becomes a bit clearer. The 'facts' are that rather than have a realistic outlook on what we can afford, or should have, we 'need' to have over staff, multiple layers of overlapping and duplicating services. The unions will fight tooth and nail to ensure that they draw every dollar out of their employer, in this case it's about how many tax dollars can they get their hands on rather then it being available to essential services and the really needy.

The PSA then appear to want to be all about troughing at the public purse, with no accountability or any requirement to have efficiencies or productivity of any kind. Which is really scary. That the EA's that are on contract and being let got get redundancy and doubtless some will be re-employed at a better or same rate seem appalling.



It's just greed. Out and out self centered greed, and blindness to the obvious. And it makes me angry that someone would assert that something that happens every election, with regard to the EA's, can only be a bad thing for the opposition even though the article says "The Greens and NZ First are currently interviewing EAs." and that this clearly is the faulty of the new government and unacceptable to the union.

Frozen Shoulder - the one where it's not

The good news is it's not "Frozen Shoulder" and it's just a tendon tear.

Cortizone will help to redce the swelling and free up the shoulder. At least that's quicker than the 12-18 months

 

 

 

My own personal Jesus

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Stained glass at St John the Baptist's Anglican Church http://www.stjohnsashfield.org.au, Ashfield, New South Wales. Illustrates Jesus' description of himself "I am the Good Shepherd" (from the Gospel of John, chapter 10, verse 11). This version of the image shows the detail of his face. The memorial window is also captioned: "To the Glory of God and in Loving Memory of William Wright. Died 6th November, 1932. Aged 70 Yrs." (Photo credit: Wikipedia)"][/caption]

It only really just occurred to me that the whole Catholic faith is as a result of extrapolation of a few words and sentence. Whole churches and thousands of followers extrapolated from a bunch of words. Words that have been changed and re-ordered, texts that contain contradictions and statements that can't apply two thousand years after they were written. The fact that there are almost as many variations on churches as there are words in the Catholic Bible should ring alarm bells, but it doesn't.

That might be true of most religions.

That you can write whole treatises on a sentence or placement of a word seem core to the continuation of the ministry of faith.

Religion is intensely and totally a personal thing, your own personal Jesus is yours and yours alone. I don’t think that there would be two people who would share, in total, the whole concept and nuance of their faith. It is very subjective.

I’m atheist, and I have no problem with acceptance of a natural order of things, nor am I beholden to a core belief that I am not self-reliant or self-sufficient in and of myself. I’m content with the fact that when I die I die. I’m not happy about it, death, nor am I prepared for it. In fact some days I’m downright petrified by the prospect of an end.

But not having a continuance doesn’t bother me, why should it? Why should it bother anyone? Who really has had a life whereby a continuance would make a difference to anything? Anything other than a personal relationship or relationships group that is, ie partners or wider family.

Sure there are historical figures that we draw on for inspiration and hold as examples of change-makers. We’re pretty selective in what we remember and why, and what bits we celebrate and hold true. We’re not prepared to peek behind the curtain lest we see a reflection of ourselves.

The vocal religious types, On the whole, tend to be a bit self-centered and frankly a bit ignorant. A few sentences from a religious tract does not make it righteous. A selective, or enhanced, quotation does not prove your point, nor should it guide your moral compass. And you shouldn’t expect it to guide anyone else. Defending your faith aloud tends to draw attention to yourself and in doing so you call into question the depth of your faith, and your critical thinking. And this is where you leave yourself open to criticism and correction by the often slightly more educated atheist.

After all since the believers are labeling someone as a non-believer then the non-believer has to have a number of counter-arguments and reasoning’s, and trust me they’re all used and have been used, researched and investigated for use. All for naught though since if you have faith then you have it. You can’t stop having faith, you can choose to critically think about the faith you have and understand it’s fallacy.

On Twitter I follow a number of atheist tweeters, I’ve also followed and still do religious tweeters. The atheist twitter accounts, that I follow, tend to be more argumentative. The atheists don’t seem to get the live and let live of religion. It’s unlikely that religion or religious dogma would intrude upon their lives. And where it does ridicule and scorn don’t appear to be an effective counter argument.

It really does seem unlikely that there would be a middle ground, and religion and religious teachings account for a large portion of money, influence and sway in society, in many countries, and that’s not going to change any time soon.

Is religion wrong? Some of the teachings and some of the application of teachings is very wrong. These are human failings and interpretations, and there are vested interests in making sure that the status quo and balance is maintained. Change is slow and constant.

I'd be comfortable with your faith if you were as comfortable as I am with mine, but just don's ask me to defend your position.

Related articles

• If Christians own the Witch Burnings, Atheists have to own Stalin, Pol Pot & Hitler .... uh? (veganfeministpirate.wordpress.com)


• "Mixed marriages" - How exactly does THAT work?!?! (atinctureofmadness.wordpress.com)


• Atheists Need to Do a Better Job of Communication (patheos.com)


• Atheists of Different Types (docatheist.wordpress.com)

Christmas – the lead up to the big day - part the second - the one with the words

Christmas Shopping
The food - There appears to be an extraordinary amount of items on the food shopping list. From potato chips/crisps to Maple Syrup and Apricot Marmalade for the Glaze on the ham. There are notes for cheese, pickles, and various tins of things that I can only marvel at. And we need them all. The supermarket shops are, after all, closed on Christmas Day, for a whole day. We might starve if we don't lay in just in case. You never know.

Christmas Wrapping
There is a list of things we've managed to put aside and pre-purchase for the children and the parents. In theory both sides of the him/her list should match, in quantity and roughly in value. Well in our house that seems to be the way. They don't.  And so it is with some trepidation that I have to prepare to visit the mall. For some old tat and needy things that'll never see the light of day again. To make it all equal and fair of course.

Christmas Pudding
This year I've asked MrsPdubyah to make for me Eton Mess, this is a change from previous years where I've requested Cassata. Less faffing about. There will be Trifle, there always is, and MIL will have made a Dundee cake.

Christmas Cocktail
I've stocked up on Sloe Gin, Rum, and Cafe Tequila, Vanilla Vodka, Ginger Wine, Gin, Jagermesiter, Brandy, Scotch and a few other things. I should be able to muddle through the day on that. I've still to get in enough beer to get me through the tourture of being in an enclosed space with the in-laws.

Christmas lazy
This year we're staying at chez pdubyah, the first time in 24 years that we have not been at the beach house.  It's not like previous years where all the provisions and trimming have to be driven to the beach house and then you relax, this year it's doing nothing at home. Now doing nothing at home is usually called Sunday in our house. Not always but often. Whereas at the beach doing nothing was called 10 days of being at the beach.

Christmas Sale
This year I've been pre-warned of the boxing day massacre - the needful shopping binge on boxing day. I'm abstaining, but I will be taxi driving. Joy of joys.

Christmas - the lead up to the big day.

< You'll have to imagine what I wrote here - since because it's a computer it somehow never made it through>

Christmas - Decorating the Tree

When I was a child it was tradition in my house to have a heap of christmas decoration. Not only did we have the bunting decoration on the ceiling, from the ceiling rose to the corners, and around the outsides, but we always had a "real" christmas tree.

Usually too tall.

Of course there were lights.

And someone had to sit there with a multimeter and check every bulb to make sure they would work, one bulb would stop them all working.

It was a chore that no one complained about.

But the best bit about decorating the tree was in the decoration. We would string "Quality Street" chocolates with cotton, and we would hand these on the tree.

They were sparkly like decorations should be, and you could take a sweet from the wrapper, leaving the wrapper, and they'd still be a decoration.

Bonus was on taking the tree down that there were always hidden and un-found ones that made it worthwhile

 

This is something I've carried on doing, in NZ we use Cadbury Roses, same effect, and this year it pleased me that my son took it on himself to decorate the tree for the house and he carried on the tradition.

 Not this  tradition though, and although I don't recall out house ever looking this, er, flamboyant, it does give you an idea of what we did have.

 

 

 

Trying Teen Times – the grown up one - Part the Third

I grit my teeth, oh I really do.

Daughter will not keep here room space tidy. I get surface mess, I just don't appreciate piles of clothes, It's very trying.

Son leaves everything to the last moment, or never, and this too is fractious and disturbing. Today it was his lack of petrol in the car, oh and a flat battery, and then expecting everyone to run around after him to sort it all out. Enough to make you mad as a mad thing.

Christmas - what's with that

Christmas - How mad do people go? As parents you of course like to show public largess to your children, and your closest friends. However the need to buy a couple tonnes of chocolates and assorted nuts, fruit and pastries, seems to have eluded me.

Since arriving in NZ we've spent every year at the beach, it's a simple time, away from the distraction of TV, Radio and only a daily news paper keeps us up to date with the world, it's an odd time.

This year will be a break with tradition, we're staying at home, due to work commitments of the daughter, and just because after so many years a change is as good as a rest. Menu is organized, and having pointed out that I don't get the over-indulgence, we will have at least 6 adults in the house, and then guests will arrive.

The children's christmas list, yes I know one is 20 the other 17, and you're smirking at the thought, is woefully small, or wonderfully small, depending on your view of things, I guess they appreciate having everything they need, and need for nothing, I think the youngest wants to gift a goat to someone, but has nevertheless provided a list of books that she'd like. It's all very simple.

As for MrsPdubyah well we'll have each other, I'll buy some bling as this is what I do, she'll hide it in the draw and never wear it, it's what we do.

There is no religious element to our festive time, it's family time, and time for relaxing and reflecting, I actually like the idea that in the north they call it Winterval.

I'll miss the beach though.

 

Secret Santa

It's an opt in for the company, and I put all the opt-in names into a hat, well to be precise a beanie.

I then go around armed with the beanie and a clip-board of names of the combatants

3 people pulled a named from the beanie then told me who they had picked. Idiots. How is that a secret?

I made them put the name back and pick a new one.

Lets the games begin

 

One-third of Kiwis believe in alien visits

A third of New Zealanders believe aliens have visited Earth and a majority think psychic powers exist, a study has found.

One thousand respondents were asked by UMR Research if they believed "that Earth has been visited by UFOs from other planets".

via One-third of Kiwis believe in alien visits - National - NZ Herald News.

• Nearly 8 in 10 believe that Jesus was a real person who lived 2000 years ago


• 57 per cent believe in life after death. That belief declined with age, falling from 65 per cent among under-30s to 49 per cent among over-60s.


• A quarter believed astrology can predict people's futures.


• Six in 10 - 72 per cent of women and 52 per cent of men - believe in the existence of God or a universal spirit.


• 55 per cent believed that at least some people have psychic powers such as ESP.

I have an opinion on this, like that's never happened

Aliens exist. In a infinite universe, with infinite suns and infinite planets (give or take) the odds are that there are other life forms in the universe. What like that's a surprise. What isn't a surprise is that they've never visited our planet. If they have ask yourself why? and where are they from. How come they conquered the travel distance thing, and if they are so advanced how is it they can fly vast distances only to get to Earth and crash at places like Roswell. And also ask yourself that with the billions of camera phones that are currently in use that there aren't more pictures and, er, evidence.

There isn't actually a lot of evidence to support a person called "Jesus" ever having existed.

There is only death. That is it.

That an arbitrary planet can exert some life force upon you and 1/12 of the population seems likely.

Man invented God, any God, pick a god, we've always done it, mostly from ignorance and fear. We've had sea gods, tree gods, air gods, fire gods, animal gods, cat gods, stone gods the list is almost endless

Yes of course ESP. If it was real you think we'd need stockbrokers and market gamblers?

I surprised they didn's ask about Homeopathy, Bio-Mag blankets and the PowerBlanace band to be honest.

Frozen Shoulder

A peculiar affliction of which I am now the proud owner. It's also known as adhesive capsulitis.

Frozen shoulder, also known as Adhesive Capsulitis, is a condition that affects the shoulder joint capsule and results in loss of movement and pain in the shoulder joint. It is different from rotator cuff injury or shoulder tendonitis in that frozen shoulder affects the joint capsule, whereas the other two conditions affect the muscles and tendons of the shoulder joint.

The shoulder is made up of three bones, and the tendons of four muscles (tendons attach muscle to bone.) The bones are called the "scapula," the "humerus" and the "clavicle." In layman's terms, these are called the shoulder blade, the upper arm bone and the collarbone, respectively. The joints are the acromio-clavicular joint, the sterno-clavicular joint and the glenohumeral joint (where the humerus bone articulates with the socket of the shoulder blade).

Frozen shoulder occurs when there is inflammation of the capsule of the glenohumeral joint, which can result in the capsule surrounding the glenohumeral joint forming adhesions with the head of the humerous.

Frozen shoulder often occurs after another shoulder injury like rotator cuff sprain, that isn’t adequately treated.

The most common symptoms of frozen shoulder are severe pain and difficulty raising the arm in any direction.  Mine is a left shoulder problem. This manifests itself in two ways. Reaching into the back seat of the car from the driver's seat - that's really painful, as it reversing whereby you rest your arm on the passenger seat.

The other, weirder, and more annoying one is that I'm a right arm first dresser. And I have to daily remind myself that left arm has to go in first, since the restricted range of movement means I can't do that bent elbow sweeping motion thing to get my left arm in the empty sleeve. As for wearing a t-shirt or polo shirt - I've had to ask for assistance in getting undressed the restricted range of moment is so great.

And yesterday I discovered that if you stand with your arm straight out from your side in the classical T shape I can't actually raise my left arm any higher than vertical. I become a weird reverse L shape, which means I have to give up my position in the Village People Tribute band as the Indian and take on the letter C instead, dressed as a police man.

[caption id="attachment_876" align="aligncenter" width="177" caption="Can be doing this"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_875" align="aligncenter" width="246" caption="I can't be doing this :-("][/caption]

The normal progression of frozen shoulder has been described as having three stages.

• 
  
  In stage one, (the freezing phase) the patient begins to develop pain and stiffness in the shoulder joint. This stage can last up to four months.


• 
  
  In stage two, (the frozen phase) the difficulty moving the arm remains but the pain begins to decline. This stage can last from four months to nearly a year.


• 
  
  In stage three, (the thawing phase) the full range of movement begins to return to the shoulder joint. This stage can last four months.

Without adequate treatment, most sufferers of frozen shoulder will be fully recovered in 12 to 18 months but some cases have lasted for up to three years, although these are extremely rare. With suitable treatment, most cases will clear up in 3 to 6 months.

Sleeping is a painful experience and makes for uncomfortable re-adjustment of your sleeping position and pattern. Pain control is optional and lucky I have a sedentary desk job that involves a lot of typing and sitting.

And as for softball this year, that'll be a no then

Tattoo You!

Tattoo devotee Deryn Stephenson poses during The Tattoo Jam Festival on August 5, 2011 in Doncaster, England. The Tattoo Jam Festival is Britain's biggest gathering of tattoo professionals and skin art devotees. The event hosts over 300 artists working in the exhibition hall of Doncaster Racecourse revealing their latest designs and techniques. (Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

Tattoo art seems to play an important part in many lives, and these images are some I found that show the whole range of emotion, need and desire that you have with tattoo art.

[gallery link="file" order="DESC" orderby="rand"]

Golf – Accepting professional mediocrity in a hobby/sport

I had the occasion to be at the Australian PGA Open in Coolum, Australia on the weekend of the 26^th November. The Final days play, the top 72 golfers in pairs for the prize money.

It was rubbish.

What is it with amateur golfer spectator? They are all accepting of mediocrity and average ability.

Hit a ball into the trees, and they nod sagely, with a sigh, then the golf hacker hits the ball out of the trees on the course again and they nod sagely, clap politely and call “good shot”. It’s nonsense. It was a rubbish shot.

Of course there is skill in hitting a golf ball, the draw, the fade, the back spin, and there is a definite knack to putting. But seriously hitting a ball a hundred yards to a green and finishing 20-30 yards from the hole isn’t a good shot. It just isn’t.

Of course some holes are challenging, but hey you’re a professional. I don’t expect you to lay up and two putt, that’s what a weekend hacker would do.

Golf is a sport that has strict requirements regarding equipment. As a result, expanding the market generates great demand for the necessary gear. It’s a bizarre sport wherein the price of your kit defines you among your peers.

And the money!  For the tournament that I was at the Total Prize Money was : AUD $1.5 million, the First Prize was AUD $270,000. Every one of the top 72 players gets a prize. It’s like a social club meat raffle! I notice that for the tournament I was at the only direct golfing related company that was a sponsor was Srixon, some of the others were Coca-cola, the local government, Emirates (who seem to sponsor everything everywhere), the hotel where the course was at, the TV channel and VW Automobiles.

There is a end of year tournament referred to as the “race to Dubai”.  “The Race to Dubai on The 2011 European Tour International Schedule will feature 52 tournaments in 29 different destinations. The third edition of the Dubai World Championship in 2011 will again carry a prize fund of $7,500,000  to be divided between the leading 15 players at the conclusion of the season.

Essence of this is: play at the tournaments with higher prize money and climb the earnings list. It’s not like every tournament is equal, some have much more prize money and attract different players, some are quite poor.

Anyway the leader list on the “race to Dubai” is brought up at the rear by Jack Doherty who’s tour earnings from 4 tournaments amount to Euros 891. 115^th place is Markus Brier 25 tournaments with Euro 258,513. Leading with 12 tournaments and Euro 3.8 millions is Luke Donald

There are players with 34 tournaments played for less than Euro 100K winnings, that’s not a living that’s surely is a hobby

Like I said a bit of nonsense.

I’d do most things - #3

You'd know from earlier posts that I'm not a big fan of tattoo, or ink, or whatever you want to dress it up as.

Today then the press carries this;

"Megan Fox has "outgrown" her tattoo.

The 25-year-old actress had a tattoo of Hollywood icon Marilyn Monroe inked onto her right arm when she was a teenager. Nearly a decade later, Megan is finding the action regrettable.

She simply is no longer impressed by the artwork.

"You outgrow things that you love when you were a child. I got it when I was 18 and now I'm 25 and it just doesn't make sense anymore."

Removing the tattoo is an arduous process for the star. Megan will undergo numerous treatments to lift the ink from her skin.

"[The removal process] is a hundred times worse than the tattoo itself," she revealed. "I've only done one [session] so I probably have three or four left."

From another news source though

Megan Fox is removing her Marilyn Monroe tattoo because it has "negative energy".

The 25-year-old actress has an inking of the late screen icon's face etched on the inside of her right arm but she is in the process of having it lasered off because she no longer wants an association to Marilyn - who died in August 1962 aged 36 from a suspected drugs overdose.

She told Italian magazine Amica: "I'm removing it. It is a negative character, as she suffered from personality disorders and was bipolar. I do not want to attract this kind of negative energy in my life."

The tattoo of the Some Like It Hot star is not the first change to her body that Megan has been left unhappy with.

The Jonah Hex star - who is married to actor Brian Austin Green - also got rid of a belly-button piercing when she was 20.

She said: "I did it when I was 16 because I was a fan of Britney Spears. The only time I tried to imitate someone else.

It's interesting that it's only been a few years for her to realise that what you think is a good idea is in fact rubbish. but you can't be old and wise without being young and stupid. Even to the point of the belly button piercing.

Interesting though that she does not see herself as a role model or taking any position that would not encourage others to follow her banality, then again I'm kind of sucked into thinking that having made a movie that somehow they transcend the normal, when in fact they are dumber than a blunt axe.

So there you go kids, dont do the tattoo!

Quackery of the first degree

I use twitter a bit, and was followed by a chiropractor, which made me smile a crooked smile.  Lots of "might" and "may" but actually it's just wriggle your back and talk quietly if you read the rest of the blurb. IT's out-and-out quackery to claim that a back "manipulation" can sure ear-ache and prevent flu, it's nonsense of the first order. The bit that made me smile most though is this naked claim

"I laughed in reply and informed them that New Zealand is behind the rest of the world when it comes to sports performance and chiropractic", in that we still allow it unfettered and unmonitored and unqualified application with grandiose claims and benefits just on hearsay and anecdote.

There is also the matter of manipulation of children's spines -

 

This from their website "Dr B's  unique gentle approach and her caring manner enables her to work with children effectively and efficiently.

Clinical experience and extensive research has shown that a wide range of childhood symptoms may respond favourably to chiropractic treatment.

These symptoms  include migraines, gastric reflux, recurrent ear and chest infections, hyperactivity, bed wetting, fatigue, recurrent throat infections, arm and leg pain, headaches, asthma, poor co-ordination, sleeping problems, irritability, colic, back pain, stomach ache, visual problems, digestive disorders, scoliosis and poor posture.

B has also assisted many new mothers during  pregnancy and child birth."

Righty then, no mention of any clinical studies on the website, and a couple of testimonials about not getting flu anymore.  And worse it's available in NZ on ACC which is a disgrace.

I'll end by saying that as a grown adult,  if I want to spend my money on snake-oil and because I think it's work, and  therefore then must work, then more fool me. If my back stops hurting that isn't evidence, or claim for efficacy.

An Unnamed Economics professor, at an unnamed school, on Socialism

An economics professor at a local college made a statement that he had never failed a single student before, but had recently failed an entire class. That class had insisted that Obama's socialism worked and that no one would be poor and no one would be rich, a great equalizer.

The professor then said, "OK, we will have an experiment in this class on Obama's plan". All grades will be averaged and everyone will receive the same grade so no one will fail and no one will receive an A.... (substituting grades for dollars - something closer to home and more readily understood by all).

After the first test, the grades were averaged and everyone got a B. The students who studied hard were upset and the students who studied little were happy. As the second test rolled around, the students who studied little had studied even less and the ones who studied hard decided they wanted a free ride too so they studied little.

The second test average was a D! No one was happy.

When the 3rd test rolled around, the average was an F.

As the tests proceeded, the scores never increased as bickering, blame and name-calling all resulted in hard feelings and no one would study for the benefit of anyone else.

To their great surprise, ALL FAILED and the professor told them that socialism would also ultimately fail because when the reward is great, the effort to succeed is great, but when government takes all the reward away, no one will try or want to succeed.

1. You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity by legislating the wealthy out of prosperity.




2. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving.




3. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else.




4. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it!




5. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that is the beginning of the end of any nation.

Trying Teen Times - the grown up one- Part the Second

My son has had an epiphany, his moment of realisation, that bit as a teenager when you have a stream of consciousness, the outpouring of everything that you think you've done wrong, in life, in love, with friends, decisions, money, everything.

It's been a while coming.

To recap, #1 Son left school with some A levels, but decided that work was a better option than further study, he's been a poor student, in the sense of application, he's bright as anyone I know, but comes  with low self esteem, and was often bullied. He managed a year of work hard work 5am to 2pm, and then decided to go to University. We worked hard with him to get him to choose a course that was the right one, and he made his choices, signed up all the forms and went on his merry way. A few months in he had angst about if it was the right thing, and recently decided that it really wasn't him and he's dropping out.

So follows  is his long missive about how he feels, and it makes me sad, and I feel helpless about how to help.  I can give him money, which will ease some burden and I can tell him that he's in a place that everyone has been in - give or take, same or different - at one point or another. I can't pay his debt for him, well I can but that wouldn't solve anything. So I have a Son without a job and with dreams, and no plan.

 

I think I've found my problem. I currently have a combination of a few things wrong up there in the head.

I have so many things I want to do. I want to learn how to use 3DS Max competently for Modelling and Animation. I want to learn how to design levels with the Source SDK and the UDK. I want to finish my Warhammer models my Dad got me, simply so I can say they are done. I want to pull out the dremel tool and make a necklace for my Godmother because I know she likes handmade things for Christmas presents and I haven't given her one for a few years now. I have a sketched out design for a laptop stand to have on my knees so I can actually use the comfy chair without burning my knees off.

I just cant decide what to do first because I'll miss out on the opportunity to do the other thing, so I retreat into videogames and the SA forums. Simply so I can put them down and  forget about them for the rest of the day because the Tribes: Ascend thread has 30 more posts and the PYF Macros thread has 3 days worth of content that I'll find momentarily distracting. At this point my laptop is and appears to be a lifeline keeping me from actually realising fully, the impact that I've had on myself through taking a break from Uni, working for a year and being a steadily shittier worker as I became more and more dissilusioned with 5am starts and not knowing when I was going home, signing up for 3pm WoW raids that I'd just get home in time for if I left within the hour of my contracted time didnt help there. More than once I was called out at work for rushing through my last duties and getting grumpy that it wasn't finishing. I have a sneaking suspicion that those actions have fucked up all hopes for using that year as a reference for future work. It really doesnt help that in the last two years I've put hours that number in the thousands into Video Games, merely because that was what let me not care. I want to stop but I keep justifying it as my entertainment, when in reality its just an escape.

I've also figured out that I have a very hard time actually putting what I want to do in words. For example I just tried to make a list of what I want to do in the next year... and I was stumped, even though there is so many things I want to do. I can bullshit my way through a Semester 1 Geography paper. I got 79% on a Essay test I didnt even know was happening, just by turning up and writing. Not even a shred of study because I was sick the day it was announced. And yet I'm so undecided on what I actually want to do I cant make a full list of everything.

Me going to university hasn't helped much in terms of where I am in life.. I'm now more than 10,000 dollars in debt and nothing to show for it except my word that I've gone to university. This has the knock on effect of not having a job when I desperately need one so that I can afford things like Credit for my phone, Fuel for my car and being able to enjoy a night out with my friends. Things that I became accustomed too as I was pulling in 500 dollars a week after tax. Money which I've squandered on being a greedy, selfish person. The entire 8000 dollars that I had from that job is gone merely because I just couldnt control my spending. I feel incredibly rude, almost evil when Sam offers to give me petrol and insists she pays for meals, even though she knows I cant afford if after buying 30 dollars in Petrol and 25 dollars in Bus tickets  merely to get to uni, on top of me buying bottles of cokes simply because I was and still am addicted to the caffiene that I get from it.  Add to this the breakfast I'd buy more than occasionally at uni because I couldnt eat when I woke up, so I'd go to uni and get hungry when i got there, meaning I'd buy food instead of my family noticing that I'd be taking more with me.

The problem with all that is that I've gained far too much weight. In fact I'm at the point where I'm too scared to weigh myself. Knowing how heavy I am this point just wouldnt do me any good. Sam keeps assuring me its okay but I really am not happy with how I look and feel about myself, how my clothes have gotten tighter throughout the year, and how shirts that once fit me are now too tiny to put on. I'm disgusted when I see myself in the mirror these days. If I keep on eating the way I do I'll keel over before I'm 50. I'm pretty damn sure of it. Problem is, I don't know how to stop. I keep telling myself, as my so used its almost broken eftpos card goes through the machine "Next week Cameron".

That's not to say that university is a bad thing. I've made more friends in the 2/3'ds of the year that I was there than all the bullying filled, incredibly low self esteem years that marked my Schooling, Where I retreated into the Libraries, and ending up making better friends with the librarians than most of my classmates that I knew in more than pasing. It's a good feeling, to be able to have a conversation with people your age that doesn't eventually dissolve in me wanting to quit school and fuck off into the wilderness. That feeling was quite rare in High School. It's much better now.

My other current problem is trying to learn something myself through the internet.
On my PC before I reformatted it there was. (Some pirated, some student versions. Not as if I was gonna drop thousands of dollars to learn something.)
-Photoshop
-Vegas 10
-3DS max
-Maya
-Mudbox
-Audacity
-FL Studio
-GIMP
-PLDX Movie Tool.
And I hardly knew how to use any of them because I gave up when someone wasn't there to hold my hand. I know that I describe myself to employers as a "Quick Learner" But looking at this it seems like its mostly bullshit.

My curent goal is to learn 3DS Max and get a job at Weta Workshop. However for all I know I'm going to decide that I want to be a fucking Marketing Expert or a Creative designer. I know my mind craves work that lets me think and express myself. It just doesn't have the attention span to decide what it fucking wants to do and stick to it. This is going to take some more thinking. If I had spare money for Petrol I'd just drive somewhere and try and write about it. But then again, no spare money.           

When Sci-Fi loses the plot - Terra Nova

I've been watching a couple of 'new' programs. "Person of interest" and "Terra Nova"

Terra Nova - an ordinary family from 2149 when the planet is dying who are transported back 85 million years to prehistoric Earth where they join Terra Nova, a colony of humans with a second chance to build a civilization. Yes indeed it's the Flintstones.

Couple of issues with this series, no really, and they are not of the "living with Dinosaurs" type.

• The time travel device "the ring" allows travel back into an alternate past, so that things that happen can't have any effect on the future. There is a "renegade" band of people who seem to be able to communicate with the current Earth. It's not clear how they are doing this, or indeed why.


• The ring deposits people in the middle of nowhere, and they have to march, under an armed escort, to the main camp. They have vehicles, but no it's a march. No reason is given why one is so far from the other, or why, given that Terra Nova is a new hope for Earth that more resources haven't been given to establishing a better, safer, community.


• Terra Nova appears to be under the sole command of an army commander. No council of elders, no quorum, a sole charge position of establishing a new civilisation. And this appears to be going badly because there is a breakaway group of renegades.


• The plot is centered on a group of new arrivals, a migration as they are referred to, and these are referred to as a number, they have issues with "sixers", it's not clear what number of migration the new members are, but the timeline is a bit fuzzy about how long it takes to get from "current" Earth to "Old Earth"

My favourite plot disaster though is the one about the mysterious runes that are carved into some "forbidden zone" rocks. They had to invent a dinosaur to establish why it's a forbidden zone, and of course the "kids" have discovered these runes and are keeping quiet about them, to the point to visiting them regularly and making hooch. Adults though - oblivious! Not however the Commander, and I'd be confident quite a few of his "troops"

It's also full of all the clichés you can imagine, teen angst, parental angst, moral angst, and is almost devoid of any plot. It's already descended into "monster of the week" with all new dinosaurs being discovered.

So a bit unsatisfactory and shallow on many levels and in many places. It's like watching a train wreck, you know it's coming and it's bad enough to want to keep watching so you can affirm your own sense of superiority in seeing the holes that they've created.

Trying Teen Times - the grown up one

Eldest is suffering from boy. Being a boy. Being aimless, feckless and without any clear idea. It is a boy thing. I get that it's a boy thing and somewhere you find your own level, your own pace, and it all comes right. Mostly, in pdubyahworld anyway.

Eldest did a year of work, and the decided that University was a better bet, and that Geography and Philosophy would be his thing. I guess he wanted to both sit an ponder on a hill, and ponder about life and hill. Who knows.

Anyway a year on and that's not what we wanted to do at all. So we had the "chat". He was blabbing on about this and that and came up with the trusted "I don't have a plan"

I waved my arms around a bit, in the way that you do, and see in movies, and explained in a pained and hushed voice "Did you think that This house, the car I drive, the two children I have and the job that I've been in for 12 years was my plan?" I continued "That my son is not a plan it's actually a bit of a nightmare"

He's promised to see out university and get a real job. Although his idea of a job appears to want to be an "animator" which I hope is cartoons and not Dr.Frankenstein type stuff.

Commercial Ventures and the Public purse - #5 - Canterbury University Seeks Bailout As Intake Falls

Canterbury University is pleading for at least another $150 million from the Government as it faces losing almost 20,000 students and $346m in revenue in the next eight years. Based on a report they've prepared along with Deloitte which  forecasts a cumulative drop in fulltime equivalent students of 19,400 from this year to 2019 and a reduction in revenue over that time of $346m

A 65-page document detailing the business case for support asks the Government for $130m in operating support, $25m for capital costs and a  yet-to-be-determined sum for building remediation not covered by insurance, but the amount could be between $20m and $70m.

The February earthquake caused it to lose hundreds of domestic and international students -  About 15,500 fulltime equivalent students are enrolled at the university.

It already has 1200 fewer domestic students and 420 international students  than 2010. Of those about 800 were first-year students and 80 per cent of them would have continued to a second year of study. More than 25 per cent of the first-year student intake either discontinued or  did not complete their enrolment this year.

Here's the thing - the university is therefore  asking for $1,000 per student to prevent it's decline in standards, 1,600 less students is extrapolated over 8 years to be 20,000 students. Somehow. As a concession the university will shed around 300 jobs over 3 years from the 3,000 staff it currently has, that's 3-4% a year over 3 years.

Each Student, using the figures provided, generate income to the University of $18,200 each, per student, and they have staff to student ratio of 1-5

"In exchange for the government money, the university was proposing to make  savings of $134m, double its borrowings to $100m, and reduce its capital  expenditure by $20m to $45m annually from next year to 2019. The savings would include a 3 to 4 per cent reduction in staff numbers for each of the next three years. The university has about 3000 staff."

The university has a good reputation and it has a strong balance sheet with about $90m in the bank. It's not up against any wall and it's not sinking into oblivion.

So - change the name from ABC university to ABC corporation - and you'll see why this isn't really something that I would be in favour of. The user pays education system that we're all familiar with appears to not want to cut it's cloth to suit, but wants to have a Rolls Royce facility. I can't imagine a scenario where a corporation with the same staffing ratio's would be able to go cap in had to the Govt and ask for a bail-out. (Of course I ignore finance and insurance companies, of course!)

Am I in favour of reducing the scope of the offering to suit the amount of revenue, you bet I am. Should the taxpayer fund what is essentially a corporation into maintaining what is an impossible scenario - even they recognise some truths " The university had started many initiatives to attract students, including  increasing recreational areas on site. It was also spending millions of dollars
on additional scholarships. Vice-Chancellor Rod Carr was visiting several countries to get the message  across to potential international students that the university was fully open
and safe after the earthquakes "

So spend a few more millions, after all in for 346million in for the lot! I'm confident the world will not end for the University, I'm sure that student X overseas does not want to come to a city of rubble to live, in over-priced short availability accommodation, unless of course they're on a scholarship, but that's not generating income is it, that's filling seats to tick a box to maintain existing funding for the public purse.

Do I think that there are too many staff? what do you think, in a normal corporation I would imagine that a ratio of 1-10 managers to staff is more normal, it's possibly even more.

I'm therefore a little perplexed by the timing, the amount they are asking for, the reasons given, and the blind way in which it ignores some truths about their plight and situation.

via Canterbury University Seeks Bailout As Intake Falls... | Stuff.co.nz.

On the home front.

I'm struggling with understanding what's going on around me in terms of what my partner is thinking, or her motivation. She'll blame me of course for being difficult and awkward, and "getting the hump", but it seems that unless we're singing to the tune of her drum then "we" don't want to do it.

Specifically tonight was "what's exciting that we should watch on tv" to which I suggested a drama series, and that got me a "huff" and from there it really went downhill. Her counter suggestion was "master chef"

I don't get it and I feel I should be.

Testing Teeenager Times

Daughter is 17. And she's growing up into the world. So much that socialising is becoming more and more prevalent. Mostly we're ok with it, we think we have a handle on here friends and what they are like, know of their parents etc. Not smotheringly, but just in passing. "We know of"

So she comes home and gives us this tale. Her friend MS.X. has asked her if 3 of her friends, who are boys, are all 19 and working, and are from a different part of town, can crash at our place after the party as they can't get home. MS.X. says that here mother won't allow them to stay at her place.

So we said no. This didn't seem appropriate and that it was a bit odd that MS.X. would ask, and had asked because my daughter is a friend who would help.

Daughter is a bit miffed and feels like she's letting her friend down "she'll be so upset with me", to which we pointed out that if that was the case then MS.X. wasn't so much of a friend.

I think we've won this time but it is going to get harder to keep saying no. There is a line between prevention and obstruction.

 

It's Electioneering time.....

That time every 3 years in New Zealand when we get to cast our collective say on what bunch of hypocrites governs us for 3 years, which is more like 2 years when all is said and done.

NZ National Party , having acquired a set of books from the outgoing NZ Labour Party of 9 years they've managed to walk into a couple of unexpected items, such as the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) and an Earthquake, and a bit of a boat wreck. They've dropped the tax rate for the higher income earners - much to the disgust of the socialist left and greens, and raised the GST rate, again much to the disgust of the Labour and Green party. That's about all they've done though it's not really been a time of forward thinking but one of introspection.

The Labour Party have campaigned hard on how badly the National Party are doing, that's their whole mantra. Look what National did isn't it bad. Dropping the tax rate - bad - because it's only "rich pricks" who benefit - bad bad bad, and raising GST, that's bad because it only punished the lower-income earners, double plus bad. The only policy shambles they've come up with is a Capital Gains Tax system, A tax on the rich, and at the end of a property bubble, which makes no sense. it might be an income generator in a few years, but it isn't a fix for anything.

The Green Party are content to bag everyone about everything and clearly only want to target "rich pricks" with various incremental taxes, you earn more you pay more - for a Christchurch recovery fund- that makes no sense at all- it isn't "fair" as they'd like you to belive, it's targeted at the rich - who allegedly can afford more, somehow.

I don't have any time for the Māori party - a separatist movement  - along with the Mana party, they're not really sure what they are for or against, as long as it bags whitey and "the crown"

Couple of other things come to mind, the Labour party want to have a raise in the minimum wage, and an even more complex comparative wage standard in certain industries - yet they don't want minimum standards of education for our children. That seems like madness.

So with only a few weeks ago it'll be sling some mud time, see what sticks, then credit the voters with enough sense to pick and choose.

RWC entertains me today - the entertainment.

[gallery order="DESC" orderby="rand"]

This is all a bit new, taking pictures of people, except for the statue. It's a bit like this blog, a good idea unless someone knows .

Calm and Centered

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A Commercial venture and the public purse. #4 Bridge sentries cost $80,000

Sentries guarding the Auckland Harbour Bridge on match days of the Rugby World Cup have cost taxpayers more than $80,000.

On watch on the bridge. Photo / Jason Dorday

They are there to foil any attempts at pranks, protests or even terrorism.

Transport Authority spokesman Tommy Parker described the bridge as an iconic structure and said the security was a precautionary measure to ensure no one tried to gain access.

Six security guards have complemented the closed-circuit television on the motorway network and have cost $81,000 for more than 300 hours on duty.

So that's $45 per hour per person for 300 hours to sit and do nothing "just in case". and it's cost the taxpayer $81,000 for the privilege.

This is just a vile use of mitigate and safety planning in a grand  cover-your-arse gesture for some jobsworth in an office. We didn't have this when we had the America's cup in town for instance, and that really was a global event.

And it's already illegal to climb the bridge without authorisation, no corporate in their right mind is going to buy into a guerilla marketing act unless they really do want two reactions (1) legal and (2) loss of market - who's going to think that Corporate X changing the flag for theirs is nothing but a cheap publicity stunt, and the fallout would be horrible for them, and expensive.

The farce that is our bending over and taking one for the #IRB and the #RWC will unfold over the next months, when some of the out-of-pocket expenses that we the country have had to find, without recompense and without any fear of breaking even become apparent. We all know we're in the hole for millions, but it's a lot more millions than they said it would be - wasn't it something like $32millions, give or take.

There is no way that there have been millions of tourista dollars into the economy, most of the attendance is local people using local money that they now won't spend on local things for local people, we've given it all the to the IRB in our wisdom.

At least we're left with not the white elephant Eden Park stadium that will be partially dismantled and under used for the next couple of decades.

via Bridge sentries cost $80,000 - National - NZ Herald News.

A Commercial venture and the public purse. #3

Downstage Theatre in Wellington - this is like déjà vu all over again!

Cash-strapped Downstage Theatre wants Wellington ratepayers to provide a $90,000
bailout so it can continue to operate

Downstage's chief executive and director, Hilary Beaton, said it was "disrespectful" to term the funding request a bailout.

The theatre had trained generations of actors and had "greatly contributed to the cultural fabric of the city" which added weight to calls for extra council funding, she said.

"I don't see it as a bailout. I see it as an investment in the future and a recognition of the past."....  But chasing audiences with tacky populist shows was not on the agenda. "We are not suddenly going to do topless lap dancing or commercial British comedy. We are committed to our programme of presenting local crafted work."

Riiiiight, as is the obstinate refusal to put on any commercially viable event preferring locally crafted works of dubious merit and popularity. And a call to titillation, aren't you glad we already have suffrage because this frump would like to have performance as art, which appeals to about 4 people, if you count Gordon the dog as a person.

Mrs Beaton says " Trouble started this year when theatre attendance took a triple hammering
because of the Christchurch earthquake, the global financial crisis, and the  Rugby World Cup"

How's that again? talk about clutching at straws, everything except nothing you did or didn't do then. People would go to the theatre regardless, if the pricing was right and the event was worthy. What a nonsense.

Having such a vexatious chief executive and director in Hilary Beaton you have to wonder (a) what it is she does for real work (b) what she considers worthy (refer to Gordon the dog) and (c) just how much money is enough.

Having lofty ideals and ideas is fantastic, but if you find that what you're doing is giving you the same result over and over then perhaps what you're doing is what the problem is, not the other way around -  what's happening isn't the problem you have - the problem is what's happening is you've managed to art yourself into a corner.

If you can't run a commercial venture at a profit then you shouldn't be running it. If you're lucky to have a benefactor or a patron then by all means go ahead, it isn't fair to expect joe public to stump up the cash for something they have little or no interest in when they have greater interest in something else.

I refer you to this blog piece and info graphic where is shows that 57% of Wellingtonians consider it a "special interest" option rather than an "amenity"

Oh and I took my quotes from here via Downstage Theatre Seeking Bailout Of $90,000 | Stuff.co.nz.

Global warming?

Professor Ian Plimer is a well-known Australian geologist and is also Emeritus Professor of Earth Science at the University of Melbourne.

He's done a bit on Climate Change and has this quote for our consumption  "If we humans, in a fit of ego, think we can change normal planetary processes that control our climate, then we need stronger medication."

And that's all I have to say about that

 

I did a couple of things

I made this blog http://pdubyha.com bit of frippery and vanity. But it suits me.

I also brought a pizza stone, then I went back and brought another, so now I have two. Why? So I can cook pizza in my BBQ is why, and when that's not an option then I'll have two for the ordinary oven. See - upstairs for thinking.

Secondly I watched a documentary on the Aberfan Disaster from 1966 which I remember as a child, don't ask me how or why but I would have been 5, so either it's a later memory from another time, or I really do remember it. Who knows the memory is a strange thing.

Anyway from the end of the documentary there is a quote and simple it's "The past is a different country" which makes a lot of sense, and is something that people ought to remember.

A Commercial venture and the public purse. #2

Here's a thing.  We're all familiar with a user pays model. You want something, a goods or service, then you should be expected to pay.

Seems the Police are considering charging the organisers of future big commercial
events, such as the Rugby World Cup, large concerts and the Wellington sevens, for policing.

These Events soak up significant police resources, which leave other areas short-staffed.

And it's free!!. So you can organise the biggest commercial money spinner, and the police will show up, en masse, gratis. Courtesy the tax payer.

That's not at all right by any definition of right.

Crying ensues The cost of recovery would therefore be included in the cost of the ticket. Which will add-on a dollar or two to the ticket price, depending of course on the number of people and the amount of police you had turning up.

Of course being how we're all super scared and all about mitigating problems the real issue is the over-enforcement and the over-policing of events where heavy-handed appears to be the approach, why not use a sledge-hammer to crack a nut.

I'd do most things #2

Tattoo's. Who knew that they arouse such passion and intensity, and debate.

I know of two women who have had "experiences" with tattoo removals. One has had laser treatment to rid herself of a tattoo on her arm.

You all know how a tattoo works, the molecule of ink is too big to pass through the pores and sits in the skin forever. The treatment by laser blasts essentially blasts the ink into smaller pieces that allows it to absorb. Coloured inks requires coloured lasers. Takes ages and can be painful and can burn, dur it's a laser.

The other story I have of tattoo removal involves a slightly weird story of a gecko tatoo and a  breast reduction. The gecko now does not have a significant part of its body. I leave it at that. It's at the same time funny, sad and a bit humiliating.

Tattoo's - I can't help thinking, still, that this is a recent thing, that more younger people are inking themselves for whatever reason. I'm not sure why, and I'm not sure they are sure why either, I'm picking that they didn't really think it through as a long-term thing.

You don't see many older people with neck tattoo's for instance, certainly not with tramp stamps.  I wonder what the older generation knew that the younger generation are not listening to?

Before the Big Bang

We can extrapolate backwards to a time that is expressed as 0.00000000000000000000000000000000001 (.34-zeros-one) seconds of the age of the universe.

Then it gets difficult. We get to this point based on an expanding universe model, and in such a case then using cause and effect, which were are all familiar with, you get to be able to rewind to the cause.

Except at 10-34 seconds all the laws of the universe apparently don't work, can't work. It appears to be all effect and no cause.

The Big Bang gives us our start point, our origin, where are we from, why are we here moment, and we're that close and yet so far away. 13.7 billion years.

But it depends on where you are "everything from nothing" is what we think when we think about the Big Bang. Perhaps we're thinking of "nothing" in the wrong way. That is to say there is "nothing" and then there is "vacuüm", the latter being a space with nothing in it, the former is just no space.

The vacuüm was just energy, and energy that does, and might have temporarily changed into matter, exploded, and perhaps that's the start of a chain reaction, and thence the big bang.

The infinite space we now see is strangely uniform like everything expanded instantly at the same time, the universe looks the same, more or less, in whatever direction we look, and so the latest theory involves inflation, like a giant soap-bubble if you will.

The problematical part of all these things is that there still is no first cause. And we're not happy with "forever" because it's a nonsense to us.We're not big on infinite regression, it hurts our brains.

So far then every prediction points to an inflationary model, and a bouncing model, where there is never-ending contraction and expansion.

No beginning.

It's not very satisfactory

But in the inflation model the universe gets to a state of equilibrium, mass turns into energy as the universe cools, the universe becomes an infinite void full of energy. And energy in a vacuüm can change into matter and that can lead to a chain reaction and a filling of the vacuum....and so we go on

That Sinking Feeling -

Why are 95% of blogs abandoned?

The Food Post

I like to cook. Not just the beans on toast or boiled egg cooking, that's just feeding, but I sometimes have the urge to cook something unusual, or different.

But I like to do it properly. So when I had a mexican schtick I had to make tortillas, and even brought me a tortilla press! Compulsive much!

Today however is shumai. Those are the pork and shrimp dumplings you get at yum char. What I've overlooked however is how to steam them, I brought some steamers, but I only brought little ones, and they'll be too little to put in the Wok, or over a pan. So I have to be creative with chopsticks or something to be able to steam them.

This is course is part of the journey.

What I nearly brought today is a pizza crisper, which sounds incredibly lame-o-rama when you can get perfectly good pizza on an oven tray. Didn't buy it but now have angst about it! It's a perforated tray that you cook a pizza in. Dur. It's that or a pizza stone, which reminds me that I did have one and that it was too large for the oven we have, so it was nice to have, but not useable.

I wonder if you can make pizza in a bbq?