Posts
Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four
Part Five
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Friday, January 15, 2010
Waitangi Day Twitter-BQ
Kia Ora Team,
Well a happy 2010 to one and all, this is my first post for 2010, and first for about 6 weeks, I have to admit that it has been nice to be away from technology for a few weeks, but am excited to plug back into the 'grid' for 2010 in new and exciting ways.
I have joined TWITTER...I know, I am surprised as well, but here's the thing, we (you and I) are going to have fun with this technology this year, and we begin on Waitangi Day!
Waitangi Day is a really special day to me, it's hasn't always been so, in fact, like many New Zealanders, it was just a day not to go to school or work depending on were my life was at, but last year I had a bit of a 'Road to Damascus' experience that February 6th is actually a day for all New Zealanders.
I have come to a conclusion that, for a lot of New Zealanders, we haven't claimed the heritage that we are entitled to by embracing Waitangi Day, our National Day...NZs birthday...and this year we are 170 years old. This day is our only day, and my challenge last year was not to let a small group take the joy of your National Day away from you.
Claim it, own it, MAKE it your National Holiday and it will be so.
If you want to join the revolution to make Waitangi your National Day then follow me on TWITTER, on February 6th we will be having a virtual Waitangi Day BBQ, everyone who is following me is invited....let's all throw a steak on the barbie together and celebrate 170 years of a country that we love :o)
And as a little incentive, every person who follows me before Waitangi Day is in the draw for a Toshiba NB200 notebook, a brand new laptop...and a reinvigorated National Day, what could be better :o)
Send this idea to EVERYONE you know, the target is 10,000 of us...which might be a stretch, but let's see.
Well a happy 2010 to one and all, this is my first post for 2010, and first for about 6 weeks, I have to admit that it has been nice to be away from technology for a few weeks, but am excited to plug back into the 'grid' for 2010 in new and exciting ways.
I have joined TWITTER...I know, I am surprised as well, but here's the thing, we (you and I) are going to have fun with this technology this year, and we begin on Waitangi Day!
Waitangi Day is a really special day to me, it's hasn't always been so, in fact, like many New Zealanders, it was just a day not to go to school or work depending on were my life was at, but last year I had a bit of a 'Road to Damascus' experience that February 6th is actually a day for all New Zealanders.
I have come to a conclusion that, for a lot of New Zealanders, we haven't claimed the heritage that we are entitled to by embracing Waitangi Day, our National Day...NZs birthday...and this year we are 170 years old. This day is our only day, and my challenge last year was not to let a small group take the joy of your National Day away from you.
Claim it, own it, MAKE it your National Holiday and it will be so.
If you want to join the revolution to make Waitangi your National Day then follow me on TWITTER, on February 6th we will be having a virtual Waitangi Day BBQ, everyone who is following me is invited....let's all throw a steak on the barbie together and celebrate 170 years of a country that we love :o)
And as a little incentive, every person who follows me before Waitangi Day is in the draw for a Toshiba NB200 notebook, a brand new laptop...and a reinvigorated National Day, what could be better :o)
Send this idea to EVERYONE you know, the target is 10,000 of us...which might be a stretch, but let's see.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Scientology
An interview between Pat Brittenden on Newstalk ZB, the spokesperson for Scientology in New Zealand, Mike Ferris, Ex-Scientologist Aaron Saxton and XenuTV.com author Mark Bunker.
Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part One
Discover Simple, Private Sharing at Drop.io
Part Two
Discover Simple, Private Sharing at Drop.io
Part Three
Discover Simple, Private Sharing at Drop.io
Saturday, November 21, 2009
March for ‘Democracy’…an utter failure
It has to be said that four to five thousand people marching through Queen Street in central Auckland is not a number to be sniffed at…unless you have stated you want to try to achieve a march of 50,000 as Colin Craig, march sugar daddy, stated in many interviews leading up to the event.
The organizers of the march threw numbers around before the event, like 87% of the population wanted the anti smacking law changed, 1.4 million people voted against the anti smacking law…more than voted in John Key…so it would only be fair to demonstrate back to Mr. Craig, through the medium of statistics (and maybe the odd opinion) how this was not only NOT "the biggest march in New Zealand's history", but an utter failure if we are indeed a country on the brink of losing our Democracy.
We could get pedantic and show how many people 5,000 is against the population, or even the number of people who voted ‘No’ in the recent referendum…but not all those people had access to the march due to their location. We could measure the 5,000 against the population of Auckland…but Aucklanders are latte sipping liberals, who won’t even turn up to see the best provincial rugby team in the world…well in the 80’s that is. So let’s measure it against the expectations of Mr. Craig himself, the benchmark he set for success, and the initial reaction of the organising team for this march.
It was reported on Newstalk ZB, on the 3pm news, that the initial reaction to the number of people by the march organisers was ‘disappointing’, but by the time the speeches rolled around it was described as a huge success, never let the reality of the actual turn-out get in the way of a good pre-prepared speech ah? But for anyone to say that one tenth the number of what was the target is successful….is either lying…or a lunatic…maybe both.
Let’s measure that.
If you were a cricket player, and aimed to score 1000 runs over a season…and only scored 100, the season would be a failure. If you wanted to sell your house for $400,000 at a no-reserve auction, and only made $40,000, that would also be a failure. Achieving 10% of your stated intention or aim is a failure.
I can take from this one of three things, either Democracy is alive, safe and well in NZ, Kiwis are just too apathetic to care that their democracy is being eroded away, or most probable, the masses stayed away from this march as it had nothing to do with Democracy, or referendum, it was a protest by people angry that Section 59 or the crimes act has been amended.
The organizers of the march threw numbers around before the event, like 87% of the population wanted the anti smacking law changed, 1.4 million people voted against the anti smacking law…more than voted in John Key…so it would only be fair to demonstrate back to Mr. Craig, through the medium of statistics (and maybe the odd opinion) how this was not only NOT "the biggest march in New Zealand's history", but an utter failure if we are indeed a country on the brink of losing our Democracy.
We could get pedantic and show how many people 5,000 is against the population, or even the number of people who voted ‘No’ in the recent referendum…but not all those people had access to the march due to their location. We could measure the 5,000 against the population of Auckland…but Aucklanders are latte sipping liberals, who won’t even turn up to see the best provincial rugby team in the world…well in the 80’s that is. So let’s measure it against the expectations of Mr. Craig himself, the benchmark he set for success, and the initial reaction of the organising team for this march.
It was reported on Newstalk ZB, on the 3pm news, that the initial reaction to the number of people by the march organisers was ‘disappointing’, but by the time the speeches rolled around it was described as a huge success, never let the reality of the actual turn-out get in the way of a good pre-prepared speech ah? But for anyone to say that one tenth the number of what was the target is successful….is either lying…or a lunatic…maybe both.
Let’s measure that.
If you were a cricket player, and aimed to score 1000 runs over a season…and only scored 100, the season would be a failure. If you wanted to sell your house for $400,000 at a no-reserve auction, and only made $40,000, that would also be a failure. Achieving 10% of your stated intention or aim is a failure.
I can take from this one of three things, either Democracy is alive, safe and well in NZ, Kiwis are just too apathetic to care that their democracy is being eroded away, or most probable, the masses stayed away from this march as it had nothing to do with Democracy, or referendum, it was a protest by people angry that Section 59 or the crimes act has been amended.
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Monday, November 9, 2009
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Smacking, not a right…just a choice
I am getting pretty sick of conversations with people telling me all the time that to smack is their right as a parent…it’s not…it’s just a choice. If it is your right to smack then surely the child’s grandparents, uncles and aunts, older brothers and sisters, the extended whanau would have a claim to the same ‘right’, after all it takes a village to raise a family.
People seem all too keen to replace the word ‘smack’ with discipline, they are not interchangeable for goodness sake. If someone does smack, it’s a form of discipline that some use…not me, but some. If discipline was the topic, then smacking would be a subset…or paragraph, not the overriding, most important part of discipline.
The other part of this conversation that is difficult is people sighting religious books as to the reason they smack, again, it’s not, it’s just a choice, don’t hide behind an old testament scripture for a choice.
Finally people are terrified that good parents are going to be criminalized for a light smack…again it’s not happening. A good parent is as likely to be criminalized for a light smack as a good driver is to be criminalized for doing 56km in a 50 zone, the police use discretion.
Can we finish this sill fear mongering now please?
People seem all too keen to replace the word ‘smack’ with discipline, they are not interchangeable for goodness sake. If someone does smack, it’s a form of discipline that some use…not me, but some. If discipline was the topic, then smacking would be a subset…or paragraph, not the overriding, most important part of discipline.
The other part of this conversation that is difficult is people sighting religious books as to the reason they smack, again, it’s not, it’s just a choice, don’t hide behind an old testament scripture for a choice.
Finally people are terrified that good parents are going to be criminalized for a light smack…again it’s not happening. A good parent is as likely to be criminalized for a light smack as a good driver is to be criminalized for doing 56km in a 50 zone, the police use discretion.
Can we finish this sill fear mongering now please?
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Monday, October 5, 2009
Friday, September 25, 2009
Thursday, September 17, 2009
The sad announcement that the marriage of Bill and Mary English has disolved
It was very sad to hear on TVNZ tonight that the marriage of Bill and Mary English has come to an end, and even more surprising that it was announced by Speaker of The House, Lockwood Smith.
Sadly we hear that the couple are now living separately, Mary and the kids in Wellington, Bill in Southland.
Lockwood Smith has confirmed that Bill English's official residence is in Southland, but we hear from Trevor Mallard that the English homestead has been set up in Wellington since the mid 1990s. Mary works as a doctor full time in Wellington, the English children go to school in Wellington, but Bill's official residence is in Southland.
It would appear that on occasion, when Bill is away from his official residence, he stays in Wellington at his wife's house, I guess in this modern day and age, separated couples do what's best for the kids.
If only we could think of a way that our hard working MPs could get...I dunno...some sort of perk that would help them stay together with their families, I guess the other option is that Bill English could move to Wellington, where his family lives full time...but alas I don't see how this can work, another holy matrimony gone to the wayside.
Long distance relationships never last :o(
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