AJ's birthday on the 31st and we will all be going out for a meal. She is getting old!!! (35)
Had the BNZ around yesterday and told them I would be managing our investments ourselves from now on. They have been an unmitigated disaster getting returns of about 1 1/2 %pa for the last 11 years. My own has been about 5% plus. They expect the NZ dollar to fall so I will not look at the US funds they hold until we return from our holiday. Probably will turn out not to be the right decision. Just listening to the Radio NZ 9 to Noon programme and the guy from AXA (when pushed) said he expected a Balanced Fund to produce 7-8% over 10 years (ha ha) but made no real response when it was pointed out the Consumer average was 3.66%.
More Money = Sonny Bill Williams trying to dump his contract and go to Rugby from League for more $$. Rugby should say (if they had any guts) that they wouldn't look at him as he is under contract. Where these guys get their advice from is unbelievable.
Weather is bad up North and getting a bit worse down our way. For once the 'soft' Northeners have to put up with some inconvenience. In the South it would be just another day at work.
As for the All Blacks 19 and Oz 34 - who should we look at. My belief no matter what the outcome next Saturday is the NZRU Board that reappointed Henry. The selections defeat me. Kaino plays on the side - so he goes to 8, Rodney plays at 8 so he goes on the side. Luaki had a bad Super 14 but he gets in (although looks as if finally he is now out), Mils now to wing - do they have a clue. However, I would hope a turnround this week. We shall see.
30 July 2008
24 July 2008
Dad's Birthday
24 July 1941
The Birthday Boy - Meeee!!!
Yes 67 today. Going out tonight, but just another day to me. Sarah's student from Germany has arrived and her English is really great. She impresses as very level headed. We took her to the Quiz evening last night and we came 4th again. Just seem to miss out but an improvement on last week.
Just been down to see Christine's brother in hospital after his operation and he looks quite good.
Big weekend with Henry V Deans and on the sporting front I couldn't believe Ricky Stuart in Australia bemoaning the fact that the League players are going to Rugby. He was complaining that they are only going for the money. Excuse me - when Rugby was amateur they were happy to take its players for nearly 100 years and when the boots on the other foot they complain. Also when Ricky and his mates left Rugby did they go for love or $$$$$.
Interest rate cut but inflation is a really worry as heading towards the 5% mark. On the political front Winston seems to be in trouble now with other claims that NZ First took other money that was hidden. We are still to see the facts and if it was in fact illegal at that time.
The Birthday Boy - Meeee!!!
Yes 67 today. Going out tonight, but just another day to me. Sarah's student from Germany has arrived and her English is really great. She impresses as very level headed. We took her to the Quiz evening last night and we came 4th again. Just seem to miss out but an improvement on last week.
Just been down to see Christine's brother in hospital after his operation and he looks quite good.
Big weekend with Henry V Deans and on the sporting front I couldn't believe Ricky Stuart in Australia bemoaning the fact that the League players are going to Rugby. He was complaining that they are only going for the money. Excuse me - when Rugby was amateur they were happy to take its players for nearly 100 years and when the boots on the other foot they complain. Also when Ricky and his mates left Rugby did they go for love or $$$$$.
Interest rate cut but inflation is a really worry as heading towards the 5% mark. On the political front Winston seems to be in trouble now with other claims that NZ First took other money that was hidden. We are still to see the facts and if it was in fact illegal at that time.
20 July 2008
Just another week in Kiwiland
Just another week in Kiwiland.
The kidnapped girl has been found - thank heaven - another couple of murders, young males dead from car crashes, Winston in vintage form etc.
Winston said he had received no money nor had NZ First from the billionaire Owen Glenn (my old mate - ha,ha!!!??) but it turned out his lawyer had received $100,000 as a donation to his legal expenses for the Tauranga election appeal. For what it is worth, Winston is pedantically correct as the money seemed to go to his lawyer. Also under our system whereby the party leaders do not, or profess not to, get involved in or even know where political funds are obtained he in theory shouldn't know.
Dwayne Chambers the British sprinter has not been allowed to go to Beijing by a court because of his previous ban due to drug taking. Sanity at last.
The SeniorNet AGM is over for another year. Not too many attendees this time (about 50) but probably a better group as mainly tutors and those involved.
The kidnapped girl has been found - thank heaven - another couple of murders, young males dead from car crashes, Winston in vintage form etc.
Winston said he had received no money nor had NZ First from the billionaire Owen Glenn (my old mate - ha,ha!!!??) but it turned out his lawyer had received $100,000 as a donation to his legal expenses for the Tauranga election appeal. For what it is worth, Winston is pedantically correct as the money seemed to go to his lawyer. Also under our system whereby the party leaders do not, or profess not to, get involved in or even know where political funds are obtained he in theory shouldn't know.
Dwayne Chambers the British sprinter has not been allowed to go to Beijing by a court because of his previous ban due to drug taking. Sanity at last.
The SeniorNet AGM is over for another year. Not too many attendees this time (about 50) but probably a better group as mainly tutors and those involved.
15 July 2008
Life is a Veitch
Tony Veitch is all over the news having 'lashed out' at his ex-partner. People who say he just should be sacked, just don't understand how difficult that could prove as it could lead to unfair dismissal claims. It all depends on what his contract says.
I heard a Public Relations woman on National Radio analysing his statement. From memory a couple of points she said - retain control and make out you are the good and generous person - so he said ' I agreed to let her come around to my house', ' I allowed her' etc.
Instead of the word 'but', which can sound harsh, say instead 'except to say' For example 'I have no excuses, except to say...'
Don't say 'I hit her' say 'I lashed out'.
On the other hand if she had laid a complaint with the Police she would have got nothing. At least she hit him in the pocket and it has now all come out anyway.
On the power front the Government seem to have been lucky and it looks as if no cuts are to come. But the real question is - will we do anything to cover our position for the future. Of course not.
Money Money Money :Have been thinking about our investments and emailed some questions to the Sunday Times Money Panel. They took the time out to phone me with some advice which was appreciated. They basically agreed with my own thoughts to get out of the BNZ Management and do it myself even though things are at a low.
The SeniorNet AGM is tomorrow; so it will be all go. Also on the computer theme the Botherder got let off.
From todays news : " A young Whitianga computer hacker walked free from court today after a judge said a conviction would have harmed his prospects. he was ordered to pay $9526 in reparations for damage caused to the University of Pennsylvania and $5000 in costs.
Lets get this straight : You cause millions of dollars of damage, you get paid $40,000, you get fined around $15,000, you get no conviction as it may harm your job prospects.
Why worry about a job when you can make $25,000 ($40,00 less costs (fines) $15,000) and you don't have a conviction. Who said crimes doesn't pay. I see the Police computer chief Maarten Klientjes said they were surprised as he said would the rest of the world. In the US of course he would be away for years.
BUZZ
This is a scan of our sheet on the night. It shows our Team Name "Buzz". (We tend to change our name each week and that night we called ourselves Buzz after Buzz Lightyear.)
The scan shows our scores on the left side and our score of 3 for Kiwi Trivia. Because of that Sarah wrote 'OUR SHAME' on top and said we should call ourselves that next week. Then of course we answered the Jackpot Question - the winnings of $320 is written on the sheet - and then we came 3rd overall!!!
Another group mentioned they had only got 2 for Kiwi Trivia which was geared towards questions asking for specific dates, so it was really a guessing game.
I heard a Public Relations woman on National Radio analysing his statement. From memory a couple of points she said - retain control and make out you are the good and generous person - so he said ' I agreed to let her come around to my house', ' I allowed her' etc.
Instead of the word 'but', which can sound harsh, say instead 'except to say' For example 'I have no excuses, except to say...'
Don't say 'I hit her' say 'I lashed out'.
On the other hand if she had laid a complaint with the Police she would have got nothing. At least she hit him in the pocket and it has now all come out anyway.
On the power front the Government seem to have been lucky and it looks as if no cuts are to come. But the real question is - will we do anything to cover our position for the future. Of course not.
Money Money Money :Have been thinking about our investments and emailed some questions to the Sunday Times Money Panel. They took the time out to phone me with some advice which was appreciated. They basically agreed with my own thoughts to get out of the BNZ Management and do it myself even though things are at a low.
The SeniorNet AGM is tomorrow; so it will be all go. Also on the computer theme the Botherder got let off.
From todays news : " A young Whitianga computer hacker walked free from court today after a judge said a conviction would have harmed his prospects. he was ordered to pay $9526 in reparations for damage caused to the University of Pennsylvania and $5000 in costs.
He was allegedly the mastermind of a "botnet" coding group said to have infected a million computers and caused millions of dollars of damage.
According to police, Walker - known on-line as "Akill" - received just under $40,000 for his part in the attacks, which included a global adware scheme and the collapse of a computer server at the University of Pennsylvania.Lets get this straight : You cause millions of dollars of damage, you get paid $40,000, you get fined around $15,000, you get no conviction as it may harm your job prospects.
Why worry about a job when you can make $25,000 ($40,00 less costs (fines) $15,000) and you don't have a conviction. Who said crimes doesn't pay. I see the Police computer chief Maarten Klientjes said they were surprised as he said would the rest of the world. In the US of course he would be away for years.
Back to the quiz.
BUZZ
This is a scan of our sheet on the night. It shows our Team Name "Buzz". (We tend to change our name each week and that night we called ourselves Buzz after Buzz Lightyear.)The scan shows our scores on the left side and our score of 3 for Kiwi Trivia. Because of that Sarah wrote 'OUR SHAME' on top and said we should call ourselves that next week. Then of course we answered the Jackpot Question - the winnings of $320 is written on the sheet - and then we came 3rd overall!!!
Another group mentioned they had only got 2 for Kiwi Trivia which was geared towards questions asking for specific dates, so it was really a guessing game.
10 July 2008
Super etc, copyright and life ain't fair
Many years before Disney made Mary Poppins, Alan Holmes and His New Tones recorded Patricia Smith (a.k.a. Gloria Parker) and Don Fenton's Supercalafajalistickespeealadojus. That seems a lot like Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious (the Disney title).
When Disney was sued for allegedly stealing the the earlier title, it successfully defended itself by claiming that Supercalafajalistickespeealadojus (a.k.a. Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious) was a common slang word.
Yeah right!! People might think Disney won because it had lots of money.
WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS!!
BUZZ
We are the champions!!
We went to our usual quiz evening last night and decided to call our Team Buzz. The format is they have various rounds and total up the points for 1st, 2nd and 3rd prizes which total about $100. At the end they have a difficult Bonus question that jackpots each week, so the prize can be anywhere from $100 to $400. So the real question to answer is the Bonus.
Last night we didn't have what we thought was a good night, getting only 3/10 for the Kiwi Trivia section. However, the bonus question was "What was the last state to join the union prior to Alaska/Hawaii." Our first thought was New Mexico but I suddenly remembered something that the Presidential candidate John McCain was so old that when he was born Arizona was a territory.
So we went with that.
The quizmaster then announced we have a winner - he said a lot said New Mexico but it is Buzz with Arizona. We erupted and I yelled "Good old John McCain". We got $320 amongst the four of us. But thinking about it later, it wasn't John McCain at all. The person I had read about was Barry Goldwater who stood for President in 1964 and was born in Arizona Territory. There was an argument at the time that as he wasn't born in the Union could he stand. Looking later on the Net I see that New Mexico came into the union in January 1912 while Arizona was about a month later that year.
But there was more to come. We were so excited at winning we were not really listening to the results as he read out the teams. We thought we might have missed our name when he got to 4th but lo and behold we came 3rd so it was an overall night of $350.
Sport - Rugby was great - a real old fashioned game with a bit of biff!! As for the one dayers in England we came out OK but the business about Elliot being run out when he was involved in an on field collision forgets about when we ran out Muralitharan when he left his crease to congratulate his partner on making a century. At least Collingwood aplogised - we didn't.
We end on what we started with:
03 July 2008
A new Darwin month
Charles Darwin at age 40.Darwin - 1 July 1858. On Tuesday it was the 150th anniversary of Darwin. In my opinion one of the great people of science.
The Linnaean Society of London listened to the reading of a composite paper on how natural selection accounts for the evolution and variety of species. The authors are Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace. Modern biology is born.
Scientists of the time knew even then that evolution occurred. The fossil record showed evidence of life forms that no longer existed. The question was, how did it occur?
Darwin had been working on his theory since 1837, soon after his epic voyage on the Beagle. He was born in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England on 12 February 1809, so next year will be the 200th anniversary of his birth. Christine and I visited Shewsbury in 2006 and saw the statue dedicated to the great man. Again a discovery by a young person - he was only in his late 20's when he discovered his theory.
Only a Theory !! - It annoys me when people dismiss a scientific theory, giving the word 'theory' the layman's interpretation of the word. President Bush on Evolution once said "it is only a theory' - which typifies the man - he has no understanding of science. I suppose he would dismiss Atomic Theory and would be happy to stand alongside an A- Bomb about to go off - after all it is only a theory!
The Linnaean Society of London listened to the reading of a composite paper on how natural selection accounts for the evolution and variety of species. The authors are Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace. Modern biology is born.
Scientists of the time knew even then that evolution occurred. The fossil record showed evidence of life forms that no longer existed. The question was, how did it occur?
Darwin had been working on his theory since 1837, soon after his epic voyage on the Beagle. He was born in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England on 12 February 1809, so next year will be the 200th anniversary of his birth. Christine and I visited Shewsbury in 2006 and saw the statue dedicated to the great man. Again a discovery by a young person - he was only in his late 20's when he discovered his theory.
Only a Theory !! - It annoys me when people dismiss a scientific theory, giving the word 'theory' the layman's interpretation of the word. President Bush on Evolution once said "it is only a theory' - which typifies the man - he has no understanding of science. I suppose he would dismiss Atomic Theory and would be happy to stand alongside an A- Bomb about to go off - after all it is only a theory!
As for poor Einstein and his various theories.
From Wikipedia - In science a theory is a testable model of the manner of interaction of a set of natural phenomena, capable of predicting future occurrences or observations of the same kind, and capable of being tested through experiment or otherwise verified through empirical observation.
Well talking about observation. These tables are the same size. Measure the length of the one on the right and it equals the front of the one on the right.
Some Updates - still getting stuff for the end of the tax year. Supposed to be in by 7 July but all stuffed up because of the change to the tax rules (PIEs). I suppose anybody with half a brain would have set the date out another month.
Boks on the weekend and I am not confident.
SeniorNet has finished for the term although only two weeks between terms 2 and 3.
American Independence Day tomorrow.
Air Points - Again Qantas haven't credited the points. Do they do it on purpose??
Some light relief - Kirsty and Kipp - bathtime.
Kissing Time!!
Just one more heave. 
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