Friday, April 28, 2006

SunnyO - as heard on the radio

I was busy doing the accounts while I listened to this, and I'm not sure, but I think they were discussing the imminent threat to the newspaper industry posed by blogs. In particular this blog.

It's true! Maybe.

Big, big hat tip to David Slack for pimping my blog on National Radio.

And yes! David's right, I wanna be on TV! I hope Mr Ralston was listening... I want your job!

(BTW: Bill, I was the guy in Whitianga last February, who complimented you on your hat. And actually, I probably don't need the stress, but will do pretty much anything else for money. So Simon's job then?)

And... UPDATE!

I know who should sit next to me in that shiny new set....

the wellingtonista: Nicest City in the World

We might be 12th in the Mercer HR quality of life table...

but should you happen to google 'nicest city in the world'... we are tops!! The Tower of Pisa! The Mona Lisa! Etc.

the wellingtonista: Nicest City in the World

Thursday, April 20, 2006

And now for some bull...

What would you do?

You’re standing in a crowded town square.

A few yards away from you, unrestrained, is a very large, and belligerent bull.

You have a red handkerchief at hand.

You know that if you wave the red handkerchief at the large & belligerent bull, it will go berserk & injure (or kill) possibly you, and any number of bystanders.

But why shouldn’t you wave that handkerchief? It’s a free country right? What's wrong with a little hanky waving anyway?

Further, the bull really wants you to wave that handkerchief, so that it has an excuse to go ballistic. And worse, it’s waving a red handkerchief at you.

Now, there’s nothing in your makeup that makes you offended by the sight of a red handkerchief. And there’s no reason, other than to annoy the bull for you to wave yours. But it’s the principle, right? You should be able to do it without adverse consequences.

The mayor thinks you shouldn’t wave the hanky, he’s worried about casualties & damage. But there is no law to stop you.

Certain fellow citizens believe it is morally reprehensible for you not to wave the hanky – it’s not your fault if the bull goes mad, anyone can wave a red handkerchief if they want to.

So what would you do?

Advisors tell you that should you wave the hanky, you can probably shoot the bull dead before it does too much damage. Or even just forget the hanky business & shoot the beast now.

Problem is, the town square is surrounded by paddocks with other belligerent bulls, who are watching.

What’s the right thing to do, do you think, wave the handkerchief and enrage the bull (which is asking for it), or walk on & keep the peace?

It's your handkerchief, your choice.

Who is Gilbert Gottfried?

I reckon I could take him though.

Stuff.co.nz: Peter Jackson on unsexy list at no. 53, Gilbert Gottfried 1st

Actually, Jackson's pretty hot wife might disagree.

Wednesday, April 19, 2006

Godwin's Law - You learn something everyday

Don't mention The War!!

Heard of this for the first time last week. had no idea what it meant & was too busy antagonising some guy (really should shake that habit, but y'know, sometimes...) & then racing off for a few days R & R.

And then I came across it again today.

And I'm quite sure that it is mere coincidence that I came across both instances on the same site...

But basically, it is: "As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one" (from Wikipedia, should you click through there).

Isn't it just beautiful? I'm quite sure (maybe, and maybe some dickhead will take the opportunity to come & tell me with some authority that it is not so) that mention of the Cold War counts too.

Godwin's Law - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

What's missing from this report?

This is one of those irritating practises that gets me pretty much everytime a newspaper reports on an interesting new website or internet service.

Have a look...

The Dominion Post: Web monitors traffic jams

Yes, do you see the URL published in here? That'd be useful, no?

Bathside reading....

That's a euphemism innit? Reading in the dunny.

Many, many years ago, I did a Big Chill weekend. That is, about 4 families (pre kids, so technically, about 4 couples) descended on some friends in Sumner (Christchurch), who had bought a rambling old house on a corner section about a block from the beach. This house, I kid you not, had about 20 rooms. There were rooms within rooms (almost) and doors leading to more rooms.

We drank a lot, and the Giesen's winemaker, Marcel Giesen, gave us a tour of the winery (we drank the latest vintages from the barrels, using long pipettes) & then brought 2 cases of wine to dinner, which we attempted to consume during & after, before going to bed. In fact, most of us got hammered & sloped discreetly off sometime in the wee hours pretty much leaving Marcel to it in one of the rooms somewhere deep in the labyrinth. Chances are he's still there. He had enough wine to keep him going for years.

This place had several bathrooms too, and each "bathroom" was equipped with a book, suitable for reading while otherwise occupied.

Notes were compared & it was generally agreed that the best "bathroom" reading book on offer was the one furnished with a collection of Bob Jones' newspaper columns. These columns were the perfect length for your average visit. That particular bathroom was much favoured...

I've had "bathrooms", in the past, stocked with magazines in a rack. Latterly though, my suggestions for dealing with surplus bookshelves - and I use "surplus" guardedly, because bookshelves are never surplus, in fact, we need bookshelves badly in our current house, we just have nowhere to put them, and so we have several languishing in the basement, even though we have a spare room just bursting with unshelved books we're reluctant to toss - have been spurned. Apparently it is not a good look to have a wall to wall, floor to ceiling bookshelves within easy reach of the er..."bath".

"How about internet access?" I've also asked, but in the end, it'd have to be pretty hands free, don't you agree? I draw the line at TV.

So it is with... um... some relief, that I note that the practise of reading is going into the (water) closet. About time.

Stuff.co.nz: Smallest room becomes the reading room

Tuesday, April 18, 2006

Feijoas & a big black dog .

Feijoa & loathing in Otaki...

We planted 7 or 8 feijoa trees in late 2002, I think. Last year, one of them produced 3 medium size fruit...

This year, in fact just a few weeks ago, we were pleased to notice that these trees, the largest of which is maybe 5 feet high, the smallest maybe 18 inches... were laden with young fruit.

On Good Friday, we picked 3 supermarket bags of windfalls, which the Dompost was kind enough to tell us on Saturday, is when they're best.

Even better than that though, on Monday, just before we came home, we picked another 4 bags worth of windfalls & the largest ones hanging on the tree. They are fantastic. And huge. I suspect that we'll be picking many more before the season is over.

Meanwhile in another paddock, last year's bumper crop of 4 olives... looks to be a record, I could only see one olive growing on the 8 or so trees... we're seriously considering replacing them with feijoas.

Or not, we also have 20 or so self seeded peach trees to reposition (from under their momma). These are some of the nicest peaches I have tasted, they are a good & free score.

Meanwhile, onto the black dog - here's a gem from the SunnyO archives. Purely because I think it's worth it.

SunnyO: A big black dog moment.

Wednesday, April 12, 2006

The Lambshank Redemption

You know how it is, you neglect the blog for a few weeks, aside from the laziest of posts, and then you look one day & realised you've used all your creativity (such as it is) in the comments of someone else's blog.

The NZBC guys are probably getting sick of me, and sick of this thread, which concerns reworking famous film, book, song etc titles so that they involve some sort of kiwi food. (think the mainland cheese ad with those two old guys - Chubby Cheddar, etc).

But I still get the giggles when I think of the Lambshank Redemption (which came in via that guy who gets around more than me, but never seems able to make up his mind... Anonymous).

So we're here to hijack that thread so that when the Mainland cheese guys are next looking for inspiration, they come here.

have at it.

NZBC - The Silence of the Lamingtons

Superb.

Wednesday, Apr 12: Palmerston North beats Baghdad - Tom Scott

Sunday, April 09, 2006

Friday, April 07, 2006

Congratulations to all the Netguide winners last night.

BASTARDS!

Not that I'm bitter. But I was convinced I was a shoo-in for Best Parenting site.

Well done Public Address, and the runners up, Kiwiblog & Idolblog.

Next year though, next year... or as they used to say "One day Roger Phipps! One Dayyyy!"

Meanwhile, I have removed the Netguide banner that was over to the right of the screen, luckily without completely munting my blog.

Some scenes from March

I say some, because this is just a preview. Last night was my designated “upload all the photos” night. Because last night was Virtual Tennis evening, when women-folk & children desert the homestead to er… drink & gossip I think. And so that’s the night Wilma & I have an extended walk through the gardens, then an extended loaf around at home in between cooking something manly like steak & eating it with onions between two slices of bread, watching another episode of Firefly & possibly attending to sadly neglected pastimes like blogging.

Usually.

But last night, before steak, before Firefly & during photo upload, Mrs Llew returned from a business trip to THAT city in the north & announced she was too tired for Virtual Tennis (the “Virtual” indicates that no-one so much as goes near racquets or balls).

And no way was she eating steak.

And get off the computer. (Actually, that last bit was just implied).

And no fecking way was she watching any crappy western in space.

So here’s as far as I got. More to come.

But to keep you on your toes, this episode of Scenes from March was brought to you by ITC Entertainment.

Sunrise

Der rinky dink (ydinky dinky dinky dink)

Sandshapes

Der rinky dinky dink (ydinky rinky dinky dink)

Here she comes!

Der rinky dink (ydinky rinky dinky dink)

There she goes!

Der rinky dinky dinky dink (ydinky rinky dinky dink)

My old desk, does an arabesque

Der rinky dinky dinky dink dah dah

Sea & Sky

Der rinky dinky dah

Sea & Sky 2

Der rinky dinky dink


Sea & Sky 3

Der rinky dinky dinky dink dah dah

Der rinky dinky dink

Der rinky dinky dink!

Der rinky dink (ydinky dinky dinky dink)

Etc

Interestingly…. This theme wasn’t used until series 2, but it is the one that everyone remembers (well some of us anyway).

Thursday, April 06, 2006