Things you probably didn't know # 1

This thought provoking* letter was published in the DomPost this week:

Artefacts Are Celtic In Origin

An archaeological dig has taken place recently at Westport where greenstone arrowheads were found. Local iwi have already claimed them.

It's strongly suspected that this is one of the sites of Mhor Ruairidh, who lived there in 1120. These arrowheads are definitely not Maori. They belong to the original tangata whenua, who created this & other settlements, and were of Scottish/Celtic origin. This is another case of the Government and Maori trying to cover up New Zealand's true history.

Ian Brougham
Wanganui

*The thought provoked being: Where can I get what this guy must be on?

Everything for Sale

I saw this movie at varsity - it was one of the movies we had to see & critique for a course called History & Criticism of Film.

Great course, for all the entertaining ones like The General, I'd bring a load of mates along.

I didn't bother if it was a Polish Arthouse film from 1969 though.

Everything for Sale is a semi-autobiographical movie from Andrzej Wajda and concerns a famous Polish film-maker looking at his life following the suicide (or drunken mishap - he fell off a moving train) of his most famous leading man Zbigniew Cybulski (there is no photo on this page, so you'll have to trust me when I say that Cybulski looked like Trampas/Doug McClure). The two had worked on Wajda's masterpiece, Ashes & Diamonds.

Wait - I found a photo

It wasn't immediately apparent to me, but then I can be like that, maybe I was hungover at the time, but the title explains the film - Everything for Sale = selling out.

And so we watch the film director selling out completely, and his surviving stable of actors, and pretty much everybody except the leading man who was too busy getting laid, getting drunk, and falling out of trains to bother selling out. Although wikipedia says he fell under a train trying to catch it... if my memory isn't playing with me, Everything for Sale has it slightly different. But it could be my memory - hey, if you come to watch it, let me know.

So anyway, find & see all these movies as they're well worth it. Especially The General.

Wszystko na sprzedaz - Everything for Sale (1969)

And SunnyO, the old one is for sale now, the sign went up yesterday. Chances are it'll be bought by a developer, it's 2.5 acres of residential, coastal land. We haven't even told our neighbours what's happening, but they'll have seen the sign by now.

It is available to rent though, until it gets sold.

And the sheep are for sale although wuss that I am, I'd like them to go to retirement paddocks, rather than freezers (I'll give them away to a good home), . I think the ewes will be easy to rehome, people want lambs. The wethers may be a bit more difficult to shift, although they are characters & very efficient lawn mowers & fertilisers.

I've been making a case to take 2 of them to the orchard, as I really am no fan of mowing lawns, with or without a ride-on mower. Mrs llew reckons M & her boyfriend H will happily do the mowing, but from my own experience, I know that will last two, maybe three occasions & then it'll be down to me again.

Sigh.

SunnyO by the Sea - available to rent

Yes that's right, experience SunnyO first hand.



After this weekend, sunnyO by the Sea will be available as a homestay, $150 per night for the first two nights (2 night minimum), and $100 per night afterwards.

3 bedrooms & a sleepout, sleeps 8.

Extensive lawns, paddock & forest. 3 minutes walk from the beach, 1.5 minutes walk to Byron's Bar & Restaurant...

Free Advice from a Nobody

And worth every cent!

1. John Key - I have mixed feelings about the anti-smacking bill (I looked up what it is really called & it is so boring that I immediately forgot it), but where is your spine man? Get out there now & announce that you will repeal it the moment you gain power. Whether you mean to or not, is frankly irrelevant, but any MPs wavering on the vote may well decide to go with their conscience rather than bring in a law that will be repealed at the earliest opportunity. I feel you're sitting on the fence not quite believing that more than 80% are against the bill. I don't quite believe it either but those sort of figures are worth a punt.

2. Pita Sharples - Gag Tariana & brazenly woo the pakeha party vote, you could be deputy PM next year, taking voters from both Labour & National.

3. Helen Clark - um.. I have no advice for you, except should you bring interest rates down sharply you will successfully buy my vote.

Meanwhile, this is very, very, cute.

Spare Room » Blog Archive » The Brightener: Baby Hamster Munches Broccoli

alick shaw - Google Search

Heh heh... now, when Councillor Shaw googles his own name* - what's the word for that again? - SunnyO is what heads the list, and what does he find when he clicks through all the links?

Heh... he finds his evil doppelganger

alick shaw - Google Search

*As someone from the city council did 5 minutes ago.

black cheerleader search naenae - Google Search

Hmm... here's an inexplicable one. From Lorain, Ohio.

black cheerleader search naenae - Google Search

Particularly as I don't feel inclined to click on the last entry of the first page... I bet that's not the Naenae I went to school at.

Some recent photos from here & there

Who says we don't bring you all the BIG news?

Olsen twins plan matching nose jobs - Stuff.co.nz

Photos will phollow

As will a complete post to the Wellingtonista - And it is now online!

I craned my neck out of the office & watched the Anti-Snacking protest. Or maybe it was the Pro-snacking protest, I get confused.

I can sympathise with those who believe that snacking is one of the foundation stones of a family upbringing. But given the alleged obesity epidemic, I can also see the opposing point of view. Snacking can be bad for you.

And I saw some guy arrested, I think he was from the anti-snacking crew, he was wearing a New Zealand flag, and he ripped up someone's placard. We shouted to the police to taser the guy, not least because I had a camera on me & i thought that'd be a pretty great thing to record & blog about. But they dragged him off down towards Kirks. There are a few places down that way where the police could give him a really good snack.

Should we be allowed to snack? I dunno really, I should probably pay more attention, but I'm not much of a snacker myself. The young 'un is, particularly after rowing practise, and when a kid is hungry, I fail to see the harm in a light snack, or even a reasonably heavy snack.

I guess it's over to you & your conscience.

BTW - that's not Zelig standing behind Blumsky & next to Farrar, should footage be shown on TV. It's someone else. Who left early to go find a snack before he got labelled a National Party Stooge.

Tale a little too tall for some dog lovers

This is some far fetched theory that you can tell if a dog likes, or dislikes you by the direction its tail wags. If it wags right, the dog likes you, if left, it doesn't.

However, as the lady pictured notes, a dog's tail wags right, left, right,left... etc.

Tale a little too tall for some dog lovers - Stuff.co.nz

So anyway, what caught my eye was "Walking her retrodoodle, Sheeba".

WTF is a "retrodoodle"?

Update!

It is the spawn of a retriever & poodle.

How to store apples for ever

Got a few apples to pick sometime soon, I'm told that if stored correctly, they can last through till August or September. Problem is, how do you store them correctly?

Google to the rescue - New Zealand must be a giant fruitbasket worth of information on the topic. Right?

storing apples nz - Google Search

Luckily, removing the NZ gets us something more relevant:

storing apples - Google Search

We'll be individually wrapping them in newspaper, and storing them in the shed.

What's in a name #1 | the wellingtonista

Over at Wellingtonista HQ, Noizyboy is soliciting possible names for Wellington's new A League soccer team.

Best suggestion so far by miles, is from Zippy Gonzales

The White Canes

Pure brilliance. Although I wonder if it might be a more appropriate moniker for the referees. By all means head on over & make some suggestions yourself.

What's in a name #1 | the wellingtonista

Google Searching

scrotum tightening surgery - Google Search

Eeeh.... heh. I'm 7th in the list. Hope the poor guy found what he was looking for.

Meanwhile, "Nicky Watson Topless" continues to be the number one search string visiting this site, but over the last few days since I mentioned "Britney Spears"... the gap is closing.

Oddly, about 2 people per week come here looking for "Tanya Horo Porn Movie" (that's Miss Lucy to you), & I would hazard a guess that searching for such a movie or clip will prove fruitless. But if I'm wrong, please do drop me a line.

And from the very obscure search list comes "phillip alford, actor, where's he now?". The search doesn't answer the question (as far as I can see) but if you're wondering, Philip Alford was the child actor who portrayed Atticus Finch's son in To Kill a Mockingbird. And that information WAS available on SunnyO all along.

The Kiwi Herald: BUSH PANICS UNDER PM'S STARE

Tee hee...

The Kiwi Herald: BUSH PANICS UNDER PM'S STARE

Showing all Corvettes for sale

Bwaha! I have no idea why the title is "Showing all Corvettes for sale".

NZ is too small for me to poke fun at this site.

But I think, judging from who is on there, that should you appear in the ranks of available speakers (Hamish!)... you have made it.

Speakers.co.nz

Actually, only some of them are cringe inducing. And as far as I can see, only one of them is dead. And they do admit to that.

it's possible that one of them is currently in jail, but I won't link to him in case I'm wrong.

Blog of the Bat

Hey, it turns out I know who The Batman is, I've actually met him once or twice, & traded one or two emails.

Of course, at that stage I ddn't know he was The Batman.

Apparently gets hit on in the comments fields by female supervillains. Haven't come across those yet, maybe he's bat dreaming :)

Batblog

Britney Spears romps in bushes of rehab centre - NZ Herald

What the hey, I have better things to do, but can't resist asking myself, and anyone who cares to answer... how long do you think she's got? I mean, before she suffers an event a la Anna Nicole Smith?

Britney Spears romps in bushes of rehab centre - 20 Mar 2007 - NZ Herald

That's a great photo through the link.

Urban Legends

Are Karl & Keith related?

Anyway, that's a red herring.

Anyone know any good (or bad) urban legends/myths about Wellington? Or even interesting urban facts. Why I'm asking may become apparent later.

Sage advice

Hmm... maybe I should blog about the best sage bush in the world! But I guess it got sold with the house it came with. Oh well. It was lovely though.

Anyway, I'm dispensing good advice today:

No matter how proud you are that you are displaying some primo backbone... I DO recommend that you have finance arranged BEFORE you go unconditional.

No matter though, my spine trusted the universe to come through & it did. Two days before settlement... And the low level headache I've had for the last month, does in fact seem to be getting better.

You can all take consolation, when you hear Dr Cullen, or Dr Bollard (he's a doctor too isn't he?) lambasting irresponsible property buyers, in the knowledge that he is talking about me. Or me by association with Mrs Llew anyway.

We have set rules now though - no more open homes, no more homes Fullstop.

And today's (not quite) random BlogThis hails from the land of Chow Yun Fat, and concerns a young married couple having to sell their home & presumably put their names on the Housing New Zealand waiting list. Personally, I'd not begrudge Alison Mau a cent if they paid her whatever was necessary to don the sequins & trip the light fantastic* on Dancing With the Stars. I'm sure that would cover it. And when I say "cover it" I mean the costs of their renovations - not... well you get the drift.

Failing that, they could do like the rest of us, who have severely overburdened themselves with old, rundown, houses in expensive areas - live in overpriced squalor for the rest of their lives.

By the way, anyone who has ever hankered for a small, or large, parcel of (very close to) coastal land... feel free to contact me (Just reconstruct the email address that I just put under the photo of the dog).

Cactus Kate: Media Paupers

* WTF does "trip the light fantastic" mean anyway?

Aussies develop brain-driven game

How ironic! I thought at first. Then I saw the names of the two Australians in question.

former Young Australian of the Year and Emotiv president Tan Le and her partner Nam Do

So OK, it's sounding more credible...

Emotiv said its system worked by detecting electrical activity generated by brain cells, known as neurons, using a process known as electroencephalography. Similar technology is used in hospitals to detect epilepsy and sleep disorders in patients.

The company's interface captures and wirelessly transmits information about brain activity to a processor, allowing interaction with video games.

The more a person uses the technology, the more adept the system becomes at recognising the person's intentions and emotions.

After a series of training sessions most people are able to move objects in a virtual world through force of will. The sensors also pick up on facial expressions such as smiles, grimaces and winks, portraying them on the face of the player's avatar - their on-screen representation.

The sensors are also said to be able to detect emotions such as fear and excitement.

Aussies develop brain-driven game - Stuff.co.nz

Meanwhile, a German company has unveiled an interface to allow users to compose messages on their personal computers and play simple games using only their brains.

The Guger Technologies device works along similar lines to the Emotiv system, monitoring brain activity.

Also under development is a thought-controlled robotic wheelchair that would allow paralysed people to move freely through their environments.

Fantastic! I want one.