Pssst! Want a gong?

As the would be client rightly said about those who supply favours,

we have already established that, we are now haggling over the price

The asking price for a 'spontaneous gesture' has been revealed today, the inference fits well.

At least it was only a plastic NZ gong, not a real British one, but I expected nothing less.

No doubt, there is a long list of back scratchers being readied for submission at short notice to the gong factory in 10 months time. Surprised there were not more this time from the corrupt mob.

Loose unit need locking up

A Christchurch barely legal legend in his own lunchtime needs locking up for his own protection.

A quick scan of the list below proves home detention is not an option.

• Girlfriend ditches him
• Next night, gets on turps
• Argues at pub with girl and aunt
• Girls ditch him again
  
• Goes home, makes 3x molotovs early am
• Drives to GF's in dad's pricey car, still under the influence
• Balaclava on
  
• Biffs one thru aunt's window at some ungodly hour
• Fails to ignite, occupants ditch molotov onto drive
• Ignites
• He drives off, still pissed, into the dawn
• Slams into parked car
• Parked car hits another parked car and power pole
• Goes home to mum
• Mum dobs him in to cops
• Cops arrest him for drink driving

Home detention is too good for this nutter, he needs locking up for his own safety, as well as mine and maybe yours.

A nice touch

There are some who really care out there. When Emma Agnew was interred the other day, a specially bred monarch butterfly was released during the service at the graveside.

The butterfly was provided to help the family let go. As butterflies are thought to be deaf, it is the symbol worldwide for those that are deaf, symbolising freedom and independence.

It glided over the heads of her parents ... and their three sons, before disappearing into the skies.

The article is well worth reading about the long list of community people and firms that got behind the Agnew family during the long search and the subsequent funeral. Long may it continue.

A very nice touch, great to see the community spirit.

RIP Emma and my sincere condolences to the family.

10 Radical paths for warmists to take

Wired has 10 very radical, some say crazy, geo-engineering solutions to the supposed problem raised by global warming. Just wait till those rabid frogs see these and wag a few tails.

In no particular order,

1. Vertical Framing - turn carparks / skyscrapers / walls into vertical farms.
2. Better Cows - stop methane prodicing feeds, give the cows diabetes with high sugar feeds
3. Carbon Scrubbers - 300m goalposts everywhere sucking CO2 out of the sky - think you have a problem with 70m pylons?
4. Hurricane Control - throw in a bit of dust to slow/deflect storm - and you need some lawyers and spin doctors to risk-manage deflected storms
5. Cloud Making Ships - puffy low clouds reflect sunlight - who needs ships? Connect hose for hot air directly to Beehive.
6. Better Trees - get heavily into GM to up their CO2 capabilities.
7. Ocean Fertilization - add heaps of nutrients to cause CO2 gobbling plankton blooms. Are we already doing that?
8. Made Made Mt Pinutabo - drop a few nukes to produce a bit of sunlight stopping dust.
9. Space Mirrors - we all really want to live in 24x7 darkness, right?
10. Status Quo - stick your head in sand or in any other orifice of your choice.
    

I wonder how many of these we will see implemented in the next 5-10 years if we keep following the IPCC GoreBull Warmists down their path?

Did the earth move 4U?

At 40S here we have had a large earthquake centred 50km offshore from Gisborne. Details here, 200 km away. Website is overloaded with rubberneckers like me filling in 'felt' reports...

Serious noise, movement - very unsettling while it continues for upward of 2 minutes. Cat even looked upset.

I guess the East Cape is a few mm higher tonight.

Unions in sinking ship?

Is this you?

Are you one of these 140,000?

Get out bed, turn up at work half asleep for a coffee, go to smoko for as long as possible twice a day, take exactly the allotted time for a liquid lunch, attend all union meetings in work hours and knock off well early to wash your hands to warm the bell before buggering off to the pub?

If this is you, the unions have a Christmas pressie for you. Seems they want even more taxpayer funds for their members, without any corresponding lift in productivity.

The union rats are preparing to abandon ship, seeing their feeding frenzy is going to end in 10 months time, so they are getting the last bite in. The almost 7% pay rise you get in April, for doing nothing extra, may be followed by a pre-election bribe taking your full increase to 33% above today's rates.

Yes, just getting out of bed will get you over $31K a year. Not bad attendance pay and your total pay rise in a year will be 33%, without doing any extra work. Responsibility, you don't need any of that, after all you just do what you are told. All you had to do was open your red eyes in the morning.

Life is good, at least till almost next Christmas ...

Now for something different...

At last some welcome rain on the East Coast at 40S up against the ranges. Was staring at the local Fire Service water truck between Xmas and New Year with less than 1/4 of one tank this time yesterday.

It has not rained, other than some feeble drizzly stuff, always just enough to wash the bird and possum shit from the roof into the tanks, since about 7 weeks ago. Just around the same time, high winds for a couple of weeks dried the last of the moisture out of the ground completely. Moving the daily electric fence break for the cows has been damned hard to stick the standards in the concrete like ground. The paddocks were still green, not like 2km further east where everything is brown and tinder dry. Still knee deep in green grass here.

Both 5500 gal (25,000 l) tanks are at 80% full and it is still raining. Have had about 80mm of steady rain in last 24hrs. Thankfull it is not a destructive downpour. Light rain will replenish the soil and give the grass factory another kick. Suspect it will not last much longer, although stalled front is helping. Still the rain radar shows a little more to come and prognosis post Xmas, after the next big high, looks tentative for a top up with a low currently filling the Ozzie Bight.

When you have 20x 2yr cattle on the block who drink the same water as we do (no well or stream), on one hot day about 1500 litres will be consumed. A thirsty 300 kg cow sucks about 65 litres per day. That means one tank drops by 100mm per cloudy day, rising to about 150mm on a hot clear day. If both tanks are full when we start the New Year, we can get to maybe mid-March before we look at the fire truck again.

Accidentally pumping about 3500 gallons through an already full tank onto the ground for six hours a month ago has not helped. Yes, it was me and the offending gate valve handle on the inter-tank transfer line has been taken off. The learning curve never stops on a lifestyle block.

At least I know that where I am against the ranges, if my nice green lawn goes brown, then the rest of NZ will be thirsty and on bottled water, even in town. I hope the rain further up at Gisborne and northward is the business and lasts for a day or two.

Off to check the tanks again...

"Arrogant dismissal" of voters rights

The 'sweet scent of power and lust for control' just proved too great for the coalition that is this corrupt government.

Fortunately the sun will rise tomorrow, not in the west and the clock is audibly ticking - about 10 months till it is up for repeal. It will be only at this stage that Liabour and its supportive cohorts (including UF who flip-flopped at the last minute) will acknowledge their "refusal to accept the reality of impending defeat".

Update:
I took the quotes above from early reports. Here is the link to the full delivery by Hone. It is, I think, the most definitive and heartfelt speech on this suicidal assault on democracy.

Democracy Day

Today is the day where the most corrupt government in our country's short history wishes to finalise the removal of freedom of expression and democracy by passing the self serving Electoral Finance Bill.

This bill will be the death knell for Labour, Greens, United Future and NZ First.

I hang my head in shame.

Banks gives Helen the bird

After all the posturing over stadium, Mr Banks has got the government to stump up for most of the funding for the eyesore in Helen's patch. See they had the money all the time, it just took someone to stand up those hiding in the beltway. The cut of the cloth is even bigger.

Now all I need is the spineless Mr Lee of the Auckland Robbery Company to announce they will NOT be giving any rates taxes to this private enterprise. Only then I will believe in Santa again.

Who says Christmas doesn't come early. Trev must be real pissed, this was his baby, now his name will not be on the plaque. Still, Helen needs to bribe Jafalanders anyway she can after this fiasco. Not to mention that other topic up for a final outing tomorrow. Showing sod all support for the AB's might be an election crippler for any pollie looking to dine in trough in 10 months time.

H Losing her grip?

I resisted at first, but then read the press reporting that one H was losing her grip and potentially her place in the spotlight.

Some choice turns of phrase were evident

• In response, she has grown sharply more critical of her rivals - a risky tactic, ... where voters are turned off by negative campaigning
• appears to have been hurt, for instance, by a press release
• these kinds of tired, desperate attacks ... demonstrate very clearly that they have a real cost to [her] campaign
• new signs that the tide may be turning against [her]
• I believe in trusting my own instincts. I feel very, very good about the case I am making. [wrong, we know what the electorate think of s59 and the EFB]
• national surveys have been more or less static for several months
• has slipped into a statistical dead heat
• now playing the game of lowering expectations [press is too young to report properly]
• it's a miracle that she's got a chance to win

Now that seems to me, just like another H so in our lives everday...

Entrepeneur smoking the good gear

Another would be entrenpeneur set up a business that would rent bikes across the country, similar to that used in Europe.

Tourists and students are expected to be the biggest customers

Scenario: You might wander up to a street corner, phone someone to get an unlock code and bugger off for some exercise on a pushbike. When finished, phone again and the time will charged to your credit card. Sounds plausible, but wait...

Seems the bikes are to have advertising plastered all over. Good, extra income might just might make this business model work. Except, the local council thinks that any advertiser might plonk signs on every street corner, throw some trainer wheels on it, chain it to a fence and call it a bike for rent. No go currently.

Further, the business model requires local councils get involved in this 'service' as a form of public transport. This is where I smell a rat. As a long suffering payer of rate tax, I know that any council provided form of public transport is the most over-advertised, under-patronised, and expensive useless form of transport.

Getting ratepayers to fund your unproven business model is a different kettle of fish. Your business has suddenly become

Tourists and students are expected to be the biggest customers, ratepayers the biggest losers

Standing on your own two feet in business and making a go of it, totally at your expense, would be normal practice. Bugger off Mr Goodgear, you must be smoking some really good gear if you expect ratepayers to fund your business.

Time to concentrate on real crimes

335 over the limit out of 52,000, with a few recidivist pissheads.

0.644%. What is the target KPI?

Yes, I say we have that well and truly sussed, time to move on concentrate on some real crime.

ps for the boys in blue up the East Coast - the ox and cart carrying the order from Welly Town might arrive sometime this week. I know that modern technology does not work that far away from the beltway...

Cedrus deodara

While you are reaching for your Latin dictionaries or Google as the case may be, this post came from reading about the newly launched police boat.

Annette King, MP took her poodle Howard for an outing in the sun to (Westhaven?) marina to watch the GG's better half pour champers over the gunwale. The carbon footprint of that affair will match the huge footprint 18.5m of aluminium hurtling at 25 knots around the Gulf and beyond. Nice toy, I am sure the boys in blue have the boat booked for extensive fishing sea-trials over the leave period. Can I recommend these guides to find where to anchor?

No, the reason for this long post was not the political capital reaped or not by Annette and her team but about the new tin can's name. Seems Deodar has been used since the first one was launched in 1960, being named after a minesweeper. I can well remember the original, having been towed in an old Z-class sailing dinghy by it.

The Latin name above reflects the name of a cedar native to the Himalayas, commonly known as Himalayan Cedar, which can grow to an exceptional 60m. More can be found here about the Sanskrit 'timber of the gods'. It is from where the minesweeper was named.

Tree class minesweeeper HMS Deodar was ordered by the Admiralty in 1939, gave service during WWII, was sold out of the Royal Navy, being converted for commercial use and eventually foundered in 1965. The sweeper was built in Goole, Yorkshire by the Goole Shipbuilding and Repair Company. Goole today is noted for it pool of drug users. Was used in spring 1946 for mine clearing in Norway. After service the ship was variously named. Some detail and a picture is here.

The NZ connection is through the RNZNVR (Rockies) Second Echelon 2 NZEF sailors who went to Blighty in the war and became part of the 24th Minesweeping / Antisubmarine Squadron. One two and a half ringer PG Connelly, Lieutenant Commander was placed in command on the newly launched Deodar, along with a few of his mates, on ten in all of the minesweepers. It is from here the long association with the name started. Mr Donnelly appears to have named Deodar I in 1960.

Amazing what can be dredged up from one name.

Winnie gets good PR

Good on Starship for having the moral fibre to reject the Winnie First payment of illegally gained electoral funds. They have stood up and rejected it on the grounds that it "wasn't proper philanthrophy". More like the board did not like the heat.

As an aside, Mr Mogridge of the board seems to be unable to stay away from tainted public monies, that was a story a long time ago. He must like the PR too.

Unfortunately, I know that any PR is good PR, Winnie will be laughing all the way the election booth bank. He is now front and centre, with all cameras firmly focussed, being the Christmas talking point over the upcoming leave period, ready to fight yet another election. Never write off anyone suffering from vertically challenged syndrome.

Should there be any voters out there that feel that Starship is the loser, you may make an anonymous, or otherwise if you really need the PR, donation to Starship at this page.