Mr. Public's Organ of Electric Intercourse.

Moral: It's women's work mate.

2010-01-29T13:33:00.001+13:00

"A man has been struck by lightning in Sydney while doing the dishes.

Yahoo!7 News reports that the 37-year-old was hit by lightning while doing the dishes near a window at a YMCA camp last night at Yarramundi, situated in Sydney's far west"

That'll learn 'im. Mind you, that's a bullet proof excuse to use for the rest of his life, for why he shouldn't do the dishes.

Lucky git, really.

Laugh? I nearly shat. EXCLUSIVE

2009-09-16T14:28:00.005+12:00

Just released, an unofficial trailer for the new Tin Tin movie as co-produced by Peter Jackson, and Steven Spielberg who's also directing.

I'm told it's likely to be rated M.

Sometimes when great cartoon classics are brought to the screen, the voices chosen for much loved characters end up completely fucked up and not what you expected.

They've got them spot on here. Can't wait.

Caster Semenya, don't get any on ya.

2009-08-20T11:18:00.006+12:00

Trust me, it used to have a penis. Likely still has.

It seems a little extreme don't you think to have a sex change in order to win women's athletic events. Is it something that:

a) occurs to you after having had a sex change, as in "what the fuck, I like running and stuff, I might as well join the girls team, go to the World Champs, and win all the pretty gold medals"

or b) the culmination of a devious plan, whereby a failing running career as a bloke is dispensed with, in favour of beating a bunch of girls, after a few surgeries.

This person is not the first one who's been busted for this of course. In the old days it used to be Soviet bloc 'birds' called Olga and Svetlana.

2009-07-10T14:50:00.001+12:00

Powerful Message from Stevie Wonder to Michael Jackson Fans

..... . .. . . . ...

.. . . . . . . . . .. . .. .. .. .. . . ..
... ... .. ... ... ... ..... ... ...... ... ... ... .... ..... .. .
.. . . . .. . . . ..
... . .... ... .... .... ...
...... ...... .... .... ..... .... ..... .. . . .... ....
. .. .
. . .. . . . ...
....... ..... ... ... .. ... ...... ... .. .... ... ... .... ....
. .. .. .
.. ....
.. . . . . . .. .. . ..
.. .... .. ... ... ....... ..... .....

I cried when I read this bit ". .. .... .. ..."

Shouldn't you have to pass an 'idiot test' first?

2009-06-18T13:52:00.004+12:00

This is one of the more curious cases of buyer’s remorse I’ve seen in some time.

But really, if you’re wanting three anyway, what’s so wrong with 54? One on the mush is one too many you dumb bitch.

What is it about indelibly drawing on yourself that people find so seductive, attractive, or desirable?

Hat tip Theo Spark for the graphic.

Maybe it is.

2009-05-15T11:20:00.001+12:00

What's goin' on with that!

Is Swine Flu the new health Armageddon or can it simply be sneezed at?

2009-04-29T11:44:00.004+12:00

We all remember bird flu, earlier this decade, which sounded bad but killed fewer than 1000 people globally, that sounds a lot but malaria kills more than 500,000 every year but never makes headlines. During the anthrax scares in the post 9/11 period, I think two people died of exposure to this disease. I recall reading later that in the US in any typical year, around 5 people die from anthrax. You could say the anthrax scare lessened the incidence of anthrax deaths to below an average level, ergo improving it, probably because people were more careful around exposure to it.

Is this latest scare just that, a scare? Is Big Pharma looking to clear down some drug stocks? Is it just a getting back at those filthy Mexicans for stealing our jobs? Is it the former and the latter is a bonus?

I’ve not bought any Tamiflu, but I’d be curious to see a pack so I could check its use by date. My guess is it’s around 5 years after the manufacturing date. Remember, every Western government and many others too, stockpiled Tamiflu in 2003. If this all needs to be biffed, it’ll need to be replaced too, especially given there’s a new ‘threat’.

Don't feed them onboard for a start.

2009-04-23T22:06:00.004+12:00

This report was mentioned the other day on Stuff too. I've always thought it somewhat ridiculous that a 85 kg person can only have 20 kgs of check-in (or 30 in business) and a 120 kg person can have the exactly the same. Even more ridiculous, is having to take out say 2 kgs from your check-in because you're over, then their allowing you to put it in your carry-on. What's the point!

Changes to the bullshit around luggage allowances are well overdue, never to speak of what to do with the fat people. Those chairs aren't getting any bigger, but nearly half the people sitting in them are, so something has to give.

Ryan Air are clearly leveraging this to turn a coin, as I imagine things are tight in the airline business right now, but charging for bog roll is going a little too far, I suspect.

Aha!

2009-04-16T15:59:00.003+12:00

I note my hit counter spiked yesterday, and though hmmm, am I more popular than I thought? But then realised you're all just refreshing the SI widget to the right aren't you?!

It's doing wonders for my 'impressisons' count. Click away. There're a quite a number of different pics as it happens, more than the standard sort of expection of 12.

Which one gets your vote?

Social networking

2009-04-08T16:02:00.001+12:00

I've mentioned this before, and this is yet another example. Not that I have a particular hatred for Face Book, I just think it's kinda odd people open themselves up for this. I guess it's not FB's fault per se, but what people choose to add to their pages.

Or is it something more sinister? Is the MSM embarking on some sort of slagging campaign as they're worried about social networking, and FB and Twitter in particular, as they see them as a threat to their existence?

Discuss.

Happy New Year accountants!

2009-03-31T15:56:00.004+13:00

As it's March 31, I thought this was topical.

Doesn't this smack of lefty churlishness, envy and jealousy.

Barry had as a Senator, prior to becoming Prez, sponsored legislation to rid the world of tax havens. Despite all of them being completely outside the sovereign realm of the United States, he's keen to completely ignore that fact and continue to rid the world of them, with the help of the OECD.

Not for anything laudable as financial reform though, but simply collecting more tax. There's as estimated $7T (yes, T) they're missing out on in taxable cash. Many of these 'tax havens' simply have flatter or simpler you might argue, tax laws. Wiki has an interesting article on the subject which even mentions NZ.

Sure, lots of crooks hide money this way, but who else of those who are operating legitimately will be caught up in such a drift-net approach?

Channeling the anger.

2009-03-24T17:14:00.002+13:00

TVNZ are in a little spot of financial bother, as we know. Revenue’s down, profits are down (but not hugely when you drill down) and over on the Your Views page at the Herald, much vitriol has been written about whether lots of people should be fired. The tone of many comments suggests only managers should be fired of course, and not ‘the workers’.

Sticking up for the poor saps for a moment; despite the downturn they’re still making a profit, albeit smaller.

When I were a lad, they only had the one channel. Dougal read the news, later it was Mr. Sherry. We watched 5 year old episodes of Coro. The Six Million Dollar Man probably cost about that much per ep to buy first-run, so we saw 5 year old episodes of that too. There was only slightly less advertising then as there is now (about 8 minutes per hour versus 13) but I bet it cost a lot more then than now, relatively. You can imagine, as it was then more government department than SOE the waste was likely worse.

They now have a tremendous amount of competition. Sky TV for example features as much advertising as TVNZ yet also pulls in over $40M a month in subscription fees. Despite the clear advantage of choice Sky has, and the fact they have all the sport (sorry, netball isn’t a sport, kids) TVNZ still dominates ratings. TV3 struggles to make the top 5 in any category, timeslot or demographic, despite now being around nearly 20 years.

Why is that? Are TVNZ really that bad?

Several questions about Climate Change

2009-03-24T14:14:00.001+13:00

1. Why was it Global Warming before, but now Climate Change? Is this a bob each way in case it actually gets cooler?

2. If the Arctic Ice Shelf is melting, how can that possibly increase the sea level without ice/water displacement occurring?

3. Why is the hole over the ozone layer at its worst over Antarctica, where no one lives?

4. Indeed, why isn’t this hole over the Arctic, closer to all the Northern Hemisphere pollution?

5. Two degrees warmer by 2020..So? Does that mean it’ll be 27 C in summer instead of 25 C? Or 10 C in winter, rather than 8 C? Will it be -28 C in Antarctica instead of -30C? Will that be noticeably warmer? Really?

6. Even it was, is that so bad? Don’t crops need heat to grow? Is that why crops don’t grow in Antarctica or the Arctic, because there’s little in the way of heat there?

7. Less pollution in the world would be an excellent thing. I support that! Why don’t ‘warmists’ hold this up as a laudable goal in itself, rather than making up stuff about the end of the planet to justify it as a position?

I’d really appreciate it if anyone could provide me with some explanations or answers for these.

Underbelly

2009-03-13T16:16:00.000+13:00

I’ve been watching this show, only I tape it cause it’s on the same time as Lost, so it would always come second, but I think it’s very good so far.

Matthew Newton’s New Zealand accent is a little clunky I agree, but he mostly gets it right. He seems to at times be making an odd sort of extra effort to sound New Zealandish.

Gossip monger Rachel Glucina mentions its’ controversial nudity has been criticized in Australia following screenings there. I might’ve thought all the people being shot in the head would be more concerning than Anna Hutchison’s hooters (which you do see a lot of I will say, certainly in this week’s episode) but that’s one of the great oddities of TV programming criticism.

It's Friday

2009-03-13T15:23:00.000+13:00

And no doubt you'd rather be off water skiing or playing golf or something than thinking about work.

For that meeting you've got coming up on Monday, why don't you try some these tips:

Stand up and act indignant. Demand that the boss tell you the 'real' reason this meeting has been called.

Spill coffee on the conference table. Produce a little paper boat and sail it down the table.

During a meeting, each time the boss makes an important point, (or at least one he/she seems to consider important), make a little noise like you are building up to an orgasm.

Stay behind as everyone else, including the boss, leaves. Thank them for coming.

Give a broad wink to someone else at the table. In time, wink at everyone.

Sometimes shake your head just a little, as if to indicate that the speaker is slightly crazy and everybody knows it.

Arrange to have a poorly-dressed young woman with an infant quietly enter the meeting, stare directly at the (male) speaker for a while, burst into tears, then leave the room.

Bring a hand puppet, preferably an animal. Ask it to clarify difficult points.

When there is a call for questions, lean back in your chair, prop your feet up on the table, smile contentedly, and say, "Well, here's the way I see it, J.B..." (or any other impressive-sounding initials that are not actually your boss's.)

Complain loudly that your neighbour won't stop touching you. Demand that the boss make him/her stop doing it.

Bring a small mountain of computer printouts to the meeting. If possible, include some old-fashioned fanfold paper for dramatic effect. Every time the speaker makes a point, pretend to check it in one of the printouts. Pretend to find substantiating evidence there. Nod vigorously, and say "uh-huh, uh-huh"

Then see how they all like those apples.

Welcome in, take off your shoes an' set a-spell.

2009-03-11T14:00:00.001+13:00

Hi, we're new!

We're here to talk about what's great about the world, stuff to do, stuff to buy, and our views on things, from around the world, and from where we live, New Zealand.

By the way, the pic above is Lake Elsmere in the Southern Alps of NZ. In the back ground is Mt. Cook.