A Permanent Holiday

I’m starting my Christmas holidays with a road trip this week.  After some consideration I’ve decided it’ll also start a permanent holiday for 100 Word Blog.    

 

While it’s been fun, the 100 Word format was always an experiment and I think I’ve proved that a 100 Word blog is practical.  Also my Minnow Party project’s over and I can’t think of another I want to pick up just now.

 

So all that’s left is to say thanks to everyone who’s read, commented on, linked to and/or provided material over the past year and a bit. 

 

Really, thank you all.

The Flyover: Bypass Redux

How tiresome.  The dogmatism that characterised the anti-bypass campaigns has reappeared unchanged for changes around the Basin Reserve.

If the anti-flyover people are to be believed it’s being proposed because road planners are stupid and engaged in a conspiracy to build more roads.  It’s like reading SOLO on climate change, a plot by climate scientists to feather their nests.

 

If building more and better roads is so harmful why aren’t they recommending reducing capacity on the existing network?  That seems to be the logic to their arguments.  Funny they’re not using the bypass as an example of things going wrong.

How to euthanise a goldfish

Bubble became grew thin and then was found at the bottom of the tank.   We decided that we had to be cruel to be kind, but how?

After some research, spurred by my reticence at flushing a live goldfish down the loo, I discovered a comparatively humane way of sending Bubble to the ornamental pond in the sky. 

Apparently goldfish hibernate at low temperatures, so popping a goldfish in a plastic bag of its tank/pond’s water and popping that bag in the freezer is the relatively peaceful demise.  Much, much better than the single hammer blow someone suggested!

New Political Caricature Blog

The Linesman is a new blog of digital caricatures of New Zealand politicians.   Not Sure what Bill English is supposed to be in the one above (Emperor Palpatine?), but this could be a cool resource for other political blogs.

I’ve been tagged!

The rules:

• Link to your taggee
• Post the rules
• Share seven random or weird facts about yourself
• Tag 7 random people at the end of the post with their links
• Inform those 7 they’ve been tagged by commenting on their blog

1. I name my goldfish after Popes
2. I’ve two official names
3. I’ve worn a suit in West Africa
4. I cook curry on a Tuesday
5. Frankfurt is the city I’ve most visited without staying overnight
6. I know way too much about jet planes
7. The only car vs. motorbike accident I’ve had was while driving someone to pick up a scooter.

Election Day – 80s style

Unofficial iPredict Blog

I’ve set up an unofficial iPredict blog.  I thought their official blog didn’t have enough discussion of the stories behind the statistics. 

I just have to get round to putting up more stocks to comment on and actually make some comments myself.

Update:  I’ve packed in the unofficial blog.   Unfortunately the lack of interest in visiting it was matched by my lack of enthusiasm for updating it.

Another indicator of further financial trouble in New Zealand

We have more than forty – we’re stuffed.

Lotto not such a bad investment

So if a regular Lotto Powerball ticket gives you ten ‘one in 38 million’ chances to win $30 million, then a $11 investment should give an average return of 86c in the dollar*.   That’s a better return than you would have made on the NZX since the beginning of September. 

 *Ok there are the other divisions and the $30 million will get won by by second division winners if there’s not a first division winner but that maths is time consuming.

Stop the Pigeon

You can get a protest rent a crowd together for anything these days.  The Wellington pro-pigeon lobby is a prime example – these people are pro-vermin, perhaps they’ll picket New World tomorrow for selling mouse traps.  Were I to harass them at lunchtime the way a pigeon would they’d call the Police. 

Pigeons are germ carrying, squawking, building soiling, shit machines that have no more place in the CBD than rats or any other creature that carpets public places with their excrement.   The sooner the council gets on with culling pigeons the better.