Page 3 Material

Boring maybe but way more important than anything else I've read since the election. Compared to the some of the 'slow news day' crap that makes the front page I'd have thought Prof Gluckmans announcement that "..there is a remote possibility that if nothing is done the temperature will not rise to unacceptable levels" would rate better placement than buried in a single column article on page 3 of the Herald.

Aids and Rapa Nui are given as comparison examples of stupidity in the face of evidence and environmental self destruction. I doubt more than 1% of Kiwi's know the Rapa Nui story or bothered to read Gluckman's full article which should be compulsory reading.

John Key has been taking some stick for being both too conservative and too ambitious in his emissions reduction target which will be why there has been no comment on the PMs top scientist releasing the article. That and consulting in advance probably helped.

If the snow is all gone this week I'll be bloody pissed off !

The award for 'Best use of a Pit Bull Terrier' goes to ...

Paea Taufa ... found cooking his pitbull terrier-cross in an umu pit at his Mangere home...

"I didn't know I couldn't cook the dog," he said. "In Tonga, any time there I cook the dog and it is okay. Dog is good food.""

Well done chap.

Much more useful than walking the mutt anywhere near me.

Who me? Nah.

...stricter E-class endorsement did involve more stringent checks in which police were looking for the "Rambo-type attitude"

I'm one of the nutters with an MSSA.
I go along with each and every law change.
Got a safe when that came in, got an E endorsement when that came in, and registered mine.
Paid for the new license when that came along.
Reported my address changes and was there everytime the arms officer called around. Never had a conviction, never punched or assaulted anyone.
Haven't gone into other peoples houses with a baseball bat either.

It isn't the people who get the licenses and pay the fees who go postal or sell them to gang members or unlicensed persons.
It never will be.

I do need to ask "Where are the other 4,700 of them?"
Same article : In 1992 it was estimated there were between 12,000 and 15,000 military-style semi-automatic rifles in the country. Last year there were about 7300 registered.

Probably being carried by the others I've referred to who can't be fucked filling in paperwork, paying up for endless licenses and safes - and a few like Jan Molinaar.

Violence

Has it's place. Afghanistan for example.

Al Queda and the Taleban won't be spending nearly as much time plotting their next adventure out here in the world because we are in his backyard spreading good news. I say his because I doubt the women of A are happy.

There is unlikely to be peace with either AQ/T or Karzai running the show and the SAS won't be there to charm the sheilas. I'd be much happier about the whole damn place if that was one of the reasons were were going there - to stay until there is a significant improvement.

If this - Kiwi and Western involvement - isn't long term, after we take casualties and bail it will end up being another Vietnam quagmire that yet another Robert McNamara will be saying was wrong, not to mention Phil Goff who is sounding sadder by the day.


Good luck guys.

BRMC

Another band to put on the list.

Shuffle your feet - Ain't no easy way - Open invitation



and Mercy

What island was evacuated to NZ because the sea level rose?

Finally got around to seeing An Inconvenient Truth.
Outstanding is Melissa Etheridge singing the song of the title

The joke about a science teacher, who thought that Africa and South America were never joined now being a Scientific Advisor for the current administration is much funnier in 2009 with Obama in.

A couple of questions:
If todays CO2 levels are the highest they've been in 600,000 years where was it all hiding?
And what was the world like before it was tied up in our fossil fuels?
The reason it's in our fossil fuels is photosynthesis:
2n CO2 + 2n H2O + photons → 2(CH2O)n + 2n O2

Surely the 'greenhouse gasses' must have been in the atmosphere in much higher concentrations back when Adam was a cowboy.

I guess the point is - do we want to go back to pre 600,000 CO2 levels and the uncertainty high CO2 will bring. Exponentially rising graphs never end well.

Can't wait to read Gareth Morgan on the subject:
Poles Apart: Beyond the shouting, who’s right about climate change? has been out for a couple of months now.

Greenpeace quotes him :
"NZ is an absolute joke, the home of double standards. New Zealand’s record on this is terrible. We’re a joke. If it’s anything like economics, you really need people to have their heads banged against the wall before they wake up and say; shivers, this is for real."

Nearly missed out on Green Day

Darn. No luck on Ticketmaster.co.nz.
Last week none of the 6 seating options accepted my attempt at 2 tickets - then another Green Day ad for the concert came on TV last night so I tried again. Nada.
Phoned up and "Yes there are still seats on the 18th. You can get them through Ticketmaster.co.nz or through me". Done deal.

Looking at some of their live stuff on Utube they will be awesome concerts.

Good Riddance - Time of your life
Billie Joe Armstrong in an interview in Guitar Legends magazine, May 2005:
“ "At the time I wrote Good Riddance, I was breaking up with a girl that was moving to Ecuador, and I was trying to be as understanding about it as I could. I wrote the song as kind of a bon voyage. I was trying not to be bitter, but I think it came out a little bit bitter anyway... I thought that calling the song "Time of Your Life" was just a little too level-headed for me, so I had to come up with something different"

L $ her sis and niece are going to BEP's and I'm not sure I want to see ACDC again, although they were bloody good in 1992.
Decisions, decisions.