Methode Traditionelle

For the first time in 44 years Queen Elizabeth II will not attend the opening of the Commonwealth Games this year.

The games are to be held in October in the Indian capital of New Delhi.

There have been growing concerns around whether the games venues will be ready in time, along with fears around security.

Buckingham Palace said Prince Charles will attend the games instead of his mother.

"The volume of Her Majesty's engagements, coupled with other overseas commitments, means she will not be able to attend."

A palace spokesman gave no other reason but said the health of the 88-year-old monarch was not an issue.

Stuff

Forty four years is a very long time for the Queen to have attended the Commonwealth Games: that would make 12 games she has attended.

All things come to an end: Mt Everest will eventually crumble under the forces of nature, our sun will expand and die in the process consuming the earth. All living things must eventually die.

That is why living in the moment is vital, we never know when our time to die will come. One technique we can use to achieve this is mindfulness. Being simply aware of what is happening hear and now.

Weird T-shirt via Feministing

Feministing

WHALES TALE

Bustedblonde has been a mate of Whale Oil, Cameron for quite some time now. She has told us that Cameron is a unique individual whom she proud to call a mate.

Now we don't know him that well but BustedBlonde has asked that we re -post Cactus Kates column about the shock blogger and his current troubles. BustedBlonde says many people who have a tough exterior, also have big hearts and that's Cactus to a T. She has written a poignant post about Whale.

Cactus and BustedBlonde may not always condone what Whale has written but I am pretty confident they will remain forever loyal to him.

BB says that what Cactus has written is very true.

You will find it here

with a growing number of comments.

And Kiwiblog has some comments

as does Keeping Stock

And here Cactus's post for you to read as per BustedBlonde instructions .

HoS appears to have been reading the sad plight of my mate and the mate of many bloggers, Whaleoil aka Cameron Slater.

Today is probably the most truthful article yet on Whaleoil because it was written with cut and pasted words from his wife and best mate aka Spanish Bride from his blog.

I've only known Cameron for a few years and all the time I have known him has been under the mantra of Whaleoil. Unlike SB, I have not known him as Cameron, before his spiral into depression.

I don't know all the background of his fight with Fidelity and what led up to his depressive state, because I wasn't there. SB was. She remarks that he was a different man before the events leading to his illness. I believe that now totally.

There is no one else I have ever met quite like Cameron as Whaleoil. His behaviour is outrageous. Friends compared notes and said that this is just him. It is not. What makes me astonished though with Fidelity's conduct is that they do not seem to have at any stage lead him to get help. That is medical help and counselling for rehabilitation. It used to be humourous watching Whaleoil be outrageous. It is now not so fun anymore once everyone has worked out he has a genuine problem.

The answer with Doctors has always been to prescribe more bloody pills. Whaleoil is on more pills than patients at mental homes. I know this because unknown to him I checked his dosage on his pillpackets and asked someone I know who works at an actual mental hospital. He is sedated by a cocktail of these pills which leave him tired, moody and disconnected with the world. When I realised his dosage, I knew the seriousness of the black hole he had fallen into. He's tried to come off the pills, that too has had bad consequences.

I hate pills as a solution for depression. They are not and they are over-prescribed. I hate watching all too many friends zombie around on them. They are not real people while sedated under the latest and greatest profit minded cure to make everyone "happy". The underlying problem still remains and I can't see any joy on being reliant on a pill to be happy, or even stable enough to get out of bed. It takes away the human nature of being happy and sad and managing both states.

Whaleoil does not think consequences, SB has highlighted that all too clearly. He will be fine sitting with you in a bar watching you drink (contrary to popular opinion he does not drink regularly and I've only seen him drunk once) then the slightest irritant across the bar and he will be talking about smacking another person's head in. Change the topic and his attention away and he's forgotten five minutes later of even being angry.

While medicated and unassisted emotionally with any form of therapy, he simply cannot work. The easiest question for doubters that he can be integrated into the workforce for a 40 hour week is this: would you want Whaleoil working in your office? Five minutes with him and any HR representative would instantly dismiss his job application. Fidelity's treatment has turned an otherwise creative, intelligent mind into a zombie who now firmly believes he cannot work. At the moment I am on the side of stating that he cannot.

Whaleoil is a great friend because he cares about his friends, but an unreliable one. That is, even the slightest task you know he may not do it on time. As the reliable party in the relationship you have to organise everything around Whaleoil not being able to perform his part. This frustrates him when he realises what has happened.

Insurance companies are not paid to care. I feel however they are paid to follow contracts and assist their clients back into the workforce so they are not made to rely on payouts. There's no doubt in my mind that Cameron Slater as Whaleoil is one of the most clinically depressed people I have ever met. While the original event leading to this depression may have been minor in the scheme of things Fidelity and the medical professionals who treated him from that point in time have failed miserably and created Whaleoil as we all read him today on his blog.

Fidelity created the monster that is Whaleoil. There is no doubt about that after watching him the past few months. Even when Fidelity were still paying him, the posts were written when he wasn't actually getting better. On a few good days, a Whaleoil post can be brilliantly coherent, well-reasoned and rational. On a bad day a Whaleoil post can be the most offensive thing on the internet.

There is only so much that friends and family can do for Whaleoil. The frustrating thing is that no one can wave a magic wand and make him better. It has gone past that and I've seen everyone try. His close family we can see have tried everything. His wife and kids are amazing in the circumstance, their love is unconditional.

Whaleoil needs serious medical attention from medics without a conflict of interest from working for an insurance company or more medics who border on being criminals in my view - the depression script writers. They should be given Oscars for their script writing abilities. He needs a time out, away from the stresses of modern life getting back to basics of routine and normality. But most of all he needs help and therapy to re-connect with himself, his old self. The one that his wife speaks of but most bloggers would never have seen.

Cameron Slater.

Heard that he is a fucking great bloke.

If Fidelity Insurance found that bloke, I'm sure they would have a case closed and not look like the bunch of cunts they will be made to look like when it is disclosed they haven't done a single thing, other than medication, to try and find him.

Busted reckons that Cactus is on the button.

Saving The Whale

Cactus Kate has written piece in support of legendary blogger Cameron Slater aka Whale Oil.

Cameron has a mental illness and he doesn't hide it. He has blogged extensively about his battle with his insurance company who have cutoff his income protection insurance payments.

Cameron has chronic depression. I don't know Cameron as well as Cactus but I have met him few times, had coffee, chewed the fat. Cameron is a nice guy. As Cactus says he doesn't drink, on the cocktail of drugs he is on you wouldn't want to.

Cameron is clearly depressed and heavily medicated. He is very intelligent, with a wikipedia like knowledge of many topics. He also has the droopy eyelids and facial puffiness that comes with long term use of psychoactive drugs. Cactus says he can be argumentative: whenever I have been with him he is pleasant and rational. There is a world of difference between Cameron Slater and Whale Oil.

Cameron pisses people off. He writes blog posts that on occasions are extremely offensive, even to those who like him. I personally have a problem with his homophobic posts.

I worry about Cameron. I think his campaign to flout name suppression orders and therefore commit contempt of court is stupid. A person with a mental illness ( and a family ) doesn't need any more stress in his life.

I have no idea what Cam's diagnosis is. From what I know about Cameron from my personal conversations with Cam, and talking to his friends, some of the symptoms sound like bipolar affective disorder.

I have read a number of comments in the blogosphere accusing Cameron of being a malingerer. That is ludicrous, why would anyone want to have either chronic depression or bipolar or any other other biological mental illnesses ? Life with is a mental illness is not one you would choose.

I know because I have bipolar affective disorder. It is a real bitch. 15% of people diagnosed with it kill themselves. It destroys marriages, kills careers, breaks up families, obliterates savings. I have had bipolar since I was at intermediate school but was only diagnosed last year at the age of 47.

I know several people with bipolar and everyones story is different. I have people I love so I don't feel comfortable telling my story but here is a story that seems fairly typical of a bipolar life:

If you have been reading bipolar stories you are probably getting used to some common elements like spending sprees and hypersexuality.

I sure hope so because this is still very hard for me to tell people about.

As soon as I started my PhD I discovered online adult chat.

This was far more compelling to me than any PhD research. I was suddenly obsessed with sex yet completely uninterested in my partner. In fact, I was almost always angry about the stupidest things. I fantasized about living alone so that I would have total control over the contents of the fridge and kitchen cupboards.

Any little thing enraged me and my sexual needs were off the chart. Using the need to be online for my PhD research (which conveniently centered on cyberspace) as an excuse, I spent hours having virtual sex with men and women all over the world.

I even travelled internationally to hook up with some of these people, betraying the best partner in the world and squandering thousands of dollars that by rights belonged to both of us.

Out of shame, respect for my ex, and the constraints of good taste I won't go into details, but my sex, spending and travel spree cost me not just a fortune in cash - it cost me my marriage, home and self respect.

Just another train wreck in the many - too many - bipolar stories you can find.

Bipolar-Lives

I have no idea of the ins and outs of Cameron's battle with his insurance company but I do know that the challenge Cameron is facing is real, in fact probably a life and death struggle.

Armageddon Cancelled

World population is expected to reach (a peak of) 9.2 billion by 2050 according to a new study by the United Nations. Virtually all growth will occur in developing countries, with their population growing from 5.4 billion today to 7.9 billion mid-century. The population of developed regions is expected to remain unchanged at 1.2 billion, and would have declined, were it not for the anticipated net migration from developing to developed countries.

Mongabay

Those of us who survived the 1970s will recall that we were all supposed to be dead by now.

In his 1968 book The Population Bomb, Paul Erlich predicted that the human population would increase exponentially, outpacing agricultural growth and causing a grim end to our comfy way of life. Using inappropriate and inaccurate modeling, he predicted that famine and industrial factors would kill most Americans before the turn of the century.

Ironshrink

So what is going to kill off the human race and leave the future of the planet in the hands of some small furry mammals or highly evolved kina ?

My money is on a supervolcano (the closest being in the middle of the North Island):

A supervolcano is a volcano capable of producing a super volcanic eruption, which is a volcanic eruption with ejecta greater than 1,000 cubic kilometers (240 cubic miles), which is thousands of times larger than most historic volcanic eruptions.[1] Supervolcanoes can occur when magma in the Earth rises into the crust from a hotspot but is unable to break through the crust. Pressure builds in a large and growing magma pool until the crust is unable to contain the pressure. They can also form at convergent plate boundaries (for example, Toba) and continental hotspot locations (for example, Yellowstone).

Supervolcano

Flannagan Takes Fork to Spaghetti Monster

Matthew Flannagan of MandM blog is writing an article for the Christian magazine "Investigate" about the "Flying Spaghetti Monster". I assume from the thread on Matthews Facebook status update that in his "Investigate" piece he will be debunking the "Flying Spaghetti Monster"'s attempt to ridicule "Intelligent Design" I am sure he will do an excellent job of that.

Some find that hard to believe, so it may be helpful to tell you a little more about our beliefs. We have evidence that a Flying Spaghetti Monster created the universe. None of us, of course, were around to see it, but we have written accounts of it. We have several lengthy volumes explaining all details of His power. Also, you may be surprised to hear that there are over 10 million of us, and growing. We tend to be very secretive, as many people claim our beliefs are not substantiated by observable evidence.

What these people don’t understand is that He built the world to make us think the earth is older than it really is. For example, a scientist may perform a carbon-dating process on an artifact. He finds that approximately 75% of the Carbon-14 has decayed by electron emission to Nitrogen-14, and infers that this artifact is approximately 10,000 years old, as the half-life of Carbon-14 appears to be 5,730 years. But what our scientist does not realize is that every time he makes a measurement, the Flying Spaghetti Monster is there changing the results with His Noodly Appendage. We have numerous texts that describe in detail how this can be possible and the reasons why He does this. He is of course invisible and can pass through normal matter with ease.

www.venganza.org

The adherents of the FSM faith are asking for equal time for their belief claiming that it has equal weight to the much older and more accepted Christian belief. Do they have a valid point ? I don't know and look forward to reading Matthews argument.

Balance is Good

Tauranga Libricide

The Tauranga City Council plans to introduce a charge of 50 cents for every adult fiction and non-fiction book - a move widely condemned, including by a group of activists calling themselves The Raging Readers.

Bay of Plenty Times

Is Dis Belief

I am being treated for illness that has a 15% fatality rate. That is good because it means that 85% of patients will survive this disease to die of something else. It does however mean that I am always looking for something that will give me an edge.

What I have is an illness of the brain chemistry. When the illness is not kept under control by medication it can feel as if there are demons within me. In 15% of people with this illness those demons lead them to either take their own lives or act in ways that have fatal consequences.

I was seeing my doctor last week , as I do every week, and I asked her how I could get an edge on the disease. My doctor is a Christian and she knows I am an atheist. I guess she is also in a position where she has to be careful not impose her personal beliefs on me.

She asked me if I really wanted to know. I said I did. She asked me again, if I really,really wanted to know. I insisted that I did. She said that I needed to put my life in the hands of Christ.

The following day it was pouring with rain. It was very dark. I walked into a church at the top of the street I had lived in for a decade. It was empty, I walked up the center aisle and sat down on a pew. I sat quietly waiting for Christ to suddenly appear. As far as I could see he did not. I knelt down and did something I have not done for forty years: I prayed. I felt nothing.

I don't know what I was expecting but I am glad I did it. It felt good to give it a go, to look an issue differently. To not be fixed in one point of view. Sitting & then kneeling in a church and praying to an entity that may or may not exist did me no harm at all. Just as considering the viewpoint of AGW deniers does me no harm even if the science indicates that they are wrong.

A Short Story of Misery

BLOG ROUND UP

The best blog of the week has to be from Cactus with her round up of the Crafar mess. Fascinating.

As you may know, I'm a Brunette but I was in hysterics at a very over protective father go into bat for his freckly mini me Ginga boys on Close Up tonight. It was a silly story but great TV. I have never been the subject of ridicule but poor Busted Blonde used to get a fair old ribbing at school for having large breasts. I don't know how she put up with it.

I am missing her terribly... I understand that she has been approached by Wikileaks to work for them. How exciting!!!!

Toodle pip!

FERGIE

Her venal attempt to squeeze some value out of her pompous git of an ex husband has shown that she is a no account big mouthed loser.

It is interesting that some commentators are suggesting that she has been forced to engage in the dark arts simply because she is short of a few hundred thousand quid or so.

It is fairly obvious that the worlds best known Ginga has had a bit of work done. There has to beat least a couple of thousand pounds of botox in that frozen countenance.

So does she get sympathy from me? No way. She is a silly wobbly headed vacuous cow.

BLONDE ON HOLIDAY - BRUNETTE TAKES OVER

Bustedblonde has taken off for a while and left Roarprawn to me - the Brunette and the American Gardener. ( Incidentally I think he has increased the intellectual depth of this blog somewhat. )

So who am I? Well just a citizen of the New Zealand village. I dine out quite a bit and often with Busted and have a good cellar of NZ Pinot Noirs. So I will write about food and wine and leave the brainy stuff to the Gardener.

So today we were quite excited to see that the new but very charming and erudite Jessie Mulligan has linked his blog Auckland Food Blog to Roarprawn as a blog that contains some interesting information and insights on food and dining out in Wellington.

We notice that Jessie has posted Andrew Bisley's Wellington's " Best Of " so we thought we would do the same.


Here are Andrew's picks:

Best Brunch: Maranui

Best BYO Cheap Eat: Curry Heaven (Newtown)

Best Group BYO Cheap Eat: Ban Man Thai (with reusable entertainment card)

Best Café: Floriditas

Best French: Le Canard, Arbritageur

Best Hutt: La Bella Italia

Best (Wgtn) Suburban: The Larder (Miramar)

Best Italian: Maria Pia’s, Vivo

Best Indian: Great India

Best Malay: Serai

Best Dish: Trade Kitchen’s chicken risotto

Best Duck: Manon

Best Fish Tagine: Casablanca

Best Music: Lido (Jazz, pavement-side, summer Sat or Sun)

Best Pizza: Zibibbo

Best Seafood: Ortega Fish Snack Bar (especially crayfish butter sauce)

Best Steak: 88, Ortega Fish Snack Bar

Best Takeaway: Phoenician Falafel

Best Welcome: Ambeli

Best View: The White House, Scorchorama

Most Overrated: Flying Burrito Brothers

And here are ours
Best Brunch: Felix
Best BYO Cheap Eat: Tulsi

Best Group BYO Cheap Eat: Ban Man Thai

Best Café: Floriditas tied with Vista

Best French: Le Metropolitan, La Cunard

Best Italian: Zicos, Bella Italia on the Terrace

Best Indian: Tulsi

Best Chinese - Yangtze

Best Dishes: Duck pie at Zicos (only on request) Paua Ravioli at Logan Brown, Lamb Shanks at Boulcott Street Bistro, Snapper Pie at Arbitrageur

Best Duck - Yangtze

Best Fish -Anything that Franco cooks at Zicos ( let him decide - its always superb) and the Snapper Pie at Arbitrageur.

Best Music: Anything that isn't too loud and I like restaurants that don't play " doof doof" music.

Best Pizza: Scopa

Best Seafood: Fresh Bluff oysters
Best Yum cha - the Eastern Sunrise on Lower Tory St.

Best Steak: Boulcott Street Bistro

Best Takeaway: Daniels Kebabs on the Terrace,
Best Sushi - Blowfish on the Terrace

Best Welcome: Jo ex D4 now Green Man
Best Pub - Green man ( because Jo is there - however the food is nothing great).

Best View: Bach Cafe South Coast
Best coffee - Mixed Business on the Terrace

Most Overrated: Shed 5. ( food is too inconsistent)

Most Crazy good for no real reason but its cheap - Long Bar ( Malay).

What are we waiting for ?

In February, Microsoft’s Bill Gates went public about investing tens of millions of dollars into innovative reactor designs as part of his philanthropic quest for energy miracles. Then, a week later, US President Barack Obama announced that the US Government would back over $US8 billion ($A8.64 billion) in loans for nuclear power plants, the first new ones to be built since the 1979 Three Mile Island disaster, as part of a planned $US54.5 billion ($A58.9 billion) nuclear kick-start programme.

Epoch Times

BANGKOK—Choices are rapidly dwindling if you want to live in a nuclear-free country in the East Asia-Pacific Rim region.

New Zealand, Cambodia, Laos and Brunei are your options—everywhere else is either operating, researching or planning nuclear power.

While the Western countries that first embraced nuclear energy are now hand-ringing over the issue because of safety worries, Asia is planning massive development of the controversial fuel source. It’s seen by an increasing number of countries as the only way to meet mushrooming electricity demand and limit or reduce pollution blamed for global warming.

Climate change is forecast by environmental scientists as likely to cause more devastation affecting more people in Asia than anywhere else on Earth.

The Irrawaddy

Nuclear power has many benefits for producing energy from nuclear reactors. Environmentally nuclear energy's impact is very little. The power generated from nuclear power, which is a green energy, does not contribute any emissions to the atmosphere while other types of fossil fuels generate greenhouse gasses and poisonous elements which can lead to ozone problems, acid rain, and global warming. Nuclear power is relatively inexpensive compared with other types of energy. Uranium, which is the raw fuel, is less expensive than oil, natural gas, or coal. Therefore because nuclear power in inexpensive it generates into lower electricity costs for consumers. Nuclear power is a reliable source of power as nuclear power plants produce large amounts of power on a consistent basis. Therefore there are viable reasons to using nuclear power.

Green Energy Help Files

Uranium is present at an abundance 2 - 3 parts per million in the Earth's crust which is about 600 times greater than gold and about the same as tin. The amount of Uranium that is available is mostly a measure of the price that we're willing to pay for it. At present the cost of Natural Uranium ($165 per kg) is a small component in the price of electricity generated by Nuclear Power. At a price of $US110 per kg the known reserves amount to about 85 years supply at the current level of consumption with an expected further 500 years supply in additional or speculative reserves. The price of Uranium would have to increase by over a factor of 3 before it would have an impact of the cost of electricity generated from Nuclear Power. Such a price rise would stimulate a substantial increase in exploration activities with a consequent increase in the size of the resource (as has been the case with every other mineral of value). The price of Uranium rose to a peak of over 300/kg in 2007 but has since declined to $165 by early 2008.. The world reserves of Uranium have increased by around 50% since the end of 2003.

However advanced technologies are being developed which are far more efficient in their use of Uranium or which utilize Thorium which is 3 times more abundant than Uranium. If perfected these technologies can make use of both the spent fuel from current nuclear reactors and the depleted Uranium stocks used for enrichment. Taken together these provide enough fuel for many centuries of energy production. This will mitigate the demand for newly mined Uranium.

Nuclear Info

Deborah Hill Cone divorces Facebook

Deborah Hill Cone announced her departure from Facebook in todays Business Herald. Two weeks ago she was advocating it.

I know how she feels. I have an ambivalent relationship with Facebook. I have gone from doing several updates a day to doing barely 1 update a week. I am considering another friend purge to reduce it from my current 27. There are probably five that I interact with on a regular basis.

A couple of weeks ago I got tired of regular status updates promoting a nasty little Facebook group attacking a media personality. I have no idea of the rights and wrongs of what was being said but I didn't want it appearing in my stream. Being forced to read words that I found vulgar and unpleasant.

I have a similar relationship with blogging. There is stuff that I read on blogs that I know is blatantly hypocritical. Public figures being lampooned and criticized for behavior that the bloggers themselves have engaged in. Or bloggers representing themselves in one way when the truth is very different.

Facebook and blogging are harmless pursuits for 99% of those who engage in them. For a few people they are as dangerous and damaging as any addiction.

Gnome King of Epsom & The Hundred Years Winter

The views expressed below are those of the American Gardener and not the Busted Blonde. BB's credentials remain intact on this issue :-)

With all the teeth gnashing by the troll lords & cetacean masters of middle earth deprecating Nationals intention to proceed with the ETS we thought we would take a look at the policies of the various political parties on anthropogenic global warming.

A quick flick through www.policy.net.nz appears to indicate that all the political parties except one accept the science of AGW. They have different ideas about what to do about it but they all appear to accept that somethings needs to be done. ACT Party Climate Change Policy reads a little like something Glen Beck or our own Garth George might have written.

Does it not, seem rather unlikely that the majority of our politicians and all their advisors have been misled by some global conspiracy ?

So what exactly is the Gnome King of Epsom proposing to do about global warming ? Has he cozied up to the White Witch and done an under the covers deal to freeze Narnia and magically reverse anthropogenic global warming ? Act certainly seems out of step with the other major parties by denying that anthropogenic global warming is happening.

Of course there are some other solutions we can take after the consequences have occurred:

Global warming art breaks loose

A iceberg in Greenland carrying a sculpture installed by Dutch artist Ap Verheggen has just broken loose.

DISCLAIMER

This woman is not a relation of Busted Blonde . We just felt the need to set that straight...

FOR THE DAFFY DUCK

Morning Trev.....

FOR TREVOR MALLARD

Question time was hilarious today as John Key reduced  the status of Trevor  Mallard to dork.  He called him a sensitive little daffodil... Then Mallard got all pissy with the speaker and got biffed out of the chamber and he disappeared out the door like a spoilt kid.  Ya know the ones who do the blubbery bottom lip thing. 

 like this... 

So the poems for Trev..  

I wandered lonely as a cloud

Best reality TV show on offer

Wellington AKA ?

A post by David Farrar has got us wondering: if Wellington was a blogger, what would it's pseudonym be ?

HAMMING IT UP

Wow, we have never been all that jealous of the PM and his goldfish bowl existence but we were today when we found out he had been given the worlds finest ham.   Iberico bellota ham
Crikey. We are greener than Kermit.

What we would do for a slice of that.  Actually we think a lot of people would like a slice of that and pay good money for it..  Could be a bloody good fundraiser

We would even consider swapping one of our prized bucket of muttonbirds for it.. 

Go on John  - its a good swap and we reckon our bucket of muttonbirds would be a bloody good peace offering for those sulky miffed Tuhoe up there in the mist.  We will even help ya cook the birds if you swap us that ham. 

True. 

WE ARE WITH THEM

We love most of what the National government is doing but we dont love the ETS.
And it appears either do a lot of Nats. 

Its crap. simple. Really dumb. We hate it.  We want that on the record. And we want it known that we think its the dumbest idea since well, this for starters...



anyone got a better dumbest idea?

CLUSTER FLIES - A PLAGUE ON OUR HOUSE

Things were all astir  on Terraceville this morning as the txts began flying -   there was a wee bit of an incident on the Hill that had caused the polys  to depart the roundhouse. 

Seems that a suspicious package had turned up and purported to be a bomb. It now appears that it was full of  live cluster flies. The revelation nearly made us fall off our taxpayer  funded tilt five ways chair. The horror of it!

Cluster flies are the things that will be left when Global Warming goes bad... They are even worse than cockroaches - you can squash cockroaches. Not so the cluster fly fuckers...  They are the most insidious insect - they appear half dead but seem to operate collectively ( Socialist flies!!!)  and  they  gather in great big swarms and  they love the Wairarapa.

The will fly into you and have no fear. Despite their low geared flight they are quicker than a hummingbird at getting past a swat. And their low grade hum eats at your brain.

One wonders what David Carter did to incur such wrath as they are truly a plague for this decade.
Maybe they are some insidious plot by Labour  to infiltrate the Beehive  and are in fact flying  nanobots.

Bring back DDT we say  - fast......

Moby Dick Lies With The White Witch

David Farrar has a thread about a Kawerau man charged with covertly filming a tenant in their bedroom. Here is a typical comment on the thread:
mikeysmokes (136) Says:

May 16th, 2010 at 2:21 pm
Thats fucking dodgy. Is this guy suggesting that as a “red blooded male” what he did was ok? I reckon he should go for a skate for that.

The moral outrage is running high and presumably the authors are morally squeaky clean in their own behavior (ignoring moral relativism). Similar moral outrage was expressed on the NZ blogosphere when Tiger Woods was outed for being a serial adulterer. Two NZ politicians in particular are targets of an Ahabian quest to expose their alleged infidelities. It often appears that moral outrage is often accompanied by a prurient interest in the events being disapproved of.

Undeniably there are many serpents living the dark places of the world. We do wonder if perhaps some of those serpents lie frozen within those who are most willing to call to account the worms within others. In reality Moby Dick lies down with the White Witch and both feast upon the Tigerpig.

Psychological projection or projection bias (including Freudian Projection) is the unconscious act of denial of a person's own attributes, thoughts, and emotions, which are then ascribed to the outside world, such as to the weather, the government, a tool, or to other people. Thus, it involves imagining or projecting that others have those feelings.

Projection is considered one of the most profound and subtle of human psychological processes, and extremely difficult to work with, because by its nature it is hidden. It is the fundamental mechanism by which we keep ourselves uninformed about ourselves. Humor has great value in any attempt to work with projection, because humor presents a forgiving posture and thereby removes the threatening nature of any inquiry into the truth.

Paleo-anthropologically speaking, this faculty probably had survival value as a self-defense mechanism when homo sapiens' intellectual capacity to detect deception in others improved to the point that the only sure hope to deceive was for deceivers to be self-deceived and therefore behave as if they were being truthful.

One modern, radical view of projections is that they are prerequisites for normal social functioning. Persons incapable of ascribing their own feelings to themselves have great difficulties in understanding them. Unfortunately, human beings have done great harm laboring under the delusions of projection. This is especially true for historical cases of projection between ethnic or cultural groups, for example in Apartheid or Nazism.

In classical psychology, projection is always seen as a defense mechanism that occurs when a person's own unacceptable or threatening feelings are repressed and then attributed to someone else. Wikipedia

SHAKING THE TREE

We have only been back from the Titi Islands for a week. And we have had quite a bit of traffic.  The Mistressology saga  has proved very popular.


However it is this post that has caused the most angst in a couple of circles. It was on the button. People got very, very angry about it. Some were gobsmacked that we had the good oil on the fact that a couple of tribes had managed to derail a deal which would have seen the end of the Foreshore and Seabed Act.

We will keep you posted. 

TELL IT LIKE IT IS

We think that this is a great idea. Someone has hit on the idea of using Marae to host cultural accomodation packages for the 2011 Rugby  World Cup. They story reads great until they suggest that they are not in it to make money. What is the shame in saying that they are in it for the money? None. Its a great idea with potential to provide short term employment and works experience as well as some cash flow for some cash strapped marae. So making money is good.

 Tanenui said some marae stood to earn $100,000 from the plan, but their main motivation was to offer overseas guests some Maori hospitality.

If I was still on our Marae committee in Bluff I would be dead keen to have the community involved.

So all you Marae commiittee members out there  - get into it - host some tourists  - show them a hell of a time and make some money well you are at it.
UPDATE :  Cactus has a another take on this story..

BLOGGER BUDDIES

Wow, we posted on an attack on Roarprawn over the use of the word Mistressology. We came out fighting  but so did the rest of the NZ blogosphere.  Thanks to Whaleoil    Cactus  who will put the fear of death into the poor woman , Motella, bless his cotton sheets ,   the effervescent Home Paddock  and the lovely boys at No Minister for backing    us up..  And all the lawyers who offered us support and advice.

However we are a bit miffed at being called large by Whale Oil - we would have preferred  biggish... and after two weeks running around an island every  night for 5 hours up hill and down dale we are a little less biggish.

Here's a very old photo of someone we all love and know well  who is doing what Whale said.  Just to show that its for real like.... 

 So in tribute to the fine work of the NZ blogosphere  we will write about mistressology  when the mood takes us .

And real mistressology  not some new age cosmic get in touch with your aura  pommie clap trap.

ROARPRAWN ACCUSED OF PIRACY

A while back we wrote a bit of a humourous post on the ups and downs of being a mistress on the back of the Tiger Woods  scandal. We called the post Mistressology. Like as in the study of Mistresses , like Astrology, Philosophy, proctology etc

We received some good comments at the time.Especially from women.

Then we came back from our cultural sojourn to find this in our inbox

Dear Sir/Madam,
Re: http://roarprawn.blogspot.com/2010/04/mistressology.html

My name is Ms. Kala Elliott and I am the owner of the Trademark 'Mistressology'. The application was made last year on my behalf by my UK patent agent Kingsly and Talboys who have been my agents for many years. I am the author of the forthcoming book entitled Mistressology and am requesting that you please change the title of your post so the public do not confuse my work with yours. I have already reported this matter to blogspot.com

I appreciate your co-operation and would appreciate your response.

Sincerely,

Kala Elliott
http://mistressology.wordpress.com/

Well we consulted some mates who suggested that we ignore it. One proferred that if the woman was serious we would have got a lawyers letter. 

So we did ignore it. 

Then last night we got this  slightly more insistent email demanding we remove the post. 

Dear Networked Blogs 

Re: Copyright Infringement of My Trademark

My name is Kala Elliott and I am the owner of the Trademark 'Mistressology'.

There is a blogger by the name of BustedBlonde using my trademark on her blog which is inked to your network. Here is the location of the infringement:
http://roarprawn.blogspot.com/2010/04/mistressology.html

I have emailed her/him informing her/him of the situation but have not had a reply.

The application for this mark was made on 19th Feb 2009 on my behalf by my attorneys Lockhart and Hastings and was granted. L&H can be contacted below for further verification of this:
LOCKHART & HASTINGS
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTIES CONSULTANTS
TRADE MARKS, DESIGNS & PATENTS                       1 LOCKHART STREET
LONDON E3 4BL
Tel.         05603 122 853 / 07968 845 426
e-mail   lockharthastings@btconnect.com

I am the author of the forthcoming book entitled Mistressology as well as the blog: mistressology.wordpress.com and am requesting that the infringing blog be removed with immediate effect until the name of it is changed.

I have also reported this matter to Blogger.com and Google.

I anticipate your response.

Ms. Kala Elliott 

And she has also emailed this  which she defines the blog as piracy and abuse!

Trademark has left a new comment on your post "MISTRESSOLOGY":

Dear Sir/Madam,
Re: Copyright Infringement/Mistressology

My name is K Elliott and I am the owner of the Trademark 'Mistressology'. The application for this mark was made on 19th Feb 2009 on my behalf by my attorneys Lockhart and Hastings who may be contacted for verification.

I am the author of the forthcoming book entitled Mistressology and am requesting that you change the title of your post so the public do not confuse my work with yours. I have today reported this matter to blogger.com (piracy and abuse).

I appreciate in advance your co-operation

Sincerely,
K. Elliot
Mistressology (c)

We were struggling to understand why Ms Elliot had her knickers in a twist.  It appears that  when you plonk the word Mistressology in google  - it goes to my post on Mistressology and not her  blog .

mistressology

Advanced search

About 1,240 results (0.20 seconds) 

Search Results

1. 
   

   roarprawn: MISTRESSOLOGY

   
   
   6 Apr 2010 ... Final rule of mistressology - it will end in tears sooner or later - relationships on any level based on betrayal and lies are always doomed ...
   roarprawn.blogspot.com/2010/04/mistressology.html - Cached
2. 
   

   Intellectual Property Office - Electronic Trade Mark Journal - UK ...

   
   
   Mistressology mistressology. Application for a series of three marks. Class 25. Clothing, footwear, headgear. ... Kala Alexandria Elliott t/a Mistressology ...
   www.ipo.gov.uk/types/tm/t-os/t-tmj/journals/.../2508130.html - Cached
3. The Acrobat « Mistressology

   Mistressology. A womans guide to self empowerment, life, health and universal love ... Filed under: Poetry — mistressology @ 10:07 pm ...

   mistressology.wordpress.com/2010/03/07/the-acrobat/ - Cached

   
   
    
   So we will do  - nothing.  Interesting there is no use of  the copyright symbol or the trademark symbol  on her blog which is standard practice if you have gone to the expense of tradmarking something. We have used the word as a descriptor in a title of a post in a iddy biddy blog  a world away from Mistressology and her interesting take on gender politics. Hardly worth calling in the legal beagles. She would be better to hire a socail media/internet expert to show her how to get better profile on the net. 
   
   
   
   
   
    
   
   
   
   
   
   

OUCH!

We fell about laughing when we read this bit in the Herald today...

Mr Kruger who is leading the negotiations with the Crown said the politics around ownership should never have surprised Mr Key. Not only did the tribe meet with him to discuss it but the PM is the also the chairman of the Cabinet Committee on Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations.
That's the committee which vets proposals before it goes to a full cabinet meeting.The last time the deal was put to the committee was in mid-March, he said.
"In that proposal is ownership [of Te Urewera] - what, you're the chair and you've never heard of this before?
"We had our one go up twice and get the big tick.

"Well, either he doesn't read his minutes ... some of my marae committee members are like that. You know, when I have a hapu hui some of my uncles and aunties don't bother read the minutes they just tell me to hurry up so they can get to the biscuits and tea

It is a very fine example of a Maori put down.  However we think that Kruger  is playing a dangerous game and at the end of the day this government offers them the best chance at a decent and speedy resolution to their grieveances.

Now even Ngai Tahu didnt get all it wanted in the settlement. We, in the south, wanted Codfish Island. But there was no way that the Government of the day was going to give one of the great conservation jewels to the tribe. We got the windswept and barren Centre Island instead and incidently the Foreshore and seabed around it.

So its in Tuhoe's best interests now that they have had their bit of fun to get back to negotiating a deal with National.


Krugers comments remind me of one of the great and subtle Minsterial kneecapping I was ever party to.

This particular Minister arrived on the Marae for a meeting with the tribal elders. The Upopko ( chief ) was a wily bugger ..

Anyway he sat and listened to the Minister go on and on and on about what he wanted and what he would do and what he wouldn't do. He was on transmit only.  We were really embarrassed.

The chief just sat there and at the end of the Ministers diatribe he turned to me and gave me a subtle  wink.

Then he  stood and said to the Minister...


" Thank you for taking the time to come and visit us and tell us your thoughts. I have seen the man many times on TV and  it is nice to finally  meet the boy."

I could barely contain myself - the Minister just blithely carried on yabbering, unaware that he had been slighted.  The chief gave me another sly wink.

Poetry it was  - poetry.

TAU STUBS OUT CHANCE OF EARLY DEAL ON FORESHORE AND SEABEDBED

The Kumara vine has been pulsing this  afternoon. Our Maori sources say that a very recent meeting between Iwi and the Prime Minister John Key came perilously close to reaching a conclusion on the Foreshore and Seabed issue.

Apparently it was all good to go until Sonny Tau backed by Mark Solomon presented a set of demands that derailed the deal.  Now, while most Maori see the repeal of the Foreshore and Seabed Act as paving  they way for them to make claims for customary title, there is concern that some tribes ( put Ngai Tahu at the top of the list ) are more interested in using the negotiations to leverage mineral rights.

So the primary issue about Tikanga ( traditional ways)  -  is playing second fiddle to greed.  Principles are the first casualty.

Meanwhile, our Ngai Tahu sources say that Dr Gail Tipa's appointment to Te Runanga O Ngai Tahu board  on behalf of Moeraki means that Solomons support is further eroded. While she does not play personality politics she wont stand for any silliness either. Solomon - is still valiantly trying to hold off the day when his runaka get the chance to vote on his fate.

The rest of the iwi throughout the country  and a fair stack of  Ngai Tahu reckon that the sooner Solomon's reign is brought to an end the better for the tribe and indeed all Maori.

WHITE MEN DON'T ROAST.

We think that John Keys attempt at  humour  by suggesting that he was likely to end up as part of menu if he was  dining with Tuhoe was funny. It came on the back of his unilateral decision to publicly state that Tuhoe would not get ownership of the Urewera National Park.

It's the sort of  self effacing humour that is so common among Maori - its  a part of  their verbal diet.

However we can also understand why Tuhoe didn't see the funny side of it. Its because Key chomped on their mana over the ownership of the Ureweras. So  Key's statement give them a springboard to   express outrage and hurt at the allusion they were cannibals.

We think Key  had no choice re the Park ownership. however he could have done it with a little bit more sensitivity.

We think  Co- management would have been a fine option  but the reality is that  if Tuhoe did not sign the Treaty, its hard to see how they can claim a treaty breach.

That being said they have been seriously dicked by the Government over the years. 

And as one Maori strategist suggested  to Roarprawn today -  the   " Tuhoe will not get their mitts on Urewera " declaration by Key had really come about because Tuhoe got all skitey about the ownership of the Park being  a go-er.

They over egged the issue and it became a source of real concern to middle New Zealand before both sides had a chance to sell the idea to the public.

So in reality the only thing that Tuhoe should be eating is humble pie for being loud mouth big swinging dicks.

If they had shut up,  they could have ended up with ownership  of the Park,  with the proviso that there would be full and unfettered rights of access to  the NZ   public  and  continued management by DOC and the tribe.

Sadly now because of their big gobs  - its not a runner.

A HARD DAY AT THE OFFICE

A mate sent us this -  the southern oceans at their raw and powerful best......   Next time you think you pay too much for fish  - remember these pics.

BLACK DAY FOR BLACK POWER.

As our nation reels from the news that a little four year old boy  was attacked in Whakatane  for wearing a red tee shirt by a Black Power wannabe ( read prospect), we  are more incensed by the response from Black Power.

The abuse of the four-year-old, as his father's back was turned, is the latest of several violent gang "colours" incidents. It has sparked outrage within gang circles and from the police minister.
The little boy was screamed at, prodded, then had his shirt ripped off him as he played in Whakatane's Cutler Crescent reserve about 3.30pm last Thursday.
The street is home to many blue colour-coded Black Power members. The rival Mongrel Mob's colours are red.

Firstly one of the local leaders ( read bully and thug) says they are keeping a look out for the perpetrator and they will deal to him.

"We are not happy with this. We are keeping a watch out for the guy. If he is found we will give him a good clouting." 

Wrong , wrong , wrong.

It is not up to the gang to be police. It is not up to them to perpetuate the cycle of violence. It is not for them exercise any form of jungle justice.

It is for them to find the cowardly  thug who beats a four year old up for wearing a red shirt and turn him over to the authorities so that those who have the responsibility for law and order can administer it. This thug should be treated as any other young thug. That its not okay.

If he receives a " clouting " from Black Power then all that does is cement  Black Power's authority and diminishes the authority of the police and court system.

Black Power leaders say they are trying to change the gang culture from within but their response to this incident puts pay to that lie.

We are also extremely saddened by the response of   acknowledged gang advocate  Denis O'Reilly  as well. While admitting that this heinous act is beyond the pale for even hardened gangsters  he is still worried about the " shame "  that it will bring to the gang.

The only shame that Black Power should feel is that none of them have the balls to turn this violent bully over to the authorities for him to face the full   force of the law. By doing that the gang would show their followers that they do have some respect for the judiciary and that they acknowledge that it is not their place to play vigilantes.

It is up to people like Denis to say that the gang will bring the coward to the police. That what he has done is not acceptable. That they have respect for our law and order system that the rest of us abide by. 

Simply put - their response shows Black Power still  think like criminals and act like criminals. 

Until then they only deserve contempt from the rest of us. 

FEATHERS FLY -

We have had about a dozen emails and texts today asking if  we were involved in the stabbing on  the muttonbird islands on Monday. A bloke ( yes we know who he is ) was stabbed by another bloke ( and we know him as well and we dont like him. ) 


Guns  and often alcohol are banned on most islands. But as knives are pretty integral to the processing of the birds  - its no surprise  that they would be used as weapons in an argument. The island where the altercation occurred is about an hours journey by boat from our island.

It was apparently an argument about muttonbirds.  We laughed out loud at this statement by an Invercargill copper.

He was flown directly to Southland Hospital where he underwent surgery and was expected to be released today, said Detective Dougall Henderson of Invercargill police.

Access to the isolated islands is restricted to Rakiura Maori, who harvest muttonbirds - also known as sooty shearwaters - there, but police were granted clearance to fly to the island and a boning knife was recovered, he said.

A 49-year-old man was arrested and now faces serious assault charges.

The men had been muttonbirding together, but had a falling out over birds.

"Muttonbirds, not the other type," Mr Henderson said.

Hell, over the years  birders have fought over boundaries, catches, and just for the hell of it -   but women??? Nah. Never.


It will be interesting if the prize  wanker who was arrested will be allowed back on the island.

Irony

The Vatican yesterday issued a new document that denounces same-sex marriage, abortion and in vitro fertilization, and says the "natural institution of marriage" of a woman to a man faces unprecedented threats.

http://www.catholicsinpubliclife.org

Ironic then that:

Lazzaro Spallanzani (10 January 1729 – 12 February 1799)

Spallanzani was a Catholic

He also discovered and described animal (mammal) reproduction, showing that it requires both semen and an ovum. He was the first to perform in vitro fertilization, with frogs, and an artificial insemination, using a dog.

ODD STUFF

Does anyone else think that the leader of the Brits Conservative Party  David Cameron  (left and the leader of the Lib Dems  Nick Clegg  (right) may have the same mother?  And if they didn't then they must at least have the same father.

Now we are all for the Conservatives being in charge but
both of these boys dont inspire much confidence. They are the sort of wet behind the ears, fluffy bummed, limp dick sort of men that leave us cold.  The fact that they are pussying around and not getting on with the job of forming a government would indicate we are on the money..  Britian needs balls, but  it looks like these two still have theirs hiding behind their  kidneys..

JESUS WEPT - SCALES , WHALES AND A DOCTOR IN THE HOUSE

Well the  Public Relations Instititute of NZ  Fellows - have a job ahead of them this year.

The nominations for  2010 Communicator of the Year are
Judge Andrew Becroft
Glynn Cardy  - Mr Jesus Billboards
Dr Lockwood Smith - the wise and benevolent standard setter for parliamentary behaviour
and Whaling issues supremo  Glenn Inwood.


We think if its down to who has changed public opinions the most  - its Glenn. Simply because a few years ago Everyone loved the anti whaling lobby and no-one loved the Japanese but  public opinion has shifted and more and more people see the anti whalers as grandstanding  wankers who are only concerned about getting the public to fund their boys own piratical fantasies.

And a few years ago we didnt think that this was possible so strong was the anti whaling sentiment - however as a  poll in The Australian showed - more people think the protesters were at fault re the Ady Gil incident.

Results: Whaling showdown

Who do you think is to blame for the collision between a Japanese whaling ship and Sea Shepherd protest boat?

• Whalers 47.06% (1327 votes)
• Protesters 52.94% (1493 votes)

Total votes: 2820

 And there are other opinion polls that have shown a considerable shift of support for the Japanese. 

So we dont think that the " PRINZ  Fellows" will have the balls to vote Glen as the communicator of the year but as far as  a long running PR campaign that has successfully shifted an enormous weight of public opinion -  Glenn wins hands down. 

However we do  think that all nominees are worthy recipients. 

Cardy for poking sacred cows.

Becroft for shedding  light on a dark world
And Lockwood for showing us all that MP's when treated like naughty school children can play nicely in the political sandpit if they are guided the right way.

( Note  BB is a member of Prinz but  did not nominate anyone)