Are you the bastards that sell Babybel chees in small packages? If so, I have a major complaint! I bought a package OF YOUR CHEESE and it had this funny liitle package inside that looked liked cheese but wasn't cheese at all - what a rip-off!!!!!!!!! You should be horsewhipped and castrated for such deceit and coniving behaviour - you bastaRDS!!Hello, my name is David Pannett. I run the ickle.org website. As per your request, this letter is now on my website. I thank you.[Name withheld]
Now I dare you to identify yourselves and put this on yoyur Website!
‹ 30.11.02 / 0 comment(s) ›
Guess who's coming to dinner?
‹ 30.11.02
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Rummaging through the health regulations the other day over at legislation.govt.nz (a brilliant resource by the way), I stumbled across this little beauty: the Health (Hairdressers) Regulations 1980. So if you ever need to get your hair cut in New Zealand, be on the look out for the following (amongst others) ...
- The floor of that part of the service area where hair is cut or cleansed, and any area of wall or ceiling that is likely to be wetted or fouled, shall be surfaced with a smooth, durable material that is impervious to water.
- In every part of the shop, the overall light intensity shall be not less than 100 lux at a point 800mm above the floor.
- All lighting shall be reasonably free from glare and distributed so as to avoid shadows.
- In every room in which customers are attended to, there shall be a floor area of at least 2.3 square metres for each customer who can be attended to at the same time as any other customer.
- Every shop shall at all times be kept in good repair, clean, and free from rubbish, foul odours, vermin, and insects.
Consider yourselves informed.
‹ 29.11.02
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Happy Thanksgiving to all my American chums! Our lovely and über-generous American neighbour Catherine shouted Kyle and myself out for a tasty slap-up feed on Oriental Bay last night ... we all rolled out stuffed to the hilt and had to promptly retire to our respective flats for a cup of tea and a bit of a lie down. For those of you not in the mood to party, you could always turn your hand to "Thank God We Got Rid of That Gang of Tall-Hatted Religious Nutters Day", as advocated by Dan via Meg. Sounds like as good an excuse as any to break out that big silver buckle I've been holding onto all these years.
‹ 29.11.02
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I've now recovered sufficiently from last weekend to talk about it ... and what a good one it was! Saturday saw the first gorgeous day in Wellington for what seemed like forever so I took a leisurely walk up town with Kyle for a spot of lunch and some hardcore shopping. At the end of the day I'd ended up with two new shirts, a new pair of jeans and some ever-so-chic new shoes so I was more than pleased with my efforts (even though my bank manager won't be).
Later that evening we trekked over to Thorndon for the House of A.R.T.'s (that's Anna, Rose and Tina ... or Todd, Herb and Aaron to the uninitiated) flatwarming for beverages, nibbly bits and a right gay old time. Ex-Dunedin club night proprietors Stan and Steve also put in an appearance which was great - we caught up on the good old days and swapped travel stories ... good times. Sadly, they're now traipsing out of Wellington for the pastoral bliss of Kerikeri - our loss is definitely its gain.
After being growled at by the noise police (the stereo was okay apparently ... our voices were not) we decamped to town and hit the "Bent" party at the Pacific Crystal Palace - one of those cool olde round wooden danse palais with booths, mirrors and chandeliers aplenty. Wonderful venue - pity about the DJ ... not quite up to par so we split early and headed for Pound to dance what was left of the night away.
The obligatory hangover was satisfactorily nursed through Sunday before we moseyed back to Pound again in the evening for the Chrissy Witiko Benefit gig. Chrissy ran the Evergreen Coffee Lounge for years and years and recently passed away - though I never met her, it was fascinating to hear about her over the course of the night, from those who loved and knew her. "Special tea" was also served from enormous teapots on each table - apparently that was what you asked for in the Evergreen if you felt like something stronger and, it being unlicensed, of course, what you got in return was a rather hefty bourbon and coke. Sneaky!
The evening's entertainment consisted of more drag that you could shake a majorette's baton at - in every shape, colour and besequinned frock imaginable. Herb's evil twin sister, Miss Rose Sachet, clawed her way out for the evening and belted out that Dickson/Paige power ballad classic "I Know Him So Well", with a little help from a friend:
 Ms Phillipa Hole (aka Mal, Pound's owner) and Miss Rose Sachet burn up the stage |
She also treated us to that old torch "Somewhere Over The Rainbow", Barbra-stylee, with glitter-filled balloons and everymathing ... mwahvellous! So, a great night was had by all - lots of laughs mixed in with a few tears, classic tunes, good drag and a healthy dose of special tea. Here's to you Chrissy.
‹ 28.11.02
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Time reveals 2002's best inventions: forget Bluetooth ... check out phone tooth! No more soggy sweaters with Teflon-enhanced ultra-cashmere! What'll they think of next, I ask you?
‹ 24.11.02
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It's fun when you can say you've been to a galaxy far far away and not that long long ago either. First of all there's that stunning resemblance the Jedi Library has to the Long Room in Trinity College's Old Library in Dublin. You can read all about it here. While we never made it inside when we visited the College back in January 2001, the exterior and courtyard looked amazing blanketed under a light dusting of snow:
Mr Lucas also decided to pay a quick trip to Seville while filming Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones. When Anakin and Padmé arrive on Naboo after going to hiding, their first port of call is the real life Plaza de España, built for the Iberian/American World's Fair in 1929:
It's a beautiful old building, set across a moat of sorts and surrounded by fantastic mosaics, each one representing a separate region of Spain. I managed to take a good look at most of them before the sweltering heat drove me to the shade once more ... an absolutely magical spot in the city and well worth your time if you're ever there.
‹ 17.11.02
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Apparently, this is what happens when you buy Bacardi Breezers and the like in rural Australia:
‹ 17.11.02 / 0 comment(s) ›
For a "simple one time cost of $10 per message", Messages From The Grave will deliver missives to those you love (or love to hate) after you've shuffled off this mortal coil. Another fine product from the enterprising people of Christchurch!
‹ 13.11.02
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I've been studiously avoiding Wild Weather on One (even the prospect of a mostly naked Donal MacIntyre couldn't prompt me to watch something educational at this point) but the power of the weather never ceases to amaze me, especially since moving to Wellington. Now, as certain English folks will remember, I tended to grizzle occasionally about the weather London while I was there - its constant mood-swinging, four-seasons-in-a-day propensities and general erraticism lend to many a drenching over the couple of years I called that great city home. But honeys, London ain't got nuthin' on our nation's capital.
Take today for example. A beautiful morning ... 14° on the way to work. Lunch time? Still very pleasant, but now with an energetic breeze? Five o'clock? Large fat drops bashing into the windows at the office. Oh dear. Six o'clock? The rain breaks long enough for me to dash to the supermarket ... come out, it's raining again. One cigarette later and it's stopped. Five minutes down the street and it's started again. Make it just in time's nick to the bus shelter and the heaviest torrent I've seen for I don't know how long descends from the heavens, completely and utterly drowning all who are attempting, in vain I might add, to flee it. And then the hail starts. A lot of hail. The gutters are overflowing with the stuff. I get on the bus and as it turns the corner, there's a bright flash. "Oh, it must be the electrics", I thought (they've trolley buses here) but the eardrum-shatteringly loud crack of thunder that followed it mere seconds later disproved that theory.
Fifteen minutes later and I'm off the bus ... the sky is still as grey as an elephant's armpit but the rain has stopped. Huh. It's just your typical late-spring day down on the backside of this little blue globe.
‹ 11.11.02
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Feel like getting proactive with all that fucking spam you get? Then forward the whole kit and caboodle to uce@ftc.gov and those lovely folks at the Federal Trade Commission will file it away for future reference ... along with the other 20,000,000 pieces of crapmail they've received in their in-box since 1998. [more]
‹ 10.11.02
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From the "worthy human endeavour" department:
"Fifty to ninety percent of the world's languages are predicted to disappear in the next century, according to the The Rosetta Project, a collaborative, open-source endeavor by language specialists and native speakers around the world who are creating a "near permanent" archive of the world's languages." [Wired News: 04/11/02]Not only is this a wonderful idea, it's also being implemented in fantastic way. What futuristic digital medium would you store data on all the world's languages on, if you wanted it to be read in a hundred or even a thousand years time? Obviously, you wouldn't go digital at all ... you'd etch it in teeny-tiny printing on a three-inch nickel disk. That way, those future humans will only need a 1000x microscope to read it. Now that's thinking.
‹ 10.11.02 / 0 comment(s) ›
So some enterprising soul down in Wanaka decided to open a booze shop and call it ... "Betty Ford Liquor". And there's a whole lot of knickers currently working themselves into a twist, as you might imagine.
‹ 6.11.02
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Last night, the fair citizens of Wellington were treated to a fantastic fireworks display, all in honour of that bloke who attempted to blow up the English Parliament nearly four hundred years ago. One of the nice things about living on the fourth floor of a Mt Victoria flat block is that you get great views down to the harbour and that, my friends, was where it was all happening:
The whole thing was pretty well done really ... bang on nine o'clock, a helicopter swept round the Mount and into view, towing a big glowing pyrotechnic halo as it did so. Then the main show kicked off and lasted a good fifteen minutes, with a soundtrack being simulcast on a few of the local radio stations. Synchronicity is indeed a marvellous thing. Oh, and I managed to take a quick clip (300K) of the thing too so you can have look-see for yourselves.
‹ 6.11.02
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‹ 4.11.02 / 0 comment(s) ›
Quote for the week comes from Derek Sampson, team manager for the Auckland rugby team, on the National Provincial Championship trophy disappearing after the game:
"It's not lost or anything ... we just don't exactly know where it is at the moment."Beware that sharp mind, ladies and gentlemen. Oh, and they did find it ... eventually.
‹ 2.11.02 / 0 comment(s) ›
A word to those in NZ planning on running an office pool for this Tuesday's Melbourne Cup ... you can avoid falling foul of the Gaming and Lotteries Act 1977 by ensuring the following:
- The total value of all prizes offered is no more than $50.
- All ticket money is returned as prizes.
- No one is paid to run the sweep.
- Sales of tickets are restricted to people working for the same employer, or who are all attending the same premises for a social, sporting or similar gathering.
- The sweep is not advertised outside the premises where it is being held, as this might attract non-eligible participants.
‹ 2.11.02 / 0 comment(s) ›
And while we're on all matters nerdesque, scientists have shaken hands over the internet which is an action not entirely devoid of irony, given its relevance to establishing net connections. A certain industry is going to have a field day with this in years to come ... you know the one I'm talking about. Don't believe me? Just look at the shape of the thing would you!
‹ 2.11.02
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Being the kind of geek that I am, I love it when people take something that most geeks have probably thought about at some point and turn it into reality. The Blinkenlights people did just that and their new project "Arcade" would have been a site to behold. If I was in Paris, of course. Those of you on speedy connections can check out the action here, but even dial-up folk should check this short one out (2 secs; 821kB) to get the gist of just how cool this concept really is.
‹ 2.11.02
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