It flies through the air with the greatest of ease .....

Just how far can this kid throw the shot put?

Scene: The New Zealand Secondary School's Athletic Champs - the shot put circle.

The Protagonist: Jacko Gill

The narrative: Putting the shot ....second put 23.27m (world record under 18) ......... next put 23.57m (world record again) ............ next put 23.86m (world record again). Jaw dropping stuff.

Watch it for yourself here!

It was a superb performance at a superbly run athletics meeting.


The New Zealand Secondary Schools Athletics Championships is without a doubt the best show in town  when it comes to track and field in this country.

The crowd witnessed two days jammed packed with the action of some of the finest young athletic talent in Aoteoroa.

The performance by 15 year-old Gill with the 5 kg shot could quite possibly be the furthest a shot has ever been thrown in an official competition.

The men's world record (7.25 kg shot) is 23.12m by the drug discredited Randy Barnes.

The women's world record (4 kg shot) is 22.63m in 1987 (and the bad smell of drugs hangs around that one!)

Read more on Gill's throw....

Somewhere out there beneath the pale moonlight .....

It was with baited breath (as they say folks) that I was waiting for the momentous NASA announcement.

As the time drew near the zero hour of the of the climatic revelation about astrobiology, I was beside ma-sulf in keen antusupation!


And then it finally came. Microbes can survive in arsenic.

What a let down! I knew that already!

That's what I told Nick just the other day!

I said to young Nick that "a bacterium that can grow in arse" Nick.

and I have always suspected there are bacteria on uranus.

This has just got to be the biggest anticlimax of 2010.

 NASA has now demonstrated conclusively that there is almost no intelligent life on earth apart from thee and me (dear reader)!.

Shake it up baby now (shake it up baby) ...

Nu Zulun is supposed to be a duvuluped country.  Clean, green, serene ...

But check out the bus I have to travel on each morning ... a bone rattling, clattering, battering, shattering heap of a rust bucket.

(Well, that's not really the bus - my bus is much less comfortable)

Air conditioned ?? My .... arse ......  bottom.

North Star are the company responsible for for some of these monstrosities. I have been on a number that break down with consummate ease.

Now admittedly, North Star do have some modern buses. But the 863 at the allotted hour of my departure ain't one of them.

I used to travel by bus in the Philippines  and never came across what I endure on my daily commute into Auckland city.

Time for North Star to upgrade these tin cans on wheels.






Photo by Keith Edkins Wikimedia Commons

Call me irresponsible - call me unreliable, throw in undependable too ...

Let's add irrational to that mix ...



I have always been fascinated by what are known as irrationals numbers (numbers that cannot be expressed as a ratio or fraction). Now, before you leap on me, I know ratios and fractions are different conceptualizations.

The ancient Greeks, called the Pythagoreans (named after their leader Pythagoras), were entranced by whole numbers - unlike many kids in schools today.

For the Greeks, the whole numbers were 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and so on ..... Zero had no been invented yet.
They also had the concept that there could be fractions made up of "ratios" of whole numbers 1/2, 3/4 ...

They reasoned quite reasonably, that whole numbers and fractions covered everything.

However one day, so the tale goes, on a boat, one Pythagorean demonstrated that you could not get a number (as fraction) multiplied by itself to result in 2.

You could get close  (7/5) x (7/5) = 49/25 (1.96) and (10/7)x(10/7) = 100/49 (2.041) ...

However, you never never get there  (a/b)*(a/b) can never ever equal 2


It was something that did not appeal the the Pythags or either to mathematicians up to fairly recent times. Some suggested that these irrational numebrs had suspect ontological status.

So they said √2 , √3, √5, √6 and infinitely many more …

Could not really be real numbers ...

Think of the number line. It seems reasonable, doesn't it dear reader, to assume that you can keep subdividing it up using fractions until you fill it completely.

Just take the gap between 0 and 1. Surely we can pepper it with fractions. 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/16, 99/100, 999/1000 and so on and so forth.

And using fractions we can always put another point between two points ad-infinitum. So that this  ............ eventually becomes ________  !!!

So, where do these pesky irrationals come from?

Tis a mystery of religious proportions.

I finish with the proof (by contradiction) that √2 is irrational. Enjoy!!!

I love, I love, I love my calendar girl, each and every day of the year ..

There's a most juicy 555 item/rumour flying around.

They say: "Do your realise October 2010 has 5 Fridays, 5 Saturdays, and 5 Sundays?"

Wow, is that right?

They say: Yeah and it only happens every 823 years! Wow!

Utter bunk, twaddle, rubbish, claptrap and  inexactitude folks!!

What about 1993, 1999, 2004, 2021, 2032, ... ? All of these years had (in October)  5 Fridays, 5 Saturdays, and .... (you know the rest).... 5 Sundays .... the big 555

Hardly every 823 years.... I would have thought .....

If you don't believe moi, check it out on this link.

Yet this 555 urban myth has gained some momentum?  Why?

Again, the problem is a LACK OF MATHEMATICAL NOUS in a large segment of the population.

Not you of course dear, kind and thoughtful reader.

The problem is that the person perpetrating this nonsense is lacking critical think skills.  The soul falsely reasons "gosh, how unusual ..... three days in a row... wow ... must be ever ... so very very rare ..."

The poor soul's brain is now so very receptive to the lie!! The lie can be swallowed, as they say, hook line and sinker ....

Anyhow .... lets get now to the maths:

Every year adds 1 day to the calendar.
Every leap year adds 2 days .... to the  .... ummm ..... er  calender

so take 2004 with  5 fridays, 5 saturdays and 5 sundays.

When does it happen next???

2005 (+1), 2006 (+1), 2007 (+1), 2008 (leap year +2), 2009 (+1), 2010 (+1)    this is 1+1+1+2+1+1 = +7 wowoh!

so 2010 has 5 fridays and 5 Sats and yes .... you guess it ... 5 Sundays.

Simple as that.

It's a long way to Tipperary, it's a long way to go ....

This morning, our cheery TV One breakfast hosts took great delight in telling us that the marathon is 26 miles 385 yards because that’s how far that mythical naked Greek fella ran from Marathon to Athens.



Wrong … wrong .... plain wrong…

It is in fact around 24 miles (or 38.5 km) from Marathon to Athens.

The Marathon distance was established at the London Olympics because of various contingencies that I will not go into here?

Partly right.

It was finally fixed at the 1920 Olympics and the London Olympic distance of 26 miles 385 yards (42. 195km) was chosen.

Why?

Because of the King and Queen at the London Olympics?

Not directly.

It was all because of two skinny young guys: Dorando Pietri and Tommy Hayes. Dorando the Italian was disqualified because someone gave him assistance in the final lap. Tommy Hayes the American won.
Pietri and Hayes turned professional. They started a series of epic battles over the “marathon” and the London distance was chosen for them.

In major international marathons, the runners run 26 miles, 385 yards?

No

They probably run 26 miles 431 yards.



Why?

To be safe the IAAF adds 1 extra metre for every kilometer. By the way, down in old Nu Zulun we spell it kilometer not kilometer. But that, dear reader, is another story.

In the snow with Rosebud And king of the mountain

Head for the hills folks!!!




The Calliope Harrier season goes into recess for another year tonight. The final event - the King and Queen of the Mountain - takes place tonight.

To be honest it is only a hill really!

We queue up at the bottom of Colonial Road.


We set off at five second intervals and make our journey up the mountain - some 1200 metres.

No ... not vertically!!

Some run ... others walk .... others crawl ...still others ....

Here's the Elevation

 For some reason Map My Run have the vertical axis in feet and the horizontal axis in metres.

The total rise is almost exactly 100  feet (30.5 m) in the space of 1.2 km. Now it may not sound much. But come and try it.

It is a solid climb.

It feels like this

Cause I don't care too much for money, money can't buy me love ....

What does QE stand for folks?

Queen Elizabeth?    Wrong!

QE stands for Quantitative Easing.  "Quantitative what?", I hear you ask.

Yes that is the expression plastered all over the business reports on the news.

Now it bears some resemblance to the Conservative Christian view of Creation. Creation ex nihilo "out of nothing".

In order to combat deflation, governments create money ex nihilo.  It the old days, banks would have had to print money. Now it is more electronic "smoke and mirrors".

Now if they are going to create money out of nothing, Why can't they give me some of it. It wouldn't hurt anyone!!

 Money suits my hands. It fits into my wallet with ease.

I have been told that the color of the $100 note suits my complexion.

So let me be Ernest ... give me some of that Quantitative Easing  ... I'll split it with you.


I could even give you a note or two.

The Bank of England recently Quantitatively eased 200 billion pounds.

Surely, they could spare a little for me!!

Here's pictures of what I envisage should happen. In this picture     I am at the front of the queue!!

Money makes the world go round ......... that clinking, clanking sound ....

Silver hair and heart of gold, What a pleasure to behold.....

What is this penchant (desire) of Nu Zulunurs for silver medals at the commonwealth games?

What is this unholy fascination with the greyness of silver.

It is becoming a Nu Zulun media mantra that ... "we have won another silver medal".

Folks we are 14th on the medal table.    This is not good. In fact ... it is bad. ... very bad.

Nauru is ahead of us! Nauru with a population of less than 10, 000!!!!!

Now Nauru may only have one medal .... but ..... by hokey ..... it is gold!

Now for Nu zulun ..... Do they only want a tiny sliver of the action by gaining silver?

Are their livers impaired?

It's reliving a nightmare from the last games. It sends a shiver slightly down my spine!

Why are we constantly staring at the back of an Australian green and gold uniform?

I'll tell you why. Yes I will.

The Australians as you know know how to train as a team of athletes in their different codes. And in those teams they develop a winning mentality. They create a positive energy which plays out on the track or pool or ... wherever they compete.

(Yes there are supposed to be two knows in a row  don't you know)

We kiwis tend to train as individuals (apart from, of course, the team sports - and it is precisely in those where we will win those elusive golds folks).

For example, the Aussies are so very awesomely much better than us at Race Walking.

"Why?" I can hear you ask .... tell us why .... It is because their race walkers train as a team.

One reason, that in the old days, Snell and Halberg won gold is that they trained as part of a larger team - Lydiard's boys.

Now we Nu Zulunurs are very fragile emotionally.

When we lost the last world rugby cup in 2007 a national season of clinical depression was declared.

We lead the world in Prozac per-capita.  ... yes we do.  (gold medalists we are - pass the pills dear).

So pray for us poor silvers that we may yet get a gold medal..... our mental health depends upon it!!!!!!!!

Golden slumbers kiss your eyes, smiles awake you when you rise .............

Make 'em laugh Make 'em laugh Don't you know everyone wants to laugh?

Paul Henry. The very name now causes consternation among many Nu Zulundurs.

But not I.   or is it me?

Yesterday, Paul, a Breakfast Show host made some unfortunate remarks with reference to our Governor General, Anand Satyanand, as to his credentials as a "real Nu Zulundur". And when were we going to have someone as Governor General who "looked like a Nu Zulundur".

Well folks, the remarks were made in a live TV conversation with none other that John Key, Prime Munuster of Nu Zulun.

It went over like the proverbial lead balloon. It was received by many in the public with the same delight as having  toenails taken off without anesthetic. 

There was uproar.

It was calumny of the first order - pure and simple.

Now I want to say. He was wrong ... yes folks he were wrong!

But I wish to offer, on his behalf, some mitigation. 

Follow me now dear reader dear.

Paul is a funny man. His humour is spontaneous, extemporaneous and, yes, at times outrageous. He makes me laugh. And believe me that takes some doing.

He operates the comedic genre very well indeed. 

It is the genre of the stand up comic, who can say outrageous things in the comedy club - tongue-in-cheek.  The humour is ironic. It points out all our foibles. It makes us look at ourselves.

Paul also has to operate another more formal genre: That of the  TV host on a morning TV News, current affairs and human interest programme. 


It is precisely because he does well at both that TVNZ (Tuluvusion Nuzulun) hire the man.


The trouble is at times, Paul confuses the two genres. It is exactly that that lands him in hot water.

Yes, there are supposed to be two thats in a row. 

He has apologized, now give the guy a break .... until the next time  .... 

Vexed again Perplexed again Thank God I can't be over-taxed again....

 Down in good old new Zealand our GST (goods and services tax) is about to change.

It is today 12.5%

Tomorrow it will be 15%

Ahh I hear some say 15% - now that will be an easy calculation than 12.5%

Not so dear reader. Why you ask?   Because 12.5% is 1/8 (as a fraction).

Whereas 15% is 3/20

To calculate GST on a price all you did for many years was multiple by 1/8

Thus cheapo car   GST exclusive = $1000.  GST to be added   1000x1/8 = $125.  New price $1125

(Although I prefer the direct 1000x 1.125 = $1125 as the quick way)


Now we have at present the following situation here in NU ZULUN

Cheapo car. $1000 (GST exclusive)      and  $1125 (GST 12.5% inclusive)

Now we have to find Price a 15% GST for the said cheap car.

Well if you start with $1000 (GST exclusive) it is plain driving!!!

1000 x 1.15 = $1150.   No problem.    Easy peasy and all that sort of thing by jingo.

But folks what if you want to calculate the price (15% GST) when you start with the 12.5% inclusive GST car?   ahhh there's the rub!

Do you simply go 1125 x 1.025 (that is adding the extra 2.5% GST)   oh dear no no no dear me no

Becos ....  1125 x 1.025 =  $1153.13   oh dear you see that is $3.13 too much.

But I suspect some will do just that.  The lying, scheming, scamming, cheating two-timing  ...

What is the answer to the question how do we  convert $1125 (GST 12.5% inclusive) to $1150 (GST 15%)?

Answer 1125 x 1.02222222222 = 1149.9999999 which is as good as $1150.

AAAh but some say we want a fraction ....we want a fraction  ... we want a fraction ...!

What is 1.0222222 as a fraction?

Well the fraction 5,111,111 over 5,000,000 has been suggested.



Question: How do I convert a price at 12.5% GST Inclusive to one at 15% GST????

Answer:  Multiply it by 1.02222222   (not 1.025!)

Thanks to our national government.

To sum up: A 2.5% gst increase is a 2.22% increase on current prices in the shops.

'The doggies bawl - and bawl and bawl
Deep in the heart of Taxes'.

Bus stop, wet day, she's there, I say Please share my umbrella Bus stop, bus goes, she stays, love grows Under my umbrella

It happened twice yesterday and once this morning.
It was the same driver.

The bus sometimes tends to not stop at the bus stop. The driver is caught in a momentary trance.


The result is yet more forlorn passengers standing at the exit watching forlornly their bus-stop whizzing by (relatively speaking).

The first incident yesterday along Hurstmere Road, featured two rather squat and plump young teenage girls hoping the driver would hear their silence as their bus stop raced by.

Well she didn't. Finally about 300 metres past the stop, the driver became aware with some other passengers muttering at her.

The girls got off, to tackle the long walk home. One passenger wryly remarked that the exercise would do them good.

The next incident came at ... yes you guessed it ... my lovely bus stop. As soon as I ascertained the certain potential long march (aplologies to Mao), I yelled a hearty stop!. The bus ground to a halt about 10 metres past my bus stop.

The third incident happened this morning. Again, two young woman ... yes... staring forlornly and silently at the exit as their bus stop sprinted by (relatively speaking) .

I moved into action. Stop! I cried. The bus ground to a stop. The two young ladies were saved.

The lesson, silence is golden ... but it won't stop a bus.

Yell or walk.

Never never change ... Keep that breathless charm. Won't you please arrange it ?

What's in a name?

Thus spake Will .... "What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet."

So with the Delhi games in Jeopardy one Sheila Dikshit has taken over. How unfortunate ... and I speak as a sociolinguist ... that a perfectly ordinary name in one language ... does not ... spell... well  ... quite so nice in another language.

Apparently the correct pronunciation is "Dixit"

I wonder what some English names might 'mean' in other languages?

They tell me that Brad Pitt has problems with his surname in Swedish. Who is they?

Now far be it from me to be culturally insensitive.

Many stars of stage and scream screen have changed their names from the mundane to the unforgettable that's what you are ...

Cliff Richard was of course once Harry Rodger Webb.

Elton John entered the world as  Reginald Kenneth Dwight

Cary Grant was none other than Archibald Alexander Leach 

and Frank Sinatra was born  Francis Albert Sinatra ... aah some people get all the luck....

and as they say .... the list goes on   ......

My challenge to you dear reader! if you became a famous celebrity over night ...fat chance ... what name would you delicately select for your good self?

Go to the comments below right now and let me know. 

And let me know what Pitt means in Swedish     if you dare.

I wonder should I go or should I stay...?

The fate of the 2010 Commonwealth games in New Delhi seems balanced on a knife edge.

"To go or not to go" is the all-consuming interrogative haunting the the News in Nu Zulun.

or as the great Athlete Englebert Humbledick sang:

 "I wonder should I go or should I stay" in a song aptly named The last waltz

it's  Humperdinck ya great twit!



But folks... ya just got to feel for the athletes, especially those like Valerie Adams and Nick Willis who have top chances of medaling.

Since the Beijing Olympics, they have been focused on this goal.

Now folks as a semi-distinguished athlete myself, I have a tremendous personal insight into what it takes to stay motivated and focused through rain, wind, snow (well maybe not snow), hail, fire (well maybe not fire), heat, cold, and injury ...

oh yes and then there's mud!     and hail ... don't forget hail.

 ... And stay true to the goal.

... and right now as they (Adams and Willis) enter the final phase of preparation ... all this kerfuffle, uncertainty and perhaps a hint of anxiety!

Can they stay true to their goal? Will they be allowed to stay true to their goals? (Will the Nu Zulun Rugby sevens get to score any goals?)

A number of overseas athletes are beginning to pull out.

One problem is that the media sensationalize things. It is their job I suppose.

I lived and worked in the southern Philippines for six years. Apart from a number of very serious incidents, I felt wonderously safe folks.

Yet, if you judged by news reports in New Zealand, the Philippines seems a very dangerous place.

Let the games begin!

Would you like this dance?

???

Just once in a lifetime There's one special moment One wonderful moment When fate takes your hand

The 1500 metres has been considered the blue ribbon event on the Olympic Track and Field program.

The little country of Nu Zulun has done well in the event. Jack Lovelock, Peter Snell, and John Walker all won gold medals - Nick Willis a silver, and Rod Dixon - bronze. Have I missed any?  Ahh yes, John Davis -bronze.

Now that's quite a haul folks!

But today I want to pay tribute to another even smaller country, Luxembourg, and a man who had his moment in the sun - Joseph (Josy) Barthel.

Roger Bannister  (177), was the hot favourite for the 1952 Helsinki 1500 metre title. He was one of a group of athletes trying to stake out a claim on the first sub-four-minute mile. He finally accomplished in May 1954 with a 3:59.4 posting.

However, in Helsinki, Roger was right royally spooked or psyched-out as we say today.

What happened you ask? Well, it goes like this. Roger was expecting two races. The elimination round and a final. Roger trained accordingly as you do.

Late on in the piece, it was announced that a semi-final would need to be held because of the number of entrants.

"Ouch" said Roger, "I haven't trained for this".

Words that no athlete should ever utter folks!

Enter stage right one Josy Barthel (ninth in the London 1500 metre final - 4 years prior).

He was an outsider, but on the day, the man from Luxembourg was magnificent.

No one could match his devastating finish. And just look at the smile on his face - it suggests consummate ease! He smashed Lovelock's Olympic record with a 3:45.2.

Cometh the hour - cometh the man.

Well, of course in Luxembourg, he became a national hero overnight.

A stadium was named after him. Stade Josy Barthel - the national stadium of Luxembourg.

Wonder if they'll ever name a stadium after me???

oh....  ya daft apeth!




Source of above photo: IOC

You must have been a beautiful baby, cos baby look at you now....

Well I made it folks! 60 today!

That's me on the left almost 60 years ago.

17 years have now past.










30 years




I stop cutting my hair at 30 and the result is below!!

Baby look at you now! 

The lad's got
  NARCISSISTIC PERSONALITY DISORDER

Try to remember the kind of September ....

It was way back on September 13th, 1950, that I came into the world as a part of a two-for-the-price-of-one deal.

Less technically, I was a twin - 10 minutes behind my dear departed brother. Two things come out of this mathematically.

1. I was conceived in the midst of a cold winter Christmas in merry old England maybe late December or early January).

2. I am about to turn 60. (ah!!! the wonders of advanced mathematics!). See just what you can do with numbers!

Many a great person was born on the 13th of September, including the great 5 times-Olympic-gold-medalist-sprinter, Michael Johnson. (don't ya just love hyphens!!!!)

But somehow, much to my chagrin  my name is not on this here list of famous people born on September 13th - -

perhaps it is just a typographical error ..... or a mere silly oversight .....  or something more malicious!     Don't be so paranoid lad!

This site details in great detail the intimate details from the period just prior to my conception to my actual entry into this world. (be careful .... the word sperm is mentioned!!!!!!!  but not other vital players in the game  --- you will be relieved!!!)

Being of a nervous disposition at the best of times, I have been known to bite the odd nail or so (but always my own nails). Apparently, if I had never bitten, chewed or cut my nails since I was born, they (my nails) would be

2.961 metres long next Monday. (Charming thought)

My hair would be 8.743 metres long.

So what famous events happened on my birthday?

Michelangelo started work on his statue of David  (1503)

The Star-Spangled Banner   was written by Francis Scott Key. (1814)

The temperature in the shade hit 57.8 centigrade someplace in Libya (1922). Now that real global warming folks!

I finish with a quote from one born on September 13, Sherwood Anderson, who in a moment of post-modern madness said:

" That in the beginning when the world was young there were a great many thoughts but no such thing as truth. Man made the truths himself and each truth was a composite of a great many vague thoughts".

One last thought ,
 I may be 60 in base 10

but ..... I am am only:

50 years old in base 12!! 

40 in base 15

30 in base 20

20 in base 30

10 in base 60

oh joy   !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

There's a whole lot of shakin goini on ....

I was in a few earthquakes during my sojourn in the Philippines. Most were around 6 on the Richter scale. But one in Cabanatuan was 7.8. ( and that folks is a biggy!)

The photo to the left is the aftermath of the San Francisco earthquake of 1906. Magnitudes between 7.7 and 8.25 have been suggested for that disaster.

Which brings me to the point of this here posting today - the Richter Scale.

The news media have been doing a good job covering the Christchurch earthquake, but one thing they fail to explain is the Richter scale. I have a feeling many people including those in the press don't understand it.

For example some people think a magnitude 6 is twice as big as a magnitude 3.  Not so.

In fact a magnitude 6 is 1000 times bigger than a magnitude 3!!

Why? I hear some ask. Surely not! Others cry.


The Richter scale is related to the base ten logarithmic scale ( ooops  ... some eyes are beginning to glaze over!).

The gap between each whole number (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 ....) represents a 10 fold increase in the amplitude of the earth quake.

This simple graph shows what I mean. As does the table below.

However, it is not quite as simple as that (darn ... it never is in mathematics ... the people cry).

But in terms of the energy of the earthquake, each whole jump represent around 31 times the energy.

The recent Christchurch earthquake was scaled down from a 7.4 to a 7.1. Not much many may think. But in actual fact a 7.4 magnitude is 2.5 times the magnitude in terms of amplitude of a 7.1.

The Cabanatuan earthquake of 7.8 was 5 times the amplitude of Christchurch's 7.1. Fortunately, I was some 400 km from the epicentre. But even 400 km away we were shakin!

A final thought. The Christchurch earthquake represents just over 40 megatons of TNT in terms of energy released.

That is more than the energy of the largest thermonuclear weapon ever tested.

Some would argue we should ditch the richter scale and speak of earthquakes in terms of their TNT equivalent. They suggest this would be more meaningful. Thus Christchurch's earthquake would have been 40 megatons and San Francisco would have been at least 800 megaton.

What do you all think?


.


.

Your cheatin heart will tell on you ....

I received an email with a link to a site: Why students cheat. US$99 seemed a bit steep for a 22 page book.

Anyhoo, I have often thought that exams are kind of like educational bulimia.

In the days and hours leading up to the exam, the students cram like crazy.

In the exam room they throw up, vomit and spew all their memorised "knowledge".

After the exam, they quickly forget the lot.

Seems to me that in the 21st century, we need much better ways of assessing learning than that.

I think there is still a case for exams in certain subjects, but I try as much as I can to avoid them as assessment tools.

One tool I use is blogs. Among other things, they give the student writers a lot bigger audience (than just their teachers) to read what they write.

....luck be a lady tonight ...

If I had my way (if I were  was king of the world), statistics would be compulsory for all students at senior secondary school.

Absolutely compulsory.

This short 3 min video argues the case more eloquently than I me.

Much As I love calculus, probability and statistics is the way to.

A woman,  Sally Clark, suffered the loss of two sons in a short space of time (just over 1 year) to cot death. It was considered such an unlikely event in the space of such a sort time, that she was presumed guilty of their murder.

In court, a pediatrician (as an expert witness) told the jury that the likelihood of such an event was 1 in 73 million.

He reasoned thus:

Likely-hood of one cot death = 1 in 8500


So likely-hood of two deaths = (1in 8500) x (1 in 8500) = 1in about  72 million

For more details click here

Maybe a great pediatrician, but a fat-lot-of-use statistician. The women was sent to jail.

She later got released on appeal.

The dunce doctor, among other things, had assumed independent events!  aaaah!!

The jurors, lawyers and judge were ignorant of the most basic concept in statistics.

Thank you for being a friend ....

A dear friend of mine died the other day.

Richard Denny (on the right in the photo) and my father (left) were workmates and good friends. (Ohh and that's my mum in the middle).

Their friendship was cemented in a strange and painful way.

My father operated one of those huge cranes you see rising out of buildings on a city skyline. One day he was lowering a huge slab of concrete into place.

Richard was helping to guide the slab into position.

Dad was unable to see the concrete slab and relied on the instructions given by various workmates. Sadly there was some misunderstanding.

The concrete slab crushed a number of Richard’s fingers – fingers which he subsequently lost.

The result was a firm friendship between the two men.

Years later, Richard and I became friends. And I found him to be a true gentleman.

He and his wife Yvonne’s home was constantly open to the young people of the church I attended. We spent countless hours there laughing, praying, and eating up a storm.

Richard was a humble servant – always cheerful – who simply did whatever needed to be done.

The list of his endeavours on behalf of others is way too long for this little blog.

Hey, but the nicest thing about this man was his great friendship. For me, that was without a doubt the most important thing about him.

Farewell …..

Oh old friends swapping lies of life and loves ...

Well, the 2^nd to last Thursday in August has come around again! And as you all know St Quincy’s Day is once again upon us.

I find St Quincy’s Day  one of the most important celebrations of the calendar years. The only one to really match it is of course St Percival’s day held every September 13.

Now, as you know screeds have been written on the subject and origins of St Quincy’s day and its long associations with long-term male friendship and leek and potato soup.

Suffice it to say, St Quincy’s Day offers yet again the chance to celebrate long-term friendship around plates of steaming hot Cream of Leek and Potato Soup.

Now to make leek and potato soup, you need to first of all take a long leek.

The standard that Archibald Fructus Quincy laid down for “long term friendship” was 30 years or more.

So if you haven't had a friend for at least 30 years, forget your leek and potato soup!

The song old friends (Link)

“Old friends pitching pennies in the park

Playing croquet till its dark old friends mmm old friends

Oh old friends swapping lies of life and loves

Pitching popcorn to the doves old friends …mmm old friends

Old friends looking up to watch the birds

Holdin’ arms to climb a curb old friends… mmm old friends

Old friends Lord when all my work is done

Bless my life and grant me one old friend at least one old friend.”

Written by Roger Miller.

... suicide is painless, It brings on many changes, And I can take or leave it if I please.

It is of course the theme from M*A*S*H.

But it brings me to my most sombre of blog postings.

Bare with me  oops bear with me ... I lost a twin bother to suicide.

The Ministry of Health's policy is that the reporting of suicide is dangerous and I quote:

"Frequent or repetitive reporting of suicide may encourage the public perception that suicide is a reasonable, understandable and common approach to solving life difficulties."

The chief coroner disagrees: and I quote the herald:

"Yesterday, Judge MacLean said he wanted to encourage more openness, public debate and media coverage of the suicide rate - there are on average 10 suicides every week in New Zealand - because this might reduce the number. But he recognised the debate would start with more-detailed reporting of individual suicide cases" (NZ Herald, August 12, 2010).

There were 540 suicides in NZ last year. Way above the road toll.

May I say I think the Ministry's approach is lamentable and medieval. It is totally without foundation in research.

Basically the Ministry are saying "sweep it under the carpet" "out of sight our of mind" and I reply "BOSH!"

Frankly speaking, the ministry's approach is nothing short of damnable.

It is time for a campaign like that of the John Kirwan campaign on depression.

Some psychiatrists agree with the ministry - no wonder our mental health services are in disarray.

The factors around suicide are many and extremely complex.

But no doubt, the key ingredient is that the person is finding that life has become unbearable.

They are experiencing a level of emotional or perhaps physical pain that has become intolerable.

And this is precisely what needs to be addressed.

But it won't be addressed if the Ministry continues down its  misguided path.

Let's start talking about suicide.

As the Queen said:

"Don't try suicide
Nobody's worth it
Don't try suicide
Nobody cares
Don't try suicide
You're just gonna hate it
Don't try suicide
Nobody gives a dam"

Baby when the lights go out, I'll show you what it's all about

It is finally a sunny day in Aucklun, Nu Zulun with an almost clear blue sky.

The sun is shining and it made me think of one of the most serious threats we face making so-called anthropogenic global warming fade by comparison.

You may of may not be aware of a recent increase in solar flares. These coincide with an increasing number of sunspots.

Well, there is also such a thing as a solar storm - the mother, if you will of all solar flares. With these storms there are Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs). These things hurtle through space to wards the earth at millions of miles per hour.

Back in 1859 there was such a storm which paralysed telegraph machines.

The CME took 18 hours to reach the earth.

Such a storm today could have a disastrous effect on all our electric systems and repairs would take months if not year. Transformers blown to kingdom come.

In the words of the immortal Frazer form Dad's Army : We're doooomed I tell you, .... we're all dooomed!"

The sun works on an eleven year cycle of solar minimums and solar maximums. The next solar maximum is 2012.

It is sobering to think on just how dependent we are on electricity and just how little we are prepared to survive without it compared to our ancestors.

Will the lights go out in 2012 and not come back for months?

And soon I'll hear old winter's song...

I am not a great fan of winter ... having lived over six years in the tropics.

I don't get it as bad as those who suffer from SAD (seasonal affective disorder).

Apparently Johnny Briggs (alias Mike Baldwin of Coronation street) gets it so bad he has to flee the English winters for warmer climes - namely Florida.

Now there's many a cold winter's morning I wake up and wish I was also in Florida folks! Sadly I lack the mula that Johnny possesses in abundance.

Winter tests my running addiction to the extreme! there are days when the the rain is teeming down and the winds are a howling and I feel strangely, weirdly, disinclined to go for a run.

 It is then I have an identity crisis! Perhaps I am not a running addict after all.

In which case this whole blog is just one great sham! It is all a lie folks! A disgraceful pretense!

Don't get so emotional!

But the plus side ...... after tolerating, suffering, enduring, and surviving another bleak winter, ...... summer is all the sweeter.

Perhaps I am just a summer running addict?

Gonna take a sentimental journey, gonna put my mind at ease

35 years ago my two friends and I took a journey to the far north. Recently we made a sentimental journey back there to remember those halcyon days.

Back then (1975) two of us were  25 and the other 18. How old are we now? Go figure.

Once again we took the pilgrimage to Cape Reinga by bus.

35 years ago the three of us were suffering from food poisoning. On the journey back from the cape, I was the first to request the driver to stop and then hurl myself off the bus to vomit, chunder, baff  and throw up in the grass. One by one my friends did the same.

Back at the Motel, things were coming out both ends for all of us! Too much information

 But that was 35 years ago - we were young and vunerable boys.

This time it was a far more pleasant experience made all the more delightful by our superb bus driver, Barry - a maori from the far north.

Blue Moon You saw me standing alone Without a dream in my heart

Now what with the winter's wet blustery grip   .... and peoples favourite teams bowing out of the world cup   ... it is not surprising that some of you are feeling just a tad depressed, despondent and may just a little despairing.

But there's hope!

As you can see by the little picture to the left ... there is someone eminently qualified to give you that  spot of encouragement you are crying out for.


So whether it is a paper cut or a life crisis (like burnt toast).

He can assist. When they let him out of  ....

Blame it on the vuvuzela ...

Why has this blog been slient?

Thousands ask me. Indeed millions

Bl*&dy liar

Simple ... The Vorld Cap ...

First I followed Nu Zulun ... till they went home.

Then I followed England ... and they've gone home.

Who now do I follow ...?

I feel deserted.

England decimated by Germany. At least good old Nu Zulun did not lose a match!

Didn't win one either.

Where to now?
Scotland ... na they're not in it.

My Spanish roots ... don't have any ...

But I was pleased to note that in the England - Germany match, the Vuvuleza was getting some good competition from the excellent singing of 1000s of England fans. "Land of hope and glory..."

Fat lot of good it did them!!

Did you notice that singular fact amidst the destruction wrought on England??

eeeh thas nought like an English crowd lad.


Who can I turn to ...?

"I dreamed a team in days gone by ...." 
but

"put your teams away for another day, darling ....."

hey hey hey beautiful Sunday ... this is our our our beautiful day....

The epic and long awaited duel between Race Walking Aucland and Calliope took place yesterday (June 13) At the Ngataringa Bay course.

Teams of  6 from each club line toed the starting line just after 8:30 am on what appeared to be a beautiful Sunday - that is until the rain torrented down and the gales roared in the latter laps of the 8 lap race.

10 km lay ahead for each dedicated and semi-extinguished athlete. (Though some opted for 5 km).

Each had estimated their time and now the task was simple. Which team could be cumulatively closest to their estimated time? The suspense was palatable. Watches were gathered up and competitors walked with naked arms.

Calliope demonstrated the the experience of its athletes in the guessing domain. But I hearing you crying for more. Give the detailed results you cry - who cares about the world cup!

So here they are:

You will note that yours truly was only 3 seconds out. Mind you, I had to slow to a crawl on the last lap to achieve this. However, the day belongs to one Bill Fell who showed all the experience of  his many years as a top athlete.

Note: The TOTAL (time discrepancy) is the sum of the absolute values of each time descrepancy.
For example absolute value of -2:12 = |-2:12| = 2:12! (Exciting stuff isn't it?)


The man needs to get a life!

I would if I had one of those credit cards!  hey Chris What are ya goona do with yours?

Hey big spender . spend a little time with me ...

It is the only possible song for today folks...

Take it away Shirley! Peggy Lee Sang it too!

I see labour has some big spenders  ... living the good life ... on tax payers ... on my money (being one of your standard model tax payers).

Shane Jones list of expense looks impressive

Perhaps I should introduce Dame Shirley Bassey to Shane Jones.

I can't introduce Peggy. One of the great Jazz artists of all time is no longer with us.

That's the trouble with credit cards and debit cards ... it is too easy to fork out 700 bucks for golf equipment. Perhaps if they had to deal with cold hard cash they'd think 2x.

But I shall refrain from moralising.  I just want moi money back! Plus the interest.

I have often walked down the street before ...

I have to come out of the closet and confess that I watch Coronation Street.

Heaven knows why ... it is awful ...but that's the nature of insanity.

Ken Barlow (William Roache) is currently as I speak moving down that certain road to another of his many infidelities or is it adulteries. Does that make him an infidel?

The Street operates its story line on a numbers of cycles (not bicycles!). The episode cycle, the weekly cycle, the monthly cycle and so forth up to a ten year cycle.

I have done the research and I know!!!!

Which means you can follow the story if you only watch once a month or once every ten years.


But folks why are they called Soaps or Soap Operas?

It is because the story lines are written by people when they have having a bath. Yes it is true. Max Cryer told me!

No seriously folks ... it is because the early sponsors of the genre were soap manufacturers. It's true ... you check it out then if you don't believe me ... go on!

Finally if you don't like soap operas you have to put up this sign ....

And its one, two, three strikes your out at the old ball game ....

To warn  ... to caution
Race walking is one of those events that has to be judged. And believe you me, judging is a constant cause of consternation among walkers, official and judges alike!

First of all in New Zealand, a judge is presented with a judging sheet the distinguishes between a warning and a caution. Now in my book, these words are pretty well synonymous. However, in race walking they mean different things. A caution is not as serious and a warning. A caution is given by individual judges to the walker concerned that he or she is either lifting (both feet seen as visibly off the ground - wavy yellow paddle) or bending the knee (right angle yellow paddle).

A walker could be potentially cautioned once by every judge to no ill effects. Each judge can caution each athlete only once for an offence.

A warning is a different affair. The judge does not warn the athlete, but rather sends a red card to the chief judge. This is the judge's "proposal for a disqualification". These proposals are then marked on a board at the start/finish line for each lap for the walker to plainly see. These then constitute a warning. Once three of these reds are up on the board, the athlete will be disqualified. The chief judge will show them a red paddle.

Each judge must also record all her/his determinations on a judging sheet which is given to the chief judge after the event.

Give me five minutes more, only five minutes more ....

It is the song of the Derby County football team. The team went into the premier league a few season back but they couldn't hack it and fell back into football league championships where they languish just below half way down

It seem England are being given good odds (5/1) in some quarters to win the world cup - at this stage a tad behind Spain (4/1).

I don't like odds and prefer to convert them to pobablities; England 1/6 (.1667), Spain 1/5 or .20 and Brazil 11/2 which is a probablity of 2/13 or .1548.

I have done a small analysis of the probabilities of winning by group.

It is pretty clear to see that group A will be very hard fought with so many teams with similarly low probabilites,


By contrast, group H should se an easy win for Spain. New Zealand in group F with a 0.001 probability of winning will have their work cut out against Italy with a 0.0909 probability of winning.

Money makes the world goes round ...That clinking clanking sound Can make the world go 'round.

Liza Minelli cavorted on stage singing this one.

Shortly Bill English will "cavort" in the "house" and give his budget address. It is budget day in old Nu Zulun.

Now call me irresponsible, call me unreliable, throw in undependable toooooooo....

But the Budget day is the biggest, unadulterated bore of the year. Now I am not saying Bill is boring  ... that is too kind ... too kind  .... just tooooooo kind.

The evidence suggests that more New Zealanders start losing the will to live on budget day than any other day of the year.

Turn off the radios   ... switch off the teles  .... and don't buy a newspaper on Friday morning.

Sit down and be thrilled by the sensation of watching      paint dry ....infinitely more charming than listening to a budget address. Watch reruns of Gone with the Wind and The Lost Weekend.

Anything to avoid the budget will be a gud bet.


And then at long last another budget will be....