On the ball, on the ball, on the ball ...

It has emerged that the Rugby World Cup being held in Nu Zulun this year is not the most important thing on the planet.

Intensive research points to natural calamities being higher on the agenda.


In spite of these findings, unnamed sources suggest that the Nu Zulun media is utterly obsessed with the Rugby World Cup.

One unnamed anonymous source that cannot be named for legal reasons has intimated that most Kiwis are more concerned with the Christchurch victims of the recent earthquake.

The unspecified source said “The media bombard us with World Cup trivia, when people are still suffering horribly in both Christchurch and Japan”.

The undisclosed source went on to suggest that “if Rugby is indeed a religion in Nu Zulun, the media are the high priests”.

Sally Arbuckle, researcher at the Academy For All Sports Other Than Rugby (ASOTR) said “the evidence suggests that far more youngsters play football than rugby”.

She went on the say that a recent survey showed that most people prefer a round ball that bounces reliably.

It has also been revealed that black arm bans are being manufactured in the eventuality that Nu Zulun (the All Blacks) does not win the World Cup.

An important source said that both psychologists and psychiatrists are being specially trained to counsel distressed fans.

It's only words and words are all I have to take your heart away.

What follows are my views and not those of the Institution I work for.

Eduspeak (I coin the phrase) is ruining education in Nu Zulun

I got the latest Newsletter from Ako Aotearoa in my little pigeon hole dis morning.

Shortly it is going to be filed as they say. But before it is, I shall quote firstly Peter Coolbear the Director.


"The move to evaluative quality assurance by self-assessment is potentially one of those critical system changes that will precipitate a step change in the the quality and effectiveness of tertiary provision"

aaah I said .... yes indeed ... I said ... of course ... I said ... I should  have seen it before ... I said   .... but what on earth does that mean I said?

I'm a great fan of Winnie the Pooh ... and I am very sure Poohbear would have read it and said ...... huh? ... and then said .... just so ... and then ......  "after all I am a bear of very little brain"  .... and then he might say

Pass the honey someone!


Weasel words  Check this website out sometime

The falling leaves drift by the window The autumn leaves of red and gold...

Autumn Leaves

The last two morning in Auckland town have had a distinctly autumnal feel to them. Morning grow darker and colder and nights draw in.
I don't want to be the bearer of sad news but the winter of our discontent draws near.

Nat King Cole, among many others, sang the song above. He also sang "bring back those crazy hazy lazy days of summer"

The Autumn exquinox falls on the 20th of March this year.

Those with SAD (seasonal affective disorder) will be planning their trips to warmer climes as the cold, harsh, severe realities of winter begin to bite.

I must say that in mid winter I wish global warming would get a move on!. 

For the Calliope Club, it will mean the shift track running to cross country.  I have never been a fan of cross country, but I know fellow club members who simply adore thrashing about it the mud.

I just end up getting my running shoes sucked off. Most of the time I can get very little serious forward motion
in a cross country race.

Anyhoo here's to muddy winters days.

Ya need a lot of assiduity to get through winter.


'''Title:''' Autumn leaves '''Taken on:''' 2004-10-31 11:36:33 '''Original source:''' [http://www.flick)

You're the top, you're the Mona Lisa, you're the top, you're the Tower of "Pizza"

The Halberg awards are for the top Nu Zulun sports men and women. Again this year I was not nominated.

Even though I am a semi-extinguished athlete! I was devastated, I can tell you. After all, I was winner of the Bill Taylor Trophy at Calliope last year and third this year! What more do they want?

The All Whites won some stuff including the Pizza supreme award.

Now I love football ... don't get me wrong. Indeed, I much prefer it to the other code.

But the Halbergs have trodden into dangerous territory and controversy.

I cannot, for the life of me remember an occasion when the award did not go to an individual or a team who ranked pretty well best in the world.


Sadly, no matter, how much you love them, they are no where near the best in the world.

Now, I know the arguments.

Fantastic achievement in the hardest and greatest competitive code in the world after all, a gazillion countries play football and only a handful play that other code.

Relatively speaking it is the same as being .... and all that Jazz.

I remain unimpressed.

They need an award like .... now what would you name it? The relatively supreme award.

Turn your magical eyes. Round and around, Looking at all we found.

No wonder how kids are bamboozled with maths.

I have been out on the web today and countless times I am told that a ratio is the same as a fraction and means the same as division.

Now folks this is pure unadulterated poppycock.

A ratio bears some relation to a set of fractions and division can be used to sort out ratio problems. However ratios, fractions and division are all conceptually different.

Any decent cook will tell us that or bookie or mechanic.


Take the simplest of problems. To mix some yucky orange cordially you mix 2 parts of concentrate to 8 parts water.

 How much concentrate should be used to get 20 litres of cordial?

Ratio 2:8
Total parts 10
Associated fractions: 2/10 and 8/10.

Answer 2/10 times 20. Which is 0.2 x 20 or 4 Litres of concentrate.

Or what ever way you want to calculate it 2/10 x 4 = 40/10 = 4L

Or 2:8 = 4:16 which will yield 20L of cordial

fighting vainly the old ennui and i suddenly turn and see ... your fabulous face

I woke in the night and thought of the phrase "facebook fatigue". Later I googled "facebook fatigue" and sure enough there it was.

Some basic facts folks
Average FB user has 120 friends, most of which  whom they have never met.
I have 51, all of whom which I have met FTF (face to Face).

There are too kinds of FB fatigue (FTF) at least.
Type A FBF people whi are phyically exhausted by untold hours on FB

Type B FBF people who find some material posted as trivial beyond degree and wonder ...


Anywho, to check out the signs of FBF check out this site

The cure to FBF?

Firstly FTF (face to face) interaction.

Which reminds me, I am meeting a friend for lunch. He's not on FB, but we have hung out since high school days.

I can however boast that some of my FB friends have over 700 FB friends. So you see some of my friends are very friendly, gregarious, outgoing types.

Lemon tree very pretty and the lemon flower is sweet ....

Folks the answer is lemons - more and more lemons as this graph clearly illustrates.
R² = 0.97 means that 97% of the variation in the Road Toll is accounted for by the variation in amount of fresh lemons being imported into the USA.

It is, of course, and inverse relationship. Thus the more lemons imported, the fewer road fatalities. 

Now this is no joke - it is a true relationship.

It is a good example that correlation does not mean causation. There is an important moderating variable (not shown). What might that be.

So sad to say importing a lots more lemons is not going to reduce our road toll.

There is another important issue here that brings forth such a large R² .

The variances for the two variables are vastly difference. And that is a big no-no when examining correlations.

I left my heart in San Francisco ...

or was it  ... I love Paris in the Spring time?
or perhaps .... A foggy day in London town?
then again .... LA is my lady ....
or even ..... Chicago ... the town the Billy Sunday could not shut town!
no it must be .... New York New York ... if I can make it there ....

Anyhoo folks be in to win!!

Below lies a quiz.

Everyone who answers the questions correctly gets 3 city walk iPhone applications to cities of their choice. 

Just send your answer to:

quiz@gpsmycity.com

1. What was the name of the horse that the Duke of Wellington rode at the battle of Waterloo?
a) Copenhagen
b) Paris
c) London

2. Wellington is the world's:
a) sunniest capital
b) most southern capital
c) most densely populated capital

3. Wellington has the most hectic ... in the South Pacific.
a) Airport
b) Port
c) Nightlife

4.  Who are the biggest contributors to New Zealand's Tourism earnings:
a) the British
b) the Australians
c) the Americans

5. How many national anthems does New Zealand have?
a) 2
b) 3
c) 4

 6. New Zealand is one of the world's leading exporters of dairy products. How many kilograms of butter does New Zealand produce per capita?
a) 50
b) 100
c) 200


7. Wellington has ranked … in the world in a quality of living survey held by Mercury in 2009:
a) 7th
b) 22nd
c) 12th

8.Wellington became the capital of New Zealand in:
a) 1905
b) 1865
c) 1795

9. Name the oldest building in Wellington. It was built in 1858.
a) the Colonial Cottage
b) the Futuna Chapel
c) the Opera House

10.One of the curious facts about Wellington is that it has more … per capita than New York.
a) pubs
b) shops
c) cafes

Money, it's a gas, grab that cash with both hands... and make a stash

Quite a lot of democracies are in fact ludocracies (ludicrous democracies). Nu Zulun is no exception folks.

We are a ludocracy in our own precious little way - an ant among elephants.

Now don't get me wrong - this is not a criticism of our beloved pollutions. politicians. No, no never.

What makes us a ludocracy - pure and simple is our adherence to modern "economic science" and its maze of contradictions.

We are currently being told to save more - after all,  we stand on the edge of a chasm of vast overseas private debt. Saving more combined with a GST hike to 17.5% is proposed. We are almost the worst savers in the OECD don't you know.

However folks, we are also told to consume more (and thus spend more) so that we avoid a recession and keep our GDP in positive territory. Economic growth of 2.5% maybe even 3% --- that's what we need they say.

Every school child taking NCEA 2 economics knows:
GDP (Y) is a sum of Consumption (C), Investment (I), Government Spending (G) and Net Exports (X - M).

So there it is:  Save more please and spend more please!

Now folks, this can be done via your garage - quantitative easing. But you have to be a rather brilliant counterfeiter.

You could get a job with more pay  ....

Another way you can save more and spend more is by stealing money - but that's is unadvisable and incidentally illegal.


You could of course borrow. Then you could be seen to be spending more and wandering to your the local bank to save more ... but then you also owe more.

No no .... that will never do. You simple must come into money (money must find you), if you are to fulfill a ludocracy's wishes.

Lotto perhaps?

An inheritance from Aunt Ada Fogbottom?

Growing a money tree???

Keep you mind on your drivin, Keep you hands on the wheel, Keep your snoopy eyes on the road ahead

Scrape the surface (just a tad) of Nu zulun and you will discover Britain. We drive on the left ....

During my six year sojourn in the Philippines I had to drive on the right.


Many a time, when in a bout of non-concentration, I was horrified to see a vehicle bearing down on me.

"Who is this idiot," I cried  ... only to realise ...  .The real idiot was moi.

Why does Britain drive on the left?

Well the story goes ... in days of old ... when knights were bold.... and the horse was the means of transport  ... the rider rode on the left so his right hand was free to grab his sword from his left hip and engage in battle with the fella coming the opposite way. Cos most Britons were right handed.

The rider's right   ... the fellas left.

The same was the case for those walking .... you walked on the left  ...sword on the left ..


You see the British were brave sorts! Any opportunity for a good duel.

I expect that's why the Japanese drive on the left - the Samurai!

Unlike the continentals who rode and walked on the right so they could avoid a good fight. (Although, it probably had something to do with Napoleon being left handed.)

Countries in blue drive on the left.