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Saturday, February 19, 2011

The Little General

At the request of ICCAPLRG, I am putting up a 'general' post where anyone who feels inclined can broach subjects that interest them.
Welcome aboard ICCAPLRG!

44 comments:

I Can Copy And Paste Like Robert Guyton said...

Lets talk about the greens who voted for the government to have unabted power over the cantebury earthquake, despite their "principles".

robertguyton said...

It wasn't a good decision in my opinion ICC. There was a lot of anguish expressed on Frogblog when the decision was made and some quite heated debate. The explanations from the Green MPs didn't satisfy everyone and I'm guessing the MPs have learned a lot from the experience. I am glad this all happened last year and well clear of the election as it would have distracted from the very good progress the Greens are making now.
What are your thoughts about Gerry's bill?

I Can Copy and Paste Like Robert Guyton said...

As the song says, You can't beat Wellington on a good day. And although both the Hurricanes and the Wellington Phoenix were downed overnight, there's good news for Wellington today as the sun rises - the Dom-Post reports:

The Queen Elizabeth, one of the world's newest cruise ships, made an early entrance to Wellington this morning when it arrived an hour ahead of schedule.

It glided into Wellington harbour as the sun was rising about 6.45am, catching those who were planning to greet it at 7.45am by surprise.

Carrying more than 2000 passengers on its maiden trip to the Pacific, it will bring an expected cash injection to the city's economy of $1 million during its few hours here.

The new Queen Elizabeth is the second-largest ship to be built by Cunard, the company that built the Titanic.

The largest was the Queen Mary 2, launched in 2004, which held the record for the world's largest passenger ship for several years. At 294 metres long, the Queen Elizabeth is 50 metres shorter than the Queen Mary 2.



We took ourselves on a cruise a few years ago, and we're keen to repeat the experience sometime over the next year or two. We doubt that we'll ever get to sail on something as opulent as the Queen Elizabeth, but who knows?

But Wellington will certainly benefit from having 2000 extra folk patronising its cafes and shops today, and availing themselves of tourism options. The cruise industry is an ever-growing component of our tourism trade, worth as the Dom-Post story says later on, in excess of $300 million per annum.

That's not to be sniffed at. And so we hope that visitors to Wellington have a memorable day after a spectacular entrance to the harbour this morning, and we hope that the tills ring merrily for the duration of the Queen Elizabeth's stay; just don't mention rugby or football!


Posted by Inventory2 at 8:23 AM

ha said...

Finally you stick up a general comment post!

It is about time.

robertguyton said...

Welcome ha!
The post by ICC on Wellington is a cracker, but I can't find his comment. I hope he follows with his valuable view.

S said...

Interesting new commenter for you Robert, (it's not me by the way, as avid a fan as I am of Inv., and as annoyed as I get at the way you, in my opinion, rip into him for all the ills of the world), my query concerns the narcissism test that both Ele and DF have been discussing.

Has anyone out there taken it and want to share their scores? A bit of light-heartedness might be in order tonight.

Suz said...

oops..that should be Suz

robertguyton said...

Yeah thanks Suz - Inv sent the link through, obviously thinking that I'll blitz the narcissism stats :-)
I'll give it a go after watching 'Mirror mask' here in my 'home theatre' - have you seen it?

Suz said...

"Home theatre" how very posh ;-)

My night is consisting of extreme sunburn due to a dumb-ass mistake of liberally applying Nivea after-sun moisturizer before 4 hours at the Medieval Tournament, instead of f**king Nivea 50+ sunscreen!! Very similar looking bottles is my only defence!

Keeping Stock said...

I took the narcissism test Suz, and shy, retiring type that I really am recorded a pretty low score. I'd be really interested to hear how RG goes, and even sent him the link so that he wouldn't have to go to Kiwiblog.

And Robert; nice to see a General thread here; great idea!

Suz said...

Hey Inv..did I read somewhere you scored 4? Ditto me the first time, then on subsequent tests, cos' I don't trust anyone, scored 7, then a 6?? Inconsistent and dishonest or what?? :-))

Keeping Stock said...

blushes modestly; that would be so Suz. I'm definyely no Michael Laws!

Suz said...

Blushing is SOOO much a 4 trait...your score didn't surprise me..it's always us superior ones who don't acknowledge our brilliance!! :)

robertguyton said...

Suz! You went to a Medieval Tournament???
Can you tell me more?
I love that stuff!
Sorry about the sunburn - guess that makes you a damsel in distress!

robertguyton said...

Watched 'Little Miss Sunshine' instead.
Laughed and laughed!

robertguyton said...

Hey Inv2 - I have installed Liferea Feed Reader - do you know it? Let's you read all the new posts on all of the blogs you follow, without visiting them. Awesome.

robertguyton said...

My score was 13.
What does that tell you?
I wasn't interested in the analysis.

Keeping Stock said...

Sounds interesting RG; d'you have the link please.

Shunda barunda said...

My score was 5.
I am hoping the meek will indeed inherit the earth :)

robertguyton said...

The meek will indeed Shunda, but the rest of us might die of boredom waiting for them to do it :-)
How about you meekees get on with the job, claim your inheritance then put anyone who's still around to work cleaning the place up.
Start with the rivers.

robertguyton said...

Inv2 - Liferea Fead Reader might be an application that has to be used with Ubuntu, the operating system that I have on my computer now. My French IT man is a marvel and can pull anything and everything out of the ether.

Keeping Stock said...

Reminds me of a bumper sticker I once saw:

The meek will inherit the earth; as long as it's ok with the rest of you

robertguyton said...

Ha!

Suz said...

It's a big international Jousting tournament held over 2 days in Upper Hutt. Thousands flock to it, there's archery, siege engine displays, full-on combat displays, as well as living history activities in a medieval tent village; weaving, black-smith, music, carpentry and the list goes on.

One of my favourites was watching a woman milling flour; hard labour, 4 hours to get enough for one loaf!
Terry's got their contact number as they want him to cut a heavier stone for the mill.

You would have loved it!

robertguyton said...

I would Suz!
We built a trebuchet that could (and did) hurl all sorts of massive things over the neighbours hedge, various giant crossbows etc.
I've a collection of about ten old canvas 10x10 tents that I want to convert to tournament tents one day. We also has a hand driven stone mill but it got dropped and now we have an electric one. We grow our own grains of course!
And just to drive home my interest in things knighty, I must reveal that my middle name is Lance!
Terry (my son Terry) does 'medieval' once a week and has a broadsword, chain mail etc.)
If I can find pictures of his 21st birthday feast, I'll post them. My other son has played troubadore many, many times.

Shunda barunda said...


The meek will inherit the earth; as long as it's ok with the rest of you


Well Moses was apparently the meekest, and he sure got some results, even split an ocean in half!
Meek people are not necessarily weak people.
Don't underestimate the angry meekster.

Suz said...

Robert Lancelot, very knightly!

robertguyton said...

When the meek combine to write letters to the editor, plutocracies fall!

Shunda barunda said...

Really Robert?
I am feeling quite helpless, seems very hard to do anything but grizzle and then watch the shit hit the fan anyway.

Shunda barunda said...

I am at a low ebb, need some quick runs on the board, maybe I should do some sneaky Rata planting.........

Keeping Stock said...

@ RG - I know that you would be poles apart politically, but you should have a chat with Murray who posts on Kiwiblog, and whose spare time is spent building medieval catapaults and other such weaponary.

The jousting sounds like great fun though; would love to see it.

Keeping Stock said...

Meanwhile, Maori TV's coverage from Te Matatini is spectacular. The time, effort and aroha that has gone into the performances is enormous.

Suz said...

Inv: I'm thinking once Robert gets his medieval tents converted, he can invite all the KS regulars down for our own jousting tournament??

I'll bring the oxen and the mead!

robertguyton said...

I'll do it Suz!
I've the wooden bowls and goblets already, pennants and draperies, and plenty of friends who brew wicked beers and ciders. My youngest son plays every instrument under the sun and his older brother juggles and tumbles so it's all on.
I'll update soon.
Shunda'll be there with his cluster of Barundas I'm betting.

Suz said...

Ha..ya mad bugger..you probably will!
I'm in.

Shunda barunda said...

Do it Robert! Life is boring at present, if you don't I will.

robertguyton said...

Boring!?!

What???

Shunda barunda said...

Sorry, I am not in good space and I am making no sense.

robertguyton said...

How can we lift your spirits Shunda?

Shunda barunda said...

We should have a hangi.

Suz said...

I hope tomorrow shines brighter for you Shunda.

robertguyton said...

Have you a hangi pit Shunda?
We dug one and had a lot of fun with it. Now that the boys have left home, it's filled in and you'd barely notice where it was but it could be redug easily. Probably find a charred spud or two down there still!

Shunda barunda said...

No I don't (yet) Robert.
I will start collecting chunks of cast iron and sack cloth!

Suz said...

Shunda...glad to hear you sounding happier..how many little darlins do you & Udda have? Healthy little mites I'm sure, blossoming on that fish pie! Take care.