The Weta Nest

Open letter to NZRU

2009-11-15T20:39:00.003+13:00

So here's what I've thrown together....
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According to your website, "The NZRU is charged with fostering, developing, administering, promoting and representing the game of rugby in New Zealand". I believe reducing the size of the Air New Zealand cup competition in 2010 greatly conflicts with these values. I am a strong supporter of the Manawatu Turbos, but more importantly, I am a supporter of giving more New Zealanders a team they can identify with.

The current make-up of the Air New Zealand cup presents a sound and fair competition whereby residents of all reasonably-populated provinces in New Zealand have a team they can call their own. Super 14 doesn't give this, and the All Blacks even less so. Name one Manawatu player who has played in Super rugby while they represented the Manawatu province. The Hurricanes have turned their backs on Manawatu to such an extent that we no longer even host home games anymore. What's in the Hurricanes for us? Nothing. No players.. No games in our city. We actually don't have a Super 14 team we can support!

Next year, we will see Nick Crosswell, Andre Taylor and Aaron Cruden playing for the Hurricanes and the only reason this has been possible is because their provincial team were exposed to the highest calibre of rugby. These signings would never have happened if Manawatu were in a lesser division. Once a team goes down to a lesser division, the star players and money all disappear. There's no strength to build players to the level needed to appeal to Super rugby franchises. In NZ provincial rugby, when you're down you're really down. You have no All Blacks, no super rugby players, and your own team takes part in a competition where the standard is noticeably poorer.

The NZRU argue that with promotion/relegation the competition becomes meaningful, but I would argue this strongly. In 2003 Hawkes Bay were in division two. They won every single game of their season, including the semi-final and final. Northland were the opposite but in first division. They lost every game and ended up playing Hawkes Bay in the promotion/relegation match. The scene was set to see Hawkes Bay come into division one at last. They played the match in Napier and what happened? Northland demolished them. The result echoed the previous years' promotion/relegation match results. It marked the tremendous gap in standard between divisions one and two. This gap isn't something a team can just bridge in one season. It takes time - much as it has taken time for Manawatu to start playing convincingly in premier division.

While Manawatu have bred a number of All Blakcs in recent years - Lee Stensness, Kevin Schuler, Jason Eaton and Christian Cullen - no player was playing for Manawatu at the time they became All Blacks. This hardly gave us a great deal of satisfaction. Seeing our players who had left the province to harbour better All Black selection prospects being selected to represent New Zealand while our very team was languishing in division two of the NPC was a real kick in the guts, rather than something to bring us pride. The same thing has repeatedly happened to other lesser teams in New Zealand over the years. What do you think that does for a province over time? It's like the brain drain New Zealand is experiencing where skilled workers leave the country for better job prospects. So too do provinces lose skilled players if there is no incentive for them to stay. Premier division is that very incentive.

What I'm saying is not that Manawatu should stay in Premier Division, but that ALL 14 teams should. If you drop any of the 14 teams down into a meaningless competition, you will be giving well-populated provinces no team to relate to.

I do understand the issues over sustainability of the competition, and the length of the season, so I have proposed a few options.

1) Drop the idea of having 'finals'
2) Develop a RWC style 'pool' format
3) Stop giving in to the SA in SANZAR and letting the Super rugby competition keep growing in length without giving any benefit to New Zealand
4) Keep the competition running during the All Blacks' end of year tour. Seriously... you run the Tri Nations during the Air NZ Cup, why must it be finished in time for the end-of-year tour?
5) Leverage the 'cash cow' factor of the All Blacks and use it to fund shortfalls in the Air New Zealand Cup

Name one other sport in New Zealand where people living in one part of the country have to settle for a lesser quality brand than others. Sure, the Air New Zealand cup costs money but how much do the All Blacks bring in every year? Smaller provinces aren't always going to making hundreds of thousands of dollars each year. They are going to have rough patches but one thing is for sure, shoving them down into division two isn't going to do their profitability any good.

"Section 92A"

2009-03-04T21:45:00.002+13:00

Most New Zealand artists, musicians, or fans of either will no doubt have heard this phrase being thrown around lately. It is the name of a section of a legislative document that was supposed to become an act in New Zealand law early this year. The legislation is aimed at reducing the problem of illegal downloads in New Zealand, and requires ISPs to implement a policy whereby they cut off the Internet connections of people who download illegal music, videos and the like. Not only this, it also promoted a policy of 'guilt upon accusation' whereby an ISP can cut off your Internet connection, even if you are suspected of downloading copyrighted material.

Well.... so they say. But how many people have actually read the legislation? Does it really say that, or do we have a 'chicken little' situation here?

Lets take a look at the aforementioned section and judge for ourselves:

92A Internet service provider must have policy for terminating accounts of repeat infringers

“(1) An Internet service provider must adopt and reasonably implement a policy that provides for termination, in appropriate circumstances, of the account with that Internet service provider of a repeat infringer.
“(2) In subsection (1), repeat infringer means a person who repeatedly infringes the copyright in a work by using 1 or more of the Internet services of the Internet service provider to do a restricted act without the consent of the copyright owner.

The point being hammered by the clan out there is the notion of 'guilt upon accusation'. Well, I'm sorry, but I don't see it. I see the words "in appropriate circumstances", and "repeat infringer". "In appropriate circumstances" suggests that the ISPs won't just be expected to terminate someone's account as a knee-jerk reaction. The phrase "repeat infringers" suggests that there will be a leniancy on the first instance of downloading

The other excuse people haul out is that 'someone who doesn't like them could complain to their ISP and they would lose their Internet connection as a result'. First, I'm not sure what kind of company these people keep but I'd suggest they go and get new friends or take a look at themselves in the mirror if they know there are people out there who would do that. That's a pretty septic thing for someone to do, and I'd say you've got just as much chance of being mugged as you have of someone doing this to you. Nonetheless, lets try running this argument through section 92A and we'll see whether it would lead to a disconnection or not.

“(1) An Internet service provider must adopt and reasonably implement a policy that provides for termination, in appropriate circumstances, of the account with that Internet service provider of a repeat infringer.

So what happens? Joe Asshole phones Joe Paranoid's ISP and says he has been repeatedly downloading illegal music. The ISP does nothing, so Joe Asshole writes to parliament to advise that Joe Paranoid's ISP hasn't been following the law. Parliament investigate Joe Asshole's claim "ISP X have ignored my claim that Joe Paranoid has been downloading illegal music and have failed to meet their obligations under section 92A". Is that all the evidence that they have? Yes. A claim made by someone. Joe Paranoid, to me, is hardly a person worthy of the claim 'repeat infringer'. Are you telling me that an ISP, with all the technology they have available, will make a decision based on a verbal tip and nothing more? Think of the bad press they'd cop if Joe Paranoid went public about it. ISPs need business and not a mass exodus of customers.

As I wrote this, I could almost hear the chicken littles jumping up and down and saying "no no no, you've missed the point. It doesn't have to go before parliament... an ISP can make that call on their own as section 92A gives them that responsiblity." Maybe it does, but how are the government going to know whether they are doing it or not? If an ISP isn't blocking its customers, how is the government to know that they don't just have a bunch of law-abiding customers? The only way there can be any repercussions is if a case goes public and is investigated by the government, and the first thing they're going to do is consider the evidence that an ISP had to work with before making a decision to block or not to block. The phone call of Joe Asshole is not one that would be considered 'appropriate circumstances' for termination of someone's account.

I wish people would stop over-reacting to this. It's bandwagoning gone mad.

Yahoo Customer Care

2008-09-28T15:48:00.002+13:00

Ok, this thing has escalated to the point where I can no longer keep it to myself. Yahoo's customer service is poor. I know I'm paying nothing to use their service, but ultimately you get what you pay for don't you?

A few weeks ago I made the decision to migrate my email away from my current Inspire Net email address onto GMail. The reason being that, whilst I do like Inspire Net, their pricing isn't competitive with some other ISPs out there. Yes, they have great service, but how does that help me, the home user, with a bread-and-butter Internet connection, who just wants to save money? They were offering 2Mb ADSL plans for as long as they could. The plan I was on was perfect for me - 10GB/month at 2Mb for $50/month. They have only recently stopped being able to offer such a plan as Telecom apparently won't allow it anymore. I had two choices - either move to fullspeed 10GB/month or 5GB/month. Prices are $57.50/month or $52.50/month respectively. I actually wanted neither of these plans. I wanted what I had. But that was no longer an option. So I have put us onto the $52.50 plan. It sucks, because now I am constantly conscious of how much I download. That's hardly moving forward in Internet use is it?

The thing stopping me from moving my services away from them at the moment is my old email address, so I have opened up a gmail account and have been slowly switching all my lists/groups etc over to using my gmail account. Things went pretty well, and as they come in I am just switching them over to gmail. That is... everything except Yahoo.

Yahoo has an interesting system where you associate an email address with a Yahoo ID. You can set an email address as the primary email once you have verified your email address. That's the part I've been having problems with. The verification email doesn't arrive. It's not my spam filter. I have tried adding 4 different email accounts at 4 different providers, and in no case do I receive the verification email. It's not the spam filter.

So, I emailled Yahoo's customer care to enquire about the problem. They replied, telling me that it was my spam filter. I inadvertently deleted this email along with the tens of confirmation emails I had received from Yahoo during my add/delete/add/delete email address from profile phase, so I couldn't reply to it. Yesterday I decided I'd try again. So I sent them another help request, explaining that i was certain it wasn't my spam filter and that I received the same symptom at 4 different email addressed belonging to 4 different providers. I finished my email by saying "I look forward to having a solution to this problem that doesn't suggest spam filtering". Surely enough, they replied and told me the problem was... you guessed it ... my spam filter.

What a load of rubbish. I emailed them back to clarify the situation a little more and have yet to hear a response. However, in the process I have ended up on a link where I can disavow an email. I disavowed my gmail email address, thinking I was removing it from the Yahoo record. However it turned out I have permanently removed my Gmail account from ever being used by Yahoo, so have totally killed any chance of using it for my alternate email address unless someone at Yahoo customer care decides to feel like helping me rather than spitting out a generic email suggesting it's my spam filter.

I'll keep you posted on the results but I can't see how it's going to have any more success than my past attempts at getting help from them.

I belong to a number of Yahoo groups

My Songwriting Efforts

2008-09-10T20:58:00.002+12:00

Some of the long-time readers out there will be aware of my musical background. I've been through a few instruments over the years; piano, saxophone, bass guitar, guitar, drums and vocals. I've played in bands of many genres, and sung in both choral and contemporary contexts. One thing I have not done, however, is write (or even contribute to) a song that gains significant attention. Mostly, this is because my skills as a songwriter are extremely poor. But in my defense, my lack of songwriting credits is due to a lot more than just poor skills. It's also due to a bad choice of instrument. Lets face it, the drums are a lot of things but they sure aren't melodic. I played them steadily for ten years and, without playing an instrument that is capable of surviving on its own merits (eg guitar or keyboards), hardly did myself any favours as far as songwriting goes.

However, in more recent times I have shifted into the city and playing the drums isn't something I can really do without being conscious of upsetting the neighbours. In order to get a musical outlet, I bought myself a guitar a few years ago. Since picking this up again I have discovered a distant remnant of a songwriter that can flog out the odd halfway decent tune just by me having listened to so many over the years.

A well-known fact is my affiliation with the Wellington-based duo Gracious Deviants. A lesser known fact is my contribution to one of their staple tunes 'The Mountain'. The idea for this originated from a song I started on that was based on an unusual interval in the song 'Wildwood Flower' sung by June Carter in the film Walk The Line (about Johnny Cash). In late 2006, I was working on a project at a high school in Wellington. It was a two week job and on the second week I stayed with my brother Darrel. It hardly felt like work when, at the end of each day, I'd come home to beers, party packs, curries and guitars. One night, we were sharing our recent unfinished songs and I attempted to re-inact my Wildwood Flower rip-off. Somehow, it got Darrel's attention and we then set to work at putting some meaningful melodies and chords either side of it. Before long, we had the basis of a pretty decent chorus. What was missing was a final wrap up. The answer came courtesy of Jon Hume from Evermore. I had been listening to a lot of them at the time, and so I sang a line that I imagined him singing. At that point, it all came together. We had a chorus with an unusual 5-chord sequence and a catchy melody. The harmonies were a breeze, as was the verse.

The only thing left to do was to get Pete to give his polish to it to turn it from a 'Greaney brothers garage special' into a "Gracious Deviants song". I don't think anyone was too sure about what was going to happen next. Pete heard the song and liked it, and the rest is history.

It's now well over halfway through 2008 and it has taken until now for me to be able to present my efforts. Visit the Gracious Deviants' Myspace Page and go listen to 'the mountain' for a taste of what I think is my most monumental songwriting contribution. Lets see those plays going up :)

Never trust a GUI

2008-09-08T20:20:00.002+12:00

As the 5 regular readers will be aware, I have been playing with Ubuntu 8.04 lately and have been having some troubles with the wireless setup. On the weekend, I decided I was going to sort it once and for all. I decided forget using a GUI to configure a troublesome piece of software. The problem Linux has it that it was built on a command line first and foremost. Many of these core tools still exist today and form the basis of a solid working OS. What a GUI overlay tool has to do is write to a text file then control a command-line daemon. Both these tasks are things that a human and a shell script can handle quite well together without the need for a GUI to interfere with things. On the weekend, I decided I should stop trying to fight the city hall and just use the damn command-line tools necessary for getting a wireless card working.

Well.. I did it. It required a lot of effort though. First, I can't have a hidden SSID on my wireless AP. I haven't yet confirmed this by turning it off, but I'm a bit scared to at the same time. Second, the wpa_supplicant process doesn't work in daemon mode without some adjusting of priority. It's really weird. I could associate with my AP using wpa_supplicant and have it debug to the console, but as soon as I ran it in daemon mode, i couldn't get an IP address using dhclient. Crazy huh? But what would you know, I read a post by a guy who had the same problem as I did and found that by running nice -19 to set the priority of wpa_supplicant in daemon mode, he was able to get it working. I tried it and voila, I too was finally enjoy painless wireless under Linux.

I did have to fully modify wpa_supplicant.conf so it has all the credentials for the ap (even an encrypted form of the WPA passphrase) but yeah, it works.

Ok... Maybe for my next post I'll do something a bit more human readable.

Wireless is holding Linux off the desktop

2008-09-05T20:33:00.002+12:00

Last week, I posted a brief review of my recent experience installing Ubuntu 8.04. I am a seasoned Linux engineer and have been a user since 1999. Having been there and battled pretty much every aspect of the Linux desktop over the years, I was very much in awe as I came to grips with the fundamentals of the Ubuntu desktop. I still want to play with KDE 4 but can't justify the 200+ MB download at the moment (yes, New Zealand still has this pathetic concept of a 'monthly data cap' which I gather overseas countries often don't.

What I have since discovered, I am afraid, is not good. Linux's implementation of wireless. The nicest thing I can say about it is..... that it's absolutely one of the clunkiest pieces of rubbish I have used on the latest version of Ubuntu and it is so convoluted that Linux won't make it any further until they do something about it. There. I think I pretty much summed it up.

Let me describe my configuration:
Wireless NIC: Linksys WMP54GS (Broadcom 4306 chipset)
WPA2 enabled
SSID hidden

Nothing too unusual here, I would have said. Ahh... but it is. You see, a driver for the Broadcom chip hasn't been written for Linux. So to install, I have to use the same tool I used when I tried Linux on the desktop last year - the Broadcom 43xx Firmware Cutter (bcm43xx-fwcutter). A clever creation but, with no GUI available, there is no way this process could be made a part of the installer. So anyway, off I go, cutting the firmware from the Windows driver and reading up on how to configure my system to use the newly extracted firmware. How? Well, under Windows of course. I use wireless and, like a great deal of machines these days, wireless is the only network I have available. So I have to reboot, read, reboot, try, reboot, read, reboot, try. Slow, frustrating, and certainly nothing I'd expect a 'desktop user' to cope with.

Well over a period of 3 hours of this, I learn that not only does Linux not have a nice wifi stack, it also has worse documentation on using it. In fact, the best documentation can be found on message boards. Someone posts the problem they are having, and someone else answers it. How did the guy who answered it get to know the answer? More importantly, how had the developers of the software envisaged people would learn if they don't believe in documenting it?

So eventually, I realise that I am better off using GNOME network manager to add my wireless profile. I can't save it, though. It doesn't work if I try to connect that way. I have to type it the SSID and associate with the access point every time. No other way works for me. This means each time I reboot, I have to set up my wireless.

I post this onto the official Ubuntu IRC chatroom, and I am promptly advised to try WICD as a drop-in replacement for NetworkManager. Alright then, lets do it. NetworkManager is uninstalled, WICD is installed. And that.. my friends... is the end of my wireless connection. You see, no matter what I try, I can't get WICD to even come close to associating with my access point. I give up and go to bed.

The next day, I connect to my access point on my laptop running good old, never-looked-more-desirable-than-now Windows XP and turn ON the SSID broadcast, hoping that this might give me more joy with my other computer and WICD. WICD detects the AP. Great. Except it won't associate with it. I go to read the help for WICD and, unsurprisingly, there appears to be none. Alright, time for it to go. At least NetworkManager got me online some of the time. So I head back to Synaptic to install NetworkManager, but it doesn't work. Why? It wants to go online of course!!! GRRRRR I then head for the Ubuntu installation CD, but that doesn't work either. This time, it's nothing to do with poor documentation or incomplete programming. My 14 month-old son has been biting the disc and has rendered the 600+MB squashfs file containing the .deb packages unreadable.

It's off to Windows I go. I download both .deb packages for NetworkManager, reboot, then install. This time it does something different - it tries to automatically connect me to my access point. Great! This must be what happens when the SSID is being broadcast. Hmm... no IP. Try it again, then again, then again. Still nothing. I try doing it the manual way that had worked for me in the past. Nope. Nothing. For crying out loud. So back to my laptop, turn OFF SSID broadcasting, go to connect with NetworkManager the way I had before and... you guessed it... it worked.

In other words, my stupid round trip from NetworkManager to WICD to WICD with SSID on to NetworkManager with SSID on ended up exactly where it started - at a frustrating compromise of a wireless setup that requires manual intervention any time I want to go online. All this just means another reason why I won't be bothered booting into Linux and will just end up using Windows.

I can accept that wireless on Linux may still be immature. However, what annoys me about it is that there is bugger all useful documentation out there about it, and the software is unfinished. The really frustrating part about it is that it does seem there are two different 'wireless experiences' out there to be had in Linux world. Either a really nice seamless elegant one, or a downright awful one. Let me quote an article from Linux.com about it and you'll start to understand this a little bit more:

One of the greatest new features for laptop users in Ubuntu is network-manager. With this shiny new application it is finally easy to connect your Ubuntu system to any wireless network.

It is? Hmm. Could have fooled me.

Where previously you had to jump through hoops to do WPA or 802.1x authentication, network manager makes this completely transparent.

Oh god, please, spare me the crap already!! So you had to previously jump through hoops... as opposed to now where you have to............ ?

Ubuntu is touted as being 'Linux on the desktop' and Debian (as in Debian GNU/Linux) is often criticised for being slow on the uptake. Well I'll say this right now. Wireless networking was a challenge under Debian, I have no doubt about it. But it was a damn sight better than Ubuntu with the same hardware. A hacked copy of Mac OSX runs wireless on a PC so much better than Linux does and to me that's just wrong.

Wireless needs to do one of two things. Either get good, or at least develop documentation to help struggling people get their wireless setup online. Remember, wireless is the sole means of network access for a great number of users today.

Please can we get with the times?

Continuing Mankind Costs More Than Letting it Subside

2008-08-28T13:16:00.002+12:00

This one has been on my mind for a while now. Before I get seriously into things, I'd like to point out that the 'world' I speak of is New Zealand. Beyond our shores, I have no idea how things work in the areas I am about to discuss.

As readers here may or may not be aware, I am a father of a 14 month-old son. Being a father has amazing benefits, don't get me wrong, but it also has some major challenges. Money, health and sleep and probably the three biggest thus far. One of the decisions affecting most couples when they decide whether or not they are going to have children is, of course, the money. Some people might be alarmed to hear that the biggest cost of having young children is actually not the children themselves but the lack of income for the parent who stays at home to look after the child. As a family's income drops, their entitlement to the government Working For Families increases. From $0 per annum up to about $35000 per annum, you get quite a nice entitlement. From there onward, things get a lot less fruitful. Above $50000, you really need to start seriously considering whether it's worth the paperwork to apply since what you get from them doesn't really provide much useful assistance.

Last year, I got made redundant by my previous employer. I received a redundancy settlement that was rather generous, and was also in the fortunate predicament of having a new job handed to me on a plate. Redundancy is normally intended to protect those people who have been made redundant while they search for new work, so in my case it was all a big fat bonus. However, given the unsettling and stressful environment I had worked in for the previous 12 months, I have no qualms about accepting it as a partial payback for everything I and my colleagues had suffered. But.... according to the IRD, redundancy is also considered 'income'. This pushed our annual income up to such a point that we were no longer elligible to receive anything for that financial year from Working for Families. Again... probably not unfair given that we did, let's face it, actually receive a lot of money that year. However, it does start to become what people might consider unfair when you remember that other people who I work with who don't have dependent children were able to pocket all of their redundancy money while I used a large amount of mine to supplement what the government would have paid us in Working for Families income. If I hadn't done this, we wouldn't have been able to live. It's that simple.

So who is the winner in this situation? The guy who chose not to have children of course.

Children get sick a lot. Young children, more so, because their immune system hasn't yet built up resistance to anything really. So every cold, cough, virus or whatever that is out there to be caught, Daniel catches if he is exposed to it. He brings it home and, in all likelihood, one of his parents will catch it. If I catch it, then I have to take time off work. If Stacey catches it, she can't take time off 'work' since she doesn't have an employer as a stay at home mum. So who covers her? Either a) Nobody; or b) Me. Either outcome sucks.

When a young child is unwell, the first thing to suffer is usually their sleep. So, if Daniel has a rough night (by that, I mean he won't sleep and at 2am we end up taking him to hospital then returning home at 4am, for those of you who think you know what a 'rough night' is) then we emerge the next morning both feeling like trash and, quite frankly, in no state to work let alone drive. So what's meant to be my next move? Drive to work, unsafe, and be totally useless at work... or stay at home and take a day off? What about Stacey, what's her next move? a) Stay at home, useless, while her equally useless husband goes to work; or b) Stay at home, useless, while her equally useless husband stays home as well and chews through another precious day of annual leave? How does an employer feel about someone not coming in to work purely because they had a terrible night's sleep?

Next question.. How much annual leave do I get per year? 4 weeks. How much sick leave? 5 days. How much time do the rest of the guys at work get? 4 weeks/5 days. Who's the winner here? Again... the guy who chose not to have children.

And I can almost hear people reading this now thinking "Hey man, you're the one who chose to have children so quite ya moaning!". Again... a fair point to make. But consider the impact if people didn't do that? Quite simply, in a nutshell, there would eventually be no humans left in the world. Now, I for one believe there need to be some population growth controls introduced into this world. After all, the planet is only so big and we can't just keep growing infinitely pretending that we don't realise this. But I do also think that those who have children need to receive SOME more benefits than Not Working For Families (as I like to call it). At the moment, people could be understood for choosing not to have children because of the inherent cost involved. Maybe this is one reason why the average age of a mother of a newborn in 2007 was 35. At that stage, at least one parent would hopefully be making a fair amount of money and therefore they could afford it.

Parenting is a great experience and I wouldn't go back to being a 'person' (rather than a father) ever. However, I do think that a lot more could be done to make the experience more relaxing when you lie in bed at night.

The Final Olympic Medal Table

2008-08-27T11:14:00.002+12:00

Well it's been way too long since I put anything on here so I figured I should really try and get back into the habit of doing it again.

Unless you've been living under a rock, you'll no doubt be aware that the games of the XXIX Olympiad have been happening recently and have, of course, just drawn to a close. Among the hot topics emerging from this year's games are issues such as China's human rights violations, Tibet, how they acquired some land to be used for the games, the stunning performance of Michael Phelps in the pool, the smog, the girl 'singing' at the opening ceremony, and of course the token underage gymnast(s) He Kexin et al. I have to say, I'm over most of it to tell the truth. What I am not, and will not ever get over is the gap between the haves and the have nots of Olympic competition. Put more bluntly, as my brother said to me in the midst of watching seemingly hundreds of Olympic finals where the favourites were predictably China, USA and Australia "I'm so over these countries whose governments throw bucketloads of cash toward increasing their medal count. USA, China, Australia.. I'm looking at you".

Here in New Zealand, we cherish every single medal we won. Not only that, we also commended those athletes for whom it was a superb effort just to GET to Beijing, or those who beat their personal bests. Can Australia honestly say the same? Can they even name a bronze medalist? Likewise for China and the US. Since Australia opened the Australian Institute of Sport, they seem to have absolutely creamed on the medal table at any Olympics and Commonwealth Games. I'm told that Australia are disappointed by their performance at Beijing, but per head of population they still well and truly beat New Zealand.

I do think we need to shift our focus at Olympic Games away from beating Australia though. Example being, the mens cycling team pursuits. New Zealand and Australia raced off for the bronze medal and New Zealand won. I know there were a few New Zealanders saying "ha ha, we beat Australia!". Look... Australia are hardly going to be losing sleep at night knowing that New Zealand denied them one bronze medal when they won 46 medals in total versus New Zealand's 9.

The worst thing is that the UK seem to have come up as the dark horses, finishing 4th on the overall medal table. They absolutely owned the cycling velodrome... and the worst part is that they're hosting the next Olympics. Does that mean they are here to stay as well?

Don't get me wrong, I'm not disappointed. I'm thrilled at how our athletes performed. I do think, however, it's unfair on them considering they probably have to work a lot harder to win the same medal as an Australian therefore they may never achieve the same sucesses as they might have had they lived over there.

So where the heck have you been?

2007-12-09T17:05:00.000+13:00

Yes, I know. A blog entry. A bit of a rarity from me at the moment. Having a baby around tends to do that. For anyone who has ever suffered the loss of a friend to a child, I now understand where they are coming from. All-too-often, people complain about the fact that those who have kids don't want to associate with those who don't have kids. All-too-often, people report disappointment in their friends for having seemingly 'abandoned them' after having children. The truth is, children take up a LOT of time.

I work from 8:30am to 5:30 monday to friday. Once I get home from work, I step into the 'father' role where we begin Daniel's night time routine of bathing, dressing, feeding, then putting to bed. We don't start making tea until 6-6:30pm. We'll often start eating tea at around 7:00pm, so after finishing tea then cleaning up to some extent, it's usually around 7:30, 7:40pm. Daniel needs another feed at around 8:00pm which I do, so there's bugger-all point in starting anything significant. After his 8pm feed finishes, it's usually around 8:10-8:15pm and it is only at this stage that you are free to do what you actually want to do without feeling like you're neglecting your fatherly responsibilities! I'll say it again, children take up a LOT of time.

But despite this, I have been slowly making a few things happen in my life. Having learnt some time-management and motivation skills in my new and challenging role at work, I have been able to use the scraps of free time I get thrown to achieve a few things. One of them is to start developing my own Flight Simulator Scenery Design business venture (more about this in future posts), while the other is setting up an e-commerce site for Stacey to run her own Nappy-Making business. Nappies are only a small part of what she is selling though. Eventually, the site will probably become a one-stop-shop for mothers looking for something 'cool' or 'environmentally friendly' for either themself or their child.

E-commerce applications scared me at first. But I knew it would mean playing around with an open source package. PHP/Apache/MySQL doesn't scare me, so it was just the e-commerce package I had to come to grips with. It took a LOT to understand it and to fully tweak it. I'll admit, the code and stylesheets aren't as pretty as they could be, but I had a fairly short timeframe to get it all going in, so I think I did pretty well.

Without further ado, I shall present my efforts:

Foxybots Nappies

Please have a look around and do not hesitate to make an order :P

...And so the cycle begins all over

2007-10-08T20:35:00.000+13:00

I'm as big a fan of rugby and the All Blacks as anybody. I held a season pass for the Wellington Lions and Hurricanes for four years, have attended countless clashes here at my local ground supporting the Manawatu Turbos and Hurricanes, have attended All Blacks' test matches and had Sky for the sole purpose of watching Super 14, NPC and Test matches for years (until we had to sacrifice almost anything that costs money to afford to live on one income). I felt it was time I shared with readers my thoughts about the All Blacks' defeat to France in the Quarter Finals of the 2007 Rugby World Cup.

It is the worst performance of the ABs in the history of the Rugby World Cup, and the nation is shocked. My thoughts on the matter: "So?"

Seriously, So??

Do people not see that us not performing in the World Cup is exactly why we should stop obsessing over the damn competition in the first place? New Zealand simply doesn't deliver at world cup tournaments. That's a fact that can't be disputed. We haven't won it since 1987, and that was the first tournament ever, also held in New Zealand. I remember it, and at the time, it almost felt like "Hey, have you guys heard that there's this thing called a Rugby World Cup, and we've just won it?". It certainly didn't carry even a tenth of the hype it does today. In more recent times, New Zealand just doesn't front up with the goods at tournament level. However, in between them it's no secret that we are always a dominant force in world rugby. We are always among the world's best, and often ARE the world's best.

Why do New Zealanders feel this aching need to 'prove ourselves' at RWC level? Do they feel as though we somehow aren't the worlds best if we can't win the RWC? Who won the last cup? England. Did they win the 6 Nations this year? No. Have they won it recently? No. Are they the worlds best? No. Have they been the worlds best SINCE the 2003 Rugby World Cup? No. And then now they front up and knock over Australia in the Quarter Finals, thereby proving my point. Just because you play well at the world cup, does not mean that you have the right to call yourself the world's best. For me, it's about consistency year in year out. Now, I know that won't please a lot of people who feel the the Webb-Ellis trophy is rugby's ultimate prize, but it's only rugby's ultimate prize if you buy into all the hype that surrounds it.

The RWC is a time and place thing. At that time and place, in 2003, England WERE the world's best team. But as soon as they lost a game after that, they stopped carrying that title in my opinion. The composition of world rankings is not a fixed target and the public need to start understanding that.

So now, despite an 87% success rate as coach, Graham Henry is gone. Yawn. Oh New Zealand, what's wrong with you? We were so prepared for this competition. We had a good build up, a great opening match, and looked as hot favourites. But we choked. If this New Zealand side couldn't win the RWC, maybe none can? How would any other coach have made it happen? We did it to Mitchell, we've done it to Henry.

Some people just need to grow up.

The 'haves' vs the 'have nots' of air travel

2007-09-06T19:48:00.001+12:00

I'm beginning to dread thursdays. We've had two major announcements in the last few weeks, both on thursdays, and both emphasising a clear division between the 'haves' and the 'have nots' of air travel. A few weeks ago, Pacific Blue announced their plans to enter the domestic sector in New Zealand. They are offering super cheap airfares between Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. Needless to say, this offers absolutely no benefit to those in provincial centres and quite likely means a negative impact on our already overpriced airfares.

Let's take a look a little closer:

Average cost of airfare on Thursday 27 September

Auckland - Christchurch = $164
Palmerston North - Christchurch = $254

Wellington - Auckland = $149
Palmerston North - Auckland = $164

Auckland - Wellington = $129
Palmerston North - Wellington = $180

Source: www.airnewzealand.co.nz

Can anyone else see a pattern here? In all cases, the first flight from each pair is a considerably longer sector, and in all cases, the second flight from each pair is considerably more expensive. It's fair to say that either 1) Jets are cheaper to operate on a per-seat basis or 2) That the provinces are subsidising the major routes since there is considerable competition on them and it's dog eat dog. In the provinces, there is only one carrier so Air New Zealand can do as they please - it was just the same before Ansett New Zealand operated in the provinces. There was a notable difference in the level of service you received on a flight from Palmerston North versus a flight between Auckland and Wellington. Air New Zealand knew they had to deliver on the competitive routes but didn't on the provincial ones.

QANTAS Jetconnect operate domestic services in New Zealand between Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Queestown, and Rotorua. Why Queenstown and Rotorua? Because they are both major tourist centres. The other three are, of course, just major centres fullstop. The rest of us around New Zealand only hear about QANTAS Jetconnect in the news, or maybe we see them when we fly to or from the major centres. For us, there is only one airline to fly. It should be pretty apparent from the comparitive cost of airfares that competition is running hot on those major air routes.

And as if the gap wasn't big enough, Pacific Blue turn up and offer $39 airfares between Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. What will Air New Zealand and QANTAS Jetconnect do? They'll drop theirs too, of course. The thing is, you just can't operate an airline on those small fares, so something has to give. Either you reduce operating costs, or you increase your revenue elsewhere. It's a no-brainer. We'll see what happens to our airfares around the provinces over the next 6-12 months to find out which way Air New Zealand have gone, but I suspect it will be the latter.

Today is another thursday, and it's a sad day in the history of Palmerston North International Airport. Air New Zealand delivered a typical 'Going Forward' statement that was for me very reminiscent of the kind of shit I became used to hearing Massey University say before they sold our unit. It goes something like this "small good, small good, small good, REALLY BIG BAD, small good, going forward, small good, going forward". They say 'going forward' because they feel uneasy about dropping such a big bomb and are hoping that people will somehow forget the bad by looking to the future. Heh.. if only. In a nutshell, Freedom Air (the only carrier who provided international services between Australia and Dunedin, Hamilton and Palmerston North) are going to cease operations from March 2008. The Dunedin and Hamilton services will be replaced by Air New Zealand services. The aircraft are going to be updated and made more comfortable on the trans-tasman sector, and it's all going to be so much better. Oh yeah, did I mention there won't be anything for Palmerston North anymore? But going forward, it's going to mean some really positive gains for Wellington airport going forward. There shouldn't be any redundancies going forward, and Air New Zealand anticipate that it will all mean positive changes and a better traveling experience going forward.

I'm sorry? What's so positive about losing a sector entirely? Yay for Wellington airport. Of course, it's only 2 hours by road from Palmerston North - a little shorter than the time it takes to fly TO Australia. But let's not forget, we can all fly to Wellington in the luxurious spacious comfort of a 19-seat Beech 1900D for the meagre sum of just $180 each way to get to our connecting flight. Oh yeah, did I mention Wellington airport has a curfew preventing flights from operating after certain hours at night? So passengers returning on the late flight will enjoy either an overnight stay in Wellington followed by a return home in a super comfortable Beech 1900D the next morning, for the meagre sum of circa $180... Or a 2 hour drive home themselves or with a friend. "Come on Richard, don't be ridiculous, they can catch a bus home". Yeah but the thing is, they can't. This is New Zealand, the country insisting that 24 hour service just can't happen. The last bus from Wellington to Palmerston North leaves Wellington at 8:30pm. No way in the world that is any good to an air traveler arriving home from Sydney at Midnight.

So the gap between the 'haves' and 'have nots' clearly got bigger. Despite reading about projected growth in the aviation sector between now and 2020, I just don't see it. New Zealand's population base is growing and yet the total number of IFR air movements annually appears to have been slowly declining since the year 1996, according to Airways New Zealand, who provide our Air Traffic services (and also have their own stranglehold on what is now a commercial industry, I might add).

I can't help but wonder if there will be any provincial airports around to actually enjoy any so-called 'growth' by 2020 at the rate Air New Zealand appear to be shafting them.

So I'm guessing our 'airport development levy' (code for departure tax) of $5 per departure is going to go since there's no need to 'develop' anything anymore. Do we the passengers now get a $5 'international airport facilities sale rebate? How does it work?

Uncle Chang

2007-08-18T20:17:00.000+12:00

This is something my brother and I came up with last year while we were in Wellington one evening. There is a Chinese restaurant called "Uncle Chang's Restaurant". Neither of us are especially big fans of Chinese food. After being spoilt over the last few years by the flavoursome cuisines of India, Thailand and Japan, the once-exotic flavours of Chinese cuisine now seem quite.... bland. As such, we haven't yet been to this restaurant, although I can see I'm going to end up there after the cult that has developed about the ficitious 'Uncle Chang'.

We developed an entire roleplay based around the mythical Uncle Chang. In our fantasy, he is a very old Chinese man who owns the restaurant. He sits in a specially-designated room out the back of the restaurant and deals with any problems that may arise. He's a very 'traditional' and 'spiritual' man, and one who you don't ultimately want to cross.

In the fantasy, the restaurant itself is staffed by very polite yet timid Chinese waitresses who, given the slightest hint of tension from a customer, will send them to voice their concerns to the great 'Uncle Chang'.

"Excuse me waitress, this Egg Foo Yong is a little on the cold side"

"Orkei orkei, you hah purdoblem we food, you go see uncle chang"

The customer is then escorted to Uncle Chang's suite at the back of the restaurant. As they enter his room, a ubiquitous gong sounds. Nobody actually strikes a gong, but it is heard. The doorway is lined with bamboo hangers, and many many candles light the otherwise dark and smokey room. Uncle Chang is an old man with a long grey beard. He smokes an oriental-style pipe and bows when he greets the customer:

"Whut seems to be dah purrrrdbolem??"

"Well, it's nothing really. It's just that my egg foo yong is a little cold"

"Pulees, my son. You must understand.... If you insult my food, den you insult me. I... am food master.... Uncle Chang"

Not exactly an act that resolves the situation. Basically, he feels he is the master of all food. Any complaints about food come back to him personally, and he can't see that this is ever possible.

"But, I just want it a little warmer"

"Uncle Chang"

"Sorry??"

"Uncle Chang"

The discussion is clearly over. Uncle Chang has taken on the computer-like tendency of acknowledging the complainant only by stating his own name. Each time he says his name, he bows at the complainant.

This roleplay has developed a cult status at work. Each time we go to an asian restaurant, we search for any doors at the sides of the premises that may lead to an area housing Uncle Chang. If anybody's order is ever stuffed up, there is an almost deathly silence that falls over our table as we await the "You have purdoblem wee food, you go see Uncle Chang".

You're all being so patient!

2007-08-11T22:17:00.000+12:00

You are! You're all still coming to this blog daily and yet what have I done in return? I know, it's been really bad. I haven't posted anything for a very long time on here.

You can thank Daniel, our 2 month-old son for that! Babies seem to have a nack of stealing either your free time, energy, motivation, or all of the above. It's certainly given me a whole new appreciation for parents out there. When there's a baby around, 'tired' is the word given to describe the phenomenon whereby you feel completely exhausted to the point of being nauseous, lazy, lightheaded and certainly lacking a few logic neurons, then have to pick yourself up off the couch to attend to a screaming baby.

It probably all sounds like such hard work - and it is. Hence why I've not been blogging. There has been SO much happening lately too, mostly at work, but there's just no way I have the energy levels to post about it.

Fingers crossed things start to settle down here. Until then, you'll have to expect the same patchy blog frequency unfortunately.

Till next time...

Two weeks later

2007-07-21T22:54:00.000+12:00

Been working for Edtech for two weeks now and loving the feeling of not being attached to an employer who couldn't give a rat's arse about you! It's a strange feeling in a way.. knowing that all of a sudden, your work will be taken seriously by the Ministry of Education, after years of unsuccessful battling to even get anyone on their ICT unit to return our phone calls.

Case in point, next wednesday I'm in Auckland for the day for a training session on a server that we may well be installing into schools fairly soon. One of the MOE guys is gonna be there. Well bugger me... only 3 weeks after I start working for Edtech and already I'm going to a Ministry of Ed thing that I know we wouldn't have even HEARD about as NET Solutions.

Anyway, one of the coolest things has been having a company car with it's own CD player. Our last work cars had CD players in them too, but when you have to return it at the end of each day it just makes it more difficult and means you have to plan ahead if you want to listen to music. Not so when you take the thing home every night and park it in your own garage. So I have been slowly working through my CD collection. I have decided that I am going to play every single disc in my collection over time. When you do a lot of driving as I do, hopping from radio station to radio station (and radio stations play shit , and when they don't play shit they play ads) you quickly get bored. Having decent music makes it so much more bearable.

As you can imagine, I'm going through some heavy 'phases' of the bands I am listening to. It started with Crowded House, moved on to Dire Straits, and is now on Oasis. Those first two albums said everything Oasis ever needed to say in my opinion. Definitely Maybe is a classic album and has so many great songs on it. (What's the story?) Morning Glory is the one most people recognise and was a big step up, but in some ways I think lacks the raw power of Definitely Maybe. It was a great follow up album and is one of the only times I can remember buying an album on the day it was released, then have it sit at number one for an absolute age. Normally, my tastes in music never go anywhere near number one, but this was the exception.

I also have cds on very quietly when I feed Daniel at night. It must be a bit of an antithesis, to see a peaceful scene like a baby being bottle fed... with a band like Weta playing softly in the background haha.

Edtech

2007-06-20T23:12:00.000+12:00

Enough of the waiting. The press release has gone out to schools and so the thing I said I was excited about is able to be fully revealed to loyal readers of The Weta Nest (plus those unwanted ones too).

As you'll be aware, over the last 14 months my job has been a painfully uncertain thing. I work at Massey University in a small business unit who install and look after computer networks in schools all over the country. There's 9 of us in our unit. Now, most people seem to think that because we're part of Massey, we don't have to charge for our time or justify our existence. This is far from the case. We have to operate like any other business, charge for our time, and justify our existence to Massey. I believe it's fair to say that they have never really been all that happy about us being around and have threatened numerous times to close us down. They always cited financial losses as a reason for doing so. Fair enough - a university doesn't need a unit that doesn't benefit students sucking it's financial resources. Once upon a time, we worked as a 'cost-recovery' centre, where all we had to do was earn as much back as we spent. All of a sudden (and I mean that quite literally), the government did something to their funding of tertiary institutions which meant we had to make a profit or the heavies would come back in threatening to close us. The thing is, our staff expertise base has always consisted of the same people it featured when we worked as a cost-recovery unit. Not one of us has any business experience or qualifications. We are all from either computing or educational backgrounds. We know how to make a technical product that is ideally suited to schools, but in terms of ensuring that it is done in a sustainable businesslike manner, we are sorely lacking. But bear in mind, this model worked as a cost-recovery centre. Christ, we even grew our customer base from about 5 to over 50, so we must have been doing something right. The mistake was that once we transitioned from cost-recovery to profit-centred, we didn't receive any assistance from anyone. The only intervention we got was the heavies wheeling themselves in when we made a loss, and even then it was "why should we keep you open?" rather than "how can we help you make a profit?". Effectively, we were a charity or non-profit organisation in the beginning. We failed once we started trying to work as a business. Nobody expects a charity model to work successfully for a business - It shouldn't take a professor to figure that out.

I think it's important to keep a two-sided mind, and I am the first to admit our business knowledge was so weak it bordered on embarrassing at times. Given the climate we worked in, it's actually a wonder we lasted as long as we did, to tell the truth.

However, in an arduous process starting last April 2006, the heavies finally managed to get rid of us for good. At the end of June 2007, my employment with Massey will cease. Massey have decided to divest our unit and sell it as a going concern to another business. Well as luck would have it, the business who were interested are without doubt our most respected business. There are a number of education-only vendors, and these guys are by far the best and most in line with our philosophy in how we deal with customers. They are called Edtech and are based in Auckland, with branches in Auckland, Hamilton and soon to be Palmerston North. The staffing for the Palmerston North branch will be entirely made up of people from our unit. Only two of our staff have not been offered positions in the new branch.

However, it hasn't all been plain sailing for yours truly. I'm a Linux nut. I have been for some time, and back in 2002 I started developing a Linux server to deploy as part of our standard network build. It's job has been to handle e-mail and Internet access control, with some additional intranet tasks. Compared to the Microsoft products that were available at the time, it absolutely CREAMED them in terms of performance and stability. The other cool thing was that all of a sudden, our client schools could have as many e-mail accounts as they liked, rather than being bound by how many client access licenses they had paid for. E-mail accounts are something I don't believe should cost a business if they already own their own mail server. The only limitation should be the amount of disk space free on the mail server. So to overcome this hurdle was a major event for me. Since it was introduced, my Linux server has made it into around 60 schools in one form or another and maintaining the servers has become a primary responsibility in my job.

Imagine then, how it might make me feel to learn that Edtech don't use Linux and don't want to pick it up. They are a much bigger business than we are and have well over 100 schools, 75 staff and a whole lot more established processes than we have. From the outset, I fully understood the economic and organisational factors behind them ignoring my Linux server and didn't fight them over it. However, the absence of Linux in the ongoing product would leave a huge gap in my skill set that needed to be filled or I risked either becoming highly expendable and/or seriously going backward in my career.

So... remember the goal I set at the start of 2006 stating "Move forward in my job either financially or through increased responsibilities"? No? Well I did. None of it happened because most of 2006 went to the dogs. The heavies put our growth and development on hold for that whole year. We have had a series of meetings with Edtech to talk about a few things and one point I put across was the desire I have to work more in the 'people' and less in the 'technical' side of things. I pretty much approached it with an "If I can't have you, I don't want nobody baby" (sung by Yvonne Elliman) with Linux. If I can't have Linux, then I don't want to be technical anymore. The Windows platform is just too unpredictable to work with for someone who wants a life outside their job. You might be at a school 3 hours from home and get some random Windows error come up that effectively kills the rest of your day and subsequently, your evening. 'Heavily technical Windows' and I agreed to disagree long ago. Windows and I share a truce - I stay away from it's technicalities and it is nice to me in return. I don't badmouth it and we share a symbiotic relationship.

I have a long history of dealing with the people at Edtech and it seems they took me seriously. I have been offered a job with them. The role is a hybrid role which combines aspects of HR, administration, project management and technical support. Yay for that! My new job title even includes the words "Team Leader". The pay is very much the same as what I am on now, but also includes a company car that I have full use of. My role doesn't include the word 'manager' in the title, but this is a good thing. It's a type of 'fork in the road' in a way. It's a job that gives me leadership responsibilities but in an area of work I am familiar with. This should act as a good springboard for future direction, depending on what becomes available of course.

But yeah, so there it is.

There's been moments of despair and moments of elation because of this, hence my "I'm so excited" posts recently.

I am a daddy

2007-06-20T00:04:00.000+12:00

... And just like that, the seemingly endless period of time when Stacey was pregnant.... has ended!

On Sunday June the 10th at 10:59am she gave birth to our son Daniel. He weighed 7 lb 12 oz and is a healthy baby.

So my 4 weeks paid parental leave commenced exactly one week early. It's been a learning curve for both of us thus far, but things seem to be going really well on the parenting front. One thing I have been especially impressed with is how Cody (our dog, for those who don't know) has been around Daniel. He seems to know that he is a baby and really behaves himself. Whenever Daniel cries, Cody has to go an investigate. On occasion, he has wandered up to his bedroom and pushed the door open to make sure everything is fine. It's all good bonding for him since in the coming months/years Daniel will be climbing all over Cody and having built up a bond, Cody will tolerate it.

He has been getting some fairly decent walks out of me too. I'm conscious of him getting jealous with Daniel getting most the attention that used to be directed at him, so I'm trying to balance it.

Anyway, this is a very factual and boring post but I felt it was about time I posted something on here. Fatherhood has temporarily sucked the 'bitchiness' out of me for the time being, so there's not really a lot to blog about.

I have, however, been working on a nice PHP weather script for the online flight simming network VATSIM that should hopefully eventuate into something real very soon.

I'm still excited...

2007-05-27T21:43:00.000+12:00

And I still can't hide it..
I'm about to lose control and I'm sick of keeping it a secret!!

For the record, this is the first post at the new home of the Weta Nest. By hosting it at my own web space I get much greater control over things like access levels. I could hypothetically have a password-protected area that doesn't require a Google login to get to. Cool huh?

I still don't want to say too much about why I'm excited. What I can say is this: I am going to be starting a new job at the start of July. It will be a combination of what I am doing now, plus with some added responsibilities that I don't yet know a whole lot about. It is the result of months of negotiations and should be a huge improvement on what I have been working in for the last 14 months.

I've got a draft post almost ready to go live but I'm just waiting on the proper announcement to go out to our customers before I do.

They just don't get it

2007-05-26T11:50:00.000+12:00

Man of the moment in New Zealand this week was Craig Busch, (known by most as 'The Lion Man"). The Northland Lion park owner was charged with assault of an ex partner after he caught her in bed with two other men. The judge found Busch's actions to be 'understandable' and he was consequently ordered to pay $8000 in reparations to the victim.

What I think about the case isn't relevant. The part that gets me is the media and how they can't wait to advertise whenever a well-known personality makes a mistake.

When this issue first came to the news, it was the headline article. For one, I don't believe well-known personalities deserve to have their private lives made any more public than the next guy. On that particular day, there were probably hundreds of New Zealand men who had assaulted their partners but did we hear about any of them? No. It seems to me that we actually have two codes of conduct in New Zealand. One for ordinary people, and another for well-known personalities. It's just stupid. If some stupid drunken fool from Christchurch assaults three men outside a bar in the small hours of the morning, he gets taken away by police and later sentenced. If it's a famous rugby player, the media are foaming at the mouth waiting to spill it all to the nation. We are supposed to expect better from them, they are role models for our young people yadda yadda yadda. Of course, everyone knows that parents can never be role models for children. The obvious role model for the New Zealand child is someone who plays sport for a living. In case you missed it, I was being sarcastic. But don't you agree that it's a bit wrong to think we hang our sports stars out to dry for getting involved in a brawl outside a bar and yet we turn a comparatively blind eye to unjustified domestic violence that goes on every day in front of children?? Somehow, I don't think it's about 'role models' at all. I think it's more about 'making an article that sells'. But hey, call me skeptical.

The part that really annoyed me about Craig Busch was another news article stating that "Regardless of the outcome of the sentencing, Busch may find it difficult to progress with his career because of the charges". Well... who would have known about his charges had the media not put them out in front of everyone? It would have been dealt with like any other citizen. But no, they have to sell a story so they have to make a big deal out of it. And to think that, just for a moment, they are trying to trick New Zealanders into believing that they actually care about people's wellbeing ("he may find it difficult to progress with his career after this.... poor him") without actually realising that they themselves may well have quite nicely destroyed it.

Grrrrrrr!

Cabbage Tree Visual Arts

2007-05-15T19:56:00.000+12:00

Back in 1989 I was a member of a band known as "The Doubtful". I was 11 years-old at the time and I played the potts. They were actually plastic tupperware containers with paper and sellotape skins on them - quite a nice sound too, I might add. Make no mistake, we weren't your ordinary childhood band. For starters, I was the youngest by two years. The remainder of the band were all 12 or 13. We played mostly U2 covers but also wrote a few of our own. Fans will remember hits like "Run", "Urban Streets" and perhaps the not-so-successful-on-the-charts "The Dead". Your typical intermediate age band don't typically write their own material, so we had that on the rest to begin with. We also had our own lighting design, manager, and record label with a visual arts subdivision.

The thing is, that was then, this is now. The record label we invented for ourselves was called "Cabbage Tree Records", named after the amount of Cabbage Trees in our area. The very sight of them typifies rural New Zealand and we felt the need to capture this in a label. The Livids have done their bit for keeping this era alive. Not only have they been playing the faithful "Urban Streets" for most of their time together as a band, but their latest EP "High Heeled" was released on Cabbage Tree Records. In the later years, I left the band but would regularly attend their practice sessions, armed with the family video camera to help film music videos. The label for these videos (everything we did had to have a professional touch) was "Cabbage Tree Visual Arts".

Now... from my observations, a lot of people in this world seem to be keen to forget their childhood. Who they were then bears no resemblance to who they are now. It's almost as if they spent their childhood wishing they were older, and now they have reached that goal they have no time to look back on their past. I have met people who say, for example, that they don't remember the name of their primary school teachers. For heaven's sake... you had them for an entire year... how can you not remember their name??

One thing I've always admired about The Livids is that they appreciate nostalgia and understand how important small details are. I don't know many other people who would release an EP on a record label invented by a bunch of 12 year-olds. But they did, and big ups to them for doing it. Since I'm trying to branch out in my photography a little, I have set up a MySpace page for "Cabbage Tree Visual Arts". As you might recall, I've taken live photos of The Livids and The Gracious Deviants and had one shot published in Real Groove Magazine. Hardly a huge success story but it's potentially another income stream for a photographer like me, particular one with a background in live music.

In thinking of a name for this part of me, I could think of nothing more appropriate than the mighty "Cabbage Tree Visual Arts". I could try a new name from scratch but the Cabbage Tree brand has a history and a bit of publicity following it's first official release.

I'm not sure if anything is going to come of this. If history is anything to go by, probably not. However, if nothing else it's nice to remind fans that Cabbage Tree Visual Arts is still alive today.

I'm so excited...

2007-05-03T22:46:00.000+12:00

And I just can't hide it....
I'm about to lose control and I think I like it...

But I can't say why (god damn confidentiality).

I've been through some all-time lows over the past 12 months (that I haven't been able to discuss in much detail) and finally they are turning into some big positives. Unfortunately due to a number of reasons I am unable to disclose much more than this. Believe me, you will hear about it soon enough.

Another night where I won't be able to sleep despite being fucked just because I'm buzzing on adrenaline. Ah well.. here goes nothing.

Quote of the Day:

2007-04-11T21:01:00.000+12:00

"If you ask for help, be prepared to be helped"

I'm sick of people who like to bitch but don't want a solution to their problem. They'd rather have a problem and don't actually want to be helped. That's why I say... If you ask for help, be prepared to be helped"

FS2004 Scenery, Introduction to Layers

2007-04-08T18:15:00.000+12:00

So you want to write scenery for Flight Simulator? Good on you for wanting to. I should warn you, there is a learning curve. Typically, it goes something like this:

You read up about scenery design using Google. You get sent to a page that describes some unfamiliar concepts, so you read and read until you find something that sounds like it's talking about FS2004 scenery. No luck there, so you try another page. Eventually you discover a piece of software that is supposedly the answer to all your prayers. You download it, only to find it either doesn't run or is payware. You download another piece of software, this time more hopeful since you have read that it is freeware... You install it, run it, then find that you seem to only be able to use it to create scenery from scratch. No use since you're happy with 91% of the default scenery in FS and just want to tidy up the remaining 9%.

In a few months time, you'll realise that not only WAS that first page talking about FS2004 scenery, but the first program wasn't payware... it was just that you didn't know how to use it. And the second program WAS capable of importing default scenery files.. You just didn't know how to use it either! That's scenery design for you. The learning curve is steep and in the beginning you can find yourself going around and around and around like a Peking Man song, hoping to find a breakthrough that makes it all clear but never actually finding it.

So before you go down that path, it's important to understand the layers in scenery. You can't really get into scenery design of any sort until you do. FS9 scenery comes in several different forms, most of which are essential for the whole system to come together properly. In a nutshell, there are two types: XML scenery, and LWM/VTP scenery.

The XML scenery format is documented in the BGLComp SDK available from Microsoft. It is used to produce things like airports, placed objects (such as buildings, windsocks, taxiway signs etc), navigation aids, airspace and approaches.

The LWM/VTP scenery format has nothing to do with XML scenery, and is used for things like roads, rivers, coastlines, power lines, railroads, lakes and the like.

At the bottom of FS2004 scenery is the terrain map. This is called 'mesh' scenery. Sometimes, it's also called DEM (Digital Elevation Model). It's more commonly called 'mesh' because if you imagine wire mesh it makes a grid. When placed above a landscape, at each of the intersection points you get an elevation for the terrain at that point. I prefer the word 'grid' rather than 'mesh' but like all the good names in the world, 'grid' is already taken in geographical terms anyway. Mesh scenery can take on many different resolutions. The resolution is essentially the distance between the wires in the mesh. Lower numbers mean higher resolution and better looking hills. How you make it, I don't know. Using a computer, I would imagine. I don't need to know, since a guy by the name of Christian Stock has already modeled superb mesh scenery for New Zealand and, unlike ground coverage, this doesn't really change from one millennium to the next!

Sitting above mesh scenery, but also considered as part of the terrain scenery (it is discussed in the Terrain SDK at Microsoft) is land class and water class scenery. Imagine a grid of squares about 1.2km apart. Each square is a land or water class tile. This scenery can be generated from land use maps. Note that the 1.2km resolution might be enough to model a large city or forest but it can get a bit 'general'. However, in places where there is no other scenery added, land class plus a decent mesh will generally give you enough to make you feel like you are where you flying - at high altitudes at least anyway.

Above the mesh and land/water class scenery, we start to get into LWM/VTP scenery. LWM stands for land/water mask and VTP stands for Vector-based Textured Polygons. This data is stored by the sim as the location of points and that's it really. The relevant data is read and then the features are painted on top of the land class scenery. It is stored as one BGL file per layer.

There's actually a lot more work done by VTP scenery than you'd think. Have you ever noticed that an airport is always flattened on FS2004? No? Didn't think so. Neither did I until I got into scenery design. Well they are. The area that is 'flattened' is governed by an LWM flatten polygon. Without it, there might well be small bumps in the ground and when that happens, bits of the runway or pavement get buried underneath a small mound. Not very realistic. So we have flattens to cure the FS world of this problem.

And at the very top of the layer ladder, we have XML scenery. Airports are often referred to as AFCADs - named after the program that is generally used to model them. Airports are perhaps the only area you can redesign without knowledge of the rest of the scenery monster. But bear in mind that although buildings are placed using XML scenery, you can't use AFCAD to move them.

Anyway, all this talk makes me want to work on Autogen. I'll talk more about that soon.

FS2004 Scenery, Part 1

2007-04-02T21:09:00.000+12:00

This blog has become something of a soap box for me lately and I think it's time I put up something less 'ranting' and more informative.

Flight Simulator 2004 represented huge steps forward in terms of it's default scenery. For so many years, buyers outside software countries of origin had become accustomed to all but on-existent scenery for their home city, and FS2004 was a welcome change to this. In New Zealand, virtually every airport present in the AIP (Aeronautical Information Publication) was modeled in one form or another. Flight simulator 2002 also included a number of these aerodromes, but to nowhere near the extent that 2004 did. Today, people are quick to criticise the default scenery in FS2004, but I think it's important that we stand back and acknowledge what it brought us for the first time.

Having said that, the default scenery exhibits many clues that it has been generated by a computer and not necessarily validated by a human being. On New Zealand AIP charts, grass taxiways and seal taxiways are both printed as grey features. Seal taxiways are slightly darker than grass ones, but the generation software Microsoft used to build airports probably bore no attention to this subtle difference as all taxiways are modeled as seal in the simulation. Terrain detail is very low, airports are positioned in the wrong place in some cases, lakes are drawn that simply don't exist in real life, and rivers sometimes follow paths that resemble nothing seen since humans arrived here on the shaky isles! So the default scenery, while still brilliant for it's day, definitely gives plenty of opportunity for an avid developer to enhance.

One thing keen flight simmers will be thinking about now is "Why doesn't he just use FSX?" and I'm glad you asked. FSX requires a brand of hardware my bank account simply can't justify at the moment. But if you bear this point in mind, much of what I am doing will probably make a lot more sense. There are some absolutely outstanding addon scenery packages available out there. www.windowlight.co.nz have several that spring to mind. These packages usually provide one airport with an insanely high level of detail, and one that my current PC hardware just won't display smoothly. My approach to scenery design is about making small changes that make an entire region more realistic, yet don't place a huge strain on hardware at the same time. I maintain that a lot of the default FS2004 New Zealand scenery is inaccurate and, by improving on things like rivers, roads and ground textures, a lot more 'reality' can be achieved.

So I wanted to share with you what I have learnt about scenery design. It's one of those subjects that people seem to either know or not. Nobody talks about how they learnt it - they just did. I'm still learning myself. I figured I could write here as I learn - so you'll learn as I learn. It'll be fun!

Review - Student CIty Day 2007

2007-03-04T14:01:00.000+13:00

Being the avid NZ Music fan that I am, I like to get to my fair share of local gigs. Yesterday (Saturday the 3rd of March) saw Palmerston North host a free gig to welcome students to the city. The event was an all-ages show held in the Square, in the centre of town.

The line-up for the afternoon, evening, and night was Halluciagea, Collapse, The Bing Turkby Ensemble, The Livids, Hollie Smith, The Open Souls and the Black Seeds (in that order). It had been some time since I had last been to an open-air concert held in Palmerston North and I had mixed expectations. Back in the late 1990s when I last attended a similar show, the Palmerston North scene was a mess of black-wearing bogans and girls with flowing, hippyish clothes, black lipstick and nailpolish, and far too many piercings to look like a healthy human being. The PA was either a drab system provided by 'the default Palmerston North City Council PA provider', or one from somebody in Feilding with far too many Peavey components in it to sound good at high levels.

But it seems things have changed for the better. The stage was significantly sized, and there was a backstage area for all performers with complimentary food and drinks provided. Audio Progress, the sound and lighting providers for the day, now require a truck to carry their gear in. The PA had 10 speakers per side (not sure what kind of power we would have been dealing with) tidily flown above the crowd. Mixing, in the early stages of the day, was provided by Matt Tucker - possibly THE best live sound engineer I've met and listened to for a long time.

I arrived just in time to catch "Thanks for having us. We're Halluciagea. This is our last song... Oh wait, that was our last song". Bit of a shame since I enjoyed watching the electronic brother/sister duo perform last year and was looking forward to seeing them again.

Second up was Collapse. I had small expectations of them, but was pleasantly surprised. The last time I saw them, they appeared to be more about noise than musicianship, but presented on a decent PA system with a superb mix, they demonstrated how tight a group they are becoming. Even though I'm not a big fan of heavier music, I'd happily watch them again.

Third up were the Bing Turkby Ensemble. I've heard their songs on Radio Massey for years but never actually seen them live. The 3-piece (Guitar/Vocals, Saxophone and Drums) do everything except take themselves seriously. All power to them. They've been around a long long time and they would have cut their teeth in the hostile "Swamp" days of the Palmy Music scene. I enjoyed their humour and constant piss-takes about Turakina (where some band members originated) and Wanganui (which would have been "the big smoke" for someone from Turakina). I'm sure in the hostile "swamp" days, they would have copped a LOT of angry heckling from crowd members, so I fully applaud them for sticking at it and doing what they feel like doing. They're more about lyrics than musical brilliance, but their delivery was very good.

Fourth up and wrapping up the 'local' set were former Palmy band "The Livids". Nowadays, they are a Wellington band so it was probably a little touch and go as to whether they classed as a 'local' act or not. Still, there's a lot of Palmy in their sound and being all from the Manawatu originally I think it's only fair. I had never heard the Livids on a convincing sound system before, so I was looking forward to seeing just what they were capable of. Sean O'Brien's classic wailing guitar sound rung nicely around the square as the band headed into their single "Doo Doo" off their latest EP "High Heeled". The remainder of the set consisted mostly of tracks off the EP, but they did delve back into "Between the Dog and the Fence" along with another song from the mid 90's whose name escapes me. They made a nice job of their delivery and I think on a 'balanced' sound system they showed that the Flying Nun sound they once had has all but gone. These guys are now rock and roll, people. There's a lot of rock in their sound and melodies. I personally think they will find better reception with this sound, compared with how they did in the "Flying Nun" days. Still, they are such a laid back band it's difficult to know how seriously they take themselves. An enjoyable set nonetheless.

And at this point, Hollie Smith and most of the Open Souls set were neglected while I went and watched the Hurricanes get beaten by the Stormers. I should have stayed in the square!!

Last up, and the headline act were The Black Seeds. I'd never seen them live. They've always played in Palmy at Massey University during orientation and that involves a level venue (difficult to see over the heads of people in front of you) and beer-sodden students. Not really an ideal environment for a 'nearly 30 year-old outsider' to watch a band in. But damn, can these guys put down a beat or what!! I'm a big fan of their second album "On The Sun" (i don't have "Into the Dojo" yet) and was expecting a tight performance where the reggae showed through as the strength. What I got was an amazingly tight performance where the drums and bass combined to produce some of the most driving beats I have ever heard. The percussion (conga drums, tambourines, maracas etc) only helped to reinforce the subtle complexities needed to bring out a mouth-wateringly driving beat. Frontman Barnaby Weir was definitely the favourite among the crowd, and he did what he could to make the crowd feel involved in the show. With an 8-piece band it would be easy for the crowd to feel no included in a performance, but Weir did away with all that and made them all feel special.

The whole show was a most refreshing sight and sound as it showed me that the tired Palmerston North music scene of the 1990s is definitely on the way out, if not dead. Big ups to Student City for bringing this kind of event here.

Anti-Smacking Legislation

2007-03-02T20:12:00.000+13:00

In May of this year, New Zealanders will get to find out whether or not their politicians are truly insane or not. That is when they will meet to vote about a bill which will make it illegal for a parent to smack a child. This one has been around for a long time - the whole 'corporal punishment' thing. It was abolished in schools in 1991 in New Zealand, and since then there has been considerable debate over whether or not it should be acceptable for a parent to smack a child. Anti-smackers say it teaches children that violence is an acceptable way of dealing with conflict. Pro-smackers say 'it never harmed me'. So let's take another look at it.

A child turns up at school on monday morning wearing a long-sleeve top. It's the middle of summer, but he tolerates the heat. It's as though he's hiding something. His teacher can tell that he's not acting himself, so she takes him aside for a little talk. She finds (not by touching him because that's illegal... oh wait, it's not now... that's right, they retracted that one last year) that on his arms he has several massive swollen red marks. They were obviously caused by some kind of violent treatment. Possibly at home. The child doesn't want to talk about it - it's a classic sign of it. It turns out he didn't tidy up his bedroom so got smacked for it. Here we have it, a good example of why it's bad to smack a child. So come May, I hope the politicians vote in favour of the bill and outlaw smacking.

No? You're not convinced? Neither am I. Here's why:

This wasn't 'smacking' at all. This was violence. The same kind of violence that is classed as 'assault'. Did that stop the boy's father from hitting his mother? No. Did the law stop him from driving an unwarranted, unregistered car? No. Did it stop him from driving aggressively or getting into road rage with another driver? Probably not. Is an anti-smacking law going to stop him from hitting his son? Yeah... You get where I'm going.

I seriously see no possible way that smacking teaches children that violence is ok. I'm sorry, but that is just bullshit. Both my wife and I were smacked as children, and neither of us are even remotely confrontational people. Not sure about her but the last time I ever hit someone was 23 years ago when I was 5. What it taught me was that you do what your parents tell you to do. I didn't live in fear that if I didn't conform, I would be hit. But I knew that when I got it, i deserved it.

Yes, a child raised in a violent home IS more likely to become violent - statistically speaking. But smacking and violence aren't the same thing. And like I said earlier, domestic violence is already illegal, so what makes the government think that making smacking illegal is going to stop them? It all just seems like yet another example of a stupid law that is brought in because of what the minority do that will only serve one purpose - punishing those who don't deserve it.

Good on you, democracy.

Carbon Credits for Windows Vista??

2007-02-26T19:43:00.000+13:00

I'm not normally one to kick up a fuss over something relatively minor, but I have to admit that this one has me somewhat baffled.

A couples of weeks ago, Microsoft released their latest operating system titled "Windows Vista". As my employer are MS Action Pack subscribers, we received a copy of Windows Vista Business Edition. One of my colleagues decided he would install it on a laptop to evaluate it's usefulness. His overall opinion was rather positive, albeit with a few exceptions. However, one point I couldn't help but notice was the way in which Windows Vista handles the 'shut down' command. It seems "Shut Down" no longer means "power down". It clearly says on the start menu that when you shut down, your computer will be switched into standby mode. The idea of this is obviously an attempt to try and speed up 'boot' times. This is because the computer doesn't have to load anything when you turn it back on.

But you see, I'm thinking beyond this a little. "Shut Down" turned off the power to your computer (which I note is now called just "Computer" under Vista, thank heavens). Picture now a world of people using Windows Vista on their computers and 'shutting down'. How much extra power is going to be used up? This is where I'm calling on someone who can shed a little more information on Vista's 'shut down' state to enlighten us. Does it use power? I don't really know. I'm assuming so. If it does, then Microsoft have just gone and created an energy drain that didn't previously exist.

In a planet where we're all being forced to abide by the low carbon emissions rules regardless of our stance on world-ending climate change, this to me seems like a step backward. Maybe only a slight one, but a step nonetheless.

Living to Work

2007-02-16T08:02:00.000+13:00

After having started this week with a most hellish 3 days, I felt compelled to write about an issue that has been one of my 'big issues' over the last few years - people who live to work. Labour Weekend is a long weekend that New Zealand celebrates every year. It is the anniversary of the introduction of the 8 hour work day. Before that, from what I gather the whole home/work situation was a bit of a mess. So some clever guy came up with the idea of a 3 8s model - 3 lots of 8 hours. 8 hours for work, 8 for sleep, and 8 for living.

I remember a few years ago there was an article on the news talking about how the 8 hour work day is a thing of the past for a great many people - something I had also noticed myself at the time. If you talk to any manager or business executive you'll likely find they work well over 40 hours a week. If you ever try to question them as to why, you may well find yourself being slightly talked down to. There seems to be an attitude of "With my responsibilities, I simply have to. You just don't understand."
This is a phenomenon I like to call "Living to Work". Why? Because if you extend on those 8 work hours per day, you either subtract from the 8 for sleep, or subtract from the 8 for leisure. In most cases, I'm sure it's the latter. So your real reason for existing in this world starts to shift toward your work.

Over the last few days, I worked the equivalent of 4 days worth of hours in the space of 3. I drove over 1000km and spent nearly 13 hours on the road, not including the time driving to and from work each day. I came home absolutely shattered. I didn't have the energy to do anything really. Now, I'm sure once your body adjusts, it gets slightly easier, but the one part that really shocked me was how little of my time I had left before I had to get to bed.

Anyway, it seems this mentality has hit mainstream now. The other day, I was working in a school where there were some painters painting the outside of some classrooms. It was a really nice day, and also the day before Waitangi day (a public holiday). My boss made the comment that he hoped the weather would be like that tomorrow, to which one of them replied "Got the day off have ya?". So the painters were evidently working on a statutory holiday. Why?? They're painting. It's hardly super-critical work. But they'd be doing it because the culture at their workplace is that you 'work to get a job done'. I'm not saying that's entirely a bad thing, but too much of it becomes very damaging. At one stage, I worked amongst a mere two workaholics, and neither of them could see my point when I was complaining about constantly working overtime without getting paid for any of it. It was just 'part of having a job' to them. That attitude has changed in my workplace, thank god. But I really think this is a culture that needs addressing.

I think it's beneficial to stand back and consider the following points:
1) Work exists to give us money to pay our bills. It is not a 'life' and although it may involve a subject we are passionate about, work isn't actually a person and will not be 'grateful' if you go the extra mile for it.
2) We do not owe our work anything. We give our employer 8 hours a day for 5 days of the week every week. Are you seriously telling me that's not enough?
3) Nobody ever said on their deathbed "You know, I really wish I'd worked more in my life"

This is one of those issues you often can't argue with people about. Work is their life - it's always been their life. I just don't know how they can even begin to be happy about it.

Let's keep on moving

2007-02-12T21:15:00.000+13:00

"Let's keep on moving"
This is the mantra for my photography business at the moment. Last year, I had a few milestones. I got my first photo published, then again, then sold my first photo. It all happened within a few short months and was something I celebrated. However, since then I have sort of stopped.

This blog has two purposes - one, to talk about my photography and two, to unashamedly plug The Gracious Deviants blog and MySpace pages. If you're in Wellington and like decent acoustic music then I'd seriously advise you to check the local gig guides to see when they're playing next. If you think 'acoustic' = 'Cat Stevens' and that's a reason to avoid them, then think again. If you think 'acoustic' = 'Cat Stevens' and that's a reason to go and see them, stay at home and listen to Cat Stevens. Seriously, they write and perform amazing material and they are well worth checking out. They even have music on their website too so you can get a feel for what's out there. If you don't know where to find the gig guide, then check out either of the above links since they will no doubt discuss any upcoming gigs they are doing. It will also allow you to unlock the secret gate enabling you to collect the flask that you use to hold the water so you can feed your dying chicken, eat the eggs it lays after a startlingly quick recovery, and find the energy to climb to the top of the tower to get the key to finish level 177. (yes, I'm a text-mode adventure gamer from way back).

Both they and I are going through similar phases a the moment. I started my photography when they started writing music. We've both had a few milestones along the way but are now getting a little tired of the same-old-same-old. So I've made the decision that I need to try and drum up some contacts in the industry to try and get some interest from people who actually matter. The first thing I want to do is to start learning how to work for others. Up until now, I've been working purely for myself. Taking photos when I feel like it, of whatever I feel like. This is fun, but it creates a sense of complacency too. You think "Shall I go to the airport today? No, i can't really be bothered... It's too far. . I might go tomorrow if the light is decent" and then tomorrow it's the same thing again. And so it should really. I'm going to walk away having taken a few shots that may not even get accepted by the library I used to upload to (because it doesn't fit their narrow criteria of image type) and even if they do, they will most likely not generate any interest from them. At last count, I had taken over 6600 images on my camera. I have got 39 images online at airliners.net, and they have been viewed a total of 37065 times. Granted, it was probably a bit less than that at the time I sold my first photograph, but you can see that it's a LOT of work to go through for a small gain. Without sounding arrogant, I know I am taking good photos - so the problem has to be promotion.

If people don't know about you, you can't do what it is you want to do. This is why I have involved the Gracious Deviants in this post - they too are trying to generate interest. Publicity came up in one of their recent blogs, and Pete was saying that you feel like you're never doing enough. I couldn't agree more. I feel exactly the same, and over the holidays I set about building myself a small, functional and easily altered website that advertises my services. I was using my free webspace on my ISP but I was always a bit weary as you're not allowed to use it for commercial advertising. Plus, 5MB of webspace is sweet f/a for a photography library, so I found another host.

Here is the new site

Plus, if you go to my old site it will forward you to the new one.

So I have a site, but the challenge is now how to attract people to it. Since putting the new website online, I have had a very small number of visitors. This needs to change. The other thing I think I need to realise is that the Internet alone is not going to generate everything I need. Yes, the online image library will be a good starting point but unless I get opportunities to get closer than security fences, I'm not going to be able to take a great number of new photos to add to the library. So I need contacts. This is why I'm not charging for my time on-site taking photographs at this early stage.

Central North Island - a Leed paradise

2007-01-23T13:28:00.000+13:00

Hello from the central north island epicentre of Ohakune. I got called up here on a job today and now I am finished, but for waiting for about 900 messages to download. So what's a guy to do but blog?

Taihape (you pass through it on the way here) is a small town that many people consider largely insignificant. For me, it is anything but. When I was about 4 years old my family moved to a country school some 20 minutes drive out of Taihape. It was very isolated and the only phones we had were party line phones with actual bells, no dialer, and required a turn of the handle to talk to an operator in order to make a call. This was only in 1983 bear in mind (not back in the 1800s or anything). To us, Taihape seemed like a 'big' place. We'd hang out there with friends on friday nights while our parents gained some sanity in their lives by drinking and socialising with people from other remote communities. We lived there for about 3 years.

When I think of Taihape, I used to remember the people, the faces, the activities and the sports days. Now, when I think of Taihape, all I remember is Leed.

Like the L&P advert:
"You played egg and spoon races beside the park with useless swings. Nobody cared that we looked like we were wearing curtains, it was ok since everyone did it. That was, if you weren't wearing ties to school because that was considered 'cool' at the time.

You were there, and so was Leed"

So on the way up to Ohakune today, I stopped for my regulation pie stop at Taihape and then proceeded to drive around the town hoping to find some old faded Leed signs painted on disused buildings. I didn't find any, but I can't help but sense that there are some around somewhere.

So what makes the Central North Island such a Leed paradise? Well the truth is, there's nothing tangible. I'd liken it to the same extent to which a religious person considers a church or temple to be significant - it's all about belief of what can't be seen. Leed was a part of my childhood, and a lot of my childhood was spent in the central north island. I drank a lot of it when I lived here, so it now reminds me of that era.

I think there is a bit of a pulse being developing around the possibility of a Leed comeback, so I'd like to re-open the floor to the readers. If you know of the whereabouts of any faded central north island Leed signs (or signs anywhere, to be fair) then let me know with a thought. In fact, even if you just have something to add about Leed please feel free to post.

Comments are moderated - I'm sorry I've had to do that but as with everything in life, a select few have abused the system that was in existence previously. This is my blog and I'd like to think readers respect that it's my space and their choice to be here. If they don't like it, nobody is forcing them to return.

Wings Over Wairarapa

2007-01-21T19:45:00.000+13:00

Yesterday dad and I went to Wings Over Wairarapa - for those of you who don't know, it's an airshow. Translated, an airshow is a place where it's great to get photos if you're a frustrated aviation photographer who is sick of not getting up close and personal with aircraft (me). There were a lot of historic warbirds flying there this year, and I made the decision beforehand that I was not going to work too hard to get warbird photos since they just scream "airshow" and end up looking exactly like everyone else's photos. I was concentrating on the contemporary side of things, hoping to get images that are saleable.

How well did I do? Better than I thought actually. As was the case last year, it was a high overcast day which made for some absolutely crap light. However, I used a tip I read on an aviation photography forum about how to set the exposure for such circumstances, and can gladly report that it works a treat. I also set my shutter speed at 1/200th of a second for all the propeller and rotary aircraft so that their props or rotors would be suitably blurred. It's a big call to work at that shutter speed with a long zoom, but I figure the photos I get will either be blurred and rubbish or brilliant.

For the first time ever, I think I have a large range of Iriquois photos that look good. This is unique indeed as they are normally very elusive birds to get good photos of.

The highlight for me would have to be the Corsair. Great looking, great sounding machine. Such a big propeller for a single-engine WWII fighter. Flying toward you at full speed, it makes a 'screaming' noise. Passing overhead, it sounds incredible. I heard grown men shouting "YEAH!" after it had crossed our heads. What a machine!

The Sopwith Camel was really interesting too. They don't have a throttle, they just have a magneto control which effectively gives the pilot two settings: 1) Engine running; 2) Engine running poorly. When it's in the second state, it sounds downright awful. It must have been such a challenge to fly. Amazing to think that they used those things in WWI. I'd hate to have to land it!!

So no doubt we'll wait a couple of weeks then see everyone else's photos on sites like Airliners.net. I might pick some of my more distinctive ones for upload. I'll see how I go.

Earning Recognition

2007-01-18T22:04:00.000+13:00

Well I've always maintained that one indicator of success is how many sites mention something you're trying to publicise without you having to ask for it. I have to admit, I was somewhat humbled by the discovery of this post which has linked not only my blog but also my Wikipedia entry on Leed. On one of the really hot days we had earlier this week, our air conditioning unit in the office at work failed, so we sat among 32 degree heat at the warmest. Craig and I were talking about how we could really do with a Leed in the hot weather.

If there is a Leed comeback... I think it could be quite big.

Wetas

2007-01-15T23:36:00.000+13:00

Help, I named my blog after the insect and how long has it been since I mentioned them??

However, on the weekend I saw my first Weta for 2007 - the "Weta risk" gets raised to Medium as soon as anything like that happens. I was cleaning up cobwebs from outside the house and saw one at the very top of the wall, on the ceiling (or whatever it's called when it's an outside ceiling.) A male Weta too - the first Male Weta ever sighted. Naturally, I wasn't too happy about sweeping HIM down. I told Stacey, who appeared to have a plan involving much less thought and much more fly spray than mine! I had to crack up, since Darrel has done the same thing, much to our father's disgust.

Anyway, the next morning, it appeared that Cody has been planning with Stacey how to get rid of Wetas, as apparently he was sighted playing with one. I went outside to see it but it wasn't there. It had either 1) run away, not likely given it's ill health or 2) Cody had eaten it!

I should point out that that second incident raises the Weta risk to high. Oh dear.

What's the psychology behind RNZAF-bashing?

2007-01-12T19:17:00.000+13:00

Ok, this one has got me. It's had me baffled for quite some time and I can't figure it out. I don't think I ever will. But first, a little background for our foreign audience.

New Zealand has had an aging air force for some time now. We are still flying Iroquois helicopters (the same as they used during the Vietnam war), we have ancient Orions (maritime surveillance), Hercules (air transport) and up until they disbanded the air combat wing, we flew A4 Skyhawks. Not long before the air combat wing was disbanded, the NZ Government were planning on buying some F-16s but this plan obviously fell through once Prime Minister Helen Clark announced that the air combat wing was to be no longer. Since then, all decisions made that affect the RNZAF have helped support the new role of 'peacekeepers' and 'relief efforts' rather than 'trying to blow everyone up', which is a move I wholeheartedly support. Even when we did have an air combat wing, our armed forces were probably not able to match any of the big overseas nations, so it's of little use to keep sharpening an aging sword.

This is the way it is. But yet there seems to be a certain breed of person out there in New Zealand who just can't handle this. They seem to jump at the chance to make fun of Helen Clark for doing what she did. How dare a woman even DREAM of disbanding a nation's air combat wing? I mean, you just HAVE to have one. It's umm... it's um...... you just HAVE to have one!

These people really piss me off. One of my passions is aviation photography. I live about 20 minutes drive from the Ohakea air force base, and enjoy taking photos out there when I get the chance (granted, it's not THAT great an airport for photographing at). But so many times I've told that to people who have to respond with some wise crack like "What are you doing taking photos of that? There's nothing left there!" or "I'm surprised any of them are flying, with the shocking reliability of those aging planes".

Oh for godsake people get the hell over it!

This post today has been written in frustration caused by me seeing a guy on the NZ Flightsim list (and a guy who i really don't like) who did just this. Someone asked what callsigns the air force use under different operations. Another guy replied. Another guy said something else (equally useful) and then the guy I'm not a fan of pipes up and says this:

"Hold On Guy's
Whats the callsign when it's broken down yet again?
I seem to remember that the 757's are second hand and break down and the Hercs don't fair any better hahaha.
Are the CT4's back up and flying again?.
I just find it funny that were talking about callsign's when our national air force resembles more of an aviation museum than that of a defence force."

The aging airforce IS a topic worthy of discussion. The disbandment of the air combat wing IS ALSO a topic worthy of discussion. I'm not saying people aren't entitled to have an opinion on it that differs from mine. What I am saying is, why do people have to try and grab every chance they can get to make a dig about the air force? I really think that that post is a fine example of this. Callsigns are the phrases that air traffic controllers use to refer to a given aircraft on the radio. How does this bear any relationship to the RNZAF's aging aircraft that are 'broken down' a lot? (and those are claims I will start believing once I see some evidence but not before) . It doesn't. But he had to have a shot at it.

So it got me thinking, what is the psychology behind this kind of banter? To me, it seems to stem from this primitive need to defend oneself. If we can't bash others up, then we are inferior people. Whether these people realise it or not, I don't know. Why don't they pour their energy into bitching about something the government have discontinued that actually matters to them? Like the public health system, the employment contracts act, or other things like that.

CMS systems

2007-01-05T19:31:00.000+13:00

Hey everyone - welcome to 2007. This year promises to see some big changes here at the Wetanest. Some of the changes are as follows:

-More helicopters

So... what have I been doing over the holidays? Pissing around with the monster that is open source software and trying to get a website up and running for my yet-to-exist photography business. Honestly.. have you people any idea how much arsing around is involved in achieving the following goals:

-Finding a free webhost provider without catches
-Finding an automated website system that works, is compatible with previously found webhost, and is usable for an administrator reasonably competent in html.

The first one took a bit of searching, but I did find one in the end. Unfortunately, the host I have settled on only give me 1 FTP session, which makes using programs like IE for uploads a non-event since it apparently tries to open multiple sessions. There is a setting to turn on passive FTP. However, if you keep the "enable FTP folder view" option turned on then the passive FTP option has no effect (huh?? What's it there for?). Disable "FTP folder view" and leave "passive FTP" on, and you don't see a page at all since "Disable FTP folder view" apparently translates to "function at all".

The second option has really been driving me nuts... and I am still not 100% sure that I have landed on a working solution yet. My webhost allows me to use PHP and 1 MySQL database, which meant things like Mambo, Joomla and MediaWiki were all contenders. Which of them did I choose? None!

Mambo is just too damn hard to configure.
Joomla didn't work - the config option that defined the filesystem-relative path was getting ignored
MediaWiki needs PHP5, which my webhost doesn't use yet.

So at the moment, I have used a basic, databaseless PHP wiki called WikePage. The default page looks very 'wiki' so I have spent a lot of the afternoon hacking up the style so it looks more like a website. It's coming along nicely, but I won't go handing out the address until it's something I'm happy with.

Christmas - and the New Year going forward

2006-12-26T13:53:00.000+13:00

Most people who know me will know the extent to which I hate buzzwords - 'going forward' became one of the 'in' buzzwords to use at work in the latter stages of 2006. People just threw it into sentences for no reason and it just sounded ridiculous. I felt the need to include it in my title.

Christmas day has come and gone, and was a pretty cool day really. It can be quite tiring since Stacey and I have two functions to attend every year - one with her family and one with mine. At both ends, Cody was able to play with equally hyped dogs so he was suitably stuffed come the end of the day. We did pretty well out of it, present-wise. I also think this year I refined my present shopping technique a little since everyone seemed pretty pleased with what I had got them. Some ideas came courtesy of Stacey too.

Moving forward, our next significant date is New Years. We couldn't really give much of a shit about it all. It's just another day. I realise there are plenty of New Zealanders who simply can't cope without drinking copious amounts of alcohol and starting token riots in randomly chosen centres around the country on new years eve but that's not our scene. It's never been mine. I wouldn't even say I outgrew it... I was never there in the first place.

The New Year always marks a good time to make a fresh start on a few areas. The done thing is to have a New Years' resolution to change one thing. I think that's selling yourself a bit short. Say you aim to quit smoking, and you do it by February... What then?? Just sit on your arse for the rest of the year? I'm the type of person who is motivated by goals and successes in those goals, so I need more than one. Mine aren't "New Years Resolutions" as such, they are lists of things I would like to aim for or change about myself or my life in the new year.

Let's take a look at last year's list and see how we did, shall we?

Get married (Y)
Start flying microlights (N)
Sell my first photograph (Y)
Develop some individuality and style in my photography (Y)
Start doing something in aviation journalism (N)
Move forward in my current job, either through recognition, responsibilities or pay (N)
Find some interesting semi-precious rocks (N)
Improve my left hand on the drums (Y)
Stay fresh in my relationship (not go stale and keep it interesting) (Y)
Keep some time for my brother and family (Y)
Try and stay safe and healthy (Y)

Microlights was killed by soaring fuel prices. Aviation Journalism i WOULD have started but I still haven't had a chance to meet the people I need to in order to make that happen. Work has been a shambles this year - I'd rather not talk about it. Semi-precious rocks require a certain amount of devotion and time to find, and this isn't really a huge interest of mine these days.

Which brings me to my list for next year - this is not the official list yet, but it will undoubtedly include some of these items:

Reduce the number of fleeting interests I have so I concentrate on a small few but do them well (the interests will be listed in the full version, along with conditions for starting new ones)
Do what it takes to make my photography sales happen more regularly
Become a father
~~Trust only those people with the decency to meet me in real life~~ (already doing it)
~~Passively campaign for 'the truth' (instead of one of the four different kinds of lies in the world)~~(Already doing it)
Be a 'fair' person and think before doing things involving emotion
Learn to manage my needle/medical phobia

The full list will discuss each item in a couple of sentences if need be.

What is the point?

2006-12-23T17:28:00.000+13:00

Today I was doing some outside jobs (the type of work you only do once you're on holiday for christmas) and I felt something biting my foot. I looked down and it was a sandfly, so of course I smeared it guts and all over my foot. It left me thinking "What was the point of that exercise?".

The sandfly bit me, hoping to feed itself. I took objection to this, so I killed it. I still end up with an itchy bite, and the sandfly ends up dead. What a pointless exercise!

Isn't this just the same as war? (I'm sure at least one person will disagree)

More Photo Publication

2006-12-17T19:49:00.000+13:00

Well maybe not quite of the same magnitude, but still publication just the same. I missed a call yesterday afternoon from Regan - bass player for The Livids. However, he left a message. I was rather keen to find out what this message was about, as I knew it must have something to do with the photos.

To cut to the chase, apparently they are going to be featured in Real Groove magazine and they have used one of my photos in it. There is no credit to my name though, which is why he was calling - he wanted to check I was ok with that. I sent him a text back to let him know that it was fine by me. It would have been nice to be identified as the photographer, but the main part is that my work continues to be immortalised - remember, I'm a person who as yet has not written a song that has made any kind of release. I still don't really feel I've made my mark on this world yet, so it's really cool to see my work going into print.

So now my 'Clients and Publications' list features: Volvo Aerospace, Air Nelson, Real Groove Magazine. And all this within a single month after me trying for years with nothing. What I want to know is, who the hell said "go"?

Photography and Milestone Number 2

2006-12-07T20:02:00.000+13:00

As I write this, I am listening to the Gracious Deviants live album. For the third night in a row. It really just seems to flow so well. Their music is so diverse that there are songs in there which appeal to everybody. Hoping to catch them playing next Wednesday.

Milestone number two came within a couple of days of the first milestone - my first ever photograph sale. I have the bank account transfer to prove it - albeit a lot less romantic than getting the first cheque in the mail. Ah well. Still, was nice seeing the account go up by $100 and thinking to myself how it would be $100 less had I not picked up a camera that day. So I can now add Volvo Aerospace to my list of 'clients' haha. They service the PW100 series of engines in use on the Bombardier Q300 that I had a photographed, and they wanted to a nice aircraft shot to add to an advertising brochure. The only catch was they had to remove any brand identity (Air New Zealand) and website address because of trademark reasons - no skin off my back!

So I'm now 'professional'. I'm not sure how it's going to change my work. I think I'll be much more concerned about whether or not a particular image might have 'marketable value' before taking it. I see over at The Livids myspace page they have added one of my photos too, which is cool. They were going to use them for promotional material, so I might end up with my work in more print yet. Wow.

People take up photography for a whole range of reasons. I did it for myself as much as anything, but I'm a bit like hot air: I'm not happy unless I'm rising. It was clear from the outset that working only for myself wasn't going to hold me. So i moved to sites like airliners.net in order to get my work enjoyed by others. Such sites proved mildly satisfying, but inevitably , having to work within their rather narrow guidelines made my work take on a rather 'boxed' and restricted nature. It started to have a really negative effect on it, and then I was a little confused at where to go. It's cool to see my work out there now getting enjoyed and used by others - it's the ultimate goal as it leaves something people remember you by. I've never written a complete song that has amounted to anything despite years of trying, so this is a good creative out.

I should shut up now. I've demolished almost an entire packet of Raspberry twists while writing this blog.

Milestone

2006-12-04T20:59:00.000+13:00

Well the guy who asked to use my photo on the cover of Air NZ Link's flight safety magazine wasn't pulling my leg! This arrived in my letterbox on saturday, marking the beginning of publication. Visual Approach Aviation photography, Cabbage Tree Visual arts or whatever the hell I'm calling myself has finally seen some work published.

And as if that's not enough, I get an email this evening. Apparently Volvo Engine Services Corp perform maintenance on the PW100 series of engines (used by the Bombardier Q300 aircraft depicted in the photo) and want to use this same photo in a promotional flyer. They're doing 1000 copies and also making it available as a PDF and want a price.

Talk about never raining but pouring. My goal for the year was to sell my first photo which, technically I still haven't done. It looks as though I might make it as a late starter. Still, I'll believe it when I see the cheque but here's hoping.

I guess it's reminded me that I really need to get out and get some more photos. I had kinda lost interest after having so many shots I thought were good online but not really getting anything back from it. If I am serious about wanting to make some money from this I need to start getting a bit more proactive and give them some work to use.

Why can't they see it?

2006-11-30T19:04:00.000+13:00

First Napster, then iTunes, now DRM. The RIAA are determined to do their darndest to make sure people stop downloading MP3s. But it's not just a music thing either - movies and, more recently, TV episodes have become targets for downloaders. The industries of each media type, understandably, are frustrated by this as it ultimately denies them income. Albums, movies and TV programmes cost a huge amount of money to produce, but using the current model, the cost of production is offset by the revenue generated from sales. Take this revenue away and you have a problem.

Over the last 7 or so years, it's been a constant battle between the music and movie industries and the 'stealing' public. To me, it feels as though they think stealing music is a relatively new thing. Over the years, I've been trying to see it from both sides. Stealing anything is wrong. But one thing I don't believe the industries have paid any attention to is that the ability to 'steal' music or movies has been around for so long now. What about stereos with cassette decks that record radio stations? What about VCRs that record TV programmes and movies? These things have been around for decades and, if the copyright laws are to be adhered to on the most strict of levels, they break the law without a single design modification.

What did the RIAA think when the all-in-one stereo was first put on the market? What non-copyright-violating task could possibly be completed using a cassette deck that records radio stations? But they just sat back and let it happen, so it appeared anyway. So generations of people have grown up thinking it's ok to record tunes played on the radio and play them over and over and over. All of a sudden, in the late 1990s when a product called Napster turned up, we all got excited because it was like have a radio station that actually played songs we liked (heh, if only). Then the RIAA got all upset since it threatened their business. It felt as though they couldn't understand why we couldn't see that we were stealing. Maybe if they looked into the past, they'd realise it.

I'm not saying this makes it right, I'm just saying the whole issue of 'copyright' and 'legality' is so hopelessly vague and hard to define that maybe it's time for a rethink. Nobody apart from a lawyer actually knows what's legal, and what's not, and I dare say even they would argue the law in a court.

Get the facts straight

2006-11-29T20:49:00.000+13:00

During a discussion Darrel and I had on the weekend slagging off at the media, I came to realise a few things.

I've been formulating a theory for a while that most if not all the world's conflict is caused by issues being misunderstood. For instance, people blame wars on religion, but in a more simplistic manner, they actually start because people don't understand each other's values. Bearing this thought in mind, it should be immediately obvious how important it is that we give people the whole story. But that often doesn't happen, particularly when governments are telling a story to 'the people'.

I never really considered myself a political person, but yet I seem to often find myself involved in it these days. One thing I've quickly learnt about governments is that they make decisions with the primary motive of covering their own backside. Right through from policy decisions, to contracts, to things they say to the media. It's all about covering their ass. Look at Don Brash: "Did the National party meet with the exclusive Brethren?" "I was not aware of any talks with them". These are not exact quotes, but he said words to that effect. It's a non-commital response that he could quite easily retract later and say "well actually we did, but i just wasn't aware of it at the time". I can think of plenty of other instances where governments have not told 'the people' the full story, simply because doing so would create an uproar. It's easier for them to keep a 'what they don't know won't hurt them' approach. It's that snobby "need to know" thing coming in as well. When it comes to governments, I sometimes believe withholding the full story is as good as lying, and politicians do it all the time.

Anyway, I'm getting distracted. So we've established that conflict is created when two parties' issues are not fully understood by each other. Consider then, the importance of the facts being correctly presented to both parties, and the implications of not doing so. For example, fundamentalists from Christian and Islamic religions disagree on an issue. The Christian radicals are told that the Islamic fundamentalists have said something they don't like, so it's all on and a war begins. But did the Christian radicals stop to question the source of that information? Probably not. This is a worst-case scenario that can take place when someone takes information from an unreliable source and assumes it to be 100% correct.

Stuff like this happens all the time. I remember back to the February 2004 floods that devastated parts of the Manawatu. A guy I work with was telling people bridges that were always structurally sound had been harmed by the floodwaters. There was absolutely no truth to the matter whatsoever. Ansett flight 703 (the Dash 8 that crashed into the Tararua Ranges on approach into Palmerston North airport in 1995) is another goody. Apparently, people were reporting that it had crashed into the Kelvin Grove Cemetery (about 7 nautical miles west of the actual crash site). Where do people get these facts from? They make them up. I'm sure they THOUGHT their sources were credible, but at some point, somewhere along the way, somebody made it up. Rumours don't spread out of thin air. Someone has to conceive them.

When people lie, others formulate assumptions, thoughts and beliefs based on these lies as though they were truth. We don't often stop to question the credibility of information we hear, we simply digest it. Often, the 'lie' someone tells might just be distorted truth. I know I've said a few times at work "I'm seeing that happening more and more lately" when I've actually seen something happening no more than twice. Granted, it was something I had never seen before and then suddenly saw twice in one week, but it's not really accurate to say "I've seen it happening more and more". In one instance, it wasn't... in another, it was. That's not 'growth', it's existence versus non existence. The correct statement would be "I've started to notice that happening".

So next time you hear something you didn't know, stop for a moment to ask yourself how true you think it really is. I'm not saying you have to trust absolutely no one, but I do think this world could benefit from a few more of it's inhabitants questioning statements they hear or read. I know there will always be people who make up stories and believe everything they hear, but if enough people start being a bit more objective and start questioning sources then we'll be getting somewhere. I know it's something I need to work on, and I'll be doing it a lot more.

Long and Drawn Out Uncertainty

2006-11-18T16:49:00.000+13:00

Before the year 2006, I thought I understood what 'uncertainty' felt like. As we approach the end of it, I realise how little I really knew at all. This year began like any other year, but to be totally honest, I've been really looking forward to seeing the back of it since about August. Considering I had gotten married and bought a house by july this year, that's a bold statement to make, but it's true.

The big problem has been work. Maybe I should put a little perspective on things. My department at work is part of a unit who has not been profitable for the last couple of years. There are a whole range of reasons for why this is so, but the reality is that a business that isn't profitable is also not sustainable. Since april, our parent company (a univerity, who have no business knowledge) have been stepping in and micro-managing every financial decision we make. At the start of every year, we set budgets and the university approve them. This year, it seems we're not actually able to adhere to the very budget that they approved because (as they love to tell us) "due to our poor financial performance, such purchases cannot be justified".

Accompanying this micro-management has been an increasing uncertainty about whether or not we will even have jobs come 2007. Try living with that for nearly 7 months. It's a really natural anti-depressant and stress-reliever. When the review of our department came up, we each got sent a letter informing us of the process. It said, and I quote "I do wish to emphasis [sic] to you that this process is an information gathering exercise and is not being carried out with a view to making immediate changes to the way the unit operates, or to your employment within the unit". The trouble is that I'm not in senior management. Most of them have been poorly treated at one time or another, and two of them have already resigned, partly due to pressures placed on them by the university. So naturally, they're not all thinking straight. There's a lot of doom and gloom out there, and not a lot of communication from the university about the review process. You don't actually know what has been said and what hasn't been said, so you don't know who to believe/trust/listen to.

What really topped it all off is that the University commissioned an independent review of our entire unit, the outcomes of which were meant to be announced yesterday. But yesterday's meeting was actually to tell us that the report had been handed in, and that it would take a few weeks before we heard anything on what recommendations/changes would be likely to occur. So, as my boss said yesterday, "Another fortnight of sleepless nights then".

I'm just getting so sick and tired of this uncertainty. A couple of times this year I've been so close to approaching a couple of places to ask if they have any jobs on offer. I'm resisting doing that yet, however, since I would rather they didn't offer me a job then I turn it down. I want to wait until it's absolutely certain that I need to get another job before playing that card. However, this also sucks because of the uncertainty i'm living in and have done since April. I'd go and see a doctor, but the reality is that no amount of stress leave is going to make it any easier to deal with. These thoughts are in the front of my mind even on weekends, so why should stress leave be any different? The problem is still there.

I've tried not worrying, I've tried worrying. The problem is still there. I really don't know anymore. God I wish I'd opted for a more stable career like teaching. None of this bullshit would even be an issue, and I'd be earning so much more.

Oh the Irony

2006-11-15T19:31:00.000+13:00

Has anyone seen the Telecom ad on TV with the pretentious, apparently 'child prodigy' teenage girl ranting on about her musical expertise like she's a rockstar? The ad sickens me for a number of reasons.

First is the girl: "I won my first gold guitar award when I was 9 years old" (wank wank). She then continues to rave about some woman who we're obviously supposed to have heard of. Typically pretentious, however, she can't just talk about a song, she has to sing it in her egotistical way. She then proceeds to talk about her favourite artist who we're supposed to have heard of. "I really like her music because... it's something I could never write..." and then lists a couple of other equally vague reasons for why she likes it. In between scenes, she talks about how good broadband is and how it helps her music. It's a heart-throbbing ending. She heads into another version of musical wanking (a.k.a her pretentious singing) performing this time one of the songs by her apparently favourite artist. She sings two lines, then acts surprised as her 'idol' sings the next two lines, sounding just like every other woman singing her genre of music (no I'm not a hip hop fan). They come together and have a big hug. Oh it's deeply moving. I get emotional every time I see it.

In a few years time, we'll all be asking who the hell this child prodigy is, but by then we will have forgotten about her anyway.

The other part that really annoys me is that the whole ongoing theme presented by Telecom is "Come together". They play a terrible rendition of the Beatles 'Come Together' through the ad (and the entire series of ads in fact) and clearly, are trying to encourage people to use Telecom broadband to 'come together'. Well see, this is where the irony steps forth with pride. Internet, mobile phones, text messaging, pxt and other related media are technologies that people use INSTEAD of social interaction. Go to any mall on a weekend and you'll see a whole lot of teenagers sitting in the food court in groups, all texting other people. Tell me, am I the only person who sees a deep irony in this?

"Come together on the Internet, so you don't have to bother doing it in real life"

Refusing to be beaten

2006-11-10T20:03:00.000+13:00

For some reason, a couple of weeks ago my 'just getting by' indoor antenna decided it would fade the signal quite considerably, to the point where Palmerston Tower (the whole reason I built the damn thing) was unreadable. So it's been back to the drawing board. So many times, I've looked for a 'hot spot' inside the spare room, thought it was good enough, and yet it wasn't. For those who are confused, a hot spot is a place where radio signal is higher than other places. If you find one, you stick an antenna in it and enjoy the signal. However, no hot spot in this room is strong enough. It took me some time to come to this realisation, but it's a fact.

So I went outside and up on the roof. The signal is, as you'd expect, superb. The problem is that I have to get the signal inside the house - and doing so requires cable. I can't see any attractive way to get cable into the house. Today I looked at building an antenna next to the TV antenna and using the existing coax to get the signal inside the house. This could work very well. It could also destroy the TV signal. But to find out requires spending money. So this option is also out.

I went down the back of the yard, next to my studio, to see what was there to be found in the way of hot spots. I found possibly THE best hot spot I've ever located in all my years of hot spot finding (and I've done a LOT of it in my time). Not only was the tower almost full strength but I could hear aircraft on the ground almost as clear! Sadly, to get this signal into the house would have required at least 60 metres of coax. Thats a HUGE signal loss for starters, and just to make it even worse, I'd have to get it under the driveway which is made of concrete. So this option is also out.

Having discovered the underneath of the house today, I suddenly realised another option could be viable - my study doesn't have any hot spots in it. But what if another room did? What if I could install an antenna in another room and run a cable through the floor, under the house, and back up into the study? So off I went to the spare room wardrobe to see what might be possible. Apparently, quite a lot! The signal in there is very good - maybe not as good as the backyard hot spot, but still very readable.

So now I'm going to sit on it for a while. I'd have to mount the antenna pretty securely and have the feedline driving it tidily... but I think it can be done.
Maybe I'll give it a few different tests on different days and make sure the signal in there isn't going to fade too much from one day to the next.

Professional Moaners

2006-11-08T19:22:00.000+13:00

Some people in this world are apparently professional moaners. So, it would appear, we live next to one. This is great news. Really teriffic stuff.

Stacey and I got home yesterday to find a note in our letterbox complaining about Cody's barking during the day, signed by the woman next door. We stood around for a while in a little bit of shock as we tried to figure out what we were facing. On the first night he got Cody, the neighbours from the other side came over and asked us to do something about him as he was in his kennel and was barking constantly. This was naturally a concern as it was keeping their children awake, and at night we all need a lot more peace and quiet. The next day we went to the local pet store to get some advice and ended up buying a crate to house him inside. This cost us about $320 and we bought it for the sole reason of not disturbing the neighbours at night.

After having spent $320 on keeping the neighbourhood happy, you can start to understand why we were at a loss as to what we can do during the day to keep him quiet. We both work full-time and keeping a 4 month old dog in his crate all day is just not an option. He barks because he doesn't like being in a small space for too long. We can't let him have the yard to himself yet because he'd escape through the gate.

So we started to write a response to their letter but both of us were too angry to really write anything so we stopped. The rest of the evening, we both came to the realisation that the neighbours were being unreasonable. There are a lot of loud noises here during the day - the military camp with their firing and bombs, trucks driving to and from the dump, the phone at the Higgins factory. But we just get used to it.

Well... today we got a visit from the neighbour on the OTHER side of the ones who complained. She had apparently received a letter from the local council in response to a complaint about HER dogs barking. She said "I know exactly who it will be - it will be that _prick_ over there!". We were all a little relieved to hear that the other had been cited as a source of noise. She went on to say that he apparently complains about everything - the trucks, the phone, the motormower truck who turns around at the end of our street. During the day, THINGS ARE GOING TO MAKE NOISE. Get over it. I've heard the neighbours dogs barking a few times, and I'm sure she's heard Cody. Neither of us have a problem with it, and I'd suggest if you have a problem with dogs barking then perhaps the city shouldn't be the kind of place you choose to live??

God damn you whinging piece of crap, get a fucking life! I'm not going to apologise for my language, some people are just bloody professional whingers. I bet he'd be the type of person who'd be the first to complain about any construction near his house. What a NIMBY

The Last Ninja

2006-10-31T20:01:00.000+13:00

As you should all know by now, I'm one for nostalgia. When I was a kid, we had a Commodore 64 computer. It seems to have become THE computer that all children of the 80s had. The games were surprisingly absorbing, and although looking like crap by today's standards, at the time they really were cutting-edge.

One of the games that came with our computer when we bought it was a (genuine, I might add) copy of a game called "The Last Ninja". I'm sure like all games there was a storyline behind it that, despite the programmer's intentions, no kid ever gave a shit about. To us, The Last Ninja was about a ninja dressed entirely in black and wearing a balaclava, walking around this immersive world killing his opponents. In Last Ninja 1, they stayed dead. In Last Ninja 2, they regained their energy and eventually came back to life after being 'killed'.

I always enjoyed the music, and I've been re-visiting that a bit lately. The composer's name is Ben Daglish, and boy can he write! You hear the tunes now and just think to yourself "Hell yes!!". Years ago, I had visions of writing a re-mix of some of the cooler tunes from the game, but it turns out others have alread beaten me to it!! I got an MP3 somebody made of their own arrangement of level one in TLN1. It totally rocks. Really well-done arrangement. I plugged my laptop into the car stereo on the way home from work and turned it up. Damn it's cool driving around town listening to really well-written tunes that perhaps never achieved the fame they deserved because of the limited audio performance of the envelope-pushing C64, done on today's equipment.

Ahhhh, the memories!!

What's the point of elections?

2006-10-25T08:00:00.000+13:00

As the saying goes, the problem with elections is that the government always wins. Well in all seriousness, what IS the point of elections?

Lately in New Zealand, parliament have been deliberating over a few laws. Some new, some changed. Each time parliament bring in a new law, it's something else that we citizens can be prosecuted for if we don't obey. So it has implications on us. How do es a law get passed?

It starts off in parliament as a bill, then if the bill gets voted in, it becomes an act. Anyone can write a bill, but the trick is to get the politicians to vote for it so it becomes an act. So here's where it gets interesting. Who votes? Both the current government, AND the party in opposition. There's always going to be an opposition. As long as there's a race involving two, there will always be a loser. The very model by which democracy was designed requires that there be a group making the rules, and a another group bitching about everything that the first group does. So in theory, an opposition can be 'elected' without receiving a single vote. I'm sure there are special rules for that situation should it arise, but run with me for a sec will you?

Ok, so we have our hypothetical parliament. Composed of one party who everybody voted for, and another party who nobody voted for but are acting as the necessary opposition. You or I write a bill, pass it to parliament, and who votes? Everyone in parliament does!

So what the hell is the point of the parliamentary elections in the first place? No matter who you vote for, we're still going to end up with undesirables in parliament. In the above example, somebody who nobody voted for is making an influential vote about one of our laws.

Obviously, under MMP the system isn't quite like that, but we often think that our votes influence EVERYTHING about the government, when in fact, as long as a party gets SOME votes,they will be able to have an impact on the country, even if they don't win.

But I guess it's not that important. All they do is run our country.

Businesses who do no good

2006-10-18T18:54:00.000+13:00

The New Zealand Gambling Commission have today announced they have suspended the licence of the Dunedin Casino for two days as a punishment for allowing a Dunedin woman to spend $6.6 million over three years. Apparently they arranged for limousines to pick her up and take her home, and generally treated her like a VIP when she was at the casino. Now, $6.6 million is no joke, and they deserve to be punished. But to me, there is a big question that needs to be asked: Why should a business be punished for encouraging a client to spend money on their services?

Ultimately, a casino is just like any other business. They exist to serve their clients. They will do what they can to entice clients into spending money with them, in much the same way as a car company might wine and dine a potential dealer if they were considering spending a large enough sum of money.

Or are they just like any other business?? You see, this is where casinos differ from other businesses. Casinos take money from clients and in return, give them...... ummm........ hmmmm........

Money? Wrong! Yeah sure, someone might win every once in a while. But see those big lovely towers? Those brass finishings on the furniture? The leather chairs? The pure wool carpet? They didn't get that stuff without making a profit. More often than not, the house wins. If they don't, it's the exception rather than the rule.

So a casino as a business takes people's money, and gives them nothing back. To me, the fact that a business has had to be punished for encouraging clients to purchase their "services" basically shows how shoddy the gambling industry really is. A successful business is one who makes a big profit. The Dunedin casino were, in this case, successful.

To me, the Gambling Commission have made the first step toward shitting in their own nest. They've said "it's ok to have casinos, but not when they take lots of money from one person". That's ultimately an admission that the product they are marketing is 'dangerous', and they know it. It's as ironic as prosecuting people for "war crimes", where it's ok to kill people, but if you kill the wrong type of people then it's bad.

At least with things like cigarettes and alcohol (that do have negative effects) there is a tangible product at the end of it.

New Logo

2006-10-06T17:42:00.000+13:00

After getting some constructive advice from Shaun (guy at work who does our graphics and websites and has a real eye for detail) I'm pleased to present the "official" scalable, entirely vector-graphic-based Leed logo.

This is how it looked. Certainly in the era I saw it anyway.

Leed

2006-10-05T18:30:00.000+13:00

Here in New Zealand, it seems Coca Cola have brought out a limited edition run of Mello Yello. It's a lemon flavoured soft drink that you used to be able to buy but was discontinued and replaced by Lift. I was never really a huge fan of it as a kid. Mello Yello was around in the mid 1980s here.

A lesser-talked-about discontinued drink is the tried and trusty Leed. Leed was Coca Cola's staple lemonade until they discontinued it and replaced it with Sprite. Apparently, Leed didn't have the image required to sell enough to consumers who always tend to see a colourless drink like lemonade as "boring". That's all I can think of anyway. The thing is, Leed was a better drink. It tasted more crisp, less sweet and just seemed better. Even as a kid, I remember thinking Sprite didn't quite measure up to good old Leed.

If you were a child of the 1980s in New Zealand (or Australia, it turns out) you'll appreciate this logo. I have written an article about Leed over at wikipedia and needed an image to add to it that I owned the copyright to. There's not a lot of material about Leed on the web, so I had to make this in Photoshop, using only an image of a can I saw for sale on Trademe. It's not perfect, but it certainly gives you an idea of how it looked.

So... Hands up all those who remember Leed.

Too much to write about

2006-09-29T21:44:00.000+12:00

I could talk about the Helipro photos I never got last night due to a bitchy security guard who decided that the rules weren't hard enough so she needed to invent some of her own, but the truth is, I'm not in the mood for bitching right now.

The last couple of days have really been quite monumental for me. Things at work have been unsettled since April. In quick summary, my workplace has been under review for some time due to less-than-ideal financial performance in the past. It has just occurred to me that I shouldn't go into too much detail name-wise since we're under enough pressure without our competition getting ideas. We know we have an excellent product, but we also know we don't have a great deal of business knowledge. Our parent company has never given us a marketing budget, so our advertising has really been word-of-mouth and a few seminars. No wonder we're not making huge sums of money!

Anyone whose workplace has been under review will understand fully the nagging worry of job loss that rules your mind. This has really been playing at me for a long time. One thing I learnt about myself last year is that I like the idea that stuff I'm doing is going to be sustainable. If there is any uncertainty surrounding things like money, I worry. Always. So I've been doing a lot. I've also been doing a lot of "trying not to worry" but yeah, like you just flick a switch and it all goes away right? Wrong. Now, consider that nagging fear hanging over you from May until the end of September. Great life huh?

The thing that I hated was the fact that my fate was ultimately in the hands of someone else. The head of our unit has been liaising with the guy running the audit, but he's now on leave. Probably stress-leave. I think he has had enough of everything, and yeah it has been a while so I can understand. Meanwhile, the next guy down from him has recently come back from his stress leave and is all charged up and ready to go. He came in the other day and asked how everything was going for me. I told him that I just wanted to know where all this (review/audit) was going and what's going to come at the end of it. He told me I should help my boss Ivan develop a business plan for us, to throw back at the audit guys. It would show that we have initiative and would show me as an "up and comer". So that's exactly what I've done.

Ivan has been really quite run down by all this audit stuff lately, again, understandably so. I've always been good at writing, and he knows this, and I think he's really appreciating having a second person contributing to the business plan. I've been wanting some additional priviledges and recognition for years, and now it feels like I'm finally getting it. Not only that, but the document is coming along really well and I now feel like we are back in charge of our own destiny again. I can't believe how different I feel already just knowing that.

In other news, I received an e-mail from the head of flight safety at Air New Zealand wanting to use one of my photos on the front cover of their next magazine. FUCK!!!! What am I going to say? No? He said their budget didn't allow for any form of payment, but I said to him I was only too happy to see my work go to good use. I sent him the image today, and he said they will send me a copy of the magazine when it is printed in December.

One aim for this year was to sell my first photo. It turns out that I actually already HAD sold my first photo when I wrote that, but I just didn't realise it. I've sold a few prints at airliners.net, but I didn't rate that as a 'sale' because it wasn't somebody choosing my work to get published. This isn't technically a true 'sale' either, but it is publishing. So with the two together I guess that means I have. I'd like to think the wheels are finally starting to turn on my photography. I'm not sure if they will but right now, I'm just enjoying the feeling of being more successful than when I started taking photos two and a half years ago. I enjoy just looking at my work, but it's not even a scratch on having others choose it for a particular purpose. That is the reason I got into photography.

There's a shitload more stuff to talk about but that's enough for one entry.

Helicopters

2006-09-26T21:52:00.000+12:00

A short post tonight. Helicopters rock.

The other day I read a good article at Hovercontrol.com about flying helicopters on FS2004 and have made a couple of changed to my settings. This apparently makes them handle more realistic. Well if that's the case, then I can't be too bad at flying them! I've been doing little else other than getting the Bell Jetranger into a hover and sitting there. Changing my height from time to time, climbs and descents, turns, slow moving (hover taxiing) but all while sitting in the hover. It's amazing just how much simpler it is with one tiny click of the mouse on one of the realism settings.

In other news, Helipro might find themselves on the receiving end of some free photos if they choose to fly an aircraft into the Manawatu vs Bay Of Plenty game on thursday night. If they fly in, I've decided I'm going to take photos and use them to get into Helipro. They've had helicopters at the last two games I've been to, so here's hoping this incredible run continues.

Fingers crossed.

Hoarding - Microphones Acquired

2006-09-21T17:41:00.000+12:00

Hoarding is a personality trait I posess. I've found references to it in a few places now. Today, I got to exercise my deep-seated hoarding tendencies.

At work, we were having a clean out of the office as there's a lot of stuff piled up. We came across three boxes with our old cellphone car kits in them. Each kit came with a box with electronics in it, a speaker and a microphone, and a whole lot of cable. At first, I wondered if there might be something antenna/radio wise. Then I looked at the microphones. They're pretty small and one would think that a car-kit microphone would be pretty crap. On the other hand, I can also understand why audio that's going to be sent down an awful-sounding antiquated quality phone line would benefit from starting it's life through a decent microphone. Upon closer inspection, i discovered they were condensers. OOO. Perfect for micing a drum kit should the need arise to record.

Drums have lots of components and there's usually never enough mics to go around, so you end up hanging one mic above the kit and living with it's awful results. Truth is, overhead micing on it's own just never works. It ends up sounding like a hall full of high school boys all saying the lord's prayer ("mmmmm fmmmmmthmmm hmmmrmmmt nmmmm mmmmm SSSSS mmmmm SSSS mmm SSSSSSSSS SS SSSSS SSSS mmmmm") where all you get is the high end consonants and miss the actual voice.

So I now have 3 mics. I also picked up two speakers and two cases - good quality metal cases that would be great for mounting electronic components in.

Yay for hoarding!!

Get a Grip

2006-09-19T20:12:00.000+12:00

I've just been reading the forums over at the Evermore website. A while back, they said they'd release your dates for a nationwide tour including NZ and Australia. Bit of a slip up given that they are two different countries, but never mind. So the day arrives and they announce the tour dates for all the Australian shows but nothing for NZ. They said that NZ dates would be released on the 17th of September. We're now at the 19th and no sign of any tour dates. Some people at the forums seem to be getting a bit pissed off about it and I have just written a post to put things into perspective a bit.

I said to them "You guys complaining are obviously not U2 fans then! This is nothing compared to what we've gone through over the last year and a half. Not helped by the fact that stations like The Rock seem so obsessed with being 'the first to bring up-to-date tour info' that they never let the truth spoil a good story. So many times we've had our hopes lifted only to be let down". I then went on to say "getting dicked around over tour dates is just the beginning. Try being left off the tour schedule entirely because we're too far off the beaten track and it costs too much to come all the way over here". But the sad truth is that a lot of Evermore's fans are younger and wouldn't really understand anything like that. They just think that all their favourite bands will tour "the world" which means everywhere including New Zealand.

It both annoyed me and made me laugh at the same time.

Antenna Dilemma Solved

2006-09-16T16:44:00.000+12:00

Over the last little while, I've been pondering how to solve my antenna dilemma. I couldn't decide whether I should ooncentrate of getting a good signal in the study/spare room in the house, or whether I should just feed it all down to my 'playroom' (studio attached to the garage). Both had their advantages and disdvantages. The problem with feeding to the house was the fact that I would have to run cables from outside to inside. Bloody ugly and also expensive. The problem with feeding to the playroom was the fact that I have to deliberately go out there in order to be able to listen to the tower.

After pondering this, I came to the conclusion that listening to the radio isn't the kind of thing I want to "go out especially to do". eg "I'm going to go outside to listen to the tower" just doesn't cut it. I like having it as background noise while I do other stuff, but it's not an activity in itself. So it had to work inside the house. Eventually, I will move my computer etc out into the playroom but right now, I don't really feel like waiting.

I won't go into all the details, but lets just say that I finally have an indoor antenna that survives two computers and a laptop being switched on, and picks up Palmerston tower as well as Ohakea as a bonus. But wait, there's more. All this comes from an almost invisible indoor antenna and a totally hidden run of coaxial cable.

So that's good news. I needed some, since I'm feeling like crap at the moment. Have had two days off work and if today was a work day, i would have taken it off as well. I'm not sure what it is, but it makes me feel really tired, slightly sick sometimes, my throat feels a bit funny and my appetite is much lower than it normally is. Great for losing weight, but that's about all. My concentration is shot to bits (probably a result of not eating enough) so I'm not really good for much.

28

2006-09-12T20:50:00.000+12:00

Well I guess since it's my birthday I should really do a post.

Not really any different to any other day of the year really, although it still feels kinda cool. It's just nice getting txts and phone calls from people you love wishing you a happy birthday.

Today I went back out to the garage to have a go at solving my antenna problem. I did it! It's such a simple antenna too (two bits of aluminium tubing in a straight line). Not only did it pick up Palmerston Tower, it also picked up planes on the ground at Palmerston, and even Ohakea tower. Did I mention the antenna did all of this whilst lying on a chair inside?? I guess maybe there is some merit to antenna theory after all.

It's great actually, since I was gearing up to spend $100+ on a TV style antenna, which as it turns out would have picked the tower up well but all the planes would have sounded like shit unless they were perfectly in line with the beam. Instead, I'm only going to have to pay for the mounting hardware... If that. I might be able to stash it somewhere up in the ceiling. Who knows. That will be my project on the weekend.

Oh yes, my Helipro BK117 photo got accepted at airliners.net too. Sweet.

Antennas

2006-09-11T21:04:00.000+12:00

Have I ever mentioned the extent to which I hate antennas? Possibly not. I hate them. Throughout my years, I've often come across various interests (Aviation, Meteorology, Scanners, Shortwave listening, Satellites) which have all at some stage gotten to the point where I need a better antenna to succeed with them. I'm at that point now with aviation. In our last place, I was able to run a feedline from the TV antenna and tune Palmerston North airport fine. But here, things are not so simple. No. Never. Not in the home you intend to spend a long time Richard. Don't be silly.

The reason I hate antennas so much is that as far as I can tell, all the theory about them is actually a complete pile of bullshit. So many times, when the future of one of the above hobbies depended on a successful antenna being constructed, I have gone back to antenna construction theory texts, hoping that maybe this time, if i build one to plan, it might actually work. In all cases, I was wrong. Perhaps the most notable of such events occurred in 1997 when I had grown tired of not receiving the tower at Palmerston North airport from my family home some 20km from town. I signed up to antenna design lists and was told that I should be able to receive the airport at that range. Well.. sorry to disappoint you guys, but I don't post questions on lists just to see if you know your stuff. I actually couldn't receive the airport. So while I agreed that I "should" be able to receive the airport (in much the same way as I should live in paradise in the tropics and never have to stress about work), I couldn't. I tried making antennas that matched those in books, and they performed as expected - poorly. In the end, I found the best part of the roof to receive the airport, and twisted some fencing wire around until it created the strongest signal. It adhered to absolutely no antenna design, but it outperformed anything I had read about in a book. (I am quite serious)

Since then, each of the previously mentioned hobbies has seen a similar experience, though in not all cases did i stumble across the success story I did in 1997. But now, I need it. I can't pick up the airport, and this is going to seriously affect my ability to forsee a good photo opportunity until I can. So i signed up to the same antenna design list. What was I told? You guessed it... That I should be able to pick up the airport at my distance. Again, yes I should... but I can't. Sometimes, I feel like I'm the only person in the world for whom antenna design doesn't work!!

GRRR

Having said that, I did stumble across a database file on the Ministry of Economic Development website that helps locate all transmitter sites, frequencies, owners, and their purpose in New Zealand. Strangely enough, the Police frequencies aren't listed in there (come on guys, who are you trying to kid? They broadcast unencrypted for fuck's sake!! It's not like it's any big secret) but as I dont need to break laws in order to get my kicks, I care very little. The stuff that I like is on there. It's amazing what you learn about who has registered frequencies in weird places on the spectrum.

I just went through the list of people I know who read this blog in my head... and I don't think ONE of you gives a continental shit about any of what I've just said, so I should probably shut up.

Cody

2006-09-05T19:08:00.000+12:00

Finally I'm on leave for a week. We spent the weekend recovering from pathetic amounts of sleep on friday night, caused by the specimen to the left of this text. Yes, he's our new puppy Cody. He's a Golden Retriever and is about 8 weeks old. He made a lot of noise on his first night away from his siblings, even kept the neighbours awake at one stage there (I know you guys read this site, WE'RE SORRY!! It's not all gonna be plain sailing but he is learning quickly)

I'm spending my days trying to introduce him to all important concepts like housetraining, using his crate to sleep, not being naughty, grooming, and some basic obedience. It's not exactly 'leave' in that regard, since ordinary household chores become a real challenge with Cody's "assistance", but it's still better than work and a damn sight more entertaining.

Yesterday, in an effort to get him used to being alone, I went to the airport and got a few decent shots. This is probably the best. With any luck it will get accepted over at airliners.net, as the Dash 8 did (hence the reason it disappeared as it moved from the 'ready to be screened' into the 'here's where real images live' queue.

Why the Energy Obsession Richard? A little background

2006-08-31T20:34:00.000+12:00

As should no doubt be apparent from my recent blog posts, aviation is one of my biggest passions. I grew up wanting to fly, but was never able to because of a problem with the eyesight in one of my eyes that prevents me from passing eyesight tests. This is something I was born with, and no amount of love nor money is able to do anything about it. I have had it all my life and have adjusted to it, so I believe it wouldn't impact my ability to operate an aircraft safely. Clearly, the authorities disagree. That is, all authorities except for those who govern Microlight operations in New Zealand.

A Microlight (referred in some parts of the world as an Ultralight) is an aircraft that meets nationally-defined criteria as a low-performance aircraft. It's actually quite difficult to get a definition of this criteria, but fortunately I have a book that defined it for me. In New Zealand, a Microlight is an aircraft that seats no more than two people, weighs no more than 500kg and has a stall speed of no greater than 33 knots. I also think there are rules around wing loading too. Microlights have some operating restrictions that aren't applied to 'ordinary aircraft' and are generally regarded as a 'recreational aircraft'. As such, they aren't moderated as heavily by the CAA (Civial Aviation Authority) as their larger cousins. One consequence of this relaxed moderation is that the medical restrictions preventing me from flying conventional aircraft do not apply to Microlight aircraft. So I can fly them. Great!

I learnt this a year ago, and contacted the local Microlight Club to find out how much it would cost. The guy who e-mailled me back seemed very friendly and helpful. The club is run by volunteers, but that doesn't mean the quality of their training of maintenance suffers. They are not a commercial entity, but still have to recover their operating costs. He did mention that "Due to the rising costs of petrol, we have had to put the hourly rates up recently". This was a year ago when petrol cost around $1.50/litre. I told myself I would start flying after my wife and I got married. The price of petrol went down during this painfully frustrating 8 month period, but I held off knowing that after we were married, I would finally be able to take to the skies in control of an aircraft myself. Something I had only wanted to do for the last 21 years of my life. When we got back to New Zealand after our 2 week honeymoon, you can imagine my reaction when I saw petrol had skyrocketed to $1.67 per litre.

After a bit of consideration, I made the decision that I wasn't going to get myself into a hobby that would become increasingly expensive to maintain. Petroleum-dependence is becoming a liability, and I didn't want my hobby to get caught in the hogwash of fuel rationing, carless days and legislated bullshit. So I left it alone. But that interest is like an addicition - it's something I'll never be cured of, and try as I might to ignore it, it will only come back.

There are times when it works out for you, but this is one tale where fate has been really unkind to me. I spent my childhood wanting to be a pilot but was told that it wouldn't happen because of my eyesight. When I was in my final year at university, I went to see an aviation medical assessor as I had found a possible loophole in the aviation medical rules which may have allowed me to fly after all. It turned out that yes, it was true. I would have been able to do it after all, albeit with some minor limitations. Right after my parents had forked out for 3 years of study and (quite rightly) weren't prepared to now fund a flight training regime, I learn that I could have done it after all. Great.

Private flying is expensive. You're looking at $10000 plus to do a private pilot licence, and then you have to keep it current otherwise you lose it. It's never the kind of thing I'd want. If I was going to fly, I'd do it properly. Commercial or not at all. So I never fell into the trap of starting flying when I began earning money after study. At around $160 per hour (you need 50 to get your licence) plus airways fees, it's just too expensive to be a hobby.

So then in 2005 I discover Microlight flying (eg the answer to ALL my prayers) which costs a mere $80 per hour... right when petrol is at the highest it's been since the 70s. Again... Great.

So this is why I find myself in the position I'm in right now - with my head frequently buried in physics, energy and sustainability camps trying to see if there is any hope of recreational flying moving away from it's dependence on fossil fuels and being priced only by inflation (as I'm sure it once was). Hybrid petrol-electric or diesel-electric powerplants can potentially reduce the fuel consumption of road vehicles considerably, but you could almost say I don't care. Not compared to aircraft anyway. I'm not a car freak. If I was, i'd be embracing all this new stuff because it means the future of my hobby is safe. Aviation suffers from the problem that aircraft need to be reasonably light in order to fly. Aircraft would be too heavy to fly if they were to run on batteries alone, right now.

My quest is to see if I can dig up something that might spell a future where I end up in the air controlling an aircraft. I'm not trying to invent anything, merely trying to find what has been discovered or is being developed that could work if it were used to power aircraft. When technology takes off, it tends to move quite quickly. If I timed it right, I could start flying when petrol is really on the way out, and transition to some alternative-fuelled aircraft later. But I have to time it right. That is why I have the interest in energy that I do today.

This site isn't another energy blog, but there will occasionally be energy-related articles here. Hopefully they will feature more of an aviation focus as this is one area the internet seems a little defficient in.

Messing around with copters

2006-08-28T19:10:00.000+12:00

Helicopters are bad news for me. Really bad news. Yesterday, I went back out to the airport to get some more shots. Two fixed-wing departures later, and it was looking like it was going to be one of those days. Over-exposed, white balance set wrong, general blurring.. It was all not happening. So I headed for Feilding. Feilding is a general aviation airfield, and on sundays it's always booming with single-engine activity. Yesterday was no exception, although it was a little quieter than I had hoped. The problem is, single-engine fixed-wing aircraft are generally so ordinary looking. Photographs work if the subject looks good, and you can't get that from singles.
However, when I was at Palmerston airport, I paid particular attention to a Fokker Friendship that was parked on the apron. I had said to myself that I wouldn't leave without getting some photos of it, but I wasn't going there until I was done. Well I had decided I was done, so headed for the trusty old bird. Upon arrival, I was pleased to find not one but two BK117 helicopters parked out the front of helipro. One even had it's rotor spinning. They were both heading north for a rescue. Still no idea why. Here they are here:

No, they are not the same machine. One is registered ZK-HYZ and the other is ZK-HYI. HYI also has a bright yellow "rescue" band near the back of the fuselage.

The only annoying thing was that the light was awful, so I'm not really happy with either. However, it's still good to play with helicopters. The BK117 is a personal favourite of mine, and can be quite photogenic too. I got the callsign of one of them as well. HYI is "Helipro Zero One".

Songwriting

2006-08-23T19:47:00.000+12:00

So it seems after my Open Source article which I threaded to from another website, things are starting to quieten down here at the Weta Nest. A quick look at the hit counter shows around 2700 hits to this site, 300 of which have happened in the last 24 hours. It's definitely slowing. I did enjoy having a decent amount of traffic here though. I had hoped it might introduce people to this blog so they come back, but clearly Weta aren't something Open Source software advocates are interested in. Seeing as the visits have subsided, I can start talking about some things I'm crap at.

Two nights in a row I've gone outside to my 'studio'. A studio for me has two meanings, both of which I love. First is a photography studio. Second is a music studio. I have done nothing with any photos out there so far, but I'm sure in time I will move my computer out there and make it useful. However, it's still cool to have a go at songwriting. I remember when I used to try and do it when I played in the band I was, quite frankly, crap. I played drums and although I was able to play guitar and keyboards, it just never seemed to flow musically. Now, some ten years on, it seems things are slightly different, although I am still crap. I guess it's because I listen to music in a lot more detail than I did back then. I seem to be able to string some cool chords together, as well as come up with a multitude of melodies to go with them. The biggest challenge for me is settling on a combination of chord/bass/melody to then match some lyrics up with.

Something that's been plaguing me at the moment is the fact that most my ideas seem to sound like stuff I've been listening to. I've been listening to Evermore a lot lately and consequently, I seem to be writing a lot of stuff that sounds like them. I have to be careful of it, otherwise it just sounds like I'm a wannabe with no originality. It would suck to write stuff that sounds exactly like somebody else (I can hear a lot of modern bands disagreeing with me on that one). I'm not a wannabe with no originality, I'm a crap songwriter with no skills. There's a big difference. So now I'm listening to Salmonella Dub, hoping to bring a bit of that sound into my own. (edit: I'm cracking up laughing at that because on proof reading I realised I wrote "Salmonella Sub". That sounds like either some strange submarine or an extremely unhealthy sandwich from Subway!!! "Hi could I get a foot long Salmonella Sub on Honey Oat bread please")

If you want to hear what songwriting CAN sound like, pop across to The Gracious Deviants' homepage. These two can write. If I'm ever at one of their writing sessions, they'll write and I'll sit and nod and say "yeah... that would be really cool" and "I really like that melody there" thinking to myself "I didn't even know that chord exists". If you like their stuff and you're in the Wellington area, you might wanna check gig guides to see if/when they're playing next. It's highly recommended.

I love Spam

2006-08-23T15:51:00.000+12:00

Spam can give hours of amusement when they try to write meaningful 'english' so as to bypass spam filters. One recent example was a message where the spammer sent the actual spam as a graphic, and this beautifully-phrased passage as the actual text. Read it aloud, it's total nonsense.

He wasnt Henry Ford but he did all right in his line. I cannot afford them because there are forces loose in the worldthat would wipe all democracy out. Yesterday, in this country of ours, we held an election. Its in the plants and on the freight cars and trucks.

And this is what she writes:VOICE: My husband has been ill.

Andits too immortally big for you or folks like you to meddle withor put your brand on. Because one day, Hodak, who is a Bohemian, gets a letter fromsome relations in Czechoslovakia. VOICE: Cant you read the chart, you dumb bunny?

And there are hundreds of plantsyou never even heard of.

Theyllget it if I have to bust myself wide open. And, eight hours from now, that shift will go off and anotherone come on. Please contact us beforehand to let us know your plans and to work out the details. Let each one of us say: I am an American. And,through good days or bad, I will try to serve my country.

It was not brought about by the election and ithas not passed with the election. Enough milk tofloat two thousand battleships like the Bismarck. You shall have Aquafonti and all its contents. If I could get thehogs and where to fix a hog pasture I could do more. It is only once in four years that we seethe whole people. But that old whistle out there will still be calling men to workafter this war is over. How many guns would they swapfor some of our butter? To make some kind of profit out of brains andskill and management.

Apparently, I'm a very dumb bunny because I can't read the chart.

Time for some defamation...

Received: from unknown (HELO zjsey.bko) (217.129.154.113)
 by mo-217-129-1-138.netvisao.pt with SMTP; Wed, 23 Aug 2006 03:52:20 +0100

The sender used a Portugese ISP to send this:

role:            Cabovisao Network Team
address:         Cabovisao, SA
address:         Lugar de pocos
address:         Palmela
address:         Portugal
phone:           +351 21 080 10 80
fax-no:          +351 21 080 10 01

And spammed through an open relay at the same IP.

If you use Cabovisao Network Team as your ISP, give them an earful about their responsibility for preventing their services from being used for spam. (yeah right. Like anyone is going to bother!)

I did enjoy the crap english though.

WWII Films

2006-08-22T19:56:00.000+12:00

Stacey and I watched U-571 on Saturday night. In a brief summary, it's about a bunch of US Navy soldiers who are sent to sea to steal some documents from a German submarine that has broken down. They masquerade as German rescuers but have to beat the actual Germans to the U-Boat. They get caught out with only a small amount of ammunition and a weakened vessel. I won't ruin it for any readers who haven't seen it, but there are some really eerie scenes that really remind you of how technology used to work in those days. Relying on stuff like sonar and analogue gauges isn't something that today's submarine crews would have to do.

So often in today's day and age everything is about moving forward, technologically speaking. Everything gets better, faster, and higher tech, which I believe that takes away a lot of the 'real' side of things. For instance, back in the 1940s all they had to establish their position was a radio, a map and a compass. At one stage, the main characters hijack a German sub and have to figure out how to operate it since all the words are written in German. Nowadays, if you were to walk into the cockpit of a French airliner (anything made by Airbus) you could fly it (assuming you knew how to fly an airliner of course). In fact, if foreign soldiers stole a foreign sub today... they probably couldn't even turn it on without a whole lot of access cards, encryption keys, verified encryption keys, and other data beamed down via satellite. It's just not as 'real' as how it was back then.

So it's started an investigation in WWII technology for me. Watching those guys drifting around listening to the all-important but low-tech sonar really got my mouth watering. Now I want to learn more about it, and watch more movies. I've already been reading up on it a lot (much to Stacey's disgust as it's been consuming me a little). If anyone can recommend any other good WWII movies that show the technology being used, I'd love to hear from them.

More about the Weta

2006-08-21T20:27:00.000+12:00

I've named my blog after these creatures, so it figures I ought to discuss them in bit more detail. I can't really speak too much for the other species of Weta, apart from the Wellington Tree Weta. I've researched them and only them so far - my survival depends on understanding my threats! There's little point in reading up on cave Weta when they don't come anywhere near me.

The Wellington Tree Weta do bite. That's not news. However, the males are much more aggressive than the females, and frequently fight each other (Goodness me. I think I'll stay away when that happens). As a result of this combat, there is only one male on a 'territory' but several females. The exact size of a 'territory' is not something I've established yet. Some sources suggest that a territory is a single tree. I'm not sure ours are actually living in holes in the sides of trees, so who knows what rules apply to them. So far, the only Weta I have found here at the Weta Nest have been females. (in case you're wondering about my grammar, Weta is a Maori word so the plural isn't "Wetas"). From what I can tell, it seems the chances of meeting a female Weta are much greater than meeting a male.

Females can be distinguished from Males by the shape of their heads (much smaller than males) and by the long bits at their rear end. It's not a sting, nor even a benign needle that the Weta may use to scratch it's attacker with. It is called an ovipositor, and is used to lay eggs. The Weta in this photo is a female. Female Weta look a lot more slender and generally better proportioned than Males. Very much like the human equivalents, if you ask me.
The Male's larger head holds strong muscles that power his jaws. Yes, they are what bite. So here's something to think about: You are much more likely to meet a female Weta than a Male, AND the female is the one who doesn't bite as hard, nor will she hiss at you when threatened. I'd say the chances of getting bitten by a female are pretty remote, unless you deliberately do something to try and piss her off.

This is a male Wellington Tree Weta, from Wikipedia. Note the lack of ovipositor at the rear end, and the enlarged head. I know they don't like being threatened, but I'm not sure what they class as 'threatened'. I haven't met one yet so I can't really shed much light on them. Suffice to say, if he puts his back legs up in the air, it means you've probably gone too far.

The thing with Weta is that they are not hunters. They are omnivorous (meaning they eat plants and animals) and shouldn't be thought of in the same light as Lions who stalk their prey. If they eat anything animal, they usually prey on small weak insects that might walk past them. Despite looking a little like overgrown grasshoppers, Tree Weta can't use their back legs to jump. So you shouldn't worry about a Weta jumping at you to begin a subsequent attack. Neither of these behaviours are in their nature.

So in a nutshell, the Wellington Tree Weta isn't something to be feared really. If you find a Weta where you don't want one (and they're much more likely to show up on wood than anywhere else, because it's where they live) move it somewhere else. Make it walk onto a shovel and move it elsewhere.. Otherwise get a glass, place it over the Weta, put a piece of cardboard under the glass, and then pick it all up as one. Then you can transport it somewhere not near you.

If you do opt for the glass option, be careful you don't create a gap between the glass and the cardboard. Before I took those first two photos, the Weta was on the inside of the washing basket. It doesn't look like a Weta that size could fit through the gaps in the plastic, but clearly this Weta thought otherwise. She put her head through and despite me thumping the basket gently on the ground to try and force her to fall back through the gap and into the basket again, she remained determined to prove herself as a contortionist. It was hilarious seeing limbs sticking everywhere, but she made it through. All I'm saying is, Weta will fit through small gaps so make sure you keep the glass/cardboard capsule sealed.

The THIRD option is to pick the Weta up and transport it somewhere else. Not on my list yet, and probably not for a long time.

Messing around with planes

2006-08-20T18:39:00.000+12:00

Today I went out to Palmerston North airport for a much-needed session of photography. For a few years now I've been into photography. Aviation is another of my passions, so it figures I'd enjoy photographing planes. The frustrating thing about amateur aviation photography is that you can't really get AT your subject very easily. There are so many security fences that get in the way of your shot, and prevent you from getting anywhere near an aircraft that it becomes quite challenging. I'm sure they're all there for a good reason.... yadda yadda yadda. I know how to stay out of trouble around planes, but not everyone shares this gift... so I get lumped in with them. Now if I held an aviation security pass...

Anyway. My aim is to do this kind of thing for some form of renumeration. Not enough to 'put food on the table' so much as more to 'put the food in slightly better than average dinnerware'. Right now, I'm still yet to sell my first photo. I've had a couple of close calls, but nothing to actually show for it. I have a couple of my photos at airliners.net that have sold one print for a grand total of about 30 New Zealand cents, but that doesn't really count. I'm not really proud of having sold prints at such a dull site. To get a photo on the site, you have to upload and then face the screeners. They decide whether the image should go on ot not. They place so many ridiculously harsh standards over the photo technically that it's very difficult if not impossible to get an interesting photo accepted. The standards got harder about a year ago, so as my photography has improved and gotten less boring, the number of accepted photos has dropped to a trickle. I'd rather people enjoyed my good work, not my boring work. Sadly, airliners.net is still the only popular site where ordinary people can upload aviation photos, so I'm stuck with it until I can figure out how to get work elsewhere. Jetphotos.net is just not there in my humble opinion, although I did have a disagreement with one of the screeners about what 'backlit' actually meant so my views are slightly tainted.

Speaking of ordinary, my website is pretty ordinary but showcases some of my better work from the 'cheap seats' (publically accessible places near airports). If you'd all be so kind as to visit that would give me something interesting to look at on my hit counter! If i could get some more up close and personal experiences with planes, I could take some great shots. Sometimes, I feel a bit like a newbie looking for a job. They want someone with experience, but how do you get the experience if nobody wants you without it? My shots are a bit bland, because i've not had many chances to get up close. How can I get the chance to get up close if I'm not sought after because my work is dull??

And that, my friends, is the riddle I currently try to solve. I'd appreciate some ideas.

More is less and less is more

2006-08-20T11:25:00.000+12:00

Open Source vs Closed Source. The debate has raged for many years now, and perhaps one of the biggest ongoing questions on everyone's lips is "will open source ever run the desktop?". It's been ongoing for so long that it is almost rhetorical nowadays. Everyone has their own take on this question, so I will share mine.

Will open source ever run the desktop?

In a word, no. In more words, not without some big philosophical changes to the open source desktop model. The only reason I say "no" is that I can't see this happening any time soon.

The Unix and GNU philosophy has always been to develop a large selection of tools with a narrow but specific purpose. List a directory using ls, pipe that output to grep, pipe that to more, and pipe that to tar, then onto gzip. Five different tools were used for one task. This is and has always been the GNU way of life. You don't like it, then GNU (GNU's Not for U). Of course, there's more than one tool which is capable of performing any given task. So the 'Nix administrator not only has a large number of tools available for any given job, they also have the choice of several for any given job. This is a good thing.

What works for Unix doesn't work on the desktop
Where excessive choice is not a good thing is, I believe, on the desktop. Let me clarify. Let's imagine that Microsoft Word was just a page view where you write words. To access fonts, you load in an external font manager which categorises them however you see fit. To browse for your files, you bring up your choice of file manager. Want to insert clip-art? Then you have a wide range of clip-art managers to choose from. That might sound like a great scenario for a capable user, but remember where the bulk of desktop use occurs - the professional workplace.

Work is a place where people who aren't necessarily capable computer users are forced to use computers. They want things to be simple and, more importantly, straightforward. Imagine how complicated it would be for support, in-house documentation, training, and usability if Microsoft Word were only part of the word processor it is today. Imagine if the previously-dicussed model of "lot's of tools with specific purposes" applied to desktop software. Life at work would be unbearable for those in technical support.

Picture receiving a support phone call from a user and trying to establish what font manager, file manager, and clip-art manager they used, and then fix their Word problem for them. I'm sure there are people who can come up with a thousand reasons for how such a model could work, and even why it's better. The reality is, users just won't cope with it. That's why Microsoft Word is as popular as it is today. It does everything it needs to and doesn't require add-ons to achive this. Many well-meaning sysadmins have probably tried to push out segregated component-based open source solutions into the workplace because it's better for the common good. All power to them for trying, but it's all just too segmented.

There's too much
Having established that desktop software requires a different philosophy to Unix, we need to look at the current model of software development, and why it's not working. The open source model has evolved out of sheer frustration. If you don't like the current choice of mail apps out there, you start your own. You might cite a number of reasons for not liking existing apps: Licensing restrictions, patent problems, missing functionality to name a few. So you attract developers, graphic artists, and testers, and you call it a project. One has to admire people for feeling strongly enough about the state of software in a given area to get off their backside and write their own app. So many complain whilst doing nothing about it, at least these people do something about it. The problem with this example is that before long, the already cluttered family of unfinished open source mail clients just got bigger by one.

The very area I believe is open source software's weakness, others would argue is it's biggest strength: Choice. On the desktop, too much choice is bad. I work in an organisation who provide network solutions for clients. We're not an open source shop, nor are we an all-Microsoft shop, and I like to think my views aren't strongly tainted either way. We believe in the right tool for the right job. We use Windows for desktops and file servers, and GNU/Linux for mail and proxy servers. One of the most common requests we receive is for a professional-quality shared calendaring application with similar functionality to MS Outlook plus MS Exchange. Using open source software, it can't be done. I have scoured the internet looking for Exchange replacements for many years, and nothing free comes even close. There are a myriad of open source groupware packages that do everything except talk to Outlook for free, but without a stable calendar app to hang on the other end of the connection, what good is it? I'm not going to go into the details of which packages I have tried, but they are simply not as straightforward to an average user as Outlook. If they are, they are too young. The rest were web-based, clunky, or lacked two-way, permission-based synchronisation with iCalendar files. All lacked the polish necessary for widespread adoption at desktop level.

Years ago, people were saying "Just wait. A really good calendar app called xyz has been started and it should be really good when it's developed. It should take away the need to use Outlook AND Exchange" all the time. Today, they're still saying the same thing. There's a lot of starting going on but not much finishing. A quick search on Freshmeat will turn up loads of calendar apps still in beta, a few projects which got past .0 but haven't been updated for a few years, and a few others that have been all but abandoned. I'd hate to think how much expertise and time has gone into writing this array of abandoned calendaring platforms. Just think what could have happened if all that energy had been channeled into a single app.

Mozilla Firefox is the first browser to give Internet Explorer a run for it's money. It did so because, among other things, the developer team were all striving for the same thing. There were a couple of other gecko-based browsers that popped up over time, but Mozilla have stuck at it and stayed around to make the browser we know as Firefox. Now we're at the point where, as a rule, Closed Source Browser = IE; Open Source Browser= Firefox. It's this kind of simplicity we need more of.

OpenOffice is perhaps another example of efforts being concentrated into one product. So much energy is wasted when people segregate and start their own projects. They think they're doing it to help the open source community by extending choice, but in reality, I believe they are slowly killing it, or at least stinting it's growth. There's a huge audience out there using open source desktops, but if a third of them are using KDE, a third using GNOME, and a third using other window managers, it makes open source appear less popular compared to Windows. Imagine if the Firefox user base were divided among three different open source browsers. At present, the 10-15% worldwide usage makes a blip on the browser radar, but a third of that is nothing special.

If we want open source software to take off on the desktop, we need to reduce the amount of choice and concentrate our efforts into a single app for each purpose. Choice is one of the drawcards of open source software, but if it is ever to receive adoption at any recognisable level on the desktop, there needs to be less of it. More is less and less is more.

About the Title

2006-08-19T19:42:00.000+12:00

Why the Name?
So, you ask... why the name "The Weta Nest" ?

My wife and I live in a house completely on the edge of Palmerston North city. Palmerston North is in the North Island of New Zealand, in the southern half of it. It is about 2 hours north of Wellington, our nation's capital. Wellington is home of parliament, the Hurricanes Rugby team, windy weather and the Wellington Tree Weta.

To backtrack a little... A Weta is a native insect of New Zealand. Like anything native, they are protected. Like anything native, they are a little odd. These things are big. For an insect, they are very big. I've seen small mammals smaller than some of these things. They're so big that it almost looks wrong that they have six legs instead of four. There are a number of different species of Weta in New Zealand. Some are even endangered. Depending on species, they can live in caves (screw meeting one in there), rocks, alpine settings, the ground, or trees. The Wellington Tree Weta live in trees.

As I said, we live at the edge of town. Across the fence from us is a large river, and with it comes the usual amount of bush and foliage. When you live in the middle of a city, you don't get the native fauna as much, but we don't anymore. We live on the edge of it. Our backyard has many native plants and bushes in it too, so we get Wetas. The other week, I figured we were averaging about one Weta per session of working in the garden. Some days, we get considerably more.

So why all the fuss over the Weta?

They are big
They bite
The males hiss when disturbed
The males rub their back legs together when disturbed. This makes them look very frightening

The thing with the Weta is that they are older than the dinosaur. They're roughly 200 million years old and have hardly changed since then. They are, in that case, comparible to Cockroaches in how hard they are to kill. I once read that you can drown them for hours and they live. Put them in boiling water and they live. They certainly hold on tightly to whatever they're walking on. I just have a horrible fear that one will fall out of a tree, get caught on the back of my neck, run down the back of my top in search of a sheltered place (because they are nocturnal animals so would likely not be happy about being out in daylight), get upset about potentially getting squashed, and start biting... or biting AND hissing. It's really not a good picture.

But I'm trying to get over my fear of them. We can't kill them, and I don't really want to (nor do I know how) so the only other option is to get over them.

This site represents the heart of everything that matters to me, beginning from my home, the Weta Nest. It's not an official nest.. I'm not even sure if they have nests... but this place might as well be one! Over time you will see pictures and hear tales of what goes on within and outside of the Weta nest.

I hope you enjoy reading.

Richard

Welcome

2006-08-19T14:07:00.000+12:00

Welcome all to the land of the Weta Nest. You'll discover in due course where this site got it's name from, I'm sure.

Enjoy