Both Waitangi and Anzac Days are the only two NZ public holidays that don't get substituted with a weekday if they fall on the weekend. And guess what - this year they both fall on the weekend. Feb-April looks like a good time to be a contractor...
And it doesn't get much better in 2011 - Waitangi Day is on a Sunday! Time to demand a Rugby World Cup holiday instead...
Monday, December 21, 2009
Friday, December 18, 2009
If you want passion, choose football
TVNZ's Michael Burgess gets it exactly right on the reasons for all the passion exhibited in All Whites' playoff against Bahrain.
1. Qualification for the World Cup is an incredible opportunity. It's the biggest sporting tournament in the world. The stakes were sky-high.
2. The game of football is intrinsically exciting. Low scores mean that goals are always worthy of wild celebration. The winning margin is usually small enough that it could have been negated or overturned at any point right up to the final whistle, which keeps spectators on the edge of their seats throughout the game.
3. Paradoxically, the low scoring also means that the supporters have plenty of time to sing, play instruments. pose for the TV cameras and generally have a party without missing any of the action.
Rugby Sevens comes close with its short-duration, often low-scoring games and sudden momentum changes. The atmosphere can be somewhat artificially generated however.
One-eyed rugby naysayers dismissed this game in particular as being of low international signficance, and football generally as being uneventful and too full of playacting. Diff'rent strokes and all, but this smacks of wilful misunderstanding to me.
1. Qualification for the World Cup is an incredible opportunity. It's the biggest sporting tournament in the world. The stakes were sky-high.
2. The game of football is intrinsically exciting. Low scores mean that goals are always worthy of wild celebration. The winning margin is usually small enough that it could have been negated or overturned at any point right up to the final whistle, which keeps spectators on the edge of their seats throughout the game.
3. Paradoxically, the low scoring also means that the supporters have plenty of time to sing, play instruments. pose for the TV cameras and generally have a party without missing any of the action.
Rugby Sevens comes close with its short-duration, often low-scoring games and sudden momentum changes. The atmosphere can be somewhat artificially generated however.
One-eyed rugby naysayers dismissed this game in particular as being of low international signficance, and football generally as being uneventful and too full of playacting. Diff'rent strokes and all, but this smacks of wilful misunderstanding to me.
Tuesday, December 08, 2009
Nokia hands free options
With the recent law change in NZ requiring hands free operation of mobile phones while driving, a lot of people are looking at ways to comply. In theory it should be possible to avoid having to buy a hands free kit. All you would need are a cheap cradle and the following phone settings:
Loudspeaker
Answer after x seconds
Any key reject
(Large Caller Info Display and Voice dialling would be a nice to have)
But can you set this up as a profile on a bog standard Nokia? No chance. Why? My assumption is that Nokia wants to sell lots of car kits. Grrrrrrrrr.
You can download third party apps that will set up a car profile for you. However these are not cheap in NZ currency. Does anybody have the spare time to make a free or cheap version?
Loudspeaker $NZ15 ($US10)
http://www.symbianguru.com/loudspeaker-v-1-0-for-series-60.html
Car Park $NZ31 (€15)
http://www.tektronic.ro/productdet.aspx?prodid=3
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