If all goes well from now on it will all be because of McCully's stepping in.
If it goes wrong again it will be the fault of the Mayor, or a CCO - not McCully.
Bet ya!

What a great surprise to find this uplifting story especially after just reading "Still Here" by Ram Dass written before and after his stroke.

Two old sayings spring to mind:-
'It takes two to tango' and 'There's always two sides to every story."
I have sat in many men's support groups where men have poured out their feelings of utter frustration and helplessness at the behaviour of their partner goading them towards violence. These, of course, are the fortunate few who end up seeking help to stop their violence or tendency towards violence. It does not surprise me that many men 'crack' in these situations. I hasten to add that I don't agree with any form of physical violence by anyone in any circumstance ( except possibly defence, but even that is debatable!)
And here's a interesting variance on all of this - I once knew a woman who became fed up with relationships with men who eventually turned violent so she started a relationship with a woman. This woman turned out to be even more violent than any of the men! She realised that she was the common factor in all of this and was sorting out her own 'stuff' to see why she brought violence into her own life.
So lets not get bogged down in statistics and the basic act of violence. Look at the broader picture before condemning.

Let's award peter Montgomery a gold medal for totally 'over the top' commentating. I'm dreading watching/listening to the rowing finals, but i guess I can always turn the sound off!

I also cursed as they switched to the soccer BUT when I clicked on "Live Feeds" on the TVNZ Olympics page I was inundated with god knows how many live feeds of the women's road Race. So I settled back and watched the whole thing through to the exciting finish. Don't know why everyone else couldn't get them except that I had my Mac set to show via Quicktime which may explain the dozens of live feeds that tried to come through?

As I slip ungracefully into old age one of my pet hates is the remorseless advance of the nanny state. I hide away up in the hills most of the time to avoid it all!
Has anyone else noticed the disapearance of accidents. These days there is always someone, or something to blame and then extract money out of. It used to be that accidents happened and, although I might end up with a broken arm, at least I had a good time doing whatever I was doing which led to it being broken.
Similarly Guy Falks used to be a highlight of the year for me with all the weeks in advance saving up, buying and hoarding the crackers etc. OK I didn't lose an eye or anything but if I had we just would have said
Well, accidents happen.
On the drinking age question. Years ago I was drafted into the army at the age of 18 and we were trained to fight in Vietnam where, of course we might have been killed. Seems ridiculous that 18 year olds can die for their country but can't drink!

I get fed up with mournful funerals and want mine to be a fun affair with laughter, dancing etc. a celebration of who I was and that everyone there is still alive. So having looked through my favourite dance music selection I just have to have

Its Time to Burn from Best of Trance 2001

followed by

Ritual Tibetan from the same album.

During the playing of the latter my body could be dismembered and thrown to the waiting vultures!