Randomness

Bernard Hickey's article

2010-02-28T12:20:00.002+13:00

Bernard Hickey writes articles for the New Zealand Herald from time to time. I have to say most of the time I disagree with what he says.

This week he listed 10 reasons why the government should not increase GST to 15%. You can read the article here: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10628904

I agree with some of them, and disagree with others. I'll discuss his reasons here:

1) This point is probably true. However the budget is not released until May. They may come up with ways to come up with the shortfall. Of course, the government may need to drop the corporate tax rate to compete with Australia (which will cause more headaches), so Mr. Hickey has a good point here.

2) This may be true, but surely competition between companies will keep the price increases to a minimum?

3)True. But will a 2.5% (or slightly higher) increase in prices here really change tourists' minds about coming to New Zealand (and make them choose to go to Australia instead)? I don't think it will..

4) I don't think it will. John Key has said the tax cuts will at least offset the rise in GST. Things will seem more expensive, but you'll have more money in your pocket to buy them.

5) Good point, but I think this is covered in point #2.

6) I don't see why this is a reason why it's a bad idea to raise GST..Maybe for John Key and National, but not for the general public.

7)A 2.5% rise in prices wont create that much of a leakage. People are either already doing this, or they are not doing it (and wont in the future).

8)Maybe so, but it wasn't meant to.

9) I don't think the rise will create any new exemptions..It may cause businesses to find ways to weasel out of paying what they should pay, but those kind of losses will be made up in gains from people paying what they should be paying in income tax.

10)lol! It's only a 2.5% increase, not 25%!

online game

2009-04-20T13:32:00.000+12:00

http://netoru.mybrute.com/

you should try playing this. You type in a name for your character and it starts fighting. it's pretty cool.

NZ Elections

2008-11-03T21:40:00.000+13:00

So the election is less than a week away. Some of you may not have read the last topic I posted, so I will write a quick guide to make your vote count. Partial credit goes to the Sunday Star Times. Since I'm writing this after reading the article they had, this will probably be somewhat influenced by it. I did add a lot more to it though..

First of all we should talk about your electorate vote. I'm not a political commentator so I can only informatively comment on the electorate I'm in (Pakuranga). Sadly your vote will not influence the outcome. Pakuranga is a National area, and Maurice Williamson will comfortably be reelected. Vote for whoever you please..

The most important vote for the majority of us is the party vote. You can either vote for one of the 2 main parties, vote for a minor party, or do a protest vote.

Voting for one of the 2 main parties makes a lot of sense. Either Labour or National will be in charge of parliament. Their promises will be the ones which will be passed (and the oppositions promises wont be). Helen Clark or John Key will be prime minister. A vote for the party is not only a vote for the party. A vote for Labour is also a vote against National, and a vote for National is a vote against Labour. Labour is currently trailing in the polls so every vote they get will help them narrow the gap on National, which they need to do. National do not have many friends in politics (only Act and United Future), so they need to get as many votes as they can get to assure them power. Voting for Labour or National is a sensible vote.

Why should you vote for a minor party? The minor parties have more extreme agendas compared to the main 2. The Greens are focused on the environment, United Future are focused on families, the Maori party are focused on the Maoris, Progressives are focused on state-owned enterprises (keeping them), NZ First are focused on Old people, and Act are focused on tax-cuts (much higher than what National want to give). If you have a strong view on one of these areas, you should vote for them. The more seats they have after the election, the better the bargaining position they will be in to convince either Labour or National to pass more of their policies.

The Greens are polling well at the moment. They will support Labour post-election. Voting for the Greens will ensure Labour will need to pass their policies. Vote for them if you support their enviornmental policies.

A vote for United Future is a wasted vote. Peter Dunne will win his electorate seat comfortably but they are polling well below the chance to win a second seat. Do you really think they are likely to improve between now and saturday? United Future supports National so if you support United Future, vote National instead.

Likewise, a vote for the Maori Party is a wasted vote. They will win all the Maori seats, which is well above the % of party votes they are currently polling to get. The Maori Party will 'probably' support Labour, so if you support the Maori Party, vote Labour instead.

The Progressive Party is like United Future. Jim Anderton will regain his seat, but polling shows that will be it. You shouldn't need me to tell you that Jim Anderton supports Labour, so if you support Progressives, vote Labour.

NZ First are polling just under 5%. Winston Peters is not assured of winning his Tauranga electorate seat, so every party vote for NZ First will help them stay in parliament. NZ First will probably support Labour (National wont talk to him). Analysts are saying if you support Labour, you should vote NZ First to help assure them get in (so their % of party votes aren't wasted). This will allow Labour (% NZFirst) to be in a position of power after the election. This is worth thinking about if you are a Labour supporter.

Act are polling ok but below 5%. They are safe because Rodney Hide will win his electorate. Act will obviously support National after the election. It is worth mentioning Sir Rodger Douglas is 3rd on the party list. This is worth thinking about if you are a National supporter.

Protest votes in my opinion are a waste. I'd rather you not waste your energy going to vote because it will have no effect on the outcome of the election, and you will just be breathing more air than if you just stayed at home.

So, in conclusion, I think you should vote Labour/Greens/ or even NZ First. I discussed why in a previous post. Remember, YOUR VOTE COUNTS SO DO IT (unless it's a stupid protest vote).

Retirement

2008-04-20T20:14:00.001+12:00

I was reading newsweek again this week and came across a great article

It should get everyone thinking. Never mind the macroeconomic side, concentrate on the personal finance side of
the article (though the macroecon is just as interesting, just not to everyone).

So in your life you can either save more now to have more to spend in the future. Or you can choose to spend now and have less to spend in the future. Pretty simple.

So by retirement, what kind of savings do you want to have? Enough to replace your income (with account for inflation)? This is probably most people's goal since it's a simple thing to aim for and if you've been living with it for the majority of your life, you can be comfortable with it if you have good insurance. This can require a huge amount of capital which varies depending on your risk tolerance. Annual returns on investments can vary from 1% to 8-9% real interest before tax. So to replace an income of $60,000, you'd need between $700,000 to $6m. That's alot of money.

Which leads to the next question...
When do you want to retire?

Oh how things have changed.

2008-03-25T23:01:00.001+13:00

Remember the saying "Take care of the pennies and the pounds will take care of themselves"? Notice how I said 'remember' and not 'you know.' That saying seems to be obsolete now the way people act.

There's an article by newsweek and the New Zealand herald worth reading about saving. In 2005, NZ's saving rate was -14.8% of total income! Yes, on average we spend more than we earn. There's a trend around most of the world that shows savings have decreased. Our Grandparents and some of our parents would not be able to comprehend the amount of debt and little savings we have. So why is it that we have such a different mind set from our elders? I'll share a few of my opinions..

Easy credit: Credit cards are being advertised on tv as well as easy to get personal loans. Now you can even get home loans with no money down! They've been giving them out left, right and centre. The credit crisis in America highlights how many loans have been given out to people who could not afford it. This is a huge change from when people used to buy houses for cash. If it wasn't that easy to get credit, maybe we all wouldn't be in so much debt.

Consumerism gone mad: Petrol's expensive? What about water!? Water is put in plastic bottles and you're charged $2 for less than a litre. You could go home and get more for 5c, or just go to a tap outside and fill up an old bottle for free. You think people wouldn't buy this, but a lot of us do it on a daily basis. Since we're not handing over cash these days to pay for things, many people don't think about what they're spending their money on. Coffee everyday, a hamburger, lollies for a sugar fix, porn on the internet, these are usually impulse buys which shouldn't really be done. And do you need those $250 shoes? Your mind says yes but the 10% part of your brain you don't use is saying no...

Lack of education: Were you taught much about budgeting while you were at school? Probably not, and it's probably not a reason for a change in mindset either since your relatives were taught just as much. But with so many different ways of saving with no understanding of what is a good deal could be preventing us from wanting to save. And when you hear about people losing their life savings because they put their money into a failed finance company, you probably feel relieved it wasn't you. And even if you put the money in the bank, is it safe? Perhaps not with all these sub-prime loans floating about.

What can we do about this? Try and change our mindsets. Don't take up credit just because you can, save up a decent deposit before buying a house, try to cut out the majority of your small impulse purchases (only use cash to pay for things if it helps) and get educated. Does anyone have any thoughts on why we aren't saving, or how we can?

How to act during a recession.

2008-03-24T20:14:00.002+13:00

This is a follow up to my last entry, which was rather somber. Sorry about that but these are somber times for some people. Although this doesn't necessarily apply to us here in NZ, newsweek published an article about how to survive the recession. I think it's a good read because we can apply some of the tip later on when we are in a recession (or even now since there's a chance we're going to enter one. Some of the good points in the article are:

Leave your retirement investments alone: Right now the share markets are spiraling downwards because of the credit crisis in America. But this isn't a reason to sell since they'll rebound and in 20 years or so you wont notice the loss since your average return will be high. In fact, if you make regular contributions, now would be a good time to make extra contributions since the price of shares now are quite a bargain (relative to probable prices in the future). If you have kiwisaver you can do this easily through internet banking.

Pay down costly debts: This is what I was talking about in my last entry. This applies in good times as well as bad. Since interest rates are so high at the moment, now is a great time to get them paid off.

Stretch out cheap debts: If you have a cheap interest rate, banks and companies will probably be willing to waive fees for voluntary repayments. Why? Because it's a liability for them. They can borrow out that money at the current higher interest rate. People would be willing to pay you to have debt at your low rate, so make sure you take advantage of it and keep it for as long as you can. If you can make extra repayments, pay off other debt if you have it, or put it in the bank (if the interest rates are better), use it towards an emergency fund, or buy things you think you will need in the near future. Take advantage of the cheap debt (it sounds bad, but it really isn't).

Hunt for bargains: The stock prices of the majority of companies has dropped. Some haven't been affected by the credit crisis and have just artificially dropped because of investors' fears. So there are a lot of bargains out there waiting to be discovered. But you must research and understand the company is undervalued before buying a bulk of their shares since it goes against diversity principles. This leads to the next point...

Avoid the urge to get more adventuresome with your investments as a way to make back losses: Were you planning on investing in gold before your portfolio dropped in value? Or are you doing it just because everyone says you should? Or what about derivatives? Or even bank bills if you have a lot of money? NO! Don't try to make up losses by investing in something you don't understand. Go to a professional investment advisor before you do something like that and make sure you understand the risks, the possible returns, and whether it's a good addition to your portfolio before doing anything like that. Otherwise you may as well go and play roulette at the casino. The odds are probably the same except you'll win or lose in a few seconds instead of a few days...

That's some points the article brings up. Do you have any tips of your own? Please share them...

How much debt are you in?

2008-03-23T21:58:00.002+13:00

I was reading this article at newsweek.com when I got thinking. I pose the question to you, "If you suddenly had 30 days to repay all the loans (mortgage, credit cards, hire purchase, etc), would you be able to do it?

Maybe you could, maybe you couldn't. If you had a mortgage, chances are you wouldn't be able to unless you sold your house. Hopefully you can if you just took into account your other debt, if you can't, maybe you should look at trying to reduce the amount of debt you have (although you probably already are). Pay the minimum amounts on the lowest interest debts and pay off the higher interest debts as fast as you can. Be more frugal so you can do this as quickly as you can. Or think about getting a debt consolidation loan where all your debts are put onto 1 loan (with hopefully a lower average interest rate). Just remember to cut the credit cards up and never get any more loans otherwise you'll end up in a position where you'll become bankrupt.

You probably have all seen the news where people in America are living in tents because they've had their houses foreclosed because they couldn't make their payments. I sincerely hope this doesn't happen to anyone since it must be such a horrible position to be in. Let us try and learn from this that times are not always rosy. The banks do not always give loans out because they are certain you can pay it back. You never know when you may lose your job, not because you're not skilled at it, but because the labour market tightens and the firm can't support the amount of staff it has.

You should think about saving to have an emergency cash fund, which is completely liquid and safe. A good amount to aim for is 6 months living expenses. This would include rent/mortgage payments, food, petrol and other essentials you require. Then, if times are ever bad, you have a lifeline for things to get back together. This will give you peace of mind, something alot of people would love to have considering their finances may be keeping them up at night.

What do you think? Is an emergency fund a good/bad idea and do you have one or are you considering having one? How many months living expenses do you think is a reasonable amount to have?

Oil

2008-03-19T22:50:00.002+13:00

This article from newsweek.com is worth reading. It brings up a few points about the rising cost of petrol and why we shouldn't worry. I'll summarise, but reading the whole article is worth it..

Oil's still not expensive: Relative to what it was a few years ago it is, but compared to 10-15 years ago it's not. Income's have risen more than oil has, so it's not taking up as much of your pay as it may seem. And while it's more expensive than coke, it's still cheaper than some bottled water or starbucks coffee. Are you using your car less since prices have risen? If no, then it's not expensive yet..

Increased prices=increased investment: As the price of oil increases, so does the potential investment opportunities for oil companies. I don't know much about the different opportunities in oil investment, but with more money, they can access areas where they may not have been able to reach if oil prices were lower.

Future demand: Ok, so demand is still going to go up with supply, but one factor which may slow the increase in demand is the decreased reliance of oil. Bio fuels are being introduced into NZ (and probably all around the world). Who knows what the future holds. Cars may have a compartment like in back to the future, where you can put any liquid into it and it'll be converted into fuel for the car. We still have 2 trillion barrels of oil in the ground and we've only used 1 trillion so far. Surely the problem will be solved before it's all used up...

Busy

2008-03-13T08:18:00.001+13:00

Hi everyone. Sorry for not posting for a while but I'm swamped with university at the moment. I'll try and write something this weekend. In the meantime, this is an article worth reading.

Take care

Active or passive aggression?

2008-03-03T23:38:00.004+13:00

The range of financial investments offered by institutions can be separated into 2 groups, active and passive.

Passive funds track a particular index. The money you invest is used to buy a bundle of shares which is proportion to the index. The fund manager's only buy and sell these shares to keep the bundle proportional to the index. This gives you the market return (known as beta). And example is if you invested in a fund which tracked the NZX50. You would own 50 different stocks in proportion to the size of the companies.

Since little research is required by the fund manager and share trading is kept to a minimum, the fees are kept relatively low. Of course, your returns are restricted to the market return.

Active funds are a portfolio of shares whose composition is decided by the fund manager. The manager researches the companies and buys and sells shares based on his opinion of how share prices will change. You get a return of alpha, which is the total return minus beta.

This means you can have a higher return than the market depending on how well the manager does. However since there is more trading and research involved, the fees are usually higher.

So which are better? It depends on your preference. Personally I think passive funds are better. The fees are lower and you know what you're investing in. The higher fees in active funds usually don't justify the return. This article also has some information.

So which do you prefer?

Disclaimer: You should always consult a professional finance advisor before investing your money (just like you should always consult a doctor before starting a new exercise routine/diet). I'm not a professional, I wrote this article purely for fun.

Why take the risk?

2008-02-20T16:57:00.006+13:00

Last time I mentioned the need to diversify when you invest money. Many people either wonder "why diversify?" and they don't do it, or they don't even think about it. Why do you need to diversify? To eliminate unnecessary risk.

The old saying "don't put all your eggs in one basket," is a very wise and true one. You could put all your eggs in one basket if you think it's strong, but if you're wrong and it breaks, then you'll lose everything. Put them in two baskets and you'll be less likely to lose them all? Yes, you're more likely to lose some eggs, but it's better than losing them all, right?

Diversifying your investments work in the same way. There are two types of risk associated with investments.

Unsystematic (or diversifiable) risk is the risk a particular company/share has of losing (or gaining) value. An example of unsystematic risk in coca-cola shares is the CEO could die, or a survey coming out claiming drinking coke shortens your lifespan by 20 years.
These events will cause coca-cola shares to lose value, but it wont effect the value of any other shares (except maybe pepsi ;)
This kind of risk can be diversified away by investing in multiple companies/shares. The less related the companies, the better the diversification. An example would be investing in coca-cola and microsoft shares.

Systematic (or undiversifiable) risk is the risk you face for investing in the share market itself. This risk causes all shares to lose (or gain value). An example of systematic risk is the current credit crisis. This is making people sell their shares and since there's no one buying, the shares lose value.
You cannot diversify this risk away since all shares are affected by these events.

I will add a chart later to show how diversification can reduce your total risk to a degree. But I hope I've shed some light on why it's important to diversify your investments. While it's great that people want to invest and even get together in groups to decide what to invest in every month or so, it's saddening that these people are taking more risks than they need to be..

investing in the share market

2008-02-17T17:25:00.002+13:00

some people wonder how they should invest in the share market. Is now a good time since the price has dropped? Which companies should I invest in? How much should I invest?

Compared to other investments (like a bank deposit), share prices are more volatile. The price which they are worth can move up and down many times during a week, depending on the markets and internal company issues (compared to a bank account which goes up slowly every month).

The good news is that the average return is higher than a bank account since you are taking more risk. So in the long term, investing in shares is a good idea.

If you want to try and take on the share market yourself, I recommend you having at least $25,000. Yes, that's a shit load of money, but you need to diversify to cut down on unnecessary risk (unsystematic risk).

Most people reading this will not have that much, so it is better to buy into a managed fund. This is where many investors pool their money together and buy a basket of shares (decided by the fund manager).

My suggestion if you have $1500 is to get smartshares (you can find out about it at nzx.com). The funds there track an index so the fees are relatively low. They also offer a regular savings scheme which allows you to put in a certain amount (by direct debit) into the fund per month. This can be as low as $50 and is a way of doing dollar cost averaging.

Remember if you don't know what you're doing, you should invest in share for the long term. 10 years should be your minimum but the longer the better.

You can always email me if you have questions...

Disclaimer: You should always consult a professional finance advisor before investing your money (just like you should always consult a doctor before starting a new exercise routine/diet). I'm not a professional, I wrote this article purely for fun.

What? An update?

2007-12-17T00:09:00.001+13:00

haha, i got outplayed at poker today which made me placed 4th instead of higher in a sit 'n go. The short stack with 1700 raised from the small blind from 100 to 200. Me (with A 10 offsuit) and another called. The flop was 4s 7h 10d. The small blind check. I decided to put him all in leaving me with 600 in chips. The other folded. He called and showed a set of 10's and I was virtually out (the blinds went up to 100/200 after that).

Nice hand. It will haunt me for a while..

In better news, I'm once again first in the poker league with my friends. I was head to head with about 700 in chips when the blinds were 50/100. My nemesis was the big stack with about 4k. My 3 all ins where I managed to beat him were:

1) My Jd10d vs his AKoffsuit (all in preflop, rivered a flush)

2) After the flop of 6 8 9, I went all in with 7 K. Nemesis called with 2 pair (8 9). (I rivered a 5)

3) All in preflop. My Kc 9c against his A 7 offsuit. (I rivered a straight)

So as you can see I outplayed him all the way and deserved the win (and to reclaim top position). Arsenal will also hold top position this week with a 1-0 win against Chelsea. How can Chelsea score without Drogba and Essien?

It's Finished!!

2007-12-05T23:39:00.001+13:00

I finally got my ass into gear and finished the finance newsletter I've been writing. Hopefully it can take off, but I need You to read it! As an incentive, I'm offering $25 NZ bank accounts to people who read it and tell me what they think (for the first 15ppl). If you want to read it, email me (it's on my profile page), and I'll send it to you. After, please tell me what you think, and if you like it, forward it to others.

In other news, I was at work today and I swear customers wait for good songs to play before telling me to get shoes. I have to listen to the same boring songs all day, and miss the ones I actually like because I have to go out the back... I recall hearing three songs twice today. I have to go all day tomorrow too so I'm going to go insane..

Merry Easter everyone.

update

2007-11-21T23:53:00.001+13:00

Hi. My attempt at polyphasic sleep has been postponed till saturday...on friday I'm working from 9-9, so it would mean I'd have to sleep for 20mins three times! It wouldn't go over well. So instead, I'll put a video here worth watching...but I only have 50mb to last all tomorrow, so I'll delay that too.

Instead, pay a visit to this. If you know Rich Dad, Poor Dad, you should definitely read the criticism of him. Or go back through my archives and find the link to "What is Man," by Mark Twain. That is something I'd recommend to anyone for summer (or winter) reading...

Stay tuned for the polyphasic sleep diary. Coming soon...

34 sleeps till Christmas

2007-11-21T00:20:00.001+13:00

Hi everyone. Has everyone noticed all the Christmas decorations out in the shops, to entice you to spend more? Some places have actually had them up since the start of november, which is crazy. Is Christmas a holiday which deserves 2months out of every year? If you include the mid-year Christmas celebration, it goes up to 3months.

Yes, it's a perfect opportunity to see your family/friends, and do idiotic things (which is also what new years is for). But has it become too commercialized? Do you feel you have an obligation to get a gift for people close to you? Like your parents? Your siblings? Your close friends? If you do, then maybe you should think about saying to them "all I want from you is a hug, and that's my present to you," How do you think they'll react? It's hard to say...

Anyway, tonight is my last proper monophasic sleep. From tomorrow, I will start to experiment with polyphasic sleep starting tomorrow. This will also be where I keep a journal of how it goes. I'll have plenty of time with only 2 hours sleep a day. Stay tuned...

Quote of the day

2007-11-13T23:33:00.001+13:00

Women don't belong in the workplace. Their menstruation attracts bears. That puts everyone in jeopardy: Ron Burgundy

Sorry for not writing in this for a while..exams and all. Only one semester (including summer school blah!) to go!! That's only 12 (+6argh!!) weeks! Then I'll be rolling in the cash! (but probably not..)

Therapy

2007-10-08T09:54:00.000+13:00

Ok, so you can't take happy pills to get over this..I think most of them have black box warnings, so don't risk taking them.

I think the best way for us to get over it quickly is to face it head on, like that whole ripping off the plaster fast thing...

EDIT: Deleted all the rest cause it was all so boring..(actually I should've probably deleted this whole site).

Important things..

2007-10-07T00:29:00.001+13:00

so I cooked taco's for my family tonight and it couldn't have gone better, or could it? Stay tuned for what really happened, the dramas and controversy, later...

Onto more important things, I've decided to start sending out a weekly finance email. Unlike most email newsletters, this one will be free (at least until it starts costing me money). But the first 50 (ambitious?) subscribers will receive a free lifetime subscription. Although this means that everyone who subscribes will never have to pay, I'm just covering my bases.

I know finance is boring to alot of people and that most people don't really want to think about it, but I assure this newletter will be informative but interesting at the same time. Each week I'll try to centre the articles into one topic. ~~I'll also put some useful maths which you can use for things.~~ Maths is boring, so you wont find any, since people wont subscribe if I did that..There will also be a prize you can go in the draw to win, but only if you're a subscriber..

And because of the new anti-spam laws, I will send an Arsenal related email which you will have to reply to activate your subscription. To subscribe, send me an email (link is on my profile page), or just comment saying you want to subscribe. Or just contact me however you can.

And feel free to send suggestions of what should be featured in it.

This video is best viewed with volume on max..

My prediction for the NZ France game: 63-11

Do you want to be famous?

2007-10-03T22:43:00.001+13:00

Becoming famous on the internet is pretty hard. Well, actually it's not..if you have a blog, all you have to do is mention paris hilton, britney spears, or some other famous person who often makes headlines. That way when people search for these people, your site will come up and people will click and read it. If what you write is good shit, then they'll probably come back again to see what your update is like, then if they come back for a third visit, then you've got a new fan.

But if writing about paris hilton crying when david letterman asks her about jail doesn't really appeal to you, you can just have random pornographic remarks scattered around. Believe it or not, the most common way people come to my sight is by googling panties/wet panties, or some kind of variant along those lines (this was from one of my first posts). People really mean it when they say sex sells.

This system can be applied to any medium on the internet: youtube, myspace...ok that's all I can think of now, but it no doubt works for everything. True, to get fans, what you say needs to be good to get people to come back to your site, but it'll definitely get noticed without much effort on your part.

Becoming famous on the internet completely on your own accord is a different story..lonelygirl15 is one example that comes to mind...also that quotation mark blog.

This is my goal, and it should be the same for everyone who keeps a blog, makes videos, or has a website. The rewards are the greatest when you are original. (I wanted to put something at the end to inspire you, but it's too late and I can't think properly...so imagine what I would put here).

Here's Paris Hilton's interview if you haven't seen it yet

Can it be done?

2007-09-30T20:12:00.001+13:00

From now on, if anything goes wrong, if I'm late for anything, or I need an excuse in general, I will blame whatever on global warming.

Is it an American thing to water lawns, or do other people in other countries do it as well? I understand wanting to keep your grass green, but do you really need to go to the extent to get out your hose and spray the grass?

Stop the madness!

World Cup drama

2007-09-08T22:24:00.001+12:00

I'm waiting for NZ's first match of the world cup to start. I think everyone who stays up to watch us thrash an easy team are true patriots who deserve as much credit for the win as the players themselves. It takes dedication and stamina to stay up.

So it was a coincidence when I went on wikipedia and saw an article on the coffee bean and tea leaf shop. Two things make this coffee chain stand out from the others such as starbucks. The first is that most of the products are Kosher which is quite commendable. You know that you're not going to be drinking mouse milk, like from the Simpsons. The second thing is that you're allowed to smoke in their shop. I'm not against this because coffee is probably just as bad as smoking and if you don't believe this, then you should try drinking a few cups of coffee a day for a week (or increase your normal daily coffee intake by 3 times) and tell me you still feel as healthy as you did at the start of the week.

So is coffee bad or smoking ok? That's a tough question. They are probably both ok in moderation, like everything else.

On a side note, does anyone have magic mushrooms?

EDIT: I just found out they're a class A(!?) drug in NZ. how sad..

Beauty is a curse?

2007-09-08T00:01:00.001+12:00

I watched a 20/20 story last night about how a contestant on the bachelor said her "beauty," was a curse. This is because people automatically hate her for it. Does anyone agree with this?

You might not agree with my opinion but I reckon what she says has merit. Some men get intimidated by hot women (and vice versa), and some average looking women envy and even hate good looking women without getting to know them first (I don't think there is vice versa here..).

This is not good as it means some people will never interact with a certain group of other people when we shouldn't even be grouping people by looks.

Then again, following this logic, we shouldn't group people by race/religion/any other stereotypical group. We should all be one big happy family on earth, which is our house.

The moral of the story is don't be intimidated by anyone or hate anyone. Love everyone and Live Peacefully. Treat everyone as if they are your brother and sister, which they are (unless they are your partner).

Sorry for the rambling...I'll look on wikipedia next time for something to write about.

I Return!

2007-09-06T22:21:00.001+12:00

Hi everyone. Sorry for not updating this for a long time. I was shocked by global warmings, so I've been busy preparing for the worst...eating flour/breathing through a straw etc.

You are all amazing for reading this. I promise I'll post something soon Take care.

youtube

2007-08-05T22:52:00.001+12:00

Hi everyone. If you didn't already hear, Bree aka. lonelygirl15 died. While it probably doesn't count because they stopped posting the videos on youtube quite a while ago, this also marked the start of a slow death of youtube. I'm subscribed to most of the popular channels; smosh, lonelygirl15, daxflame, kevjumba etc. Lately the amount of videos they've been posting have diminished significantly. They are probably update once a month now. Is this because it's summer in America, or is it because everyone is moving onto facebook? This actually pisses me off since it seems I have to write my profile every 6months to keep up with the trends. Why doesn't everyone just get an Oosik!? Although maybe this replaces the old way of re-evaluating your life which was done through deep thought & a blank piece of paper where you wrote a list of good things about my life/ways I can improve my life (where you might have 1 good thing written and the rest of the page filled with negative thoughts and doodles of stars.

Where am I going with this? Who knows? I don't see how facebook is any different from myspace, but since that's where everyone is, it's where I have to go. Now youtube is semi-porn with half-naked women dancing in front of the camera. (If you watch the top where it says being viewed now, 2 of the videos will be one of these, 2 will be of family guy and a couple of other random vids).

By the way, everyone should join facebook. It even has a little happy birthday sign on the top of your page when it's your birthday (I know this because it's my birthday today). Since I'm 1 year older and a little wiser, I guess I should share some knowledge I've picked up over the last year. "When you see an electric fence, don't join hands with a large group of people and get someone to touch it." The larger the group, the bigger the shock.

video of the year is tied. Enjoy:

song of the year is boomerang, by the blacklips

What is Man?

2007-07-29T18:59:00.001+12:00

This short piece of work by Mark Twain is what has kept me occupied for the whole week. It brings up alot of different ideas of what we are and how we think. Below I've put some of the main points I got out of the book. It would be a good idea to read all of it before looking at the points otherwise I'll spoil the story for you. Also, watch the whole video.

The first point argues that man is a machine. Nothing originates solely from the person. Outside influences decide the person's look/personality etc.

The second and probably most important point the story brings up is that people only do things if it contents their own spirit. The law in the story says

"FROM HIS CRADLE TO
HIS GRAVE A MAN NEVER DOES A SINGLE THING WHICH HAS ANY FIRST AND
FOREMOST OBJECT BUT ONE--TO SECURE PEACE OF MIND, SPIRITUAL COMFORT, FOR
HIMSELF."

People always do things to content their spirit, even if they think they're only doing it for someone else. This is quite controversial since it kind of eliminates martyrdom and self sacrifice. Do you think this law is right? Or can you prove and example where it's broken? I believe this law is true, I will give a prize if you can find a situation where it's not.

The third point is similar to the first, where it discusses how people's acts proceed from outside influences. It goes quite indepth, so it's better you read it again than me describe it.

The next chapter describes instinct and thought and how animal's don't just act out of instinct. They think the same way we do, just not at the same level. ( like the difference from the way we think compared to how Einstein thought). In fact ants could be smarter than us...

The story argues that nobody has free will, only free choice. It cites the previous law (of spritual content), and all we get to do is think about which action contents our spirit the most.

Near the end it poses a question "what is the spirit?" When you say "my body," what is the 'my.' And is the spirit only "spiritual" (separated from the physical). Again, it would be better to read through the passage again rather than me try to explain it.

What do you think about it? I agreed with almost everything brought up in this story. Then again, I also believed in Einstein's theory of time travel.

Since I haven't written for a while, here's another video. Remember, he didn't really choose the answer himself:

Pink Panties Returns

2007-07-15T16:52:00.001+12:00

You may be thinking I'm going to write some pornographic story, or post a picture of some hot girl wearing pink panties. Sadly I'm not, so you'll just have to go back and see what I wrote before...

Which brings me to the topic of time travel. There's many theories about how it's possible to travel to the past or future. Albert Einstein probably suggests the most plausible argument, saying that time is circular and can be sped up or slowed down. If you could throw a clock into space close to the speed of light, it would tick slower than a clock you threw at half the speed of light. If you could throw the clock at the speed of light, the clock would stop, and if you were really strong and could throw it faster than the speed of light, the clock would tick backwards. This means you could travel to the past. You could also be the best ever pitcher for the NY Yankees, or any baseball team you wanted to play for.

So is it possible?

Or is it just a myth?

Better than OJ!

2007-07-09T22:57:00.001+12:00

I typed in OJ on google to see what would come up. It was all on OJ Simpson as I thought it would, so my secret can stay safe.

But enough about that, I know you're more interested in the 1995 Argentine general election. After randoming (is this even a word?) this site up, I realised I could talk about anything...1995, Argentina, Politics, or anything in general. For this reason, I've decided to make up an acronym poem on the spot, doing the whole alphabet. Enjoy.

Any

Body

Can

Enything

For

Grapes

Hanging

Jason's

Kitchen.

Mum's

Nobel,

Oscillating

Pan,

Quite

Riveting

Sounds

This

Usually

Vouches.

Why

Xylophones!?

Zebras!?

Changing times

2007-07-05T23:12:00.001+12:00

Hi everyone from around the world. Normally the pages from wikipedia I link from here are random. However this is not the case for this entry. Today I embarrassed myself by saying faux pas just as it looks, instead of saying foe par. Of course no one knew what I was saying which I think is sad since you should be able to conclude what I meant.

Anyway, this blog is read by people from 12 different countries. Since there is a chance that you readers might come to NZ one day, I thought I would give you a head's up on our (& apparently Australia's) faux pas. (this is a different link from the first one).

Don't request for a fanny pack. Of course, I think this would apply to all english speaking countries since it means arse. In fact, I think arse pack sounds better than fanny pack. This rule goes double for guys, cause if guys say fanny, they are gay (the exception to this rule is of course if you're gay).

It's rude to board public transport before passengers get off. This rule doesn't seem to apply that much anymore because you often see people trying to squeeze past some idiot that gets on and doesn't move out of the way. They act like a fucking deer on the road when that happens and just watch them struggle. Fuck them. (The 2 swear words highlights that this is in fact, foe par, so it shouldn't be done even though you may see it being done). This rule should also apply to everywhere in the world.

No tipping. The only exception to this rule is if there is a tip jar, then you can tip if you want. I've been offered a tip before and it was weird. This is explained on the inflight guide just before you land and is mentioned in most NZ travel guides. So please don't do it..

"Bring a plate," doesn't mean bring a plate to fill with food at the party. It means bring a plate with food on it.

If there's some foe par in your country that contradicts these ones, please share. Reading this and not commenting is foe par.

brad butterworth is a dick

2007-07-04T02:49:00.001+12:00

It's 230am but who can sleep after that shit? For the America's Cup to be won by a 2 second margin is not right. I can't believe we get all that luck & then we can't speed up quick enough after the penalty. And it sucks that you have to say 'oh well, we'll win it in another 4 years or so.' We are the better team and Switzerland should not be allowed to participate considering they don't have a sea.

Also brad butterworth should be banned from entering NZ. Unless he wants to get arrested for treason. I know alot of people think it's a professional sport and if he wants to sail for them, he can. But he is not going from Arsenal to Man U, he's going from NZ to Switzerland.
Conspiracy to commit treason is punishable by a maximum of 14 years in prison. Since he is only helping Alinghi, he sadly cannot be put away for life.

Maybe this picture will cheer everyone up:

This could be the future sign in auckland airport, which will state 'no butter,' 'no swiss sailors,' and 'no sailors named brad.'

This is the gym brad butterworth was seen attending.
NOTE: Even if we won, brad butterworth would still be a dick, so this is not an entry venting my anger for losing. Instead, this entry would've made fun of him (as well as accuse him of treason).

And good on Dean Barker, Grant Dalton and the whole TNZ crew. You made NZ proud. You guys are true patriots.

Hello Friends

2007-07-01T22:37:00.001+12:00

I'm surprised that even though we have to wait until 1am for the America's Cup race to start, that no one is reading my blog. Either no one cares about what I have to say, or people are not staying up to watch it. Both make me ~~worried/upset/angry~~ FUCKING PISSED OFF! For this I will not give my thoughts about tomorrow's main event (of WSOP) which is starting. Instead I will talk about The Invisible Japanese Gentlemen.

Did you know that someone could be standing behind you right now and you wouldn't know it unless they sneezed, coughed, or had some equipment failure? I'm sure you've all played metal gear solid and heard the theory about machines which can deflect light around you, you it appears that you're not there. This technology should scare us all. Well, probably only Americans. With their patriot act and all, they could enter your house and spy on you without needing much of a reason. Government officials could have access to free, live amatuer porn by getting one of those secret search warrants. All they would have to say is "the suspect is prone to telling secrets to their spouse during sexual intercourse," and bang, they'll be there!

Everyone should be outraged and demand a stop to this technology before it gets out of "hand" (get it?).

Here's a tip for those of you who have itunes. Please no hate mail...

Book Contest

2007-06-29T22:42:00.001+12:00

Because it's the summer holiday's in the northern hemisphere and it's university holidays here, I've decided to put up a list of books on my shelf at the moment that I believe are must reads. In fact, if the book makes this list and you haven't read it, you should buy/borrow/steal/download the ebook or audiobook, and lock yourself in your room with food and water until you finish it. This only applies if you have no life, but if you read the introduction and first chapter of these books, you are probably going to want to do nothing else but read it until you finish it.

This list is probably more for my benefit than yours, because I'm sure I'll look at this list in 25 years or so, i'll get some kind of nostalgic feeling and read them again. If I'm miraculously still writing this blog, I will make another list of must reads and compare them to this list.

The bad thing is that by then I might be really famous and if I list some book titles, you will probably think I'm doing it for the money..I assure you I'm not, and the links to amazon are just so you can see the book and read the first few pages. I don't get money if you buy the book from there so just go to the library and find them.

The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman: It seems logical for the book on my profile to be the first book I mention. If you think the world consists of your room and your kitchen, then this book will explain why this is. It's all about globalisation and talks about 10 'flatteners.' These are events or things which have made the world more interconnected. After reading this book you will understand more about how the world works.

Surely you're Joking Mr. Feynman! by Richard Feynman: He is probably one of the more smarter people in the world, but when you read this book you will think anyone with common sense can win the nobel prize. In this book he dicusses situations he's faced in his life. You may think this book is full of maths and equations considering he's a physicist, but it's not. It's very funny and worth reading.

Lucky Man: a memior by Michael J. Fox: Granted, if you don't like him, you're not going to like this book, but even if you're not a fan of back to the future or family ties, this is an interesting book where he tells his life story in a humourous way. He also goes into how he reacted when he was diagnosed with parkinson's and how he managed to turn his life around. This is definitely worth reading..

Against the Odds: the remarkable story of risk by Peter Bernstein: I haven't finished reading this book yet, but I know it will make this list. It is all about risk, and how the concepts of risk have changed throughout time as we learn more about it. This isn't just a book for people interested in finance!!

Don't let my poorly written reviews put you off reading these books. Also, please leave a title of a book that you think is a must read with a short review in the comments. A randomly chosen comment will win a prize!

Patriots!

2007-06-27T17:08:00.001+12:00

I'm determined to stay up for tonight's America's Cup race (notice how I've caplitalised America's Cup, to empashise the importance). For the last 2 I've stayed up, but I always end up falling asleep and I probably end up seeing about 10min of the race at irregular intervals.

Tonight however, I will drink coffee, which I never do. There are only 3 races left so I will watch them all. All patriotic New Zealanders, Yachting lovers and insomniacs should do the same. I purposely left out Swiss, because why would they want to watch themselves lose?

However, I should warn you of the consequences of little sleep, this was actually the main piece of news on tv tonight: mood swings, increased appetite and that's all I can remember. I'm sure you can come up with others. This might be a good time to try polyphasic sleep.

This is a short entry because I can't think of what to write now. I'm annoyed they wont show episode 2 of flight of the conchords on the internet. I guess we have to wait for the series to be released here...

8 years

2007-06-25T21:05:00.001+12:00

If you don't like soccer, this entry is not for you. Instead, go here.

So Thierry Henry is gone. He's not really. Maybe this was a strategic move by Henry and Wenger to hinder Barcelona when they play us in next years champions league final.

Is it a bad thing that he's gone? Yes and no. He will be missed, but since he is a little prone to injury now and he's starting to get old, it is not that bad. He played his best years for us, he helped us do the double, help us win the league title undefeated...he is great.

People think we sold him cheap? No, considering his age and proneness to injury, it was a great deal. Relinquishing us from paying such a huge salary also gives us the ability to sign a big name player...

Let's pay tribute to him. It's an end of an era.

What would you do?

2007-06-24T16:50:00.001+12:00

This entry is similar to 'the debate' featured on the espn poker site. The example comes from the poker tournament I was in yesterday. Heads up, the other guy & me had similar chip stacks. With me on the button I raised 3 times the big blind with Qs8s. My opponent raised all in and had me covered, although if I went all-in, the winner of the hand would win the tourny. My opponent had gone all-in against me a few times, one time I called and we both had A J unsuited, so I knew he wouldn't necessarily have an amazing hand to make him go all-in. I had the pleasure in doubling up earlier in the tournament when I flopped a straight and called my all-in reraise with bottom pair. The prize for 2nd was $480, 1st was $960. What would you do, call or fold? Answer it before you read on...

I ended up calling and when he showed 7-7, it was a coin toss to decide the winner. The flop, turn & river didn't help me, so I left with $480 in my wallet. In hindsight, did I make the right call? If you had my hand and knew the guy had 7-7 would you take the 49% chance of winning?

I would write more, but after reading the 'how to make good blogs,' help topic on blogger, I've decided to try and keep the entries short. I would like to play poker again, but the casino is the shittiest place to play. But I'll go if someone goes with me. I'm glad I held my own against people who play poker there everyday...I must've looked like a fish at the start...

Let's get thinking!

2007-06-21T22:17:00.001+12:00

The title may have made you leave this site before you've even read this first sentence, but I would've been happy that you even came to this site so feel free to do what you want. Even if you want to tell everyone about how crappy this blog is..any publicity is good publicity (except if you're already someone super famous & doing something bad could alienate your agent, or pr agency). Don't forget about Flight of the Conchords (see the below entry). They really are awesome!

This week for the book club, we are going to discuss an exerpt from "Against the Gods," by Peter Bernstein You may think that this will turn into another 'does God exist,' debate, however this book is actually about the remarkable story of risk. Although it's a book designed for people with an interest in finance, there are many subjects the book covers which are good for anyone to read. (Sorry, it's late and I can't be bothered going to thesaurus.com to find a better word for good).

Here is an extract from the introduction: "There is persistent tension between those who assert that the best decisions are based on quantification and numbers, determined by the patterns of the past, and those who base their decisions on more subjective degrees of belief about the uncertain future. This is a controversy that has never been resolved.

The issue boils down to one's view about the extent to which the past determines the future. We cannot quantify the future, because it is an unknown, but we have learned how to use numbers to scrutinize what happened in the past. But to what degree should we rely on the patterns of the past to tell us what the future will be like? Which matters more when facing a risk, the facts as we see them or our subjective belief in what lies hidden in the void of time? Is risk management a science or an art? Can we even tell for certain precisely where the dividing line between the 2 approaches lies? "

Sorry for the long post...but it's intermission!

What I wanted to ask is how do you make decisions? Do you make them through logic and reasoning, do you go by past experiences, do you do a bit of both, or do you not give a fuck and would rather toss a coin than try to comprehend all that shit?

If people are interested, I might let them know how I make my decisions..otherwise I'll assume no one gives a shit and everyone thinks I'm crazy.

Playing against fish

2007-06-20T19:32:00.001+12:00

Hi everyone. Most of you will not want to read this entry, so I will put the video at the start. If you like it, then you will want to read on. Otherwise you may want to scroll down to the previous entries (flight of the conchords) which are worth reading, send me hate mail outlining where this blog goes wrong, or go to google & search for porn.

Today I want to talk about poker and is it a good or bad thing to be good? I ask this because I'm a brilliant player (yes I'm a humble person and I'm still saying this so I must be better than brilliant). Whenever I play online and actually pay attention to the game, I can tell the good players from the bad pretty quickly. The bad players are 'fish,' and if you can't spot at least 2 or 3 fish within the first 5-10 mins of playing, then you're a fish yourself.

Most fish usually are willing to bet all their chips with top pair, any flush draws and outside straight draws. Betting to get them out is not going to work so what do you do? You bet above the pot odds for what they could be drawing to make sure in the long run they will lose more than they earn (and you earn more than you lose). Fish with top pair generally bet the pot or more than the pot thinking they have the nuts, no matter what kicker they have.

So what do you do when you hold a pocket pair, flop trips, bet 3/4 of the pot and get raised all-in by a fish? If you think you're ahead (usually determined by how they bet pre-flop) you will call. They show a straight draw and hit it on the river and you're screwed for the rest of the tournament (if you're not knocked out). Of course you get a bad beat like this only about 1/3 of the time, but with so many fish in mtt's it feels like you're getting them all the time...

This is not complaining about bad beats, it's more about is it worth being good at poker where you get frustrated by dumb players so often? Or is it better just being average and not knowing too much about how to play? Phil Hellmuth shows just how frustrating it can be when you're a pro against a heap of fish...

Sorry for the bad quality, it's not my video.

Flight of the Conchords premier

2007-06-19T17:08:00.001+12:00

Mythbuster's has to be one of the best shows on TV. How else would you know that you cannot split an arrow by firing an arrow at it, like Robin Hood was meant to have. Assassin's would still be trying to kill people by dropping coins from skyscrapers without this show.

Last night they proved that in 1930's, there was a farmer who's jeans exploded. It was the herbicide combined with heat that caused them to explode. Very interesting.

More importantly, in America, the first episode of The flight of the conchords aired. You can view the first episode at that link. If you don't know who they are, they're a 2 man band from New Zealand, who have moved to New York. They played at the sxsw festival and were a hit so you know they are pretty good and funny. I'll put this here to entice you to watch the whole thing.

Exams have finished, so I have time to write about what you've all wanted to hear about; the varying permeability model. I'm sure you have all heard the riddle where there is a guy on the top of the mountain dead with wet shoes. He died because he went scuba diving earlier that day, and the radical change in air pressure killed him.

Now with the VPM, you can find out the maximum depth you can go over what period of time. This would be helpful to know if you want to try a stunt where you skydive with flippers on, and just before you hit the water you detach from the parachute, dive into the sea and attempt to go as deep as possible.

In conclusion, don't be stupid.

A long video for those who are bored...

2007-06-17T09:59:00.001+12:00

I know all of you reading this, who live in the south island are going to start going on about how we are a bunch of pussy's but I don't care. IT'S FUCKING COLD!! It's 7oC right now and I feel like if I move from the position I'm in now, I will get hypothermia or something...

I was going to say I burnt my tongue on a latte, but it was milo, and I have to agree that any guy who drinks latte's regulary, aucklander or not, is a pansy. The only thing guys should know about latte's is that it's coffee.

I have to work till around 9pm tonight. They better be giving us pizza.

I don't really want to search around youtube to find a video to put up, so I'll put one already in my favourites. It's the english lesson one I'm sure you've already seen at least a couple of times...

Table for six

2007-06-16T19:24:00.001+12:00

Oliver's tip of the day: If you have a blog, windowslivewriter is a great tool for writing entries. You don't have to go to your website to write it. You just open the writer, make your entry and hit publish. It's a lot faster and easier.

I will give $10 to anyone who emails me the mp3 of 'bad kids,' by the black lips. The offer is extended to anyone who tell me where I can find it, and I end up with it. As of today, you can't download it from itunes, napster, utorrent, or any other file sharing programs (not that I would..)

I was in the queue in subway today and there was an american couple in front of me. They took ages to get their sandwiches, but hearing them say 'water,' made up for it. I shouldn't laugh at that because when I went to Fiji, I hung out with some australians who made fun of the way I said fish&chips. Luckily I never had to say six...

One more exam..I don't care anymore, I'm playing poker tonight. Sorry for the bloggy entry. Randomness to be featured next episode.

it's snowing

2007-06-15T20:59:00.000+12:00

I haven't played poker all week. I also feel like a cigarette. A joint would probably be better but I hate the smell, and I don't want to get a criminal record.

These aren't all the signs I'm stressed, one of my eyes is entirely red on one side. Whoever came up with the idea of saturday exams should be made to run up queen street in the borat swimsuit so they know what the stress is like.

Maybe I should take up yoga...

Batman

2007-06-14T20:26:00.000+12:00

You may have noticed that this blog's website is now www.netoru.com I did this to increase my popularity since netoru.com is alot easier to type in than the old address. I was thinking about oliverbrierley.com since it's a more permanent thing, but someone already took that.

Bad news though. As I did the search of netoru on google to see if this page came up, I was disappointed. The first page that came up was a list of items I'm selling on trademe (nothing by the way). Then there were a few forum topics in ffgurus from years ago. Another entry actually had the meaning of netoru in japanese...it was a pretty random choice for an internet name so I didn't think it meant anything. The reality is that people who know japanese are going to think I'm a dodgy 'wife stealer,' when they see my name...

But you don't want to hear about all that. What you really want me to talk about is the meaning of asteroid names. I know you want to go through them all, but I'm only going to go into #59001-60000

Comets and asteriods are usually named after the person who discovered them. In 1999, Daniel Matter discovered an asteroid and called it DaniMatter. Is this a really wise thing to do? A comet is a big and usually ugly rock. If it for some reason is headed on a collision course direct with planet Earth, or Mars, people are going to be referring to this comet by name as if it were the enemy. "We will nuke DaniMatter right out of the history books!" "DaniMatter is nothing when up against the human race!" That's what the president will be saying before they blow up DaniMatter and everyone will cheer.

Maybe instead you should name the asteroid after an ex you hate, or an enemy if you have one. (Note: I know I kept interchanging between comet & asteroid, but they're virtually the same thing..)

The God debate is closed now due to too much controversy. Instead, why don't we debate who will win the rugby in the weekend, NZ or Canada? And if you really like controversy...do you forgive Chris Jack for not playing in this crucial match, so he could see his baby be born? This is unforgivable in some peoples eyes.

Since I've figured out how to put youtube videos on here, I will continue to do so

bonjour

2007-06-13T22:07:00.000+12:00

Before I start this I have to apologise...

I'm sorry I didn't put a parental advisory label on the entry before last. I forgot this was the internet and anybody could be reading this. For everyone who was offended by the talk about walrus dicks, I'm sorry. By the way, this entry is at least R16, if not R18 or R21 depending on what country you're in. In fact, from now on this whole blog is R16 so I can't be sued by any parents who say I'm not warning people of the content in this blog.

So after sitting a 3hour finance exam, what should I write about? I was going to write about Roquelaure (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roquelaure), but I think it's better to write about final fantasy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Final_fantasy).

Yes, final fantasy is my favourite game..I've played IV, VI and VII to XII. I have to say VII is the best, followed by VII. Most people would say I chose VII because it's the first one I played. That's true, but it doesn't affect my opinion. The relationships between the main characters are probably the deepest out of them all. VII, IV & X are also good games to see good character relationships.

Sorry for all that. It was kind of pointless since I didn't really say anything worthwhile. To reward you, here is a nice video for you to watch..

You might want to know the pool is filled with piss.

When I was 10...

2007-06-11T13:03:00.000+12:00

What can I say about 1994 in the United Kingdom? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1994_in_the_United_Kingdom

That's kind of like asking me who put up those 'God,' billboards. Was it Jesus since he's God's representative on earth? Did they earn the $5000 or whatever it costs to put a billboard up or did he just create it? If he just created it, then he is making NZ's inflation problem even worse. We may become more spiritually enlightened, but we become poorer too.

This reminds me of the first question we studied for 4 weeks in a philosophy class...does God exist? The most powerful argument either way, for me, was that there is so much natural evil in the world (like cancer, floods & whatever else you can think of). A God is benevolent and wouldn't allow this kind of evil and therefore there is no God. It goes a little deeper than that, but you can't prove this argument right or wrong, but I think it's pretty good.

You may be wondering how this relates to 1994 in the United Kingdom..if you go to the wikipedia link up the top, the first event written is "January 14- The Duchess of Kent joins the Roman Catholic Church, the first member of the Royal Family to convert to Catholicism for more than 300 years." That's close enough.

I told alot of people I was on the radio this morning and I said if they wanted to know what for, they would have to read this blog...well I wasn't really on the radio. They do this thing where you can txt in what you did in the weekend and today they encouraged people who listen all the time but don't txt to do it. I decided to and my txt was the first one they read (probably because it was so witty and hilarious). They probably get some kind of royalty for the # of txts sent in, so it was probably just a ploy to get more money, but since they read it out on air, I'm hooked. I'll give them 20c a week...

NOTE: To the people who hog games in the arcade, DON'T BE SUCH FUCKING ASSHOLES!! When I ask if you want to play a game, it means one, not 2 or 3. I'm not waiting around for that long while you do 3 easy songs, then attempt a hard one at the end. And if you use autobass other than to learn a song, you really shouldn't be playing the game..play pinball. I know who you are, and next time you come in, I might put in 10credits so you have to wait 40mins for your games, just to teach you a lesson.

Become a trend setter!

2007-06-06T09:43:00.000+12:00

Hello, I know you're all desperate for the WSOP update, or to hear about how my day's going. But first let's talk about Oosik's.

Do you remember when you were a kid and tamagochi came out? Everyone had one and when you asked your parents for one they said no...you felt like an outcast and you probably were. No one would talk about anything else except how old your pet blob was. Either this has happened to you, or you were given tommyguchi, the ripoff import where instead of being a parent of a blob, you had to take care of tommy who could do everything the blob could do. This didn't matter to the other kids because the blob was cool..tommy was a dork. When you finally got the official tamagochi, it didn't matter because now everyone had yo-yo's. You were still an outcast and this would continue until you were 18 and everyone started drinking. Although this 'fad' lifestyle continued with new cars and the latest sex toys, everyone could get along being drunk (except for angry drunks but let's not get into that).

The episode of the simpsons where Bart steals the video game sums this up pretty well.

You don't have to worry about this anymore! I'm here to tell you the next fad so you can save in advance for one, but be in quick because they are in limited supply...

I'm talking about Oosik's (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oosik), or walrus penises. These are much more handy than any tamagochi you've had. Apart from the obvious use as a dildo, an Oosik can be used as a handle for things like knives and hammers. I clicked on the related link and found out that raccoon penises are used as good luck charms and can make you fertile. I'm sure that goes for the Oosik as well.

So now you don't have to be an outcast! You can be the 'trend setter,' by being the first in your area with this toy. Be quick though...only native Alaskans' can hunt the walrus, so there will be limited supply. Don't be late and miss out!

I didn't forget, here's the wsop update. Steve Billirakis won the first wsop bracelet winning the $5000 mixed hold 'em event. Since then, Ciarin O'Leary has won the biggest event so far. He knocked off 2,996 players to win the $1500 no limit hold 'em event. He won $727k and some change for his effort. (K-3 was his winning hand btw).
The final table of event 5 looks thrilling. Annie Duke and Chris Ferguson are a couple of pros who made the final table playing omaha/seven-card stud hi-lo eight or better.

Stay tuned for one of the greatest events starting today...event 8, limit hold 'em WITH REBUYS. Celebrities are playing this event as well. (As of writing, Shannon Elizabeth has re-bought the most).

Steve would trade what he's got for this Oosik any day of the week.

5k mixed holdem update

2007-06-03T19:23:00.001+12:00

The world series is well underway with only about 30ppl left in the first event. Most of the pros are out..Johnny Chan just got knocked out so you can tell it's getting intense. Enough about poker though, let's talk about Spigga http://myspace.com/spigga

They describe their music as Alternative/Funk/Latin which is probably about right. They play pretty mellow music so it's easy to listen to unless you are pissed off and want to trash your room/break stuff or want to listen to hard rock.

Two of the six songs on myspace are worth a listen; human what and lastnite. If you like these, you might consider downloading a few of their songs from some legitimate programme such itunes or digirama.co.nz

I would give you my review out of 10, but I don't know what the categories should be. Any suggestions?

EDIT: I was considering deleting my last entry but decided not to so I would know what not to post in the future. Don't read it if you haven't yet, it's too depressing.

The picture is Mike Matusow complaining about the new cards...he found them hard to read and lost a hand. He blew up and Phil Gordon became an official (he told him to shut the fuck up).

A Serious Topic

2007-05-29T09:09:00.000+12:00

I've been swamped this week with people asking why I haven't posted anything for a few days. The answer is simple...NOT ENOUGH PEOPLE COMMENT. You don't need to sign up to comment, just write your name and post your thoughts...it doesn't really have to be about the topic I wrote about. As long as it's random, it's all good. Another reason why I haven't posted for a while: economics. If I post all the time, some of my less fanatic fans will lose interest fast. If I limit my entries to 1 or 2 a week, I'll keep them hanging for each and every post.

I was going to write my opinion on this week's upcoming All Blacks/France game to increase my popularity. There's also the World Series and the spelling bee to comment on.. But I can't let my loyal fans down by writing about specific topics too often. So instead, I'll talk about Addo Baddo (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Addo_Baddo). This is a controversial topic which could result in alot of replies and personal attacks on people. Please no hate, only love.

If you're too lazy to click on the link, Addo Baddo is a family custom where two families agree to marry their daughters to boys of other clans when they are children. Of course it's illegal for them to get married until they're 16, but they're 'promised' to each other before then.

I know many of you will say things like "that's not right," "they're being forced to do something against their will."

I'm inclined to agree with that, but I'm sure many others would disagree. We are not there, we do not know their circumstances so we cannot pass judgement on this issue. Some parents make us do things we don't think is right. If we get caught smoking, our parents may make us smoke a whole packet of cigs against our will.

What do you think? I wish I knew more about the situation but I don't. Most of us are not in a position to help these people..the only thing we can do is welcome them into our country if they think the situation is bad and want to escape it.

Sorry for the serious topic. My next post will be a music review to hopefully lighten this blog up a bit.

My Chemical Romance

2007-05-28T16:20:00.000+12:00

Craccum, the auckland uni. magazine has come up with some informative 'how to' articles in the past. The most notable for me was the 'how to rob a bank' article. It actually got me thinking that a real bank robber contributed to the mag to make that article. It was very well written.

This week, there was conveniently an article entitled "11 ways to cheat in your exams." I thought alot of you would be interested in this so I decided to post it up here in case you can't get hold of a copy. Beside each tip, I've put my rating out of 10 for effectiveness and maybe a comment in brackets.

1 Sit at the back, in the middle. The exam supervisors are selected from retirement homes and many cannot see more than 10 feet or so. If one falls victim to stroke or infarction, it's even easier (7, funny but probably true. loses marks because if someone had a stroke the exam would probably be cancelled).

2 The obvious toilet visit. Make sure notes are on non-crinkly paper, i.e. no noise, on the inside of your thigh where it's difficult for them to check. Eat wind-producing foods, like beans and onions, to mask activities with your arse-shouting. This may also induce the examiner's retreat.
(9, a classic which always works. bonus marks for the non-crinkly paper tip).

3 Pre-prepare the room with your stuff. Write it into the desk at 7:00AM in the morning, and make sure you get that desk. Or do multiple desks. Chinese characters can easily be mistaken for graffiti. (6, not that great advice because of it's limitations and you need to get up early).

4 Cheat smart - formulas, or quotes complete with line numbers always impress markers. Do it for stuff you find difficult to take away stress. (3, depends on the subject but it's a load of bull).

5 Conceal a receiver in your ear under your long hair. Have someone transmit the necessary information that you have problems remembering. (8, old school showed us you don't need long hair to pull this off).

6 Team cheating. Some of the group should distract the grannies with sexually aggressive flirting, or other misbehaviours, and then others blatantly swap answers. Then it's your turn. Don't get carried away and actually seduce the examiners - as a post-graduate, you will still have to walk around this place. (6, this would work, but remember supervisors aren't under the 'can't have sex with students,' clause that lecturers are).

7 Tattoo the answers onto your skin along with a few skulls and cobwebs. The supervisors will think you've been in jail and will stay well away in case you go on a P-fuelled rampage. (5, that's alot of effort to go to for one exam. at least you wont forget the subject as soon as you leave the exam room).

8 you've discovered that the paper doesn't have the options that you studied. Go out to the toilet and let someone waiting know that the fire-alarm must be pulled immediately. Or light a fire under your desk. The new paper will surely be easier (8, I'm sure this has been done effectively in the past)

9 Use UV sensitive ink and shine a tiny UV LED mounted in a pen onto your arm or hand to see your answers. Ink is available in home security anti-burglary kits. Making the pen would cost time and about $30. (7, loses marks for time and $30).

10 Use another person who has a brain and/or motivation. Make a new student ID with their photo and teach them your signature. This used to be done commonly, especially by asian students who are the most onto-it with this stuff (7, good, but the result is taken out of your hands).

11 Enter the Academic Registry computer system by various means, and award yourself the degree. 75% of hacking is done by password theft. Password security is not a priority with many IT staff who prefer to paste them onto their monitors. (4, I don't like this approach, you need to know your computer stuff well).

12 Learn Braille, and create scabs on your arms and lets. That way you don't have to look - they'll think you're just having a sly rub. (8, two birds with one stone).

13 Print replacement water bottle labels and put the answers on the inside. Hey, even put vodka inside and have a good time, after all, you're going to pass anyway. (10, I've thought of doing this before. bonus marks for the vodka tip.

So that's it. I hope these tips have helped. What I want to know is have any of you cheated before? From cheating on your 3rd grade spelling test to lying in a job interview? I will tell of my experience if I hear from others.

For all you wiki-nuts out there, here is the link so you can master your cheating technique http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academic_dishonesty

On another side note, I got picked for jury duty. This time it's at the high-court for a 5-week trial. Could it be murder? I don't think murder trials take that long so it could be something exciting. Hopefully I wont get picked and can take the $50 for an hours work.

Now I can get onto today's main topic, Huntsman Corp. There is not much to say, so in the spirit of this article, I'll just copy and paste what it says on wikipedia:

Huntsman Corporation NYSE: HUN is one of the world's largest chemical companies. It was founded in 1982 by Jon Huntsman and remained a private company controlled by the Huntsman family until going public on the New York Stock Exchange with the symbol "HUN" in February of 2005. Huntsman has annual revenues of approximately $11.5 billion, more than 14,000 employees and facilities in more than 24 countries.

I know I could've just given you the link, but plagiarising is better. This article begs the question...what exactly do chemical companies do to make so much money? They obviously aren't involved in the chemical weapons business because they don't make that much, but they surely don't just remove chemicals from factories and what not. They probably just make detergents and other stuff like BAM www.easyoffbam.com This would be a kind of pointless thing to write about because you'll never apply this information to real life. Except maybe if a someone says they'll pick up the next round in a bar. You can then say "speaking of money, did you know Huntsman Corporation, a chemical company had revenues of US$11.5billion last year?" You'll be the talk of the night!

Pink Panties

2007-05-27T09:27:00.000+12:00

This entry is R16. I thought of making it R15 after I heard the news this week that teenagers now are having sex earlier than their parents were. But the law is still the law so if you're under 16, you have to read this with a parent or guardian. You probably don't want to do that so you should just stop reading here, if you actually made it this far without getting bored.

Sadly this isn't about sex. I've experienced that too few times to proficiently write about that. This is about wet dreams. How many of you remember what happens in them? For some reason I only remember a couple of specific parts, and it's not the parts you'd expect. From last nights dream I remember I was taking off pink-panties..a g-string for those who want to graphically imagine the scenario. I've heard only a minority of people actually dream in colour, so I don't remember if they were actually pink in the dream or my brain wanted them to be pink..who will ever know?

So is this just another dream, or does it have some deeper meaning? In the past I have forgotten such dreams, but then again I didn't have a blog to record my thoughts. I think from now on if I see any woman in a pink g-string I will be fascinated by them. If I get married one day, hopefully my wife will wear them on her wedding day.

Sorry this entry isn't up to its normal standards. It's probably because it wasn't a random topic. I brought up a random wikipedia article anyway in the hopes it would bring up something related to the topic. Instead it brought up information on the Lynton & Barnstaple Railway (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynton_and_Barnstaple_Railway). The only way this post would be related to that is if I had met the woman in my dreams there..or had sex there.

Here's the link to today's article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wet_dream
A wet dream is better known as nocturnal emission. The article doesn't have much info worth reading about...how it might be linked to masturbation, what religions think about it, and some links. There seems to be alot of references at the end, so if you're ever stuck on what to write your thesis on, nocturnal emissions might be worth a thought.

Coming soon: unrandom music reviews, with links!

Survivor

2007-05-25T22:05:00.000+12:00

I'm glad survivor fiji has finally finished. I like reality tv just as much as the next person, but they really need a break in between seasons. It gets dumb when they have the new season start 2weeks after the old one finishes. Now prison break can continue.

This post isn't about survivor, I just started thinking about it when I did my random article search on wikipedia. It's late, so writing about a magazine called 'the new criterion' wasn't going to cut it. (if you're interested in poetry, politics or whatever you should check it out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_Criterion)

No, it's actually about rock n' roll jeopardy. Amazingly, it lasted for 3 years in America. Probably not because of it's original concept, but because Jeff Probst was the host. He makes survivor good to watch, with his commentary on challenges.

Then again, I didn't watch face the music when I was younger because of Simon Barnett. I enjoyed trying to guess what the songs playing were. We will never know how good rock n' roll jeopardy was...

there's a picture I thought I should throw in. I'd like to put links to youtube videos on here, but I don't know how and I'm too tired now to try and figure it out. Can someone tell me?

The song I'm listening to right now is "tell me lies." Just in case you felt like downloading a good song. I have good taste in music don't I?

Just an update, Kasuni was the closest with the stop sign challenge. The bottom one wasn't France, but Canada (very tricky so I'll take France). The top sign in case you wanted to know was Brazil. I probably would've taken Portugal too but no one knew. I guess I'm $5 richer!

The 4th commandment

2007-05-23T22:26:00.000+12:00

Hi everybody. I was thinking of changing the title of this blog from randomness to rant about bad things that happen to me. Today at uni. I wanted to print out my assignment, so I sent it to the printer and left the computer, knowing that I would never get another one for the whole day. I swear every subject must've had an assignment due because there were people waiting for a computer in every single computer room I went to, but I'll get to that in a minute...
The printer wasn't working. No problem, I'll just go up to the next floor...of course that wasn't working. I later found out the only printer in the building that was working was the colour printer which costs 50c a page. I didn't mind paying the extra money since it was my assignment, but it turned out I didn't have enough on my card and there was no way to find a computer to transfer my quota! It took me an hour to finally get a copy printed out. After going to all the computer places I know, I decided to go and put more money on my account rather than just transferring some. (i should've thought of that earlier!)

Sorry about that, I'll get back to the topic at hand; Cathedral High School in Los Angeles. http://cathedralhs.ca.campusgrid.net/home

It's senior exam week at Cathedral High..good luck to all of those sitting your exams! After that hell you'll be on summer break!!

For all of you that don't know, Cathedral High is a school for Christian boys. While their classrooms are nothing to look at they have a huge ground and a seperate football field (I assume for american football, not rugby). I searched their website, hoping to find a picture of their cathedral to put up, but I couldn't find one. Perhaps one of my fans that go to this school could email me a picture and I'll put it up in my next blog. If you're a fan who just happens to live in that area, I'll put up a picture you take as well...

Everyone at uni. now is in the same boat as the senior boys at Cathedral High...exams!! Good luck to us all and for those of you with no exams...wish us luck. We'll need it.

Poker night

2007-05-19T19:08:00.000+12:00

Tonight's the FA cup final and the buildup is occupied with a poker league game. There are exactly 2 weeks until the WSOP starts and since none of us can actually go to it this is our equivalent of the WSOP main event. I will approach the game as such tonight and leave nothing to chance.

As for the soccer, I think one of the teams should withdraw and let Arsenal take their place. This way we will be guaranteed and game with beautiful football played.

A bad day

2007-05-15T19:25:00.000+12:00

I got pissed off today when I saw toilet paper on the stairway in the library. Can you believe it!? It's bad enough that it's all on the ground along with piss because people can't aim or clean it up. I try my best to avoid public toilets as a rule, but if I'm going to see toilet paper running out the door, it's going to become a phobia..I think it's called toilet phobia and it covers all the phobias to do with the toilets. I wonder if the women's toilets are the same? Probably not.

My alarm didn't go off this morning and my bag broke so I didn't have a great day. To let off steam, I'll write my thoughts about a random wikipedia topic...it's came up with 'Moncler' http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moncler
I was actually rooting for Moncler to come up because I really wanted to tell you about my ski pants that I wore last year when I went to the mountain. They were really warm and waterproof as any ski pants should be. But I had got them from the warehouse, so of course they ripped on the 2nd to last day. That meant no more falling on my ass because the rip had exposed the inner layer from my ass all the way down past my knee. Of course I fell over a few times the next day because there was a jump I wanted to do. I got wet but it wasn't so cold. I've got a picture of an attempt:

The jump is actually bigger than it looks in the picture and most of the time I fell the other way but that's the only picture I have. Does this have anything to do with Moncler? It actually does. If I had some Moncler pants for that trip, they wouldn't have ripped. I wouldn't have written about this and instead would've praised Moncler on how warm, waterproof and how great the quality of their pants are. I probably would've put a picture of them up, like this:

I couldn't find a picture of pants, but this will do. Can you believe this jacket costs $823? And that's probably US$ too.
So if you ever need ski pants, a good jacket or have $2000 you don't know what to do with, buy something from Moncler. And say that I referred you. They may give me commission.
And if you dare go into a public toilet, please keep it clean.
One last thing. I can't be bothered editing this so ignore all the bad grammer and spelleng.

Idiocy is relative

2007-05-12T20:52:00.000+12:00

Most people would have been called an idiot by someone in their life...Your parents call you an idiot when you go out drinking instead of studying...your friends call you an idiot for throwing up in the taxi you're sharing home after you've had 10 tequila shots mixed with a bottle of red wine...the hot girl in the bar calls you an idiot when you try to pick her up with some lame pick up line in front of her boyfriend, who happens to be 20cm taller than you and was having arm wrestling matches for money...

Don't feel bad when someone calls you an idiot because chances are, so are they. The girl in the bar is probably an idiot for dating that guy, your friends' are idiots for getting in the taxi after letting you drink all that booze. And let's not go into the parents....

Everyone is an idiot relative to someone else. You might not think that Albert Einstein was an idiot, but Issac Newton might have. And maybe God thought Issac Newton was an idiot, who knows? You could make an idiot tree if you wanted and have a supreme being like God at the top, then go down to some smart people like Newton and Einstein. You can keep going down until you reach the bottom, where there is 1 person, and you can't find anyone more of an idiot than them. It could be Paris Hilton, some dumb robber on the tv show who gives his drivers' license to prove he's old enough to steal alcohol, or that guy you know who pissed on the electric fence.

What's my point? Maybe I don't really have one but if someone calls you an idiot, you can rightfully reply 'look who's talking!' and you'd be right. But if you say that to the bodybuilder in the bar, sorry, you're at the bottom of the tree.

WOW! Another blog!!!

2007-05-10T21:22:00.000+12:00

I've decided to keep a blog on the internet so I can become famous and maybe one day make a million dollars by just typing random stuff everyday. I'll probably write about soccer, poker and other random things that come into my mind while I'm typing. Feel free to comment on how Man Utd sux, the bad beats you take in a tournament or how I've wasted 5 minutes of your life making you read something that has no real point. Enjoy...