Diposkan oleh Unknown on Friday, July 30, 2010

Pacific Party is nearly officially history

In March the Family Party was deregistered by the electoral Commission. At the time I said that as three Christian parties - Family, Pacific and Christian Heritage - had departed from the political scene - two of their leaders are in prison, and the third is associated with a man who claims he is the physical manifestation of God, it was time to deregister the Pacific Party.

The Pacific Party was formed to attack Labour's "ungodly laws", but was the only political party registered while its leader was facing charges of ungodly lawlessness (which he lied about, and is consequently now in prison).

Four months after that post, the Pacific Party is finally going to be consigned to the dustbin.God is happy.
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Concept ships by Pat C. Presley

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phattro.blogspot.com

















Keywords: digital concept spaceship art by pat c presley illustration design san francisco california phattro blog imperial hover tank video game concept art
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Fast, Cheap, Reliable VPN for Linux

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I did some research into VPN services because even if I'm not in the US or UK for a while I don't want to be prevented from accessing certain websites there and signing up for services there.

You can sign up to the PureVPN shared IP services here. I have good experience (hulu with maximum quality streaming, iplayer work fine) with the cheapest version.

I recommend chosing the Monthly or Quarterly plan for tests ($14), but there is a three day test account ($3) available as well. It seems there is a bandwith limit now, and without you pay more.

Payment processing can take a few hours so be aware you can't start you fun and tests directly. Settings for network manager (gnome) can be found here. It works fine for me after installing network-manager-pptp-kde. Let me know in the comments if you need help. The most important part is to deselect everything in that one list except CHAP in the advanced settings and dselect MPPE. You can also try the nm-applet from Gnome, which you can of course also use in KDE. In my experience it often works better than the KDE version anyway unfortunately.

You may run into problems if your router doesn't support pptp forwarding. Then you either get a better router, or - in the long term probably the cheaper and better option for your speed - get a better router.

By signing up via a link from this blog you support the author.
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Concept ships by Jeremiah Humphries

Diposkan oleh Unknown on Thursday, July 29, 2010

Jeremiah's art portfolio.








Keywords: rusty concept ship series by freelance illustrator artist jeremiah humphries country side spaceship relic
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Diposkan oleh Unknown on Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Chris Carter has been suspended from the Labour Party caucus

updated
Chris Carter has been suspended from the Labour Party caucus after admitting to sending an anonymous letter claiming there is a plot to overthrow leader Phil Goff.

There isn't.

You can read the letter here.

This letter was reported earlier today, before Carter's name became public. The letter also says Manurewa MP George Hawkins is being challenged by a union member for nomination, understood to be a EPMU member, and is threatening a by-election.

"There are no more chances. His future in the Labour Party is at an end," Goff said.

Goff said he recognised Mr Carter's handwriting on the envelope of the anonymous letter addressed, as I recall, to Vernon Small at the Press Gallery.( update: it was sent to other media outlets also). Carter may be expelled from the party as early as next weekend and nominations will be reopened for the Te Atatu electorate - of which Carter's partner, Peter Kaiser, is the electorate chair.

Of course, Carter can stay on as an independent, or resign and force a by-election. Either way, it's a sad day for the Labour caucus, but they'll bounce back.

Chris Carter, I guess, is wishing that Helen Clark was still the leader of the Labour Party. The rest of the caucus are supportive of the current leadership.
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The drink driving limit

While there are various opinions as to whether the drink driving limit should be changed, one of the justifications of not lowering the limit was more research is needed to be done. This 23 page report, released under the OIA, provides some of the research , particularly when comparing blood alcohol concentration ( BAC) at the 0.05 and the 0.08 levels.

Each year, drivers with a BAC between 0.05 and 0.08 are responsible for at least 7 deaths, 45 serious injuries and 102 minor injuries- at a social cost of $56.5m. Lowering the BAC to 0.05 is estimated to save between 15 and 33 lives, and prevent 320 to 386 injuries each year- at a savings of between $111m and $238m each year, and a savings of $28.5m on ACC claims.

Of note, if a person who has an accident with a BAC that is lower than 0.08, no recording of that count is required. Therefore, there are no stats on how many of the 1329 drivers suspected of having an alcohol impaired crash - but at lower than 0.08 - had a count between 0.05 and 0.08. This paper to a Cabinet committee recommended a lowering of the BAC levels for drink driving to make it equal to Australia, or to establish the level of crashes caused by drivers with a BAC between 0.05 and 0.08.

The Government has chosen the latter. It could have chosen to do both. Or neither. But if hard data to establish the levels of crashes caused by drivers between these two levels is the missing research that the Government wanted, then I wonder why it took so long to announce that they will be collecting this data starting from sometime next year?
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Diposkan oleh Unknown on Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Family First approaches sex party for preference deal

Ha, this is so funny. Australia has a Sex Party, and the conservative Family First Party* approached it to do a preference deal in the federal election. The election will be run on a preferential voting system.

But despite the approach, the deal never happened. Or in the words of Family First:
We were talking with them (the Australian Sex Party) about the election ... and we came to an arrangement not to do an arrangement with them
That's a bit like a vegetarian going to a butchers shop and coming to an arrangement with the butcher not to buy meat.
*Nothing to do with these guys
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The narrow door to education: getting entrance to university just got harder

One of the things that affects student achievement is how the government funds students and tertiary institutions.
The Government has a Tertiary Education Strategy which has a vision for a "world-leading education system that equips all New Zealanders with the knowledge, skills and values to be successful citizens in the 21st century."

Yet the vision does not meet the strategy; and the world leading education system is not financially equipped to meet the vision. The focus of the strategy is on those 25 and under that want to study full time to achieve a university degree. If you want to study part time, or extramurally while working, you don't fit, especially if you are over 25. The strategy notes that funding for tertiary institutions,will, in future, be linked to post-study employment and that a " wide range of students" should be successfully completing university degrees.

The strategy indicates that the Government wants to see more students enrolling, and finishing their degrees more quickly.But while most will have university entrance, many won't be able to enter university, despite the strategy concluding that " the tertiary education system needs to ensure it can meet the educational needs of an increasingly diverse population".

The Tertiary Education strategy says that student choice will be a driving factor in tertiary education provision. Some students want to be able to take some summer school papers - but if you want to do that at Massey University you can't, as enrolments were closed off last week with no warning to prospective students. This is not because the Government is not funding students - indeed, most summer school students won't be eligible for student allowances or student loans for living costs - it is because the Government has funded Massey for a certain number of effective full time students, and these students are now enrolled.

Last year Auckland University turned away 1100 students, and this year the number was almost 2000. Next year, both Victoria University and Massey University will join Auckland in introducing ranking systems for entrants under 20, meaning half of all enrolment places at New Zealand universities will be subject to competitive entry criteria. It is the single biggest change to our tertiary system since the introduction of student fees in 1990, and one that has happened so quickly that it has almost totally bypassed the public radar. Some fear it signals an end to open access education in New Zealand, and a move towards the kind of elitism New Zealanders have always liked to believe happened somewhere else.

That last paragraph was from an article from Matt Russell on capping enrolments in our universities for the Massey student mag Off Campus - but this new form of university capping does not happen at graduation, and is not just happening at Massey, it's happening nationwide.

The whole article is worth a read.
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MADOX-01 on conceptships

Diposkan oleh Unknown on Sunday, July 25, 2010

Some animated Flash loops from MADOX-01. Better ones on conceptrobots.





Keywords: animated pilot thruster concepts flash loops from metal skin panic (メタルスキンパニック MADOX-01, Metaru Sukin Panikku Madokkusu Zero Wan?) a 1988 anime OAV released in Japan licensed in the United States by AnimEigo mechanic named Koji Kondo accidentally comes across the Madox-01
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The Story of the VP8 Encoder and Decoder

Diposkan oleh Unknown on Thursday, July 22, 2010

An x264 developer blogs about the work on writing a decoder for ffmpeg and how the code is not really perfect and the spec not really existing:

For example, Google’s decoder will, if told to “swap the ALT and GOLDEN reference frames”, overwrite both with GOLDEN, because it first sets GOLDEN = ALT, and then sets ALT = GOLDEN. Is this a bug? Or is this how it’s supposed to work? It’s hard to tell — there isn’t a spec to say so.
-- x264dev

Interesting to see the story of the great new universally accepted web video codec from his view. I bet developers at Firefox, Opera, and last but not least Google think similarly...
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No parliamentary support for abortion law change

Steve Chadwick has confirmed via e-mail to two separate people concerned about her bill to legalise abortion – including a worker in the medical profession whom she appears to know - that there is currently no parliamentary support for her bill.[ update: and it appears the Abortion Law Reform Association of New Zealand have recently found out]

I have seen some of the e-mails. Chadwick apparently wanted to start raising awareness and have abortion raised as both a human rights issue, and a women's health issue. But she hasn’t said why it she thinks it is a women’s health issue – and it is a topic politicians are loathe to touch.

In an earlier e-mail, Chadwick said:
I do not want abortion on demand, that was the Herald headline, not mine. I believe we will have succeeded when all children are wanted children because women are educated to make decisions on their fertility and love their children as they deserve to be love
The health worker responded:
The far better course of action is to love and respect both the woman and her child and to help the mother make decisions that respect the life of both. If we do not respect the life of babies before birth how can we be judgemental about those who ill treat children after birth? I believe humans should be loved and respected from conception until natural death. I fail to see how having an abortion helps women to "love their children as they deserve to be loved". Or are they literally loving them to death? And if death is considered a "loving" option for "unwanted" children before birth, isn't it inconsistent to condemn people who "choose" to kill their babies after birth?

You can safely respect my views because I am not in a position of power. You however are in a position of power so it is up to those of us who think your proposed bill will cause even more babies to die before birth, and cause physical and psychological damage to the mothers, to make our views known.
Chadwick then replied:
Thanks xxxx,
You are actually in a position of power called "people power"
There is no parliamentary support for my Bill
Regards
Steve
Chadwick was in contact with another member of the public as well, who she called a “ fabulous parent”.
XXXXX,
You are a fabulous parent and this is a reasoned and compassionate response
There appears to be a lack of parliamentary support for my bill at this stage
I am a midwife and would never pressure parents, nether did any Obstetrician I worked with in NZ for thirty years
Regards
Steve [Chadwick]
I think the politics behind this bill are ill-informed. Getting parliamentary support for a controversial bill is hard work. Sue Bradford found that out with her smacking legislation – but she had the support of her entire party and the Prime Minister right from the outset.

Chadwick doesn’t. Neither did Gerry Brownlee on mining conservation land. So it won't be put in the ballot anytime soon.
Hat tip Sempa Vista
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Diposkan oleh Unknown on Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Massey University students given 30 minutes warning to enrol for summer school

*** Breaking news***
At 4.25pm today, Massey University domestic students were given 30 minutes notice to enrol for summer semester papers. That is because at the end of the semester two enrolment period, the University has exceeded its TEC funding cap for the 2010 year, and because of continued enrolment pressures no further domestic student enrolments can be accepted.

(Actually that's not exactly correct, students weren't even advised, just Massey staff, by email).

Students already enroled in summer school offerings will still be allowed to study. But if not enough students have enroled for their papers, because they thought they had til November to enrol, some papers will be canned and Colleges may redirect students to a suitable alternative. That`ll be hard if the paper is a core paper needed to pass a degree.

New students intending to study at Massey next year must enrol by December 8. Current domestic students have until January 19, which is a lot earlier than the 28 February it used to be.

So, if you were hoping to enrol for summer school at Massey, you can't. And if are a student at school and intend to study at Massey next year, you`ll have to enrol before exams. If you lose your job and subsequently decide to go studying at Massey, you better hope you lose your job well before December 8.

UpdateThe DomPost has a front page story on this, now - and TVNZ has also picked this up.
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Comic book style concept ship art by Travis Charest

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Travis' SPACEGIRL book looks hot. I love the one panel per page layout. These panels are just a few selections, please check here for the complete set. Robots too!
















Keywords: comic book style concept ships by canadian born travis charest comic book artist penciller painter spacegirl frames samples wildstorm dc marvel captain america
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Jennifer Aniston : Jennifer Aniston wins order against duct tape stalker

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Jennifer Aniston was granted a restraining order Tuesday against a stalker, described by her lawyers as "violent" and "delusional," who was arrested outside her Hollywood Hills home last week.


Jason R. Peyton, 24, was detained last week after he spent days trying to find Aniston, 41, on Sunset Boulevard. On him: A sharp object, duct tape and love notes to the actress.
"Mr. Peyton has aggressively sought to have personal contact with me and integrate himself into my life," she said in a signed court declaration.
He is now required to stay away from the home, work and car of the actress. The court documents describe Peyton as “obsessed” and “delusional.” A hearing will be held on August 9, but until then, the Los Angeles police have placed Peyton on psychiatric hold against his will. He has previously been accused of stalking and ignored court orders that mandate he stay on anti-psychotic medications.
Aniston's lawyers described Peyton as "an obsessed, mentally ill and delusional stalker - with a history of violence and criminal stalking - who drove cross-country in his delusional 'mission' to locate and marry (Aniston), with whom he believes he is in a relationship."
Peyton also believes he is related to numerous celebrities including Oprah, Jay-Z, Donald Trump, Courteney Cox, Nelson Mandela and Jennifer Lopez, according to the documents.
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Diposkan oleh Unknown on Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Jerks

A Christian school - Middleton Grange - Board of Trustees has sacked a school sports coach because he is gay - because of a belief that homosexuality is a sin. This is the sort of school I would never send my kids to - and had I been on the Board of Trustees for that school I would have resigned.

Rightly so, the school board has been told to attend a human rights awareness course, and has done so. They even had to give the man a payout. Ironically, the team was a girls team. The media reported that parents and teachers did not support the boards decision, but given that the fairly new principal and some parents are on the board, at least some parents supported the decision.

You gotta wonder what is wrong with Christian schools in Canterbury.They even have their own Christian schools network.It's time for them to start networking and discuss what Jesus would do in certain situations.

update Had to laugh when I read the Job description for the Board of Trustees which included "to be well acquainted with the National Education Guidelines and other applicable legislation, so that may ensure Middleton Grange compliance."

Other applicable legislation includes the Human Rights Act.
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Nestle's Obesity Summer Swindle

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The Nestle Press Release says

"Nestlé is offering families the chance to try out one of 37 different activities for free at more than 4,600 venues. With activities ranging from martial arts, swimming, dancing, paint–balling and scuba diving, the Get Set, Go Free promotion gives families the opportunity to attend a free activity session or lesson. Since 2006, 1.6 million activity sessions have been given away. Families can take part by collecting points on a wide range of Nestlé family favourites, including Kit Kat®, Cheerios® and Nesquik® on promotional packs available in July and August"

London Nutritionist Yvonne Bishop-Weston says "That would all be great were it not for the fact that unsurprisingly you can only get the points by eating sweets that are full of calories but practically empty of any useful amounts of nutrients. That's the real cause of the obesity epidemic, food rich in calories rather than food rich in nutrients. It would be interesting to calculate how many nutrient depleted Nestle calories you have to consume, and the relevant extra body fat that would result in , to entitle you to an activity and then compare it with calories burnt up by the activity. I strongly suspect the nation is being duped into thinking that Nestle are trying to help and that the net result of this marketing campaign will be net weight gain and add to the childhood obesity problem not alleviate it."
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EarlyBird Diabetes Trust

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EarlyBird Diabetes Trust: New research by the EarlyBird Diabetes Study claims that lack of exercise is a result of obesitynot a cause of obesity and that that physical activity has little if any role to play in the obesity epidemic among children.

London Nutritionist
Yvonne Bishop-Weston says "This is a useful bit of data. We have manic exercisers visit us all the time in our London Harley Street clinic because they just can't lose weight no matter how hard they (allegedly) try in the gym. Of course exercise is important but unless you cleverly tweak the diet you can sometimes end up not just failing to lose weight, but facing weight gain"

"It also suggests we are being conned by the food industry who are currently trying to justify their £million advertising contribution to obesity by offering sports toys having successfully thwarted FSA attempts to educate the UK public about sugar and what it does to your body."

A review published in 2009 of all trials using physical activity to reduce childhood obesity showed weight loss amounting to just 90g (3oz) over three years, and the EarlyBird study wanted to know why the trials were so ineffective. So they challenged some popular paradigms.
It is well known that less active children are fatter, but that does not mean – as most people assume it does – that inactivity leads to fatness. It could equally well be the other way round: that obesity leads to inactivity.
And this is the question EarlyBird was uniquely placed to answer. With data collected annually over several years from a large cohort of children, it could ask the question – which comes first? Does the physical activity of the child precede changes in fatness over time, or does the fatness of the child precede changes in physical activity over time?
And the answer, published recently in Archives of Disease in Childhood, was clear. Physical activity had no impact on weight change, but weight clearly led to less activity.
The implications are profound for public health policy, because the physical activity of children (crucial to their fitness and well-being) may never improve unless the burgeoning levels of childhood obesity are first checked. If this cannot be achieved through physical activity, the focus has to be on what – and how much – children consume.
EarlyBird has already shown how the trajectory leading to obesity is established very early in life, long before children go to school, and how most childhood obesity is associated with obesity in the same-sex parent.
While portion size, calorie-dense snacks and sugary drinks are all important contributors, early feeding errors seem crucial - and physical activity is not the answer.
EarlyBird is based at the Peninsula Medical School in Plymouth, and has been observing in detail a cohort of city school children for the past 11 years. Obesity is the key factor behind diabetes, heart disease and some cancers.
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Jennifer Love Hewitt : Jennifer Love Hewitt's mom on prostitute role

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Jennerfer Love Hewitt’s mother is proud she is playing a prostitute in her new film.
The 31-year-old actress stars in TV movie The Client List – which aired on US TV channel Lifetime last night — as a married mother of three who decides to sell her body after she and her husband lose their jobs.
"The women are going out and helping and doing those things," she told OnTheRedCarpet.com. "When you're a family, it's not about who goes out and does it - it's about who can. She's able to go and sort of do this work and get her family back on steady ground and I did find it empowering."
"I thought it was very interesting that it was a story of a women going out and doing it this time versus a man," she told reporter Chris Balish.
Jennifer hopes people will reassess their preconceived opinions on why women go into prostitution once they have seen the film.
“Given where we are economically, it’s an interesting story. This is the most recession-proof business there is! It’s really a movie about the human condition, and the heart, and where life can take you,” she said.

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Holiwood Actress Lindsay Lohan's Journey to Jail

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Lindsay Lohan was taken into custody on Tuesday to start a 90-day jail term for violating her probation on a 2007 drunk-driving and cocaine-possession charge.


Lohan arrived about 10 minutes late and was accompanied by attorney Shawn Chapman Holley and her mother.
The 24-year-old has been free on bail since missing a court hearing in May for a 2007 drug and alcohol case.
Revel sentenced Lohan two weeks ago after ruling that the "Mean Girls" actress had again failed to complete weekly alcohol education classes imposed in 2007. Lohan must also attend a 90-day residential rehabilitation program on her release from jail.
Lohan, wearing a grey T-shirt, looked tired and tense at the brief court hearing. She did not speak.
Her stay will be longer than the 84 minutes she spent at a suburban Los Angeles jail in 2006 and marks the beginning of a new phase of punishment for drug and alcohol cases filed that year.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Marsha Revel sentenced the "Mean Girls" star to jail, three months in rehab and increased scrutiny by probation officials on July 6 after determining the actress violated her probation by missing seven alcohol education classes since December.
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Pulling a sickie

The Dominion Post reports:
The so-called "mental health day" could become extinct under law changes allowing bosses who suspect a worker of pulling sickies to demand they front up with proof after only one day.
I was under the impression that bosses could do that already, provided they pay for the proof, normally a medical certificate. In fact at one government department I worked for, I was told to go to the doctor, at my own expense to prove I was sick after two days. I refused, as I understood the law to mean that a medical certificate had to be paid for by the employer, unless I had been away for three working days or more; ( I since found it was actually three three calender days) as per section 68 of the Holidays Act 2003. In any case, my boss refused to pay for the visit - perhaps because he had no reasonable grounds to suspect my sickness wasn't genuine

The article goes on:
However, the change, announced by the Government at the National Party's annual conference in Auckland, would allow bosses to require staff to provide proof they are really sick from day one. The employer would have to pay the cost of a doctor's visit.
But the Holiday's Act also states that an employer can already do that. The difference is that the employer has to reasonably suspect the employee is pulling a sickie; National wants to take reasonableness out of it.

At the end of the day, it doesn't matter. If the doctor thinks the employee was sick, the medical certificate will be furnished and a couple of hours productivity is lost. If the employer is pulling a sickie, and the doctor agrees, the medical certificate won't be furnished, so the employers reasonable test is only relevant to the decision-making process in paying for the doctor's visit. National thinks that test should be removed, provided that the employer still pays for the doctors visit.

The big thing wrong with that is that employers are encouraged to be pricks who act without considering reasonableness. They should also be made to pay for their employee's transport costs to visit the doctor, and if that is not included in the legislation, why on earth does it need changing?

Hat tip ( for jogging my memory) No Right Turn
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Concept ships on Microsiervos and Sedentario.org

Diposkan oleh Unknown on Monday, July 19, 2010

Shouts out to Microsiervos and Sedentario.org. Both brought tons of traffic, thanks!







Keywords: concept ships highlighted on micrsiervos spanish site micro servants canary islands and sedentario.org hiperativo brazillian website south america
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.:CAMELICIOUS:. healthy camel milk

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.:CAMELICIOUS:.:

Dubai is apparently about to try not to flog us a dead horse but flog us healthy camel milk.

Apparently it has half the fat of normal cows milk, up to 5 times the amount of vitamin C and more unsaturated fatty acids than cow's milk too.

The Arab Emirates company also claim it's much more digestible than normal milk and suitable for people with lactose intolerance.

Apart from the allergenic benefits it is also alleged to be free from some of the other problems that cows miolk is linked to such as aggravating ( some say cause) Chrone's disease, diabetes, rheumatoid and osteo arthritis
Camelicious also claim it's good for babies being much more similar to human breast milk than cow's milk but considering the UK and EU wouldn't even accept Goats milk Dubai are going to struggle to get Camel milk past the food industry controlled food police.

London Nutritionist Yvonne Bishop-Weston says "Is it healthier than normal cow's milk? - Probably! It would have to try hard not to be! There are bottles of water out there that are better for you than normal cows milk. Cow's milk is essentially saturated animal fat, sugar (lactose) , animal protein and water - there are many better forms of protein, fat, carbohydrates and water for sale than normal cow's milk.

Does camel milk taste nice? Raj in our local shop the wine spot says it's delicious but I'm not tempted to find out and I worry about the poor baby camels, what are they drinking instead? Cow's milk? Poor things! "
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Diposkan oleh Unknown on Sunday, July 18, 2010

Paul Holmes on well constructed writing

Paul Holmes comments on the National Standards and shows how he can write after looking at a blank screen.
Now I can feel fairly sure that in three or four hours this blank screen with be adorned with neat, well-spelled, well-punctuated words, phrases, sentences and nicely contained paragraphs. I hope there will be order.
He then goes on to say in the very next sentence:
They words might even say something with, I hope, minimal impediment of clumsy construction.
Clumsy construction, indeed.
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Calorie Counter - Easter Eggs

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Calorie Counter - Easter Eggs:

Many thanks to The Sun for their "Here's how long it will take you to walk off your Chocolate Easter Egg favourites" ...

Mars ... choccy

Mars Milk Chocolate Egg with two full-size bars, 89p

1,873 calories = A walk of six hours, 25 minutes

Yum ... Cr�me Egg

Cadbury Cre�me Egg with two extra milk chocolate eggs, 89p

1,034 calories = A walk of three hours, 45 minutes

Smarties ... scoff
Smarties ... scoff
Nestle Smarties Milk Chocolate Egg with mini eggs inside, �4.15

3,096 calories = A walk of ten hours, 30 minutes

Flake ... lovely

Cadbury Flake Egg with four small milk chocolate Flakes, 89p

916 calories = A walk of three hours, five minutes

Street ... Quality

Nestle Quality Street Egg with a bag of Quality Street, �2.29

2,770 calories = A walk of nine hours, 25 minutes

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Diposkan oleh Unknown on Thursday, July 15, 2010

Minister wants education linked to jobs


Okay, the heading is misleading... it's not true at all. Tertiary Education minister Steven Joyce only wants the education that is on the back of state funding linked to jobs. And I agree that education should be linked to jobs.

What the Minister is reported to have said is that, ultimately, he would like to see funding based on how many of the previous year's students found work as a result of their qualification.Yet the minister, who completed his degree over a 22 year period, was one that didn't.

It's a shortsighted approach, particularly in the field of extramural education, which I have a bit to do with. A high proportion of extramural students already have jobs in the field they are studying , and finish their degree part time. Some are studying towards a qualification in a field they would like to enter, but already have jobs - and are not going to run away from that job until they can secure another one.

Its unlikely that funding for extramural institutions will be based on how many of the previous year's students found work in the field they are studying. I know of some students who have dropped out of their qualifications after securing jobs in their chosen field, without these qualifications.I know of others who have worked at Studylink because they were one of the 99 who missed out on each application for jobs in their field after graduating. I know of students who have studied midwifery that have then had kids. Does that count?

If university funding is based on completion and jobs, the model will fail - a third of students who finished university do not have a full time job six months later. Of the two thirds that do, it is not known what proportion is in the field of study. I wonder if this postgraduate student who did a thesis on the political blogosphere managed to get a job blogging six months after he finished.

Nah, he probably ended up at Vodafone or somewhere similar. Good on him, too.
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Concept spaceship designs by Rado Javor

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Super nice stuff from Slovakian artist Rado.













Keywords: digital concept spaceship illustration designs art by slovak slovakian concept artist rado javor star wars empire total war imperial walker concepts
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Check the Strength of your Passwords

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There's a great new website which tells you roughly how long it would take
to brute force crack your passwords, giving you a good indication of how
good your passwords are. Of course you should not input any of your real
passwords for security reasons, but you can just replace any small
character with any other and any special character with any other to get a
good idea of how long it would take. It's just a rough calculation.

http://www.hammerofgod.com/passwordcheck.aspx

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Diposkan oleh Unknown on Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Law to be changed as it is not used as intended

The Government is to change the claim of right defence so it cannot be used the way it was when three activists got off a criminal conviction when they damaged the Waihopai spybase.[Briefing paper [PDF]]. It intends to do this because the law, although applied correctly in the case, was not used as originally intended by Parliament.

So, to be consistent, lets change abortion laws to reflect the original intent of Parliament. And if it is clear that the abortion laws are not used as intended by Parliament, but the intent of Parliament has since changed, then the Government should put up the bill to change the law, as in the case of the claim of right defence.

Additionally, I note that Labour has publicised two bills recently, which have yet to be put into the parliamentary ballot. One is Clare Curran's Kiwi Jobs Bill, which has been widely publicised [and is here as a PDF], the other one, as Chris Trotter notes is one from former Womens Affairs and former associate Health Minister Steve Chadwick that seeks to amend our abortion laws. The bil has been drafted, and the Minister has discussed the bill with groups such as Family Planning,and the media.

But, like Phil Goff's comments on the bill, the bill itself, is nowhere to be seen.

Phil Goff said he hadn't given the matter much thought.Phil Goff was the spokesperson for Young Labour in 1977 when it actively opposed the current abortion law. Phil Goff got a reasonable amount of publicity on it back then.

Fast forward 21 years later for much thought.
As legislation relating to abortion is a conscience issue for Members of Parliament, it would be for individual parliamentarians to determine whether and in what form legislative amendments would be passed
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Diposkan oleh Unknown on Monday, July 12, 2010

Uni magazine’s inaccuracies confirmed by the Minister

Yesterday morning,, I rang up minister Steven Joyce’s office regarding yesterday’s inaccurate story in Salient regarding entitlement to student assistance, before I wrote this blog post. They weren`t aware of the story but said they’d get back to me. They didn’t but they did get back to NZPA confirming inaccuracies in the article, after the NZPA parroted a story picked up by the NZ Herald.

Joyce’s office made these points

* Generally, most conjoint degrees take less than 5 EFTS (effective full time student) to complete. An additional year for honours would take the student to 6 EFTS. However, if a masters study took them over the 7 EFTS limit, they would be given an additional one EFTS to finish their degree;
* Most students who complete a medical degree at Otago University will do 1 EFTS Health Sciences First year and then 5 EFTS for the remainder of the medical degree -- a total of 6 EFTS.
 A student who completes their degree and honours degree before going over their 7 EFTS limit will have one additional year of entitlement for masters study that takes them over the 7 EFTS limit.

The past few Salient editors have used a few EFTS - they have honours degrees. Obviously the current one doesn’t know much about EFTS.
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Diposkan oleh Unknown

Feng on CGHub. Tons of line art in Feng's CAOrg sketchbook.





















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