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Friday Night Free For All


Friday again. The eve of a long weekend. If you are going to join the city exodus, then drive carefully. If you already live 'out bush' then stock up on supplies and be prepared for friends and rellies.

Comments

  1. Well, Mr & Mrs Fugley are off to enjoy the delights of Marlborough. Saturaday night in Picton, next two nights in Nelson and we'll proably increase our carbon foot print driving here and there.

    Look out wineries - I've got a thirst!

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  2. So this is where you folk hang out on a Friday night? Mind if I "join the conversation"?

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  3. Evening all. Bit cool up here in the City of sails tonight.
    G

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  4. Good evening all. Hello robinsod, nice of you to drop in. All are welcome to leave random comments and thoughts, although it seems very quiet tonight. Perhaps many, like Fugley, are taking a bit of time out away from their usual environment - the one with the computer imposing itself on the corner of the room.

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  5. I'm taking a weekend out, but saving it until next weekend when it will be quieter. A trip to Taupo with the family methinks.

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  6. Perfect weather today, I say this as a cup of tea coaster (your fault Fletch). But it was fairly chill in spite of strong sunshine and clear blue skies.

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  7. Hey Zen, I'm kinda pleased to be here - thanks for the welcome. It's a bit more cordial than I'm used to. I kinda agree with you. It's not a bad thing to be one of the few people off the road during a long weekend - at the risk of being provocative you do know what this holiday is about, eh?

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  8. Bit cool everywhere I think ... frost tomorrow ...can smell the urea in the air ... no red meat tonite, flounder - possibly my most desired breakfast fish, but for tea is OK ... and mind you, cheese cake with passionfruit ice cream and banana sort of capped it off nicely.

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  9. Yeah flounder, I recall in my more southern days going out on the dark morning high tide to troll the shore with my flounderlight for breakfast. There's something amazing about the flounder trapped in the light, floating ghost-like in sediment - it's like the reification of the mystery. I hoe that's not too blasphemous?

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  10. I meant "hope".

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  11. Yep, & it used to be quite a skill when you stood on something that moved keeping your foot hard down & reaching down to pick it up ... rather than the rapid reflexive move & squeal ... them were the days of plenty.

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  12. evening all--there's snow on the hills behind us and I'm preparing to flee the country.

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  13. I've gotta say though mojo if it was a ray I'd move my foot pretty quick. There's something nice about fresh flounder. I used to love going out with the net and trawling througn the flats on a warm full moon summer night. The silent still water around your chest and the hushed words of direction to your co-trawler. So nice...

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  14. Fishing for flounder sounds like an experience and a half. Haven't done much in the way of night hunting. Quite content to stoke the fire on the beach and get a billy going.

    Re your question: Labour day in NZ - the fight for the 8 hour day I believe. Initiated by a carpenter I seem to recall. Carpenters can often become historically important I guess.

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  15. Yep, same here kg, and the sky was clearing before dark and now the wind has stopped ... augers well for white topped grass in the am.
    & indeed, warm water & floundering in the evening can be idyllic ... cold water & an unrelenting determination to catch something ... well ...

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  16. Flee kg? Forever, or until Global Warming kicks in? Which could be a long time...

    So its not the lure of the greener grass, but the mire on the slippery slope then?

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  17. Yep - flounder fishing is an experience, in many ways it's existential. And yes the fight for the eight hour day, and plenty more besides. Nice carpenter reference, I guess Parnell and JC could be seen as similar in lots of ways but honestly? I kinda like Parnell's fight to make the tangible, material and sure world better than any call to undergo suffering in exchange for a front seat in some uncertain afterlife. Call me pragmatic I s'pose.

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  18. Ah but mojo - the best catches are made when the fisher is calm. Relentless is for other games.

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  19. Zen, it's a combination of things. Climate, money, the need to get back to remote places.
    I guess we're just homesick. :-)

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  20. Well, Parnell had the idea of setting aside 8 hours for work, 8 for rest and whatever was left over (roughly 8 hours) for play and brushing ones teeth.

    Combine that with a 6 day week and one day off and you have a team.

    From what little I know, JC wasn't all about the afterlife. There was a fair few suggestions on how one should conduct themselves in the current life.

    So Parnell wanted a work/life balance, and JC suggested a life/after-life balance.

    Where they parted company would possibly be in pension plan planning. JC's kicks in once you are dead.

    But we all have our roles to play, and being prepared to stand up for ones beliefs has to be a good first step.

    I'm floundering here...off to top up my wine.

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  21. I've never been afraid to stand up for my beliefs - I'm glad you're not. It was only time 'til someone used a floundering pun. I'm just glad it wasn't me... (a couple more posts and I might not have been able to restrain myself)

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  22. I went to the butchers the other day and I bet him 50 dollars that he couldn’t reach the meat off the top shelf. And he said, ‘no, the steaks are too high.’

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  23. Bro - I think that joke was so bad it just killed the thread.

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  24. Yes, sorry about that floundering pun. If anyone was going to take the bait, it was me. It wasn't my sole option though. But I thought I'd angle for the obvious fishy pun, even though I'm up to my gills on the pun quota.

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  25. Oh, the other one...

    The idea is to skip some comments in threads. This is just practice.

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  26. I've always regarded punning as a vice, and believe me, there is no vice versa.

    Heh.

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  27. And if it didn't that one certainly did.

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  28. Here's an old one that turned up in my in-box this week. Some-one decided to bring out of the archives, probably to take their mind off the countless All Black jokes doing the rounds...


    An Australian ventriloquist visiting New Zealand walks into a small town and sees a local sitting on his porch patting his dog. He figures he'll have a little fun.

    Ventriloquist: "G'day Mate! Good looking dog, mate. Mind if I speak to him?"
    New Zealander: "The dog doesn't talk, you stupid Aussie."
    Ventriloquist: "Hey dog, how's it going old mate?"
    Dog: "Doin' alright."
    New Zealander: extreme look of shock
    Ventriloquist: "Is this Kiwi your owner?" pointing at New Zealander
    Dog: "Yep"
    Ventriloquist: "How does he treat you?"
    Dog: "Real good. He walks me twice a day, feeds me great food, and takes me to the lake once a week to play."
    New Zealander: look of disbelief
    Ventriloquist: "Mind if I talk to your horse?"
    New Zealander: "Uh, the horse doesn't talk either, I think."
    Ventriloquist: "Hey horse, how's it going?"
    Horse: "Cool."
    New Zealander: extreme look of shock
    Ventriloquist: "Is this your owner?" pointing at New Zealander
    Horse: "Yep"
    Ventriloquist: "How's he treat you?"
    Horse: "Pretty good, thanks for asking. He rides me regularly, brushes me down often, and keeps me in the barn to protect me from the elements."
    New Zealander: total look of amazement
    Ventriloquist: "Mind if I talk to your sheep?"
    New Zealander: "That sheep's a liar!"

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  29. Bah ha - the oldies are the goodies - I guess it's just us then. So what do you think about this whole left/right blog war thing?

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  30. KG, you heading back to the NT?

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  31. If you are heading to Darwin, is that evolution?

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  32. left/right blog war is a bit 'same old'.

    Its a chance to vent and unload. And you do get a lot of good points (nuggets) coming out in amongst the dross.

    I think its good for the readers, who by virtue of sticking to reading and not commenting, probably don't get the same kind of emotional engagement, but can quickly garner a few good views and see how it fits their own individual perspective.

    It's shaking that perspective a little that interests me.

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  33. From when I started blogging maybe three years ago, I've also noticed a bit of a shift between left/right and more of a conservative/liberal tug of war. Not sure how to define the difference at this exact moment, but it's there.

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  34. "New Zealander: "That sheep's a liar!"
    ROFL!
    I think it'll be either the NT or the Torres Strait islands Zen. But anywhere really remote, with an Aboriginal health clinic will do.
    Interesting comment about the left/right shift--it's almost as if the two sides are becoming more hardened in their views and battle lines are being drawn.

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  35. Yeah, I've noticed that the liberals (left and right) who previously did more in the sphere seem to be getting sidelined a little by more partisan voices. I'm not sure if it's the commons opening up to a more conservative vox pop or if it's the sphere coming under greater control as outsiders recognise its political sway. That said it makes debate more full (apart from the odd moderation twitch). D'ya think?

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  36. Evening all.

    Robinsod - it's a pleasant change to see the less acerbic side of you.

    The blogosphere is, for me, not about control but the exchange of ideas. Which is why the pointless sniping at The Standard brings down the standard, so to speak. I simply can't take seriously those who accuse DPF of being dishonest or a National HQ stooge. Likewise, I don't necesarily subscribe to the view that Tane and Sam Dixon represent Labour - even if they share a common ideological view.

    I agree with Zentiger that it's interesting to see different perspectives amongst all the dross.

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  37. hey POC - it's the weekend - I'm off the clock (that's a "are you a labour staffer" joke by the way) I don't think the standard is about pointless sniping though, I'm pretty sure it's about putting forward another "perspective". And if you ask me it's done a lot to bring the level of debate up and has kept DPF on his toes a bit. I do think DPF is running the Nat's lines for them but I'm not really keen to get into all that partisan stuff right now. I'd appreciate it if you didn't either. Got any plans for teh long weekend?

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  38. I really should make use of aggregators - it would make it easier to keep tabs on a much, much wider range of good blogs. This in turn would give me a better view of what trends there are.

    Instead, I'm, spending less time on the blogs, and tend to just manually click through to a handful of blogs for a quick scan, a quick fire comment (which means I could [should?] be thinking a little more first) and then off again, sometimes not returning for a day or two to see what was said.

    On Kiwiblog, that tactic almost becomes pointless because the comment threads get so long, and can so easily be taken off topic.

    On others, it's not so bad, but it means I'm missing a bit more of the debate.

    But I think Blogs are great, in spite of the obvious negative points. I get much better commentary from blogs than newspapers, and it has sharpened my critical faculties and I spend more of my leisure time reading (researching) to fill in my large knowledge gaps. So personally, I've got something out of the debates, even the ones I participate little.

    I've also improved in my attitude - to take it all as a bit of fun. A vital requirement if one is to do this long term I think. It's even fun to get righteously indignant sometimes.

    It just needs to be blended with other activities.

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  39. Oh nothing major planned. I may get around to plotting a revolution or two, since that seems to be the new trendy thing. We'll have to see what happens.

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  40. POC - you're too late for your revolution - it happened in '84. Unless your gonna get into Tuhoe of course. I'm just gonna kick around town myself - I've never been one for the lemming-like outta town traffic jams.

    Zen - that's getting pretty Zen I must say.

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  41. Zen:

    It just needs to be blended with other activities.

    Sounds like coffee infused with a dash of blogging?

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  42. Robinsod:

    No need to be a lemming when you can use a motorcade. Or you could help the government (through its stake in Air NZ) by flying Kiwi Air :)

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  43. Flying isn't always so great - some of those Air NZ flights are diverted through Syria. Makes a trip to Nelson unnecessarily long.

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  44. Coffee...

    ...now we can talk about some seriously good blends. But first, another beer.

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  45. Ah yes the Syria to Nelson stopover - takes me back to my days in the NAC. Goodnight lads I've had a long week and have an early airport pick up tomorrow. It's been nice to have a chat without too much knife-play though (a bit like the old blog days). have a good weekend eh.

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  46. Sure Robinsod - enjoy your weekend.

    Zen:

    Now we can talk about some seriously good blends. But first, another beer.

    Since this conversation is taking place in an alcholic environment, do you possibly mean forgettable blends of coffee? :)

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  47. "alcholic"???

    Sheesh... my shpelling is not the besht at this time of the ni--ght.

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  48. Ah yes, possibly is quite possible. Fortunately, there is something about coffee that, no matter how befuddled my mind, it knows it needs coffee.

    Built to survive.

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  49. Here's a joke I heard on the radio this past week. I can't remember how it went exactly, but it was something like this -

    A guy is trapped in a traffic-jam, completely stopped, and is just sitting there and a guy walks up and knocks on his window. The guy in his car rolls down the window and asks, "what's the holdup?". Second guy says, "Terrorists down the road have kidnapped Helen Clark, Michael Cullen, Mark Burton, and Sue Bradford; they are threatening to pour petrol over them and set them alight unless their demands are met. I'm going around from car-to-car to take up a collection".
    The first guy replies, "yeh sure. How much are people donating?".

    Second guy says, "oh, about 4 litres on average".

    Bum-dum-dum!!

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  50. Good night Robinsod. Thanks for dropping by.

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  51. Nice one Fletch.

    How's it been going outside of the blogosphere? How did that issue resolve reminding people about unpaid invoices? To my shame, I can't remember how that thread turned out (of course, I could go back and look, but then everyone else will not know...)

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  52. Zen, not too bad thanks. Boss has been on leave for a while so me able to do things at more of my own pace.
    Yeh, the issue not too bad. Unless I am pushed, I let most ppl pay in their own time and they do so within the first 10 days anyway.

    Sometimes I am forced to call though which sucks, but you just have to.

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  53. ps, during a little bit of cough*time-wasting*cough I've been doing during the past week, I've found some cool sites, one of which is http://www.instructables.com/

    It's amazing what people come up with, it really is!

    Also, hackszine and lifehacker.com of course.
    People really do amaze me with the stuff they pull apart - the creativity. I know I said it above, but it was worth saying again :)

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  54. Ah, now you have me distracted...

    I'm making good use of the scrap book Firefox plugin you recommended, and you've just reminded me I haven't been to boing boing for a few weeks...

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  55. It's all good :)
    Welp, have a good long weekend. I think I might hit the sack.

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  56. Me too.

    Night Mary Ellen, night Jason, Night Ben, night Jim-Bob ...

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