Hiking

Peter and myself are taking some of the Form 2 to Form 4 boys from the church away today for an overnight hike. Pray for safety and..... sanity!

Summer is on it's way!

Yes that’s right! Yesterday while working in the backyard, I got burnt. My whole back has gone pink, and one night recently I heard a single cricket chirping. It’s coming!

Oh Dear

Who wants the UN to control the internet?

Apparently, China is leading the effort to achieve this. Is this not a worry since China only allows its citizerns online acccess with government control?

In fact the UN itself doesn't have a crash hot record in the area of free speech. Here are some examples from TCS.

During the 1970s and 1980s, a number of Third World countries used the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to press for a "new world information order." This grand-sounding project claimed that governments around the world needed to be more involved in "managing" information flows to better serve the "public interest." Part of this new order was the idea of forcing journalists to obtain government licensing in order to report the news. American journalists were quick to point out the dangers this system posed to media independence -- if a reporter uncovers news a government doesn't like, and exposes it, she could lose her license.
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In 1995, delegates attending a UNESCO-convened meeting on "Women and the Media" held in Toronto, Canada called for various forms of government control on the media. These included taking legislative action to combat the "predominantly male culture of the mainstream media" by passing laws mandating "gender-sensitive" hiring practices for media outlets.
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The UN's readiness to sympathize with supporters of censorship made an appearance last year. Its 2002 Human Development Report praised South Africa's Human Rights Commission (a government-funded body) for persecuting journalists in 2000 who dared to write investigative reports of high-level corruption. The Commission slapped the journalists with trumped-up charges of "subliminal racism." The UN, bizarrely, said that this persecution helped to build "respect for human rights."

Road Trip

Well I'm back guys!

Jono, Dwaine and I took a trip up north in the ol' Alfa. We stayed at a nice little backpackers place in Whangarei. It even had a nice spa pool - which we made use of. The second day we travelled all the way up to Cape Reinga. It was fantastic weather for most of the day. We made our way back and camped at a place in the Mangamuka gorge. Unfortunately our tarpaulin 'tent' masterfully made into a shelter by Jono lasted only until 4 o'clock in the morning, whence it began to leak. The rain was pouring down, so it was hardly surprising. And the main problem was not infact leakage from above, but from beneath. So we packed up at this ungodly hour, and travelled down to Whangarei.

In Whangarei we slept in the McD's carpark and later consumed a nutricious breakfast there. Dwaine's eyesight was called into question at McD's, where another patron walked over to him while he was reading the newspaper (at a very close distance to his face), and suggested corrective lenses might be the order of the day.

Quotes of the trip:-
Dwaine: uhhhh bro could you grab me a drink?
Jono: Sure uhhhh want a Mallowpuff?
Dwaine: uhhh How about that drink I asked for?


Jono: (At 2:30 in the morning) I can see some stars
Scott: You'll see a whole lot more in a moment if you don't shutup.

Winners

Andrew Coulthard wins for guessing National's seats.

Jono Willis wins for guessing Labour's seats.

Crunchie bars coming to you both.