Bury Out, Bolton Survives

It's bad news for Bury FC, unable to find a buyer they're been thrown out of the EFL and now their future looks bleak. Bolton on the other hand look to have secured a buyer and they can continue for now, but their long term future looks uncertain. Bury are gone after 125 or so years in the EFL, they've won two FA Cups. A sad day for English football.

Prorogation

People have found a new word, prorogation. Those in the UK trying to derail Brexit are calling the Prime Minister's proroguing of parliament a coup. Err, except far from it. To prorogue parliament means to discontinue a session. It is not a coup as parliament is not being overthrown, power is not being seized illegally. The bluster from those complaining is quite incredible but also very funny. The PM has every right to govern, especially when you consider he intends exercising the will of the people which was the result of the referendum held in 2016, and that was to leave the EU. Get over it and get on with it.

All Blacks for Rugby World Cup 2019

The Otago Daily Times gives this useful assessment of who is out and who is in: https://www.odt.co.nz/sport/rugby/all-blacks/no-squire-franks-laumape-miss-world-cup-selection

Bury FC and Bolton Wanderers

It's coming down to the wire for two old and storied football teams in the English Football League, Bury and Bolton. Either or both may find themselves out of the league altogether because of financial trouble. Interestingly they're located next to one another in the greater Manchester area. Bury are close to being sold, the buyers have to pass a good character test, while Bolton may go into liquidation and cease to exist because of it. Fingers crossed that both survive.

Update: Bury FC have just been expelled from the EFL, very bad news indeed. https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/49435288

Crusaders Region Rugby

The Crusaders region is still on top in New Zealand rugby. The Tasman Mako are top of the Mitre10 Cup Premiership, their latest victory today's 64-8 romp over Manawatu. On the same day Nelson College beat Christchurch Boys' High School to secure the UC Championship for the Crusaders region 1st XV's, a 35-31 victory. Nelson College are also the Quadrangular Tournament champions for 2019, defeating Whanganui Collegiate in the final held in Wellington. Quadrangular is NZ's most prestigious 1st XV rugby tournament played each year between NZ's top four high schools (I discuss the importance of this tournament and these schools in my book Snob's Guide to New Zealand, link on toolbar above).

On Trump and Greenland

Donald Trump announced he wanted to buy Greenland. This has got to be the laugh of the week but it also highlights why the current President is a security risk. That's because he didn't bother to check if Denmark wanted to sell, or if they could sell. Turns out they didn't want to and couldn't even if they wanted to.

That's because Greenland is semi-autonomous and Greenland get to decide who they go with. So the President's visit to Denmark (now postponed or cancelled) would have been a monumental waste of time. It's kind of a worry this, Trump has his finger on the nuclear trigger - think about that.

Surely there has to be a mechanism for removing the President from office. And I do mean, sooner rather than later. After the Greenland debacle he started talking of himself as the chosen one. C'mon, this is getting very strange indeed.

Alien: Covenant - Review

I watched the movie Alien: Covenant last night on free to air TV. The original movie was very entertaining. I'd suggest that's because despite the crew keeping to the manual, the Alien still causes havoc.

But this latest incarnation of the franchise leaves a lot to be desired. A colony space ship, which is no doubt worth hundreds of billions of dollars, is diverted by an obviously incompetent Captain to a previously unknown planet, despite the protest of the second-in-charge. A good case could be made for the Captain to be relieved of his command for even suggesting such nonsense.

Then without further ado, they arrive at the new planet and descend to the surface without fully checking it out. Huh? Oh well, then they kind of split up (never ever split up in a sci-fi - ahem), and as they split one guy says to the other: ' behave yourself with my wife.' The wife of one of the guys is staying with this other dude. Oh, here we are on a previously undiscovered planet, putting careers in jeopardy on a whim, and while there one guy suspects the other guy of indecent intentions toward his wife. Seriously, this is stupid beyond belief.

Then of course we find the Alien is on the planet. Oh no, face hugger paradise (who'd a thunk), and the Captain is enticed by a robot, no less, to look inside a seed pod that just happens to open. Ahh, never look inside, that's a rule of sci-fi too you know. Never ever look inside.

And now everything unravels and we have the sexay, kick-ass, female protagonist who is also kinda vulnerable in a University graduate kind of way, able to survive against all odds. Helped along of course by an insolent and incompetent helmsman, who is excused his utterly cretinous behaviour because he wears a cowboy hat and says things like 'I'm coming in hot'.

I mean, really? The only good thing about the movie is the location of Fiordland National Park in New Zealand.

Rating: 1 star out of 7.

Brexit Under Boris Johnson

France are said to be making dire threats now. It's all bluff, France stands to lose a lot if they play clever over Brexit. If the physical movement of goods across the border with the UK slows down, the UK could simply respond by slowing down two things, the movement of people through airports, and the movement of capital through London. Both would cripple France.

And this talk of a need for a hard border with Ireland is nonsense. Have people not heard of licence plate readers by camera? That's all you set up, trucks need to be registered and are logged when crossing the border. If they depart from their route, or they appear heavier than indicated (ride height etc), then they could be pulled over by mobile patrols. It's really simple, basically a lot of panic merchants are stoking fear where there really need be none.

Just get on with Brexit. Enough talk already.

Greta Thunberg's Zero Carbon Journey

What kind of message is Greta Thunberg sending deciding to sail from Europe to North America? The sensible thing would be to fly, but oh no, we have to applaud the sheer stupidity of climate panic merchants like Thunberg. Newsflash: if everyone decided not to fly, the world would plunge into a global depression the likes never seen before. Millions would die as a result.

I'll tell you the message she is sending: we should all go back to live in the eighteenth century, a time when poverty prevailed, there was little or no democracy. Infant mortality was horrendous, life was brutal and short. Well, you can stuff that message where the sun don't shine.

And her journey is crammed with carbon, look at the kind of boat she's travelling on, and the technology she's using on board, it's all crammed with carbon. If she was trying to set any example, she would travel on a boat made entirely of wood (no metal nails) and cloth sails. Hmm?

Who is exploiting this young woman for their own political agenda?

Top 10 Greatest/Most Famous People

Here's my top 10 of the greatest and most famous people of all time. The criteria:

* No-one famous or great since 1900 - that's too recent
* Must have actually done stuff, not just talked about it
* Must have stood the test of time
* Must have instant name recognition
* Must have done something first, or started a trend, not simply followed on or built upon
* Ranked in order.

1. Julius Caesar

Pretty obvious I know, but truly great he is. You may argue that without William Shakespeare's play, he'd be far less known, maybe Pompey would be the one we'd all admire instead. However Caesar holds his own in any company. Today his place of cremation is a shrine attracting millions of people. What is it about him that pulls on so many heartstrings. He was betrayed, perhaps that's what it is. His accomplishments are many, and he had a capable team around him. But most importantly, his influence led to the founding of the Roman empire.

2. Marc Antony

Caesar's sidekick and one of few men Julius Caesar confided in. He wasn't as gifted as Caesar nor as lucky.

3. Cleopatra VII

Rounding out the top three, an argument could be made that Cleopatra VII deserves a higher place. However her kingdom was badly in decline by the time she came to power and her joining with Caesar and then Antony is simply clutching at straws. She was clever, no doubt about it, but doomed - sadly. Sidebar note: she was the mother of Cleopatra Selene II, wife of my personal hero Juba II, King of Numidia.

4. Alexander the Great

A warring tourist. He'd also jumped on the bandwagon started by his father.

5. Genghis Khan

He started something great, and established it, but the Mongols were based off a nomadic lifestyle that could not sustain expansion indefinitely. That's why the Mongol advance to Spain halted, the harvests back home had ceased, or were not as good, meaning families were having fewer children and so replacements were not arriving in sufficient numbers.

6. Duke of Wellington (Arthur Wellesley)

'Old nosey' was the greatest defensive military commander of all time. Beat everyone up, never lost, started the Great in Britain, the world's biggest empire (and still is, suck on that). Then he became a statesman. He could be described as somewhat odd, and maybe a little daft. He used to say, when it was time to wake up, it was time to roll out. He meant it, sleeping in a small bed if he slept at all. In later life he'd give out little medals to the children who played on his estate. One girl he liked a lot and he told her he would arrange for a place at horse guards to be kept open for her. This either meant he didn't know she was a girl - horse guards were all men - or he was the first modern male. Maybe the latter as he was a loyal servant of Queen Victoria.

7. Giuseppe Garibaldi

Africa needs a Garibaldi. He unified Italy and had the sense to not place himself on the throne. Everywhere you go in Italy there is Garibaldi this and Garibaldi that. But he earns his place on my list because he was trans-continental, taking his ideas and 'freedom fighting' to Brazil and Uruguay. Special mention must be made of Anita Garibaldi, she makes makes my list of top women to follow.

8. King Henry VIII

Henry gets a bad press. He reformed institutions that led to the later rise of the British Empire, so a pretty significant figure then.

9. Aristotle

The father of western philosophy. You can't be logical without reference to Aristotle.

10. Leonardo da Vinci

A polymath, da Vinci was good at everything. He makes the list due to this sheer breadth of creative work.

*********

A few names missing then, so to explain: Machiavelli and Sun Tzu are lionised by Americans but don't make the cut. Marco Polo too is not on the list. No idea why? They're largely only talking about things. And note, no Americans on the list either, the US hasn't been around long enough, George Washington was just a small-time farmer and Abraham Lincoln a small town lawyer. They wouldn't even make a top 100. Get over it.

Special mention must go to two outstanding historical figures. The first is Xerxes I the ruler of Persia 486- 465 BC who withstood Greek aggression and took Athens. Forget all the Hollywood movies portraying him as a psycho, Xerxes was bringing enlightenment to Greece and all who took his side. Think about his major engineering, the pontoon bridge across the Hellespont and when the first attempt failed did he take it out on the men? No, he flogged the water. A reasonable man indeed. And both modern and ancient historians try to describe Xerxes invasion of Greece as unsuccessful or a defeat. That he burnt Athens. No on both counts; Athens burned because the inhabitants ran away, leaving their fires burning, which resulted in part of the city burning down. And when Xerxes got to Athens he found the place a shithole and cold. He went home. That's what happened. The 300? That was 300 Spartans plus thousands of others, they don't tell you in the movies about Sparta only sending a small force as it was harvest time. Hmm?? But Xerxes doesn't make the list as hardly anyone knows his name in the West, due to thousands of years of propaganda. The reality is everyone took his lead and wanted to be on his side as he was a most reasonable man.

Then we have Vlad III Dracula, otherwise known as Vlad the Just, Vlad the Freedom Fighter, Vlad the Most Wise, Vlad the Prosecutor of Corruption. His enemies unkindly call him Vlad the Impaler. He probably deserves making a list of the most maligned and misunderstood. Vlad failed though, betrayed and assassinated by so-called friends. But he gave Romania its identity, still evident today. 

IPCC Giving Every Reason to be Ignored

I'm basing my opinion on the latest IPCC report which suggests humans need to eat less meat to avert climate catastrophe. Story here:

https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/climate-news/114866294/everything-we-do-affects-our-climate-experts-react-to-climate-change-report

What does the IPCC hope to achieve with this alarmist nonsense? Do they want to be taken seriously or not? News flash: humans are omnivores. That means a diet of plants and meat is fine. There's a reason for that and it's a good one; meat packs a lot of sustenance into a small package. If you want proof of that then observe the large predators. After a kill they spend much of their time lolling about the place, satisfied. By comparison herbivores spend all day eating (and all night scared). Humans cannot spend all day grazing, they need meat. Ask anyone who has had a serious job of work to do, they'll tell you quickly enough what actually works.

Human behaviour is not going to change  and anyone who thinks otherwise is stupid. And I don't even think that of the IPCC, no, I think they've been taken over by a vegetarian agenda.

What's the solution? Engineer solutions, that's what. Use carbon capture techniques in our soils, and animal diet that reduces emissions. The idea that people are going to suddenly chow down on lentils is pure fantasy and quite frankly, laughable.

NZ Breakers Basketball

I'm not a big fan of the Breakers, the Auckland based team that plays in the Australian NBL or National Basketball League. I think such teams detract from the game in New Zealand. Having said that though, they've had quite a bit of success, winning several titles.

They're now under new ownership and have undergone many changes for the upcoming season. New players, new coaching staff. Will this new outfit be any good? I'm going to stick my neck out and say, no, they won't be any good. I've seen teams stacked with overrated talent crash and burn too often to have any faith in the approach they're taking. If they were prepared to invest more in locals, then I'd be more positive, but a team made up principally of imports won't have the same commitment.

Rocket Lab Going Reusable

In another development from the innovative people at Rocket Lab, they're going to recover the first stage of their Electron rocket soon after launch. I note their plan to eventually catch the rocket stage by using a helicopter. Read about it here:

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12256289

Check out the Rocket Lab founder Peter Beck's presentation

Rugby League: NZ Warriors Victims of Racism

What I suspected all along turns out to be true. The New Zealand Warriors are the victims of racism in the NRL, read about this incident:

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/league/114635053/former-warriors-coach-mark-graham-reveals-racist-slurs-by-referee

Note that the NRL's main concern is how the slur came to be heard. That about sums things up.

But I think it goes further than referees calls. The Australian teams don't want all the talent stacked into the one team, in this case the Warriors. It turns out all the top talent is Maori or Pacific Island, and their natural home is in the Warriors. What I think happens is the Warriors get dumped on regularly so they never look good and so the talent moves to the other clubs, thus spreading the ability around. If the Warriors were allowed to win, they'd be fully stacked and the others'd have no chance.

Oh and for you statisticians, the research has been done on this and the Warriors never get a chance. It comes down to when penalties are awarded and on what part of the field. Early in games the Warriors are penalised when hard on defence or attack. This means the Warriors are put under added pressure. Then later in the game the referees make things look even by giving the Warriors simple penalties anywhere on the field, long after the game is already decided.

The Jacinda Ardern Media Approach

I've finally figured out the media approach of New Zealand's Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern. She's known for jotting things on the back of an envelope or in a notebook so I'll describe her approach imagining looking over her shoulder at her notes and sounding the way she does....

Talk about:
Communidies
Opportunidies
Diversidy
Tamariki
Kuia
( add other Maori words as appropriate)
Absoludely
Remember to nod nod nod
Concerned frown - nod nod nod (three nods, nice)
Position face for photograph, ensure photographer ready
Compassionate smile, embrace someone.

New Zealand Polytechnics to be Nationalised

The New Zealand Labour-NZ First government has just shot itself in the foot again, this time moving to centralise all the Polytechnics and Institutes of Technology under one administration. This has got to be a big blow to Invercargill and the people of Southland. They have SIT with its Zero Fees scheme. I am informed they can do this as it is funded by the local licensing trust and a large property portfolio. Invercargill still has an effective licensing trust returning the profits from alcohol sales to the community (they've also built sports facilities with those profits).

What the government are doing is similar to what highly bureaucratic multinational corporations do. Instead of rewarding success, they penalise it and drag everyone down to a low common denominator, creating layers of management that are largely pointless and who achieve nothing.  They do this in the name of efficiency and cost saving, but it rarely ends up being either.

Southland must be livid and they have every right to be. I was in Invercargill a couple of weeks ago and I was impressed to see the SIT campus was buzzing, full of diversity, the students were spending spending spending. This latest move will be a real kick in the guts for Invercargill.

Free Kindle Reads

Two of my novels are available for free on Kindle today. They are...

The Crushing Son https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01DK352BK

Basketball Obsession https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00VIEZ51G