OKC Out

The OKC Thunder have lost the playoff series against the Jazz. In the sixth game look at the Stats for the OKC starting five; Carmelo Anthony 7 points and 3 rebounds, Paul George 5 points and 3 rebounds. Are these two the worst acquisitions in the history of the NBA? If you look at my earlier posts I certainly have never rated Anthony, there's the proof, 7 measly points when it really mattered.

Diamond and Silk

Two American women who are Donald Trump supporters, say they've been censored by Facebook for expressing their views. Read about it here;

https://www.cnet.com/news/pro-trump-social-media-stars-diamond-and-silk-slam-facebook-in-congressional-hearing/

The sisters from North Carolina, who before taking interest in Trump had been Democrats, say Facebook had misclassified their page and used algorithms to suppress it on the platform. Specifically, they say Facebook had incorrectly labeled their page as "very liberal," which meant their page didn't surface on pages of their conservative fans and resulted in them not being able to attract advertising from marketers trying to reach conservatives.   

"We've also noticed how someone with a liberal point of view that spewed hate against the president can garner up to 19 million views with only 539,000 followers, yet we have 1.2 million followers and only received 13,000 views on our video," she continued.

NBA Playoffs 2018

A much tighter playoff round this year in the NBA. The Pelicans are looking good. It's also good to see the Bucks doing well against the highly placed Celtics. Of particular interest is how the Jazz are going against the Thunder. This is not so much of an upset from where I'm sitting. The Thunder's western conference 4th placing was more good luck than anything else. They could just as easily have been down the bottom or not even in the playoffs. Things are too close to call right now, but don't be surprised to see the Jazz win their series against the Thunder.

NRL: New Zealand Warriors

What has happened to the NZ Warriors? All of a sudden they're winners. It's the age of complete turnarounds. The Warriors used to be a team that played for 60 minutes, then collapsed in the last 20 minutes of every match. This was so predictable that I made good money betting against them. If they did manage to win then I'd simply double up for the next week and bet against them again.

But I wouldn't bet against them this season, now they look a completely different team. Whatever they've done at the Warriors, someone needs to bottle it. They'd make a fortune.

Duncan Garner and Maria Folau (neeTutaia)

When are New Zealand's TV3 going to jettison that fool Duncan Garner? I heard him this morning trying to draw NZ netball goal shoot, Maria Folau, into the debate concerning Israel Folau, her husband. What kind of thinking is this from Garner? What about his own racist performance when he wrote a column for a Sunday paper where he assumed all Asians in his way in a queue to buy underwear must be immigrants. Would it be OK to ask Garner's wife what she thought? Hmm?

What I can say though is it looks like Maria Folau has found a quality bloke. He's a keeper. Why? He believes in something, that's why. Her husband is not one of those jellyfish wibby wobbly full of corporate speak. So Garner, get off the grass and stop trying to inflame things, you're just being vexatious, stop it.

Israel Folau

Israel Folau. a rugby player who represents Australia, has had something to say about where he sees Gays in relation to God. It turns out he's a Christian and a devout one at that. Good for him you'd expect people to say, but it turns out that inclusiveness and diversity only extends to certain people who espouse views that are acceptable.

Folau has been pilloried and his views totally misrepresented and the worst treatment has been at the hands of the media who don't seem capable of intelligent thought. On top of that he's been called in for a talk by Rugby Australia who seem more motivated by commercial considerations than by respecting the man's religious beliefs.

Read about it here: https://www.smh.com.au/sport/rugby-union/israel-folau-breaks-silence-says-he-would-walk-away-from-australian-rugby-criticises-raelene-castle-20180416-p4z9zh.html


A reader of the SMH story I find myself totally agreeing with so include their whole comment below. 

Now, this is a freedom of speech issue and as much as I hate to use the term, because it's become the last refuge of alt-right nut jobs, the bad side of political correctness.
Sadly, the general level of understanding of what the freedom entails is so wrong it's beyond belief. IF"s comments didn't contravene RA's inclusivity policy, this wasn't RA's fight, and it's handled the whole thing very badly. This is a very good example of trial by media of the wrong person for the wrong reason on the wrong issue of importance.
What RA needed was a philosopher, not a spin doctor. They jumped the wrong shark at the wrong time.
I don't agree with IF, or with christian literalists - they are no different to any other kind of literalist interpretation of a religious book which usually borders on, or wades fully into, fundamentalism. But then, they are also no different from atheists screaming from the sidelines about empirical proof and other straw men.
IF is entitled to speak his "truth" as the saying goes, and present a case for why, whether we agree with him or not. He's not refusing to play against gay people, he's not saying they can't play rugby, he's not telling RA to bad gay people - he's not demanding temporal discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender.
The saddest thing of all, part from the slow tearing apart of a fellow human by the ravening mob, is that "society", or more narrowly "us" in the digital echo chamber through the MSM and social media, has turned on him and "we" are learning nothing about diversity, compassion, forgiveness, acceptance - some of the things the book he defers to was actually written for to teach humans how to evolve - whether we believe in sky faeries, or kindly benign old men in white gowns living in the clouds, or aliens, or the scientific method, or miracles caused or wrought by supernatural being(s), or nothing.... ....or not.

New Zealand Bans Offshore Oil Exploration

Here we go, Labour has fallen into the clutches of the communist party of New Zealand, err, I mean the Greens.

The Gummint (note my use of Labour vernacular when talking about the government) has announced the stopping of offshore oil exploration

This is a sop to the Greens. Where were the unions in this decision, aren't Labour all about the workers? Don't they realise that the oil and gas business is a producer offering high rates of pay? Hmm? C'mon Labour don't be so quick to buckle.

But it's only offshore right? That still means inshore oil, coal to oil, etc., doesn't it? Because there's plenty of that for now, so get on with it. And does this decision save the environment? No way, what it does is worsen things; those jobs which could be in NZ are sent to low wage economies and with a worse environmental record. So the planet actually dies faster. Morons.

Be brave Labour and stand up to the Greens, they're a bunch of naysayers who never do anything, few vote for them, if they insist on having their way then go to the polls and crush them. Do a deal with NZ First, a safe seat here or there - you get the idea, and crush the communist Greens.

Azealia Banks Escapades

Azealia Banks continues to put out interesting music. Add the music to her creditable acting performance in Love Beats Rhymes.

See Escapades embedded below

Malawi Queens Win

Yay, the Malawi Netball team, the Malawi Queens, have beaten New Zealand at the Commonwealth Games 2018 (57-53). They never gave up even though it looked they were going to lose. This is Malawi's first Netball win over New Zealand.

Amazon Kindle Pricing

Just a heads up in case you contribute to Kindle from outside the US or buy from the US main site from outside the US. I've discovered their website only updates regularly in relation to pages viewable on the main site from within the US. If you change your Kindle publication pricing you may not be able to see those changes for weeks. I have only just discovered that, much to my horror. What can happen is a price displayed on the US website can remain showing the old price in the overseas location for a very long time (in the US itself the price will be correct).

I suggest being aware of this when buying on the US main site from overseas. You may find yourself looking at a dated page, and the price you're about to pay is much different. The updated price will be viewable to those in the US but not all locations worldwide at the same time.

Note I'm NOT talking about regional sites and their pricing, that's a different issue altogether, please don't confuse them. I've just spent an evening trying to educate Amazon's Indian help desk on this, they just come back to, 'we have different prices in different parts of the world.' Yes, I get that, understand, but how about updating the pages that people view from outside the US on the US main site!! On that subject they wobble their heads.

Edit to add: In the last couple of days I've noticed changes that I made have updated, a full month after the changes were made. However in the US itself those same changes were live less than 72 hours after the changes.

Second Season of Alone

I have to say I was disappointed with the start to the second season of Alone, the TV reality show where people are left in a remote location and have to exist on their own. You all have probably seen it already but I've only just started watching. The first to tap out was a black guy by the name Desmond who wandered around for less than a day, did nothing apart from try to cut some wood, then he was out of there. What? He didn't even try to light a fire? Was he employed to flesh out the numbers was he?

Then in the same episode it ends with a female competitor cutting her hand. Her name is Mary. She couldn't even cut kindling. Give me a break, this is lame so far. The first season, that was interesting. But it was also tarnished by people giving up too easily, like the guy who packed it in just because he lost his Fero rod. Also I got the impression that many got out when they thought they'd done enough to promote themselves and their skills. However so far the so-called experts in the second season appear to be couch potatoes.

There is one woman competitor, the larger lady called Tracy, she looks useful. We'll have to wait and see how they get on, don't tell me the outcome.

Australia Cricket Cheats

Australia have been cheating at cricket for decades. Ban the whole team for a year, that'd sort the problem. Ban them all I say.

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/cricket/australia-in-south-africa/smiths-shame-australia-media-slam-rotten-cricket-culture/articleshow/63460950.cms

Why Julie Anne Genter is Wrong (Mostly)

New Zealand Green MP, Julie Anne Genter is causing controversy by calling for old white men to be ditched in favour of others.

http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2018/03/old-white-men-should-make-way-for-others-julie-anne-genter.html

Some argument can be made for moving many of them on. Some old white men occupying positions of power are simply there serving time. They offer nothing and achieve little. But you do still need some of those old white men and I'll tell you why - they know where the keys are kept.

That's right, call it administrative memory or what you will. But these old timers know why something is done the way it's done and that can be very valuable information. It's valuable even if you want to challenge that very same information. It's better than stumbling around in the dark.

But I don't like the Greens and this issue is partly the reason why; they're really just socialists re-branded, Green is just a flag of convenience. The more they shoot themselves in the foot the faster voters can learn they're not to be trusted and move them out too.

Shane Jones vs Air NZ

And the winner is...Shane Jones. Air New Zealand, what a dud, how many times have they gone bust...hmm?

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/102424489/shane-jones-continues-war-of-words-with-air-nz-as-chairman-hits-back 

I've got to applaud Shane Jones for trying.

Why Westbrook Should Have Left OKC

Have a look at the following video from ESPN. It covers the same ground addressed by me in earlier posts to this blog, pointing out that the Thunder have traded and got little back in return. The argument here is that's because the owner is too tight. Westbrook if he had any sense would get himself to the Lakers and a bigger media market - Los Angeles

http://www.espn.com/video/clip?id=22760850

Sexual Assault Allegations and Labour

Not so good news, Labour are still at it. I'm talking about the latest sexual assault allegations surrounding a 'youth camp' held by the New Zealand Labour Party at Waihi in February of this year. A 20 year old man is alleged to have assaulted at least three teenage girls aged 16.

This is not the first time folks, but it is the first time the matter has gained mainstream media attention, likely because of the current climate which is spotlighting abuse such as this. When I first heard the latest news, I commented, 'I wonder if the person doing this was the son of someone important?'

I say that because Labour tried to keep a lid on it. It appears they put pressure on the girls to not make a police complaint, and not to go public. This kind of pressure is never overt; it is usually implied in statements around doing what the victim wants, and making counselling available. The implication is that any complaint could result in the victim also being labelled or judged.

Not good enough Labour. The 20 year old is a man, not a boy being silly or inappropriate on a school camp and requiring corrective action be taken. He's a sex offender, pure and simple.

Will this sink Labour? No. Should Labour own this and deal with it appropriately? Yes. Will they? Let's wait and see.

Meanwhile Don Brash, libertarian and former National and Act Party serial underachiever has questioned whether this matter is newsworthy; it led the news across NZ yesterday. You're wrong this time Brash; this is a lead item as Labour tried to cover it up. 

Link on this story: https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/102237347/second-sexual-assault-allegation-surfaces-for-labour-party

NBA: OKC's Playoff Chances

I'm still not convinced the Oklahoma City Thunder will make the playoffs. They're just barely hanging on to fifth place in the western conference. The Clippers and the Jazz could easily qualify in the top 8, and the Pelicans, Timberwolves and Nuggets are playing well at the business end of the season. I put the patchy form of OKC down to the Carmelo Anthony factor.

Labour Will Not Ban Rodeo

Finally some sense. There has been a concerted campaign in New Zealand these last few months, from groups opposed to rodeo. This worked its way through to the NZ government, but they've put a stop to the idea - rodeo will not be banned.

Phew is all I can say. Rodeo is very popular amongst the rural community in NZ. The only criticism of it from me is that it's an American affectation, rather akin to tractor pulling. NZ has its own traditional activities; eventing (horses), sheep shearing, wood chopping, fencing (of the farm fence kind, not sword fighting though some do this too), ploughing, baking, sheep herding, and so on. But some enjoy rodeo and the events are places for the often isolated rural communities to come together.

This is a classic town vs country debate that has been ongoing for decades. When Labour are in government, town is usually in ascendancy. It looks like the current NZ Labour government want to stay in power for a long time, as any ban of rodeo would have seen a widespread 'nanny state' backlash that would have been disastrous.

Labour Announce Education Shake-up

Okay so New Zealand has a new coalition government, led by Labour. It was needed, a change of government that is, and NZ clearly voted for change despite what National say when bleating about their defeat. A lot of good to talk about in the change; we'll get investment in construction, regional development, primary industry as that's where a lot of Labour voters are. All good.

But the not-so-good we can see starting to happen already. Labour, this may come as a shock so I hope you're sitting down when you read this, are owned by teachers. That's right, teachers in schools own the party that now runs the country.

So they're going to make changes. This could be good or it could be really bad and I'm picking really bad as it's the fox being put in charge of the hen house. Teachers are a lazy bunch you see. If they weren't lazy then they wouldn't be teachers, they'd be doing something that involved hard work (stop right there, I used to be teacher, don't tell me it's hard work, just don't, I stopped teaching to do something that was difficult). Teachers are necessary, very necessary but they're not rocket scientists. If they were rocket scientists then they'd be building rockets but they're not, so they're not.

What will happen is more control being put in the hands of teachers, and what you'll get is even less teaching. The new age of the illiterate and innumerate is about the dawn on the good people of NZ and they don't even know it. I'm just glad my children dodged this bullet.

I've written about this before, you can check some of my posts out here:

http://kenhorlor.blogspot.com/2014/06/reform-of-nz-education.html

http://kenhorlor.blogspot.com/2014/06/ncea.html

http://kenhorlor.blogspot.com/2016/05/more-nz-education-and-bryan-bruce.html

Winter Olympics 2018

New Zealand has broken the drought with two more medals to add to the one it won 26 years ago in Albertville, France in 1992. That first medal was a silver in the slalom by Annelise Coberger. What this means is that New Zealand is now three times better than Denmark, a country that has still only won one medal. That's right, Denmark won their sole medal, a silver in curling in 1998.

But in 2018 the story of these games must be Norway. A tiny country of only just over 5 million people and they lead on the medal table with only a few days to go. How do they do it? It turns out to be all about money; they're rich and invest in their athletic programmes more broadly. Here's an interested article on the subject.

Oh and Russia has to be called Olympic Athletes from Russia, and they can't use their flag. It's like they're the only country that dopes their athletes. Oh right, pull the other one!! My take on this is very straightforward; the west owns the doping system and keep themselves one step ahead of the agency tasked with detecting abuse. Those outside the loop, like Russia, well they're kept guessing and thus they get busted more often. Just assume all athletes are doped one way or the other and let's move on shall we, I'm sick of the finger being pointed at Russia all the time.