Just how stupid....

... do they think we are?

Just one day after the chairman of British Airways expressed his displeasure at UK airports being forced to perform checks that US airports simply ignore, suspected explosive devices are found at East Midlands Airport on a US-bound UPS flight.

Pure coincidence of course....


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Things you learn

Despite the fact that Palma airport operates virtually 24/7, the only petrol station within MILES of the terminal only opens at 7am.

So when your flight leaves at 8 and you need to check in at 6, you're stuffed.

Well, not REALLY stuffed. There is an alternative.

You return your car half full and the rental company is only TOO PLEASED to charge you twice the going rate PLUS a refuelling fee.

It's a bloody conspiracy....



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Un Dia a Palma de Mallorca amb el iPhone

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Gin makes you sin.....

...but whiksy makes you friksy

OK. So how was I supposed to know....

...that this Joan Miro was a bloke?

A charge of abashed cartage

Classic piece of machine translation (French to English via Portuguese..?)

 A charge of abashed cartage acquired the baby aircraft to lose antithesis and tip over in mid-air during an centralized flight in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

And

The abashed air hostess abrupt appear the cockpit, followed by the passengers

Rest here

Tom Petty. 60. Bugger me.

Ed Marks was my mate Gary's stepson.

He turned up in the summer of 1977 with a Eurorail pass and disappeared for long stretches, returning with obscure albums ("I saw this album that featured Davie Bowie's drummer's brother in Stockholm - I think I'll go back and get it...") and lurid ("Don't tell Mom...") stories.

At some stage, he said "There's this really good new band. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Sort of rock'n'roll boogie. I think you'd like him"

Rarely was a truer word spoken....


"American Girl" - the purest pop song in existence.

Well, she was an American girl
Raised on promises
She couldn't help thinkin'
That there was a little more to life somewhere else

After all it was a great big world
With lots of places to run to
And if she had to die tryin'
She had one little promise she was gonna keep

O yeah, all right
Take it easy, baby
Make it last all night
She was an American girl

Well, it was kind of cold that night
She stood alone on her balcony
Yeah, she could hear the cars roll by
Out on 441 like waves crashin' on the beach

And for one desperate moment
There he crept back in her memory
God it's so painful when something that's so close
Is still so far out of reach

O yeah, all right
Take it easy, baby
Make it last all night
She was an American girl

Oh we get it -- you don't have to learn to play better...

"We're going to open an existing song. Now imagine a group of kids have gotten together to jam in their garage, and every recorded to a drum loop. Now I think it's going to be clear that these guys are going to need a little help." Ouch, lots of off time playing. "Kind of mess, right? Well the problem is the rhythm, everyone is playing sloppy. Drums are great, they're the only thing in the song that's right." 

Oh we get it -- you don't have to learn to play better -- GarageBand will fix it for you.

The enemy of the best is the good enough



Live from the Back to Mac press conference

Absolutely...

Don't the trees look like crucified thieves.....

"Attention travellers"

Says the treacly voice on the PA at LAX and continues

"You are not required to give money to solicitors"

Trying telling that to my lawyer.....

Intelligentsia, Venice Beach, CA

Exactly 56 minutes after touchdown.

Immigration, collect luggage, negotiate
Customs, pick up rental car, drive 7.2 miles in 14 minutes.

Get a doppio on the house for my heroic feat

Interviewing a wheelie bin

Student filmmakers in Devonport

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That's unterestung....

I've just realised that the standard keyboard was invented with New Zealanders in mind.

Just transpose a single character to the left and it magically converts text to phonetic Kiwi.

As in
Fush and chups
Unternational
("Unternationoo" actually, but that's another story)
Chucken

Ad unfinitum

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Be very careful

The last time I was in LA without adult supervision, I rocked on over to Uncle Bill's in Manhattan Beach for breakfast.

"Street cleaning Tuesday" the sign said.

Unsupervised geriatric subconciously thinks: Left NZ on Tuesday so today must be Wednesday - it's all good.

$45 later....

Copilot on QF25 just said "Now don't forget that tomorrow's Thursday all over again so if you had a bad day in New Zealand, you get another crack at it in LA"

Very droll.....


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I'm leaving on a jet plane

Tearful mob scenes @ Mangere.

(Is it true that Air India flights are powered by gas turbans?. )

I apologise if I have caused any offense, but it's what people are thinking but are afraid to say...

This is the life

Dinner at Manuka in Devonport sitting at the table next to Tim Finn (Split Enz..)
Kept myself firmly under control, not doing the fanboy thing.

Not much, anyway....

Down under

So what do they drink in summer?

That must be tricky

I know that Beethoven composed
music without being able to hear it (some folk reckon that that explains quite a bit.....), but painting with a visual impairment?

Lots of modern stuff, a bit short on still lifes, I'm told....

Or: "If you don't like change...

......you're going to dislike irrelevance even more."

Eric Shineski Chief of Staff US Army 1999-2003

Seen at Golden Bear Brewery, Mapua

I don't know about you....

....but I just use a regular towel.

Free, too....
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If someone can explain this gobbledegook....

....I'll be very grateful.

A consent authority must decide that a person is an affected person, in relation to an
activity, if the activity's adverse effects on the person are minor or more than minor (but are
not less than minor)

So "less than minor" means exactly what....?

Negligible? Not significant or important enough to be worth considering? So small, unimportant, etc., as to be not worth considering; insignificant?

Or no effect at all?

Let's see what Tasman District Council decides....