Comms Restored

Posted on 16 November 2010 by SJPONeill

Bit the bullet tonight and bought another one of these…prepaid only…so that I can stay connected when I am on the road and so Carmen can do the same with our other one: also means that when I am home alone, I can be connected for work and stuff as well (still no landline broadband options in Raurimu) although we might do the Farmside thing if I can arrange to be doing more full time work from home again (if the Ohakea Mess can survive a big drop in its house red consumption!!)…anyway, prepaid mobile broadband gives me the option of loading the stick up when I need it…I bought it from this outfit…

…which a few years ago, even last year, would have surprised me as Telecom here always been the monolithic unresponsive unfriendly mega(by local standards) corp which has done little to really satisfy consumer demand or concerns…but…I have to say that, since its big XT network meltdowns in 2009, not only does the CEO, Paul Reynolds, still have his job but he has managed to steer the organisation to the point where it is providing excellent mobile coverage, especially for data which is the only way that we ruralites have been able to break free from the constraints of dial-up internet access…when Telecom rebranded to its new logo last year, I would have offered that it represented the asterisk that referred to the contractual fine print that no one ever read but which granted Telecom an out from any obligations to provide anything resembling service…

With a firm hand at the helm, it has certainly turned around its mobile services with high speed coverage over most of the country and certainly putting its two closest rivals to shame…

I’m really looking forward to this C2ISTAR conference for the next week or so…it has been a ‘challenge’ to set up and certainly a good learning experience…and, in previewing some of the presentations this afternoon, I am fascinated by some of the developments that have been going on in the last year…

Comms Issues

Posted on 15 November 2010 by SJPONeill

I am attending the ASIC C2ISTAR Working Group meeting this week and next week and am not sure how much net/web access I will have for the duration of the meeting… preparations for this have been consuming most of my available time over the last couple of weeks hence the low rate of updates but it’ll all be done by lunch on Wednesday next week when normal services should be resumed…

Homeward bound

Posted on 25 October 2010 by SJPONeill

OK, so my memories of Brussels are somewhat blurred….had a great time, working with a great team from ASIC but very long days between meetings and then essentially another working days worth of networking each evening….

It’s the first time I’ve had anything to do with NATO itself as opposed to the various member nations and that was an experience in its own right…even the sheer size of the building itself takes some getting used to and it is easy enough to get misplaced…might have to take Kirk next time as my guide dog…he’d love the Belgian beer too…

Regardless of professional activities, I’ve had to add Brussels to my very short list of cities to revisit when Carmen and I do our grand world tour….without even trying we could spend a week just exploring the narrow winding streets and alleyways of the old city…

The public transport system isn’t that intuitive and I’ve had to do a bit more walking that entirely necessary after dismounting at the wrong stop…all the signs are bilingual but English isn’t one of the linguals so the 5th Form French has had a bit of a hammering the last week or so…it’s a good system once you get on top of it and I know for next time to always have a public transport Plan B…

A belt of crappy weather was just enough to send a few ripples across the European air transport pond but even with a number of delays, Singapore Airlines managed to get us into Changi 15 minutes ahead of the original schedule – guess that crew’ll be up for a bonus.

The October in-flight entertainment programme is no less bland the third time around as it was the first or second…

I watched this before dinner was served and would rate it an average at best…too much game-like leaping around (yes, I know it was derived from a game – think I used to play the original on my Amiga way back when…) at the expense of what could have been quite a good story…

Again I crashed out (the joy of an exit row!!) most of the flight and started (again) to watch this – I’d caught the middle of this on the way up on an old 747 that lacked video on demand but landing came before the end of the movie. This time I got the beginning of the movie but still haven’t managed to get to the end….third time lucky on the leg to Auckland…

It’s a dampish day here in Singapore and I’m about to check out and go in search of food before heading off to Miniature Hobby and Hobby Mountbatten for some nostalgia shopping….

Hit the road, Jack…

Posted on 21 October 2010 by SJPONeill

…and don’t you come back no more, no more, no more…

I remember Liz Mullane from working on the Lord of the Rings trilogy ten or so years ago…a sharp operator and a top lady…

…a meeting of Wellington film technicians came together within 3 hours and over a thousand people came – then when they decided to turn up at the equity meeting to put their point of view to Simon Whipp it was cancelled! – they are now at Parliament with some basic demands – take off the International boycott and MEAA get out of NZ!
Feel free to send this to everyone you know so they realise that there are consequences! This is much more than an actors issue! This is about a militant Australian union trying to take control of our film industry!
Over a thousand people are challenging the action taken by 400? (reported Akld meeting turnout) and that’s just in Wellington alone (Wgtn meeting 80 tops?). Do the math!
Liz Mullane

Bugger off, Skippy! We neither want nor need your ‘help’…

In “Singas” again

Posted on 17 October 2010 by SJPONeill

I like Singapore…and it would have to be my stopover of choice when travel overseas…It’s not just that I lived here for two years back in the 80s although that certainly helps as I know my way around – although that’s a relative thing as the rate of change here has always been astronomical…I like the people, their go-getter attitude to life – and if anyone doubts that such an attitude exists they only have to wonder why such a small nation with no apparent natural resources has transformed itself into, not only a powerhouse economy, but also the major military power in the region…

It’s always warm here but never so much that it is intolerable and even if it were, it is a simple think to duck from one aircon complex to the next; summa-summa with the rain, you only really get wet here if you want to…the people are friendly and helpful and so (rightly) proud of what they are creating here. Unless you’re pretty affluent, the real shopping is so-so but it’s so much fun shopping in the likes of Far East and Lucky Plazas just to play the haggling game with the vendors. The food is fantastic and it’s well worth a stopover just to do some culinary experimentation – although to really do it justice, your stopover would have to be 3-4 weeks long…

There’s a lot that Kiwi cities (especially that amorphous all-consuming blob just north of the Bombays) could learn from Singapore when it comes to public transport. When we arrived here in 1987, the two main ways of getting around were buses or taxis (for us, the decision of which to take was generally driven by the amount of shopping one might have, although for two or people that taxis were simply just that much more convenient. That year, Singapore announced it was going to implement a light rail Mass Rapid Transit system. There was much disbelief because most of the land here had already been built on and where would a useful rail system go? Easy, underground…Singapore’s engineers could teach Tolkein’s and Feist’s dwarves a thing or two about underground construction as, in the last two decades, they have carved out a whole new sub-surface city, the existence of which is almost undetectable from the surface. The first MRT trains were up and running before we left in 1989, and offered (and still do) fast, clean aircon transport around the island. Two decades later, the MRT goes everywhere….

So I’m here just for a night of my way up to Europe for a conference next week. I’ve spent the morning having a wander and recce-ing out shopping for homeward stopover next weekend…apart from carelessly dehydrating myself by walking without enough water, it has, again, been thoroughly enjoyable…I picked up a little netbook off First-In before I left and have been experimenting with it as a means of maintaining comms and drafting thoughts while on the road. This post is my first crack at using Windows Live Writer to draft a blog post offline and certainly the experience so far is better than using the WordPress tools…I was a little miffed that First-In’s supplier screwed up the order and only sent me the 160Gb version instead of the advertised 250Gb one but First-In was very quick to refund the difference and let’s be honest about it – am I really ever going to max out a 160Gb hard drive on a netbook. I’m hoping that it will be quite a handy little staging area when I can dump downloads from the camera, carry on writing while I’m on the road (which looks like it will be for the foreseeable future), and keep in touch with Home Command….so far, I’m not disappointed…while perhaps no Kindle, it is certainly quite handy for e-reading and commenting on PDFs….

In a few hours, I’ll be winging my way through the friendly skies and the next update should come from the end the European summer (hopefully as I haven’t packed a lot of warm clothes…with a little luck, the movies on this leg will be an improvement on those on the Auckland –Singapore leg…

robin hood 2010

I was really looking forward to the Crowe/Scott take on Robin Hood and found it a real mish-mashy disappointment, neither Arthur, or Martha, closer to Men in Tights than Gladiator…..

Similarly Toy Story 3 lacked originality and was just more of the same from 1 and 2.

I did enjoy From Russia With Love (yes, the oldie from 1963), an old A-Team episode and a couple of episodes from Ashes to Ashes which I missed entirely when it screened on NZ telly…

Another Victory for the Whiny-baby Brigade…

Posted on 11 October 2010 by SJPONeill

In another resounding victory for the self-righteous, sit-at-home, ne’er-do-wrong brigade of whiny-babies that think the world should be nice…not interesting, exciting, stimulating…just nice…in other words, bland and boring…and that’s what Breakfast (the show and the meal) will be from now on without Paul Henry at the helm…yes, of course, he’s brash, opinionated, childish, immature but…BUT…he does say many of those things that many many people are actually thinking and his latest mindless verbal gaffe is typical of this when he asked the Prime Minister last week on live TV “…Is he [the current Governor-General] even a New Zealander? Are you going to choose a New Zealander who looks and sounds like a New Zealander this time?…”

And that’s a good question…not racial grounds but simply because no one has the faintest idea where the current Governor-General comes from, who he is, or what he does…in short, he’s just like Breakfast will be from now on…nice but bland and boring – there’s probably some kind of irony in that. Previous Governor-Generals as far back as I can remember (and that’s getting to be some way now) have been public figures of some form who Joe Public had actually heard of before not some nice chap who doesn’t really appear to say or do much at all…so good on you, Paul, for speaking up and saying what so many think…

And while we’re on the topic of what so many think, here’s a snap of the Stuff.co.nz poll this morning on the subject…

The little yellow bar says it all...

And, Paul, I hope that you get a good job back on air…probably snapped up by someone else already…and do get to put that Skyhawk in the back garden…

All parked up with no place to go...

9-6 The under-dog bites…

Posted on 23 September 2010 by SJPONeill

Jamie Hellur of Auckland tries to make a break during the round nine ITM Cup match between Southland and Auckland. Photo / Getty Images

It’s always good to see an underdog holds it own, better when it not only thrashes one of the most affluent clubs but gets to retain THE Shield, and better when the trounced club is Auckland…of course, this will mean zip to overseas readers (imagine the SuperBowl but maybe played for 4-5 times a season) but as one who was a temporary Southlander in the early 80s and was there when they clawed their way in the First Division, Southland’s retention of the Shield is a great achievement…a massive morale spike in our southernmost province that can only be a good thing…

Whatever…

Posted on 13 July 2010 by SJPONeill

It must have been a slow news day for The NZ Herald yesterday as it dominated its front page with a cheap promo item promoting an item in the August 2010 North & South in which mass murderer Stephen Anderson puts ‘his side’ of the story and says he’s sorry…that’s OK, dude you only killed six defenceless people during your drug-induced spin-out…please, feel free to rejoin society – NOT!!! The media release for the Aug 10 North and South says…

Murder and Insanity

In 1997 Stephen Anderson shot and killed six people – including his father – and wounded four others. The crime became known as the Raurimu massacre. Anderson, then 24, was found not guilty by reason of insanity.

Now sufficiently recovered to live in the community, he writes publicly – and very personally – for the first time about his descent into mental illness and its tragic consequences

Whichever way you spin it, this guy hasn’t even done thirteen years for killing six people and the ‘I was misunderstood’ defence carries no more weight that ‘they made me do it’…To add insult to injury, North & South even paid this criminal $2500 for his story and here I was thinking that crims were not allowed to profit from their crimes…The bottom line is that if Stephen Anderson had not been breaking the law in his initial drug use then it is unlikely that this massacre would ever have occurred – by being a minor criminal, he became a major criminal and thus should still be a guest of her majesty for some time to come…

I’m sorry but I just can not accept the way in which we seem so fixated on looking after the ‘rights’ of criminals and just gloss over the rights of victims and ordinary citizens…at the very least, the money paid for this article should go to some victim support fund as a very ‘in your face’ reminder that crime does not pay – although it seems that, in real life, it does…

Fortunately, the other mainstream media had real news to cover yesterday so hopefully this festering sore will be allowed to heal and the sleepy hollow that is Raurimu can go back to being so…

All’s well…

Posted on 17 June 2010 by SJPONeill

…down here in the capital but damnably wet…this workshop is very interesting and stimulating with a large number of insights…will be home tomorrow night and will start organising my thoughts for a update…

Hueys in the sun!!

Posted on 22 May 2010 by SJPONeill

It’s a sight we don’t see very often these days, a four ship formation of Hueys, and will see even less of once NH-90 starts to come online at the end of the year…

We heard the familiar thwokka- thwokka approaching and ran outside – fortunately the camera was to hand as it always is when the twins are here – to choruses of “…hewicoppa, hewicoppa…” I snapped blindly into the sun and got one frame that caught all four…

I’ve got many hours in the back and memories of the venerable Huey and will be sad to see the last one depart our skies in a few years. They have been the mainstay of our tactical rotary wing capability for 45 years and pulled off some amazing feats…

I was on exercise in Malaysia in 1985, harboured up on one of the steep-as razorback ridges with massive trees reaching high into the sky. Late one afternoon, the company medic was drying his blistered feet by an open fire (you know how it goes: one rule for company HQ and another for the troops!!). Knowing he was due to go for a helo ride the following morning, he thought that he would be proactive and remove the gas canister from his cooker (gas canister are considered dangerous air cargo once the seal is broken and the Air Force is zealous in jettisoning such risks to the aircraft – nothing quite like seeing your pack spiraling into the jungle from a couple of thousand feet). Trouble is, said medic hadn’t quite joined the dots between the open fire he was drying his feet by and the highly flammable nature of th contents of the cylinder.

The inevitable happened: the gas from the cylinder as he removed it sprayed all over his feet and into the fire. In seconds he had literally roasted the flesh from both feet. Fortunately our CSM was an old soldier, former SAS and had spent his youth in South East Asian holiday spots like Borneo and South Vietnam – he was able to dose the medic up with morphine and dress the burns as the sigs called in a dust-off. When the Huey came in, it wasn’t able to drop the stretcher through the canopy. With the light fading and serious doubts as to the medic’s ability to last the night without hospital treatment – he was well into shock by this time – word was spread for everyone to get int heir pits and keep their heads down.

Robert Mason’s Chickenhawk had only been released the year before and was pretty much compulsory reading for soldiers at the time – in it he described the construction of the Huey’s rotor and how on occasion, it would be used to open up a tight LZ in emergencies. That’s exactly what happened in this instance: the Huey pulled back, dropped down a few metres and just drove into the trees. We, who all had our cameras ready, were suddenly burrowing into the bottom of our pits trying to make them deeper, as head-sized hunks of mahogany slammed into the ground all around us…the winch came down, the medic was strapped into the stretcher and lifted out, just as the sun disappeared…onya, 141 Flight RNZAF – we always knew you’d come for us when the brown stuff hits the spinny-round thing…