Mike Riversdale

Ian Sparham said... I used to work next to Market Street Court in Newcastle, and every lunchtime the number of similarly dressed knackers either about to go in or just out of court wearing their best shellsuit and scrunchie amazed me. You could almost hear the knuckles dragging as they walked past you. Most people these days are idiots and vermin. FACT. It only works because of one upper-case word right at the end. Many more at The Urban Woo's blog, See you in court. In Primark. - for instance how's this for an opening sentence: I'm not sizeist but......... Without reading the rest of the commen t what do you think Rich said? Thanks (I think) to Chris Bourke at Distractions for the link - his posting is a much better read

It's easy to be a part of nearly anything with this interweb thingy ... and now you can be a crucial part of a Guiness World Record by downloading Firefox (which you'll be doing anyway, of course)! Sounds like a good deal, right? All you have to do is get Firefox 3 during Download Day to help set the record for most software downloads in 24 hours - it’s that easy. We're not asking you to swallow a sword or to balance 30 spoons on your face, although that would be kind of awesome. By the way, the official date for the launch of Firefox 3 will be posted here soon - so check back! Join our community and this effort by pledging today. Of course I won't be because ... I've already got it with Ubuntu, gloat gloat

Niche? Not as much as you'd think - check out this little lot from Moritica's Morgue found at Neil Gaiman's blo g who was himself surfed to from the Wellington City Library Teen's blog

It's always bothered me that there was this sudden expectation that we'd all pay 15% extra for our coffees, croissants, chips and beer on a Public Holiday* I don't mean that I am confused by the law behind - it's just why do I have to pay 15%? Maybe I'm being cynical but I don't believe all that extra revenue is only there to cover the extra costs ... Anyway. The Chocolate Frog here in Miramar (Palmers Garden World, 69-71 Miramar Avenue ) has a stated policy of NOT charging the extra 15% and for that I whole heartedly recommend them ! They're open at 10am on Monday's Public Holiday which is laughingly called " Queens Birthday ". Why in sweet Jeremy does the Queen of New Zealand (a distinct a separate position from the Queen of the UK which happens to be held by the same old lady) have an official birthday? Why does she have an "official birthday" - to make sure it was a nice day so the adoring masses could celebrate ... seriously !...

20% of his retirement time to be spent on Microsoft project s :-) Nice take up of the Google 20% time

Not every decision people make (and it's people that make decision, not "companies") is the best one. And even if it was "right" at one particular moment it might not be right "for ever" - for a start new information comes to light, new situations evolve and different view points are heard. Vodafone locking their phones to their network was never the right decision for the consumer and I always thought it wasn't right for their business. And with Telecom announcing that they wouldn't be locking their GSM phones it was even more of a wrong decision. And so, Vodafone has righted the wrong and decided NOT to lock their phones . On them for changing their minds, life is like that sometimes. We all have to be agile and deal with the inevitability of change.

Isn't this just incredible - there's two more pictures , one that proves it's not a fake !?!? Next time you're in Wanda Harland (the shop* I mean, really, some people) and Glenn's your shop assistant for the moment ask if he'll do it for you. You'll probably have to buy stuff first (well, I would make you buy loads of stuff) but believe me it's well worth it to go, "Ewwwwww ... cool!" * the shop is a place - 148 Jackson St. Petone, New Zealand - and a virtual place - http://babylicious.co.nz -

Had a great conversation with a guy yesterday and he pointed out something fundamental to me - the difference between asking a "why" question and asking a "how" question. In essence - "why" is past oriented and "how" is future orientated . For instance, asking "Why do I do have an 'open information' principle?" will lead me to question my past actions, environment and experiences. However, if I ask, "How does having an 'open information' principle affect me?" leads me to talk about the future actions, behaviours and thoughts. Simple eh ... but so effective.

My local rugby club is the (not quite so) mighty " Orries ", Oriental-Rongotai who's home ground is just a few minutes away at the Polo Ground here in Miramar. They've supplied 2 recent sensations, All Black Ma’a Nonu and New Zealand Sevens, Highlanders and Waikato representative Roy Kinikinilau which is quite cool ... if you rate these two players that is. Anyway, a good weekend as the Orries beat the local opposition, Poneke, 24-14 which puts them into the mid-table and in the Jubilee Cup for the first time in 5 years. P W L D F A B Pts Ories 9 5 4 0 175 157 ...

Grazing Sheep - originally uploaded by John the Neath I've discovered the fantastic "Wye Valley" group and have chosen this to 'take my soul back home' whenever I log in ... cracking

According to Google News the Riversdale name has been bandied about quite a few more times than normal over the past few days: There's no pool like an old pool StarPhoenix - Saskatoon,Saskatchewan,Canada In '79, the city raised the possibility of closing Riversdale Pool because it needed new filtration equipment. Instead, it was repaired and refurbished, ... See all stories on this topic Top amateurs tee off at Keperra Bowl iseekgolf.com - Australia Scott Arnold, the winner of the Riversdale Cup, Tim Stewart, the Tasmanian Open winner and Rohan Blizard, the NSW Amateur Medalist, began their European ... See all stories on this topic Tamaya Resources May 2008 Investor Update Sydney Morning Herald - Sydney,New South Wales,Australia Board and Management Hugh Callaghan Executive Chairman Founder of Riversdale Mining Ltd. Formerly Rio Tinto and Xstrata Michael Fischer Managing Director ... See all stories on this topic Drink-driver gets jail term Southland Times - ...

A cracking lot of comments to my previous "cat pissing" post, thanks so much to all of you especially 'Truth Seeker' who summed up the general advice and was spot on with our situation. It seems, after talking to the vet that Sugar will be peeing on my clothes/carpet because: He likes me the most He's done it there before Yay for me! And so it's time to get clean around the house with How to Clean Cat Urine

[Updated] The full transcript is now on the Weta site Peter Jackson and Guillermo del Toro had their wee online chat about The Hobbit and The !?!?! - here's the bits I think are interesting. Note: I only managed to get up at 8:15am so missed a few questions/answers (I joined from about questions 16 ...) Will Ian McKellen return as Gandalf? Guillermo_del_Toro: Absolutely!! Peter_Jackson: Hi Robbie - absolutely When do you expect filming to begin? Peter_Jackson: ... the plan is to write for the rest of this year and start early conceptual designs. 2009 will be dedicated to pre-production on both movies and 2010 will be the year we shoot both films back to back. Post productin follows one film at a time with The Hobbit being released Dec 2011, and F2 release Dec 2012. That is the schedule in about as much detail as we have ourselves at the moment Will the two movies be shot at the same time? Peter_Jackson: Hi Shane - Yes the movies will be shot back to back and the shooting of th...

Unfortunately an imminent project has been delayed due to "red tape" and that means I'm now available for your work. What will you get for hiring me? You will have a clear understanding as to why and how to implement an online collaboration environment in your organisation. Underpining this I will work with you to clearly articulate your information management and communication strategies utilising a modern technology environment . Finally you'll have a defined change management path to get you from 'now' to 'then' covering everything from training, organisational impact and technical infrastructure. Why bother? The end goal of working with me will be a learning organisation with an active knowledge sharing culture that will be more agile in meeting its defined outcomes. In other words ... To assist those that need more traditional job titles maybe this list that I have been previously labelled with will help put me in the right box: Knowledge M...

[Updated] Welcome to all the TradeMe MOD visitors, pleasure to have you along :-) Once you've read this check out more 'humour' postings and even a wee bit about who MiramarMike is ------------- Doing the email rounds here in Wellington :-) Standard "click for biggness" instructions, enjoy ... [10-Nov-2024: All the images are no more, le sigh]

Orrrr, a possible time when we have a whole bunch of time travellers turning up. What am I on about? Read this little lot about the turning on of the Large Hadron Collider in Geneva: Visitors from the future could arrive in Geneva this August. Seriously. World’s Largest Supercollider Could Destroy the Universe Will CERN mean the end of the world? Scientists Join Hunt for 'God' Particle to Complete 'Theory of Everything' Oh, and if it is the end of the world it would mean you could stop: worrying about the petrol prices reading this or any other blog whining about house prices caring about the next President of the USofA living for a false future And start: enjoying your friends and family doing those fun things you're putting off for when you "have some more time" living for now making a difference to those around you Just a thought.

As promised here's the DomPost article about the Miramar Cinema - check out the DomPost's article for a great picture of a Miramar eyesore Capitol eyesore to get makeover REBECCA THOMSON - The Wellingtonian | Wednesday, 21 May 2008 Plans to redevelop Miramar's disused cinema should put an end to residents' anguish about the state of the building Camperdown Studios, owned by Peter Jackson and Jamie Selkirk, bought the art deco Capitol Court cinema in January 2003 and the building has remained empty since. However, Mr Selkirk says there are plans to re-develop the building into a three-cinema theatre with cafe and bar. "It's hoped that over the next few months I will be able to give insight as to a timeline to make a start on construction work. "I fully understand the community's concern about the state of the building. It is in a sorry state and deserves better." ... Mr Selkirk would not say when renovation was like...

Seems the fine folk over at Blogged.com have rated this humble site as an 8.0 (out of 10) ... nice. And it's nice to be able to blow your own trumpet once in a while, so if you'll excuse me ....

Great opening two words ;-) Hey kids, there is a special family day coming up in June! Sunday 8 June, 10am-3pm: Free Family Day in Newtown Children’s book authors, illustrators and storytellers will be performing in a jam-packed schedule for kids and their caregivers at the Storylines Festival Free Family Day. Special guests include: Joy Cowley, Mrs Wishy Washy and Hairy Maclary. All the activities change every 30 minutes. So come along on Sunday 8 th of June, 10am – 3pm. It’s at the Te Whaea National Dance & Drama Centre, Hutchison Road, Newtown. It’s going to be a day of free fun and excitement for all the family. Look out for us there! Come say ‘hello’ to us! It will be loads of fun!

This from the Wellington Central Library - go visit to see if you have singing and songing as we do in Miramar: Miramar Library: Friday 23 May, 11am – Miramar Central Middle Syndicate vocal group Monday 26 May, 11am – Miramar Central Senior Syndicate vocal group

We've been along to a few productions and I have thoroughly enjoyed each one, very professionally done ... oh, and the kids have had a blast as well! Bookings can be made online or by phone, 04-934 4068 Our next school-holiday production is *The Snow Queen* . Originally written by Hans Christian Anderson, The Snow Queen is a magical story of love and courage. Well loved in Europe, this will be the first time it has been performed in Wellington. The adaptation by Anna Elizabeth Burns retains the magic, innocence and beauty of the original using drama, songs and puppets. Kai and Gerda are best friends. They live opposite each other and play together all year round. One summer, Kai is infected with a piece of evil goblin glass, which turns his heart to ice. The following winter, the Snow Queen takes him away from his village and up to her ice castle in the north. No one knows where he has gone. The following spring, little Gerda sets off to find Kai, as she believes in her heart that...

Update your bits!

It's a bit of advance warning for you - Craft2.0 , 19th July , TheNewDowse, Lower Hutt Pop it into your diary. I see it's already full from a "stall holder" point of view

The Wellingtonista has a calendar of events that we think you really REALLY want to know about. We also know that you want this vital information delivered into your own calendar - easy peasy, just follow the instructions after the break ... 6 steps to adding the Wellingtonista to your Google Calendar Go to your Google Calendar ( http://calendar.google.com ) Click the 'Manage calendars' link - bottom left of the current calendar list (which might only be one, yours) Click the 'Add calendar' button - bottom of the list of current "Other calendars" Make sure you're in the "Search Public Calendars" tab Enter wellingtonista and push the 'Search' button There it is - click the 'Add Calendar' button How to add to other calendar systems If you are lucky enough to be running an iCal ( huh? ) calendar system, such as Microsoft Office 2007+, you can subscribe to the Wellingtonista calendar using our Google Calendar iCal feed  Finally,...

... going through a tunnel Show all | explain this

Seems to be a bit of a Weta week here at MiramarMike - this just in from the Weta News email: An Unexpected Party Peter Jackson and Guillermo del Toro invite you to a live internet chat about The Hobbit. Peter and Guillermo would love to answer your questions and hear your comments about our new adventure into Middle-Earth. Please register now - to make sure you don't miss out on the Unexpected Party and get regular updates on the movies. Weta are excited to be hosting this one-hour live online chat on our website www.wetaNZ.com . Please check the start time for your time zone below: Los Angeles (Pacific) - Saturday 24 May 1 pm New York (Eastern) - Saturday 24 May 4 pm London - Saturday 24 May 9 pm Paris, Berlin, Rome - Saturday 24 May 10 pm Sydney - Sunday 25 May 6 am Wellington, Auckland - Sunday 25 May 8 am See you at the Unexpected Party! Proudly Hosted by WetaNZ P.S. Please invite your friends - just forward this email to as many as you like!

The prisoner that actually did this in Mount Eden Prison, Auckland a few days ago deserves a "Spike Milligan Reality TV Award". Got a difficult project to kick off? Sometimes a good WWII POW adventure story can supply the creativity you may need. And the story has caused a few wry smiles around the world: New Zealand: Police warn public after classic prison escape Australia: Rope trick stuns jail chiefs Canada: Dangling rope made of sheets marks classic prison breakout in New Zealand USA: New Way Into Prison, and Old Way Out

Over the past week we've been noticing small damp patches appearing in the house smelling of cat pee, bloody horrid. Had to clean all the clothes I had "stored" on the floor the other day, icky!!! And today poor old Meg sad on a sopping wet pram as we took Jack to Kindy - cat pee! Anyone got advice as to how to stop Sugar pissing inside - leave it as a comment and have the Riversdale's eternal gratitude He has a cat litter which, until recently, seemed to be working fine. He goes out every day to get a run around (and I suspect a poo in the neighbours gardens) Let us know what you think we should do, buy, implement, remove bodily (they're already gone) or ... anything to stop the cat pissing in our house. Leave a comment ... Otherwise the cat is going! And you can explain it to Jack and Meg ;-)

Oh, seems I should read the local papers now and again - the following from Stuff (DomPost) back in April (thanks Gavin). Means I'll definitely be be reading The Wellingtonian tonight for the news of the Cinema: Step into our cave, says Weta From Lord of the Rings to lords of the ringing tills, the Weta team that conquered Hollywood is now branching out into a souvenir shop for film buffs. The new store, Weta Cave, opens next month and will provide fans and tourists with a chance to get up close to the film-makers. The shop will have goods ranging from $1000 ray guns to King Kong figurines, and will be based next to Peter Jackson's Miramar empire. Weta Ltd general manager Tim Launder said the store, which will stock limited-edition collectibles, DVDs, books and clothing, had been built to help satisfy Wellington's thriving movie tourism sector. Movie tour operators had complained that, though Wellington was considered home to Jackson, Lord of the Rings fans often left the ...

You can praise me for this lot (click on the photos to create your own version)

Why? Why ping when the bus has just seconds ago pulled away from the stop? There are never stops that are so close together that the front door is at one and the back door at another! Why ping when the next stop is at least 5 minutes away? WHY PING when the bus driver hasn't left the current stop causing them to ask if the pinger meant this stop or the next one? WHY PING WAY TOO SOON? [and breathe out ...]

Seems New Zealand will be have all the faces auto-blurred when they get to roll out Street View to NZ and Australia later this year . Not that I was around or photographed when Google's contractors visited Wellington back in January of this year ... or so they'd like me to think.

Sent to me by an Aussie mate ;-) Driver straps in beer, not toddler A Northern Territory driver has been fined by police after he strapped a seatbelt around a carton of beer but left a five-year-old child to sit on the floor of his car. The man was pulled over on the Ross Highway, south of Alice Springs, about 3.30pm on Friday, when officers on patrol noticed the vehicle was unregistered and uninsured. But what they found inside the car shocked them. Four adults occupied the car with two in the front and two in the rear seats. The carton of beer was buckled safely in the rear centre seat between two of the adults, while the five-year-old boy crouched on the floor. ...

Yet again the Internet proves it's not truly international as Googlified blogs about the Google doodles - Mother's Day was yesterday and is done! Anyone know when Google updated them? *sigh*

Ha ha ha ha - from the ALWAYS funny "Geek and Poke" I dedicate this to Hadyn ... hope you're laughing loud mate!

I think I may have blogged this before but I can't be pooped to look for it. Liz and the kids flew down to Christchurch a week or so ago and, because of the slightly inclement weather here in Wellington, we wanted to know if the flight was on time so we could warn the receiving party. Old fashioned way Call the airport Get put on hold Get a recorded message Get nothing! Call the airline [see above] New hip and fandagled way Google the flight number Read status Make plans Tricks for young players, if your flight number has a leading zero (eg, NZ0421) then drop the zero (eg, NZ421). And, I have to say the Auckland Airport website is also pretty good and slightly more up to date. The Wellington Airport site was OK but behind Google which gets its info from http://www.flightstats.com who have widgets for Africa (Facebook, websites, RSS, toolbars ...)

As you're probably aware I am a large heavy an extensive Google user (Gmail, Google Apps and the like) and therefore tend to be sitting in one of their products whenever I am online. This means that Google Chat knows I'm here to be chatted with. And so I've added "Chat with Mike" to the right-hand menu . It'll have a green indicator to say when I'm actually here and just click to start chatting. You can do the same - Create a Google Talk chatback badge

5 survival tips to the information avalanche Subtitle: So much Mike, so little time - how to get the best for you Information overload is everywhere ... and you're not helping. Ok, I'm not helping - as my wife said yesterday, "If you're not part of the solution you're part of the problem". Using my own manner of tracking information I give you this is a guide to get the most relevant parts of MiramarMike.co.nz / Mike Riversdal e whilst avoiding the avalanche of information. Apply it to all your subscribing/following/friending activities. ... Read the rest of the article ...

I got heaps of praise from the online world for my Google Docs ... so what - the ONE reason why you should care posting and gained around a 20% increase in subscriptions. Take a read, it's well worth it even if I say so myself. Other posts of note include the very topical duo of Why Apple iPhone coming to Vodafone NZ matters to IT Departments and Omnidrive ... gone! . And just before I said it was time for me to drop the "2.0" I posted Web/Enterprise 2.0 is SaaS+ AND can only live on the Internet . According to ReadWriteWeb I may want to think hard about dropping the "2.0" as they state that the Enterprise 2.0 Is To Become a $4.6 Billion Industry By 2013 And finally, Calling all Kiwi Geek Girls - Googles wants to sponsor YOU

I just received this email from XING (one of the many social networking sites I am on ): Dear Mr Riversdale, We noticed that your photo does not conform to XING's General Terms & Conditions XING. https://www.xing.com/app/user ?op=tandc We have therefore had to remove your photo from your profile. It would be a good idea to upload a current photo of yourself. This would then bring you to the attention of more members and would also help to build trust. Thank you for your understanding. I think it's because of this line from this Terms and Conditions: 4.1.2 To post on the XING Web sites only photographs of the User which are not more than five (5) years old and in which the User can be clearly and plainly recognized . (my emphasis) Oh well, looks like I won't have a photo on XING then ... weird old rules some people seem to constrain themselves by eh!?

1, person in the house 4, nights sleeping alone 1, felines keeping me company 11, the earliest hour of the morning I awoke 6, Epic Pale Ale's drunk 4, hours (approx) sorting out my Ubuntu sound issue 1, One computer with sound + 1 very happy man 5, movies watched on DVD 4, hours of MiramarMike.co.nz work performed 3, Riversdale's missed terribly by Mike 8, Hell pizza slices enjoyed 0, cars cleaned (oops) 1 more day to go!

It took some detective work but I found it, right at the bottom of Comprehensive Sound Problem Solutions Guide on the Ubuntu Forums. webbca01 figured out how to get AC'97 work with the help of the second last post here and this post . Basically, if you have an intel8x0 module, you can get AC'97 working by Code: sudo nano /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base and adding this as the last line: Code: options snd-intel8x0 ac97_quirk=3

Oh! My! God! It's so simple really. I've been complaining how the feed of people from FriendFeed was just too overwhelming and I was losing all hope in ever getting any value from it. And the main culprit of the overwhelm-ness? Twitter! Every other item was a tweet from someone somewhere in the world. And 99.999999% were time specific ... no good for me when I pop in of a morning to read my feeds. And with the volume of crap coming through all the tweets were drowning out the good stuff. And then I went on to the FriendFeed website, was trawling thorough the avalanche looking for something when I noticed the wee light blue 'Hide' link: And once you click it you can HIDE THE TWITTER ... or whatever you want, for instance I also use it to hide my own stuff as I know when I posted a blog entry or added a bookmark to Delicious. And the best BEST thing is that it also hides them from the RSS feed ... no more Twitter updates in my FriendFeed again, yaaay, it's usable!

People not in the UK may not know that the Brits had a swathe of local elections recently of which there are two notable take home points: Labour did the worse they ever have Boris Johnson is now the Lord Mayor of London The first point is irrelevant to nearly everyone outside of the UK and I will leave you to discover the finer details although I now know that Monmouthshire remained Conservative , *sigh*. The second, Boris Johnson , is something that everyone with a fine sense of humour can take great pleasure in. Ken "Red" Livingstone was ousted on Thursday by the crown prince of British political tom foolery ... just awesome! A little background from Wikipedia : Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (born 19 June 1964) is a British politician and the incoming Mayor of London. He is also a journalist and author, formerly serving as editor of The Spectator . He was elected as Member of Parliament for Henley in 2001 and was Shadow Minister for Higher Education, until the anno...

One of my finest Jack moments recently was when he came up to me and said, "Dad, I love being in the Beano club with you", made my Great British heart melt! If you are so inclined to recall the fine tradition of British comics then I recommend you check out Crickey! : The British are known throughout the world as an eccentric people – and if anyone peeked through a stack of typical comics from the 50s, 60 and 70s you’d find enough proof to have our island race quarantined for the safety of humankind. No matter what your particular – or peculiar – taste, British comics has something of interest for you concealed under its many covers. ... If you have a passion for the strange and the kind of humour that often leaves you laughing out loud when all around you are blank-faced and oh so silent, then Crikey! is the nostalgic magazine for you. And if you want to share you're particular memory of a British comic then drop them a line And finally, read the excellent Forbidden Pla...

Not sure what to say - these are just glorious photos from -terry- who lives in Caldicot (other end of the Wye Valley from my home, Monmouth) - check out all his Monmouthshire photos Through -terry- I also discovered a Wye Valley Flickr group , mighty! I chose his Autumn Morning at Caldicot Castle Park as the new computer wallpaper:

This fascinating article in News Monster, Have Scientists Discovered a Way of Peering Into the Future? , blew my mind. I especially like the way they are quite open around the stuff they don't know ... Here's a wee snippette to get you interested in reading the full article : Deep in the basement of a dusty old library in Edinburgh lies a small black box that churns out random numbers. At first glance the box looks profoundly dull, but it is, in fact, the ‘eye' of a machine that appears capable of peering into the future. The machine apparently sensed the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Centre four hours before they happened, and appeared to forewarn of the Asian Tsunami. "It's Earth shattering stuff," says Dr Roger Nelson, Emeritus researcher at Princeton University in the USA. "But unfortunately we don't have a box for predicting the future that we can sell to the CIA. We're very early on in the process of trying to figure out what...

... waiting till a mosquito is just about to bite you so that you can squash it flat with your hand Show all | explain this

I decided to update my LinkedIn profile late on 1st May (New Zealand time). The update involved me telling LinkedIn I had a new position (owner of MiramarMike.co.nz ) and letting them know I would no longer be working at Fronde in the merry month of May 2008. "May 2008" wasn't valid. It was in the future. It might well have been in the the friggin' future in some far off land called USoA but it was well and truly here-and-now for me in New Zealand. *sheesh* See more examples of how the Web is NOT international

The headline says it all ... $50 to unlock, c@#$s! Read more at: Mauricio Freitas' original posting with Vodafone's response stuart @ amanzi Mike’s View

Google is happy to announce that applications are now open for the 3rd annual Google Anita Borg Scholarship . The scholarship is open to female university students in Australia or New Zealand who are studying computer science, or closely related technical fields. Scholars are selected on the basis of academic strength, demonstrated leadership and community involvement. ... More at Google's "Calling all geek girls" post ...