Tomorrow Never Dies

Happy birthday Pierce Brosnan, 57 today.

Did you see the one about . . .

Want to win $100,000? rivettingKateTaylor has a run down on the National Bank Young Farmer of the Year finalists. 

Death shapes us all – Alison Campbell at Sciblogs finds death contributes to life.

She also looks at sensing nonsense and gives the reporter an F for assertions not based on facts.

Dig in or adapt. The effect of political views on changing one’s mind – still at Sciblogs, Darcy Cowan looks at the persistance of political misperceptions.

What would I like to see . . . Adolf at No Minister gives his Budget requests.

Day 13 – done! – there’s a new kitchen at In A Strange Land.

Unemployment solved!! Anti Dismal isn’t convinced.

ELEPHANTÉ  Today Is My Birthday on miniature elephants  (Hat Tip Sentence of the day from Quote Unquote).

Liberace medley

Liberace would have been 91 today.

Mistress of Mistressology mis-steps

I’ve never had the pleasure of meeting Busted Blonde at Roarprawn but her blog posts, and some whispers on the grapevine, have earned my respect.

The woman who claims to have a trademark on the term mistressology obviously doesn’t know her reputation or she wouldn’t have been silly enough to get her knickers twisted about BBs use of the term on a post giving advice to mistresses.

The one who claims to be a mistress of mistressology has mis-stepped by picking a fight with the wrong woman.

BB is not the sort to head to port when the sea gets rough and she’s got to the nub of the matter, if you Google search mistressology  it leads to Roarprawn and the not the other woman’s website.

In an act of bloggers’ solidarity I’m joining Whaleoil, Cactus Kate and No Minister who have carried the story and by doing so increased links to Roarprawn which will put her up the Google rankings more.

UPDATE: Motella has joined the campagin too.

Update 2: so has Inquiring Mind 

And look what a google search now turns up:

Search Results

1. Cactus Kate: Mistressology (ck)

   The first rule of Mistressology Kala really is to choose your target well. You don’t pick on women who when they are alerted to your existence will chew …
   asianinvasion2006.blogspot.com/2010/…/mistressology-ck.html – 19 hours ago

   Mistressology Trademark Fail | Whale Oil Beef Hooked | Gotcha!

2. 15 May 2010 … Probably about now some stupid pommy cow called Ms. Kala Elliot will be wishing she had just STFU. She has tried to bully Busted Blonde …
   whaleoil.gotcha.co.nz/2010/05/…/mistressology-trademark-fail/ – 21 hours ago

   Mistress of Mistressology mis-steps « Homepaddock

3. 16 May 2010 … The woman who claims to have a trademark on the term mistressology obviously doesn’t know her reputation or she wouldn’t have been silly …
   homepaddock.wordpress.com/2010/…/mistress-of-mistressology/ – 6 hours ago

   roarprawn: MISTRESSOLOGY

4. 6 Apr 2010 … Final rule of mistressology – it will end in tears sooner or later – relationships on any level based on betrayal and lies are always doomed …
   roarprawn.blogspot.com/2010/04/mistressology.html – Cached

5. roarprawn: ROARPRAWN ACCUSED OF PIRACY

   We called the post Mistressology. Like as in the study of Mistresses … I am the author of the forthcoming book entitled Mistressology and am requesting …
   roarprawn.blogspot.com/2010/05/roarprawn-accused-of-piracy.html – Cached
   Show more results from roarprawn.blogspot.com

 

No Minister: Mistressology claimed as trademark

15 May 2010 … My name is Ms. Kala Elliott and I am the owner of the Trademark ‘Mistressology‘. The application was made last year on my behalf by my UK …
nominister.blogspot.com/2010/05/mistressology-claimed-as-trademark.html

Mistressology « The Inquiring Mind

16 May 2010 … Mistressology. May 16, 2010. tags: Cactus Kate, Mistressology, No Minister, Roarprawn, Whaleoil. by adamsmith1922 …
adamsmith.wordpress.com/2010/05/16/mistressology/ – 1 hour ago

“Motella” – News, Views and Politics of New Zealand’s Motel …

15 May 2010 … Busted Blonde is now being cyber-stalked from the UK by a Ms. Kala Elliot that claims to have ownership of the Trademark term Mistressology …
motella.blogspot.com/2010/05/mistressology.html – 7 hours ago

“Motella” – News, Views and Politics of New Zealand’s Motel …

15 May 2010 … After only 4-minutes of us publishing a blog post on Mistressology, we note that we have appeared on page one of Google using the search …
motella.blogspot.com/2010/05/mistressology-part-2.html – 8 hours ago

Show more results from motella.blogspot.com

Gotcha! | Politics | Humour | Information | News | Opinion | Debate

UPDATE 3: Oswald Bastable is supporting BB too.

Forced smiles & impotence

The left – and some of the right who want him to move further in that direction – call John Key Smile and Wave.

It’s supposed to be an insult, but it’s also a positive reflection on his personality. He’s an optimist and smiling comes naturally to him.

It doesn’t appear to come so naturally to Phil Goff but I reckon his advisors have told him to smile more.  In recent interviews, including on Q & A this morning, he is doing that. The trouble is the smiles don’t always look natural and at least some of the time they appear to be forced.

Who can blame him? Leading of a party which was kicked out of government after nine years doesn’t provide fertile ground for smiles.

It’s also not a position in which you can achieve much and the impotence of opposition also showed in his answers on Q & A.

It’s easy enough for an Opposition to criticise government policy, but they’re not in a position to change it now and by the time they get back in to power it will be too late.

It happened to National which had to swallow several dead rats including Working for Families and interest free student loans. It’s happening to Labour now.

However, much Goff huffs and puffs about the expected increase in GST, even if he is in a position to blow it down, he won’t. It will be part of the fabric of economic policy and it’s very difficult to pull a thread here or there without it all coming apart at the seams.

Whakaaria Mai

Day 16 of New Zealand Music Month: Whakaaria Mai.

Great sailing, Jessica

Sir Francis Chichester was one of my childhood heroes.

He was the first person to sail single-handed around the world by the clipper route, and the fastest circumnavigator, taking nine months and one day overall.

I don’t know how many records Jessica Watson broke in her circumnavigation which finished yesterday, but sailing solo round the world, aged 16, in just 210 days is an impressive feat.

So too is her message:

Watson urged others to follow her example by living out their dreams.

“I don’t consider myself a hero. I’m an ordinary girl who believed in her dream,” she told a large, cheering welcome-home crowd in Sydney.

“You don’t have to be someone special to achieve something amazing. You’ve just got to have a dream, believe in it and work hard.”

Watson said she hoped her voyage proved what could be achieved by setting your mind to it.

“Anything really is possible.”

I wonder what her parents felt about her embarking on such a journey.

Had she come to grief en route they would have been called irresponsible for letting their daughter attempt such a feat.

Now that she’s succeeded they can be praised for helping her accomplish her dream.

May 16 in history

On May 16:

1204  Baldwin IX, Count of Flanders was crowned as the first Emperor of the Latin Empire.

 

1527 The Florentines drove out the Medici for a second time and Florence re-established itself as a republic.

1532  Sir Thomas More resigned as Lord Chancellor of England.

1568 Mary, Queen of Scots, fled to England.

 

1770 14-year old Marie Antoinette married 15-year-old Louis-Auguste.

 

1771  The Battle of Alamance between local militia and a group of rebels called “The Regulators.

1777 Lachlan McIntosh and Button Gwinnett shot each other during a duel.

 

1811  Peninsular War – The allies Spain, Portugal and Britain, defeated the French at the Battle of Albuera.

1815  The Governor of New South Wales, Lachlan Macquarie, officially named the town of Blackheath in the upper Blue Mountains.

1822 Greek War of Independence: The Turks captured the Greek town of Souli.

1836  Edgar Allan Poe married his 13-year-old cousin Virginia.

1843  The first major wagon train heading for the Pacific Northwest set out on the Oregon Trail with one thousand pioneers from Elm Grove, Missouri.

1866 The U.S. Congress eliminated the half dime coin and replaces it with the five cent piece, or nickel.

1866  Charles Elmer Hires invented root beer.

 

1868  President Andrew Johnson was acquitted in his impeachment trial by one vote in the United States Senate.

1874  A flood on the Mill River in Massachusetts destroyed much of four villages and kills 139 people.

1877  May 16, 1877 political crisis in France.

1905 Henry Fonda, American actor, was born (d. 1982).

1910 The United States Congress authorised the creation of the United States Bureau of Mines.

1914  The first ever Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup final wass played. Brooklyn Field Club defeated Brooklyn Celtic 2-1.

1916 Ephraim Katzir, 4th President of Israel, was born (d. 2009.

1918 The Sedition Act of 1918 was passed by the U.S. Congress, making criticism of the government an imprisonable offense.

1919 Liberace, American pianist,was born (d. 1987).

1919 A naval Curtiss aircraft NC-4 commanded by Albert Cushing Read left Trepassey, Newfoundland, for Lisbon via the Azores on the first transatlantic flight.

1920   Pope Benedict XV canonised Joan of Arc.

 

1929 The first Academy Awards were handed out.

1943  Holocaust: The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising ended.

1948  Chaim Weizmann was elected the first President of Israel.

1951 Christian Lacroix, French fashion designer, was born.

 

1951  The first regularly scheduled transatlantic flights began between John F Kennedy International Airport  and Heathrow operated by El Al Israel Airlines.

1953 Pierce Brosnan, Irish actor, was born.

1960 Nikita Khrushchev demanded an apology from U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower for U-2 spy plane flights over the Soviet Union, ending a Big Four summit in Paris.

1960 Theodore Maiman operated the first optical laser, at Hughes Research Laboratories in Malibu.

1965 The Campbell Soup Company introduced SpaghettiOs under its Franco-American brand.

1966 Janet Jackson, American singer, was born.

1966 The Communist Party of China issued the ‘May 16 Notice‘, marking the beginning of the Cultural Revolution.

 

1969 Venera program: Venera 5, a Soviet spaceprobe, landed on Venus.

1970 Gabriela Sabatini, Argentine tennis player, was born.

1970 Danielle Spencer, Australian singer and actress, was born.

1974 Josip Broz Tito was re-elected president of Yugoslavia.

1975  India annexed Sikkim after the mountain state holds a referendum in which the popular vote was in favour of merging with India.

 

1975  Junko Tabei became the first woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest.

1982 The All Whites won 2-0 against Australia  on the way to the World Cup in Spain.

1983 Sudan People’s Liberation Army/Movement rebelled against the Sudanese government.

 

1986  The Seville Statement on Violence was adopted by an international meeting of scientists, convened by the Spanish National Commission for UNESCO.

1988 A report by United States’ Surgeon General C. Everett Koop stateed that the addictive properties of nicotine are similar to those of heroin and cocaine.

1992  STS-49: Space Shuttle Endeavour lands safely after a successful maiden voyage.

2003  Casablanca terrorist attacks: 33 civilians killed and more than 100 people injured.

2004 The Day of Mourning at Bykivnia forest, just outside of Kiev to commemorate that here during 1930s and early 1940s communist bolsheviks executed over 100,000 Ukrainian civilians.

2005 Kuwait permitted women’s suffrage in a 35-23 National Assembly vote.

Sourced from NZ History Online & Wikipedia