Resolution – a firm decision to do or not to do something; a formal expression of opinion or intention made, usually after voting, by a formal organization, a legislature, a club, or other group; the act of analysing a complex notion into simpler ones; the act of answering or determining.
The most important thing
December 31, 2012Something on which to ponder if you’re making resolutions for next year:
The most important thing you leave behind is the stuff that turns into treasures when children find them.
And on the bag: stuff that’ll be worth something someday when people’s priorities change.
Treasures by Brian Andreas at Story People
Up vs out
December 31, 2012New Zealand cities should go up rather than out, Federated Farmers’ chief executive Conor English says:
Manhattan-type cities that accommodate more people and stop urban sprawl is New Zealand’s farming leader’s latest vision for a prosperous economy.
Federated Farmers chief executive Conor English says New Zealand needs to lose its small-country mindset and get smart about growth.
That included “taking the lid off our cities”.
“Human capability is critical to all parts of our community and economy. In most parts of New Zealand, except Auckland, the population is flat or in decline. There are not enough people to produce the exports, provide the services, pay the taxes and build a future at first-world income levels. We simply need more people.”
Auckland needed to stop building out and start building up. . .
I was in Auckland three times this month.
Each trip required the long, slow journey from the airport to the central city and back.
It’s such a waste of time and fuel.
Could going up rather than out help solve the city’s transport problems and would Aucklanders want to live in high-rise apartments rather than houses with sections?
Old Year Honours
December 31, 2012The Homepaddock panel has awarded the 2012 Old Year Honours:
Dotbomb Award – The media for far exceeding the bounds of public interest with positive stories on Kim Dotcom. The man himself gets an honourable mention in this category for believing the stories.
Icarus Award –Russel Norman. Buoyed by hopes of being named Opposition MP of the Year and a future Finance Minister he flew too close to the sun with his plan to print money.
Political Amnesia Award – The Labour Party for forgetting it’s supposed to be opposing the government not itself.
Toastmasters Recruitment Award – David Shearer for failure of fluency when it was most needed.
Humpty Dumpty Numbers Award – David Parker for thinking numbers could mean whatever he wanted them to when costing his party’s housing policy.
Mirror Mirror Award – David Cunliffe for failing to convince enough of his colleagues he’d be the fairest leader of all and sabotaging his party’s conference in the process.
Once Was Warrior Award – Winston Peters for doing very little.
December 31 in history
December 31, 2012400 Vandals, Alans and Suebians crossed the Rhine, beginning an invasion of Gaul.
1229 James I of Aragon the Conqueror entered Medina Mayurqa (now known as Palma) consummating the Christian conquest of the island of Majorca.
1491 – Jacques Cartier, French explorer, was born (d. 1557)
1599 The British East India Company was chartered.
1687– The first Huguenots set sail from France to the Cape of Good Hope.
1695 A window tax was imposed in England, causing many shopkeepers to brick up their windows to avoid the tax.
1720 Charles Edward Stuart, pretender to the British throne, was born (d. 1788).
1759 Arthur Guinness signed a 9,000 year lease at £45 per annum and started brewing Guinness.
1853 Sir George Grey left New Zealand after finishing his first term as Governor.

1879 Thomas Edison demonstrated incandescent lighting to the public for the first time.
1904 The first New Year’s Eve celebration was held in Times Square (then known as Longacre Square) in New York.
1908 Simon Wiesenthal, Austrian Holocaust survivor, was born (d. 2005).
1909 Manhattan Bridge opened.
1923 The chimes of Big Ben were broadcast on radio for the first time by the BBC.
1937 Sir Anthony Hopkins, Welsh actor, was born.
1941 – Sir Alex Ferguson, Scottish football manager, was born.
1943 John Denver, American singer and songwriter, was born (d. 1997).
1943 Sir Ben Kingsley, English actor was born.
1943 Pete Quaife, English bassist (The Kinks) was born.
1946 President Harry Truman officially proclaimed the end of hostilities in World War II.
1951 The Marshall Plan expired after distributing more than $13.3 billion USD in foreign aid to rebuild Europe.
1955 The General Motors Corporation became the first U.S. corporation to make over $1 billion USD in a year.
1960 The farthing coin ceased to be legal tender in the United Kingdom.
1963 The Central African Federation officially collapsed and split into Zambia, Malawi and Rhodesia.
1965 Nicholas Sparks, American author, was born.
1980 – Richie McCaw, All Black captain, was born.
1983 – The AT&T Bell System was broken up by the United States Government.
1991 All official Soviet Union institutions ceased operations by this date and the Soviet Union was officially dissolved.
1992 Czechoslovakia was dissolved, resulting in the creation of the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
1998 The European Exchange Rate Mechanism froze the values of the legacy currencies in the Eurozone, and established the value of the euro currency.
1999 Boris Yeltsin resigned as President of Russia, leaving Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as the acting President.
1999 – The United States Government handed control of the Panama Canal (as well all the adjacent land to the canal known as the Panama Canal Zone) to Panama. This act complied with the signing of the 1977 Torrijos-Carter Treaties.
2004 The official opening of Taipei 101, the tallest skyscraper at that time in the world, standing at a height of 509 metres (1,670 ft).
2007 – Bocaue Fire: Seven people were injured when a fire resulted in the explosion of several fireworks stores in Bocaue, Bulacan, Philippines.
Sourced from NZ History Online & Wikipedia.