My amazing wife Kim gave birth to our first born last night.
We decided to have the baby at home. I was initially sceptical, but it was great being in familiar surroundings. The only downside is that there is no pain relief, other than aromatherapy and hot or cold flannels.
Unfortunately, the baby was facing front forward and twisted a bit so Labour was intense at times. Kim was amazing and got through it and Madison Anne was delivered at 11:35pm 29 May 2006. Weight was 8lb 2oz and all doing well, if a little tired today!
Pics available HERE
Tuesday, May 30, 2006
Thursday, May 25, 2006
The Directors Head to Head
I have been looking at this:
The Movie Times: Top Grossing Films of All Time Worldwide
sorted by Worldwide Profit and broken down into director.
I decided to pick Peter Jackson and Andrew Adamson because they are Kiwi's, Lucas and Spielberg go without saying and James Cameron because he directed the biggest grossing movie of all time. Then I decided to take their total Worldwide Profit and total movies in the top 150 and see which director averages the most money per flick.
*In $M
Note: Not all Steven Speilbergs' movies are added to the list because they didn't have budget information.
James Cameron comes out on top, followed by Peter Jackson and George Lucas rounding out the top 3. Interestingly Speilberg come last on average per movie, but considering he has 11 (with budget info) movies in the top 150 grossing movies of all time says a lot about him.
The other interesting thing to note, that isn't portrayed above, is that of the Top 10 grossing films of all time (worldwide) 4 of them were directed by a New Zealander. I think Hollywood should drop sticks and move all it's business to Wellywood....
The Movie Times: Top Grossing Films of All Time Worldwide
sorted by Worldwide Profit and broken down into director.
I decided to pick Peter Jackson and Andrew Adamson because they are Kiwi's, Lucas and Spielberg go without saying and James Cameron because he directed the biggest grossing movie of all time. Then I decided to take their total Worldwide Profit and total movies in the top 150 and see which director averages the most money per flick.
| Jackson | Lucas | Spielberg | Adamson | Cameron | |
| # Movies | 4 | 4 | 11 | 3 | 3 |
| Total Profit | 2955.6 | 2864.5 | 4602.3 | 1808.3 | 2317.1 |
| Average Profit | 738.9 | 716.12 | 418.39 | 602.76 | 772.36 |
*In $M
Note: Not all Steven Speilbergs' movies are added to the list because they didn't have budget information.
James Cameron comes out on top, followed by Peter Jackson and George Lucas rounding out the top 3. Interestingly Speilberg come last on average per movie, but considering he has 11 (with budget info) movies in the top 150 grossing movies of all time says a lot about him.
The other interesting thing to note, that isn't portrayed above, is that of the Top 10 grossing films of all time (worldwide) 4 of them were directed by a New Zealander. I think Hollywood should drop sticks and move all it's business to Wellywood....
Saturday, May 13, 2006
Auction closed: Australia sold for $200 million
The auction finished after about an hour of people auto-extending. I was a little worried about having to pay success fess, but TradeMe had left a message on my home phone saying they would pull the auction as soon as it closed.
They said they usually pull things like this, but decided to let it run because it was getting back at the Aussies. (In so many words)
Good on them. It shows they have a bit more of a sense of humour than eBay. My local budgie liner got hold of the story and did an interview too. Unfortunately it ended up on the front page with a huge photo. Groan.
Story is here.
Anyway, it was a fun ride while it lasted, and good to see that there are funny people everywhere and that Trans Tasman rivalry is still alive!
Total stats: around 500 questions I think and over 20,000 pages views! Australia is a little more popular than I gave credit for.
They said they usually pull things like this, but decided to let it run because it was getting back at the Aussies. (In so many words)
Good on them. It shows they have a bit more of a sense of humour than eBay. My local budgie liner got hold of the story and did an interview too. Unfortunately it ended up on the front page with a huge photo. Groan.
Story is here.
Anyway, it was a fun ride while it lasted, and good to see that there are funny people everywhere and that Trans Tasman rivalry is still alive!
Total stats: around 500 questions I think and over 20,000 pages views! Australia is a little more popular than I gave credit for.
Friday, May 12, 2006
TM Auction: Way outta control
This auction has got way out of control. I had about 600 views up until 6:58 last night. Then something was mentioned on the news - I missed it - and it has created a life of it's own since. It's amazing how a 10s mention on the news can create interest. It has had over 12000 views in about 14 hours.
It's really hard trying to be humourous answering the questions. Most people are funny and positive, but there is always a few who are offensive. It's probably a good social study really.
Hopefully TM don't get too shitty - any publicity is good publicity right?
It's really hard trying to be humourous answering the questions. Most people are funny and positive, but there is always a few who are offensive. It's probably a good social study really.
Hopefully TM don't get too shitty - any publicity is good publicity right?
Tuesday, May 09, 2006
For Sale: Australia
http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=55824140
Ok I admit I put this on TradeMe. It was in response to an auction selling New Zealand on Australian eBay. The eBay auction has been taken down.
He who laughs last laughs loudest.
Ok I admit I put this on TradeMe. It was in response to an auction selling New Zealand on Australian eBay. The eBay auction has been taken down.
He who laughs last laughs loudest.
I learnt something today
You should always learn something new everyday. Today mine was something I probably should have known.
I was playing around with IE and realised you could start typing in the address bar, and it will autocomplete with your the nearest item in your favorites. Cool. I've always wondered what the extra items that didn't started with http:// were. I have never really thought about it until today.
Geez and I call myself a geek.
I was playing around with IE and realised you could start typing in the address bar, and it will autocomplete with your the nearest item in your favorites. Cool. I've always wondered what the extra items that didn't started with http:// were. I have never really thought about it until today.
Geez and I call myself a geek.
Friday, May 05, 2006
Broadband Pricing: A Study - Part 1
With Local Loop unbundling announced 4-May-06 it will be interesting to see how prices change over the next few months. We have been told over the years by ISP's that their pricing is controlled by Telecom. Now that they have access to the LL, lets see how much things change.
The original idea and data was compiled by Mike O'Leary and was suggested on the NZ Dot Net user group. Thanks Mike.
Slingshot
IHUG
Orcon
Xtra
* must have Tolls with this company otherwise add $10.
The original idea and data was compiled by Mike O'Leary and was suggested on the NZ Dot Net user group. Thanks Mike.
Broadband Prices as of 5-May-2006
Slingshot
| Plan | Price |
| Express 3GB | $29.95* |
| Extreme 5GB | $39.95* |
| Sprint 10GB | $49.95* |
| Ultra 10GB | $79.95* |
IHUG
| Plan | Price |
| Pay as you go 500MB | $29.95 |
| Starter 3GB | $39.95 |
| Light 15GB | $49.95 |
Orcon
| Plan | Price |
| Starter 2GB | $29.95* |
| Light 4GB | $39.95* |
| Medium 10GB | $49.95* |
Xtra
| Plan | Price |
| Basic 200MB | $29.95* |
| GO 1GB | $39.95* |
| Explorer 5GB | $49.95* |
| Adventure 10GB | $59.95* |
* must have Tolls with this company otherwise add $10.
Wednesday, May 03, 2006
Government propose regulation in response to poor broadband uptake
It has just been announced that the Government is proposing to regulate Telecom to ensure better broadband uptake.
Part of the regulation also includes a proposal to unbundle the local loop.
This is great news for Internet users in New Zealand. Hopefully now we can get real broadband at a reasonable price. Not just what Telecom have given us.
To the uninitiated, Telecom currently holds a monopoly over ISP's in New Zealand, which basically requires them to use buy wholesale Broadband access from Telecom because it owns the "last mile" of the telephone network.
It will be interesting to see how Telecom/Xtra respond to this and to see what Broadband speed/Plans we get as a result.
Currently, I pay $NZ79 for 10Gb of data at 3.5Mb/s down and 512Mb/s up. This includes a static IP address.
Part of the regulation also includes a proposal to unbundle the local loop.
This is great news for Internet users in New Zealand. Hopefully now we can get real broadband at a reasonable price. Not just what Telecom have given us.
To the uninitiated, Telecom currently holds a monopoly over ISP's in New Zealand, which basically requires them to use buy wholesale Broadband access from Telecom because it owns the "last mile" of the telephone network.
It will be interesting to see how Telecom/Xtra respond to this and to see what Broadband speed/Plans we get as a result.
Currently, I pay $NZ79 for 10Gb of data at 3.5Mb/s down and 512Mb/s up. This includes a static IP address.
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