From http://www.stuff.co.nz/oddstuff/4853997/Horse-dreams-dashed-teen-turns-to-cow

When Regina Mayer’s parents dashed her hopes of getting a horse, the resourceful 15-year-old didn’t sit in her room and sulk. Instead, she turned to a cow called Luna to make her riding dreams come true.

(continue reading…)

Sydney Morning Herald today, republished by Stuff.co.nz:

Scientists believe they are one step closer to creating time travel.

American physicists from Vanderbilt University believe they may be able to use the Large Hadron Collider, the world’s biggest atom smasher buried underground near Geneva, to send a type of matter called the Higgs singlet into the past.

But they’re unsure if the Higgs singlet actually exists and whether the machine can produce it, according to a report by Live Science.

That’s a LOT of IFs!

IF they can, scientists will try to send a particle into the past, thereby enabling time travel:

• IF they can detect the Higgs Singlet,
• That is assuming IF the Higgs Singlet is real
• and IFtime travel is possible

And to make it worse, they will send it to the time where they wouldn’t know whether such particle exists or how to detect it. And the sender (present guy) will not know whether such experiment is a success or not (apart from the Higgs Singlet disappearing, I guess).

To think that we pay $4 billion to build this…this….expensive toy!

GAAAAH!!!

And such unprovable story to actually make it through the newsroom is beyond belief…….

Here are the top 5 corporate euphemisms that never fail to annoy me

1. At the end of the day

Meaning: whatever your argument is, mine is better and my position compells you to listen to me…or you is fired!

2. Touch base

Meaning: Nothing really. Just calling to keep me in your address book. Derp derp hu durr durr.

Always makes me cringe when someone wants to touch my base.

3. Low hanging fruits

Meaning: We don’t want to do the hard stuff. We just want to do the easy ones and congratulate ourselves for the achievements.

4. Show thought leadership

Meaning: Quick! We need to say something quick to look smart…anything will do!

5. Buzzword

Meaning: This word can make us look smart because it is confusing to others and make them feel less-informed. Better use this as much as possible before it becomes too common.

6. Authoritative source

Meaning: I’ve read this and OMG I like it so it must be true because I can’t be wrong! Yes this is the only source I’ve read but what do you mean I need to read other sources as well?

What are other corporate euphemisms that annoy you? :)

Life is good.

I have shoes on my feet, and feet in both shoes.

I have to work hard, but it means I have a job to go to.

Mortgage payment is a pain, but at least I have a house to call home.

And family can be a headache sometimes, but only because we still have each other.

As I said, life is good :)

Common workplace problem #171:

The biggest problem about thinking while on the job is that you appear like you are not doing anything.

And that can become a very big problem when your job involves a lot of thinking.

Apple iPad

Apple iPad was revealed yesterday and the initial reactions seem to have split the market. There are those that were awed and drolled over the beautiful slimline pictures of it, and there are those that are disappointed and disenchanted very quickly.

So, do you want an Apple iPad? Are you wondering where to get an Apple iPad? When is Apple iPad going to be released? Before that, have a look at the good things and bad things about it.

(continue reading…)

You see them all the time, and you can’t help but wonder where do the birds flock by night.

If you happen to live in Wellington (NZ), Stuff.co.nz has the answer.

I find it fascinating, especially for the little sparrows.

Important child education tip: don’t make your kids clean toilets. It may be illegal in New Zealand!

In the Stuff.co.nz today:

Boy made to clean toilet as punishment

A five-year-old boy was made to clean toilets by a caregiver as punishment at a Child, Youth and Family-funded after-school care programme in Rotorua.

Now his mother is seeking legal advice on the punishment – dished out after the boy supposedly hit a girl in the face with a ball.

Oriwa Pehi-Livapulu said her son Noble could have become sick after the incident at the Chipmunks Centre last week.

He was only five and did not even clean the toilet at home, she said.

“My mana has been taken away from me. Noble’s spirit has been trampled on”, she told The New Zealand Herald.

She has complained to CYF, which funded the programme.

While I won’t be going around forcing kids to clean toilet, what the mother said was quite a jewel :)

No, seriously, in my childhood days having a 2-week period of twice-a-day cleaning the school toilet was a normal punishment for bad “school crimes”. Yes we did it, we were little kids with little hands on our big toilet brushes and mops, and we grew up healthy and well-behaved. I’ve never been an interest of CYF, I’ve never been sick from cleaning toilet, and I am now working successfully, owns a house of my own, a car, and a $25k motorcycle.

On the other hand, if the toilets had not been cleaned I might have contracted swine flu long time ago and dead by now.

Added 17/06/2009:

If this Stuff article is a barometer on New Zealand parental attitude, we really have to be worried.

Here’s the most important tip for buying an investment property, especially a rental property to guarantee you get a good cashflow and stable bank balance:

Unique Selling Proposition

For common case, this would be “location, location, location”. But it is not necesarily true for all. Why? Read on…

(continue reading…)

If your business is stuck in a recession rut, you definitely need to do something drastic to get out before the road ends!

The primal instinct (especially if you come from accountancy) is to cut cost. But nothing could be worse than this. Why?

(continue reading…)