h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

"Now, how do you go about making your open-faced sandwich, from the ground floor
up?"

Depends on what's in the house...
Here are some of the more fancy variety...:
http://www.selskapsmat.no/smorbrod.jpeg
Bread, butter or majonaise (optional), whatever takes your fancy or whatever you've got.
Lunch is served!

Mmmm, shrimp...

Have you seen any new films lately? I keep trying to find time to go and see Amelie from Montmartre, I still haven't seen it.
I hope I get there before they take it off the program.

Since seeing Shallow Hal which I believe was the last film I saw with you, I have seen Behind Enemy Lines, Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back, 13 Ghosts, Don't Say a Word and Training Day.

I'm too tired to comment on all of them at the moment (not to mention a little too much in the system ), you'll have to pick one for me.

Oh yes, happy belated Waitangi Day!
How do you celebrate it? Besides the inevitable barbie that is...

*picks a film*
13 Ghost sounds interesting.

You would think so, wouldn't you? Unfortunately it has the same feel as the endless stream of horror-themed console games. It takes place in a house and involves thirteen ghosts (as per the title) so it feels like a single game level, with a load of sub-bosses to overcome.

That said, the set design is quite impressive.

I celebrated Waitangi Day by sitting in court through the Wallace depositions hearing, and while I know how that sounds, the chap who took the stand was far from boring. I'll post the main points to emerge from that witness in the next post.

I then went and saw Training Day, which was something of a mistake after spending the last three weeks hearing about alleged police misconduct. A reference to 9mm Hydroshock bullets sent my mind scrawling back over my notes.

Denzel fairly dominates all else with his performance, except to NZ audiences for whom Kiwi actor Cliff Curtis stands out (Blow, Bring Out Your Dead, Three Kings) - mainly for the fact that he's Kiwi. I think we'd all like to see him play something other than swarthy-skinned ethnic supporting characters.

The day following Waitangi was slightly better with all the journalists on the trial heading for one of the better watering holes, at the end of the day's proceedings.

A prosecution witness says Constable A was an excellent shot and should not have shot Steven Wallace as many times as he did. Yesterday the court heard from Bernard Maubach, a retired Detective Chief Inspector from Germany with experience in firearms training and counterterrorism units. While an Inspector in Germany, Mr Maubach was involved in the 1972 terrorist attack at the Munich Olympics. He was subsequently helped train up officers for German counterterrorism units. Maubeck emigrated to New Zealand in 1978 and has since been a competitor in pistol shooting events, locally and overseas.

Commenting on Constable A's ability as an Armed Offenders Squad marksman, Mr Maubach said he would have liked to have had him on his Squad. He said that at a short distance and with adequate street lighting, Constable A should have known his first two shots had struck Wallace, and that there was no need to fire the second two. Mr Maubach called those first two shots a tragic mistake and said an officer of Constable A's experience should not have fired the second two.

Mr Maubach said he believed the police constables involved in the Wallace shooting approached Steven unnecessarily. He likened Steven Wallace to a bouncing tennis ball, saying that if left alone a bouncing tennis ball will expend its energy and come to a stop on its own. But in approaching Wallace, the police officers had bounced the ball further. Mr Maubach said that an offender like Steven Wallace simply could not think and act rationally.

Under cross examination, Mr Maubach conceded to defence counsel Susan Hughes that he has had no involvement with the New Zealand Police Force other than the sport of pistol shooting, and no involvement with law enforcement since his retirement in 1978.

So what Mr Maubach says, in other words, is that Constable A, though a nice guy, screwed up?

I just got this one in the mail..:
ANGERED BY SNUBBING, LIBYA, CHINA, SYRIA form AXIS OF JUST AS EVIL
Cuba, Sudan, Serbia Form Axis of Somewhat Evil; Other Nations Start Own
Clubs

Beijing -- Bitter after being snubbed for membership in the "Axis of Evil,"
Libya, China, and Syria today announced they had formed the "Axis of
Just as Evil," which they said would be way eviler than that stupid
Iran-Iraq-North Korea axis President Bush warned of his State of the Union
address.

Axis of Evil members, however, immediately dismissed the new axis as
having, for starters, a really dumb name. "Right. They are Just as Evil...
in their dreams!" declared North Korean leader Kim Jong-il. "Everybody
knows we're the best evils...best at being evil... we're the best."

Diplomats from Syria denied they were jealous over being excluded,
although they conceded they did ask if they could join the Axis of Evil.

"They told us it was full," said Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

"An Axis can't have more than three countries," explained Iraqi
President Saddam Hussein. "This is not my rule, it's tradition. In World
War II you had Germany, Italy, and Japan in the evil Axis. So you can
only have three. And a secret handshake. Ours is wicked cool."

THE AXIS PANDEMIC
International reaction to Bush's Axis of Evil declaration was swift, as
within minutes, France surrendered.

Elsewhere, peer-conscious nations rushed to gain triumvirate status in
what became a game of geopolitical chairs. Cuba, Sudan, and Serbia said
they had formed the Axis of Somewhat Evil, forcing Somalia to join with
Uganda and Myanmar in the Axis of Occasionally Evil, while Bulgaria,
Indonesia and Russia established the Axis of Not So Much Evil Really As
Just Generally Disagreeable.

With the criteria suddenly expanded and all the desirable clubs filling up,
Sierra Leone, El Salvador, and Rwanda applied to be called the Axis of
Countries That Aren't the Worst But Certainly Won't Be Asked to Host the
Olympics; Canada, Mexico, and Australia formed the Axis of Nations That
Are Actually Quite Nice But Secretly Have Nasty Thoughts About America,
while Spain, Scotland, and New Zealand established the Axis of Countries
That Be Allowed to Ask Sheep to Wear Lipstick. "That's not a threat,
really, just something we like to do," said Scottish Executive First Minister Jack
McConnell.

While wondering if the other nations of the world weren't perhaps making
fun of him, a cautious Bush granted approval for most axes, although he
rejected the establishment of the Axis of Countries Whose Names End in "Guay,"
accusing one of its members of filing a false application. Officials from
Paraguay, Uruguay, and Chadguay denied the charges.

Israel, meanwhile, insisted it didn't want to join any Axis, but privately,
world leaders said that's only because no one asked them.

A) The consensus of the experts so far says Constable A screwed up, but not half as much as Constable B who was supposed to back him up.

B) A sheep joke involving New Zealand - how original...

Oo, are we a bit sensitive today?
I know I am. Sat up far to late last night to watch the incredible finish where Bente Skari won the 15 km cross-country (classic).
All this sport is taking it's toll...

Sport, court, whatever, there's just too much of it.

The prosecutor grilled a defence witness for about 30 minutes on ballistic science!

Isoceles stance or bladed stance?

9x19mm 0.147 Federal Grade Hydroshock full-metal-jacketed hollowpoint, compression from 0.356" to 0.363" upon impact, 300 foot pounds of pressure...



For God's sake, please talk to me about sandwiches...

... and please keep it simple!

A slice of, no, make that a thick slice of fresh wholewheat bread with a crunchy crust, the butter melts softly down in the lukewarm surface... Really a treat just by itself.. Mmmm! A leaf of crisp green lettuce, a few slices of homemade paté, garnished by pickled red-beets. Simpel.
I'm so happy today, because we got for lunch... It sure doesn't take much to make my day!

No more depositions!

Constable A shot in self-defence, apparently, so no high court trial.

Funnily though, my bulletins still aren't Steven Wallace free...

And then it was Friday, again. Where did this week go?
So your case is closed? what do you think about the verdict then? As predicted or are you surprised?

I've just checked that, yes I'm to meet at Courtroom II, at 9:30 Monday morning. There's always too many called in, so there's a tiny hope that I can leave again. But I'm usually not that lucky.
----

My head is all empty, I think I'm going to spend the rest of the day playing minesweeper until the pub opens...

And then another week pased by...

It's such a beautiful day today! When I walked to town to go to w*rk, I could have kicked myself for forgetting the camera. The sky and sea had the most incredible shades of blue, really intense! Did you know that there is a city in Northern Norway that has a goal to paint all the houses blue? http://www.thebluecity.com/en/bluecity_color.html I think it's so cool!

Geez! And to think South Taranaki ratepayers are up in arms about a new district logo! Who exactly is paying for this and how far away is completion?

I think it sounds like a very interesting social experiment, though I think I would have real problems living in a blue town 24/7. (I do realise that the interiors wouldn't have to be blue!)

I wonder what would happen socially if you chose to paint one half of the city blue and the other half green?

Or if one house decided to be different and be painted bright red?

Of course there were protests, by the usual sourpusses, but the project is going it's course and is to be completed some time in 2003.
The project is also receiving some funding from the government and other institutions. But it's not a way to get the house painted for free!
Here's more pictures:
http://www.virtual-sortland.com/bluegallery.php
http://www.virtual-sortland.com/bluegallery2.php

"The idea is to give all housefronts and streets a varied pattern in design and character. Various shades of blue will be applied with a touch of contrasting colours. The blue will constitute a "motif", a movement, a form that changes from space to space. Each facade will be given its own identity, a soul, creating a unity which rests on a foundation of coloured concrete."

I have never been this far north, so I find this website highly amusing..
"On a good day, you will probably spot more than 500 people in the main shopping street, Strandgata. Many of them are different."
Yeah, I bet...

Do you get a prize if you spot all 500?

Or do you have to name all their "differences" as well?

I have this vision of the town disappearing against the skyline - and people walking into buildings if they approached from the wrong viewpoint...

Towns really do some desparate things to attract the visitors - and when they get a notion, it becomes a real idée fixe.

It is a bit "dreamy" isn't it? The population has, by the way increased a bit the last years..

I wonder how long TPTB are going to let us use url's in postings. In one way it's good because you can make a point immediately, but on the other hand, then the links disappears in the conversations after a while. I think I'm going to keep the conversation-links-page a bit longer.

Anyway:
New Norwegian film on the up-and-coming. "I am Dina" have premiere in Norway today. It is based on the novel with the same name by Herbjørg Wassmo. http://www.iamdina.com/ I hope I get to see this before it's out on video....