Poneke has gone

Seems like Poneke has upped sticks and left the blogging world.

I saw a post on another blog but can't for the life of me remember.

Thanks, Poneke. Yours was a blog that was most enjoyable to read. Kia kaha.

Update: He's back now. Yay! Same bat channel, same bat URL.

The upside to mental illness

Sufferers of mental illness can have such an unusual view of the world that it can be very creative. van Gogh is but one example. In this case, in the final months of her life, a woman finds love - imaginery but love nonethless.

Her delusions, unremittingly ugly, had suddenly grown beautiful. In the end, the
psychosis was her friend.

I'll drink to that.

Civility on the decline

Something for the grumpy old types:

Poll: Everyday civility declining in Utah SALT LAKE CITY,

May 11 (UPI) -- Residents of Utah are growing increasingly concerned that everyday civility is in decline, a poll indicated.

The Deseret Morning News said Sunday a poll it conducted with KSL-TV indicated most Utah residents believe civility in their state has declined during the past decade.

The Dan Jones & Associates survey of an unspecified number of people found that
67 percent of respondents said civility had declined, while 11 percent said civility had improved in Utah.

When asked in what ways civility declined, more than 90 percent of those who saw a problem cited cell-phone use, language and driving as the most troublesome violations of civility.

The Morning News said other problem areas included table manners, dress, e- mails and customer service.

P.M. Forni of Johns Hopkins University said such problems are rarely addressed in normal society.

"People, in general, in surveys see the problem but very seldom do they see themselves as part of the problem," said Forni, who heads up the university's Civility Project.

82% of respondents told the interviewer to go take a running jump.

And to borrow from Scott Adams, 72% of all statistics are made up.

Blogging like it is

On this, the greens are right

I am rarely in agreement with the Greens, as I view them as a lobby group trying to play with the big kids.

However, their scepticism about the move to push transport's entry into the ETS back by a couple of years is quite justified.

The ETS is a tax. It is intended to affect the price signal by making it more expensive to undertake activities that in whatever way add to emissions. While Helen Clark is also right in saying that fuel usage has dropped as the price has risen, that is a red herring. The underlying rationale for an ETS must be that the market price does not reflect the externalities caused by using petroleum products. That does not change whatever the "fundamental" price is.

If this is an attempt to soften the cost of fuel increases for the lower income groups then it is pure electioneering. Regardless of how well-off one is, the cost should capture the externalities.

I am pretty ambivalent about the ETS or even carbon taxes. I use a car only during the weekends and am a very low mileage driver. Some people may complain that the car is the only way they can get to work. Well that's the trade-off you have to make to live in the Big Smoke. Nothing, not even housing, comes for free. *snort*

Another penis story....

In what is fast becoing a regular spot for news story relating to parts of the male anatomy we have this:

Angry wife severes husband's penis

April 11, 2008

A housewife in the Philippines cut off her husband's penis while he was sleeping in their house because she suspected he was having extra marital affairs, a police
officer said. Police officer Rolly Lipata said 37-year-old Lenly Bayabado had long suspected her younger husband's infidelity, prompting her to cut off his organ.

Lipata said neighbours rushed the screaming victim, 32-year-old Joelito, to a nearby hospital in the Manila suburban city of Pasig after the attack. Bayabado underwent several hours of operation so his organ could be re-attached, but hospital sources said there was no guarantee he would still be able to perform sexually.

Bayabado denied he was cheating on his wife and said he will not file charges against her because he wants to keep the family intact for the sake of their four children.

DPA

"Intact" is not really the word I would use there..... Of course, she should have just sent him to the Congo and got it shrunk down to nothing. Much less bloody I rather suspect.