Two days to the Olympics opening ceremony in Beijing,China...

Our New Zealand athletes wait in positive anticipation. For a small country we do well on the international stage; we have a definate chance of winning and placing in a number of events. Three to four gold medals are a distinct possibility, with a number of silver or bronze also excellent prospects.

A big throw from our Valerie and some fast rowing from Mahe would consolidate their world championship form. If a number of others also compete at their WC form we can expect a successful Olympics. See you all on the rostrum!

to the Presidential Election something seems to missing. As Barack Obama and John McCain trade economic javelins (the Olympics start this week, they are trying to be media competitive!) their positions seem to be moving closer to each other.

You will recall that John McCain challenged Obama to visit Iraq because he hadn't been there for over two years. Obama took-up McCain's challenge and was warmly received there, in Afghanistan, Jordan and Western Europe. So much so that Obama monopolized the news coverage in the broadcast, print and Internet media; Hardly a snow white hair on John McCain's head was visible, his scratchy voice with his old ideas hardly heard.

lured offstage by Mary Poppins! Orlando Florida is home to Walt Disney World, a theme park that relies on the many characters developed by the Walt Disney Productions over the many decades of producing full length animated features and later, films. The American movie audience doesn't realize that many of the feature film formats they watch today were innovated by Walt Disney, full length films portraying the lives of animals or special cameras that added depth to what previously two dimensional "cartoons" for example.

People's Theater was formed to expose more people to quality theater with a multicultural approach. People's Theater performances portray cultural endurance and inspiring stories of love, triumph and humility. From People's Theater web page.

is the word. The Osceola, Florida Center for the Arts is presenting a production of Grease in the heart of Mickey Mouse Country. Central Florida is home also to theAquatica and SeaWorld Parks where you and your kids can enjoy a day away from cartoon character theme parks and they will have a chance to learn about the inhabitants of our oceans..

Grease (the Book, music and lyrics by Jim Jacobs & Warren Casey) will be presented August 8th- 17th, 2008 $15 General Admission on Fridays & Saturdays at 7 pm, Sundays at 2 pm Call 407-846-6257 Ext 0 for tickets.

New Zealand has been attacked by weather bombs during the last week, from the north to the south, from the west to the east. Storms have ravaged the country, with high winds, heavy and driving rain; trees were uprooted by the score; heavy seas prevented water being drained off in some places. Many homes have been damaged, some inhabitable. In the north thousands of homes have been without power for days on end, and some for many days to come because of falling power lines, fallen trees and slips. Mother Nature has been in a foul mood this week!

The South Island is still suffering after effects of storms; detours in place on parts of SH1; second slip on Akl's North Shore looked being examimed

Wells. There is a company in the Sunshine State where the Canadians (who supply a big portion of our Oil and Natural Gas) go for the winter to soak-up the sun and spend some of those "Looney" petrobucks. The Canadians spend time at St. Augustine's and Flaglers beaches as well as visiting the new Aquatica and SeaWorld Parks.

So here we are in the United States importing seventy percent of the oil we use every year(!) while paying higher prices as the dollar's value continues to decline. (Although in the last several weeks oil futures prices have been falling- we hope a trend is starting there.)

I've recently taken on personal finance as a new writing niche after ghostwriting a personal finance e-book and special report last month. It was life-changing for me because it made me research and look at better ways to manage my own money.

Visit the Money Jar Budget blog for my take on how to organise your finances and get some financial freedom.

I also talk about a unique way to get the most out of coupon clipping.

Bailey Junior Kurariki is back in jail after allegedly breaching his parole conditions by using drugs.

The country's youngest convicted killer – he was 13 when he was jailed for manslaughter over the death of Michael Choy in 2001 – was arrested at 7.30pm on Friday and charged with breaching parole the Herald on Sunday resported.

He was released only three months ago on conditions including he not use or possess "alcohol and/or illicit drugs".

He was also under electronic monitoring and had to attend weekly counselling sessions.

His arrest came after his probation officer lodged a complaint with the Parole Board.

Water it's actually a type of electroylitic process (which uses energy itself) so it's adding hydrogen atoms to the gasoline "extending the fuel.

We have been thinking about adding Hydrogen atoms to Ethanol to make up the 20 pecent less energy difference between it and gasoline. But an engineer in New Zealand actually did something similar to that and has a car running on it! (See Petter Petterson's link at the lower righthand panel.)

In the last week of July gasoline prices in the United States have been dropping. The gigantic investment and "Hedge unds" that had profited from the run-up in gasoline prices (that they had greatly contributed to) all bailed-out of the "Oil Futures" contracts as they came to the realization that Americans are driving less and that gasoline in storage was increasing. Hopefully that will develop into a longterm trend.

She thought she was a Mrs - but was a Miss...

When a Wellington, New Zealand, couple decided to divorce, they received the shock of their lives - their marriage had never been recorded by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Births, Deaths and Marriages Department in the city.

In April 2008 the "husband" applied for a copy of his marriage certificate to enable him to initiate divorce proceedings. Instead of a written record, he received a letter that stated that no record of the marriage existed. He forwarded the letter to his "wife", who was stunned by the revelation, despite having the original copy from the celebrant.

in Orlando, Florida? as the Atlantic ocean surf that laps-up on the beaches at St. Augustine and Flagler and the sun is warm and the breeze balmy as it refreshes the Aquatica and SeaWorld theme parks so any splash from the Killer Whales is refreshing.

A Letter in "What You think: Friday back talk" in the Orlando Sentinel newspaper:

Hold Big Plans

"They need to put a hold on their big plans for downtown. Anyone with a brain can easily see the city cannot afford all the new additional expenses that will come with the (new) "venues." The tourist tax is NOT going to pay for all the increased public services that go along with these multi billion-dollar playgrounds. If the Orlando City Council refuses to clean up their mess and do the right thing then it is TIME TO IMPEACH ORLANDO CITY HALL!"

In general , the world population is classified on the basis of religion. Christianity is the world’s largest community. Islam is the second largest and Hinduism the third. The Chinese religions are excluded from the list, because China doesn’t encourage religious activities in that country and so the exact status of Shintoism, Confucianism and Budhism is not available.

Even though Christianity is the largest bloc, there is only one country in the world, which can be called as Christian, and that is the United Kingdom in Europe. The U.K. is the only country in the world, which is ruled in the name of Lord Jesus Christ. The Arch Bishop Of Canterbury of the Church of England is the sole authority who is vested with the duty to anoint the King/Queen of the United Kingdom. Though the U.K. is a democratic country, the constitutional head of the state is the King/Queen. The King/Queen rules the country in the name of Lord Jesus.

Can cars really run on water? Thats a very good question.

There are many internet based claims that cars can actually run on water, with hydrogen gas being extracted to run the engine. But most claims are discounted as mere scams. But are they really?

Is there actually a little more to it? The multinational global oil companies are not going to support these claims, are they? Their whole economic future is all tied up with the future of oil based products such as petroleum/gasoline.

Is there a little more to these claims than skeptics and critics consider? Yes,no?

Let's read this latest story from New Zealand down in the pacific and judge for yourself whether there may be some credence attached to such claims.

It can be frustrating when you order something from a writer that you’ve been working with and get results you weren’t expecting. Most website owners who have established relationships with a freelance writer have expectations of what they’ll receive based on previous work, based on samples or promises. When writers sub out their work, you might not get what you were expecting.

Freelance writers that work alone can be busy. They often get work thrown at them with tight deadlines and if your writer is working for you but gets a better offer or has an emergency arise at home, they might be tempted to find someone to finish your assignment for you. This can go well and you might never know the difference but it can also result in projects turning up late or work not being done according to your specifications.

It is being written to analyze the BJP victory in the recent Gujarath and Himachal Pradesh state assembly elections. Contrary to the expectations of the secular minded people all over India, the BJP swept both the states with convincing majority. This is a very confusing phenomenon to an average scholar of the Indian politics.

The question is this: can the BJP score such a victory without getting the Muslim votes in these states, and did the North Indian Muslims forget the Gujarath carnage of 2002 ? No. Five years is not such a long period, enough to erase the memory of such a horrible chapter. Then why did that so happened ? This is a question, the answer of which should be, found out from the history.

Orlando, Florida is known as a family vacation destination because Universal Studios and Aquatica are two of the many attractions and resorts. Cocoa and Daytona Beaches are nearby for a day on the sand. At Daytona Beach you can drive your car right on the beach!

Soon there will be a 16,000 seat center stage Orlando Events Center where you will be able to see as well as hear your favorite musical acts in concert.

The Orlando Events Center will seat 18,500 Orlando Magic Basketball Fans as they cheer their home-team to an NBA Championship.

AT last, after rhe assassination of Ms.Bhutto, a section of the Muslim leaders had a revelation that terrorism is not as good as they thought. Until a few weeks ago, they had a different view and opinion about terrorism. Let us have a look into a real instance.

I live in Cochin, in the South Indian state of Kerala. Kerala might be the place where the most civilized and educated Muslim community of India live. Dr. M.K.Muneer is a medical doctor and he was a minister in the previous government. Reacting to the al-Quaeda strikes at the World Trade Centre and Pentagon on the 9/11, Dr. M.K.Muneer told the local media, “America had sown the wind, and and had reaped hurricane.

Vajpayee’s second tenure in New Delhi was for 13 months from march 1998 to April 1999. During the short span of an year, Vajpayee’s defence minister George Fernandez made five trips to the Drass-Kargil-Batalik regions by using Indian Air Force helicopters.

As per an editorial appeared in the Indian Express daily immediately after the finale of the Kargil 99 war, all the bunkers on the Drass-Kargil-Batalik mountain ridges had been under the joint occupancy of the Mullah militia and the Pak Army, ever since the fall of the Rajive Gandhi regime in 1989. This means that the Pak army regulars and the Mullah militants were right there within the vicinity of the helicopter in which George Fernandez conducted his aerial reconnaissance missions. His last trip was just a week before the outbreak of the Kargil war. Can anybody say that George Fernandez didn’t notice the build-up of the Pak army and the Mullah militia just under his chopper? What was his real mission?

The Hindu-Muslim fundamentalist axis of the Indian subcontinent is an entity set into existence by the top brass of the Hindu RSS and the Pak ISI, in order to fight against their common enemy Indira Gandhi, immediately after the Indo-Pak war of 1971 which culminated in the foundation of the Bengla Desh Republic. The golden era of this unholy nexus was the period from March 1998 to October 1999 during which Vajpayee and Nawaz Sherief, were the Prime Ministers of India and Pakistan respectively.

It remains as an ugly factor that the then US President Bill Clinton played the role of a broker who guided Vajpayee and Sherief in striking their deal. It was this adultery, which had made Vajpayee and Nawaz Sherief emerge as the Siamese-twin-Antichrists of the Indian subcontinent.

The assassination of Mahatma Gandhi by the RSS, the assassination of Indira Gandhi by the Sikh Khalistan Commando Force and the assassination of Rajive Gandhi by the LTTE had made these outfits the recipients of widespread disgust and hatred.

In fact the RSS was utilizing the lions (Singh means lion) of the Sikh Khalistan Commando Force and the tigers of the LTTE as mere hit men to eliminate Indira Gandhi and Rajive Gandhi who were poised as real hurdles in Vajpayee’s path to power. But the lions and the tigers lost all their claws and teeth with the assassinations of Indira Gandhi and Rajive Gandhi. Both these organizations have lost their identities as independent outfits, and for the time being, they stay as mere refugees in the RSS camp. The RSS is forced to sustain and retain the lions and tigers in their camp since it needs them to be utilized as hit men in the future also.

Orlando, Florida is known for the many family oriented vacation theme parks operated by Walt Disney and Universal Studios. There is also the ocean life themed parks Aquatica and SeaWorld, presented by the company that operates Busch Gardens.

With the construction of the new Dr. Phillips Performing Arts Center Orlando will have an arts showplace surpassing those available in Los Angeles.

The University of Central Florida is the one of the major sponsors of the Orlando Shakespeare Theater that is presenting it's 2008-09 season scheduled by Artistic Director Jim Helsinger:

There have been two unsolved murders in New Zealand during the last fifty years or so that have both interested and intrigued me. The first was the 1962 parcel bombing of barrister, James Patrick Ward, in Dunedin which I have posted about previously, and that of poor old Ernie Abbott the cleaner who was 'in the wrong place at the wrong time' when the bomb went off in the Wellington Trades Hall on March 27 1984.

1984 was of course the end of Robert David Muldoon, better or infamously known, depending on your political point of view, as Rob Muldoon - New Zealand prime minister and would be despot, who unwisely called an early election after a bout on the booze. That was his greatest achievement; subsequently he and his government were trounced in a landside by David Lange and his new government. That was another story!

The unsolved Dunedin parcel bomb murder - February 1962...

"UNSOLVED CRIMES IN NEW ZEALAND"

There have been two unsolved crimes in New Zealand in the last 50 years that have interested and intrigued me. The 'Wellington Trades Hall bombing' in the 1980's, and the 'Parcel Bomb murder' of Dunedin barrister James Patrick Ward in 1962 (below). Mr Ward's office was, rather ironicly, in the Security Building in the CBD area of Dunedin. Police were mystified about markings on a peace of wood used to make the box that contained the bomb. By memory, I recall newspaper reports suggesting they could have been part of a black stencil marking on the piece of wood. But what was it? It could provide the answer towards discovering his killer.

Humour the spice of life...

First published at Qassia:

1/ Sunday Edition:

The irate customer calling the local newspaper office loudly demanded to know where the 'Sunday edition' was?

"Excuse me ma'am." the receptionist interrupted,"today is Saturday. The Sunday paper is not delivered until Sunday."

The was a long pause on the other end of the phone, followed by a ray of recognition. "So thats why nobody was in church today."

2/Freezer control:

While working as a sales rep for a large ice cream company, Tom was standing on a stepladder in a supermarket putting up advertising signs, when he overbalanced and fell into an open freezer.

Price Pain, in 2009 for those Americans who have a chance to purchase the Electric Car that is going to be available in the U.S.

Driving around Orlando is interesting as the city has many small lakes that the roads wind around from Universal Studios to the ocean themed Aquatica. Busch Gardens and SeaWorld have entertainments that are based on nature and wildlife if you are desiring a break from Hollywood movie and cartoon character themes.

A new subcompact Electric Car is going on sale in the United States in 2009. It is called the Think City and will be able to travel 112 miles on a full charge, at up to 62 miles miles-per-hour; enough for the average Americans trip to work and back home again.

Orlando, Florida is home to Universal Studios The Simpson's Ride as well as Gatorland and Seaworld, entertainments with animals as the central characters.

Orlando also has petite ballet dancers as well as dolphins leaping into the air as the Orlando Ballet Company stages various productions during the season.

In the past we have written about Britney Spears and Paris Hilton, who we felt were treated unfairly by the broadcast, print and Internet media. It is more challenging to write about the ballet whose creators and artists rarely make the the news and never appear on Entertainment Tonight.

Orlando, Florida is the home of Walt Disney World, Seaworld and the Simpson's Ride. The downtown entertainment area is centered on the Cheyennee Saloon and Opera House! Orlando has a classical opera organization, the Orlando Opera Company, and it is due to the efforts of the staff and volunteers at the local arts community that the lights go up on the higher arts.

United Arts of Central Florida is the fundraising organization- with 136 corporations, 26 foundations and eight local governments that coordinates the campaign that keeps the The Orlando Ballet, The Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra and the Orlando Opera Company under the bright lights.

The Orlando Philharmonic Ballet will be performing at the new Dr. P. Phillips Performing Arts Center, the construction of which has begun in downtown Orlando, Florida.

The Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra received a grant of $280,000 from United Arts of Central Florida in 2007, which made up 6 percent of it's $4.5 million budget.

The Orlando Ballet has as it's Artistic Director, retired dancer Bruce Marks whose contract ends in 2009, the company hopes to extend his creative direction.

We are going to be adding to this article as the season goes on.

A new electric car is going to be available for purchase in the United States in 2009, Click:

The Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra will be performing at the new Dr. P. Phillips Performing Arts Center, the construction of which has begun in owntown Orlando, Florida.

The orlando Philharmonic Orchestra received a grant of $278,300 from United Arts of Central Florida in 2007, which made up 9 percent of it's budget.

The Philharmonic Orchestra is the keystone of the performing arts community and has a $3 million operating budget.

We are going to be adding to this article as the season goes on.

A new electric car is going to be availble for purchase in the United States in 2009, Click:

The Orlando Opera company will be staging it's performances at the new Dr. P. Philips Performing Arts Center that is under construction in downtown Orlando.

The Orlando opera Company received $352,307 in grant money from United Arts of Central Florida in 2007, eleven percent of it's $3 million dollar budget.

At the present performance site, "The Bob Carr," balcony season tickets were $45, next season the lowest price seats will be $105. How this will affect sales is yet to be seen; we will be adding to this article as ticket sales continue.

An interesting item about opera performers; they won't sing two nights in a row, so a crew will have to break-down and re-erect the complex sets repeatedly.