Is a Mans World

Qantas again..

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 07:18:00 +0000

Qantas has stood down two pilots who failed activate the landing gear on a Boeing 767 on approach Sydney's Kingsford Smith international airport from Melbourne on Monday. The plane was less than 300 meters above the ground when the onboard computer system warned the pilots with the words "too low - gear, too low - gear".
The pilots then regained altitude and circled the airport before landing shortly after, This particular warning is designed to go off when the aircraft is too close to the ground.

The president of the Australian and International Pilots Association said it is "very serious" if the enhanced warning system is activated, and the incident is being investigated, In the meantime, The pilots have been stood down.

During take off and landing, You're dealing with air traffic, slowing the aircraft down, configuration changes and changing radio frequencies, So something as simple as landing gear can get overlooked.

The safety bureau is expected to deliver a preliminary factual report in about a month.

All Blacks beat Australia in Japan.

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 11:05:00 +0000

The New Zealand All Blacks have beaten the Australian Wallabies 32-19 at the Japan Olympic Stadium on Saturday night in front of over 45,000 fans .

Matt Giteau scored for the Australians first, with a long-range penalty early in the first half.

Matt Giteau then added another three point penalty in the 12th minute. A few minutes later All blacks number 10 Dan Carter replied with a successful penalty kick, to get the All Blacks off the mark.

All Black Sitiveni Sivivatu got the first try of the game after 20 minutes, touching down to put the All blacks ahead.

Matt Giteau then got the Australians back to within one point with a penalty 10 minutes out from halftime after

Dan Carter put the All Blacks' lead back out to four points with a penalty just before the half time break.

A few moments later All Black Sivivatu was shown a yellow card in the 33rd minute for tackling Australian second-five Adam Ashley-Cooper which the Australians took advantage of and five minutes from halftime the Australian winger Peter Hinds scored in the corner, and after some confusion with the Japanese video official, The South African referee Mark Lawrence awarded the try and the Australians led 16-13 at halftime.

The second half started with both sides improving there game but it was Conrad Smith who took the All Blacks out to a 20-16 lead with a try in the 46th minute of the game.

The All Blacks number 10 DanCarter kicked penalties in the 62nd, 68th and 73rd minutes to extend the lead the All Blacks lead to 29-19 and Australian Matt Giteau could only answer with a penalty in the 71st minute.

The Australians then began to lose disipline as the penalties started to go against them, Dan Carter then added a further three points to push the score out to 32-19.

The best gift ever.

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 02:53:00 +0000

Yesterday was my birthday, My lovely wife did something for me that Ive only ever dreamed about doing, She got me flying lessons, Flying has been a passion of mine for many years, I never really gave much thought about flying a plane because of the costs involved, Now i only wish i had done it years earlier. The plane was a Grumman AA-1C trainer and although we had 24-28 knot crosswind gusts it was extremely stable.

So where to from here? I may consider taking this passion further, I definitely intend to find out more about whats involved and if i can afford to do it then why not give it a go.

Boys day out.

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 08:32:00 +0000

Last weekend was the annual speedshow exhibition, A great day out for the boys in Auckland. This year had a line-up of cars and motorcycles - new, performance, classic and customs.

This year's event saw Speedshow fill to capacity with three main halls of the showgrounds, and an extensive outdoor display and activities to add to the attractions for the speed lovers. And the new children's area called Speedshow 4 Kids proved very popular with Roary the Racing Car shows at 10am and 12pm each day.

Some of New Zealand’s best drift cars were alongside historic racing cars and bikes and New Zealand’s best race car simulators.There were new cars and motorcycles from some of the world’s leading manufacturers and exhibitors with a wide range of motoring and motorsport-related products and services, but honestly there’s too much to mention so if you like cars and motorbikes, Speedshow was the place to be.

This year's key draw-cards included the world's fastest NASCAR and the original movie Batmobile from the original Batman movies courtesy of Warner Brothers Movie World on the Gold Coast, The motorbike from the movie "The worlds fastest Indian" as well as the world famous Britten motorbike.

The oldest exhibit was a 1903 Ford that cost 180 pounds when brand-new while nearby was a DTM-spec Mercedes Benz AMG supercar, one of only 100 in the world that cost well over $500,000 new.

This event has only been running 3 years in New Zealand and has already moved venue because of space, It doubles in size every year so next years event should be better again.

Top photo is my 5 year old son with former superbike rider, Aaron Slight.
2nd Photo is the bike from the movie "Worlds fastest Indian"

Thanks and Goodbye.

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 03:09:00 +0000

Well this it, Its goodbye from me on Entrecard. Its honestly just not worth it anymore. The latest decision regarding sponsored ads has made me re-think my time that i spend on Entrecard.

Ive subscribed to many of my favorites from Entrecard and i hope to see as many entrecarders as possible in other social networking sites.

Good luck to those who decide to stay with it, I wish you all the best.

At it again.

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 03:18:00 +0000

Well well well, Look at what we have now.

Is it just me or is everybody else sick of crap being dealt to us on Entrecard? From paid ads to sponsored ads.

I posted back in April expressing my concern over the paid ads scheme and now they are back again, This time they will be displayed 15% of the time, (Or so they say). And we may not have a choice but to accept them which is one of my biggest concerns.

I hope they listen to the points put across to them from entrecarders and compromise for a change.

It sounds to me like someone bought a lemon, And now realizes it wasn't a good investment.
Oh well, good luck with your idea. I hope you can recover some of the initial outlay for buying Entrecard. I hope it was worth it.

Congrats to Graeme for selling when he did, He must have known the value of the Entrecard credit was worthless.

All Blacks win over Wallabies.

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 10:45:00 +0000

The All Blacks produced a hugely satisfying 33-6 win to wrap up the winter test season over Australia at the Westpac stadium in Wellington, but the question now is where to from here with an end of year tour starting in five weeks time?

The All Blacks only just avoided the bottom of the table for the tri-nations series, but beat the Wallabies with a clean sweep to regain the Bledisloe cup, It was an impressive finish to an ordinary Tri-Nations campaign that proved to the rest of the rugby world that South Africa are the number 1 team in the world after they dominated the super 14 season.

The All Blacks made good from their promise to kick on from their enterprising late rally against the South African Springboks last week and were lucky to be leading 16-6 at half time over the Wallabies, They showed they meant business from the opening whistle and finally produced a strong start to give their game the momentum that has been missing for much of the season.

It was good to see the coaching staff playing people in the positions they dominate at rather than trying them at different positions, I personally thought the coaching staff would have learn't a lesson from whats happened over the past 3 years. The response was a performance full of energy and, importantly, accuracy on both attack and defense.

The focus now will be on the end of year tour which starts on November 14 with five tests which will include games with Italy, France and England. Hopefully our coaching staff will continue with the team that have just dominated Australia which will then put New Zealand back in a position to regain the world number 1 ranking after the tri-nations in 2010.

hopefully the problems are over.

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 02:57:00 +0000

Well it looks like all these problems on Entrecard are over (for the meantime).

I cant say I'm too happy with all the new points regulations but never mind, Due to this new policy of reducing the amount of Entrecard credits, I too have decided to do my part at reducing them as well, I will still accept all ad requests but you will only be able to buy an ad when i decide to accept the ads, This means it will only cost you 2,4,8 or 16 credits, Once it has reached 16 i will turn off the apply to advertise in my advert settings. I think that is a fairly good deal to those advertising on my site, considering the drops from your ad on my site don't receive any credit from the dropper.

My regular routine of drops will continue as normal, So you will still receive the maximum exposure that you all deserve.

Problem after problem.

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 05:43:00 +0000

I don't know about the rest of you out there on Entrecard, But i am sick to death of the constant problems that have been occurring since the sale of Entrecard. Its not just the problems that are affecting all of with server problems etc but Ive also had many other problems with it since the sale. And Admin really dont seem to give a S#$%. Im sure most of us that have been with Entrecard for quite some time understand just how frustrating these problems can be.

About 3 weeks ago there was an ad that was supposed to be running on my site but it never changed, I notified the Entrecard admin and the reply i got was "it could be that our servers are in a different time zone. please allow a 24 hours delay if needed". Seriously what do you take us for??? Idiots?, We all know how it works and we all have some idea of when the ads change. So the ad for the previous day got 2 days exposure, Good deal for that blog but not for the site that was supposed to be there. Also just 2 days ago i informed Admin that drops on my site weren't being registered, Guess what.... No reply.
I have now decided that i am going to stop accepting ads until i feel that my advertisers are getting the exposure that they are paying for, I shall continue with my regular routine until my current ads in queue have all run there time and then i shall make my decision as to whether or not to continue with Entrecard.

First day at school

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 21:39:00 +0000

Today is the first day of school for my Son. It's a day that i shall always remember and it makes me feel so proud. His 2 years at kindergarten have really prepared him well for this moment.

He was so excited to be at school and when the bell rang for class to start he ran as fast as he could to get to his room. I really hope this enthusiasm will continue throughout his schooling days.

The last 5 years have just flown by so quickly.

Is it really worth the lies?

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 02:54:00 +0000

During the last school holidays i had my 12 year old Daughter with me, She has been living with her Mother most of the time since we separated about 8 years ago, During those 8 years my Daughter was living with an aunt for 1 year, Her Grandmother in Australia for 1 year, as well as with me for the year of 2007, Unfortunately she went back to her mother for 2008 and 2009 because her Mother made promises to her that should could not keep or should i say they were just bribes to get her back. Ive put up with years of harassment from her mother which only got worse after i got married and have had to put up with listening to lies that she has told my Daughter about me and my wife, All to try and make me look bad.

My Daughter is nearly 13 now and has finally realised that all the crap that her mother has fed her about me over the years is lies, She will be coming back to live with me at the end of the year, And she will remain with me until she finishes with her education. Does my Daughter hate her mother for all the lies she told about me? You bet she does. Does her mother want to stop her coming to me next year? No because she knows she is a terrible mother and that she cant beat me if it went to court.

So if your one of these women that likes to bad mouth your ex husband/boyfriend in front of the children, You should grow up and think again, It will come back and bite you in the backside in future. I have no pity whatsoever for these mothers that loose their children when its there own wrong doing.

Women are better at multitasking.

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 07:03:00 +0000

On my way home from work i was following a car with one occupant, He was a middle aged male wearing a suit, I could see him reach for his mobile phone, He pulled over to the side of the road and continued his conversation, (as people should without endangering the lives of other road users).

Approximately 100 meters further up the road a women was on her mobile phone while driving, Did she pull over? NO, What makes it worse is that she holding the phone in one hand and she applying eye make up at the same time. Does this tell you that she was concentrating on the road and thinking about fellow road users? Women are supposidly better at multitasking than Men but this is just pathetic. Is this really multitasking or just plain stupidity? We share the road with these clowns, Our lives are at risk everyday with people who seem to think they are the only ones on the road.

Even making it illegal to talk on mobile phones while driving wont solve the problem because these idiots still need to be caught.
Its all about common sense, Before mobile phones were around, People had to use the telephone at work or at home (Not in between)So do you really need your mobile phone on while driving?

Good to be home.

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 04:53:00 +0000

I'm back from my working trip to Melbourne, Australia, I enjoyed my days away but nothing beats time at home. I thought the cost of living here in New Zealand was totally outrageous but the Aussies have it a lot worse, I could not believe the price of necessities in Australia. Now i know why ex-pat New Zealanders are coming home.

Melbourne is a fantastic city, Maybe next time i go it will be for a holiday.

Thank you to all of those that have continuously visited my blog while Ive been away, There have been over 200 visitors each day, And many of those are daily visitors.

Going away.

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 07:19:00 +0000

To my loyal readers and droppers. I will away for a few days, I am being sent to Melbourne, Australia to do a job, I will be back early next week and will get back to my daily drops etc when i return.

Thank you all for your understanding and drops while i am away.

Kimi to WRC

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 08:42:00 +0000

Ferrari Formula One driver Kimi Raikkonen will make his world rally championship debut against drivers such as Sebastien Loeb and Mikko Hirvonen in his native Finland at the end of July.

The former Formula One world champion (2007) has already competed in three non-championship rallies this year and will enter the Rally of Finland in a Fiat Abarth Grande Punto with compatriot Kaj Lindstrom who was formerly the co-driver to four-times world champion Tommi Makinen.

The Rally of Finland starts on the Friday after the Hungarian Formula One Grand Prix in Budapest which is on July 26.

Ford's Mikko Hirvonen leads Citroen's five-times world champion Sebastien Loeb by a point going in to the ninth of the season's 12 rallies.

Raikkonen, has competed in two rallies in Finland and one in Italy since the start of the year and has scored 10 points from eight grands prix this year in Formula One.

Does this mean that Alonso will finally get his chance to drive for Ferrari in place of Kimi?, I personally hope not.

Unaccompanied minor sent to wrong destination

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 06:35:00 +0000

Apparently an unaccompanied minor with all the paperwork set to travel from Boston to Cleveland on Continental airlines wound up in Newark instead.

As required by the airline, The parent walked the child through airport security to the gate, then spoke to the agents and then put the child in their care when it came time to board the plane.

The paperwork was complete and it stated the flight number, destination and phone numbers and addresses for the people meeting the child at the airport in Cleveland.

The parent then watched airline personnel take the child and the paperwork with the destination and flight number onto a plane. Everything should have been fine.

The parent had no idea that the child hadn't reached Cleveland until the Father-in-law called and asked where she was.

How could the airline staff put her on the wrong plane and neither flight crew noticed.

A Continental Airline spokesperson later issued this statement:

"We take very seriously our responsibility to care for unaccompanied minors on our flights. In this case, there were two flights departing simultaneously from a single doorway and miscommunication among staff members resulted in the child being boarded on the wrong aircraft.
"We are truly sorry for this error and have apologized to the family. The child was supervised throughout the entire process and was rebooked and routed to the proper destination on the same day. "

I have 2 Children that travel as unaccompanied minors on a regular basis. For me, This is completely unacceptable and there should be no excuse for this to happen even if there are two flights departing simultaneously from a single doorway.

All Blacks Fixtures 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 07:04:00 +0000

Its just about time for the All Blacks season to start again. Here are the Game dates for those who are interested. The series to really follow and appreciate is the tri-nations, New Zealand, Australia and South africa are the three best teams in the world, And after the Bulls performance during the recent super 14 season, South Africa will be a tough team to beat.

Iveco series
Jun 13 All Blacks v France Dunedin
Jun 20 All Blacks v France Wellington
Jun 27 All Blacks v Italy Christchurch

Tri Nations
Jul 18 All Blacks v Australia Auckland
Jul 25 South Africa v All Blacks Bloemfontein
Aug 1 South Africa v All Blacks Durban
Aug 8 South Africa v Australia Cape Town
Aug 22 Australia v All Blacks Sydney
Aug 29 Australia v South Africa Perth
Sep 5 Australia v South Africa Brisbane
Sep 12 All Blacks v South Africa Hamilton
Sep 19 All Blacks v Australia Wellington

2009 End of Year Tour
14 Nov All Blacks v Italy Milan
21 Nov All Blacks v England London
28 Nov All Blacks v France Marseille
05 Dec All Blacks v Barbarians London

Cruise the coast of Somalia.

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Fri, 01 May 2009 07:14:00 +0000

Vacation getaway, This is funny.

You will need to book this vacation as soon as possible as not only is ammo hard to find but im afraid we might run out of pirates once word gets out.

A Somali cruise package that departs from Sawakin ( In the Sudan) and docks at Bagamoya (Tanzania)

The cruise company is encouraging people to bring their high powered weapons along, If you don't have weapons you can rent them right there on the cruise ship. They claim to have a master gunsmith on board and will host reloading parties every afternoon. The cruise lasts from 4-8 days and nights and costs a maximum of $3200 per person double occupancy (4days).

The ship itinerary is to sail up and down the coast of Somalia waiting to get hijacked by pirates, Here are some of the package details:

$800 per day double occupancy.

M-16 full auto rental $25.00/day ammo at 100 rounds of 5.56 Armour piercing ammo at $15.95.

AK-47 rifle at no charge. ammo at 100 rounds of 7.62 com block ball ammo at $14.95.

Barrett 20M-107 .50 caliber sniper rifle rental $55.00/day ammo at 25 rounds 50 caliber Armour piercing at $9.95.

Crew members can double as spotters for $30 per hour (spotting scope included).

RPG's are $75.00 each and $200.00 for 3 loads.

Everyone gets use of complimentary night vision equipment and coffee and snacks on the top deck from 7pm - 6am .

Meals are not included.

"MOUNTED MINI GUN AVAILABLE @ $450.00 per 30 seconds of sustained fire"

They even offer a partial money back if not satisfied... Heres some text from the ad.

"We guarantee that you will experience at least two hijacking attempts by pirates or we will refund back half your monry including gun rental charges and any unused ammo (mini gun charges not included).. How can we guarantee you will experience a hijacking? We operate at 5 knots within 12 miles of the coast of Somalia. If an attempted hijacking does not occur we will turn the boat around and cruise by at 2.04 knots. We will repeat this for up to 8 days making 3 passes a day along the entire length of Somalia. At night the boat is fully lit and bottle rockets are shot off at intervals and loud music beamed shore side to attract attention. Reserve your package before may 29th, 2009 and get 100 rounds of free tracer ammo in the caliber of your choice.

Here are a few testimonials:

"I got 3 confirmed kills on my last trip. I'll never hunt big game in Africa again. I felt like the Komandant in Schindlers list!"

"Six attacks in 4 days was more than i expected. I bagged three pirates and my 12 year old son sank 2 rowboats with the minigun. Well worth the trip. Just make sure your spotter speaks english"

"Like ducks in a barrel. They turned the ship around and we saw them bleed and cry in the water like little girls. Saw one wounded pirate by sharks- This is a must do cruise"

"I havent had this much fun since flying choppers in NAM. Dont worry about getting shot by pirates as they never even got close to the ship with those weapons they use and their shitty aim"

Entrecard Paid ads free.

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 07:02:00 +0000

Ive decided not to accept paid ads on Entrecard. The reason for this is because i believe Entrecarders like myself put a lot of time and effort into promoting our blogs and if people are paying me their hard earned EC to advertise with me then it should be honored by me to promote their site to the best of my ability during the 24 hours they are there.

This is not the way Entrecard should make money for themselves, They are decreasing the value of EC by doing so. I have no problem in helping Entrecard to make money but not at the expense of my advertisers.

No offense to any of those ive declined as paid ads.

Rugby world cup 2011 venues.

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 07:56:00 +0000

Rugby world cup 2011 venues have been confirmed. The announcement was made at Eden Park on March 12.
40 pool matches will be spread across 13 venues, New Zealands 3 largest cities, Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch will each host five pool matches

North Shore, Hamilton, New Plymouth, Rotorua and Dunedin will each host three matches, while Whangarei, Nelson, Palmerston North, Napier and Invercargill have been given two matches each.

The first match up of the world cup will be between the all blacks and Tonga on September 9th at Eden park in Auckland and the rugby world cup final will be held on Sunday October 23 at the same venue.

Keep reading for full tournament schedule.

Fri Sept 9 New Zealand v Tonga Auckland
Sat Sept 10 Scotland v Play-off winner Invercargill
Sat Sept 10 Fiji v Africa 1 Rotorua
Sat Sept 10 France v Asia 1 North Shore
Sat Sept 10 Argentina v England Christchurch
Sun Sept 11 Australia v Italy Christchurch
Sun Sept 11 Ireland v Americas 2 New Plymouth
Sun Sept 11 South Africa v Wales Wellington
Wed Sept 14 Oceania 1 v Africa 1 Rotorua
Wed Sept 14 Tonga v Americas 1 Whangarei
Wed Sept 14 Scotland v Europe 1 Dunedin
Thurs Sept 15 Europe 2 v Americas 2 New Plymouth
Fri Sept 16 New Zealand v Asia 1 Hamilton
Sat Sept 17 Argentina v Play-off winner Invercargill
Sat Sept 17 South Africa v Fiji Wellington
Sat Sept 17 Australia v Ireland Auckland
Sun Sept 18 Wales v Oceania 1 Hamilton
Sun Sept 18 England v Europe 1 Christchurch
Sun Sept 18 France v Americas 1 Napier
Tues Sept 20 Italy v Europe 2 Nelson
Wed Sept 21 Tonga v Asia 1 Whangarei
Thurs Sept 22 South Africa v Africa 1 North Shore
Fri Sept 23 Australia v Americas 2 Wellington
Sat Sept 24 England v Play-off winner Dunedin
Sat Sept 24 New Zealand v France Auckland
Sun Sept 25 Fiji v Oceania 1 Auckland
Sun Sept 25 Ireland v Europe 2 Rotorua
Sun Sept 25 Argentina v Scotland Christchurch
Mon Sept 26 Wales v Africa 1 New Plymouth
Tues Sept 27 Americas 1 v Asia 1 Napier
Tues Sept 27 Italy v Americas 2 Nelson
Wed Sept 28 Europe 1 v Play-off winner Palmerston North
Fri Sept 30 South Africa v Oceania 1 North Shore
Sat Oct 1 Australia v Europe 2 Christchurch
Sat Oct 1 France v Tonga Wellington
Sat Oct 1 England v Scotland Auckland
Sun Oct 2 Argentina v Europe 1 Palmerston North
Sun Oct 2 New Zealand v Americas 1 Wellington
Sun Oct 2 Wales v Fiji Hamilton
Sun Oct 2 Ireland v Italy Dunedin

Sat Oct 8 QF1: W Pool C v RU Pool D Wellington
Sat Oct 8 QF2: W Pool B v RU Pool A Christchurch
Sun Oct 9 QF3: W Pool D v RU Pool C Wellington
Sun Oct 9 QF4: W Pool A v RU Pool B Christchurch
Sat Oct 15 SF1: W QF1 v W QF2 Auckland
Sun Oct 16 SF2: W QF3 v W QF4 Auckland
Fri Oct 21 Bronze Final Auckland
Sun Oct 23 Final Auckland

Sexist blog title.

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 05:21:00 +0000

I received this email today from a visitor to my website stating that my blog title is sexist. Here is the email that this moron sent. Please tell me what you think, Is my blog title sexist or is this pathetic person a few cans short of a six pack?

Your blog title is seriously sexist. The other half of the population of the world is female. had you said View from Mans point of view it would not be sexist, but claiming that the whole world is mans, and not at all woman's is totally unacceptable! Women dont belong to men and i dont think you should purport that either.

On the off chance that you had no idea of what your blog title implied then, now you know. But on the off chance that you meant it to be read that way, then Your a sexist pig.

New Advertising

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 07:32:00 +0000

As some of my advertisers are probably aware by now, My project wonderful account was suspended a few days ago, I wasn't given a reason but never mind.

I have now decided to make some 125 X 125 ad spaces available and set at a price that you are willing to pay. I'm not interested in posting ads by the hour but i will accept ads by the day, Week, Fortnightly, Monthly and longer. Just click the ad space or the contact link at the top of the page and leave me a message.

If you would like to place an ad with larger dimensions please contact me with the ad size you would like and location. I will try to accommodate ads of all sizes.

Ellerslie car show 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 07:28:00 +0000

I had many requests from my recent post entitled Rod and custom weekend for pictures of some of New Zealands old classic cars aswell as some supercars etc so i thought i would post some pictures from the ellerslie car show a couple of weeks ago.

If anybody wants full size and full resolution pictures, Please contact me.

40 years on

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 22:33:00 +0000

Today is one of the greatest days in aviation history. February 9th 1969 was the first flight of the Boeing 747, It was a little past the target date of December 17, 1968, but it was still in time to meet the commitment of a mid-December 1969 delivery for the first production plane.

On December 30, 1969 The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration certifies the 747-100 for commercial service and on January 21, 1970 the 747-100 enters commercial service with Pan American World Airways on a New York-to-London flight.

40 years old and still being produced, In my opinion its the greatest airliner ever built and the greatest that will ever be built.

Treehouse restaurant

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 22:22:00 +0000

This pod-shaped structure opened to the public on 9th January 2009 and unfortunately will only stay open until 9th February 2009.

It all came about as an advertising campaign for New Zealand Yellow Pages which is Business telephone listings and they claim it "helps you get any job done"

Its suspended 10 meters up a giant redwood tree and is located north of Auckland in a place called Matakana which is a region renowned for fresh local produce, award-wining wines and farmers markets. Timber construction was used for flexibility and sustainable qualities; The structure is attached to the tree trunk with steel collars and pins.

The restaurant layout has been tricky with the round dining-room surrounding the tree trunk making table placement a challenge. While the dining area is up in the tree, the kitchen and other facilities are safely located on the ground.

The entire project only took four months to complete and has captured worldwide exposure with many architects, designers and artists around the world following the tree house project online.

When I first found out about this project it had already been sold out and bookings were no longer taken so I went onto an online auction site and found tickets , Bidding was starting at NZ$200, which is approximately US$120 and that’s for afternoon tea.