Dave Gee: Life from Right Field

The Labour Party looks set to fail in its bid to extract millions of dollars of free funding out of taxpayers each year, to fund its propaganda campaigns.

Labour needs the support of the minor parties to get its undemocratic proposals through, but NZ First leader Winston Peters is refusing to budge over his opposition to the state funding of political parties.

The taxpayer funding of parties is just part of a raft of anti-free speech campaign reforms Labour is trying to hammer through to help them cling to power. The party wants to limit anonymous donations to less than $5000 and slash third-party spending.

Labour is writing and negotiating its plans behind closed doors, to ensure the changes are swung firmly in its favour. While the party's looking at a ban on foreign donations, that wouldn't apply to expats living overseas... ensuring Labour's overseas financiers like Owen Glenn can continue to make million dollar donations.

Labour is also getting back to its communist roots, with plans to limit the ability of the Opposition and third parties to criticise the Government for the entire election year, not just during the 3 months before an election.

However, the Government would still be free to embark on multi-million dollar taxpayer-funded PR campaigns under the guise of education (Working for Families, Kiwisaver, etc).

Labour wants to force third parties to obtain "a free speech permit" (What The!?!) in election year if they plan to campaign against the Government.

Funnily enough, Crown Law has advised Labour that those proposals would actually breach freedom of expression protections in the Bill of Rights ;-) Labour also wants a spending cap of $60,000 per group, allowing funds to still roll in from hundreds of Union branches from Kaitaia to Bluff.

Lucyna has posted Chris Trotter's latest column from the Dom Post, where the trendy socialist tried to argue that Labour needs state funding because of the "political fines" of $800,000 it owes the New Zealand taxpayer for spending their hard-earned money on a bunch of glossy "pledge cards" advertisements.

* Stuff: Bid for state funding set to collapse
* NZ Herald: Fran O'Sullivan: Labour's grubby spending ploy
* DPF's Kiwiblog: Labour's plan to stifle criticism breach the Bill of Rights
* Clint Heine: Can you pick the party?...

Labour MP Steve "Smarmy" Maharey is the NZ Government's Minister of Education and Minister of Broadcasting, but not according to his official list of titles 'Minister of Swearing'.

Apparently though, he is the first MP to be caught using the "F" word on microphone in Parliament. What a thoroughly charming man. Good to see Labour picks the best people to be in charge of our nation's children, and our nations airwaves...

* NZ Herald: A couple of quick words from the Minister ... whoops
* Stuff: Minister tells Nat MP to 'bleep' off

Ever since I did my "big OE" in the UK, and then 5 seasons of Summer Camp in the USA, I've had to get out of New Zealand and back into the "big smoke cities" at least once a year ;-)

I usually catch up with friends and relations in London and Luton (just slightly north of London), before heading over to the USA.

Last September, group from back home met up in New York City, for a week or two of being tourists, shopping, and seeing heaps of Broadway shows. I love New York, especially Manhattan, and do most of my annual clothes shopping there!

Being the summer, we try to avoid the subway as much as possible, and it's often quicker to walk anyway. This does leave you with some tired legs at the end of the day, not to mention a sore back, neck, and sometimes a headache. Maybe next time we go, we'll have to check out a medical massage therapist in NYC.

I've never actually been to a Chiropractor, although I often get a sore neck. I do that head-twisting neck-cracking thing that's probably really bad for you ;-) and have a good stock of Ibuprofens!

We're currently in planning for this year's trip to the United States. It looks like there might be just a small bunch this year unfortunately, but we'll still have fun... there's some great new shows coming out, we'll stay at the "10 star" Hotel Cartier (!) and it's good to get a good summer break when it's still pretty cold in New Zealand.

Check out this guy... He converted his English studio flat into a replica of the Star Trek Voyager. Tony Alleyne is now looking to sell his apartment on ebay.

He started the project after his wife left him a the late-90s - originally going for the Starship Enterprise look - before refitting it two years ago in the style of the Starship Voyager.

His flat is missing one vital part... a bedroom. Alleyne decided a bed takes up too much room, and put in a transporter room instead. (He says he suffers from sciatica, and his doctor told him he'd be better off sleeping on the floor).

It still sounds pretty cool though... if you're a hard-core trekkie. Along with the transporter pad, there's faithful recreations of the bridge consoles, phaser firing controls, and a voice-activated interface to control the lighting.

* CityNews: Star Trek Apartment Up For Sale On eBay
* Gizmodo: Trekkie Recreates Awesome Set of Star Trek: Voyager in a Studio Apartment

Everybody's favourite political reporter, TV3's Duncan Garner, was in the news himself this week... thanks to a compliment on his wardrobe from US President, George "Walter" Bush.

Following the pre-lunchtime meeting between Bush and PM Cluck, the media were told the President 'might' answer two questions from the media.

That didn't happen, and when Duncan Garner tried to throw GWB a question, the southern one remarked on how well dressed Garner was (in his pin-striped Escena suit), and suggested the American media take note. (Disclaimer: George "Walter" Bush was wearing a blue suit with shin-high Texan cowboy boots at the time...)

Garner's been having an interesting time in Washington. He and his cameraman were frisked by the over-zealous American Police on day one, after filming too close to the White House.

NZ Herald journalist Audrey Young also reports that most of the press gallery are staying at a "pretty central and pretty cheap" hotel, recommended by TV3's Garner. Apparently there are renovations going on at the hotel at the moment, with jack-hammers going from 8 in the morning until 4pm. And guests have to keep their curtains closed all day.

Meanwhile Stuff's Colin Espiner reports in his blog that at the posh lunch following the PM's meeting with GWB, the media were given a table without food or coffee... just iced water.
The quickfire Duncan asked if the kiwi journos could order in Domino's Pizza instead? Unfortunately, the Americans (who don't get sarcasm) simply responded with a "Sure, that would be fine".

Here's a tribute to TV3's best-dressed-political-reporter-of-the-week- named-duncan, courtesy of "Dan News"...


* TV3 News: Clark comes away empty handed from meeting with Bush
* Stuff: Colin Espiner's Washington blog
* NZ Herald: Audrey Young's blog

The Herald on Sunday has today picked up on just how corrupt and useless the NCEA education system really is.

The NZ Qualifications Authority is encouraging schools to let students re-sit tests as many times as they want, and allowing teachers to add up marks from different failed tests to produce a pass. ?!? What The?!!

What's more, the NZQA has slammed the actions of two quality schools, because they preferred to keep things on the level.

Tawa College was ordered to review its policy of not allowing students to resit tests or exams they have failed... while Karamu High School was told its policy of only letting students take a test twice was too strict and "contrary to national practice".
Labour's Education Minister, Smarmy Maharey continues to defend NCEA, and is dismissive of outside examinations like the Cambridge exams adopted by many good schools.

This of course is a continuation of the long downward trend in education standards (and not just in New Zealand). Unfortunately under today's "new age" theories in schools, students should never be exposed to failure, and their work should never be criticised.

As David Farrar points out over at Kiwiblog, the NCEA record does not record failure, so a potential employer cannot tell the difference between someone who passed on their first go, and someone who took ten times to pass... possibly even by combining a couple of "failed" test results together ;-(

* NZ Herald: NZQA accused on tests
* DPF's Kiwiblog: More NCEA nonsense

"Green" MP Sue Bradford's anti-smacking bill was supposed to be a conscience issue. However, Labour don't like their MPs having consciences, and decreed all their members would have to vote in favour of the bill.

Its understood a number of Labour MPs are personally opposed to the bill, which would make criminals of parents who discipline their children, and has been described by some as "a home invasion". However, they have been told on no uncertain terms they have to tow the party line.

Meanwhile, NZ First allowed its MPs to vote with their conscience, but the party's president Dail Jones is now threatening to demote MPs Brian Donnelly and Doug Woolerton come the next election, after their support for the controversial bill.

* Stuff: NZ First rows over 'anti-smacking' bill
* Whale Oil: NZ First having a smack up over smacking
* DPF's Kiwiblog: In defence of NZ First MPs

Some out there might not be aware of this... but Planet Earth is currently ruled (for the most part) by multi-dimensional lizard aliens called Annunaki.

Many of the world's political and business leaders are actually shape-shifting twelve-foot lizards from the fourth dimension.

These reptilian aliens like to brainwash humans, need to encourage negativity to help survive, and have an arrogant disrespect for normal human conventions.

Author, journalist, and former UK Football star David Icke believes that George Bush Snr and current US President George "Walter Bush" are in fact lizards and drug dealers. (In fact 33 of the USA's last 40 presidents were apparently Annunaki). It's also been suggested that NZ PM Hillin Cluck is one of these beings, given her normal demeanor and behaviour.

This week, Cluck and Bush met for lunch in Washington DC...


* Join in the Photo Caption fun over at NZ Herald...

The best thing about the internet since I switched from dial-up to Broadband is all the video clips available now on the web.

Pretty much everybody's heard of the massive YouTube site, which has thousands of new videos online every day. There's some great stuff on there, but the problem can be sorting through the mountains of clips to find the best ones.

CoolVideoClips.com is a site that does that searching for you... scouring the web for the funniest, strangest, and most interesting new video clips from thousands of sites including YouTube, Daily Motion, Yahoo Video, Google Video, Broadcaster, and many other video sites.

The site regularly adds new funny videos and interesting clips, sorting them into simple subject categories. Save yourself time searching, and just enjoy watching the good stuff!

This clip has been kicking around for a while, but somehow it's just shot into this week's Top 10 viral video web charts.

Watch and laugh as Larry Emdur, former host of Australia's The Price is Right gameshow, comes face to face with the craziest nervous wrecking ball in Aussie. Meet the hysterical "Mad Mary"... ;-)

Packing for a holiday, or just looking to get your drawers a bit neater?

Check out this video by an American teen named Ben Zweig, known as the "Folding expert" by his friends...

In this Queer Eye style makeover clip, Benny demonstrates the "Simple" tshirt method, the famous "2 second Japanese method", and his quick and easy "Cardboard t-shirt folding machine"...

Promoting your website or blog is a challenge for any webmaster/ blogger. With millions of sites on the internet, how can you make sure yours is noticed? I've had a personal website since the late 90's, and been blogging for the few years. It takes time to build up traffic and readers, and to get noticed by the search engines.

The trend towards RSS feeds is helping build regular regulars for blogs. I recently signed up with Feedburner, which helps consolidate your site feed in one place, improves the look of it for readers, and offers detailed statistics and other helpful features.

Exchanging links with other similar sites is also a great way of building your site, as is getting your site listed in the many online Blog Directories.

One website offering free Blog submission and other Webmaster resources is ManhattanService.

Run by a Search Engine Optimization professional, this site offers free submissions to hundreds of Web Directories... many of which were new to me, and will keep me busy for the next few days submitting to all those that are relevant to my sites ;-)

Rusak also offers more advanced Web Promotion services for a fee (tailored to your individual budget), like Competitor Analysis, Link Building, Traffic Building, and Search Engine Optimization. He also operates a good SEO blog, and seems to have a lot of experience in this important area for webmasters.

The Maori Party's four MPs have decided to support Sue Bradford's private members bill, which would make it illegal for parents to discipline children. Their support is likely to help the bill become law, and make criminals of tens of thousands of caring parents.

The Green Party MP's anti-smacking bill has split Parliament, with some parties divided on their support, although most of the "Gumment" (as Sue calls it) will vote in favour. (Labour MPs have no choice, their party doesn't believe in democracy. That means even the likes of Muslim MP Ashraf Choudhary are being forced to vote for it).

Family-friendly United Future leader Peter Dunne will support Bradford's bill, but his other 2 MPs will vote against it. At least two New Zealand First MPs including former school Principal Brian Donnelly are also supporting the anti-discipline bill.

Interestingly, former (?) corporal punishment practitioner, school teacher David Benson-Pope is backing the move to ban the use of smacking or other force against children.

National Party MP Chester Borrows was hoping to win the support of MPs including the Maori Party, for an amendment which would allow parents to use limited force (like a light smack). However, Sue Bradford said she'd withdraw her bill altogether if that amendment looked like succeeding.

New Zealand's Popular and Competent PM Hillin Cluck is expecting the bill to pass. She claims she was only smacked once as a child, and remembers feeling "resentful" afterwards.

As a few commentators have noted, perhaps if Sue Bradford had been disciplined a little more as a child, she might have turned out a nicer and more reasonable person. Bradford wasted many hundreds of thousands in taxpayers' money during her years as an "official protester" and activist for unemployed workers (she's been arrested at least 40 times).

Christchurch broadcaster and father of four, Simon Barnett, has described the anti-smacking bill as "a home invasion". Barnett says it would criminalise caring parents, meaning parents could not smack or restrain their child for corrective purposes, or even forcibly send them for a "time-out".

Saturday's Hutt News reported that a rebellious Upper Hutt teen has already called in CYFS, after his mum tried to get him to go to school by threatening to smack him.

Apparently the mother told him he had five minutes to get ready or he would get a whack. She has hit her two children around the back of the legs, but never beats them. The CYFS social worker who visited the home said that her son decided not to press charges, but that the mother could have been prosecuted.

* See also CYFSwatchNZ...

* NZ Herald: Smacking bill now almost certain to pass

* ACT: Parliament to Ignore Public on Smacking Bill
* Andrew Falloon's Diary: Rodney Hide + Epsom against smacking ban

VoIP services like Skype are seen as the main threat to revenues from fixed line phone operators, according to a new survey.

Fixed-line and wireless service providers are being encouraged to build up new revenue streams, with telecom executives predicting voice calls to drastically decline over the next six years, as Voice over Internet Protocol services (VOIP) become more common.

VOIP or Internet telephony allows both home and business users to make phone calls over the internet or similar IP network.

Companies like Cisco are offering businesses IP Telephony systems which can save them big money on their phone costs, by combining all office and mobile calling, tele-conferencing, and other communications services into a unified network that is cheaper and more productive.

Former Sri Lankan cricket skipper Arjuna Ranatunga copped his fair share of "Who ate all the pies" jokes in his later playing years.

But for this year's Cricket World Cup in the West Indies, the title of "Most Well Rounded Cricketer" has gone to Bermuda's Dwayne Leverock. The 121kg (19 stone) part-time spin bowler is normally a full-time policeman at home.

Leverock's fuller figure has helped attract more interest than normal in cricketing minnows Bermuda. However, the team's skipper Irvine Romaine (normally a school teacher) has called on fans and the media to stop focusing on the size of his player's waistbands.

Despite Leverock's apparent lack of fitness, the left-arm spin bowler did impress commentators in Bermuda's warm-up game against England last week, when he claimed the wickets of Kevin Pieterson and Paul Collingwood.

New Zealand's closest entrant would probably be Craig "Macca" McMillan, who was recently recalled to the Black Caps (yay!) and uses his frame to slog massive fours and sixes for the kiwis (altho Macca's former "golden arm" abilities with the ball haven't been used as much since his return).

Death to all the naysayers who weren't jumping for joy on his international recall.

* Check out Macca's World Cup Diary here...

* NZ Herald: Cricket: No mirth about girth begs skipper

* See also: Barnsley Bill's blog for his theory on why Macca didn't play in NZ's loss to Bangladesh

Ha ha... this is funny...

A 45 year old Napier woman called Police last Friday to report an unusual burglary... Thieves had stolen three maijuana plants, which she'd been growing in pots (how appropriate) outside her house.

The woman (surely a "sickness" beneficiary? ;-) broke down in tears as she complained to Napier police that this was "the fourth year in a row" someone had sneaked onto her property at night and made off with her cannabis plants. She said she was "a good person and was sick and tired of "low-lifes" stealing her things".

Police thought the whole saga was very amusing, but warned the woman about her gardening habits when a community constable visited to take details of the theft. ;-)

* Stuff: Help, my dope's been nicked, police told

Now unless you've been sleeping under a rock for the last year or so, pretty much every savvy web surfer has seen the fun you can have by mixing Diet Coke and Mentos mints.

But have you ever wondered if you can have the same fun by mixing other types of candy with Soda and other drinks? The guys from Nobody's Watching were keen to find out too!...

Me on discovering the man-made "Streets Beach" in the middle of Brisbane City... I was well impressed ;-)

They even had Palm Trees. And real Sand!

My great hosts in Brisbane... Former Dunedinites, Mark & Mel Beilby, + kids Lauren and Jessie

The Fennessy family (also ex-Dunedin) are doing great in Brisbane

Even good basketballers can have bad luck... Check out this video clip of Los Angeles Clippers guard Shaun Livingston, landing badly and dislocating his left knee on a fast break against the Bobcats this week. (Make sure you've finished your lunch first ;-) ...

Otago Orientation season has kicked off in Dunedin, with the traditional First Day Toga Parade.

New students rip the sheets off their beds and raid their hostel gardens to create authentic-looking Roman head wreaths.

The annual Toga Parade begins outside the Dunedin Dental School, and then heads along George Street (Dunedin's main street) to finish up in the Octagon. The route is the same as the one most of these students will make in a few years time in a black gown, when they celebrate their graduation from Otago University...

The Otago Nuggets basketball team have confirmed two new imports for the 2007 season... one a friend of the coach's fresh from the Aussie NBL, while the other is expected to raise the roof at Dunedin's Lion Arena.

24-year old American guard/forward Jameel Pugh arrived in Dunedin this week, with a reputation as one of the best slam dunkers in the business.

(Check out this old HoopsTV video of the self-proclaimed Superman's dunking abilities, including what's labelled a 50-inch vertical... The sound's a bit out-of-sync for some reason, but the videos all good!)

"Human highlight reel" Jameel Pugh was drafted by the Dakota Wizards in the NBA's National Basketball Development League in 2006, but it's in US slam dunk contests that he's made his name. Pugh was named by Slam Magazine as the World's Best Dunker in 2000, and the 33rd best dunker of all time.

Otago Nuggets coach Rick Castle says he didn't choose Pugh purely for his dunking skills, and insists he has no intention of putting together a sideshow. However Coach Castle admits Pugh will "definitely be exciting to watch" and should give long-suffering Nuggets fans something to really cheer about this season.


Meanwhile, Castle's bringing one of his West Sydney Razorbacks over the ditch to fill the other import spot. 1.88m Point guard Justin Bailey played for the Australian NBL team this season (where Castle was assistant coach), and will be a key leader for Otago on the court.

PM Hillin Cluck's minority coalition Government just got a little shakier, a little more complicated, and took another step to the left.

Her decision to get Taito Phillip Field (an electorate MP) expelled from the Labour Party will mean Field will remain in Parliament (for the time being) as an Independent MP, and Cluck & Co will need to rely on the Greens or the Maori Party to push through legislation and stay in power.

Labour and the JAPS (Jim Anderton's Progressives) formed a minority coalition government after the 2005 election, and have been able to govern thanks to the support of the Winston First and Peter Dunne United (a total of 60 seats/121 when Field is expelled).

In interviews yesterday, Field was keen to point out his enormous majority in Mangere (I bet he says that to all the girls). Today he says his comments regarding standing against Labour at the next election were based on "a hypothetical situation posed by a reporter and were taken out of context".
However, with a majority at the last election (the largest in the country), Field could have a good shot at retaining his seat... either as an independent, or maybe as a candidate for the Maori Party (who have been very supportive of him in recent months).

* NZ Herald: MP Field could join another party
* Stuff: Field to go: how Labour will survive

Here in New Zealand, we get some of the most popular US Soap Operas, like Days of Our Lives and The Young and the Restless.

However they tend to be many years behind the United States, while others like General Hospital and Passions have disappeared from screens here in the recent years.

But for those keen to keep up with what's happening in your favourite US soaps, Soaps.com is one of the best places to keep tabs on the storylines, and all the comings and goings. There's also updates on the US version of the Colombian telenovela Ugly Betty.

The site has daily news updates on all the big Soap Operas, and is described as the "biggest soaps community on the web", no doubt helped by the popular message board section.

Unfortunately, one soap we don't get here in New Zealand is Guiding Light, which features a friend from my summer camp days, Caitlin Van Zandt, who plays the recurring character of Ashlee.

Soaps.com has a very good section on Guiding Light, and a page on Ashlee Wolfe played by Caitlin Van Zandt (although unfortunately they haven't yet got a picture of her up... I'll have to let her know ;-)

The 2nd Annual New Zealand Cheese Rolling Championships were held in Southland last week in brilliantly fine conditions (unlike last year's mudfest!)

Based on the popular UK Cheese Rolling Champs, this kiwi version was started by the Henderson family in 2006. The family open up their family farm in Waikaka, Wendon Valley for the event.

Described as a bit of an "extreme sport", runners must chase after a round block of cheese, which is let loose from the top of a very steep hill (resulting in a lot of faceplants on the way down ;-) First person to 'capture the cheese' at the bottom wins!

In the UK, competitors chase after seven kg wheels of Double Gloucester... but here in the deep south, it's a smaller four kg block of Whitestone Windsor Blue, which organisers reckon has been selected specifically for local conditions.

It's just a few days now till Valentine's Day... but that's not the only big thing happening on February 14 ;-)

That's also the day the 2007 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue comes out (in the United States... other countries may have to wait a little longer for their copies!)

This is the 43rd Annual Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition, and there's the usual hype (and of course controversy) about it this year.

The Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue was first published in 1964. The magazine's biggest selling swimsuit issue was the 25th Anniversary Edition in 1989, featuring Kathy Ireland on the cover. New Zealand's own Rachel Hunter featured on last year's cover, alongside other all-star past cover models like Elle Macpherson.
One difference in these modern times is that US fans can download their favourite models onto their cellphones. SI Mobile offers cell phone wallpapers, taken straight from the Swimsuit edition photo shoots. ($1.99 each, available for all the major carriers)

All the big name supermodels are there (over 50 to choose from), including Victoria's Secret model Heidi Klum, Ana Beatriz Barros, and tennis star Maria Sharapova... plus Aussie model and 3-time cover girl Elle Macpherson. (The SI Mobile site also offers downloadable video clips from the photos shoots, and animated screensavers.)

Boo... The Rednex ft. rappers Ro-Mania have been disqualified from the Romanian Eurovision qualifying final, after a committee decided their song Well-o-wee broke the contest's rules.

The committee said the Rednex song, along with Dracula, My Love (Simplu & Andra) and Sinada (New Effect feat. Moni-K) were disqualified because it was discovered some sections of the songs were played publicly before October 1 2006. (In the Rednex case, it's understood it was part of Ro-Mania's rap section that was at issue, not the rest of the song).

Well-o-wee and Dracula, My Love were both favourites to win the final on February 10, and represent Romania at Eurovision 2007 in Helsinki.

As a consolation, here's the Rednex performing Mama, Take Me Home at last year's Melodifestivalen (Swedish Eurovision selection). They finished 6th in the final...

A bunch of students holidaying in the central North Island of New Zealand captured these great images the other night while out jetboating... a tornado spiralling above Lake Taupo.

From their view on the boat, the tornado appeared to be well over ten metres across, and up to a kilometre high in the sky...

Swedish group the Rednex rocked the world in 1994, with their smash hit debut single, Cotton Eye Joe... a catchy novelty track, mixing Country Music with Eurodance.

Nearly everyone has heard the song (and probably danced to it), but they were written off by many outside Europe as a one hit wonder group, after followup singles from their debut album Sex and Violins failed to repeat the massive chart success in markets like the USA and UK.

However after a few years break, the group returned to the European charts in 2000, with the hit single Spirit Of The Hawk, and followup album Farmout.

The Rednex had another surprise comeback last year, when their song Mama Take Me Home made it to the finals of the Swedish Melodifestivalen (Sweden's qualifying competition for the Eurovision song contest.) The song finished sixth and was another hit single for the group, as was followup single Fe Fi (The Old Man Died).

This year the Rednex are having another stab at the Eurovision Song Contest... but the Swedes are hoping to compete in 2007 as the Romanian entry.

They've so far qualified for the Romanian national final in the pre-selection for Eurovision, performing Well-o-Wee together with rappers Ro-Mania...

The popularity of Free Running or Le Parkour (l'art du déplacement/ the art of movement) has skyrocketed since being featured in a number of commercials, TV shows, music videos and movies... the most notable being the opening sequence of the recent James Bond film, Casino Royale.

The aim of the extreme sport is to cross obstacles in the fastest and most direct way possible.

Parkour has its origins in France, but it is Eastern Europeans who have become some of the most proficient at the sport, traceurs (participants) scaling apartment buildings, walls, and railings with enormous agility.

Here's one of the best examples I've found...

With Valentines Day coming up, you might not to wait by your mailbox this year... many people may have more luck waiting by their computer.

E-Greetings have become more common as people use email and text messaging in place of snail mail. Last Christmas, many people chose not to mail out traditional cards, opting instead to send festive greetings via email (some businesses donating the money they saved to local charities).

Egreetings.com is a great website for funny, animated, and "talking" eCards, with a good range of unique cards perfect for a range of occasions, like "CSI Cake Division" for Birthdays, and an unsettling "Cupid" one for Valentine's Day.

The site lets you personalise your ecard with a message and your own images. They have a selection of cards for free, but offer a much larger range with a yearly subscription of just (US)$13.99 (which is a lot less than buying all those paper greetings cards).

A subscription also lets you schedule eCards to arrive it on a set date in the future. Right now they're offering Free 30-day trial memberships, which lets you send unlimited eCards.

Wow!... Has it really been that long?? No wonder Bill Ralston wasn't willing to commit to another 3 years heading State TV News! ;-)

(undoctored screen-cap from Stuff.co.nz website)