25 February 2009

Yesterday I decided to leave real estate for a while, watch this space while I decide my next move!

 

Official BlogSpot

(since 24 October 2008)

20 March 2006 

Text Message Bullying

It seems to me that a lot of people are missing the major opportunity that mobiles are offering our society here....

 

Any parent would tell you that the reason they give their child a cell phone is so that they can be used to track them down when necessary, not to mention their use in an emergency

 

here we now have a golden opportunity to help deal with both the instigators and victims of bullying!

 

both personality types are going to always exist, both need help

 

rather that just brush it under the carpet and say "Dont let them have cell phones", why not encourage their use but with the proviso that all text messages to and from the phone are sent to the parents, and school, via a daily email, fax or letter as requested by the parents or school while the kid is still at school (some of the worst bullying I got was after I turned 16!)

 

The cell phone companies could do it and would probably jump at the chance to be seen as "proactive" and helpful

Requests for this "invasion of privacy" by the parents, could be okayed as the liasing for this service would be all done via the school (initial request of cellphone registration to this service would be requested by the parents to the school who would pass that on to the phone company)

New accounts or prepay sims  could be setup by the parents directly with the cellphone company to add the text message printout option.  

It wouldnt be good enough for the cell phone companies to say that "that information is already available - you just have to do this, this, this, this, this, this and this"  It needs to be kept simple.  Also parents would need to regularly give themselves "missed calls" off their child's phone especially if the text mesage printouts suddently drop off, just to make sure they havent purchased a new sim card!

 

it would give a clear "paper trail" if the instigators are as dumb as I seem to remember they were, and it will also help to lessen the bullying thing once the instigators catch on, hopefully by then they will have been discovered

 

I was bullied for over 3 years before I, in desparation, finally told the dean of my year, and as if by magic it was turned off the next day - making me wish I'd done it 3 years earlier!

 

Having parents reading incoming text printouts would be a great shortcut to dealing with this problem

 

Actually the schools could start an online notice board showing the messages and who they have come from - name them and shame them!

 

Another thing they could do would be to have an email dobbing-in system so that kids who see others bullying can let staff know.  Obviously some may try to make up stories, but on the whole (with time) the staff would be able to see which emails were dubious and which ones were for real.

 

Lets try and haul ourselves out of the primeval soup and start to act like the so called "humans" we pride outselves in being instead of the animals that we seem to be acting like!

 

cheers

 

Have a nice day! :-)

 

13 March 2006

Chimpanzee Heist.... After watching a doco on animal planet, I wanted to contact the researcher behind the doco, so I googled her and sent her an email.... the resulting dialogue came as a bit of a shock!!  click here to see

2 Dec 2005  

Gentlemen don't win wars

 

If you want to join the army - expect to be moulded into a psychotic killer - as a gentleman you are no use to the army.  Oh - and if you're good at pressing a button to unleash a full scale nuclear holocaust then that would be useful too!  You'll really go places then!

Little Rant:

They hanged that poor kid.. What a waste.

 

June 2005 Latest News!

Professionals Office of Boyd Real Estate is merging with Phoenix Harcourts Riccarton Office.  Both owners are opening a third office called Harcourts Clarence on Clarence Street.  I'll be based at Phoenix office tel: 348 0923  or my new cellphone number for work: 021 99 7798

On "Managing China" Food for thought....

23 January 2005 - A lecturer, when explaining stress management to an audience, raised a  glass of water and asked, "How heavy is this glass of water?" A variety of answers were called out. The lecturer replied: "The absolute weight doesn't matter".

It depends on  how long you try to hold it.

"If I hold it for a minute, that's not a  problem.  If I hold it for an hour, I'll have an ache in my arm. If I hold it for a day, you'll have to call an ambulance. In each case, it's the same weight, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes." He continued, "And that's the way it is with stress management. If we carry our burdens all the time, sooner or later, as the burden becomes increasingly heavy, we won't be able to carry on."
 
"As with the glass of water, you have to put it down for a while and rest before holding it again. When we're refreshed, we can carry on with the burden. So, before you return home each night this week, put the burden of work down. Don't carry it home. You can pick it up tomorrow. Whatever burdens you're carrying now, let them down for a moment if you can. Relax; pick them up later after you've rested. Life is short. Enjoy it!"

10 December - Why anyone would base their entire lives on a book written over 2000 years ago?  Look at the way their descendents are carrying on now!!  Disagree?  OK then sell me your daughter - I need a slave!

Civil Unions - Contracts are for business  - a "Marriage" between two individuals should be based on mutual love, respect, trust and self confidence, if those aren't present, then perhaps those two people shouldn't be together.  I don't believe that they are connected to a document!  PS... I have since been reminded that "That's all very well till one or both of you dies... then there's the issue of a will"  .... good point.....

29 November - Anal rentention at New World Supermarket, Stanmore Road, Christchurch.   It was approx 6 pm - end of a long day, not in the mood for any bullshit, I approached the empty '12 items or less' check out with my trolley load of: loaf of bread, Olive oil margarine stuff, litre of milk, and 2 litres of soy milk.  The young lady behind the counter watched me empty it out then said, just as I emptied the last thing onto the counter, "Excuse me you're not allowed trolleys at this checkout!!" 

"I'm sorry - I didn't read that particular rule book" I said looking around for any sign as such.  Another checkout lady with nothing to do, then grabbed the "12 items or less" sign and whirled it around for me to see, and there it was in letters of black on a yellow back ground, under the "12 items or less" : "NO TROLLEYS"

"Well if you don't want to sell it, I don't care!"  she just looked at me so I just walked out and left them to it.

So who was being anal retentive them or me?  Plenty of other supermarkets out there... I ain't in no hurry to go back to THAT one thats for sure!

 

24 November - Dolphins saved a family swimming at Whangarei - nice story worth a look!

24 November - New Zealand now prides itself in having its Universities entrance English requirement all at the same high standard (approx. equal to IELTS level 8) as for Oxford University in England - oh Bravo!!  This means that, as usual the NZ Gov't has shifted the goal posts for any international students who might have been unlucky enough to be seduced into studying at high school here.  The irony being that if they had studied at high school elsewhere and then applied for entrance to any university here they would only require an IELTS 6 entrance level - as they had been promised was required when they applied for high schools here in the first place... D'oh!

15 November 2004 - Memorial white crosses at the side of the motorway have been deemed by Transit New Zealand (formerly known as the Ministry of Transport) to be distracting to motorists and should be removed.   Funny - I find the sight of a police squad car at the side of the road 100 times more distracting and disturbing than a little white cross!  Perhaps those squad cars should be removed as well?  Now there's a thought!   J                                                             There's a lot of feeling that the US elections may not quite have been what they seem...  Have a look at what some are saying. Elections         T H E   P R E S S   S T O R Y                  Govt rethink on migrants 28 October 2004 By COLIN ESPINER in WELLINGTON

V V V V

The controversial English-language test for new migrants may be scrapped as the Government continues to back-pedal on immigration policy.

Immigration Minister Paul Swain yesterday boosted the number of points awarded to some migrants in an attempt to arrest a continuing decline in migrant numbers.

Swain announced that from December 1 the Government would expand the definition of skilled employment to enable those with a wider range of skills to claim residency. Rules for gaining permanent residency would be relaxed and points would be handed out for having close family in New Zealand.

The continued easing of the tough points criteria for New Zealand residency follows months of slashing points requirements for entry to the Immigration Service's selection pool.

When the system began a year ago, 195 points were required to complete the first stage of a residency application. Last month the level stood at 100 - the minimum allowed under the scheme.

The number of skilled migrants seeking to work and live in New Zealand has fallen dramatically since new rules were introduced requiring all applicants to submit expressions of interest for residency. The Immigration Service then decides who will be accepted.

One of the greatest causes of the drop in the number of applicants for residency from Asia has been an English-language test set at the basic minimum for a first-year university student.

The law change was challenged unsuccessfully in the courts by migrants' groups, which said it was discriminatory.

Swain said the English test was under review, and while no decisions had been made an announcement on its fate was due soon.

He said immigration numbers had almost halved over the past year and it was clear that more flexibility was needed to boost migration and address a growing skills gap.

New Zealand had one of the highest job growth rates and one of the lowest unemployment rates in the OECD, together with strong economic growth.

"Labour market policy is now a critical government focus. If the economic growth is to be sustainable, we mustn't allow labour and skills issues to strangle the growth we are enjoying," Swain told the New Zealand Immigration Institute and the New Zealand Association for Migration and Investment in Auckland yesterday.

Under the changes, workers with skills in the "absolute priority" list, such as mechanics, radiologists, electricians and speech therapists, will receive an extra five points.

The Government is also wooing police and corrections officers, placing the occupations on the critical-shortages list for the first time.

Even those without jobs will be welcome.

"Operational policy will be amended to make it clearer that skilled applicants without a job offer can, if they are assessed as being highly employable, be granted permanent residence without a job offer," Swain said.

National immigration spokesman Tony Ryall said the changes were a further admission that the Government's handling of immigration had left New Zealand stranded without enough skilled migrants.

"The chaotic introduction of the new points scheme saw New Zealand lose substantial credibility overseas," he said.

Ryall said applications by skilled applicants must be processed faster.

"Bizarrely, under Minister Paul Swain it is easier to get an unskilled relative into New Zealand than it is a skilled migrant with a job."

New Zealand First associate immigration spokesman Dail Jones said the policy seemed designed to allow large numbers of migrants into the country to stoke up the economy in election year.

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November 2004

 

You've probably heard that I'm now in the real estate game, have been since January this year.  However there are still four students around the Canterbury area who call me their guardian too! 

I'm enjoying it and have had a few sales.  

If you are thinking of selling please let me know - I'd love to help you market your property!

The selling part is really easy for me, getting places to sell is not so easy, I guess that means two things: lots of buyers around and lots of sales people too!  But thats the real estate market for you, continually moving from a state of too many houses, not enough buyers to too few houses and too many buyers!

My manager, Dougal Boyd (yes he's my brother) is a registered valuer.  He can come into fine tune the price to make certain you are getting the best possible price with the least conditions in the shortest time..

I'd love to hear from you!

Kind regards  Andrew Boyd