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 Wednesday, September 07, 2005 Tuesday, September 06, 2005
To Target Or Not To Target..... That Is The Question....
OK... so according to the great Labour Party, Tax Cuts (aka. Working for Families) should be targetted, abeit to the level that sprog popping Catholics on $120k will get some of the goodies.
But, Health funding (doctor subsidies) and Education funding (Student loan interest) should be spread around as broadly and thinly as possible.
This is complete madness.....
I say we give everyhone in NZ a bit more of their money back- in recognition of the fact that we work our asses off to earn it in the first place. And, I also reckon that if we're going to spend an extra $400 million on tertiary education then it should be spent on people who are genuinely bright and hardworking and who may come from a background that might otherwise prevent them from undertaking advanced study. It should not be spent on families who'll really just se it to reduce the mortgage on their 6th investment property.
This election REALY is about a difference in ideology. Don't let anyone tell you it's not.
Politics|Tuesday, September 06, 2005 9:25:02 PM UTC||
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Casting Strings to SqlDbType compatible types at runtime
I HATE doing monkey work and had the pleasure of such this afternoon.....
So herewith a switch statement that casts strings appropriatly for most SqlDbType type parameters.
string nodeValue = node.Value;
switch (prm.SqlDbType)
{
case SqlDbType.BigInt:
prm.Value = Int64.Parse(nodeValue);
break;
case SqlDbType.Bit:
prm.Value = Boolean.Parse(nodeValue);
break;
case SqlDbType.Char:
case SqlDbType.NChar:
case SqlDbType.NVarChar:
case SqlDbType.VarChar:
prm.Value = LeftStr(nodeValue,prm.Size);
break;
case SqlDbType.DateTime:
case SqlDbType.SmallDateTime:
prm.Value = DateTime.Parse(nodeValue);
break;
case SqlDbType.Decimal:
case SqlDbType.Money:
case SqlDbType.SmallMoney:
prm.Value = Decimal.Parse(nodeValue);
break;
case SqlDbType.Float:
prm.Value = Double.Parse(nodeValue);
break;
case SqlDbType.Int:
prm.Value = Int32.Parse(nodeValue);
break;
case SqlDbType.Real:
prm.Value = Single.Parse(nodeValue);
break;
case SqlDbType.SmallInt:
prm.Value = Int16.Parse(nodeValue);
break;
case SqlDbType.Text:
prm.Value = nodeValue;
break;
case SqlDbType.TinyInt:
prm.Value = Byte.Parse(nodeValue);
break;
case SqlDbType.UniqueIdentifier:
prm.Value = Guid.NewGuid(nodeValue);
break;
}
.NET|Tuesday, September 06, 2005 4:40:54 AM UTC||
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Monday, September 05, 2005
Forthcoming Webcast On Workflow
Expat 'softie Paul Andrew has posted a schedule of forthcoming webcasts on Workflow in Windows Applications.
I'm one of the presenters.
Monday: Simple Human Workflow Using EMail
Monday, September 26, 2005
10:00 A.M.–11:00 A.M. Pacific Time
In this session New Zealand based Regional Director, Chris Auld, will walk attendees through a simple worked example of the use of SMTP email as part of a workflow solution. Chris will demonstrate how to create custom activities to query Active Directory to retrieve user data, send email and finally wait for email responses to continue the workflow process. The code intensive session will give users taking their first steps with workflow a good grounding in some of the key extensibility concepts.
Now that is REALY early for you kiwis but it would be GREAT to see you there..... I'll post a bit more about workflow stuff after PDC 
.NET|Monday, September 05, 2005 12:49:08 AM UTC||
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Sunday, September 04, 2005
Hotel Review: Sky City Grand
Bless them all, Microsoft put us up in the new Sky City Grand Hotel for Tech Ed this year.
Thought I'd pen a quick review of my thoughts on the place. I was there for 6 nights - had sessions on Fri, Tue and Wed.
General thoughts are that it was a bloody good pad. Room was comfortable, king size bed, seperate bath AND shower.
There was broadband in the room but I thought the cost was exorbitant going on extortionate. $33 per day is a bit rich in my mind.
The Gym was fantastic. A full suite of brand new equipment.
2 Treadmills, 2 Exercycles, 1 Cross Trainer, 1 Reclined Bike. All these were fancy new Technogym units so they integrated with my Polar HRM strap and also had built in Polar Own Zone adaptive training. i.e. resistance changes to keep you in zone.
Good set of weights machines including a lat machine, bench press machine and a more general cable machine. For legs they had quad and hamstring machines. I couldn't get the hamstring one to work- but I think that was ignorance as much as anything.
It would have been nice if they'd had a few more larger size dumbells- they topped out @ 10kg.
Anyway had a few good sessions in the gym.
Had room service a couple of times. Top quality but a bit rich and hard to spot the health options. My mussel chowder was VERY creamy and the corn fritters I ordered were done in a deep fried 'bannana fritter' style. Well presented, top quality, but a coronary waiting to happen.
Travel|Sunday, September 04, 2005 9:23:02 PM UTC||
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Thursday, September 01, 2005 Wednesday, August 31, 2005
Tactical Voting
I reckon there are some fantastic opportunities for tactical voting during this coming election.....
E.g.
If Rodney Hide pushes ahead in Epsom the best thing that Labour could do would be t have their supporters back Richard Worth. If Worth wins, all that ACT vote gets wasted.
I wonder just how educated the electorate is about these sorts of perverse incentives?
But anyway, it looks like he has a pretty good chance so any right leaning voter with half a brain in that electorate should really switch their vote. ACT's still in the game people!
Politics|Wednesday, August 31, 2005 3:05:57 AM UTC||
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Tuesday, August 30, 2005 Monday, August 29, 2005
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