Sport

ᔥ NZ Herald

…or banning the use performance enhancing drugs:

Russian athletes might have to be sneaky if they want to celebrate a medal with a traditional vodka at this year’s Olympics.

The Russian government announced today that alcohol will be banned during all receptions involving officials and athletes at the London Games.

Russian newspaper Kommersant reported the story under the headline ‘Stone Cold Sober’.

“Olympic values are not commensurate with the consumption of alcohol,” a spokeswoman for Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak told the newspaper, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Poor performances at the Vancouver Winter Olympics in 2010 has been cited as a reason behind the booze ban.

Another Observation by the Owl – Educating Incorporated Societies members on reading Financial Statements

I am using the MUNZ Trust as an example as all information is in the public domain.

The MUNZ Trust has provided the MUNZ Union the following income as per their audited accounts:

2008 $150,000.00

2009 $104,000.00

2010 $80,000.00

2011 $50,000.00

The Auditors statement identifies the MUNZ Trust and says in it notes that they do not need to be incorporated into the Accounts.

As a Trust can be private I have no problem with this and support the Auditors notes to the accounts. I also support MUNZ’s identifying it in their notes as well. (As you know the Owl is balanced) However thinking this through there are three interesting points.

• The Balance Sheet shows a MUNZ Trust asset and liability line which identifies there is some sort of transactional event happening between the Trust and the Union over and above the income sponsorship.
•  Who owns the Trust? – If it is the members of the Union who are the overriding owners of the Trust then the members should have access to the audited accounts of the Trust. Maybe they do.
•  If I was a member of an organisation who received such large income streams then I would ask the question of the validity of the income stream and how this income stream is derived for peace of mind.

Finally there is a diminishing income every year and that could indicate any of the three things to the members:

1.  The Trustees have determined what they can and can’t afford to pass onto the Union.
2. That the asset base which generates the income from the Trust is declining.
3. The Trustees have determined a new strategic or business plan and maybe re-investing their capital return.

The Owl’s observation

There seems to be liberal accounting policies regarding incorporated societies while company, personal and public department accountings laws are quite rigid.

As I have gone on this journey uncovering the world of incorporated societies I have found how much variation there is on what is recorded and available.

I have been analyzing the information provided by the National Party accounts and am happy/unhappy to say it is also an interesting read. The Greens have an interesting format – I couldn’t find the NZ Labour Party accounts and Mana Party, couldn’t find it at all.

I actually believe incorporated societies generally act within the law and do their best with limited resources.

The Charity Commission looks like it has a good system going where basic information is required to be filed e.g. number of staff, a front sheet of income and expenditure etc.

1.  Is it time for an overhaul of the system?
2. How does the government educate the members of incorporated societies to read their financial statements and what they mean? Is a simple questionnaire front sheet format the way to go that all incorporated societies must fill in?

Note: All information is sourced from the public domain. The Owl always apologises if an error has been made and also want to say very publicly that this is not a review of MUNZ – it is just a very good example to use and to be fair on MUNZ there are a number in the same boat – left and right side of the political spectrum.

ᔥ The Telegraph

Surely with all the bad weather that Britain is experiencing the cricket season must be well advanced.

Britain is braced for further flooding today as heavy rain is expected to sweep across most of the country.

Heavy downpours have been forecast to hit southern and central England and Wales before moving north, with as much as 60mm (2.4in) of rain predicted in Cumbria and areas of southern Scotland by Friday.

MeteoGroup warned of the prospect of flooding in some areas and said there was “no end in sight” for the wet weather.

It follows the wettest April since records began, dating back a century to 1910.

Forecaster Brendan Jones said: “Very few places south of Manchester will miss the wet weather today.

“The rain will continue to move north and intensify on Thursday and into Friday. There is the possibility of local flooding problems in southern Scotland and areas of northern England such as Cumbria.

ᔥ The Telegraph

Someone has got tits for hands if it wasn’t Trevor.

Fernando Zylberberg, the hockey player who worked out on a British war memorial during a controversial Falklands advert, is set to miss the London 2012 Olympics.

Zylberberg shot the advert ahead of the London games with the boast: “To compete on English soil, we are training on Argentine soil.”

The Argentine government has ignored international condemnation and laughed off criticism of the advert, with Cristina Kirchner, the President, saying its “creativity should be recognised and applauded.”

But she has been left red faced after it emerged the hockey player has been left out of a pre-Olympics hockey tournament and will almost certainly be passed over for London.

The ad starring him, condemned as “tawdry and cowardly” by Falklands survivor Simon Weston, is now expected to be dropped from Argentine TV screens.

A source close to the ad agency behind the video admitted: “Fernando missing the Olympics would be a bit of an embarrassment.

“He was picked because we thought he’d be a dead cert for the event. I suspect the ad will be quietly dropped now.

“It’s difficult to see how you can make propaganda based on an Olympian training on disputed territory when it turns out he’s not going to go to the Olympics.”

Another added: “Everyone involved in the project feels pretty silly at the moment.

“What was trumpeted as a kick in the teeth for Britain has turned out to be a spectacular own goal.

I was in town today and I finally got some idea about why Piri Weepu is tits this year at rugby.

He is driving a car that is gayer than Fossy’s Gay Ute….worse there isn’t even room in the back for pig dogs.

He was driving a black Porsche Cayenne.

Working Class hero my arse. Trevor Mallard’s working class rugby hero drives a girls car.

ᔥ Boing Boing

Anna and a friend undertake a breathtaking longboard freeride down a winding mountain road (possibly in Maryhill, Washington, home to a full-size Stonehenge replica). It’s really something to watch, though my inner worrywart kept wanting to stop the proceedings and equip the riders with protective clothing for their bare skin. I was a little disappointed that we didn’t see the dismount, because the whole way down, I kept wondering, how the hell do you stop?

Sydney Morning Herald

You have got to laugh when you see headlines about World Peace being ejected because of violence. The picture subtitle was pretty good too…”Victim of World Peace”…the subbies were clearly having fun:

Metta World Peace, the Los Angeles forward formerly known as Ron Artest, was tossed from the Lakers’ game against Oklahoma City Sunday for an elbow to the head of Thunder forward James Harden.

World Peace — who legally changed his name in September — had just jammed in a dunk that pulled the Lakers within one point with less than two minutes left in the first half when the incident occurred.

He beat his chest with his fist in celebration of the dunk and turned to head for the other end of the court.

He swung his left elbow and connected with the head of Harden, who fell to the floor.

Harden eventually rose and departed for the locker room. And officials had to separate players from both teams and assessed World Peace a level-2 flagrant foul after watching a video replay.

The flagrant foul assessment could carry a suspension, but all such fouls are reviewed by NBA league officials to confirm the punishment is deserved.

ᔥ Sydney Morning Herald

It appears that the NRL has tougher standards than a major political party in NZ:

Cowboys halfback Robert Lui has been banned for the remainder of the NRL season for assaulting his partner.

In a strong statement by the ARL Commission, which met today, the 22-year-old Lui was suspended from the rest of the 2012 competition, putting his career in serious doubt.

Cronulla winger Isaac Gordon was banned for nine matches for a domestic violence matter.

Lui pleaded guilty last month to assaulting his partner Taleah Rae Backo following Mad Monday celebrations in September while he was at the Wests Tigers.

He was subsequently suspended then released by the Tigers and picked up North Queensland.

Gordon, who has been serving an indefinite suspension since the start of the season, will now be eligible to play in Round 10. Gordon pleaded guilty to a lesser assault charge than Lui but one that involved a domestic violence issue.

Yesterday I spent the morning writing blog posts…apparently you can’t hunt and blog at the same time…in the afternoon I went back to the vineyard at Otane I was at yesterday and spent the afternoon shooting waxeyes and starlings again.

Before that I picked up some supplies in Hastings. As I was walking down the street a guy introduced himself to me…turns out he is an avid reader…he offered to drop me off to where I was heading about 2 km down the road. It is always nice to meet up with readers, fans and the lurkers.

With the birding at the vineyard, I’ve tried a few techniques from sneaking along and popping up to striding down the middle of the vines. Sneaking is necessary against starlings…but the waits are long…once you bomb them up they tale 20 minutes to come back…and they watch you.

By far the most effective was striding down the middle of the vines, chatting loudly. We were about 6 rows apart and moved the length. This makes the birds jump and break above the vines and then we can bomb them up. It was much more productive.

Towards evening we got out the clay thrower and shot through a box of clays. I have fired about 300 rounds through my Beretta today with out a single jam or fault. I am very happy, apart from my shoulder which is a bit tender and red.

Today I am going to Putorino overnight to hunt some Reds. I called the landowner and they confirm that they are roaring nicely.