Welcome to my WEBSITE

Hi, I'm Alastair. This is mostly just experimental stuff.

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This web-site is currently running on a free hosting service, which supports only static html, no cgi, asp or server-side scripting of any sort. This means that all the "interactive-ness" on the Family-Tree pages is done with html, javascript / jquery, css and ajax. It's been a fun challenge, and I think the result is quite dynamic, given those limitations. One day I'll stop being a cheap-skate and upgrade to a paid hosting plan, giving me access to php, MySql and all the other goodies.



Paradigm shift
There is a true story of a battleship cruising the Atlantic off the northern coast of Maine one stormy evening.
The officer on watch called the commander, "A light ahead, Sir. Oncoming vessel."
The commander said, "Signal the oncoming vessel 'Change your course.'"
The message was sent, but the reply came back, "You change course."
The commander barked, "Signal again, ' I'm an Admiral, change course now.'"
The reply came, "I'm a seaman third class, you change course."
Fuming, the admiral thundered angrily,
"Signal again. 'Change course immediately. I'm on a battleship.'"
And the message came back, "You change course. I'm on a lighthouse."

Trivia

These have been collected from various public sources. All quotations remain the intellectual property of their respective originators.

  • You can’t live a perfect day without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you. ~ John Wooden
  • I used to think I was indecisive, but now I'm not so sure. ~ Victor Borge
  • The point of philosophy is to start with something so simple as not to seem worth stating, and to end with something so paradoxical that no one will believe it. ~ Bertrand Russell
  • Philosophy is to reality as masturbation is to sex. ~ Karl Marx
  • He who runs behind truck gets exhausted, he who runs in front of truck gets tired. ~ old proverb
  • Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the Earth ~ when the others have finished with it.
  • When I remember we are all mad, the mysteries disappear and life stands explained. ~ Mark Twain
  • On the plains of hesitation bleach the bones of countless millions. ~ George W. Cecil
  • Do not plant your dreams in the field of indecision, where nothing ever grows but the weeds of 'what-if'. ~ Dodinsky
  • Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. ~ Mark Twain
  • There is no such thing as a list of reasons. There is either one sufficient reason or a list of excuses. ~ Robert Brault
  • Fighting for peace is like screwing for chastity. '60-70's T-shirt
  • When I do good, I feel good; when I do bad, I feel bad, and that is my religion. ~ Abraham Lincoln
  • The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance; it is the illusion of knowledge. ~ Boorstin
Photo sets
Mannings

We held a reunion of Manning cousins (Vern's grandchildren) on Hawarden Show weekend, 2011.

The bach

In February 2011 (3 days before the big quake) we took posession of this river-side hideaway.

Hurunui baches panorama

A wide view of the baches from over the river.

Hurunui panorama

A wide view of the river from the bach.

Vanuatu

We spent 2 weeks on Hideaway Island, Vanuatu, in July/August 2010.

Genealogy

Some dabbling in genealogy; mostly working on automatically generating the web-pages, not putting much effort into the research side at this stage.

Manning The Manning tree was compiled (largely by Janis Brooker) for the 1988 Reunion.
Lang The Lang tree was compiled in the early 1980's so is seriously out-of-date (except for my near family).

I am hoping to update these trees sometime, but don't have the time or resources or social skills :s to compile the infomation myself. If your family sits beneath one of these, and you feel inclined to fill in some names and dates for me, I'll be happy to merge them into the tree.

Links

"THE EASIEST WAY TO FIND WHAT YOU NEED IN NZ"
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If you're interested in genealogy, the web is an amazing (and often frustrating) resource.
For research in Canterbury and New Zealand, there are some useful hints and links on the Clan-Fraser web-site, especially the list of cemeteries that have searchable on-line databases.

Contact Us

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