I love the idea of entropy, explained eloquently by the BBC's Dr Brian Cox.  According to Wikipedia, "In statistical mechanics, entropy is a measure of the number of ways in which a system may be arranged, often taken to be a measure of "disorder" (the higher the entropy, the higher the disorder)." 

Watch this video and then let's consider entropy from a social change perspective.

{ Safe and sound } is an idea for a new, multi-faceted service designed for people managing their own disability support through the Ministry of Health Individualised Funding scheme or ACC direct payments.

People opting into this method of support do so because they are looking for customised support to fit their lifestyle, which current home-based support services struggle to provide. However, it does involve the responsibility of employing one or more people.

So Brian Tamaki is now wanting millions of taxpayers' dollars to build Destiny City, in order to keep people out of Government-built jails.

Who do we trust more?

A man who believes the Earth was created in 7 days by a big Guy in the sky who loves you unless you disobey him? Or a dysfunctional bureacratic system led by elected mini-celebrities who believe they have all the answers?

Hello, it's 2012 - hope you had a great break. So, are you ready for change?

Not cataclysmic, apocalyptic, chronomatic, revelational change.

I mean subtle, gentle, influential and revolutionary change. Like this:

REST WELL. SEE YOU IN 2012.

Many of you will know I'm not a fan of Christmas. A 2011-year-old tradition based on a mash up of a misunderstood myth about a pagan activist and a Coca-Cola advertising campaign that guilt-trips people into spending money they don't have on gifts people don't want — what's that about?

Sometimes in business, things just mess up. People do stupid things, repeat mistakes and just get it wrong.

I recently had an experience with a business where the service I received was somewhat, but not entirely, inappropriate. Then they got the invoice for the service wrong. Four times.

A recipe for disaster. You'd think I'd never go back, wouldn't you?

Here's a video of me getting my first tattoo.

The design starts with my sun sign Capricorn which merges into the lemniscate or symbol of infinity.  Growing leaves sprout from paths that lead around my wrist. Decaying leaves and shadow paths feature on the underside. The design encapsulates my birth, the potential of my life, the processes of growth and decay and paths I have taken and those I could have taken. It also depicts spaces in between which give rise to possibility.

Finally, let me reveal my own morphic theory...and a simple truth.

Controversial biologist Rupert Sheldrake believes that traditions, customs and rituals are maintained throughout history and embedded in societal lore and cultures through a process of what he calls morphic resonance.  At the heart of this well-debated school of thought is the concept that energy is transferred within and between fields containing evolutionary memory that exist around us.

Sheldrake points out that, in order for rituals to have a "deliberate and conscious evocation of memory, right back to the first act...ritual acts must be performed with the correct movements, gestures, words, and music throughout the world."

I had a huge response on Facebook to the post I wrote last night about my dealings with Housing New Zealand. I appreciate the support from people who have commented and tweeted.

What has been interesting as a by-product are the other stories people have told about Housing NZ - admittedly they are hearsay but they give me cause for concern:

• "a tetraplegic woman with very high medical needs being kicked out of her fully customised modified home of 15yrs to give it up for a refuge family of 9 with no access requirements"
• "a person who had been asking for 7 years to be moved out of a Freemans Bay HNZ flat where drugs, prostitution and every other vice was going on...even though HNZ had 14 days to sort it out, get rid of the tenant who was terrorising everybody else they sat on their hands until [they were] threatened with public exposure"
• "someone being evicted with 18 hours' notice"
• "a HNZ worker asking why a client with a major anxiety disorder couldnt just get out and look for a house"

• "cases of highly unsafe and unsanitary environments not fit for animals to live in"

If these constitute the usual tip of the proverbial iceberg, what is going on in Housing NZ? Where is the consistency and communication of rational policy in a Government-run organisation established to ensure the shelter of those impacted by an inaccessible, over-priced, unstable housing market?

Update 15 Dec: I have had contact with Housing NZ and wheels seem to be turning. Will keep you informed. Thanks all once again for your support.

Some may know I've been harassed by my neighbour since April this year. He's banged on walls, yelled homopohobic abuse, thrown water, among other things. I've complained repeatedly to my landlord, Housing New Zealand.

A few weeks ago, he was arrested for breaching a trespass order (which he told me wouldn't stop him killing me) when he came onto my property to abuse and assault my gardener for blowing a leaf onto his garden.