The final results of the November 8 election were released this afternoon after the 250,000 special votes were counted.

In the end National lost one MP and the Greens gained one MP. Labour were only 40 votes off getting another MP and National lossing a second MP.

It is interesting to note the large differences between the election night results and the special votes.

Overall National lost 0.52% of the total votes once the specials were included. The majority of this was transferred to Labour (0.22%) and the Greens (0.29%) who gained. What is more interesting is the party vote % of only the specials.

If the specials were the election results (i.e. the Nov 8 votes didn’t count) the make up of the government could be quite different.

National polled 4.84% lower, Labour 2.05% higher, Greens 2.70% higher, Maori 1.38% higher. It is interesting to note that those who casts specials - i.e. those away from home, or overseas appear to be more left leaning then the majority of the country.

After running some more calculations this is how the results would of ended up if only specials counted. As you can see the overhang is gone. And the Maori Party becomes the King Maker. We could have had a Labour Government back.

National Government: Nat 52 + Act 4 + UF 1 + Maori 5 = 62/120.
Labour Government: Lab 45 + Prog 1 + Greens 12 + Maori 5 = 63/120

The funny thing is the special votes seem to more accurately reflect the polls in the lead up to the election then the actual election result.

Is it Vista?

Is it Ubuntu?

It is seamless virtualization with Virtualbox. Pretty cool aye.

Ha.

There is a new blog analyser, just like a people analyser but it reads your blog and works out what it is.

I am a:

INTP - The Thinkers

The logical and analytical type. They are especialy attuned to difficult creative and intellectual challenges and always look for something more complex to dig into. They are great at finding subtle connections between things and imagine far-reaching implications.

They enjoy working with complex things using a lot of concepts and imaginative models of reality. Since they are not very good at seeing and understanding the needs of other people, they might come across as arrogant, impatient and insensitive to people that need some time to understand what they are talking about.

Jesus Freak Hideout have got their writers to each list their 15 favourite albums of all time.

It is pretty cool, check it out here: http://www.jesusfreakhideout.com/features/favorites/top15_2008/default.asp

Which made me think. If I could only have 15 albums from my collection what would they be?

So in no particular order, and I limited myself to only one album per band my list is:

Audio Adrenaline - Until My Heart Caves In

This was Audio A’s last original studio release. And it rocks. Opening up with Clap Your Hands, and featuring King, Starting Over, Are You Ready For Love, Undefeated and Losing Control it rocked from start to finish. Easily one of my favourite albums.

Delirious? - Access:D

Access:D was a great live album from the D boys. Featuring all the hits from the Cutting Edge era and more recent Touch material it was a great two disc live collection that really defined what it means to be a fan of Delirious.

Eight - Unfinished

Eight are a local Kiwi band, or were. Unfinished was released after the band went their seperate ways. Openning up with Build a 7 minute instrumental really does Build the album. Featuring Depends and Fall Apart the album really shows the beauty of Eight a very well polished band and album.

Jeff Deyo - Surrender

I really coundn’t leave this album of the list. I was front row at Parachute 2005 where it was recorded live. Other then the personal connection to the album it is a great collection of modern worship songs such as Let It Flow, Be Lifted Up, More Love More Power, Nothing Less Than All Of Me and Bless The Lord.

Kutless - Hearts of the Innocent

The highlight of this album is Winds of Change a beautiful rock song. But like almost all the other albums on this list it the entire album rocks. Million Dollar Man is a great description of our modern lust for greed.

The Lads - Lost at Sea

We all said it was okay to live our own way without God. The Lad’s late 1990s album Lost at Sea is powerful because it successfuly blends punk/pop rock with songs about God and life. The highlight of this album is the ballard Ode To Joy. A must have.

Lifehouse - No Name Face

Your all I want, your all I need, your everything. Lifehouse’s No Name Face album is fantastic. It contains a large amount of spiritual metaphors mixed into a mainstream rock album. Hanging by a Moment was the most requested radio single of 2001 in the United States and propelled the band to stardom.

Newsboys - Adoration

The Newsboys’ worship project is one of their best albums. Opening with He Reigns and containing a live version of It is You the album is exactly what it says it is, A worship album.

OneRepublic - Dreaming Out Loud

OneRepublic are a lot like Lifehouse sucessful at mixing God and the mainstream. My favourite song is Dreaming Out Loud which at first listen is a very confussed song, but on more indepth thought it contains many powerful metaphors about God and Church.

Paul Colman Trio - New Map of the World

The Paul Colman Trio was one of the best bands that never quite made it. Turn featured heavily on World Vision ads and helped the band get airplay on Christian Radio. The best song on the album is Killing Tree closely followed by Selfish Song.

Rapture Ruckus - I Believe

The third homegrown artist on my list. Rapture Ruckus has been very successful in proving you can have rap without having the negative images that go with it. A nice album with a powerful message.

Skillet - Alien Youth

Choosing what Skillet album to add to this list was hard. In the end Alien Youth was settled on because of the dynamic songs on the album such as Alien Youth, The Thirst is Taking Over and Will You Be There.

Thousand Foot Krutch - The Art of Breaking.

If you haven’t heard the song Hurt go and listen to it now. This album is brilliant at showing the success of christian rock, being well polished, clean and simply great!

TobyMac - Alive and Transported

Probably the best live album I own. Alive and Transported features all of the best songs from TobyMac and DC Talk, the lead in for Jesus Freak is fantastic.

Tree63 - Tree63

Tree63’s debut album is their best. Features: Joy, Look What You’ve Done, 1*0*1. Brilliant, just Brilliant.

Buster’s Jet Stream Launch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZHGLtZqlJI

Drowning Cockroaches? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8_N-xjytcU

Good on Colin Espinar. Very funny.

Go for an epic car trip.

Auckland - Marsden Point - Whangarei - Doubtless Bay - Kaitaia - Auckland

710km+, 10+ hours driving.

And enough hills to test your stomach. Check out this section of State Highway One through the Mangamuka’s, brilliant way to test out your power steering.

From: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article5068743.ece

Cleverer children are more likely to vote for the Green Party or the Liberal Democrats in a general election than other parties when they become adults, research suggests. The study, by the University of Edinburgh and the UK Medical Research Council and published in the journal Intelligence, indicates that childhood IQ is as important as social class in determining political allegiance. The IQs of more than 6,000 subjects were recorded at the age of 10, before any secondary schooling. Twenty-four years later they were asked about their voting habits.