The campaign against family violence that I'm part of launches at Parliament today. It's going to be quite odd turning on the TV and seeing myself eyeballing the camera and saying that it's "not okay", but I hope the campaign -- in which the likes of Sir Paul Reeves, Boh Runga, Ali Mau, Phil Gifford and Reuben Wiki appear -- has an impact. I do think there's a virtue in having real people deliver the message.
The risk, as a Herald story notes this morning, is that the campaign will be very effective, swamping relevant agencies with referrals. I hope the clear, basic message doesn't get lost in politics: that there are no excuses for family violence, and that it is okay to ask for help.
I see the Herald is still gamely encouraging us to take Mike Moore's columns seriously. I'm sure John Armstrong actually has better things to do with his time, but he has dutifully written up Moore's latest work:
Mike Moore has fired a further broadside at Labour's hierarchy, accusing his critics of "Orwellian doublespeak" and "Nixonian paranoia" and denying he has become a traitor to the party he once led.
Of course, when you actually read the column it's even more random than the first one:
The attacks were Orwellian in their doublespeak, and Nixonian in their dark paranoia. One line spun that is about promoting Phil Goff, who I also sprayed in the article, was pure Nixon. I haven't spoken to Phil in a year. Unfortunately. Documents have come to me instructing familiar names to ring talkbacks and write letters to the editors.
I think Moore sees himself as the after-dinner raconteur, when he's actually more like the embarrassing uncle at the wedding.
If you haven't already seen it, here's the imagery for John Ballinger's iPhone hack. It only took him six hours to render his iPhone capable of connecting via Vodafone. Meanwhile, new iPods coming, including a multi-touch model.
ScienceBlogs notes a dubious record from this year's Atlantic hurricane season. Only three other years have registered more than one Category 5 storm. And this is the first season where the first two storms to reach hurricane strength have gone on to hit Category 5. The second hurricane, Felix, also holds the record for shortest time for an Atlantic storm to intensify to Category 5 strength. See the watch Felix grow movie.
This is gorgeous: a cover of Primal Scream's 'Higher than the Sun' by Bat for Lashes, Fionn Regan and Maps, as part of a BBC radio session: both MP3 and YouTube clips.