Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: The witless on the pitiless

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  • Craig Ranapia, in reply to andin,

    See waving guns around probably wont solve anything, even while quoting verse.

    Hey, Andin, if you're already written off as a psychotic thug who's morally indistinguishable from mass murderers why not?

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report

  • Russell Brown, in reply to HORansome,

    but here the Māori are an indigenous people who still speak and write in the language.

    And as I noted, indigenous people are writing right now, in their own media, in a style other than the one you're saying is the only correct one.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report

  • Marcus Turner, in reply to Russell Brown,

    And all languages change, and keep changing, whether we like it or not.....

    Since Nov 2006 • 212 posts Report

  • Paul Campbell, in reply to recordari,

    (how do you even do that in a browser without copying and pasting?)

    there are lots of online resources take your pick

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report

  • Bart Janssen, in reply to Martin Lindberg,

    smorgasbord

    mmmm lunch

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 4461 posts Report

  • Ross Mason,

    The quopte says that the lord will do the laying of his fingers on them. The problem is when folk who think they have been spoken to and take it upon themselves to do the laying of their fingers for him.

    Upper Hutt • Since Jun 2007 • 1590 posts Report

  • Bart Janssen, in reply to Che Tibby,

    early settlers just had a weird vibe about them, apparently

    They probably smelled funny. And no I'm not being snarky, they almost certainly ate a different diet and had significantly different genes both of which would make them smell different. The genetic difference would give them different pheromones which would be a different smell that you would consciously notice. Hence a subconscious awareness of a difference.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 4461 posts Report

  • recordari, in reply to Paul Campbell,

    there are lots of online resources take your pick

    The steps to adding the Māori keyboard (soon to have screenshots!):

    - Click on the Apple in the top left and open System Preferences.
    - Open Language & Text.
    - Click on the Input Sources tab.
    - Scroll down the input methods list under you find Maori. Tick this. At the bottom of the dialog tick "Show Input menu in menu bar".
    - Now you have the input menu shown at the top right by your name. If you have multiple keyboards enabled - I only use the Māori keyboard - you may choose the Maori keyboard on the input menu.

    Yeah, easy. ;-/

    On my iPhone it helpfully brings up multiple versions of each vowel to choose from. Anyway, I'm still not convinced I have to. When Russell does, I might.

    AUCKLAND • Since Dec 2009 • 2607 posts Report

  • Bart Janssen, in reply to Simon Grigg,

    Either you buy into these brutal bronze age and/or desert tribe morals and teachings or you dismiss them. There is no half way point surely. You can't pick and chose the 'word' as the times require.

    Of course people can and do. Religious texts are used by many folks to guide and support them through life. The problem is not the texts themselves but the people who chose to use such writings to justify actions that are evil.

    The vast majority of people who use those texts (selectively) use them to justify a moral and decent life. I'm not going to demand they stop doing that because one chapter or another in the text is plainly stupid, because they've already learned to ignore the stupid bits.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 4461 posts Report

  • Sofie Bribiesca, in reply to Russell Brown,

    But I do feel bound to point out that the family car is a 12 year-old Mazda.

    But you really want the Lexus Hybrid to get you through the fog.I mean, how else will you find that blood you so obviously lust? The Mazda just won't cut it ;)

    here and there. • Since Nov 2007 • 6796 posts Report

  • Paul Campbell, in reply to recordari,

    yeah but the reason why it's hard for you is because the americans who made your computer don't much care about te reo - that's understandable I guess - but it's one of our national languages - I think it shouldn't be OK to sell a computer in NZ that can't be used with our national languages - your computer isn't fit for purpose if you can't type macrons - if Dell, Apple at al can figure out how to put a NZ power plug in the box then they can also include the software widget to let you type macrons

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report

  • Bart Janssen, in reply to Bart Janssen,

    different smell that you would consciously notice.

    Bah too slow to edit, should be - wouldn't consciously notice

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 4461 posts Report

  • recordari,

    There's two conversations going on in this thread, and they both seem to be religiously dogmatic. At the risk of repeating myself;

    I'm still not convinced I have to.

    YMMV.

    AUCKLAND • Since Dec 2009 • 2607 posts Report

  • Danielle, in reply to Bart Janssen,

    because they’ve already learned to ignore the stupid bits

    Except for the gay bits. Those, they really take a lot of notice of, for some reason.

    Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report

  • Bart Janssen, in reply to Paul Campbell,

    they can also include the software widget to let you type macrons

    They do, my Mac allows me to show character palette (right click on the little flag) and select all sorts of weird symbols. Most of which I have no idea how to use properly.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 4461 posts Report

  • Russell Brown, in reply to recordari,

    When Russell does, I might.

    Oh, don’t put this on me now.

    Oddly enough, I did look at it yesterday, and the instructions didn’t work for a modern Apple keyboard – no alt key. So it’s the backtick then retype the vowel …

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report

  • Bart Janssen, in reply to Danielle,

    Ya see now I would describe someone paying attention to the gay bits and basing their behaviour on them as, "evil", they may not have a gun but still evil.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 4461 posts Report

  • Danielle, in reply to Bart Janssen,

    Wouldn't it be a minority of Christians who pay no attention to the gay bits? Are they all evil? Maybe some of them are thoughtless. Or stupid.

    I feel like there's an excellent Venn diagram to be made here.

    Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report

  • recordari, in reply to Bart Janssen,

    They do, my Mac allows me to show character palette (right click on the little flag) and select all sorts of weird symbols. Most of which I have no idea how to use properly.

    What little flag? And what's this right click of which you speak?
    <sarc> (Well, sort of, my Macbook requires I hold down the control key).

    AUCKLAND • Since Dec 2009 • 2607 posts Report

  • linger,

    it’s also possible that “Maori” is a word in te reo which is spelt incorrectly by people with English 1st language intuitions.

    This position is untenable given the data.
    Corpus frequencies for use of “Maori” across 500 texts:
    without macron: 1026;
    with macron: zero.
    Note that this includes some texts by fluent speakers of te reo.
    Note also that several texts in the sample do correctly use macrons on words such as whaikōrero or ; but even these texts avoid the macron with Maori.
    As to prescriptive vs descriptive, you might want to actually read what I wrote. I’m not against being prescriptive, and I'm not even against the objective of this particular prescription; but if you’re going to start telling every user of a language they’re wrong, you’re better not to start from the frankly delusional position that there is no such thing as word borrowing.

    Tokyo • Since Apr 2007 • 1944 posts Report

  • Craig Ranapia, in reply to Danielle,

    Except for the gay bits. Those, they really take a lot of notice of, for some reason.

    And Newt Gingrich has so much respect for the institution of marriage he's done it three or four times -- efficiently making sure he had the next one racked up before dumping the incumbent.

    That has little to do with his religious beliefs (IIRC, he became a Baptist in graduate school and converted to Catholicism in 2009) and everything to do with being a hypocritical douche-nozzle.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report

  • R A Hurley, in reply to Simon Grigg,

    Either you buy into these brutal bronze age and/or desert tribe morals and teachings or you dismiss them. There is no half way point surely. You can't pick and chose the 'word' as the times require.

    I don't think you can carry my argument quite that far. All I wished to suggest was that morality is coming from some other source and being applied to religious texts. They are not the sole source of it. If they were, there would be no way to conceptualise the common modern notion that some bits are odious and should be ignored and that some bits aren't. The dichotomy you're offering could only take place if religious texts were an all or nothing proposition. That is: they are either the source of all morality, or the source of none at all. That is clearly an oversimplification. People draw moral inspiration from a variety of sources.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 63 posts Report

  • Russell Brown, in reply to R A Hurley,

    I don’t think you can carry my argument quite that far. All I wished to suggest was that morality is coming from some other source and being applied to religious texts. They are not the sole source of it.

    Quite. Some unattractive family customs of, say, Pakistani immigrants in Britain are often attributed to Islam, when they're at least as much about the tribal culture they've brought with them. Muslims in Bosnia exercise their faith quite differently to Muslims in Saudi Arabia because their influences are very different.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report

  • bomber,

    i've responded to your defamation here

    Being defamed by Russell Brown and Mr Smug - http://tiny.cc/hfud0

    auckland • Since May 2011 • 1 posts Report

  • R A Hurley, in reply to Russell Brown,

    Quite. Some unattractive family customs of, say, Pakistani immigrants in Britain are often attributed to Islam, when they're at least as much about the tribal culture they've brought with them. Muslims in Bosnia exercise their faith quite differently to Muslims in Saudi Arabia because their influences are very different.

    True indeed. But that doesn't mean we should ignore the religious component entirely. I don't think it is controversial to claim that religion frequently enjoys a position where being critical of it is seen as, at best, intolerably rude and, at worst, a violent assault on personal freedom. This means it is often the last flimsy justification standing when all other arguments against some awful practice have been dismissed. And because it has no real empirical content, it is the hardest to overcome.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 63 posts Report

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