Posts by Dylan Mordaunt

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  • Hard News: The McCully Touch,

    JHC Russell, he actually answered yes to that question- 'Yikes', for that guys wife and daughters.

    Julie Fairey, whilst I agree with your sentiment of reading the post and comments over at NZ Conservative, I don't think that Chris Trotter's post- if you're referring to "Bitter Fruits" (http://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/2010/07/bitter-fruits.html)- is in a different category to Lucia's @ NZConservative. Although the follow-up posts are certainly a bit awkward following Chris' post, I don't think they approach the fringe of ol' Big Boar's at "On Protectors, Predators - and Prey".

    There can be a respectable spectrum of opinions in debating abortion ethics and law, I don't think there can ever be a respectable conversation had about the liability of a rape victim for their rape.

    At some point Russell, I think it would be great to see Steve Chadwick's proposal discussed on media 7. There is a generation of us in NZ now who have grown up essentially with 'abortion on demand', and many who have probably had their principals challenged by their own life experiences on the matter- I think my generation sees legal abortions as a given, in the same was as decriminalised homosexuality.

    Steve Barnes, is that video a take on Justin Timberlake's "Dick In A Box" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhwbxEfy7fg), or vice versa?

    Auckland • Since Nov 2007 • 22 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: And some cat from Japan ...,

    Does metro have an online version of the magazine? I'd be keen to subscribe to it (and willing to pay for it), even in PDF form.

    The physical mag (http://www.magshop.co.nz/Metro), though nice and uniquely large in size (and definitively Metro), is a bit clumsy and not ideal for shipping to Aus each month...

    I wonder whether there's room for someone to setup an 'ibook' NZ magazine section (real groove, metro...), minimizing the transition to ebook subscriptions for publishers and maybe utilising DRM for the paranoid. Maybe this already exists?

    Auckland • Since Nov 2007 • 22 posts Report Reply

  • Southerly: Bob's Top Five,

    Great post. That video, where things fall over, is impressively elaborate, I can see the appeal.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2007 • 22 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: Clover It,

    I learned a lot by tracking down common claims about GM in the 90s -- they would come around again and again, even if they'd been debunked. You see exactly the same thing, if generally from different people, with climate science.

    I'd be interested to know what the global experience is with unmodified clover crops, let alone GM clover?

    If you want GM crops developed by ethically sound organizations then how about actually letting us (your government owned and managed scientists) do the work.

    Bart, I wonder whether there are enough resources available for this? If the 10-15 years passes and the variety proves to be a disappointment, can these institutions afford to throw all that work away? There seem to have already been a few instances in NZ where considerable amounts of work in molecular 'engineering' (particularly translational medicine) have 'gone to waste', for instance some of Genesis Biotech's early work.

    What would the process for ethical approval be like for a project of this sort? If it's anything like the healthcare field I'd imagine the process is more rigorous than much of lawmaking seems to be.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2007 • 22 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: The Disingenuous Press,

    At which point it seems reasonable to ask: Does John Roughan read his own newspaper?

    This seems to come up from time-to-time where the <i>Herald</i>, in particular, is criticised for having conflicting points of view published by different authors at different points of time.

    I'm just wondering whether you think the conflictin viewpoints are 'unprofessional' or just 'poor form'?

    It would seem healthy, and not surprising, that any large organisation would have differing takes on certain issues?

    Auckland • Since Nov 2007 • 22 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: Reproduced Without Comment,

    I'm not interested in the group's campaign, however I don't see what the big deal is about- the message is not illegal in NZ:

    http://www.dia.govt.nz/diawebsite.nsf/wpg_URL/Services-Anti-Spam-Index
    http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2007/0007/latest/DLM405134.html

    Spamming/junk-mail was used by every major political party prior to the last election, albeit they filled our physical mail boxes with difficult-to-recycle plastic wraps and waxy or glossy paper/card. I would much rather them send me an email which I could instantly bin (along with the property press, and all those other weekly delights which line my recycling bin).

    Auckland • Since Nov 2007 • 22 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: The Internet is for ... Privacy?,

    It's interesting to consider the Google Government Requests in a 'removal requests per capita' context- the countries on the Wired list would rank very differently, although it is difficult to be certain without knowing the absolute number of requests for those countries with '<10 [removal] requests'.

    HTML tables not supported, so:

    Removal Requests (Per 1,000,000 people)
    New Zealand 2.37
    Germany 2.28
    Israel 1.38
    Italy 0.98
    UK 0.97
    Australia 0.80
    Spain 0.79
    The Netherlands 0.60
    Canada 0.48
    France 0.16

    i.e. NZ is (possibly) the leading government for requesting data removal from Google, on a per capita basis.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2007 • 22 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: The Wellington Declaration,

    Auckland • Since Nov 2007 • 22 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: Aspie On,

    The Asperger's construct is proposed for removal from the American Psychiatric Association Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders in edition 5 (APA DSM V), due to be published in 2013- edition 4 of the manual is what most mental health professionals in Australasia use for diagnostic criteria.

    This group of people will in future come under the global heading of Autistic Spectrum Disorder- http://www.dsm5.org/ProposedRevisions/Pages/proposedrevision.aspx?rid=97#.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2007 • 22 posts Report Reply

  • Discussion: On Copyright,

    There seems to be too many posts to get a grip on the whole discussion at this late stage.

    Whilst approaching copyright, should we not be tackling the issue of 'intellectual property' as a whole- particularly as it relates to biotechnology and pharmaceuticals given the real-world impact which intellectual property rules have on public health?

    Auckland • Since Nov 2007 • 22 posts Report Reply

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