Posts by Damian Christie
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Rob, I totally agree with what you're saying - all of which seems to be about enforcement of existing laws. It seems disgusting (and slightly surprising) that Dog Control wouldn't act to pick up stray dogs - especially stray Rotties running around kids.
And yes, this blogger does occasionally stray into such neighbourhoods - I have relatives in Conifer Grove where the boy was attacked, in fact I used to help my cousin deliver papers around there a couple of decades ago, and surprise surprise there were dangerous dogs roaming the streets then too.
So I don't have a problem with the media making a big issue of this. It has already had a big impact on how councils enforce the laws.
Yes, while it can be the role of media to highlight something with a view to influencing behaviour, I don't for one second believe that's why the Herald (et al) is reporting every single dog attack. It's a beat up, it serves their purpose in making it seem as though all of a sudden, dogs have started attacking all over the place.
I guess what I'm saying is that the Emperor has always had no clothes. He's still naked, we should definitely do something, but let's not pretend we're shocked by his sudden nudity.
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Aha, I always remember one of those When Animals Go Berko programmes, the narrator saying with regard to a guy who got mauled by a lion:
"However he realises he was just in the wrong place... at the wrong time."
It's a farking lion attack! What other conclusion could you arrive at? The Zebras had put out a hit on him? Given the lion's history of psychotic episodes, he should've known the restraining order wouldn't be sufficient protection?
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I should point out that I regard some (not all) pet owners in the same way as smokers.
Yeah, although (as a smoker, and pet owner) there is evidence to show that pets are actually beneficial to those with them.
But I agree. As much as I'd hate to live in a world without pets - which I think would be a far poorer place - when your animal is in the world at large, it's your responsibility to ensure it doesn't f*** with anyone else's rights, whether that be the right to have your face unmolested or your shoes unsoiled.
Having said that, I've got no idea where my cat shits.
Interesting & good to see that the Sth Taranaki District council plan a zero tolerance policy on unregistered dogs
I'm sceptical about such claims. Laws put out a similar press release in Wanganui earlier this year, then allowed the owners of an unregistered dog that had severely (like, dozens and dozens of stitches) attacked a woman to keep their dog, and didn't even fine them for never having registered it!
Not long after the dog's owner (President of the Wanganui RSA) was made a founding Ambassador of Wanganui. Talk about mixed messages. Although arguably being an Ambassador of Wanganui is punishment enough...
I did a story on it for Close Up, focusing on the council's seeming unwillingness to apply the 'zero tolerance' approach to these particular owners.
http://tvnz.co.nz/view/video_popup_windows_skin/981371
I must've done something right, because the next day Laws issued a press release accusing me of 'shoddy journalism'...
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Are we agreed that HoS editorials are lately setting new standards of know-nothing badness? It's like a certain other column is seeping up the page.
Yes, rather like the HOS banner headline and p3 article about an email campaign against one of my colleagues. Didn't the Listener just point out the whole folly in such stories re the Kim Hill rumour? Or did the Listener just do exactly the same as the HOS did, except make itself seem smarter?
I should point out that the "boy savaged by pitbull" piece in the HOS was written by Jonathan Marshall of nztabloid fame. Second chances and all that, but I think I'm right to be sceptical about anything carrying his by-line.
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Oops, sorry, I didn't realise you said Close Up, I thought you said Good Morning. At least the commute to Avalon will be easier on you...
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Sounds like you need a sub, Llew...
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I don't know about that Simon, the most unpleasant experiences I've had have been in the US. Not so much unfriendly per se as just very officially hostile.
I remember one guy asking why I didn't have the appropriate visa stapled into my passport, and when I went to point at my passport to say "no, it's on this page here" he just about shot me. Apparently my finger had crossed the invisble line between the counter and 'his' part of the booth.
"Stop! Step Back!" he said in his harshest, most scary official sounding voice.
Of course when he then gave me the wrong passport back (there were two of us travelling together), a fact we only noticed when we got to the next point in the immigration process and were separated because our passports didn't match, and had to argue very strongly that the female's passport in fact belonged to the girl in the next room and vice versa...
Oh the fun we had that day.
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The Simpsons have totally secured that part of my brain Ben. That's part of the beauty of the Simpsons, one needn't look any further.
I remember pissing a friend of mine off one day by seeing how many things we encountered I could relate to a Simpsons episode.
He made me stop way before I ran out of examples, which was a really shame, especially when my worm went in my mouth and then I ate it and Miss Hoover wouldn't give me a new one, quickly followed by someone threatening to release the dogs or the bees or the dogs with bees in their mouth and when they bark they shoot bees at you.
That was quite a day, I tell ya.
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Shit they're everywhere. This from the NZPA via the Manawatu Standard: "We're Copycats"
"Researchers at the University of Durahm in the north of England studied the popularity of baby names, music and even dog breeds in an attempt to gain an insight into what drives fashions and trends in popular culture.
"__Not Surprisingly__ they found that trends are driven by a small number of "innovators", usually celebrities, and followed by the majority."
Stop the Press. Innovators, or 'trend setters', set trends. And the rest of us follow...
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Nobody - I'd love to take credit, but I think I stole it from Homer J.
Emma - I have to admit that I did just have to check that no, in fact we do all have the same number of ribs. It's funny how that sort of guff can get stuck in your brain when you're little and you forget to actually check its validity when you get older. Not that I've ever delivered a speech about ribs before that would (one would imagine) necessitate a moment's research...