Posts by giovanni tiso

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  • Hard News: Foreign Affairs,

    Ironically, using a phone yourself isn't even particularly required to be President,

    You don't carry a wallet, you don't use the phone, yes. There's a story about a US president (I forget which) who made his first call after leaving office and thought there was something wrong with the line on account of the strange noise he was hearing. They had brought in the dialtone.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report

  • Hard News: Consumer,

    Let's try again, shall we? I meant a deadening technology.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report

  • Hard News: Consumer,

    A review of Zittrain's The Future of the Internet which refers to the iPhone as a http://www.newleftreview.org/?page=article&view=2729/deadening technology. Please nobody shoot the messenger.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report

  • Cracker: How about You You You?,

    I sometimes wonder if we dont set ourselves up for the whole small-children non-plussed at the zoo thing. (I've seen it myself many times over)

    I can report that two out of three of mine so far (the third hasn't been yet) were thoroughly plussed on their first visit. I think they were both about 2 at the time.

    My daughter saw the zebra and yelled "documentary!"

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report

  • Hard News: Foreign Affairs,

    someone needs to do a similar venn diagram for Labour and its acolytes and their scandals, and those of their support parties

    That is so apples and elephants.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report

  • Hard News: Foreign Affairs,

    When was the last time an American President spoke to a rally of 200,000 people outside of America, let alone a candidate.

    Or in America, for that matter.

    As for the platitudes (demagoguery?) charge, it was never going to be a speech full of policy detail (neither was the Kennedy speech in which he claimed to be a doughnut, of course), but it was hardly a speech without content. Think how differently Bush would have framed the concepts of diplomacy, (fair) trade, disarmament, international institutions, global warming. Even freedom. And he used a word, sacrifice, that you won't find in any bush or mccain speech, except in the narrow sense of the sacrifice of professional soldiers sent to a battleground.

    And then of course there are the many speeches in which he has articulated the detail of his policies, both foreign and domestic. They tell us he's not the most liberal of politicians - and let's face, the US are hardly the most liberal of countries - but I don't find them inconsistent with what he said today.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report

  • Hard News: Te Reo and the Resolution,

    I didn't make him for you.

    You made him?

    The thick plotens.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report

  • Hard News: Te Reo and the Resolution,

    Sorry to be a party pooper but if you are after ethical, competitive gymnastics ain't it...think of the kids.

    In the same sense that ballet and classical musical performance aren't ethical, you mean?

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report

  • Hard News: Te Reo and the Resolution,

    bloody hell. he's like the tom cruise of gymnastics. ew

    Agree. My heterosexuality hadn't felt less threatened since the days when Keanu Reeves was popular.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report

  • Speaker: Won't Someone Please Not Think…,

    Assuming that emotional maturity of the teenagers, is the main rational behind the law.

    Rather than tilting the playing field in favour of the boys, you mean?

    It's entirely by the by, but when I moved to New Zealand my partner and I had to prove that we were in a lasting relationship to achieve de facto status, and in those days (1997) you had to have been together for two years if heterosexual, four years if homosexual. It was still plenty more enlightened than most other nations - back in the old country, you could live together with another guy or gal for one thousand years and at most you could hope to achieve the legal status of "pretty good friends" - but it seemed a somewhat callous distinction. Then again, I'm pretty sure it's two years across the board now.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report

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