Posts by B Jones

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  • Hard News: The Greening,

    walls made of polystyrene sandwiched between two sheets of gyprock - cheap, mostly made of recyclables, easy to assemble, ready insulated ...

    Hey, what could go wrong?

    It's pretty flammable, and produces toxic fumes when it burns. That's not so good. Ask that cold store up in Tamahere...

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 976 posts Report

  • Radiation: Sci-fi high,

    The price of the series 1 and 2 dvd set, last time I saw them in Whitcoulls, had dropped to the point at which it was worth it to get those rather than spend hours and bandwidth to torrent slightly worse quality versions.

    I missed the miniseries before I watched most of season 1, and was terminally confused by Baltar's fantasy sequences and what Helo was up to on Caprica. Some of the season 3 cylon stuff would be a bit weird for new recruits.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 976 posts Report

  • Radiation: Sci-fi high,

    C4 seems to be starting with series 3 - I think 1 and 2 were both shown on TV3 in the distant past. So it's not an ideal place to start, but it isn't the worst. Like Craig said, the last couple of eps from the previous series help a lot with answering questions like "how did that narcissistic bastard get to be president?" "who's that teacher with the long dark hair and why is she important?" "what's with the blonde woman in that house?" and "what happened to the actual Battlestar?"

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 976 posts Report

  • Hard News: Truck Off, etc,

    I'd have thought, though perhaps I'm in the minority on this, that the truckies are demonstrating exactly why they should be charged for their use of the roads, by clogging them up in peak hour traffic. Surely that's counterproductive.

    Doing something a bit different, like staying home and not delivering goods to shops etc, would demonstrate a little better how they contribute to the economy in a way that shouldn't be constrained, rather than simply highlighting their potential for creating nuisance.

    I don't understand their support. Trucks and other road users are not natural allies.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 976 posts Report

  • Speaker: Who is the bigger dick?,

    He’s not allowed to drink for 8 months HG.

    You name me one other 25 year-old NZer, not in prison, with that restriction.

    All of the pregnant ones?

    The boys will be boys vs abject paternalism thing often pops its head up in sport - there was a debate a few years back about female netball players in their first trimester being banned from playing. Can't remember whether it was Aussies or Kiwis who banned them, but their counterparts across the Tasman were all like, "I played then and I was fine." Also, women aren't allowed to do that high speed ski jump downhill as far as you can thing at the Winter Olympics, I think because the male sports administrators worry that their childbearing parts will fall off.

    There's certainly no girls will be girls approach to women's sport.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 976 posts Report

  • Hard News: "Evil called: Can you make a…,

    Y'all need to read David Slack's book. It covers the impact the great Treaty cases of the 80s had on the Crown's obligation to consult with Maori on decisions that affected them.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 976 posts Report

  • Island Life: I am not a quitter,

    Or if that's a bit cold gravel for you, try mercy, compassion and redemption in the face of grinding hardship and theft in the stories of Les Miserables and The Grapes of Wrath.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 976 posts Report

  • Hard News: Medical Matters,

    Who was it that said "Judge not, lest ye be judged"? It's on the tip of my tongue, that big guy's son, begins with G. Gino? Jeepers?

    Maybe someone here could help me out with that one.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 976 posts Report

  • Hard News: Medical Matters,

    I'm willing to bet that every scientific test you can imagine will show a baby reacting adversely to the introduction of alien objects into his living space and will do everything he can to avoid being killed.

    What? This is an ability that not even toddlers are noted for, wrt all sorts of lethal dangers. Babies might suck something to find out what it is. A newborn would be lucky to focus on it. I'm not sure what a late term fetus can perceive, but it's not likely to be more. A pre-term fetus on telly the other night seemed fine about a major tumour being removed from its backside.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 976 posts Report

  • Hard News: Medical Matters,

    Craig, Deborah answers your question spectacularly though possibly inadvertently through some quoting goodness in her
    latest blog.

    If your taste in science fiction goes beyond Battlestar, there are some interesting books written by Lois McMaster Bujold set in a society where sex-selection (pre-conception) was briefly possible - the resulting glut of men, once they hit their thirties, were not grateful. A Civil Campaign is most directly related. Some of her others explore what happens when machines can gestate babies, including one set on an all-male planet running out of fresh ovarian cell-lines.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 976 posts Report

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