Posts by Jimmy D
-
Hard News: We are all Twitter, in reply to recordari,
Twitter is it's own community. It hardly represents the masses, although Twitter users believe that it does.
Still, in this context I see it as being akin to gossiping over the water cooler - multiplied thousands of times over to be sure, but no more important. To attempt to prosecute it is to risk the law becoming an ass. -
Hard News: Doing battle alone, in reply to Steve Withers,
Well, Steve, that's your opinion of course and I assert my right to dismiss it. I can wheel on dozens of other commenters with conflicting opinions that are equally valid. I bet you believe in Global Warming too ;-)
-
BOXEE! Free for your laptop, or cheap to buy as an appliance. Free from the shackles of Apple! (check out the comparison between Apple TV and Boxee at boxee.net)
-
Hard News: Public Address: Technical Profile,
The stats (particularly unique users) are easily screwed by the heuristics being used - so little wonder that your internal log differs from analytics (which is likely to be more authoritative.) Still, glad to see Linux represented by over 3000 users!
-
Hard News: Climate science and the media,
Anyone that went into advertising after leaving school can have a laugh at the expense of the nerds that went into science, because they finally have enough data, from internet message boards, to strongly contend that perception and opinion are a more valid basis for decision making than truth.
When will scientists finally get frustrated enough to publish a paper simply entitled, 'because we're smarter than you, you infantile morons.' :)
This sincerely feels like a war of Jocks v. Nerds writ large.
-
A Westpac economist recently made the comparison that New Zealanders complaining about the price of milk was like Saudi Oil Barons complaining about the cost of filling up their hummers. Milk is making the country richer, at a low relative cost to the individual. Our other big exports are meat (the price of a cow has tripled in recent years) and, you guessed it, oil and gas. Welcome to the imaginary recession.
-
Hard News: Buy now: spend the recession inside!,
Don't be angry, Mr Brown. Make yourself an espresso, turn on your cool TV, and amuse yourself with the notion that even in a vacuum, people who have made a job around being opinionated will still have something to say. After all, it's your job too ;p
But seriously, it does sound like you pissed him off royally. Like, more than professional disagreement kind of pissed off. More like, I-want-to-set-fire-to-your-new-TV kind of pissed off. Were you extra mean to him, off the record? Come-on, fess up.
-
Hard News: Leaving the bunker,
Whaleoil - Hilarious!
Youtube comments - Also Hilarious!
-
Hard News: Not so much ironic as outrageous,
Dave's blog post somehow doesn't make me feel any better. In fact, though it appears to defend Bishop, it damns her with faint praise and paints a picture of an extremely poor domestic environment for which she bears a large responsibility.
I don't believe that the perceived infringement of the rights of adults offsets the great benefits that this legislative amendment brings us. As Russell said earlier, violence breeds violence. It cannot be justified, even when it may be forgiven.
I imagine that Dave and many of his rhetorical opponents have a similar belief: that we have a duty to our descendants to break the cycle of violence - but differ in how it should be achieved. Should we trust that parents will always do the right thing? That's not a policy. We don't trust that people won't murder each other or speed or drink drive. How do we ask people to stop beating their kids when violence towards children is legal, or can be legally justified?
I was physically disciplined as a child - by my parents and by my schoolteachers. I'm not at all bitter about it, and I didn't turn out so bad. But is that because of the beatings, or in spite of them?
-
Nandor has just made my morning. Of course, the threat of that bill still hangs over our heads, but the man must be applauded for his efforts to introduce some sensible argument on this topic.
When will we be brave enough to admit that there is no such thing as IP? Such a statement does not need to contradict an author or artist's rights to assert copyright or to make a living from their work. Let's see this trend toward the protection of 'IP' for what it is - ruthless capitalism applied to creative endeavour and the realm of ideas. Locking down memes, stifling invention and competition, and in the end, the control of personal thought and behaviour by corporations.
Phew. Sounds like the new manifesto of the copyleftists. I'm going to take a few deep breaths and replace my morning cup with a decaf.
Seriously though, who's with me? We need volunteers for the barricades...