Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: So far from trivial

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  • Sacha,

    He's already got Rick Ellis if he needs a patsy.

    I'd sure be staying well clear of the Minister's office, those stairs or the lobby for that matter. Back at Cluedo again.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report

  • Sacha,

    Thanks, I never realised OTOH had a paired expression. And I read Pournelle and Niven, although it was ages ago.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report

  • Yamis,

    Yamis, you'd better have pictures of them stairs. :)

    Security looks pretty tight though.
    They've obviously heard about all this.

    Since Nov 2006 • 903 posts Report

  • Sacha,

    Valets, surely.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report

  • kmont,

    Yay. Up (down?) there with the ever nauseating Michael Laws describing the squalid sex-capades of Richards, Schollum and Co. as "mere sensual excesses". A term I'd reserve for eating a whole batch of Dave's Double Chocolate Raspberry Brownies solo, and in one sitting.

    Thanks Craig, that really made me smile.

    wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 485 posts Report

  • Sofie Bribiesca,

    Security looks pretty tight though.
    They've obviously heard about all this.

    And that flag is certainly not hoist by its own petar... whoops wrong thread;)

    here and there. • Since Nov 2007 • 6796 posts Report

  • Sacha,

    The Campbell Live piece - link direct to video page (9 mins):
    http://www.3news.co.nz/Video/CampbellLive/tabid/367/articleID/63449/cat/84/Default.aspx#video

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report

  • Craig Ranapia,

    Craig, I agree that explanation makes perfect sense, but it's not what they're saying. Always the lying and covering up that gets folk in trouble.

    Why is this the only place on earth I get regularly pinged for being over-generous? :)

    On the gripping hand (that's an obscure sci-fi reference)

    Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle - The Mote in God's Eye and The Gripping Hand. I could imagine Trevor Mallard as a Motie War Rat -- bred to fight with utter ferocity, and utterly incapable of doing anything else. :)

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report

  • Deborah,

    You're confusing the watchmakers and the warrior caste, Craig, but what the hell! I agree.

    New Lynn • Since Nov 2006 • 1447 posts Report

  • Deborah,

    Aaagh! Just looked at your link. I take it all back. Save the agreement w.r.t. Mr Mallard.

    New Lynn • Since Nov 2006 • 1447 posts Report

  • Robyn Gallagher,

    The Herald's Your Views on the subject is, as always, hilarious.

    Karen of Taupo sez: "If everyone that has abused someone resigned from their jobs there would not be many people in the work force."

    Linda of Silverdale sez: "Well, all you judge/jurers/executioners, you have got your wish. Tony Veitch has resigned. I only hope you can all sleep well tonight!"

    Since Nov 2006 • 1946 posts Report

  • Deborah,

    I'll be sleeping very soundly, thank you very much.

    New Lynn • Since Nov 2006 • 1447 posts Report

  • Craig Ranapia,

    Aaagh! Just looked at your link. I take it all back

    Hey, I'm just impressed that you'd get within six foot of anything with Jerry Pournelle's name on the cover. Never really thought of military science fiction -- a genre which is, to put it mildly, rather estrogen light and heavily populated by populist right-wingers who regard Ayn Rand as a wimp.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report

  • Rich Lock,

    military science fiction -- a genre which is, to put it mildly, rather estrogen light and heavily populated by populist right-wingers who regard Ayn Rand as a wimp

    s'funny how there always has to be a natural disaster/complete societal breakdown, coupled with an ongoing and near-permanent external threat in order for the 'perfect society' to arise.

    Starship Troopers, I'm looking at you......

    back in the mother countr… • Since Feb 2007 • 2728 posts Report

  • Deborah,

    I'm just impressed that you'd get within six foot of anything with Jerry Pournelle's name on the cover.

    I detox afterwards with some Charlotte Bronte. Or George Eliot. Or the divine Jane.

    New Lynn • Since Nov 2006 • 1447 posts Report

  • Sam F,

    I'm intrigued by The Mote in God's Eye. Always willing to develop an alternate sci-fi obsession to Iain M Banks, whose last novel was a bit of a disappointment.

    Back on topic: there is, predictably, a letter in the Herald praising Garth George's commonsense approach and blaming Veitch's victim for taking the money rather than reporting the incident. Sigh.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 1611 posts Report

  • andrew llewellyn,

    Back on topic: there is, predictably, a letter in the Herald praising Garth George's commonsense approach and blaming Veitch's victim for taking the money rather than reporting the incident. Sigh.

    It's inevitable. Over at you-know-where some are suggesting she was blackmailing him. Oh well, the truth will out.

    Since Nov 2006 • 2075 posts Report

  • Sam F,

    Over at you-know-where some are suggesting she was blackmailing him.

    George himself was hinting furiously in that direction yesterday. I have no idea if his claim regarding the victim is true or not. My italics below.

    Yet later it transpired that the money was paid after the victim's lawyers demanded $150,000 compensation from Veitch's lawyers. There are other names than compensation claim for such demands, but no one so far has bothered to look into that.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 1611 posts Report

  • andrew llewellyn,

    I suppose we could equally speculate that she didn't report it for fear of another hiding.

    But that would be making shit up.

    Since Nov 2006 • 2075 posts Report

  • Yamis,

    That would make every out of court settlement of all time a form of blackmail then.

    Since Nov 2006 • 903 posts Report

  • Sofie Bribiesca,

    George himself was hinting furiously in that direction yesterday. I have no idea if his claim regarding the victim is true or not. My italics below.

    "There are other names than compensation claim for such demands, but no one so far has bothered to look into that."

    Tony could have just said no to compensation if he had preferred to take ownership of this whole sorry saga and pop on in to the police station.He wasn't forced to do anything.I think the police would consider it as an effort to recompense.This is also a consideration from a Judge.

    here and there. • Since Nov 2007 • 6796 posts Report

  • Craig Ranapia,

    I'm intrigued by The Mote in God's Eye. Always willing to develop an alternate sci-fi obsession to Iain M Banks, whose last novel was a bit of a disappointment.

    I've always thought that a true post-scarcity society (like Banks' Culture) would be utterly fabulous to live in. But from a story-telling perspective, it's rather dull. To paraphrase the sub-title to Ursula Le Guin's wonderful The Dispossessed "ambiguous utopias" are more interesting to explore.

    Still if you're looking for something to get obsessed over, can I recommend Dan Simmons' Hyperion Cantos and Peter F. Hamilton's Night's Dawn Trilogy -- both very smart reboots of the old school epic soap opera. (And in Simmons case, how can you not love a SF epic where some familiarity with Romantic poetry, particularly the works of Keats, wouldn't go amiss?)

    And if you're feeling really ambitious, have a go at Gene Wolfe -- I don't think it would be too pretentious to describe as 'Proustian' the twelve volumes that make up __The Book of the New Sun, __The Urth of the New Sun__, __The Book of the Long Sun__, and __The Book of the Short Sun.

    In my not at all humble opinion, Wolfe is America's finest living writer. Full stop and period. But he works in genre fiction, which we all know is bullshit for retards unless you're a 'serious' writer like Philip Roth, Cormac McCarthy or Margaret Atwood who are just slumming for a bit in the literary projects. :)

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report

  • Craig Ranapia,

    George himself was hinting furiously in that direction yesterday. I have no idea if his claim regarding the victim is true or not. My italics below.

    Well, there are other names than spineless columnist talking shit behind his hands for what George is doing there. Defamation is one. Vilification, slander, and libel are others. After all, one would think calling someone a common blackmailer or extortionist (however sotto voice and cute you're being about it) would lower their reputation in the eyes of a reasonable person.

    Garth George, in my house, is near impossible to defame because he has no reputation worth more than a five cent piece.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report

  • Shep Cheyenne,

    "Starship Troopers, I'm looking at you......"

    Starship Troopers was an American ideal of Israel.
    Holocaust (Shoah)/Argentina=Auschwitz
    Constant attack/outnumbered
    Dehumanised enermy
    Own Superiority (Doogy Howser)
    Mil. Structure - Army meritocracy (Israel you only become an officer after the rank of Sgt).
    Shower scene = gender equality

    We put it forward as a leadership video in the Army (they didn't take it up).
    'Glory' is the offical Leadership video.(Refusal to take higher pay than his men & getting his men shoes)
    'Saving Pte. Ryan' is the movie for rules of engagement (don't shoot the guy burning to death = euthenasia - fog of war = trench shooting & the 1st two surrender but are shot - Murder observed but not addressed immediately.)

    Since Oct 2007 • 927 posts Report

  • Sofie Bribiesca,

    "From each according to his abilities. To each according to his needs." Karl Marx had an idea:)

    here and there. • Since Nov 2007 • 6796 posts Report

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