OnPoint by Keith Ng

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OnPoint: What gorilla?

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  • Danielle,

    It's easy to dismiss talkback radio as the insane ravings of hyped morons. Which it is.

    On Saturday, I watched the unjustly buried Mike Judge satire from a couple of years ago, Idiocracy . It was pretty scathing stuff. I like to think that we aren't getting stupider, and that 'things were ever thus'. But sometimes I wonder.

    Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report Reply

  • Dinah Dunavan,

    There should some rule that talkback radio disqualifies you from having another job in media

    Or being a (super) mayor.

    Dunedin • Since Jun 2008 • 186 posts Report Reply

  • George Darroch,

    The pity is that talkback isn't an inherently bad medium. It just needs better moderators.

    I'm told that in the late-1970s through early 1980s it was actually useful. Most politicians stopped taking it seriously as a representation of broad public opinion in the 1990s.

    WLG • Since Nov 2006 • 2264 posts Report Reply

  • Dinah Dunavan,

    We built our first country residence out of a shipping container. It has a ranch slider, pot belly stove with wet back, and window. We also added a removeable separate roof. Apart from the lack of insulation it was a very good basic place to stay while the main house was built. The separate roof means that the rusty roof is likely to last longer than otherwise and can be removed when we move the container. The main advantage is that when we go away the whole place can be locked up pretty damn securely. (The window has its own steel cover and bars.)
    I think it makes a perfect kiwi crib.

    Dunedin • Since Jun 2008 • 186 posts Report Reply

  • Rich Lock,

    So this talk about expensive, or affordable (depending on your point of view), prisons, shipping containers and what not .... Isn't that just the noise the machine makes when it's warming up, just before the privatisation?
    It is a rather lucrative business sector, after all. one of the few sectors that continue to experience growth ...

    The machine is making rather more explicit noises about privatisation.....

    But....is this a good thing?

    Lets ask Your Views!

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

  • Russell Brown,

    I'm told that in the late-1970s through early 1980s it was actually useful.

    It was, but people like Gordon Dryden brought a very different philosophy to the radio than most of today's hosts.

    I frequently quote him, in the context of explaining Public Address, on what he used to tell his callers in the 70s:

    "Don't give me your opinion. Give me your experience."

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Kumara Republic,

    I'm told that in the late-1970s through early 1980s it was actually useful. Most politicians stopped taking it seriously as a representation of broad public opinion in the 1990s.

    Any coincidence between the above and the ascendancy of Big Media Inc?

    The southernmost capital … • Since Nov 2006 • 5446 posts Report Reply

  • nz native,

    It seems to have been a bit of an oversight not to have invited prison industry representatives to the 'job summit' ............. it IS the boom industry in the country at the moment.

    ...... as an aside I've been sitting on the information since the time of the napier police killing and siege but around the same time there was a murder in the Hutt valley. The news of the Hutt valley murder was buried under the news blitz of the Napier drama.

    But in the Hutt valley killing where two defendants have been arrested 1 of them was wearing a home detention ankle bracelet.

    The other defendant was on a curfew.

    Both were breaching their sentences/conditions at the time of the killing and the chap with the bracelet had breached before.

    I expect when the media gets on to the first person committing a murder while wearing a home detention ankle bracelet it will cause a bit of a shit storm ................. especially when it becomes known he had breached before and not been recalled to jail.

    A lot of breaches’ of bail do not result in jail.

    Expect that to change.

    Since May 2007 • 60 posts Report Reply

  • Keith Ng,

    McVicar: Containers – Our Soldiers Would Love Them, even though tents are probably easier to carry.

    I see my plan of preemptively out-McVicaring McVicar is working. My McVicar is heaps more McVicar than his McVicar.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 543 posts Report Reply

  • George Darroch,

    Wouldn't caves be cheaper? There's got to be a use for that tunnel boring machine once it's finished with Mt Albert.

    WLG • Since Nov 2006 • 2264 posts Report Reply

  • Joe Wylie,

    "Don't give me your opinion. Give me your experience."

    Excellent. As someone whose identity now eludes me once said, there are few things more useless than an opinion. Experience, on the other hand . . .

    flat earth • Since Jan 2007 • 4593 posts Report Reply

  • Ian Dalziel,

    Meanwhile back at the McVicarage...
    "I cannot contain myself..." ejaculated Mick the Vicar,
    "I think the purple velvet restraints suit you best!"
    purred and preened the actress...

    Speaking of restraining and constraining:
    Containers are for Shipping Goods !
    ergo Sewers are for Kipping Bads...

    ...So let's just stack a whole bunch of
    these on each other... voila - Hokey Pokey!
    - much like those Japanese City automat hotels
    - drainage meets Neuromancer -age
    (time off for good beehiviour maybe)

    Solves a lot of the container problems,
    sollid construction, no rust...

    Other interesting shelter ideas here

    Yrs
    Lee Cor Bustier
    ""The house is a machine for living in."

    PS Joe W - can you email me - my hard drive
    died and I have lost all my emails, contacts and
    other data and about 5 months worth of work ...
    ...sob ...sigh
    - I must back up
    - I must back up...
    - tsumi, tsumi
    - digital tsunami...
    8- (

    Christchurch • Since Dec 2006 • 7953 posts Report Reply

  • Joe Wylie,

    - my hard drive
    died and I have lost all my emails, contacts and
    other data and about 5 months worth of work ...
    ...sob ...sigh
    - I must back up
    - I must back up...
    - tsumi, tsumi
    - digital tsunami...

    O shit.
    Will email you as soon as I'm done backing up.

    flat earth • Since Jan 2007 • 4593 posts Report Reply

  • George Darroch,

    Back up your thesis too. I haven't lost mine, but I lost my bibliography, which was a major blow.

    WLG • Since Nov 2006 • 2264 posts Report Reply

  • James Green,

    Back up your thesis too.

    Don't just back it up. Leave a copy in another town.

    Allegedly true story of a guy one of my lecturers knew. Physics PhD in early 80s working with lasers in prefab building. All but finished PhD, laser malfunctioned and burnt the building down...

    Limerick, Ireland • Since Nov 2006 • 703 posts Report Reply

  • Dave Waugh,

    Allegedly true story of a guy one of my lecturers knew. Physics PhD in early 80s working with lasers in prefab building. All but finished PhD, laser malfunctioned and burnt the building down...

    Did the frickin shark survive?

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 98 posts Report Reply

  • Caleb D'Anvers,

    Don't just back it up. Leave a copy in another town.

    I studied under a guy who was rumoured to have accidentally dropped his almost-completed PhD thesis down a stormwater drain. The pre-electronic world was a cruel place.

    London SE16 • Since Mar 2008 • 482 posts Report Reply

  • Danielle,

    I once read a PhD thesis acknowledgements page which thanked 'my drug dealer and the Rolling Stones'.

    (Sort of irrelevant, but I love trotting out that anecdote.)

    Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report Reply

  • Steve Barnes,

    I knew a zoology post grad who's homework ate his dog.

    Peria • Since Dec 2006 • 5521 posts Report Reply

  • JackElder,

    I knew a zoology postgrad who ate her own homework. At least, her own research subjects, after she'd finished with them.

    Green-lipped mussels, before you ask.

    And it wasn't just the pre-electronic world that was cruel: I saw a note up at the Wellington bus station a while ago asking if anyone had found a USB thumb drive. "Contains entire year's academic work!" - yeah, that's the downside of portability, you've got to have a good backup regime to prevent this sort of situation.

    Wellington • Since Mar 2008 • 709 posts Report Reply

  • Stephen Judd,

    Anyone who did computer support at a university in the late 80s or 90s remembers the horror and misery on the faces of graduate students who had inexplicably put everything they valued on one corrupt, unreadable floppy.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 3122 posts Report Reply

  • Steve Barnes,

    I use a nice little program called Sync Toy from Microsoft (yeah, won't work on a Mac) its FREE.
    I use it to make a copy of my main hard drive and some of the stuff I have on other drives, to a USB external drive during the night.
    Very simple to set up, no problems for the last few years in spite of one major disk failure and a motherboard burnout.

    Peria • Since Dec 2006 • 5521 posts Report Reply

  • Lucy Stewart,

    Dropbox is quite nifty for back-ups, too. Sure, you only get two gigs free, and it's probably not the most secure system in the world if you're worried about business secrets - but for something like your thesis, it's perfect.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 2105 posts Report Reply

  • Jake Pollock,

    Although it's not a great back up tool unless you pay them US$5 a month (for reasons), Evernote is very useful for academic work. It's note-keeping software that is tag-able, searchable, and syncs online so you can access it from any computer with web access, as well as iPhones and Blackberries. It can also search photos for text.

    Raumati South • Since Nov 2006 • 489 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    I was slack on backup for years, but by the time I actually did have a hard drive completely die on me, I was using Time Machine as part of MacOS 10.5.

    I had the computer back the next day with a new, larger drive and Time Machine had an incremental backup up till about 90 mins before the time of death. I simply imported everything back from that and started working again. It was extremely cool.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

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