Posts by Chris Waugh
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Hard News: The non-binary council, in reply to Stephen Judd,
Much larger states than ours have problems securing crucial online systems from foreign interference.
Well, yes, and that'd be my worry. For one, there's all those stories of suspect voting machines in the US. Secondly, to take the bogeyman du jour as an example, China and the US have a history of putting pressure on others and the expertise to get deeply involved in election systems that happen to be online. What if Zhongnanhai or DC took an undue interest in the results of NZ's elections? I don't think I'm being excessively paranoid in asking that question...
The system ain't broke, so why fix it? I suspect these calls for online voting are just another manifestation of the technology fetish that has been allowed to run out of control. Apparently to teach my students I need to use fancy high tech stuff. I do, but I find turning up to watch their basketball games does a lot more to get them engaged than simply putting stuff online. Same with elections - want to get the kids involved? Show them how they have a stake in the outcomes and that their involvement can actually make a difference.
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Cracker: Lundy and Me., in reply to Islander,
(e.g as an ex law student living in a remote area, I am ineligible for jury duty-)
Really? How is that? I would've thought some knowledge of the law would make you an asset on a jury, not disqualify you.
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Hard News: Who Guards the Guardian?, in reply to Don Christie,
Snowden et al are unstable and therefore unreliable.
Snowden placed himself in the jurisdiction first of the People's Repubic of China then of the Russian Federation. I'm not going to say either "unstable" or "unreliable", but ever since the story broke I've been wondering about those two decisions.... something smells not quite right, is all.
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Speaker: TPP: This is a fight worth joining, in reply to Judy Spencer,
There is talk of American interests reshoring in America because of the wages in emerging economies increasing and therefore reducing the need for multinationals to go off shore.
Yes, there's been talk of China manufacturing shifting to Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, wherever cheaper, for years, with others countering "but China's got the infrastructure", and in recent years I've been hearing more and more reshoring or not bothering to offshore.
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Capture: Spring Breaks, in reply to Nora Leggs,
The coach/captain/organiser/inspiration, a fourth year student, is showing superb leadership skills. I seriously doubt they need any more input from me.
My only role is to show up with two big bottles of water and a camera, then post what few good photos I can get (bloody basketballers run and fly so fast!) on Weibo after the match by way of encouragement.
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Capture: Spring Breaks, in reply to Nora Leggs,
Yep, pity the other team could fly farther and faster... with a little help from some shoddy refereeing. But still, their opponents were the better team on the day. Champions last semester, playing off for 3rd/4th on Friday.
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I’ve got flying students.
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Speaker: TPP: This is a fight worth joining, in reply to Bart Janssen,
But the inclusion of the large anti-competitive, protectionist countries like Japan and the US means that the TPP is likely to be very bad for NZ since it is likely to include provisions that are anything but "free-trade".
I agree completely. Allowing the US in was a huge mistake.
But we can't walk away now because a TPP that excluded NZ could easily be the worst outcome
I don't think so. What's that deal China and ASEAN are working on? It strikes me as being the better one to be involved in.
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Misty mountains.
And people trying to trap fish. They used bread as bait, and given how many people there were around, I'd be surprised if any fish ventured into waters that shallow - he certainly didn't throw it far.
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She's also got a spring in her step.
I've posted a North American-style totem pole captured in north China before, though I can't remember where. Here's four properly Chinese totem poles.
And the last few days felt like being in a traditional Chinese painting ('cept when we got back down to Beijing, all I could smell was vehicle exhaust).
