Posts by Simon Grigg
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Reading through it briefly, the report reads like an enormous waste of time and money, but for all that, the amount of xenophobia from some on this thread scares me as much.
Not wanting to go into battle, just saying...
people who live in temperate countries (like all the commentators comparing New Zealand to Australia) don’t appreciate what really hot places are like.
They're rather pleasant actually.....
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the sad irony of a country largely made up of Christians
I think Juan Cole is rather good on all this:
So Switzerland, after centuries of striving for civilization and enlightenment, has just about reached the same level of tolerance as that exhibited by a small Gulf Wahhabi country, the people of which were mostly Bedouins only a hundred years ago.
The response to this in Indonesia is best described, as is much in this country, as confused. Both the government and the largest Islamic body, the NU have strongly condemned it, but in a land where Christianity counts for two of the officially accepted religions (Protestant and RC are regarded as separate faiths, and you legally have to profess to one of the 6..atheism is effectively illegal) it's increasingly hard to build a church...planning and other barriers are being used to prevent construction and some local government have torn churches down for breaches of recently written or re-written by-law, thus enforcing a de-facto ban on such, this having met with a loud silence from central government for reasons of political expediency, not wishing to offend an small but noisy radical minority.
The NU has asked followers not to overreact, and in particular, not to attack Swiss interests, which is more or less seen as a call to arms to do exactly that.
Like the recent flurry to attack Malaysia over a TV ad which allegedly used an Indonesian song, these things come and go in the nation.
82% of Swiss are Christians
Just to be picky, 27% of the nation are said to be atheist or agnostic, which, if true, puts the Christian percentage at 68-69%
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I look forward to your return.
Can I underline that. I've always gravitated to Joe and Ian's posts in a thread, reading them ahead of much of the page, if only for the smile the phraseology inevitably brings.
Nobody on this forum has an incisive turn of phrase that matches Mr. Wylie (and there is some heavy competition herein).
And Ian, yes. Miss you both big time already.
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Perhaps that was what the Thais didn't like about it (then, don't know about now)
It was mostly a generational thing I think. The under 30s use the skytrain and the underground without thinking and both are in the process of being extended (with another 80km due to come on line in the next couple of years, plus the high speed skytrain to the airport which opens on Dec. 5).
The change is remarkable, although there are good days and bad days, but mostly, you'll be pleased to know, the sweat isn't black anymore...just a dull grey.
It really shows what is doable, and I think the immense work put in BKK is being dwarfed by the efforts in some of the bigger Chinese cities..Shenzhen for example, which, hopefully can turn big parts of urban Asia around.
Of course, then you have Jakarta which is an ever worsening environmental basket case with 30 million people all in cars or on100cc motorbikes..
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I hope we didn't loose Joe Wylie.
multiplied by a factor of zillions...
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When they want the rest of the world to change their ways, at the cost of 100's of billions,
beautiful clear blue skies in BKK today, as they have been for much of the week. Incredible what a bit of public transport, and enforced emission tests on vehicles does to a dirty yellowy grey town in a fairly short time.
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That is different to our Representative Electoral system.
You misunderstand..it ain't democratic if Andrew doesn't agree with it, and it most certainly ain't acceptable to debate anything or advance an alternative view unless it's sanctioned by Andrew (or you are able to conclusively prove that you've wired a plug or fixed a pipe without help...building your own PC certainly is not down with the masses to an acceptable level..by doing so you prove you are little more than a leftist roader).
Really, Andrew, if you don't like it, and are unable to actively engage, go away. If your echo chamber is as large as you say then you should have no problem finding similar souls to bounce your anger off ad infinitum, but do it elsewhere.
But, that said, I'm coming back to NZ for a week or three early next year and I'm making a list of places to completely avoid, as I try to re-establish my intouchness with acceptable bakers, sparkys, builders and plumbers (that is, if I can get the names approved by that rampant majority). If you could possibly let me know where you are likely to be hanging, I'd be keen to add that to the list of places to keep away from.
I'm guessing though, that the pink 'burbs of Grey Lynn, Ponsonby & Westmere ain't you?
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Interesting debate. Nice that folks are mostly managing to keep their hair on this time around....
I wish I had some to keep.
But yes, ain't it just. I wonder why that is?
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I guess you're that guy that walks into the pub and eats all the free peanuts.
I think, Steve, if anything, this illustrates an failure to grasp what wi-fi has become in many places. It's simply not just an add-on to a cafe, pub or whatever, to kill time, check your email or hit facebook, it's as essential as ice is to the business.
Come up my way and see the kids using it for homework, the Japanese salarymen conferencing, salesmen processing orders, and just about any use you can imagine using the internet for in your home or office. It's become ubiquitous and integral to daily life.
It staggers me in NZ how the country has missed this, rather important, evolution of recent years, most especially in our Asian neighbours.
Now, I don't know this pub's circumstances, but opting out of that in many places by limiting ports and usage is just nuts, you'd likely be empty for large parts of the day.
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And as for a NZ POV we pay for bandwidth here and I wouldn't want to be paying for someone to come into my pub, get a glass of water and download 20 gig a day.
As I say, NZ POV..this was in the UK. Here, and in large parts of the world there are no data caps. And closing the ports simply isn't practical when wi-fi is used for so much by so many. Where was this pub? City of London maybe...your port solution is not an option. And so on...