Posts by Simon Poole
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Ah, see, here's your first problem: You need to respond to your own post, with your correct name, saying something like "An interesting article, but this in not necessarily an accurate representation of the true working environment in the departments I have worked in" - just to throw the hounds off.
As of writing, this is the first post, so I'll just have to say: Benevolent middle-managers, I did not write this blog-post, although I (frequently) nodded my head while reading.
God I hope no-one in IT tracks this down and gets me fired.
P.S: Unclogging the artery? It'll never happen. Ever. Too many jobs rely on the clogged arteries of government. Mine isn't one of them, but then again - I work in Service Delivery. Wooooo...
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If I were to organise some kind of get-together* for the PAS readers in Wellington on the Saturday of the India/NZ test match, how many people would want to show up?
I too would be keen, however I have a pregnant partner so my weekends mostly belong to her these days.
So, to put this in another way: If I can get leave I would be keen.
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I know I'm late to the topic and dragging it slightly OT again, but I wonder what T2S would make of, say, The Satanic Verses ?
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I visited the Hamilton casino thrice shortly after I turned 20. Each time I went with a couple of friends, and never with more than $20 in my pocket.
We decided that the pokies were boring, blackjack and poker were too high-stakes ($5!) so we stuck to the $2 roulette and had a fairly enjoyable time. The first time I doubled my money in an hour and a half or so. The second time, I lost everything (all $20) and the third managed to turn $20 into $120 in a couple of hours.
Hitting a winning number felt great, and greatly outweighed the disappointment of losing the one or two chips I'd have on the board. I can see how people get addicted to it.
However, I could never get over the unease at some of the other players at the tables who, even with $2 chips, would pull out wads of fifty or hundred-dollar notes, push huge stacks of chips onto the table, and sometimes win (and get enormous stacks) but would more frequently lose. Not only that, but whenever they had a big win, they would subsequently push the even-bigger stacks of chips straight back onto the table.
These people are definitely not there to win money, and they don't seem to plan to walk away once they've won enough - the only reason I've seen them leave the table for is because they've run out of money.
I'm amazed that there are entire cities built around the concept.
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Rich: WADA have it classed as a stimulant - I suppose snorting a whole lot of blow might give you that bit of extra oomph during a game... But the rugby bosses have banned the marching powder, and Matt Stevens follows in Wendells footsteps. I remember reading in some article about how his mates got him into it - bet they feel like cocks right about now, yeah?
And unfortunately there's no world-wide regulatory body for the performance enhancing drugs that rock stars and actors take, otherwise we might be blessed enough to have Tom Cruise banned from making movies for two years following a positive test for whatever the fuck he must be on.
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Did anyone happen to catch Backbenchers last night - admittedly not the best format for an informed debate, however - where Heather Roy played her expected part and crowed that the "Three-Strikes Law" (her words) would solve the problems that the corrections department is current having.
How, I must ask? By ensuring that the extra parole officers are no longer required by refusing parole? Didn't Mr Garrett himself point out that there would have been less than 100 or so prisoners in jail due to this law, had it already been in place?
Oh lordy-me, please don't tell me that ACT are simply pushing this bill to the populace as the magical Laura Norder Silver Bullet (tm) based completely on hype that they know is wrong? It's either that, or David and Heather don't attend the same meetings when discussing this stuff. Maybe the deputy-minister is too busy to converse with her junior colleages, but happy to trumpet the bills they have authored?
That said, Chris Hipkins made a complete ass of himself when saying that the issues posed by paroleing criminals into properties near where their victims live are "overstated", Russell Norman seemed drunk, and Dunncula stuck to his bland, appease-everyone style of commentary, so Heather hardly stood out too much.
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Gah, english fail - that's what you get for changing your wording.
Vettori slipped to number two earlier this year, behind Bracken.
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Russell: I was under the impression that Vettori had slipped to number two earlier this year by Nathan Bracken, but your point is a good one.
Both Mills and Vettori shone last night, and I was not surprised at all to see Mills picked as man of the match. It's a shame for Vettori that opposing batsmen mostly look to block him and score runs elsewhere, or he'd pick up quite a few more wickets and cement that #1 ranking quite easily, I suspect.
However, I do find it a touch sad that our next best-ranked ODI bowler is Oram - we desperately need another decent paceman now that Shane Bond is off NZC's radar. It will be interesting to see if Andy Moles can conjure anything special from the rank and file.
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Russell: Granny informs me that someone has been shot dead in a police pursuit that involved a crashed car on the ramp.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10553260
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These ideas have consequences. By 1982, largely due to lobbying by advocacy groups, a majority of states expanded police authority to make arrests in misdemeanor assaults which the officers had not actually witnessed
Ahhh, I love the logical leap that states that police have to witness a crime to make an arrest for it.
To paraphrase the bullies from the Simpsons:
"Shoplifting is a victimless crime, like punching someone in the dark!"