Posts by Paul Campbell

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  • Hard News: Dunce Dunce Revolution,

    It just dawned on me that when Tolley tries to get her drive to mediocrity through parliament the Nats wont have enough votes and ACT will come in and insist that they privatise the schools ...

    And Ann will reply that the whole point of making state schools so poor is to give the private ones an advantage in the market ....

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report

  • Hard News: Dunce Dunce Revolution,

    "If they do nothing other than teach our children to read and write and do maths and be good socialised New Zealand people then they've done a really good job."
    Minister Anne Tolley on new school standards

    It is rather the Tall Poppy Syndrome writ large - let's try not to create any excellent students

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report

  • Hard News: Dunce Dunce Revolution,

    I run a small business (1 employee me), I pay enough ACC every year that it's roughly worth a day of my time (as I bill it out).

    I figure it's probably going to take me at least another day of my time to find a private insurer - that means my rate will double that year hard to amortize any saving from that over anything less than a decade unless I end up paying 1/10th of the premium - I bet the paper work will be higher ongoing anyway

    At the moment I get one bill a year from the ACC, I write a check along with the others at the end of the month and post it - 10 minutes work.

    And Labour say they'll go back to the old scheme when they're reelected - why would I choose to change? I'll take my 10 minutes/year of overhead happily.

    People also seem to forget WHY we changed to a no-fault scheme - it was to stop us spending all our time in court over personal injury law suits - before ACC people wouldn't give their friends rides in their cars, certainly not if you valued your friendship - after ACC the govt reduced funding to law schools and the courts

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report

  • Hard News: Windows 7: Actually Not Bad,

    Some think Win7 may be a little bloated

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report

  • Hard News: Dunce Dunce Revolution,

    In the US entering University for an undergraduate course you're expected to pass a General Ed requirement - largely this is NZ 7th form math/english/science - so by the time you hit a post grad environment yes you should have passed this stuff - but really the GREs are intended to allow the best schools a way to pick the best students - so anything simple that weeds people out probably is to be expected

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report

  • Hard News: Dunce Dunce Revolution,

    And given the title we just need a link to Dance Dance Immolation - two members of the audience in nomex suits and flame throwers for when you screw up ....

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report

  • Hard News: Dunce Dunce Revolution,

    It's Friday - my contribution: XKCD animated

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report

  • Hard News: Windows 7: Actually Not Bad,

    BTW: I've had reasonable Dell support service (I am really hard on laptops and sadly for them always buy the 3 year warranty - all the silver paint's wearing off this one, down to the beige plastic underneath)

    My one attempt to try something else (Sony) was much more of a disaster with them refusing to honor their warranty in the 3rd year (they'd sold the servicing contract to someone else and there was lots of people pointing fingers at each other)

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report

  • Hard News: Windows 7: Actually Not Bad,

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report

  • Hard News: Windows 7: Actually Not Bad,

    Nope, I'm pretty sure the Borg descends from Ubuntu - which is, after all, "Linux for Human Beings".

    You may be right

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report

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