Posts by B Jones
Last ←Newer Page 1 2 3 4 5 Older→ First
-
I think of Dirty Politics as a book title rather than a word. It's used to describe an issue, rather than used in sentences. That's not to downplay its impressive impact on political discourse.
I think "hacker" or 'hack" deserves a plug because it's got international and local currency, and has reach beyond the election period, and its meaning is contested to stretch from someone who can get into secured computer systems to someone who can guess your password or use your profile after you've failed to log off.
-
Hack. In both senses of the word.
-
Hard News: Media Take: The creeping…, in reply to nzlemming,
Not if you build those steps into document creation. Most government agencies use a document management system, many have implemented EDRMS – all the tools are there, just not the wit nor will to use them.
Have you used a government document management system? You want bureaucrats to add more steps to every email, every meeting request, every piece of work they produce, to solve the problem that a small percentage of stuff that gets requested gets gamed? It's an enormously cumbersome solution that doesn't actually address the problem. I can think of several ways to separate the decision to release from political considerations without making it a nightmare for both users and officials.
-
Hard News: Media Take: The creeping…, in reply to nzlemming,
A lot of this would go away if agencies published everything unless there was a good reason not to. It would save them time and resources
No it wouldn't. This would expand the amount of information public servants need to assess for "good reason" from the small amount currently requested to everything they produce. This is the time consuming part of responding to an OIA - not collating the files - that's not hard with a decent filing system. It's deciding will this breach an individual's privacy, will this harm someone's commercial interests, will this undermine the goverment's ability to negotiate for every file note, email, handwritten minute, everything.
-
Hard News: What to make of the spray, in reply to Rosemary McDonald,
Until a diagnosis of a rare chronic leukaemia in a family member who had no real reason to get it.
Without understanding much about the epidemiology of leukaemia, does anyone ever have a real reason to get a disease like that?
-
My grandfather in law lost his leg in his 80s, after an infection he couldn't shake. It was hard for him at his age to get used to his reduced mobility, but he was philosophical about it, and declared that plenty of his age-mates came back from the war minus a limb, and he had his for 60 years longer than them.
I wonder if anyone's done a good history of attitudes to disability, because I imagine they change over time just as medical and social circumstances shift the numbers of people affected by and surviving with disabilities.
-
Those of you paying attention might recall that that Malaysian diplomat is getting extradited to NZ to face charges; he's not getting interviewed in the comfort of his own home. Nai Yin Xue, who left his wife in the boot of his car and his daughter at a Sydney train station - he got extradited from the US and tried here. Sexual assault is sexual assault, whether it's supposed to have been done by the world's greatest freedom fighter, or some ordinary shmoe, and there's no reason Assange's case shouldn't be considered by the Swedish criminal justice system like any other accused person. The way his defenders carry on you'd think he's a sporting hero or filmmaker.
-
Hard News: Vision and dumbassery, in reply to BenWilson,
it was like a bunch of kids complaining about a dinner they just got given because they don't like veges
I'd have thought filet mignon served covered in Watties tomato sauce with a sparkler stuck in it.
-
Winston Peters: "He's not the Messiah, he's a very naughty boy!"
-
Up Front: Oh, God, in reply to Moz,
I vote for Cthulu, safe in the knowledge that he'll be a minor party in a coalition of more sensible gods.
We've done what beer is each political party like, perhaps we could do what god/denomination.