Posts by recordari

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  • Busytown: All in the game,

    you do have the second sight. There I sat last night, putting in all the links, thinking "must post before Russell fires me."

    Unlike Stead, I suspect Russell won't declare your views are no longer relevant because you've been too busy to blog for a while. He seems a patient man, by and large.

    Oh, and lets not forget, when it comes to writing, it's quality, not quantity (or frequency), that fosters immortality.

    Here, take my advice, I'm not using it...

    AUCKLAND • Since Dec 2009 • 2607 posts Report

  • Cracker: About a Boy,

    138 characters, just sayin

    What happens in the playground stays in the playground?

    Just as well most of my school-yard commando activities happened in the 70s, and I can legitimately claim memory loss. But in similar form, I was the one throwing the insults, not the punches.

    In related news, I loved the character of Rocky especially. Just sayin'.

    AUCKLAND • Since Dec 2009 • 2607 posts Report

  • Busytown: All in the game,

    Yay! At 6.48pm last night I wrote this.

    Forget the 80s, I'm getting nostalgic for Jolisa's bookie thread.

    I'm not claiming the second sight or anything, but it is nice to have you back. You're sure getting us reading, but. I'm about a third of the way through. So I'll get back to it and once I've got through Stead-fast and Cox make some more educated comments. Hopefully.

    It's all that damned additional material. Do you have to be so thorough? ;-)

    Actually this speaks for itself.

    Hulme, the winner of the 1985 Booker Prize for The Bone People, would be worth listening to "when she is a writer again".

    Meow! So this state of 'writer-ship', which clearly Stead has a special handle on, lapses after a certain period of time? I thought only scientists lived by the 'publish or perish' mantra.

    AUCKLAND • Since Dec 2009 • 2607 posts Report

  • Cracker: About a Boy,

    You egghead? Isn't that the opposite?

    This could be the makings of a good yoke. I'll just go see if I can crack it.

    AUCKLAND • Since Dec 2009 • 2607 posts Report

  • Cracker: About a Boy,

    Can't read Fforde. Tried and failed.

    Hmm, not sure I can let that go ;-)

    AUCKLAND • Since Dec 2009 • 2607 posts Report

  • Cracker: About a Boy,

    I'm confusing myself now.

    I'll let it go. After all you recommended Murakami, and now I'm three books in and loving it. Forget the 80s, I'm getting nostalgic for Jolisa's bookie thread. I'm reading a new Jasper Fforde and I have no where to talk about it. Sorry, thread anachronism.

    AUCKLAND • Since Dec 2009 • 2607 posts Report

  • Southerly: The Problem With Religion,

    The works of the ancient world mostly survived because of the Church rather than in spite of it.

    Book burning through the ages. Quite interesting in itself. Not all religiously motivated, but at least some were. I think your point is valid in some cases, but they were also guilty of shaping our recorded history on dogmatic grounds. The inquisition in particular.

    I'd like to read this book by Protagoras.
    On the Gods: Concerning the gods, I have no means of knowing whether they exist or not or of what sort they may be, because of the obscurity of the subject, and the brevity of human life.

    AUCKLAND • Since Dec 2009 • 2607 posts Report

  • Hard News: Climate science and the media,

    What the hell are they doing in Togo?

    Voodoo economics?

    No, wait, I found it.
    Projects in Togo.
    I suspect the high percentage might come from the low GDP. Just a guess but.

    AUCKLAND • Since Dec 2009 • 2607 posts Report

  • Cracker: About a Boy,

    I'd just like a grown up NZ feature about a Maori community without the stereotypes of Boy

    You saw them as stereotypes, I saw them as manifestations of people I knew growing up. "There's such and such". "Oh look at that Humber 80. Such and such had one of those. Oh yeah, me".

    AUCKLAND • Since Dec 2009 • 2607 posts Report

  • Hard News: Climate science and the media,

    OECD?

    Actually, I was being facetious. No, really. But it is a more interesting question than I intended, and in looking into it I was reminded of the Human Development Index. New Zealand rates pretty highly in that. Higher than the UK for example.

    Not so high on this R & D league table though. Surprised that Singapore is below us, but not sure how recent this is. And 1.1% of lots is still more than 1.2 percent of bugger all.

    What the hell are they doing in Togo?

    Thought this was funny. Barry Caplan said;

    "This effectively means that a country of immortals with infinite per-capita GDP would get a score of .666 (lower than South Africa and Tajikistan) if its population were illiterate and never went to school."[12] Scandinavian countries consistently come out top on the list," he argues, "because the HDI is basically a measure of how Scandinavian your country is."

    I'm trying to think of a country of illiterate uneducated immortals, oh and infinite per capita GDP. Is he a Douglas Adams economist?

    Actually this guy just gets better and better.

    Through the lens of the Jock/Nerd Theory of History, the welfare state doesn’t look like a serious effort to "equalize outcomes." It looks more like a serious effort to block the "revenge of the nerds"—to keep them from using their financial success to unseat the jocks on every dimension of social status.

    Sorry, I'm way off topic now.

    AUCKLAND • Since Dec 2009 • 2607 posts Report

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