Posts by giovanni tiso

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  • Hard News: How a thing happens,

    (As for the virtues of businesses, it's amazing how many emails from PR people - and otherwise very thorough and objective journalists, for that matter - ended with the words "And on a personal note, allow me to say...")

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report

  • Hard News: How a thing happens,

    Thank you Russell, a most generous post. If I can offer a small correction, donations are currently at $20,000 (Telecom and ANZ) and I haven't quite given up looking for more. Also, I think RadioLive needs to donate to RPE and bring them in to do some training for them as well. There is something wrong with the culture of that station (and I include Wallace Chapman's excuses for the "naive and insolent" Willie and JT, whom he's replacing as of today, and his ridiculous appeal to free speech).

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report

  • Hard News: Mega Strange, in reply to Dylan Reeve,

    The question of whether Mega profits from illegally shared material is hard to say. Unlike Megaupload and most other free file lockers, there are no banner ads on Mega’s download pages (also no inducements to signup for a paid account for faster downloads etc), and given that you can get 50GB for free on Mega with just an email address it’s hard to see why a pirate would choose to use a paid account to host illegal files. If anything I’d say that illegal sharing costs Mega money.

    My understanding is that Mega isn’t even that popular within piracy circles as I believe there are download limits enforced also.

    Thank you, that's very informative to this ignorant soul.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report

  • Hard News: Mega Strange,

    "More so, given its use of encryption."

    Isn't that kind of the issue? Person who made his fortune by helping people share files they had no right to upload (and I'm passing no judgment on what kind of social ill that may or may not represent) creates service that makes it harder to tell if a user has done so. A service he intends to profit from. Whether or not Mega uploaded the file himself is immaterial (by the time I caught the story, no-one was suggesting he had). There is a broader cui bono issue here. Does Mega, does Orcon or any other ISP for that matter, profit from the volume of illegitimately shared material? How do their interests shape the debate on copyright? The Luminaries just makes the question a bit sharper in the context of local publishing. (It's harder to feel bad about sharing a Warner Bros film.)

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report

  • Hard News: Jonesing, in reply to Hilary Stace,

    The issues won't be going away.

    That's very true. I was getting greedy. Also, Jones might have developed an aneurysm had he tried to answer the full question.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report

  • Hard News: Jonesing,

    Damn. I so wish the whole thing had been submitted.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report

  • Hard News: Jonesing, in reply to Keir Leslie,

    Hah! Giovanni, I agree that clumsy is not the word that springs to mind from that point. From the point of effectively achieving the aim she was after? I'm not sure.

    If her target really was homophobia, though, as you have suggested upthread, I think any time before Sunday would have been good too. Just saying.

    (And by the way I agree Michie was probably all but a surrogate by then - given that Cunliffe was really just being coy in waiting to announce - and that her comments weren't good.)

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report

  • Hard News: Jonesing, in reply to Keir Leslie,

    No, and that's one reason I think she was clumsy and I wouldn't have handled the issue the way she handled it. But I'm not going to condemn a Labour MP for making pretty valid points about homophobia clumsily, given that there's a lot more egregious sins being committed by Labour MPs -- like not even trying to make those points...

    We really must work on an agreed definition of "clumsy". Clare Curran declared for Grant Robertson this past Sunday. The next day, she remembered to become outraged about something that Jenny Michie said on the 25th of August. "Clumsy" isn't the first word that springs to mind.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report

  • Hard News: Tooled Up for Food,

    Attachment

    And this is the companion piece: nonna's rolling pin, made from a single piece of cherry wood. It was more or less nonna-length, by the time she was in her eighties.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report

  • Hard News: Tooled Up for Food,

    Attachment

    I've banged on about this in most mediums, but it's pretty much my most prized possession. Even though I can't really use it yet. (Have to go up several pasta-making belts.) It's a curtlina, that is to say the blade used to cut fogliate (local Mantuan variety of tagliatelle). It belonged to my grandmother and was fashioned from a discarded scythe. The curvy part of the blade would wear out over time but the section near the handle much less so, and was typically recycled into knives. This one is thin and very, very sharp.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report

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