Posts by Euan Mason
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From http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/6871058/Kim-Dotcom-releases-John-Banks-song
"Prime Minister John Key has said he will strip Banks of his ministerial warrants if he is found to be lying over Dotcom's donation."
Yes, Prime Minister.......
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This shifts publication costs from research users to research providers, and it changes some incentives. At present journal editors have a financial interest in quality research because quality attracts subscribers. If journals only require volume to make a profit then we should see a gradual relaxation in publication standards. In addition, if research providers have to pay for users' access then less research may be undertaken and very likely less of what is done will be published, although clearly there are other incentives to publish. Most of the cheap OA journals have no standing, and we might see a change there as well.
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"To me, ‘no sex before marriage’ always sounds like telling kids they’re not allowed to learn to ride a bike because they’ll fall off and get hurt, but on their 21st birthday they’re going to ride the Tour de France."
:)
Great analogy, Emma.
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Hard News: Moving from frustration to disgust, in reply to Gareth Ward,
Gareth, I'm not convinced that the policy is motivated by profit. It may sound incredible, but I think JK actually believes that league tables ranked by shallow testing of a small subset of students' abilities at only one point in time will really improve educational outcomes. I still feel slightly twilight zonish when I write that, but I think JK believes it.
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How do you get a half decent NZ educational system?
1. Start with one of the best educational systems on the planet.
2. Elect a bunch of shallow ideologues.
3. Wait. -
Congrats! Presumably you'll have to make time for ads now?
What a shame (in both senses) for NZ that TVNZ7 is going down.
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Thinking about Dotcom's motives raises some interesting hypotheticals. Dotcom gives Banksy wanksy $50k, then when the sword of doom approaches he asks BW for a little help.
"No way", says BW, "The stench would ruin my white lily perfume".
"OK", says DC, "I'll show you what happens to people who welch on a deal......."
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Hard News: #JohnDotBanks and all, in reply to Rich of Observationz,
Rich of Observationz, in reply to Hebe, About 2 hours ago
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Maybe if National became a left-wing party.
(There is precedent for this – the US Democrats and Republicans effectively swapped political sides during the late 19th / early 20th century).
Some would argue that it happened in NZ during the 80s, on economic policy.
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Up Front: Towards a Sex-Positive Utopia, in reply to Emma Hart,
It couldn't possibly be true without the caveat, otherwise we're signing up to a "love trumps all" argument, which is doomed. Bart's mother was right, but she left a lot out, and delaying sex in order to wait for love wasn't a logical conclusion. In my view the "wait for love" argument hails from a time when sex carried a high risk of pregnancy. She would have been better to add something like, "Use contraception until such time as your relationship is so tight that you and your partner agree to have a child. In the meantime, enjoy yourself".
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Up Front: Towards a Sex-Positive Utopia, in reply to Bart Janssen,
Our culture is still adjusting to decoupling sex from reproduction, and it has a long way to go yet. The project is only 50 years old, after all. Two generations. My parents were the fourth generation out of England and still called it home.
"My mother cruelly told me that sex was much more enjoyable when you loved the person you were bonking."
Call me old fashioned, but I still find that's true, all other things being equal. The key word is "more", however. I'm not dissing sex without love, but there's a helluva lot more to sex than just physicality and love adds spice (as do some other things). So why did your mother say that this notion justified waiting for love before dispensing with your virginity?