Posts by Tom Semmens

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  • Hard News: Dancing the DMCA,

    "...Funny you should say this (but it's probably on her auto sig), but more that 15 years ago I migrated the data for a GM of one of the Parliamentary agencies from one computer to another. He had gigabytes of data because he'd saved everything since the day he started. And all of his emails requested read & delivery receipts.

    Thousands & thousands of auto reply messages, and read receipts.

    OTOH, I also migrated the data from all of Bolger's ministers' proprietary computers to PC Servers. A huge undertaking for some, one or two took days (this was a while ago) to transfer..."



    I am curious, in an age where email is the new diary entry, does all this stuff on email servers get backed up and reverentially stored against the day in 2050 when some historian will be able to discover Jane and Murray were having an email tiff on Thursday 17th April 2008?

    Sevilla, Espana • Since Nov 2006 • 2217 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: Awful in more than one way,

    I've never been to the USA, but observation from afar makes me suspect that the United States has an incredibly conformist culture that doesn't handle difference or even eccentricity well outside the liberal coasts. Anyone who has been there, kindly tell me if this is so.

    Its just that it seems to me outstanding feature of Columbine and this slaughter is the social isolation of the killer from society. Mix in lots of easily available guns designed solely for killing people (what else is a 9mm automatic pistol good for?), the institutionalisation of violence and torture at the highest level and you've got a recipe for massacre.

    Sevilla, Espana • Since Nov 2006 • 2217 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: Art and the Big Guy,

    Oh and on rugby - when was the last time any of the All Blacks played two or three weeks in a row for their club side, the community they are supposed to belong to first and foremost? When your top players are just a rootless condotierri searching for the best paymaster, player drain will inevitably accelerate.

    Sevilla, Espana • Since Nov 2006 • 2217 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: Art and the Big Guy,

    merc you shouldn't take it so personally. I will restate my position, because its a simple one really. No one forces anyone to be an artist. No one makes you be a currency trader for that matter. People decide on what they want to do for a range of reasons. Some seek vocations - nurse and teachers - some chase money, the currency traders. Some feel the need to be artists, and create arty stuff. Nowhere in any of those choices is there a guarantee you will make a good living or indeed any living at all.

    Now, to me a deal is a deal - I agree to buy something off you at a price we both agree represents the value of that object at the time of purchase. Ownership then transfers to the new owner. Simple. And you know, I am absolutely stumped if I can see a reason why artists should be granted an exemption to that rule. I can see the reasoning behind this idea, I just don't agree with it.

    Sevilla, Espana • Since Nov 2006 • 2217 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: Art and the Big Guy,

    Actually Stephen I do, and I respect their talent. But to me this sounds like special pleading from a group of people who want to be protected from their own pooor business decisions.

    Sevilla, Espana • Since Nov 2006 • 2217 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: Art and the Big Guy,

    I don’t know, it just seems so precious and bourgeoisie for artists to expect special treatment. If I get a flash paint job on my Ford Escort and subsequently get a much better price for it, do I owe a cut to the spray painter? I doubt it! For a spray painter is a mere working class artisan, and not deserving of the recognition of a big, posh artist type who has certain refined lifestyle expectations, apart from needing to fund hisor her's beret collection.

    I will say again: no one is owed a living. If you feel compelled to be an artist then good on you, but capitalism can be a cruel mistress so don’t expect others to save from your own mistakes if you sell to cheap.

    Sevilla, Espana • Since Nov 2006 • 2217 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: Art and the Big Guy,

    I should use spell check more...

    Sevilla, Espana • Since Nov 2006 • 2217 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: Art and the Big Guy,

    This whole idea that artists - or the RIAA - is owed a living is rediculous. You sell something, then it belongs to someone else and if they make money out of it then good on them. Its not hewn in stone that artists are guaranteed a living.

    Does it mean that all those people who pick up a dirt painting for a pound at a car boot sale, take the jolly thing to the antiques roadshow and discover its worth 5000 pounds have to pay a cut to the artist or the artist's estate? What a load of rubbish.

    Sevilla, Espana • Since Nov 2006 • 2217 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: Biting back at Bill,

    When the suits at TVNZ read all this, they may be Ng-camdescent with rage!!!

    Sevilla, Espana • Since Nov 2006 • 2217 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: No Friends of Science,

    I am glad its not just me who thinks Jim Mora is the most dishonest Leighton Smith-lite on NZ radio. Dishonest because he clearly has a tory with a small t agenda - though it was priceless hearing the Plunket guy patiently taking his anti-section 59 repeal argument apart the other day - but he's to gutless to come out and admit it, so he just stacks his panel and asks leading questions.

    Sorta like the David Farrar of National Radio.

    Sevilla, Espana • Since Nov 2006 • 2217 posts Report Reply

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