Posts by James Green

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  • Hard News: Drugs and Sex,

    This discussion actually touches on the real reason why Carisbrook must be replaced. The only reason why people throw bottles etc. from the terraces is because of the lack of tables. Also, if the terrace were carpeted, it would also absorb a lot of the pee.

    However, I heard a rumour just today that due to further cost over-runs, the latest thing to be cut from the new stadium design is in fact the the tables. However, there is still an assurance that the new stadium will have leaners. I am starting to get a bit worried that if they lose any more piles into the mud, they may have to cut the carpet. And if there's no carpet, what's the point of the roof?

    Limerick, Ireland • Since Nov 2006 • 703 posts Report

  • Hard News: Drugs and Sex,

    Sounds like we're in for a hell of a night tonight! Although I don't know that Ironic serves jugs, has carpet, or a dance floor. Perhaps we should adjourns to the Re-Bowler tonight...

    Limerick, Ireland • Since Nov 2006 • 703 posts Report

  • Hard News: Drugs and Sex,

    Speed of action and the patient's ability to control dose would be the benefit -- although you'd also get that from an aerosol.

    It is active more quickly, but it's relatively unusual to try to provide that speed outside of hospitals (where it's usually achieved by IV). The only other non-respiratory drug administered respiratorily is Relenza, the parent drug to Tamiflu, which is because it is virtually not absorbed at all through the digestive route. Quick action has dependency-enhancing properties as well. The quicker the hit, the stronger the behavioural learning tendency (like pokies).

    Limerick, Ireland • Since Nov 2006 • 703 posts Report

  • Hard News: Drugs and Sex,

    Tables and carpet

    Tables are an important feature of Dunedin pubs. After all, when you come back from the bar you need some where to rest the 3 jugs you're not currently drinking. Kyle also noted the importance of tables for the purpose of table-sucking. To be fair. This is not usually because a person has spilt their drink, but because some lightweight from up north couldn't handle their liquor and bumped into the table.
    Carpet also has multiple benefits. In addition to its absorbency, it also has led to a marked reduction in Traumatic Brain Injuries.

    Limerick, Ireland • Since Nov 2006 • 703 posts Report

  • Hard News: Drugs and Sex,

    Couple of random thoughts.
    Cannabis derivatives have excellent medical properties. It's a long time since I did any pharmacology, but the received wisdom was that not only were some of them showing much better (like orders of magnitude better) analgesia, but far better side effect profiles. The elderly are big consumers of morphine, and its respiratory depression effects are bad, whereas the 'appetite stimulation' properties of cannabis derivatives are largely positive. For medical purposes, I'm not really sure what the benefits are of smoking it, as opposed to a controlled dose in a tablet (although they do have a much higher therapeutic index, so uncontrolled dosing is less of a drama -- in contast, the difference between a therapeutic does and a fatal dose of morphine is much smaller).

    Also, somewhat in response to Russell, we may also find small groups of people who are genetically susceptible to poor driving in the coming years. It's one thing to say that you have gene X, therefore you need lots of folate in pregnancy. However, if you're telling people, you're not in a good place to drive, or you're not in a good place to get high, them's some interesting ethical times.

    Limerick, Ireland • Since Nov 2006 • 703 posts Report

  • OnPoint: What gorilla?,

    Back up your thesis too.

    Don't just back it up. Leave a copy in another town.

    Allegedly true story of a guy one of my lecturers knew. Physics PhD in early 80s working with lasers in prefab building. All but finished PhD, laser malfunctioned and burnt the building down...

    Limerick, Ireland • Since Nov 2006 • 703 posts Report

  • OnPoint: What gorilla?,

    My folks have some converted shipping containers, and apart from the obvious Laura Norder issues, it does seem like cutting off your nose to spite your face.

    They need a lot of painting, and having usually been at sea, corrosion is quite an issue. Also, for living purposes, the main advantage of the containers is to use the former refrigerated ones, which are lined with polystyrene and then an aluminium(?) shell. The shell aint very sturdy, and I think to make the lining prison grade would probably mean replacing it, removing most of the supposed advantage.

    Limerick, Ireland • Since Nov 2006 • 703 posts Report

  • Hard News: What to Do?,

    oops. bit of a table misreading there. Pre-1900 European was the most popular, followed by Pakeha, Settler and Colonist (the latter gone by 1880). After 1900, it was New Zealander followed by European, with the odd mention of Maorilander. Interesting that the SOED didn't catch up with the change in use of New Zealander until after 1965.
    Also, while pre1900 New Zealander referred to Maori, the more popular terms were Native & Maori.

    Limerick, Ireland • Since Nov 2006 • 703 posts Report

  • Hard News: What to Do?,

    Just to muddy the waters rather more on the ethnicity thing, while I was hunting out a reference for Islander, I stumbled across the following reference

    Tuohey (1990) analysed the labelling of Maori & Pakeha in the Otago Witness from 1851 until 1927. For a good portion of this time, Dunedin was NZ's largest city, so an important paper.
    Anyway, up until 1900 New Zealander referred to Maori (also captured in the 1965 Shorter Oxford listing the first definition of New Zealander as "aborigine of New Zealand"); and Pakeha was by far the most common way to refer post 1900 to refer to a European, succeeding the terms 'colonist' and 'european'...

    Limerick, Ireland • Since Nov 2006 • 703 posts Report

  • Hard News: What to Do?,

    But I don't know well enough what it means, and I'm not keen that any ethnic group should be forced to be indentified by someone else's label.

    A good response to this is this post by Tze Ming on PA ages ago.

    I think it's also worth bearing in mind that Pakeha, or whatever else a person might like to call it, culture is young and not yet well formed. The awkward truth is that what most distinguishes New Zealand Europeans from Australian Europeans or whatever is really about the influence of Maori on that culture. The word kiwi, symbols like the fern frond and the haka.

    Limerick, Ireland • Since Nov 2006 • 703 posts Report

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