Posts by Scott Common
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Thanks for the link to the PDF (20 things) Russell - I found it to be quite the eye opener. In particular the section about the "long tail" and the changes to how the economics work when you are restricted by how much stock you can hold (never have a scarcity of supply). What also really made an impact was the idea that the age of the hit is over - and that certainly raised some questions (for myself) about how the NZonAir funding is done for music - at the moment they are trying to concentrate on "hits" as such, but it seems like this is a losing approach...
Anyway I found it really interesting - thanks!
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Ta Steven - I actually feel it's quite a big point which a lot of people miss.
As another interesting note when I was speaking with Elections they mentioned that there was no "minimum number of votes" for a valid election - which I found pretty fascinating (and worked into a short story later on down the track).
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It do'snt mater we live in a democratic country. people can vote "no confidence to vote" if they want.
Ummm last time I checked there wasn't a "no confidence" option on ballot papers - and I quized Elections about it who said that if I wanted to vote no confidence I should not vote (which totally misses the point as not voting is very different from expressing a no confidence vote).
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My products straddle the cosmetic / therapeutic interface, and this legislation simply gives me reason to DUMB DOWN the information I give to consumers.
Interesting - I wonder how that would interfere in the labelling requirments for cosmetics under HSNO, or would they be different types of information that are being required? (I'm not sure what labelling requirements are outlined by other legislation and am as such curious to find out).
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Actually the hazard classifications are for the pure substance but the quantity does not change the hazard classification under the HSNO act (the dilution of the mixture could change it however).
It's also worth while to note that the MSDS you have refered to is also for pure Ethyl Alchol (200 proof!!!!) which is understandably dangerous.
And as it's worth while to note that there are requirements for sites that store large quantites of alchol as well - mostly because of the flammability issues.
The point I was getting at was that many of these substances have hazards associated with them which are often not advertised - or in many cases the products are advertised as natural (which consumers instantal equate to being safe it seems).
I'm just trying to look at this from another angle and from an Act which I actually have experience with.
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I agree with the Libertarian argument that we should be allowed to take anything we want, but I think anyone selling mass produced health treatments is under an obligation to provide real clinical information on the effects.
I agree with the sentiment of this statement and it will always depend on the individual having access to quality information about what is actually in the product they are taking. I noted some examples above Russell and I thought it would be a good exercise to see what hazard classifications those substances have within New Zealand – some surprising results as you will see.
We’ll start with sassafras oils because they’re pretty common…
Oils, sassafras (CAS 8006-80-2) 6.1E, 6.6B, 6.7B, 6.9B
Now those classifications look mysterious but here’s what they actually mean.
Class 6 are toxic substances (ie toxic to humans) with the following subclasses.
Subclass 6.1 - Substances which are acutely toxic
Subclass 6.6 - Substances which are mutagenic
Subclass 6.7 - Substances which are carcinogenic
Subclass 6.9 - Substances which are target organ systemic toxicantsThe A – E rating indicates the seriousness of the hazard presented with A being the most serious and E being the least. Remember that this is a “diluted” version of the active ingredient “Safrole” which I thought I’d look at next…
Safrole (CAS 94-59-7) 6.1D, 6.6B, 6.7B, 6.9B, 9.3C
So it’s a bit nastier than the oil itself but on it’s own it also presents an Ecotoxic classification.
Terrestrial vertebrate effects (Subclass 9.3).But do we see any of these warnings on the label for the substances? At the moment I would bet not. How about another pretty common “herbal remedy”?
Germanium, powder 7440-56-4 4.1.1A
Not quite as nasty but I think some people would be surprised to discover that their germanium powder is a flammable solid (readily combustible solids and solids which may cause fire through friction) (subclass 4.1.1).Many people automatically assume that something which is "natural" is not hazardous - but in fact thats where most of our useful hazardous substances come from. Aside from a health persepective many of these products have their own hazards (such as being highly flammable) which people are not usually aware of - and the current labelling of such products in many sectors is woefully inadequate.
It's worthwhile to note that any time a substance which is deemed as hazardous is sold the customer has a legal right to request the material safety data sheet (MSDS) for the product - the retailler must supply this for them. How many of the herbal retailers out there would do this, or even be aware of what a MSDS actually is.
Until all this information is available to people on the actual product people cannot be assured (without doing their own research) that they are getting the full picture in regards to potenital issues surrounding their substances - and as such are not making an informed decision.
[Tools used to source this information]
ERMA NZ Hazard Classifications
http://www.ermanz.govt.nz/hs/abouths/classification.htmlERMA NZ Search Register
http://www.ermanz.govt.nz/search/registers.html -
I know the feeling about late nights for gigs actually - I have to play them.. I've often tried to get venue owners to let us run gigs starting earlier - but there just seems to be this huge resistance to the idea. I would love to be able to rock up to the bar at 8pm, see a support act, play a set at 9:30 and be out of the venue and all packed up by 11pm! It would be a dream come true!!
Then again if it's not rock'n'roll to be prepared I'm probably as the least rock'n'roll muso out there (I have checklists!).
Earplugs - always carry them. I actually wear them at work (in an office) when I'm on the phone (ie just one plug in the non-phone ear). Useful too if theres roadworks or construction taking place nearby - I'm far too aware of how much loud noise I'm exposed too (both through choice and through our natural enviroment).
Anyway bigs ups Graham for the post - good as always - and it was your attitude on Random Play that led me to invitie yourself to our Auckland gig!
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But the wierdest thing (and this is sort of @ Robyn), I have met another Hadyn Green. Yet I OWN the Google search.
Hehehe - I discovered another Scott Common via email last year - his machine had got infected with something viral and was spamming out emails to all sorts of address's. I got one at my work email and fired something back saying, "blah blah, identiy theft, blah blah". Turned out not to be ID theft, and Scott was very nice (spoke to him breifly) and advised him that his work PC was infected with a virus!
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A lot of parents give their kids those weird names with weird spellings because they are unique, which probably stems from the parents having to go through their school days known as Rebecca H and Chris A
My school years should really have left me with a major complex I figure. It was the tradition for teachers to refer to students by their surnames only (which was pretty funny for the Smiths) - so I spent a good (or not so good) 5 years being only refered to as "Common" at school...
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Free and fair elections? Not by the standards that we are used to.
But free and fair by American standards (sounds very much like whats been happening there recently).