Posts by John Fouhy

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  • Hard News: Transferring wealth to Wellington,

    *sigh* Could someone make Lindsay Perigo post under his own name? I'm sorry to tell you this, Mr. Dempsey, but people who don't use public transport don't get to opt out of the portion of their rates that deliver subsidies to ARTA.

    But they do get to vote for councillors who support cutting funding for public transport. And if they can convince enough of their friends, they can even make it happen.

    But Aucklanders won't have any influence over how their rates are spent on transport. I mean, that's what this is about, isn't it?

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 87 posts Report Reply

  • Up Front: This is a Photograph of Me,

    @Emma: My partner (whom you have briefly met, signing your book) has a story about needing photo ID for something, and not having any. Until eventually, rummaging through her wallet, she pulled out: her membership card for the Auckland Sword & Shield.

    I also think drivers AND pedestrians don't turn their heads far enough to the right when they look, so they miss cyclists vooming along the left-hand side of the lane.

    As a cyclist, the faster I'm going, the closer to the middle of the lane I am. If I'm "vooming", I make sure I'm more than a car-door-length out..

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 87 posts Report Reply

  • Cracker: Wallywood,

    Orcs, in the mythology of the book, are clearly not indigenous - they were created in mockery of or from humans by an envious demigod. It's hard to integrate that with European racist mythology.

    Elves actually. Not even humans. Orcs are a mockery of Fairy people. They are meant to be earthly demons of some kind.

    Ooh, can I contribute some Tolkien-geekery?

    Tolkien actually struggled quite a lot with the problem of what orcs really are. JRRT drew a distinction between "thinking peoples" and "beasts". The former had feär (roughly, souls; also implying free will), which only Eru (God) could create. Originally, there were two species with feär: elves and men. Aulë created the dwarves, and Eru took pity on him and gave the dwarves feär too.

    So what about the orcs? Melkor, who made them, was effectively a fallen angel. He couldn't give them feär, and it's unlikely that Eru would look kindly on him. Tolkien pondered three possibilities:

    1. Melkor "twisted" captured elves, perhaps later "blending" them with captured men. This is the theory presented in _The Silmarilion_. But if orcs are debased elves, then does that mean they go into the west when they die? Are the Halls of Mandos filling up with dead orcs? That would be an unusual twist. Furthermore, while Melkor can corrupt individuals, can he make that total corruption inheritable? If orcs are really corrupted elves, we should see good orcs now and again.

    2. Orcs are intelligent beasts, highly trained and capable of talking in the fashion of parrots. Unfortunately from scenes in LotR, they seem a little too intelligent to make this fly, although there could be some maia (lesser angles) in orc form to keep them in line.

    3. Orcs are animated by the spirit of Melkor. That is, Melkor distributed part of his "essence" amongst the orcs (and trolls, and dragons). This is why Melkor had to fight with armies and servents, rather than by just dropping mountains on the elves' heads and suchlike. Orcs still bicker and fight amongst each other because evil contains the seeds of its own destruction.

    http://www.thetolkienwiki.org/wiki.cgi?The__Origin__of__Orcs

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 87 posts Report Reply

  • OnPoint: Property Investment Federation:…,

    Tom, if landlords have a captive market, then why wouldn't they raise rents _now_?

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 87 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: Ready for the Big One?,

    It's interesting to look at how technology affects our disaster planning.

    For instance, the list recommends a radio. Well, I think we have one (along with bottled water and canned food -- my partner's a lot more organised than I am..). But I couldn't say for sure; I never use it. How many people (especially under 30s) these days have a radio that's not in their car or part of their cellphone?

    But on the other hand, I have a torch. It's got an LED bulb and is powered by a dynamo (i.e. you crank it; no batteries). It's not great to use but I've not no worries about it not working in an emergency.

    And ham radio enthusiasts have been very helpful in natural disasters recently, but that seems like a dying hobby. Cell phones are much easier, but much more reliant on infrastructure..

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 87 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: Research Fail,

    From the other thread:

    I wish these f*&kwits could understand that "bonus' " and "Incentives" schemes really screw systems up.

    As an ex-banker, Key surely knows that bonuses are just part of the standard remuneration package and should be paid regardless of performance, right?

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 87 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: Research Fail,

    There was an article in the news recently about schools abandoning homework (the comments section on Stuff was surprisingly sane). One thing I remember from the article: an academic quoted as saying that homework helped some students and not others.

    When I was at school, I was quite academic, and I was lucky enough to go to a college that streamed students. But I have heard that my old school no longer does that.

    It seems like we're trying to adopt a one-size-fits-all approach when different students have different needs and respond to different teaching styles. Would it be bad to have different schools with different focuses, and try to match students to the one that suits best?
    (I think they do something like this in Germany)

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 87 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: Standards Matter,

    I want to match her Feynman quote with one of my own:

    But it's no way to find anything out; when you have a very wide range of people who contribute without looking carefully at [a problem], you don't improve your knowledge of the situation by averaging.

    source

    Feynman was an expert; he was aware of what he knew, what he didn't, and the limits of accuracy of what he knew. He knew what information was and where it comes from.

    I find it interesting also that she cites _Freakonomics_. If I took one lesson from that book (actually, I haven't read it, but I've read _Superfreakonomics_), it would be: if you want to influence people's behaviour, you need to know how people behave, and you can only discover that by collecting data.

    I read something recently about the risk quotient. It might be interesting for the Herald to modify their poll, to include capture of how certain people are...

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 87 posts Report Reply

  • Up Front: Do My Homework For Me,

    Under what circumstances should it be illegal to look at a picture of something it is legal to do?

    Ooh, I've got one: voting. I don't want any photos circulating of what I did in the ballot booth..

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 87 posts Report Reply

  • Cracker: Go Figure,

    Chalk me up as another who gave up telly around the turn of the decade. Although in my case, it's that watching tv was just too much effort. I have to arrange my schedule around the TV, _and_ manage the people I live with? Ugh. The internet is always there when I want it.

    But I do wonder about the effects of changing technology. I have access to free-to-air tv, through a tuner connected to a mac mini. And my dad, an electrical engineer who has worked in broadcasting, has so much tech surrounding his TV that he needs a wiring diagram to manage it. Many of my friends watch TV on DVDs exclusively, or supplemented by shows downloaded from the internet (because they will show here much later, or never). What would we do if the peoplemeter fairy came calling?

    Does anyone know what percentage of the various demographics actually watch broadcast TV?

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 87 posts Report Reply

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