Posts by B Jones
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I got a new dishwasher last year, and it's very firm on the subject of utensil bits up. But it's beautiful. Even the way the utensil basket is put together is marvellous - the grids that hold each piece apart lift, pivot and slide artfully into the main body when you don't need them. It's like it was designed by high end car manufacturers.
It takes twice as long as the old one but I love it. No buttons on the front for littlies to fiddle with, and you don't accidentally turn it on five times when you're leaning at the bench chopping vegetables.
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Muse: That Book, The Ban That Isn't,…, in reply to Rich Lock,
Are we not allowed to read it because people think she's guilty? Or because it might warp our minds? Bit of both?
The former I think, but it's weirder than that. She wasn't even charged, let alone convicted. There's more evidence that David Bain killed his family than there is that King is responsible for the twins' death, yet Joe Karam's written several books about him that have half the country believing in him. The man's appeared smiling on magazine covers.
I think somehow people are transferring their frustration at nobody being held responsible onto her. I also think there's a touch of prejudice attached to it - the likes of Bruce Howse, Stephen Williams, Eddie Smith or Azees Mahomed aren't vilified household names the same way that Macsyna King, Rachealle Namana, Lisa Kuka, Tania Witika and so on are, despite being found guilty of similar or worse offences. I don't know whether it's because women are judged more harshly when there's a serious problem with care of children, or it's the perception that child abuse is a Maori issue, or a combination of the two.
That being said, I'm not planning on reading the book. Mainly it's the Wishart factor. If he told me the sky was blue, I'd be forced to look out the window to check.
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Yes, I definitely remember a "nothing more to worry about" period after the one for the history books. And I also remember him predicting he wouldn't be making any more earthquake predictions. Can't even get that right.
I see from the Herald he has a rival kook, the "Barcaroller".
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Hard News: Christchurch: Square Two, in reply to David Haywood,
you could still live here quite easily.
See now, that just makes me think of the Fire Swamp. I'm not saying I'd build a summer home there, but the trees are actually quite lovely.
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Up Front: Respectably-Dressed Sensible…, in reply to BenWilson,
They were still 14 year old girls listening to Wham, sneaky-smoking behind the school, giggling uncontrollably, reading poetry at the same level as anyone else their age, bitter on their parents, no clue about their future, etc, etc.
Yes, but think for a second about what most 14 year old boys were doing then. From my memory, many of my 4th form male classmates were still into wrestling and model aircraft, and hadn't graduated to the bitter teenage angst yet. A few notable exceptions to that amongst my friends, but on average teenage boys and girls of the same age have quite different levels of emotional and social development, to match the physical development gap.
That being said, there's more variance within each sex than between them - there were plenty of boys up to their ears in angst and girls saving themselves for Donny Wahlberg. Generalisations aren't that helpful in considering specific situations.
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This has got to be my third or fourth attempt to add something meaningful to this thread - the rest have been abandoned for various reasons. But what I'm taking from it is that 1, experiences of sexual assault are very very common (and inflicted on people far far too young), and 2, they're hardly ever talked about in front of ignorant arses like the chaps in the Dim Post thread because of the degree to which they just don't get it and it hurts to be reminded of that.
I hope there are one or two formerly entitled arses reading here now who are too intimidated to post themselves, but might have absorbed the message that the whole drunk girl out late in heels and a short skirt cliche isn't a representative picture of sexual assault and that perhaps they should stop talking as if it was.
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I watched both the Native Affairs footage and the Campbell Live - the latter had a weird echo-ey thing happening with the sound, so it was different.
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I don't know, things like the SlutWalk seem to me to be making a contribution to that soup - a dash of lemon juice, perhaps. Making a loud public statement against the very commonly held idea that it's up to women to regulate their conduct to prevent rape gets people talking about the issue and uncovering their prejudices. Add some chili by discussing things men can do to prevent rape (like thinking again about what constitutes fair pursuit), and you've turned boring old chicken soup into tom yum.
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Hard News: Some Lines for Labour, in reply to Sacha,
Not at all interested in tinkering with what I know has worked for me for many years and makes a big difference in my life just to soothe anyone else's skepticism.
Which is completely fair. Skepticism isn't everyone's preferred way of understanding the world - it's what I'd do to reassure myself, but it's no skin off my nose if it's not your cup of tea.
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Hard News: Some Lines for Labour, in reply to Sacha,
Are they still commonly tested only on men?
Having asked my friend wiki, apparently some trials are designed to exclude women of childbearing age, and pregnancy testing of female volunteers is done; both to reduce the potential for harm to fetuses. This is probably why it's hard to get data on whether a drug is safe to use while pregnant.