Posts by James Green
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Go and get your prescription from a professional, try on some frames in their offices to work out the shape you like, and then head to zennioptical.com or goggles4u.com. Pre-internet: $600 glasses. Post-internet: $30 glasses. *Delivered*.
You find this works out? I got a fab pair of glasses in Hong Kong, but I was never quite sure that they were as sorted as from an NZ optomestrist.
On the trees thing, I used to describe being short sighted as like living in a cartoon. But perhaps a Roger Rabbit-esque one, with real people. Only the things that were real were the things that were close, and all the background was cartoon.
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I mean issue is is ISSHEW not ISSYEW. Please somebody tell them.
While our yod-dropping has got to the point that probably more people do say /isshew/, /issyew/ is more 'correct' (or at least it's the older form that is being replaced). In someone of Moira's age, it's entirely excusable. Certainly, I'd be shocked if Dougal Stevenson said /isshew/. It is getting to the point that that /issyew/ would seem pretentious on a young person, however.
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Am I wrong to want to hear more from Phil Kafcaloudes?
I love most of their pre-news crosses. Not just Phil, but Kerri-ann Walsh(?) from Canberra. I think partly they're just a sort of filler, so they end up being whatever time they have left, but I don't think it would be sad to end up with more time left every now and then.
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Morning Report does become rather repetitive, if you listen to it for more than 20 minutes
I actually find this a positive character. Most other morning tv/radio things try to have too much new content to try to hold your interest. It makes it much easier to get in the shower, leave for work or whatever, because you've been informed, and you can move on. It's the exact opposite of what I want in the evening, where I actually want to keep listening/watching.
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Ironically, I used to get into nine-to-noon when I was younger (early 20s). I'm not sure if it's a change in presenters, or whether I'm just more news jaded.
Morning Report is really the only thing to listen to in the morning. Mediawatch is great if I'm awake. Saturday afternoon is good.
I do find it a bit like Radio 1, in that it's often great, but sometimes you tune in, and it's just not a show that you're interested in. -
Reflecting on the southland aspect of Cowan's misdemeanour, I like the Mataura local old guy interviewed for the news who suggested 'he just needs a bit of a smack' or something similar. I think both Cowan and old guy reflect the role physical solutions still play in small towns.
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<quote>Do you mean that of the 61 admissions, 19 of them were actually readmissions? <quote>
Nah there were 80 admissions, but only 61 patients, so it's only a third not learning from prior mistakes, rather than half. But you're pretty much onto it. Personally, I would think the re-admission rate should be headline material. -
Oh yeah, one other thing. I made this table for my select committee submission. Among other things, I made some suggestions along the lines of Gee & Fountain above, and acknowledged that we don't know the long term harms of BZP, but I think this table should provide an interesting counterpoint.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v361/limegreenz/bzptable2.gifI probably should have just linked to a pdf of my submission, but I've done this now....
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The thing I found most perplexing about Gee's original BZP work was an overlooked aspect to the results. They had 61 people admitted over 5 months, but there were 19 readmissions on a separate occasion in that time period.
Gee also co-authored a fairly reasoned opinion piece that concluded thus "If a legal market for psychoactive drugs is established in New Zealand, and such compounds are to be let out of ‘Pandora’s box’, a responsible approach must be applied prior to their release. In particular, safety (rather than apparent lack of toxicity) must be proven; with the onus to provide scientifically robust evidence
placed on the suppliers of these substances. And vigorous standards must be applied and enforced regarding the manufacture, packaging and sale of these substances; and
effective ongoing national post-marketing surveillance must be established." (Gee & Fountain, NZMJ, 2007). -
I love voting. I also love the enforced silence on polling day. I was involved in a fairly protracted debate about this on a forum elsewhere last time around, I think with people who were concerned about it infringing on their 'freedom of speech'. I like that idea that it is a better form of free speech. Only when we are very quiet can we hear the voices of the weakest. I'm sure someone else has already thought up that argument, but I liked it.