Posts by Andre Alessi
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All the Dwarfs will be drinking Steinlager Pure. Or possibly Tui.
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There were three Trolls in The Hobbit. That's more than we've seen on PAS.
Would that make Craig the Dragon, then?
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I put it to you, Andre, that the capability for dysfunctionality within corporations is the only reason they are at all tolerable. A truly efficient corporation would be terrifying to behold.
As much as I can agree with the point you're making, I honestly don't believe that poorly managed corporations who manage to make life difficult for both customers and employees are all that much better than some kind of corporatistic dystopia. I mean, have you tried calling your bank or power company recently?
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Now, anecdata is anecdata, but it's left me not misty-eyed with love for small businesses, you know?
I've been working in the corporate world for several years now, and while I appreciate the fact that I'm paid good money for what I do (never mind the benefits, which are where working for a corp really shines) I still think that most corporations are dysfunctional messes that would be better off being broken up and sold off in discrete chunks.
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I'm definitely in wait and see mode at the moment until I see details, and more importantly, until I see how things work out in practice.
I'm not very good at this whole "hindsight in advance" thing.
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No. That's in the much more controversial Lady Baggins' Lover.
It's no coincidence that Tolkien abbreviated Lobelia Sackville-Baggins' last name as "the S.-B.'s".
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Just reading The Hobbit, you'd have virtually no idea of Bilbo's social status at all, and no idea about his society.
Not to suggest that Rudman's column isn't completely terrible (it really is) but Tolkien deliberately suggests Bilbo was the equivalent of an upper class English gentleman: he didn't work for his money, had a house on the hill with a groundskeeper, spoke with more "careful" grammar, wore a waistcoat and had a pocketwatch and handkerchiefs, etc etc All that would have been considered "obvious" to someone reading the book in 1930's England.
Overall though, the setting of the book isn't "feudal", it's a fairy tale.
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“I would have thought, as a simpleton..."
Well then.
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Should really be Te Hopita then.
Oma hopiti, oma hopiti,
Oma, oma, oma -
Does NZ have any laws protecting whistleblowers?
Yes, specifically the Protected Disclosures Act (2000).