Posts by B Jones
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I know you can't bolt everything down (esp books) but I wouldn't be surprised if there's some serious revision of how to rattle-proof a library after this. The liability!
One of my first jobs in the mid 90s was to reshelve books at the Victoria University Library after all the top shelves had been cleared off. I seem to recall vaguely that the shelves were cleared to install bracing between the stacks in case of earthquakes.
Still wouldn't want to be anywhere near Vic in a shake, though.
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From about midday yesterday, police spokespeople on TV1 news were playing down reports of looting, saying it was one or two isolated incidents, perhaps someone helping themselves to the contents of a broken shop window in the early hours of the morning. Meanwhile the news ticker on the bottom of the screen had "Reports of looting" hours later. Too good a headline to give up.
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which I had assumed were cotton until one night I was making pancakes and leaning over the stove a little too much and the shirt went up in flames
Cotton actually burns very well, which is why all the kerfuffle with kids' pyjamas being close-fitting. Nylon melts rather than burns, which is a different sort of danger.
I bought a black velvet jacket from one of the second hand shops in the old James Smiths building for about $20 in 1995 - best cost per wear ratio of any item of clothing I've owned. It still comes out on nights where a bit extra to keep the wind off is required.
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Sigman - why is he arguing against baby boomer styles of parenting? He seems like an old codger mainly because he's relitigating an argument that was relevant to the 70s and 80s. All the parents these days who might be considering ruining their kids lives by separating (according to him) - chances are they know exactly what it would be like since they'd have had separated parents themselves.
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I'm planning on getting an HTC Wildfire next payday, to replace my aging phone, camera and ipod. I don't need high end specs on any of these devices, but I will love to only have to carry one bit of tech around with me. Google Maps looks very handy, and doing the odd bit of email and browsing until data gets a lot cheaper. Anyone used one of these?
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this is actually a good thing for employees, since if you're in a situation where your employer wants to get rid of you, then summary sacking might be just the incentive you need to get on and find something more suitable
We're letting George Clooney's character in Up in the Air write employment policy?
I've also heard it described as the employer and the employee having a chance to check each other out. Which is crazy because employees can always resign, even within 90 days.
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The sunscreen song had it dead right on advice, as it did on so many other things:
Be careful whose advice you buy, but be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia. Dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it's worth.
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For some strange reason getting pregnant helped a lot. I've heard it does the reverse for others.
How interesting. Emma's description sounds a lot like how first trimester pregnancy affected me (only for a few weeks, thankfully, and not as severe) - just like you were getting up after a long illness. I'd make it through a shower but need a lie-down afterwards. I wonder if there are any similarities in the mechanisms.
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Danielle:
when you're recovering from a 'major event', as the doctors put it, hospital food seems incredibly awesome
Hospital food is totally underrated. Among the best meals of my life, which include bistecca alla fiorentina in Florence and a delicious multi course number at the White House restaurant, was the chicken drumsticks, soup and mashed veges I had an hour after my daughter was born, about 24 hours after my previous meal. It's good simple comfort food, which won't set the culinary world on fire but makes you feel better when you're feeling crook.
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Fair enough, jack of all trades and master of none, etc. I'm looking at it from a non-involved public debate perspective, of the sort one has on the internet, or as a vox pop on the news, or in your mind when you're deciding who to vote for. I wonder what the numbers of arts graduates vs science graduates are.