Posts by James Green

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  • Hard News: Not all victims are equal,

    Does any one else find it a suspicious coincidence that the Sensible Sestencing Trust and the Sunday Star Times have the same initials and a similar love for ... ?

    Limerick, Ireland • Since Nov 2006 • 703 posts Report

  • Hard News: Campaigns,

    As a later poster has noted on The Standard thread, the margin of error is (in absolute terms) smaller for the smaller parties. I could see an argument for doubling the sample size (to approx 1800), which would give a Margin of Error of 1% at the 5% threshold, which would seem like a useful level of accuracy.

    Roy Morgan, to their credit, actually have a table at the bottom of their report listing the margin of error for different percentages.

    The wild fluctuations is more likely to be an issue with the sampling quality, which is a more difficult issue.

    Limerick, Ireland • Since Nov 2006 • 703 posts Report

  • OnPoint: Brownlee: Now 93.5% fact-free!,

    It would be perfectly possible to develop a model that calculates the optimum usage of generating capacity to minimise CO2 emissions and/or energy cost while maintaining reliable supply.

    Wash your mouth out yo :)
    Back in the ol' skool NZED days they also used to account for wear and tear on the system. Each 24 hours, a designated generator (machine not corporation) used to be run at variable speed (higher wear) to match supply fluctuations. Now each company has a generator doing that. They also used to avoid overclocking their plan. And with the network management not detached from generation, they could also maintain the grid in a more stable fashion, rather than having links near maxed out, or close to collapse...

    Limerick, Ireland • Since Nov 2006 • 703 posts Report

  • OnPoint: Brownlee: Now 93.5% fact-free!,

    In some ways it seems surprising that it has taken so long for spin doctors to catch onto the mere exposure effect. Wonder why Nike bother to put their swoosh on everything? Or say a ubiquitous pair of golden arches...

    Limerick, Ireland • Since Nov 2006 • 703 posts Report

  • Hard News: Electrickery,

    sofie -- feel free to email me if you want to swap notes

    Limerick, Ireland • Since Nov 2006 • 703 posts Report

  • Hard News: Electrickery,

    I still haven't found the answer,(even on geekzone)

    Ditto. Pretty much. What is clear is that the MPEG4/H.264 has much better quality, but that it will eat your CPU for breakfast, unless you have a video card (not video not tuner card) that can natively decode h.264. I think. Or maybe if you're tuner can turn it into some other thing that gets sent to your TV?? I dunno.

    Uh anyway, apparently if you get a motherboard with the AMD 790G on board graphics, it will do the H.264 decode. Still haven't worked out how to get the signal to there yet.

    Limerick, Ireland • Since Nov 2006 • 703 posts Report

  • Hard News: Electrickery,

    I don't blame the staff. It's an inevitable consequence of the bewildering array of products, and the piss-poor pay. These days I only use such places as a way of getting a look at a product, then back to the net to research it, and find the cheapest source.

    This is certainly my strategy these days. The information is pretty woeful. But sometimes I could really do with some help. I'm still not sure that I've quite grasped the whole hi def TV thing (and not for want of trying). I'm quite excited by Freeview HD (and things like Russell's new show), and was looking at some big LCDs over the weekend, when I realised that most of them have *fewer* pixels than the resolution of the new terrestrial service. I'm quite confused as to why the TVs don't have better resolution. For the time being I give up.

    Limerick, Ireland • Since Nov 2006 • 703 posts Report

  • Hard News: Buy now: spend the recession inside!,

    Paul C said

    that way people can make boxes that do freeview PVR, manage your torrents, feed the kids ipod video fix, store your CDs, etc etc

    That's pretty much my planning, and I'm hoping that I can make mythTV work out for me!

    Limerick, Ireland • Since Nov 2006 • 703 posts Report

  • Hard News: Buy now: spend the recession inside!,

    Rather than spend $500 on a set-top box, I've sort of seen the writing on the wall. Both my VCR and DVD player are on their last legs...
    So I'm going to attempt to build a HD Freeview PC contraption. Dunno if I'll ever get it perfectly seamless, but I like a challenge.

    Limerick, Ireland • Since Nov 2006 • 703 posts Report

  • Hard News: Must Try Harder,

    I thought Te Kaea had rather better coverage of Waitangi Day yesterday than the main news channels. Not just that they covered more events round the country, but with a degree less hysteria.

    I haven't previously done anything in particular on Waitangi Day, but found my local experience at Ōtākou to be rather different to that presented in the msm. A very different tone.

    Limerick, Ireland • Since Nov 2006 • 703 posts Report

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