Posts by Rich of Observationz

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  • Speaker: I Lost My Arms in Bootcamp,

    Most New Zealanders spend their days sailing, surfing, skiing, tramping, mountain biking, road biking, jogging, kayaking, climbing up rocks, rafting down rivers, bungy-jumping and skydiving

    I used to think that. Actually, we mostly watch TV programmes featuring people doing these things.

    Back in Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 5550 posts Report

  • Island Life: Books are our friends,

    American Psycho might not be a great one to read if you're trying to pull, either.

    Depends on *who* you're trying to pull.

    "Oh hi I see you're reading American Psycho. Have you got to the bit with the rat - that's my fave? You wanna hook up or something - friend me on myspace - I'm hiltigirl"

    (Note myspace not facebook - anyone like that would be an "ostacised" rather than "hegemonic" teenager)

    Back in Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 5550 posts Report

  • Cracker: Poke Me, Bite Me, Add Me,

    From the lnked article:
    MySpace is the primary way that young (US) soldiers communicate with their peers

    which implies that young Russian kids, who joined the FSB (successor to the KGB) hoping for a life of James Bond style intrigue are stuck in a windowless office somewhere trawling through MySpace looking for clues to the US armies order of battle.

    Back in Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 5550 posts Report

  • Island Life: Books are our friends,

    What happened to those devices they allegedly created in Japan that you entered some personal data into, and then wirelessly detected when compatible people were in proximity?

    I got 30 pages into American Gods and bought another book. Neverwhere was ok though.

    Back in Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 5550 posts Report

  • Island Life: Books are our friends,

    Why is Dan Brown considered so bad?

    It's no different to any other thriller you might read - it's not up there with Banks or Rankin but it's a reasonable way to kill a few hours.

    Though the definitive book on the grail thing has to be Rat Scabies and The Holy Grail

    Back in Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 5550 posts Report

  • Hard News: Just some links, really,

    Interesting fact about Starbies in London.

    In about 1999, a couple of people came back from the US having seen the ubiquity of *$s - inspired by this, they started a clone called Seattle Coffee Company and expanded quickly to around 60 shops.

    *$s had already got plans to open in the UK, so seeing this firm, instead of trying to compete, they bought them. For GBP60mln. That's a million pounds (NZD3mln) for each (leased) coffee shop. Good money, eh!

    Back in Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 5550 posts Report

  • Hard News: Just some links, really,

    Interesting coffee article. I see how espresso was brought to Oz by Italian migrants, but how did it reach NZ? (Given that we don't have a huge Italian community?)

    Back in Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 5550 posts Report

  • Hard News: Public health: the new terror…,

    Terrorists look for loop-holes in any system. They found one in the Bristish immigration checks for medical physicians

    Yes, they were obviously ultra-sophisticated international terrorists. Clearly the one and only gap in their skills was not realising that petrol isn't an explosive

    Back in Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 5550 posts Report

  • Hard News: Public health: the new terror…,

    I think I read somewhere that the NHS had a substantially smaller admin overhead than other organisations of similar size and complexity.

    Back in Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 5550 posts Report

  • Hard News: Public health: the new terror…,

    This link I guess Craig: http://www.badscience.net/?p=442#more-442?

    A lot of scientists joined or supported the Nazis (von Braun and Heisenburg, for instance). I'd suggest that early 20th century scientific training was pretty narrow and that, combined with German attitudes to authority, led to them accepting Nazism without too much thought (for one thing, it gave them lots of funding).

    Back in Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 5550 posts Report

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