Posts by Ben Austin

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  • Southerly: In Praise of Arthur,

    Last time I regularly used a barber was while in Dunedin for university. Selwyn Graves (iirc) of lower Moray Place/George St was an institution back then, and last time I looked he was still there. He also was the provider of choice for snuff, for that brief month long period in first year where I thought it was cool.

    Now I follow the 6 month rule - which means I spend 4 months of the year looking like a shaggy oaf. I think its worth it.

    London • Since Nov 2006 • 1027 posts Report

  • Cracker: Get it Off,

    I would say it is probably too early to tell - if women and men both continue to participate equally in the workplace, and earn similar sums, have similar aspirations socially/for work, who knows where the sex industry (and comparative demand) will end up in 20-30 years?

    London • Since Nov 2006 • 1027 posts Report

  • Hard News: Nasty,

    I would have thought that the "STFU Its yours to lose" rule still held true for National MPs. Apparently not?

    London • Since Nov 2006 • 1027 posts Report

  • OnPoint: The Road to Slobdition,

    I hope you didn't respond with "lol, lrn2travel"

    London • Since Nov 2006 • 1027 posts Report

  • OnPoint: The Road to Slobdition,

    Ugh, without 3G capability or reasonably good wifi hotspot coverage where you live I'd not touch an iphone. I've found 3G speeds painfully slow*, even on a phone with limited smart capabilities, I'd hate to see what it would be like to use a proper smart phone on something slower than 3G.


    *That being said, I'd not give up my gmail/google maps java apps without a fight!

    London • Since Nov 2006 • 1027 posts Report

  • OnPoint: The Road to Slobdition,

    Saw that phone for 10 pounds the other day, on prepay. Good to see Motorola is hitting Nokia where it hurts.

    London • Since Nov 2006 • 1027 posts Report

  • Hard News: Pills, not so many thrills,

    Apologists always make me a little angry, not just for what they excuse, but also for the ammunition they give the extremists on the other side of the spectrum.

    The far right in the US have been going to town on the leftist support for the Sardinistas for the last 20 years or so, I see no reason why they wouldn't for Chavez apologists.

    London • Since Nov 2006 • 1027 posts Report

  • Island Life: A devious and dangerous…,

    Some extracts:

    The President of the United States possesses
    more individual power in the way of moving armies and declaring war than any other monarch. This has always been the case.

    It was the habit of Americans to declare that they did not believe in standing armies or fleets. If they wanted to fight, they could afford to spend any amount of treasure; and they could do more in the way of organising than any nation in the world. They were not going to spend money on keeping themselves in readiness for what might never happen. But we have not now to consider the aerial ships from their warlike point of view.


    Our scene opens in Melbourne, in the year 2000—a few years prior to the date at which we are writing. The Federal Parliament was sitting there that year. The Emperor occupied his magnificent palace on the banks of the Yarra, above Melbourne, which city and its suburbs possessed a population of nearly two millions.

    In a large and handsome room in the Federal buildings, a young woman of about twenty-three years of age was seated. She was born in New Zealand. She entered the local parliament before she was twenty.* At twenty-two she was elected to the Federal Parliament, and she had now become Under-Secretary of State for Home Affairs. From her earliest youth she had never failed in any intellectual exercise. Her intelligence was considered phenomenal. Her name was Hilda Richmond Fitzherbert

    London • Since Nov 2006 • 1027 posts Report

  • Island Life: A devious and dangerous…,

    Well, while we are plugging histories of NZ, here is my new favourite, and from one of our greatest Prime Ministers no less!

    Introduction

    A free, online copy

    London • Since Nov 2006 • 1027 posts Report

  • Hard News: The meaning of a Banana,

    I've been tramping the streets of London this last couple of weeks and encountered a small taste of racism, not against myself, but against Eastern Europeans. Stuff like flat advertisements (online) that say "No Poles" (happily very rare), or comments along the lines of "at least you are not foreign foreign".

    London • Since Nov 2006 • 1027 posts Report

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