Posts by Deborah
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Robbie, I think everyone has been doing their best to move the discussion on. We've been over that ground, and repeating it doesn't seem to be worthwhile. Please, could you consider moving on from that particular topic too.
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Moving right along...
In the early nineties, [the marginal rate for some beneficiaries] passed 100%. There was a thresh-hold you hit, and my memory is a bit dodgy on it now but I think it was at around 15 minimum wage hours a week, where the claw-backs were more than you were making per hour.
There's still an income band where that happens, depending on whether or not you are receiving rental assistance. You can get the gory details from Inland Revenue's 2008 Briefing to the Incoming Minister (441 KB pdf). A few weeks back, I poached a copy of the graph and put it on my blog, so you can go take a look at it there if you don't fancy getting the entire IRD briefing (scroll down a bit to get to the second graph on the page).
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No, but I'm not making a claim about the relative merits of the two films, only that I don't think Avatar was up to best picture standards.
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while Avatar is yes, flawed, but you still walk out going "wow!"
"Flawed" is an understatement. It was a visually gorgeous pile of steaming crap that ticked off every trope it could. The 3D was fun, but in order to get a Best Picture award, it might have needed to have three dimensional characters as well. Not to say a plot that amounted to more than, "Clever strong white man saves totes-awesome wise natural native people from evil corporate monster."
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We came home to New Zealand for nearly three weeks, and then spent a week on Kangaroo Island, where we saw lots of wallabies. Also an echidna, sauntering across the road, and disappearing into a ditch on the other side. We came a complete halt to watch it.
Thank goodness, there have been no massive heatwaves this summer; in 2008, we had 15 days in a row with temperatures of 35 or above, and in 2009, we had a 12 day stretch. That was not very nice at all. We've had barely any rain, so my garden is very, very dry, but other than that, the summer has been very pleasant, not to say dull, or maybe even soporific.
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INTJ here. As is my partner. It can be very silent around here at times.
I'm quite fond of the medieval humours. I'm definitely melancholic through to phlegmatic.
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I was thinking about identities, and changing names, in the context of the most recent discussions about it over on this thread, which led me to wonder what happened to Nobody Important (does anyone know?), and then I remembered that it was about this time of the year that our friend Finn Higgins took his own life.
Remembering Finn.
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Regarding "followers", I've just found out that some of my very conservative uncles read my feminist blog, which I think is very mild, but my mother says it can be a bit challenging at times. BTW, I have some uncles who are conservative and some who are not. I've had one too many glasses of wine to try to sort out the proper modifiers to use to indicate clearly exactly which people I mean.
Regarding people being stressful, may I point those of you who find this to be the case to the best article evah on teh intertubes: Caring for your introvert.
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I mean, I'd really like to know the reasoning there?
I wouldn't. Too much like creepy crawly things under rocks.
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My instincts told me to get the hell out of there as soon as we could, but I knew it was crucial to remain calm and collected.
so she overrode her instincts in favour of being fully pro and getting the story. What a trooper...so who do i make the medal out to ?
I read that completely differently. It wasn't about getting the story. It was about staying physically safe in a room with a man who was engaging in erratic behaviour, and who has a known history of violence.