Posts by Rich of Observationz
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Polity: Forty, in reply to Amy Gale,
There are two problems:
- learning how to do programming
- convincing potential employers/clients that you can do programmingThe first part is probably the easier one, if you have the aptitude and background.
(Most people don’t. You need numeracy, a pedantic sense of accuracy and the ability to comprehend and memorise a complex system. If you can’t convert a salary figure into weekly wages, can’t use an apostrophe correctly or can’t make your home internet setup work without help, you probably won’t make a good programmer).
If you manage the first part (and I suspect that most people with the aptitude could learn coding at home for negligible outlay), then you’ve got to work out how to convince employers. Some courses may do this (I’ve heard good things about Rails Girls) but others don’t. And there is already an oversupply of airhead business analysts with BComs and the like.
Working on an open source project, making mobile apps, or developing websites for friends, family or community groups are one way to get valid experience.
The trouble is, of course, that this path involves dedicating a lot of time to unpaid work, which only the already semi-affluent have the ability to do.
(It’s much easier to get a semi-fraudulent mortgage on a shack in Avondale, paint the walls and reseed the lawn and sell it for a 20% profit. That’s the hardworking keewee way)
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Death spiral. Reduced viewers => cutbacks => lower quality => reduced viewers.
I suspect we'll have no TV3 in 5 years, probably no conventional broadcast telly in 10 unless the government directly or indirectly props it up (in return for its utility as a propaganda channel).
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I get the feeling that many of the vocal anti-1080 people are pikie/hippy types who like nothing better than scrambling around bush, probably with a gun.
Which has two problems: what about the bush that they can't get to and the possums and rats can (and the damage they do getting to that bush). Not to mention that they don't actually *want* to eradicate mammals, as they'd have nothing left to hunt.
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The accused ... developed an alternative poison to control possum populations
So now everyone involved in that field gets tainted with guilt by association until they finally get round to having a trial and lifting name suppression?
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Hard News: The positive option of Red Peak, in reply to Alfie,
It's taken me an age to get anywhere since they brought in that "red car gives way rule" a couple of years ago.
I'm still saving to buy a green car.
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Hard News: NZME and you, in reply to David Hood,
Cut back HTML and cache stuff to make mobile devices go faster? Deja vu like it’s 1999.
(For added retro-points, they could convert the markup into binary at their servers).
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Hard News: A cog in the Mediaworks machine, in reply to Ian Dalziel,
How to launder your income into capital gains... Nice work if you can get it.
Also, an independent valuation will usually be a lowball amount (I knew one for $320k where the house went a month later for $400k).
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Why can't manuhiri be multicultural? Come to that, why can't tangata whenua be multicultural - because there are many individuals who have heritage other than Maori and British?
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Public Service Broadcasting would be my choice and justify a trip to Auckland (maybe).
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But besides:
optimistic self-images about “hard work” is textbook political strategy, employed by left and right parties alike
See also "hard working keeeewwwees".
It's a political narrative that came from the right and is all about dividing the people you want to vote for you from an Other, who are condemned as lazy, dishonest, violent, abusive, etc. Depending on the precise alignment, the Other might include beneficiaries, drug users, immigrants, indigenous people, Muslims or atheists. The choice of Other doesn't matter, it's about giving people someone to hate, fear and require the government to protect them from.
A radical narrative (such as Corbyn may be moving towards) rejects this in favour of an inclusive approach that recognises that real problems stem from the crisis of capitalism, not from people who dress or behave differently. Articulate strongly enough (see Syriza) and one might just get elected. (The other option is the way UK Labour got elected in 1973, which was to fuck stuff up badly enough for the government that people were forced to vote them in just get the lights back on. Unfortunately, once elected, they fumbled it).
