Posts by Andre Alessi

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  • Island Life: Anyone can do design.,

    I spent a couple of hours attempting to draw penises in MS Paint. Harder than it looks!

    But then I do have a qualification in design, so I'm probably hampered by my artistic pretentions.

    Edit: To clarify, the penises were going to be my entry into the competition for Auckland's logo. I wasn't drawing them for fun.

    Devonport, New Zealand • Since Nov 2006 • 864 posts Report

  • Hard News: Research Fail,

    I could do with a whole lot less Sue Kedgely in my life, but if that's a sin of omission, I'm going to have to start appending "before you die" to every request I make of anyone ever.

    Devonport, New Zealand • Since Nov 2006 • 864 posts Report

  • Hard News: Research Fail,

    I suspect that tying the quality of university research output to primary and secondary education in the same country is a bit of a non sequiteur anyway. Most Ivy League colleges have about one quarter to one fifth of their student populations made up of international students, none of which would have directly benefitted from the US' approach to primary/secondary education.

    Although I can't find more fine-grained stats online, I don't think it's unreasonable to suspect that international student numbers are even higher in postgraduate research programmes and in the hard sciences. Happy to be proved wrong on that one, though.

    Devonport, New Zealand • Since Nov 2006 • 864 posts Report

  • Hard News: Research Fail,

    Interesting post, Gordon. However, I think your exhortation to 'consider "the concept" rather than the particular label' oversimplifies the reason people did object and are continuing to object to many of the concepts you discuss.

    Simply because a policy decision was later shown to have some good effects, that does not mean that said policy decision was the best one to make in the given context, only that the people most affected by these decisions managed to (in the words of Tim Gunn) "make it work."

    Moreover, it's generally entirely appropriate to discuss broad categories of policy decision that are similar enough for the same counterarguments to always apply. Certainly, you can tweak strategies to increase efficiencies and improve outcomes, but if the fundamental principles driving the strategy are the same, and if it's those fundamental principles that are being objected to, then nothing has really changed at all.

    "A chicken with its neck wrung is different from a chicken with its head cut off, but does that really matter to the chicken?"

    Devonport, New Zealand • Since Nov 2006 • 864 posts Report

  • Hard News: Research Fail,

    Nah. The weirdest explanation evar was John Key this week explaining Whanau Ora as being "a bit like a waterbed".

    Then again, it makes a kind of sense if you assume he was talking about "things on which most people are able to have sex".

    Edit:Er, that should read unable but I'll let it stand.

    Devonport, New Zealand • Since Nov 2006 • 864 posts Report

  • Hard News: Research Fail,

    Cue ethnic stereotype... It'll never last...

    >:(

    I for one welcome our well-meaning ethnic stereotype overlords.

    Devonport, New Zealand • Since Nov 2006 • 864 posts Report

  • Hard News: A solution in search of…,

    The idea that Auckland ratepayers shouldn't contribute any money to Eden Park just because they don't own it seems a bit bizarre.

    Not that I completely disagree (I don't) but you have to remember that up until the whole supercity thing goes live, a lot of "Aucklanders" don't live in Auckland City at all. I live and work on the North Shore, which is its own city, and don't go to Eden Park, so I have no more direct relationship with Eden Park than someone living in Dunedin. And yet it's looking pretty likely that the local government organisation that supposedly represents me and my interests is going to be expected to front up money for work on a stadium in another city.

    Devonport, New Zealand • Since Nov 2006 • 864 posts Report

  • Hard News: Auckland: where only one man votes,

    Wasn't Datamail also responsible for a horrible screwup on behalf of Studylink a few years ago, too?

    Devonport, New Zealand • Since Nov 2006 • 864 posts Report

  • Hard News: Research Fail,

    It's still there, just listed under "Politics", not "Education".

    Fitting, really.

    Devonport, New Zealand • Since Nov 2006 • 864 posts Report

  • Hard News: Research Fail,

    How does that work? Will they be putting on a mini van to transport the kids to the other school? Or will the kids have to coordinate public transport (if, indeed, their school is serviced by public transport).

    I wonder if they'll include art and PE in with the other subjects kids are assessed for. I can just see hordes of skinny geeks being bussed to South Auckland for their daily dose of "real rugby training". It'll be like the end of that sex education skit in Monty Python's The Meaning of Life.

    Devonport, New Zealand • Since Nov 2006 • 864 posts Report

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