Posts by Gareth Ward
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Hard News: The Waterview Bore, in reply to Matthew Poole,
they then bore themselves a grave once the project is completed
What a sad mental image that is...
And while I agree the issues and upfront costs with ferries are probably substantial, they are such a great way to get work - having just moved into a ferry-served suburb I've been loving the commute. Very appropriate for our city too. The uncommonly long run of dry Auckland weather may be helping that of course; yet to try it in a howling easterly in August...
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Hard News: The mathematics of marriage, in reply to BenWilson,
I'd go so far as to say it's a slippery slope and we're only halfway up, trying to get to the top.
Like trying to walk up a slip'n'slide and then Bob McCoskrie comes hurtling down in his speedos...
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It really doesn't feel slippery slope to me - more "split stair like the ones on my deck but f*&$d if I know how to name them"; like this: Photo
You walk down one step cause it's a good thing to do, and yes the subsequent steps can lead down to other steps, but there's actually a few routes down, and you might choose to stop at that nice middle area for a gin, and sometimes the many little steps stop you having to take one big one.There's a reason I don't write press release soundbites for a living though...
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Hey I'm probably as far from a US Constitutional lawyer as one gets, but perhaps those legislators and jurists who demand the founding laws remain sacrosanct should wander over to the Jefferson memorial (ya know, one of those founders) and consider the inscription on the side:
"I am not an advocate for frequent changes in laws and constitutions, but laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths discovered and manners and opinions change, with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also to keep pace with the times. We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy as civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors." -
Hard News: Cultures and violence, in reply to Lucy Stewart,
What about that assault weapons ban Bush repealed, then?
Democratic Sentator to reintroduce it to both Senate and House on the first day of Congress apparently. Will be intriguing to see how it plays...
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Hard News: Cultures and violence, in reply to Kumara Republic,
Already the usual “none of this would have happened if the victims had guns” arguments have come out
Mindblowing isn't it - when your honest argument is "we should have handguns IN PRIMARY SCHOOLS" you'd expect someone to think they might have something wrong somewhere...
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I think it's also pretty clear that America needs to contemplate not only gun control, but the cultural role that gun violence plays in its society.
Absolutely, to the point that legislative responses are probably a small drop in the ocean compared to the wider cultural change needed (indeed you could argue the state legislative realities are just a reflection of underlying culture). Unfortunately that seems to manifest itself as "too hard so we won't even take the legislative step" thinking.
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To your point re generation-spanning - recently my mother has been intently discussing when my 4 y/o son will watch Star Wars. She showed us the original trilogy growing up, and even came with my brother and I to be horrendously disappointed by Phantom Menace in the cinema. The introduction of her grandson to these films is very important to her :)
Even forgetting the rubbishness of Episode I, I could never get the "why?" - Episode II was much more of a mirror of IV so it really really should have started there. Then II could have been built around the Clone Wars and shown Anakin's development as a Jedi in the way V showed Luke's.
So THANKYOU for Machete Order - that is amazing. I'm not sure a 4 y/o will follow narrative/flashback arcs but this has given me the necessary angle on the prequels...
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Hard News: Fact and fantasy, in reply to Russell Brown,
Which was mangled in the editorial thus:
So he never said to the Times that we were in the "bottom half of countries when it comes to green and clean" but he did say it to the Herald? Because, as you point out, he is a scientist and evidence is required. I haven't seen the evidence that puts us in the bottom half of countries on this stuff?
Note that I fully support his calling out of our deficiencies and think the responses from the Unsworths, Keys, and that editorial are pigheaded and missing the point. But Joy has made a quantitative claim that I can't see being supported?
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Hard News: Calling the race before it's over, in reply to Rich of Observationz,
What, and only get half the salary each? And have to flat with each other in Premier House?
I've often wondered how the Greens intend their structure to work if they actually managed to win leadership of Government... 2.5 days a week each and on-off international junkets?