Posts by Paul Campbell
Last ←Newer Page 1 2 3 4 5 Older→ First
-
yeah I miss Halloween in the US when our kids were little - a real neighbourhood celebration
Today I've carved pumpkins, because kids here have mostly never seen real ones, and I'm going to sit on the front porch and feed the ghouls in half an hour ..... but really we should hold halloween on April 30th, when it's dark and pumpkins are in season - and teach everyone that of you don't have some decorations up don;t knock on people's doors, they're not playing the game
-
Hard News: The Future of Television, in reply to Russell Brown,
Which works well enough in larger markets. And for Sky, which has a hit with high-quality American drama on SOHO. But it's a big ask to expect subscription to fund local production in a market the size of this one.
yes exactly - that's why we need public TV if we want anything more high-brow than Shortland St
-
Fast-forward through that, PVR-owner.
Oh I don't know, I just didn't record it, so I didn't watch it
(by which I mean I seldom watch live TV other than the news any more - if you want to sell me ads you're going to have to make something compelling enough that I actually choose to record it)
-
OMG - think of his descendants surely they should be allowed to continue to make money from his works
oh wait .... after that long that's probably about all of us ....
-
Hard News: Moving right along?, in reply to James Butler,
Slater/palomino makes me think more about some sort of high performance creepy crawly
-
I'm a bit mystified why the death or withdrawal of a Mayoral candidate in an STV election doesn't just continue in the same way that an STV council election does - simply transfer any votes made down the voter's lists.
-
As a follow on .... I was thinking, in a rather tongue in cheek moment, that maybe the sex lives of politicians shouldn't be off the table, first person reports from exs might give voters useful insight into the people we are electing, certainly more than the couple of paragraphs of self serving twaddle we're faced in the voter booklet. The advice of spurned lovers of course should be taken with appropriate grain of salt
For example whether or not a politician puts their pleasure ahead of that of their partner's could be telling when trying to figure out their motives for running public office.
Equally "didn't bring a condom ... trusted in god .... gave me the clap" tells us more about their world view
"My partner and I caught him staring through our window" - this could indicate someone who prefers to engage with the political process from a distance, perhaps a Brethren fellow traveler ....
"Wanted to use a condom twice" might indicate someone who would be frugal with the public purse, to the point of stupidity
"Cried out Milton Friedman's name at orgasm" could have helped us understand where the Lange government ended up ....
While "doesn't always honour safe words" could well indicate someone who is unwilling to live within our normal constitutional boundaries
I'm sure the good people of PA can think of more ....
-
In context being worried about a politician "cleaning the rough edges of your lawn" might, um, well, have a different meaning ....
-
It's on the news but it's sort of mixed in with all those ads for Auckland companies that we ignore too
-
Hard News: The non-binary council, in reply to Steve Todd,
yes I think that's probably the main thing about (NZ style) STV voting that people don't understand - everyone gets just one vote (not 11 if there are 11 candidates) - but that vote doesn't just go to the first person on your list who gets elected - the fraction of your vote required to elect that person goes to them, the rest is passed down your list. This is why you should rank as many people as you can.
Under FPP for your vote to count you have to pick people you think have a good chance of winning, otherwise your vote is wasted and no one represents you, under STV this process is performed for you, your vote moves down your list until bits of it stick with candidates you like - you can vote for the Raving Loony Party (or ACT) as #1, knowing they wont get elected but to make a point and have your vote not be wasted and stick with someone who can be elected