Posts by David Haywood
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I think you're throwing me a red herring on the secret agenda, matey!
My point is this..
It's one thing to be too ignorant and/or stupid to understand human rights -- and to go on record as having voted in accordance with your ignorance and/or stupidity. But it's a whole extra layer of nastiness to understand with full knowledge that you're depriving people of their rights (and quite possibly their liberty) and vote for it anyway.
If anyone standing for public office fell into that category then I think it would be pretty relevant knowledge for voters...
That said, I've obviously never been in such a position myself. Perhaps our hypothetical MP would worry that the bill would fail, and that he'd make a nice high-profile case to show that the police were flexing their muscles. It might be very hard to have the courage of your convictions under such circumstances. I dare say I should be less judgemental about this sort of human failing.
Walking, as I do, twice daily past the memorial to murdered homosexuals in Berlin (which notes that the post-war German government publicly recanted the Nazis beliefs about Jewish people, but they kept on with the declared Nazi attitude to homosexuals until the 1950s) I feel deeply depressed that some NZ MPs were voting with the Nazis -- as it were -- until 1984. And, indeed, are still working as MPs.
And on that happy note, I'm off to bed...
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jon_knox wrote:
I believe Louis considers himself COE, though has a Jewish dad...
At the risk of losing a potential book buyer.... Paul Theroux (Louis's father) is Catholic actually -- and so were both his parents, as I recall. You've confused your religions that secretly conspire to rule the world, Jon!
I don't mean regarding his sexualtiy, which is as relevant as...anything you'd find in the mainstream media today, though it is NOT newsworthy and judging people because of their sexuality/race/... is actually sad for those that do it...smallminded f%&$#$s!
I personally don't believe that Dr Smith is gay (that would be a level of hypocrisy beyond even him). If he was, however, I think it would be definitely relevant is his case. He was one of the loathsome MPs who voted against the Homosexual Law Reform Bill in 1986.
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Mate, Ridgey is a national icon -- like Shrek the Sheep or the New Zealand flatworm (Arthurdendyus triangulatus) -- as well as a personal hero of mine, and the nearest thing our nation has to a homegrown Jesus Christ. So I don't think it would be an exaggeration to describe your dream as an act of treason.
I doubt they'll let you back into the country after word of it gets out.
Hope all otherwise well with you...
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Don Christie wrote:
Are you holding the Alan Bollard posts back for a special edition or am I misreading the TOC?
Moira Goldie wrote:
Hey David - have just received your book... I very much enjoyed it. When are we going to get a book on Mr Bollard?
Moira (your name seems strangely familiar to me): very glad the book has arrived safely...
Don & Moira (and others by email): we made the decision to cut the Alan Bollard stories as they didn't fit in with the rest of the more 'literary' (this may be a slight misuse of the word) pieces in My First Stabbing.
I've actually written a few more of the true-life Bollard stories than have been published on PA -- so, yes, there's a possibility that they'll get their own book.
You can click here for a sneak preview of the cover.
James Green wrote:
All David's base are belong to
\usepackage{PABooks}
\begin{document}
\LateX\
\end{document}Ha! I sense a fellow traveller.
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Many thanks for all the kind words on this thread -- and to all the people who have bought copies!
giovanni tiso wrote:
That said, I demand to know how the first impression got sold out before you even told _us_. Is there another blogging community you see on those mysterious "late nights" at work, David?
The book was released yesterday, but the website's actually been up and running for a week. So some extra-smart people managed to get in before everyone else. Apologies to everyone else for the slight delay in shipping your order.
Russell Brown wrote:
Unless, of course, there is some fatal flaw in his plan that means everything will go horribly wrong. In which case, he's on his own.
That would be the Rupert Murdoch side of your personality showing through...
Idiot Savant wrote:
> the book has been designed with soft puppy-like pages
> -- making it ideal for reading in the lavatory"If we accept that link, wouldn't an actual puppy be better?
I've always wondered that... why do the lavatory-paper people always choose puppies?
Glenn Pearce wrote:
I knew all that time spent on the Commodore 64 on the Jervad Idol would come in useful eventually David.
The packaging on the game said "distibuted [sic] to Australia, Canada, Ireland and the UK". This is where I first met the word 'distibuted'. It means "we're selling it but we don't pay the programmers".
Robyn Gallagher wrote:
By the way, if you want to make Christmas special for Bob, in mid-December just arrange for your "uncle" to make it look like your house was broken into, then tell your local freebie community paper that all your Christmas presents were stolen and your Christmas will be ruined unless local businesses like the Warehouse and the $2 Shop don't give you heaps of replacement tat. Then it will be proper Christmas after all!
You, my friend, are an economic genius. Now if only people of your calibre had been running Wall Street for the last decade or so.
Glenn Pearce wrote:
That'd be the 2 Euro shop and das Lager where David is , please tell me there's no such thing.
Downtown Berlin even features a 1 Euro shop! We bought our umbrella there (product life two weeks and counting).
Leigh Kennaway wrote:
And as for that kid - too damn cute to be true, clearly Photoshopped by some graphic designer getting in practice for election posters.
An attractive 22-year-old lass in New York City was so impressed by Bob's "gorgeousness" that she wanted to write her phone number on his arm so he could call her when he turned 18. Quote from her: "I just know I'm going to be into hot 18-year-olds when I'm forty".
So there. [See also Jolisa's reply].
Still sick, so heading off to bed for another early night. I am now blaming my bug on the germ-warfare division of the former GDR.
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Tom Semmens wrote:
We also wore shorts 365 days a year in the junior school, but we were boys in the bloom of youth and young men at that age are made of stern stuff, I don't remember the cold being anything other than just part of life.
I just accepted the cold as part of life then, too. It certainly didn't occur to me to complain about it or anything. But I sure as hell remember being very cold. University was a revelation to me: you didn't have to freeze; they let you wear as many clothes as you liked. Maybe that's why I ended up specializing in thermodynamics/energy.
Glenn Pearce wrote:
I got the same exit interview as you at the end of the sixth form and was also told what an abject failure I was going to become courtesy of a certain All Black Coach.
The other disturbing aspect of Paremoremo Boy's High that you've failed to touch on is the number of teachers who were previous inmates...
BTW, are you still on the East Coast ? We have a classmate in Boston who I'm sure would like to catch up.
I didn't realize you had the headmaster predict your future life of failure -- I think that gives you bonus points! Mind you, I should have realized when you nearly amputated your own leg with a circular saw. I suppose suicide felt like the only remaining option.
No longer on the East Coast, alas. But I spent a summer in Boston a couple of years ago, and caught up with our classmate then.
On the subject of inmates: at least one of our former teachers has subsequently become a guest of Her Majesty for, er, inappropriate behaviour. Funnily enough, the First XV guy who claimed that he'd been "looked after" with respect to UE, also told me that said teacher used to invited him home for drugs. I simply didn't believe it at the time -- but blow me down that was what he was convicted for (amongst other things).
dc_red wrote:
I must say, though, I am surprised to see you put much of your misfortune down to being streamed in 3A. Try being unstreamed in west Auckland. The only consolation was that most of your illiterate and overtly violent 'classmates' dropped out when they were 15.
You may be right. I guess my theory on this came from the incidents where it was clear that the streaming thing had labelled me as a potential victim (and I know that my wife managed to disguise her braininess in an unstreamed class at Upper Hutt College). But maybe it would have happened to me anyway -- and, as you point out, at least I could escape most of it when I was in class.
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Some fascinating comments on this thread. To respond to just a couple:
3410 wrote:
Luxury! At [redacted] boarding school we had death squads of seniors armed with cricket-balls-in-pillow-cases. Properly inflicted canings and strappings were a walk in the park, by comparison.
Jesus wept, cricket balls in pillow cases is almost beyond brutality. You have my sympathy.
Emma Hart wrote:
I myself went to a namby-pamby liberal high school with vertical forms and peer support and no streaming or corporal punishment. I was going to be a pregnant failure.
Interestingly, this was the accusation levelled against pupils of Paremoremo Girls' High School. It was once suggested by parents that the two schools should be combined into a co-educational establishment. I recall a senior teacher stating that he'd leave if that ever happened. "I don't want to be teaching a bunch of pregnant 14-year-olds," he said.
Ian MacKay wrote:
A friend sent her son to a school in Christchurch as a boarder about 4 years ago. On her visit to him he said" Can't wait to next year!"
"Why?"
"Cos next year it will be my turn to beat up the young ones."That is just so depressing...
Stephen Judd wrote:
I would just like to take this opportunity to apologise to any staff members of Fairfield College, Hamilton, between 1982 and 1986.
I believe this makes you the same age as me, Stephen (poor you!). It really puts West Auckland into perspective to realize that even Hamilton was more civilized.
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Tristan wrote:
hmmm Can't think of any rugby obsessed schools there...oh wait... its !
Buggery -- posted the wrong version of the article! Thanks for pointing that out, matey. Those names have now been er... corrected.
Ian MacKay wrote:
Hey Haywwood! We want to go back to the good old days! Bring back corporal punishment...
Yes, didn't we have a wonderful educational system before political correctness and lesbianism ruined everything. As one of my teachers once (inadvertently) put it: "You've got to be cruel to be cruel". I think that's a wonderful sentiment, and it should be the basis of any sensible system for educating children.
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A Brief Addendum:
Apart from altering certain details so as to obscure the identity of the school (and various people), I have striven to be accurate in this recollection. Any mistakes are the result of my increasingly aged memory. I know that a number of my former classmates are Public Address readers -- please feel free to correct any errors on my part, and to put forward your own viewpoints in the discussion thread (if you feel that my views are inaccurate).
I'm travelling at the moment (more on that in the next week or so), and only have limited connection to the internets, but will attempt to respond to any comments ASAP.
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Deborah wrote:
What beautiful children.
I must say that you're certainly an excellent judge of beauty, Deborah. Yes, the lads have boldly seized the torch of NZ's international reputation for beautiful people (as previously carried by Lorraine, Rachel (patron of the Rachel Hunter Lowland Gorilla Fund), Jemaine, and Bret).
There will be a trans-Tasman release of that book, won't there, Dr Haywood?
Oh yes, it will be available internationally on Amazon and via the Public Address Books website (probably the best option for you as postage will be cheaper to Australia).
Kerry Weston wrote:
It shall be requested for my xmas stocking.
Ha! Our sales-thugs will be paying your nearest and dearest a visit at dawn on the day the book goes on sale. I shall instruct them to be as persuasive as possible (within the limitations of the UN convention on human rights, of course).