The son makes the point the media should have been making all along with his example about jaywalking. Every day I travel at 60 in a 50 zone because everyone would overtake if I didn't. I am being criminalised by courteous commuting! Should I be worried? On the matter of violence wouldn't the recent school boy rugby punch up be grounds for a criminal conviction? If it is I'm surprised we don't have a faction campaigning for

"a bit of biff on the rugby field should be allowed as part of good rivalry correction"

if we don't attend to this an innocent ruby player dealing to a bit of foul rucking is going to be criminalised!

This issue is not about smacking it's about being told. Just as I would be indigent if I got stopped in the 50 zone. I'm not going to because the cops use their judgement but in other cases I'd get a ticket.

Maybe a raft of campaigns pointing out this stupidity is the answer.

"In the interests not keeping people waiting speeding to overtake the odd moron when I am late for an appointment should be allowed"

etc.

I'm not a lawyer and I'm sure someone will point out the civil and criminal law differences but you get the point...

It is an interesting quirk the govt vs gov and ac vs edu isn't it? If the alternative nomenclature is not being used why for the sake of a moving a few extra 1s and 0s in the background don't both simply work?

I mean the computing power we had today with 3D games crunching in a second more maths than an average human would do in a lifetime yet the simple use of an alias is beyond the set up and use of basic everyday addressing. Why is there still a mindset in the techo world that you should know. "Ah yes you should be using govt not gov..."

The same is true for phone numbers, you call another country using digital technology and YOU have to remember to drop the 0 at the beginning of the local area code. This is obviously beyond the computing power of the telco switches. Why can't they simply see that the person dialled a 0 after the county code so lets ignore that.

Since the beginning of post (now called snail mail) there have been stories of cryptically address letters getting to the right person but not so with modern computing. So for now we have to remember govt, ac, co. Silly isn't it?

I would actually prefer the quick-n-dirty fix for Eden Park than pouring $400m into a dead venue, if that were possible.

I agree with that. Why has no debate and investigation gone into the minimal cost for Eden Park? Over and above that any option with merit should be able to attract investors. If it can't you have to question why.

The accountability of the governments support of the NZRFU application has not been questioned. Helen stood up and did her bit for the final pitch the government were fully involved. Now the cost of 12,000 extra seats is to be $400M - $33k per seat. Clearly the Eden Park Trust are trying to take advantage. How did they get the idea that they could talk the government into putting that much in?

I'm sorry, but have you seen what's there now? It's a carpark for used Japanese vehicles and a mooring for the huge vessels that carry them there. It's behind a 10-foot iron fence, and offers no public view whatsoever of the harbour.

Yesteray I stood at the Britomart bus terminal and looked out across the road and saw North Head and Rangitoto quite clearly and easily. The view is fantastic! To be "in the city" yet feel some connection to the Hauraki Gulf and Rangitoto is very special. The view would be improved by removing the other obstructions but as-it-is-now the view is significant and beautiful IMHO.

I agree with Nic. I do the same I never use my ISP email or web space I use them to connect to the internet an nothing else. I use fastmail.fm and have my domain parked at free parking pointing the MX record for mail to fastmail. The spam filtering is excellent I had no spam at all in my inbox for 2005 and only recently has it started to appear again. This was with filtering on 'moderate'. Fastmail have had their outages but the blog is updated regulary to let you know the status. Always followed up with an apology and explanation and never any loss of email.

My ISP is ihug and I haven't had any mail hassles because I don't use them for mail. However they astounded me with their terrible service when switched to them. If it was not for Russ' intervention I would have been without a connection for a long time. On average I have found it is 40 minutes for the help desk to pick you from the queue.

Talking Heads choice to put the situation into perspective is:

City of Dreams
"Here where you are standing
Dinosaurs did a dance..."

Of course the original BD version of Heaven helps one not slip into getting too spiritual "..it's hard to imagine, that - nothing at all, could be so exciting, could be so much fun.."