Posts by Stephen Judd
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Is it possible that formerly the criteria for sickness and invalid benefits were too stringent, and that we have finally arrived at a more humane level? I mean, feeling that rising numbers are a bad thing rests on the assumption that the previous level was the correct one. Perhaps we ought to be celebrating our success in looking after people properly.
I agree there's a story here, but we need to step back and look around before it gets told.
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Perhaps the lack of range in Whitcoulls and Borders is because of things like this.
Or perhaps Angus and Robertson are accountants who have grasped that 80% of the profit comes from 20% of the books, but who have drawn the incorrect conclusion that you can maximise profitability by only stocking that 20%, not realising that it is the range and the possibility of serendipity and the pleasure of inhaling book-smell that draws punters in to a real bookshop.
My normal book buying policy now is recherché books online (excellent exchange rate at the Book Depository these days), bestsellers at Borders, and browsing for impulse buys at Unity or Parsons, depending on which end of town I'm at.
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Scott: assuming the leaked text is accurate, patent infringement is mentioned, although software patents specifically are not mentioned.
I'm going to assume that you are in fact familiar with the case against software patents -- it's not exactly a new argument for those of us who care about such things :D
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I made a foray into Rotorua on Saturday afternoon to get supplies. Blimey, it was hell, major traffic and grumpy people all over. I think there were plenty of people in the Pak'n'Save carpark who would have happily crucified Jesus all over again.
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fewer than a hundred
Where does that number come from? This weekend I caught up with a mate of mine who's a corrections officer, and while I suppose he has professional reasons to emphasise the need for his services, I'm pretty sure that there are more than 100 people in New Zealand prisons who will deal random and serious violence, because he sees this all the time. No doubt the prison environment causes a lot of this, but I don't know how much.
I share the view that long sentences are a poor way to deal with crime, and I think think we should seeking alternatives to imprisonment wherever we can, and trying to rehabilitate those who can be. But, claims that "fewer than a hundred" are really dangerous need some serious justification before I believe them.
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Ben: Google tells me it is a Geneva Convention protocol.
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I have a sneaking suspicion that crime reporting might decrease slightly in the next 5 years. Media organisations rely on listening to police communications to hear new crime. Some freelance TV camerapeople have made a very comfortable living from listening to scanners and being the first media at a scene. For TV, pictures are king, and without those pictures, a crime will often pass by with little or no acknowledgement. With the police slowly but steadily rolling out encrypted digital communications that the media cannot listen to, I suspect that crime reporting on TV might start to fall away.
Wearing my "I work with technology" hat, I'm ashamed that I never ever thought about that.
Got any other thoughts on TV crime reporting?
And Russell, can you get johnno on Media 7? You could pixelate his face so he can still work afterwards ...
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3410: that would be the same New Zealand Herald that actually has a special tag for "Assault and Homicide" on its website, presumably for people who are especially keen on violence porn.
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3410: I'm sure they do realise. That doesn't matter. He is a reliable source of a well-worded emotionally appealing quote, any time, day or night. Why would you talk to some pointy-headed academic who doesn't rouse the passions when you could talk to Garth?
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G*rth McV*c*r infuriates me as much as anyone. But, I think this is great and I look forward to it. I want to see effective counters to the man and his ideas in the media, and engaging with him in a way that draws him out about his thinking and methods is going to help thoughtful people figure out how to do that. I don't really see the talkback demographic tuning in to Media 7 for moral support, do you?
Since in a way the McVicar phenomen is the product of editorial decisions, it would be nice if consciences were pricked by having those editorial choices brought into the foreground too.