Posts by Stephen Judd

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  • Hard News: Experiment have seen collisions!!!!!!!!!!!,

    Paul, I have just the recipe for you: Easter Quark Cake.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 3122 posts Report

  • Hard News: A revolting piece of shit,

    I thought the premise of Dexter was "how can we subtly propagandise the notion that torture is a justifiable practise for the enforcement of justice and the discovery of truth to hipsters who are too smart to identify with Jack Bauer."

    /runs away.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 3122 posts Report

  • Up Front: Who's Dreaming Now?,

    Here's how testing for fitness to work has turned out in the UK:

    (1, 2)

    "People with advanced Parkinson's Disease or Multiple Sclerosis, with severe mental illness, or awaiting open heart surgery have been registered as fit to work, according to the report by the Citizens Advice Bureau."

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 3122 posts Report

  • Hard News: The back of a bloody envelope,

    There was a good turn out all right. Not bad considering -- I only heard about it within the last day. Seems like a really grass-roots success to me.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 3122 posts Report

  • Up Front: Who's Dreaming Now?,

    New Zillunders

    Some of us, in our more unguarded moments, actually talk like that, thank you very much.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 3122 posts Report

  • Up Front: Who's Dreaming Now?,

    I think Sam's link should read "The Dream Is Over". But I agree with the label "superb."

    As far as Emma's post goes, marvellous as it is, I think I'm too angry to laugh.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 3122 posts Report

  • Hard News: Sweet Rocksteady,

    That is some top-notch high-grade 24-carat invective there. And righteous too.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 3122 posts Report

  • Hard News: The back of a bloody envelope,

    Glenn: that's almost 100% reversed from the truth. In fact the NHS in Britain was inspired by such societies, eg the Tredegar Medical Aid Society.

    I know that Southern Cross in NZ was not such a lovely worker-led thing, but the 1930s are recent history as far as mutual aid groups go.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 3122 posts Report

  • Hard News: The back of a bloody envelope,

    Whenever the concept of Insurance originated, it is fairly clear to me that probably on the first day, if not the first few minutes, someone thought; 'Shit, we're gonna get filthy rich out of scaring people half to death. Where's that surgeon friend of mine. He'll want to invest.'

    Actually co-operative insurance and mutual aid societies go back at least to the middle ages where medieval guilds organised them. So I think your instincts are quite wrong there. For-profit insurance is a fairly recent invention and even now, some co-operatives are still going strong.

    Co-operative self-help organisations are one of the classic examples socialists and anarchists use to illustrate how voluntary organisations of workers can create powerful, useful systems without the need for capitalist institutions.

    (Why yes, I was reading Colin Ward in bed last night.)

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 3122 posts Report

  • Cracker: Air New Zealand: Flash as a…,

    Poppa used to work at the University, and as an alcoholic, spent a bit of time hanging out in pubs with Colin McCahon, apparently often causing McCahon to miss his lectures. I wonder if McCahon ever uttered that phrase...

    That would be the (now long gone) Kiwi. Dad too was one of the regulars there -- the Chemistry department graduate students used to drink with Fine Arts bods at the Kiwi owing to geographical coincidence, as I am reminded every time McCahon comes up in conversation with Dad. The reminiscences are not favourable with respect to the art or the artist, I'm afraid. But anyway, next time I talk to Dad I'll ask whether this unpleasant phrase was ever used.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 3122 posts Report

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