Posts by slarty
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The icing on the cake is that one can't just plug in any external hard drive to increase capacity - one will have to buy the Tivo-branded WD model, at some premium
Depends how brave you are :)
I reckon a grand on this (plugged into my Ethernet) will do nicely! But... is that an extra A$200 for software to let them chatter?
All is not lost - Google "Hack Tivo"
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As that pinko leftie newspaper The Economist so neatly summarises
"This week, the European Commission formally adopted new regulations that will phase such bulbs out in Europe by 2012. America will do so by 2014. Some countries, such as Australia, Brazil and Switzerland, have got rid of them already."
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PS. We're a fully CFL house. I just hate giving money to the governments (SOE's) :) I buy about 1 lamp a year.
I was talking to my Dad at the weekend (in the UK).
"That bloody funny light bulb you put in. They're crap - the thing packed in the other day."
"Dad, I bought that when I lived at home after school - that means it was at least 18 years old and you've moved it through 3 houses".
"Yeah, but they cost about fourteen quid don't they? Should last forever"
<sigh>
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Our political environment is so toxic to rational debate that the simplest, cheapest, easiest measures can get defeated by dimmer switches and pseudo-liberalism.
I prostrate myself before your magnificence.
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Maybe government should require reporters to have passed Stats 101 and Public Policy Making 101 (at least) before being accredited to the parliamentary press corp?
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Would there be scope for Stats NZ or other party to issue a Press Council complaint?
The head statistician in the UK complained about how their stats were politically distorted... and not a lot happens... but at least it makes it into the paper!
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why don't agencies get (even) more proactive in responding?
Because...
It sounds like the people who understand the gravity of the mistakes aren't allowed to speak to the media.
And once you've dealt with this:
I think asking of our journalists to have advanced reading skills and the ability to wrap their minds around caveats and definitions is a bit too much. We should make our report something that a six year old can read.
... you might kinda give up on trying to go back again. Because you know it'll get mangled again:
When the police comms person got back to the Herald, he was dealing with senior editorial staff. The more egregious errors were introduced after that.
So, read story, roll eyes then get back to trying to make the world a better place... :)
But I agree with you - I think public servants have become far too gun shy in recent times.
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why not take the matter to the Commerce Commission instead?
Love it.
The New Zealand Herald isn't fit for use?
I guess they could argue that it is primarily sold as lavatory paper.
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Is there any right of recourse when we are mis-quoted?
It's so depressing when public sector releases are:
a) Digested and excreted by a political machine then printed verbatim
b) Requested, explained then converted to the old "issue, hero, villain" model to an extent where the truth is lost
c) Simply made up
As a public servant, if I lie to the public there are various criminal statutes that can be used. Hell, I can go to jail.
Surely it's not too much to expect that when I go to the trouble of carefully understanding the question and producing a reply it should at least be intelligently challenged or compared to opposing sources?
Nice work Keith.
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So I'm quietly mooching around in the garden when this First Jehovah of the Latter Mormon Saints or something wanders up and, with the American twang says "have you found Jesus?"
"Didn't know he was bleeding lost", I reply.
But my curiosity is piqued, because I agree you often see earnest looking white people in suits wandering around NZ trying to tell you about their invisible friend.
It turns out that, according to some survey somewhere NZ has one of the highest ratios of Atheists in the world. I suspect an anally retentive statistician somewhere refused to put Agnostic on the form.
Anyway, they've been coming here for years because of this. He said NZ has a reputation for being one of the toughest places in the world. I suggested that is because religion is a phase a civilisation goes through rather than an end in itself, and as we're fairly mature and laid back, we're sort of over it.
This perplexed him. After much angst (you could see the years of brainwashing in play) he said he could see why Noo Zeeeland was such a tough assignment, and he needed to go back to his church for some "spiritual refreshment".
So I said,"well if you're off for a beer and you're not going to spout any of that god bothery bollocks I'd be happy to join you for a couple of cold ones."
He nearly melted on the spot, politely made his excuses and almost ran down the road.