Posts by Ross Mason
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For all its multiculturalism, French language still seems to be a bone of contention in Canada, apparently more so than Maori language in NZ.
Yes, two imported languages fighting for the right to impose themselves on a nation.
Methinks te reo Maori may be a little different.
Sorry Andre, A quote is a quote and one can't decide that 100 years later parts of it should be censored. But my point was we should care about te reo. It is ours. Noone else in the world has it. And all I suggest is that one may lose that perspective if one does not / has not checked out the sginificance of that in relation to how the rest of the world lives.
If MTV do not get the rights, having part (10% was mentioned) of the commentary in te reo should not be a valid reason to deny MTV getting them.
Coconut tackle anyone? Things can get lost in translation even from an english speaking South Africa to an english speaking pacific country. At least te reo is pretty homegrown so maybe less will be lost.
Squirrel grip. SPCA? Where are you?
18,000/4,000,000=0.45%. An order of maginitude missing somewhere? (0.56% for the Bill and Ben Party at the last election. Now THATS worth a TV show!!)
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Ouch...
We all use a lot of Maori in our everyday language but the fact that only 18,000 people speak Maori after decades of spending billions on special schools etc really does make it look like a language that is never going to be used much outside the select clique who curently use it.
I am reminded of this wonderful quote that there is nothing like a bit of OE (usually further than Oz) being good for the soul:
"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime."
Mark Twain. Innocents Abroad.
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Russell - You called someone a Quack!! :-)
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Are we a little precious over this? Hasn't the government underwriten the RWC, bought acres in Auckland for a big party? Punted millions into a yacht race or two? What IS it all about when our enthic brothers decide to negotiate a bit of cash to run with the ball?
Sir Howard brought out the memories which included twice (!!) playing "My old man's an all black" on National Radio IN ONE DAY . Jeez worse than the bad old days of HaurakI!
Speaking of cultural and Human Rights. I wonder why they really wrote that song. It was a few decades before NZ took up the cudgels to demand Maori players get to SA. But Howie and the boys knew they were taking a risk even then to comment on such trifles.
Let them take a risk. We might even learn some te reo.
BUT. I missed the film/documentary last night. Oh dear.....I do hope it was someone else (not the rugby negotiator) who inserted that piece of tripe onto the airwaves.
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Hmmm....The Science Mantra: Must get data... Must get data.
Wow - You felt it too!!! Who published first???
BTW. Did anyone hear the Civil Defence guy on Checkpoint last night in response to the Tutukaka harbour eye witness of a few minutes earlier?
"We expect their local CD to modify that information and publish it based on their local knowledge how the local topography behaves."
and
"The responsibility for understanding how water behaves in Tutukaka harbour or in the Marlborough Sounds rests largely with the local regional council people."
Eh?
Ummm....last data point? 1960......I think was the last time an event might have been useful for anywhere in NZ.
Put a dollar on it that GNS will be given funding to investigate "The local phenomena".
And the lesson may be that it might be useful to at least wait until the wave has departed ALL of NZ shores before dropping the warning.
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I'm put off "Idyllic Beach Front Retreat" for some reason......
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Quoting Ben Wilson
Predictions like that are made to be broken. First report I heard was of 14 dead. A lot of the lag is around 'confirmed dead', rather than just 'missing'
Does anyone remember the first news bulletin of the Boxing Day Tsunami said that there was "1 dead"? Then 9 then...300....
The odd order of magnitude later.......
Searched high and low for "1 dead" but these are just as "good".
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2004/12/26/1272422.htm
This one is interesting because 3 hours earlier they said:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2004/12/26/1272406.htm
http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-103741073.html
Final count??? 280k 290k??? Dunedin + Wellington. Gorn.
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Interesting. Tauranga is not mentioned and it is a big low lying city........Could really be a Bay of Plenty
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Gareth: Could it be one of these?
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/627004
An important point with trusts and when there might be 'stripback' is timing. I suspect that if you legitimately shifted funds to a trust while the business was all above board then it may not occur????
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As alluded to in other posts it seems to me that the perks that MPs get are in lieu of the under the table payments they may be tempted to take if they thought their pay + perks was insufficient. I have no problem with that, if that is the price of democracy then so be it. The accommodation perks were established when trains ruled and planes didn't. It took a week to get home therefore some extra to accommodate MPs in Wgtn was found useful to attract "people of good standing" to Parliament. However, it does appear suspicious that English seems to have changed his circumstances that appeared to put him into a different clause of the perk payment rules.
The other "Get Out of Jail Card" that has reared it's head are these F*&king Trusts. I am momentously impressed how these "instruments" can be used to keep bankrupts and other swindlers living in "manner they have become accustomed" for ever and ever. I'll plonk a dollar down that the Blue Chip brigade will live comfortably even after the almost certain jail time.
In my opinion they are a curse on society. They are the GOOJ card that is used to usurp responsibility. "An intelligent businessman" will make sure that some income from their business is diverted into a trust so that f it ever crashes it can't be got at by creditors.
For some reason I feel a moral obligation to accept the mistakes I make rather than be able to hide the unholy benefits inside a trust.
Am I nuts?