Posts by Stephen Judd
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what is a 'public beta' and does it need to be treated with caution?
It's all care but no responsibility taken. I would not entrust anything important to something that was labelled "in beta".
It means, theoretically, we're still in test mode. We may shut down, we may screw up, we may take all your data with us, and we definitely have more bugs than we should.
Back in the old days, things were in alpha test when they could run at all, and beta testing was when a hand-picked group of users were asked to test and report bugs. "Public beta" is an oxymoron by the old standard. It's really a way of getting you to test for us and feel privileged for doing so. On-line apps are a continual work in progress these days and this is another manifestation of that.
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Daddy should have run the boy through the coals and got the content removed.
Getting the content removed could be pretty hard. If a recalcitrant teenager won't cough up a password, how would you prove to Bebo that you're his Dad and that he's underage?
I'm also not sure how you know Daddy hasn't run the boy through the coals. Since a big part of this "story" is that Daddy doesn't want to talk about it at all, it's a bit hard to tell, I'd say.
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That article mentions the search for status.
Just thinking that when I was an obnoxious 14 year old boy, that very obnoxiousness was in part an effort to accrue status. Rudeness and grossness and hatefulness are amusing and impressive when you're 14. All the more so when your mates are online and competitive.
these sites promote gatherings of what psychiatrist Robert Jay Lifton has called “protean selves.” Named after Proteus, the Greek sea god of many forms, the protean self evinces “mockery and self-mockery, irony, absurdity, and humor.” (Indeed, the University of Dayton survey found that “23 percent [of students] said they intentionally misrepresented themselves [on Facebook] to be funny or as a joke.”)
Maybe he's actually a nice young man in person who would have trouble articulating how he reconciles his bebo personality with the meatspace one. Or maybe he really is a horrible little gobshite.
I imagine that if you're 14 and really determined to embarrass your family it's pretty easy...
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From the GayNZ story: " and continues to do so with his father's knowledge"
Is that the same as "permission" or "encouragement?"
Emma, I see where you're coming from. I expect English is trying to hold the line that politician's families are exempt from the scrutiny that politicians get. I have a hard time blaming him for that.
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I thought this was pretty low.
I know I thought and said things at 14 that my parents would have strongly disapproved of, but even if they had known, how would they have stopped me?
Like Tom, I expect that English Jr should be getting a drastic and rapid parental response - in private.
Bill English declared himself entirely responsible for his children's moral education. Some inspection of that moral education does therefore seem appropriate.
Doesn't wash with me. I don't think a 14 year old's ravings give much insight into the parent's moral education.
Also, I'm not sure that "I'm responsible for X" is the same thing as "I claim to be good at X."
This is yet another case where "the public interest" and "what the public is interested in" are badly confused.
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You know, I often think that London and New York and other great metropolises were starting to build their undergrounds when they were about the size Auckland is now.
But that 90 minute figure is really interesting, because before cars, crossing London by horse would have been at least 90 minutes... I'm going to have to think about this.
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81st column, i mixed you up with merc, sorry.
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merc, I think you've misread some of us - those bus tales are (at least in my case) from regular bus commuters, and should be read as rueful observations from people who are already bus users, not as disparaging reasons to stay in your car from drivers.
I must admit that I was taken aback by Russell's claim that you can breath by the LA freeway. The first thing I noticed in LA was the oddly dull light on a sunny day and the orange haze on the horizon everywhere. The air there may be better than it was but it's still horrible.
Re Auckland: for the last three years while I lived there, people would look at me as though I were crazy when I told them I biked or bussed to work (from Greenlane). It is a very car-orientated culture, and that feeds on itself.
The success of the North Shore park and ride service shows that there are good things that can be done though.
I'd like to see a community strategy to get kids walking and biking to school. We all know that morning traffic is largely parents doing to school run, dropping their darlings off because the traffic's too dangerous!
And I have to admit that it was easy for me to bus because I lived within a couple of blocks of Great South Road, where the buses are frequent at times. Outside a few arterial routes Auckland is a complete pain by bus. The best bus transport is in the suburbs where the rich people live and walking is possible - it's no wonder usage isn't going up. A Perth style North-South rail line, maybe with one E-W branch, and with bus feeders would totally change the proposition.
MF: that guy I wrote about wasn't really on his way to the doctor, believe me.
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One time four years or so ago I got on the bus at Mt Cook. I was late for work, as usual, so the bus wasn't completely full.
There was some bastard stinking of meths haranguing anyone who made eye contact. He had that creamy yellow spittle that you only get on the serious madman. I started to talk to him, because I'm like that. He didn't make much sense, but what does it hurt to give a loon a little attention?
As we got into town a young guy next to his wife and child told Mr Meths to back off, with fists. Mr Meths was all "I'm gonna kill im. I'm gonna kill you". He didn't look like he could do much beyond staying upright, but he was lurching and gesturing and who knew what he might do?
A stop or two later, somewhere just before Dixon St, young guy got off. And he turned to me and said: "I have to got to work. Take care of my missus, will you?"
So I did. I talked to Mr Meths. He said he was going to see his doctor. He said They killed his son. I asked where his doctor was. I asked after his boy. And so on, all the way to the end of Lambton Quay. Then Mr Meths and I got off together, and bubs and the missus went wherever safely. The driver, who I could see was watching in his mirror the whole time, never did a damned thing.
Meths guy wandered off somewhere, and I got to work. I realised I was soaking sweaty.
And that's what we call Care In The Community.
Oh yeah.
Whisky. Active ingredient: ethanol 45%. Interesting ingredients: insufficient space.
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Depends on the kind of bush, mate.