Posts by Stephen Judd

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  • Hard News: The Soap Opera,

    when you have been away from NZ TV for a while (and TV in general for that matter) you find other ways to amuse yourself and you don't want to go back to being spoonfed.

    Hell yes. I think I posted a while back on my mate JFB's PhD thesis, which concluded that tv news is essentially a soap opera, which explains how once you've missed a chunk, you need to work on getting back into it, otherwise it loses its appeal.

    What killed my TV habit stone dead was a 6 month stint in the UK several years ago, working hard, with crummy reception. Never got into UK TV as a result, and when I got back to NZ, I had lost the taste.

    I would say I'm down to a couple of hours a week now, and most of that's because I'm in the same room while my partner's watching. A lot of it is so actively irritating that I leave the room to go do something else. The only things I've made an effort to watch this year are Extras, Ugly Betty, and Phoenix Nights. I couldn't give a toss for allegedly informational programming - I'm just so much better served, and my sanity is a lot safer, with other media.

    And yes: 6 - 7:30 is peak kitchen time for me too.

    Charles: look to the left of the posting box. There are instructions there. What you want to do is "quote".

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 3122 posts Report

  • Speaker: It's On,

    is anyone else disturbed by the Heineken Ein Volk, Ein Reich, Ein Bier slogan at the end of the TV ad

    Yeah, I was, and I sent them a nastygram.

    But we have to face it. The Nazis did pioneering work in mass communication and propaganda. Any big campaign runs the risk of evoking Nazi tropes, because they got there first. Six or seven decades later, there are plenty of pimply faced youths who won't know any better.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 3122 posts Report

  • Hard News: Friday funnies, mostly,

    The chair of the NZ Electricity Commission on nuclear power in NZ

    Precis: NZ is too small. One nuclear plant with current technology would be such a big chunk of total generation capacity that it could never be taken offline. And because they product constant output, which has to be used (you can't save electricity off the grid for later) it would force the other plants to scale up or down instead. Nowt to do with earthquake risk, or safety - just plain economics and the day to day issues in running the grid.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 3122 posts Report

  • Hard News: Done and Blended,

    And why is someone betting billions of dollars on world stock markets tanking just before September 21?

    Quite probably this is a hedge covering positions going the other way. That's what hedge funds do.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 3122 posts Report

  • Hard News: Done and Blended,

    That song has been there for some time.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 3122 posts Report

  • Hard News: The Near Future,

    elections could do with more beer

    They've always had enough for me.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 3122 posts Report

  • Hard News: KGB yeah!,

    I had to miss this one. *sigh*.

    So how long until the next one, eh?

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 3122 posts Report

  • Hard News: The Near Future,

    Craig, I'm sure one of us has got the wrong end of the stick, and that we actually agree. MOORE is the one making insinuations -- he's the guy who says Peters is talking in code -- and I think Moore is wrong, just like you.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 3122 posts Report

  • Hard News: The Near Future,

    Ben, I should stress that was a LONG time ago - Major Douglas days, long before the heyday of Beetham and Knapp. And it wasn't an explicit position of the movement, it just provided a home for some bad people. I shouldn't have glossed over those details. In NZ the diehard international Jewish Conspiracy nuts ended up in the League of Rights and other such outfits.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 3122 posts Report

  • Hard News: The Near Future,

    Craig, what else could Moore have meant by "promoting speculation and money-lenders (__code word__)" (my italics, his words)? I honestly don't see what else that's supposed to mean.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 3122 posts Report

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