Posts by Stephen Judd
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DO NOT FEED THE TROLLS. Red herrings, insinuation, wilful misunderstanding - it is the troll MO. Do not reinforce the behaviour, and eventually it will be extinguished.
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Those emails are annoying, but I feel more kindly disposed to well-meaning people who just want to do something, however unproductive, than I do towards the self-promotion artistes who are no doubt waiting for the next outrage to give momentum to another round of press releases.
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So, any noticeable action at 12:12? I was making coffee and missed it (not that I think it would have made a blind bit of difference anyway). No reduction in street noise in this chunk of the Welly CBD, anyway.
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Ben: 60% of Maori men vs 30% of Pakeha.
The (Pakeha) guy who did some of the most recent research was vilified by some in the press as a racist, but he was careful to stress that he was the father of Maori boys, that many Pakeha have it too, and that the critical factor is early childhood environment - in other words, it's nurture, not nature that dictates how that inheritance will manifest.
It's good for society to have plenty of slightly reckless men around if they were brought up well and the risk-taking/aggression channelled into something beneficial like firefighting.
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What about the kids before they go to school? What about the babies?
The research is mounting up that it's precisely those years, the preschool years, where the most damage is done to your sense of empathy and whatever faculties eventually become your conscience. Not sure how the state would get in there though...
too many people already abdicating the responsibility of parenthood by dumping wee babies into daycare that they pay very dearly for.
Dumping? Some people would call that getting precious respite in the adult world before you go insane :)
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(While googling those up, I was surprised to discover that there is an official Work and Income NZ cookbook... )
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Lest I be thought churlish, Daniel, here is some background reading:
The Impact of Changes in Family Assistance on Partnering and Women’s Employment in New Zealand: A Preliminary Look (warning, chunky Word doc)
Evaluating the Feb 1999 Domestic Purposes Benefit & Widows Benefit ReformsNote a consistent theme: going back to work improves outcomes for women and children, and the barrier to going back to work is childcare.
So my thought experiment is to propose an earlier poster's solution: what would happen if there were universal free quality daycare?
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Hold on tight, Craig. That election's still a way out so it's going to get even worse...
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If I remember correctly, and bear in mind I had had a few pints by that point, Billy Glish pointed out that the phenomenon of autism strikes a fatal blow to the middle class fantasy of the perfect life, with a perfect house, a perfect lifestyle, and perfect children. He then outlined the alternative aspiration of a Good Life.
There was more besides, some of which was a bit stretched or blethery for this cynical and perhaps overly-critical member of the audience, but Middle Class Perfection was a insight quoted many times as the evening went on.