Posts by Matthew Poole
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I found it interesting that the virologist on Morning Report the other day said that catching the virus from eating pork was unlikely. He didn't say it was impossible, or that it's not the way it works.
Doctors are like that. There's always room for error, or for unexpected consequences. It's like the whole "getting HIV from kissing an infected person" issue. Yes it's theoretically possible, but the odds are so remote that you'd be wanting to hide in a cave to avoid being struck by lightning, eaten by carnivorous animals, or hit by errant forms of public transport, if you did manage to get infected in that manner. But the medical profession still won't say "You don't get HIV from kissing an infected person".
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It's used as a negative by default, and I suspect if it hadn't been tossed out like that in this case I'd have agreed with your privatisation take on it.
Of course it's used as a negative by default. NZ's illustrious history of getting thoroughly shafted by right-leaning governments flogging off various Crown assets (and let's not even go near the CHE nonsense!) ensures that "privatisation" will remain a pejorative term long into the future, too. We have far too many negative examples of ideologically-driven privatisations to easily view the concept as anything other than an exercise in "Fuck the electorate, here's a gift to our BRT mates".
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Jolisa, that computer bit could be something of a problem. I have a feeling that the Classic, being a live comedy venue, isn't really equipped for such things.
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John, these days an apostrophe is frequently utilised as a warning that an 's' is about to appear. Inconsistently, of course, even in the same sentence by the same author, but used in that manner all the same.
Sacha, maybe not the its/it's distinction, but I really did have to giggle at an Orcon ad I saw once that proudly proclaimed "Were providing faster internet."
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Mark, look at it this way: while we have such crap connectivity, the next YouTube or other bandwidth-hungry application ain't going to be invented here. If we're meant to be trying to be innovative, internet-delivered services are an easy way to get there. They're not, however, encouraged by low-cap, high-cost connections.
Of course, given National's demonstrated (as opposed to stated) attitude to advanced research and general technological innovation I can't see anything really changing.
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OK, Stephen, fair enough. I don't make a habit of tracking the make-up of Israel's Parliament, I just assume that someone with "Minister" in their title has some clout to speak for the government. And since the government speaks for the country...
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And Israel is demanding that the name be changed to "Mexican Influenza" because "Swine flu" is offensive to Jews and Muslims.
The article makes the point that it was first diagnosed in the US, but I can't see Israel being so keen on "Yankee flu", somehow. -
I imagine that Nightline graphic will go down in history with the Chicago Tribune's infamous faux pas declaration of Truman's election defeat.
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To all those who're yawning and saying "Here's another SARS", I'd like to point to this article. It took H5N1 a couple of years to break three-figure mortality numbers in any country. Mexico's Minister of Health is now stating 103 deaths, and that's in a matter of weeks. This is not another SARS, though whether it achieves global pandemic status is a different matter.
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Lucy, that would speak to one hell of a breakdown of the Mexican press. The first wave shouldn't have passed without notice in the space of a month, which is the kind of time period being suggested.