Posts by James Butler
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Hard News: What the kids do, in reply to Russell Brown,
OTOH, ethnic Chinese in New Zealand generally drink far less than European New Zealanders.
In my experience (I work in IT, after all) this is true - but I also often see ethnic Chinese co-workers who do drink, when exposed to the New Zealand work-function-drinking culture, completely fail to keep their shit together. New Zealand certainly has a binge-drinking culture, but (perhaps within some subset of well educated, professionally-inclined adults) we have also developed a lot of behaviours which can mitigate its impact.
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Hard News: A Century Since, in reply to recordari,
OMG, now I'm seeing sofas EVERYWHERE!!!! The red one is nice.
Wondered when you would notice. Thanks. The physical manifestation is in my lounge.
And there I was thinking it was some kind of lightswitch.
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And yes, I know that Destiny has done a great job of helping people get up out of the gutter, making men fathers again.
I know they were a great help to my uncle when his on-again, off-again partner died, and he was left bringing up her kids and their kids while dealing with (very public) accusations that he had been responsible for her death (which he wasn't). Which leaves me to wonder why some more tolerable, mainstream group couldn't give him that support?
My guess is that when you hit rock bottom, and it seems that even the things you had going for you - your family and other support networks - have failed to prevent it from happening, anyone who comes along with the messages:
"What you have has failed you; perhaps you need to try something really different"
and
"It's not your fault - The System Is Rigged Against You"
will seem like a real lifeline. -
Up Front: Respectably-Dressed Sensible…, in reply to 3410,
I was at the other prestigious Auckland boarding school in the late ’80s, and I must say, I was stunned at what a hotbed of psychopathy it was.
My landlord keeps hinting that he has some properties in the Auckland Grammar zone which we could move into for the good of our son's education. I constantly have to suppress my "LIKE FUCK WE ARE" reaction.
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Up Front: Respectably-Dressed Sensible…, in reply to recordari,
Votes. What other reason could there be? Moral turpentine?
Exactly. I think the reasoning goes like this:
1) Even those with reprehensible views deserve representation in Parliament
2) As the <party name> Party, we are the best representation money can buy
3) ???
4) PLEASE VOTE FOR ME PLEASE!!!!!1!!! -
Up Front: Respectably-Dressed Sensible…, in reply to nzlemming,
Not that I wish to give the Bish the lickings of a syphilitic dog, but how is it any different from pollies rolling up to Ratana every year, or any other religious excuse?
"Enough is Enough!"
You're right though, the difference is one of degree, not nature.
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Up Front: Respectably-Dressed Sensible…, in reply to Megan Wegan,
No, no, not at all. I just meant that while everyone has so far been polite, I have little faith it will continue to be so. Certainly given some of the conversations on this topic I’ve seen of late.
Contra that, I wonder if some people are still licking their wounds. I'm not sure if that's a good result or not, but it has resulted in a very uncontentious thread so far.
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Southerly: One Hundred and Thirty-one…, in reply to Lisa Black,
This (from an article linked to by the late Sheldon Brown) isn't exactly what I was thinking of, but it articulates a similar principle:
On a road with two or more narrow lanes in your direction - like many city streets - you should ride in the middle of the right* lane at all times. You need to send the message to drivers to move to the passing lane to pass you. If you ride all the way to the right, two cars may pass you at the same time, side by side, giving you too little clearance for safety.
*Meant left, but he ain't know it.
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Southerly: One Hundred and Thirty-one…, in reply to Lisa Black,
James, that’s really interesting. If you happen across the source for that, please do send it to me.
Source: the Internet, as always.
Umm, I'll get back to you...
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Southerly: One Hundred and Thirty-one…, in reply to Lisa Black,
I don’t know of any research on that angle, but I have seen some* that says drivers think cyclists are less vulnerable when wearing a helmet and so they drive closer than they do for a non-helmeted rider.
Research along similar lines is also the reason behind the "1.5m rule" which was lightly ridiculed upthread - it turns out that the more clearance you give yourself on the left, the more car drivers give you on the right. Hence anyone who thinks they're playing it safe by riding close to the curb to get out of the way of cars isn't doing themselves any favours.