Posts by BenWilson
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I've never seen that, but it makes sense.
Mostly, it's there because I often work with someone at my side. But since it's there, I have got into the habit of using it. It does give your dominant hand a rest, particularly if all you're doing is scrolling through something you're reading. Useful if I'm eating with a fork or a spoon too.
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Footrot Flats: The Movie was a comedy? I found it mostly melancholy. The comic strip was certainly funny at times, but I don't think it translated to film so well. I enjoyed it, but it wasn't really that funny.
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Jesus that's a depressing story, Ben.
It's kind of got a happy ending, though? It's amazing what people can rise above. I think her family saw some of the error of their ways too, in the end.
Now she provides blissful relief to thousands of people in pain - she became an anesthetist. Ironic, given the JW horror of needles.
As often as religious belief causes people to act selflessly and for the good of others, it seems to provide an excuse for other people to indulge their nastiest impulses.
Hard to be sure if its "as often". But it seems all the more hypocritical when it's done by people who exalt their morality.
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Sorry, I thought knew most geeky stuff, but what's a double mouse?
It's having two mice. So I don't have to keep swapping them round when I want to use my right hand for, say, writing or drawing on paper, or operating the numeric keypad, or holding the phone. It's especially handy when I'm working with someone else, I don't have to keep handing them the mouse.
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That's why I would shy away from trying to pick success. Instead I would focus on picking quality of science. All the while being aware that high quality science is also high risk and hence will often fail.
Totally. It's high risk, high return stuff. So long as there's investment in enough different things, the overall return should remain high, but the risk drops.
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NZ has an equally bad record of shit comedy throughout the same period.
Yes, but not much of a record on good comedy. It's a pity, a lack, which seems to be slowly changing. One of the best things about Outrageous Fortune is the humour. Oh, and the rude sex.
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I once lived with a girl whose friend was a Jehovah's Witness. Not willingly, she was just too young to be able to resist, and had to spend most of her weekends proselytizing when she really wanted to be studying hard to ace Bursary, to get into Med school.
Eventually, she confronted her parents about this, when they wanted to pull her out of school and marry her off at the age of 16. She told them she didn't believe. They kicked her out of the house that night, and she came to live with us, empty handed. They had not allowed her to take one single thing with her other than the clothes she was wearing. They refused to allow her to see her younger brother (who was IIRC, disabled in some way, and meant a lot to her, and she to him).
She did manage in the end to get into Med school, and has gone on to a distinguished career in Medicine. She was lucky to have a lot of brains, some friends who cared, and to live in a country that provides at least some support for people with nothing. I wonder how many other Witnesses are not so lucky.
So I still feel sorry for every young Witness who come to my door. But I don't feel any compunction any more at turning them away. The way she told it, she was usually glad of it, that having to go into people's houses to try to convert them to a religion that she herself did not even believe in was really hard work.
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recordari, I've only visited that area once in my life - a week at a school camp, aged 12. We stayed at Waipiro Bay, in a Marae. It's emblazoned on my memory as one of the best weeks of my life. A bunch of mates and I just pissed off down the beach and hung out living rough for days on end, only coming back for food. Man, we were relaxed by the end of it, and we really got to know each other. Days of body-surfing, fishing, exploring. Nights of campfires, stories and dares. It felt almost dreamlike, like stepping into a different time.
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Word, Craig. Kiwi film is too bloody dark as a rule. That's good, as far as it goes, but surely a wider range would be better. They do comedy better over the Tasman, and I feel that it can easily be used to enhance tragedy even more.
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I feel slightly embarrassed that I don't really care too much about hi-def. I got a lovely new full-HD 42 inch plasma late last year. But I've probably watched a grand total of about 20 hi def shows since then. I just doesn't buzz me that much. I got some BluRays from Fatso, and watched a bit of Freeview (built in), but really just don't get that thrilled by it. Not to the extent I'm prepared to pay hundreds to upgrade my MySky box or purchase a Freeview PVR. Yet. It will come, of course, but I think I've given it a fair go, and really, those hundreds were better spent on other things.
For computer games, it's definitely way better. Just haven't been playing any recently - I'm as nervous as a reformed alcoholic near a bar.
I expect sports in hi-def are much better too, but that's not something I spend any time on. Browsing the net using the PS3 was better, but still something I would rather do on my low rez netbook than use a controller, and read at 5 meters instead of 50cm. If I want to do serious computer stuff, I use my workstation, with dual hi-rez monitors, double mouse, ergonomic keyboard, comfortable chair, quiet room, etc.
The bigger screen is awesome, though. That, I do appreciate. Everything is better on a bigger screen, unless you have to carry the screen around.
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