Open mike 27/09/2011

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, September 27th, 2011 - 55 comments
Categories: open mike - Tags:

Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose.

The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to Policy in the banner).

Step right up to the mike…

55 comments on “Open mike 27/09/2011 ”

  1. higherstandard 1

    testing testing

    • Bored 1.1

      Times?

    • lprent 1.2

      Testing what? System upgrades last night, so I am looking for breakages.

      • r0b 1.2.1

        One thing broken is some forms of video embedding – see draft post that has been at the top of the queue for a while…

      • freedom 1.2.2

        have tried to send emails but nothing seems to occur when send is pressed.

        “I have an Android issue. I have a Samsung Galxy Ace.
        When viewing The Standard, the page runs fine.

        The problem is i cannot post comments.
        I enter my name, press next, my email, press next and it goes to the website entry box.
        I have no site info to enter but pressing next does not progress to comment/text entry box, hence i cannot go any further.

        Is there a way to bypass the website box that I am unaware of?

        thankyou in advance for any assistance you can offer
        kind regards
        freedom

  2. Herodotus 2

    http://nz.news.yahoo.com/a/-/top-stories/10346643/rwc-probably-wont-break-even-key/
    So we have recovered some of the additional costs from SCF? = So all is good.

  3. Tigger 3

    Dear National. We know you’re in the pockets of the road builders and the housing industry but do you really have to make it so obvious? http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=10754610

    P.S. to Auckland. How do you like being run from Wellington?

    • ianmac 3.1

      Mind you Tigger, if someone like John Banks was Mayor the cooperation would be much more cosy with Central Government’s wishes. (Sarcasm warning.)

    • Draco T Bastard 3.2

      Fuck these idiots in NAct. Don’t they understand that we can’t afford massive, sprawling cities?

      Yes, that’s a rhetorical question, of course they don’t understand as that would require them to take into account reality.

  4. aerobubble 4

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/5689052/Family-zombies-after-home-invasion
    Don’t need to be home invaded to become a zombie if you live in a noisy neighborhood
    overnight and during the day (so can’t catch up on sleep).

  5. prism 5

    Peter Blake’s son James I think is undertaking a big row to raise money for an artificial reef near Indonesia. This is such a great idea as climate change adversely affects coral reefs which are important maybe vital part of nurturing and protecting sea life. Some people are already acting by planting coral each day, like in coral gardens, and this will spread the reef area and renew. Really important. If you can afford some pennies please think of a donation as this week’s positive action for the planet.
    http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon
    Tue27/9 09:35
    James Blake
    Sir Peter Blake’s son James Blake explains why he’s planning to row across the Tasman to try raise funds to build the world’s biggest artificial reef. (9′51″)
    Download: Ogg Vorbis MP3 | Embed

  6. prism 6

    Interesting tale on Facebooks devious policies on Radionz this morning – see link above. Be-ware, they say that everything you do is being passed on and privacy settings you’ve put in place are realigned to default each time they put in a new policy, or I think that’s what they said. I’m no expert. I do know that I tried to cancel my Facebook arrangement and was asked so many intrusive questions that I didn’t fill out the whole form so apparently invalidated my withdrawal and am still welcomed into the sweet and friendly Facebook family. And this morning’s interviewer said it doesn’t matter anyway they keep the settings and keep checking on what you do. Talk about BIG Brother!

    • prism 6.1

      Also in this morning’s radionz news –
      NZ bid for Commonwealth Games now likely
      The New Zealand Olympic Committee says mounting a bid for a future Commonwealth Games is now more likely to happen. The next possible year is 2022.
      We can’t afford to make forward-looking responsible social and environmental moves but there’before the Rugby World Cup is over there is talk about circuses and junkets for the elite and Discretionaries (those with spare money) while the bread part isn’t ensured to go with the circuses.

      And in Oz those hopeful young NZs who went to Australia and worked for a better life are now beginning to feel the cold and callous side of OZ that wiped all social welfare benefits to us whether we had worked there, no matter how long, and only if we were granted residency which would be refused as we do, if there were health problems etc., when Helen Clark was in, with hardly a peep from her. They didn’t tighten access to benefits – they wiped them altogether.

      One family talked this morning – they’re son was born in Oz and because of medical misadventure is brain damaged and required ongoing care for which they receive nothing from the authorities there although they have worked there for some years I think. Presumably they can sue the hospital. Young Kiwi women are turning to prostitution to survive, and degradation of living conditions causes 40 phone calls daily to a Queensland help line. They can be stranded in Oz by pride, as in the biblical Prodigal Son, or because of lack of money in their extended family to bring them home. There was a song from way back by Gene Pitney with the final line – “And I can never, never, go home again.” This is sad – we should start a compassionate fund for NZ refugees in Australia, that lucky country.

    • freedom 6.2

      Many ideas in here for FB control choices.
      Ideas, as mentioned in the article and the comments, are not necessarily answers.

      http://nikcub-cache.appspot.com/logging-out-of-facebook-is-not-enough

    • Deadly_NZ 6.3

      Simple lesson DONT USE FARCEBOOK. if you do it’s your own fault!

  7. Joe Bloggs 7

    .
    more biting the hands that once fed it…

    It was less than a week ago that Jenny had a go at biting Owen Glenn’s hand

    Now Darien Fenton’s trying similar class traitor tactics on Sir Peter Leitch.

    Was it only yesterday that r0b called for less arrogance and reflexive negativity?

    • prism 7.1

      @ Joe Bloggs – Is that Sir Peter Leitch the mad butcher who used his interview on radionz to make an open play of affirmation for John Key, that lovely guy, the man everybody would invite to dinner, especially if he brought the wine to go with the rib-eye steak. For those who can afford it!
      Actually many of us are concerned to get a Prime Minister who shows continuing concern and responsibility for advancing the welfare of all NZs socially and through business and employment opportunities and makes achievable promises, not feelgood kissing of cheeks, and showing off his dental work.

      • Tigger 7.1.1

        What’s the problem here? If Rodney Hide said “I won’t shop at X because Y supports Labour” no one would blink an eye. Personally, I’m with Darien – Mad Butcher isn’t getting my money now. Neither is Car-fe. Free choice. Isn’t that what Slater and his lot get chubbies over?

        • joe90 7.1.1.1

          I’ve been told that The Mad Butcher was the moniker Leitch appropriated for himself following a trip to the US.

        • tc 7.1.1.2

          Oh JB you’re such a funny troll….class traitor tactics, that’s f’n hilarious but then if slater’s your dictionary reference fair play doing a limbo dance under that bar.

          Leitch is the typical working class made good who now wants to pull the ladder up by supporting the policies and folk who do this best.
          Low wages/rights/employer friendly rules and most of his shops are the meat equivalient of low rent liquor outlets by the poor quality of product and who they target…..seen any in upmarket suburbs ?

          Shop at your local butcher, they need it and you’ll get what you pay for….quality and service.
          as for that tosser Ridge…wash your own car.

          • Joe Bloggs 7.1.1.2.1

            Sorry – you have the wrong man.

            I’m referring to Sir Peter Leitch – you might know of him – he’s a working class man with no pretensions who has given away vast sums of money and more of his time to help those who are worse off .You might have heard of his serial fundraising and the work that he’s done for Christchurch folk

            Perhaps you may have heard of the Mad Butcher Suburban Newspapers Community Trust which has raised almost $1.5 million for charity. Or the Butch who supported Helen Clark when she was PM…

            …here’s a suggestion – instead of calling for a boycott of Mad Butcher shops simply because Butch dares to dabble with the Dark Side, try earning his support back. Now there’s a novelty.

            Meanwhile I’m off to the local Mad Butcher for a dozen sausages, and a bit of brisket for the pooch.

    • Draco T Bastard 7.2

      They aren’t the “hand that feeds” but the hand that takes away – capitalism = legalised theft.

  8. ianmac 8

    Graeme Edgeler has posted a valuable Referendum on Public Address. Intriguing and worth doing even if to just confirm a position.
    http://publicaddress.net/system/topic/3229/?p=229846#post229846

  9. RIP Troy Davis

    Those of us who are not reliant on mainstream media for our information would have felt saddened by recent events in Savannah, Georgia. In fact some of us have felt quietly outraged at the execution of Troy Davis on September 21, 2011…

  10. Hero of the Week Award – Clare Curran

    Clare Curran has been getting a fair bit of grief from David Farrar and Cameron Slater lately. What these right wing sycophants seem to ignore is that she’s a very switched on political commentator, and indispensable within the New Zealand blogosphere…

  11. ianmac 11

    Phil Goff has an interesting question No 2, set down for today:
    Hon PHIL GOFF to the Attorney-General: Does he agree with the Prime Minister’s statement that “there are at least 40 trials and 50 investigations where those investigations currently – the video surveillance equipment’s been turned off and yeah I don’t think – that will harm those trials in my view”, and in how many of those cases does the prosecution rely on evidence from warrantless filming from private property without the owner’s consent?

  12. The Voice of Reason 12

    Jeez, if it’s not too late for the Jackal’s arsehole of the week, John Key is a serious contender:
     
    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10754703
     
    What a fucken muppet.
     
     

  13. John Key has already won an Asshole Award. I’ll count your vote TVOR as a nomination for John Key to win the Asshole of the Year Award 🙂

    Don Brash on Pot

    In a speech given on law and order held in Auckland last weekend, Don Brash came out in support of decriminalizing marijuana. It seems strange that he’s promoting decriminalization… and it appears to me that his controversial statements are designed to gain media attention…

  14. Cloaca 14

    Do I understand that under the now non existance Surveillance Bill taxi drivers are not allowed to use their new systems because the law as it stands forbids same without a specific judges agreement ?

    • McFlock 14.1

      Doesn’t sound right to me – the cameras are a safety/security issue and are there with the consent of the drivers (if the passengers don’t see the warning signs), so fall under one of the exemptions to the surreptitious filming legislation.

      If the police broke into the vehicle one night and placed their own sneaky cameras, the’d not be able to use the footage as evidence in trivial caes. But they could use the taxi company footage quite easily.

      As an aside, I was pretty pissed when I noticed the “privacy policy” for the camera footage in my last taxi trip – along the lines of “camera images are only permitted to be viewed by authorised persons”. No information as to who are authorised, character tests, restrictions on being able to copy files (lest a Queenstown bouncer has access to the archive), or expiry protocols. I’m just glad I don’t habitually wear short skirts and sit in the middle seat.

    • Absolutely not.  In fact you can have covert surveillance pretty well anywhere unless you have to trespass on the person’s property to set the camera up.  You can even have it on a tree in a park outside as long as it is not too obtrusive.

  15. John D 15

    This BBC news video is a rather sobering view of the coming economic collapse

    “BBC Speechless As Trader Tells Truth The Collapse Is Coming ”

  16. joe90 16

    If your website’s full of arsholes, It’s your fault.

    We’re twenty years in to this world wide web thing. Today, I myself celebrate twelve years of writing this blog. And yet those of us who love this medium, who’ve had our lives changed by the possibility of publishing our words to the world without having to ask permission, are constantly charged with defending this wonderful, expressive medium in a way that creators in every other discipline seldom find themselves obligated to do.

    Some of this is because the medium is new, of course. But in large part, it’s because so many of the most visible, prominent, and popular places on the web are full of unkindness and hateful behavior.

    The examples are already part of pop culture mythology: We can post a harmless video of a child’s birthday party and be treated to profoundly racist non-sequiturs in the comments. We can read about a minor local traffic accident on a newspaper’s website and see vicious personal attacks on the parties involved. A popular blog can write about harmless topics like real estate, restaurants or sports and see dozens of vitriolic, hate-filled spewings within just a few hours.

    But that’s just the web, right? Shouldn’t we just keep shrugging our shoulders and shaking our heads and being disappointed in how terrible our fellow humans are?

  17. tc 17

    Granny just can’t help herself can she ‘ readers leap to PM’s defense over coalmine joke’ should read ‘we think the sun shines out of JK’s arse and here’s some one sided ‘opinions’ to back it up’…..RIP journalism.
    Sideshow showing how unfit for the role he is again isn’t news granny.

  18. Oil Damages DNA

    A recently released peer reviewed study entitled Genomic and physiological footprint of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on resident marsh fishes (PDF) and released in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, has found that the Deepwater Horizon oil spill has damaged the genetic structure of marsh fish in the effected area…

    • NickS 18.1

      They didn’t detect DNA damage, what they found were changes in gene expression, which has a whole range of mechanisms other than DNA damage…

      And it’s spelled out in the bloody abstract, which if DNA damage was involved, you’d think it’d be mentioned, being a summary of the findings and all that:

      The biological consequences of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill are
      unknown, especially for resident organisms. Here, we report
      results from a field study tracking the effects of contaminating
      oil across space and time in resident killifish during the first 4
      mo of the spill event. Remote sensing and analytical chemistry
      identified exposures, which were linked to effects in fish characterized
      by genome expression and associated gill immunohistochemistry,
      despite very low concentrations of hydrocarbons
      remaining in water and tissues. Divergence in genome expression
      coincides with contaminating oil and is consistent with genome
      responses that are predictive of exposure to hydrocarbon-like
      chemicals and indicative of physiological and reproductive impairment.

      Oil-contaminated waters are also associated with aberrant
      protein expression in gill tissues of larval and adult fish. These data
      suggest that heavily weathered crude oil from the spill imparts
      significant biological impacts in sensitive Louisiana marshes, some
      of which remain for over 2 mo following initial exposures.

      So learn 2 science pleez, and check wikipedia/google if you don’t understand something, instead of doing what teh deniers do and post truth claims without reading/understanding teh research.

  19. Ianupnorth 19

    On Radio NZ tonight they were on about Elizabeth Warren, a US law professor who is standing for senate; the person discussing this suggested the words of her speech as a way of shutting up dicks like farrar.

    Enjoy

    http://youtu.be/hOyDR2b71ag

  20. Ianupnorth 20

    I am going to try an experiment soon; I am going to attempt a strategy on someone, a parasite on this forum. I did this once before on another site and it really caused the vermine to be frightened away.

  21. There are hundreds of reasons why young voters should turn up in force and send a strong message to this government on November 26.
    http://localbodies-bsprout.blogspot.com/2011/09/national-is-stealing-my-childrens.html

The server will be getting hardware changes this evening starting at 10pm NZDT.
The site will be off line for some hours.