Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: A little patch of turf

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  • Evan Yates,

    The MySpace link for the arrested Ipswich murders suspect is now dead. "This user has cancelled the account or had it removed etc.."

    Hamiltron, Te Ika-a-Māui • Since Nov 2006 • 197 posts Report Reply

  • Joanna,

    I can't wait until you get convicted of a crime, Russell, so that newspapers can pick apart your Public Address posts.

    "Sponsored by a whiskey company and a coffee brand? That's practically home-made P if you put them together..."

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 746 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    The MySpace link for the arrested Ipswich murders suspect is now dead. "This user has cancelled the account or had it removed etc.."

    It's quite strange that I managed to get it this morning, after all the news reports were already saying it had been cancelled.

    This Guardian story has the details.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • sunil w,

    Fantastic footage of the crodyceps fungus.
    Cordyceps Sinensis affects catepillars, forcing them to commit siucide by falling from height to their deaths.

    The mushrooms from sinensis have been harvested from central asia by the chinese, who use them for increasing yang.
    Enough is harvested to stuff into a duck, which is then boiled.
    Parasite-fungus stuffed boiled duck. More potent than ginseng.
    This has been done for thousands of years.

    I swear I'm not making this shit up.

    You can buy something from chinese health shops around auckland, called "Dong Xia Cao",
    This is industrially produced sinensis.

    auckland • Since Dec 2006 • 1 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    Laila Harre had Roger Kerr for breakfast, lunch and dinner on the minimum wage issue on Morning Report today.

    Good to see she's eating something, because after yesterday's more than usually stupid performance with Hooters I thought those two really shouldn't hit the Xmas party trail (specifically the open bar) on an empty stomach. Is it just me, or does the silly season start earlier - and become more literal - every year?

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    I can't wait until you get convicted of a crime, Russell, so that newspapers can pick apart your Public Address posts.

    "Sponsored by a whiskey company and a coffee brand? That's practically home-made P if you put them together..."

    Heh.

    I just think it's fascinating that these people - it was the same with the supposed JonBenet killer - leave traces in this way. It's becoming a standard line of journalistic inquiry. "They've charged a man with murder!" "Quick - check if he's on MySpace!"

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • andrew llewellyn,

    Oh dear... I do hope they have the right guy after all that. Certainly looks like he's been on the suspect shortlist for a while.

    So... will the murders now cease?

    Since Nov 2006 • 2075 posts Report Reply

  • Neil Morrison,

    Is the John McCain piece by the same Paul Joseph Watson who thinks that 911 was an inside job?

    The infowars site has an interesing resource page
    on 911 including the obligatory THEY knew.

    Since Nov 2006 • 932 posts Report Reply

  • andrew llewellyn,

    It's becoming a standard line of journalistic inquiry. "They've charged a man with murder!" "Quick - check if he's on MySpace!

    it's a very convenient way to get a photo & put a face to a name. A photo that hasn't been touched up in anyway to make them look really creepy.

    We likes our serial killers to look creepy, makes us forget they all live next door.

    Meanwhile... dare I say the unsayable... will any young folk go missing this New Year's? I confess after Ben & Olivia, the (was it?) the next year that poor girl in Ashburton, I was leaning towards a New Year serial killer on the loose.

    Since Nov 2006 • 2075 posts Report Reply

  • Rob Stowell,

    This- from the Telegraph- indicates maybe the myspace photos were already just a bit... wierd!

    >>A suspect arrested in connection with the murder of five women in Suffolk has posted bizarre photographs of himself on an internet blog site, where he calls himself "The Bishop".

    Mr Stephens, 37, was arrested at home in Trimley, near Felixstowe this morning. His profile, posted on the popular Myspace networking site, shows him posing with a can of custard powder and riding a toy car.

    On the web site, he is also pictured wearing a Union flag tie, standing in front of a wall covered with glow-in-the-dark stars, and with eyes painted on his closed eyelids.

    On the site, which Mr Stephens has programmed to play Johann Pachelbel’s Canon in D Major, he lists his interests as "keeping fit, most types of day/night out" [sic].

    He says he especially likes music from the 1980s and in the films category he has written, "sorry I havn’t starred in any" [sic].

    The television, he says, is "a box in the corner of the room which I don’t watch very often" and his hero is listed as the cartoon dog and martial arts expert Hong Kong Phooey.

    Mr Stephens has also typed, "Well here I am trying to make the laptop work & I’ve ended up here" and says he would like to be meet 'Goddoh’, perhaps a misspelled reference to Samuel Beckett’s absurdist play Waiting for Godot.

    He says he is looking for "dating, serious relationships, friends" and describes himself as straight, 180cm tall and athletic.

    He describes his occupation as 'Team Leader’ and adds, "love kids, but not for me". <<<

    Whakaraupo • Since Nov 2006 • 2120 posts Report Reply

  • Joanna,

    This- from the Telegraph- indicates maybe the myspace photos were already just a bit... wierd!

    Yeah but what's the point of having a myspace account if you don't put weird photos on it?

    "Joanna McLeod displayed pictures of herself in a wedding dress despite having never been married and in one image she appears to have another eye in the middle of her forehead".

    It's all about context. If you don't murder people, your photos won't seem so strange.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 746 posts Report Reply

  • hudsie,

    But having read the Telegraph article and seen the photos he doesn't exactly come over as Hannibal Lechter either.
    It is curious how in the light of suspicion everything seems dodgy.

    The other thing interesting is that he stopped posting on My Space on October 27th. If he is the murdererer then it is possible that his dark desires consumed everything else in his life... or that he realised having any sort of trail to him was a bad idea.

    I guess this means he didn't use the cyberworld to contact any of his victims, which is a relief I guess.

    Since Nov 2006 • 19 posts Report Reply

  • Robyn Gallagher,

    I was looking at Stephens' MySpace page last night. It's easy to think of serial killers as being subhuman, evil creatures, but when you see a basic, neglected (not updated since October) MySpace page with a few photos and bits and pieces, it makes it all seem so shockingly ordinary.

    His account may have been deleted, but the photos still remain up on MySpace (at least for now)

    The eyes (__of a killer?__)
    Funny toy car
    Comedy tie
    Can of custard powder
    Stick-on glow-in-the-dark ceiling stars

    He does have a certain Norman Bates look to him, but the photos are all pretty run-of-the-mill wacky, zany MySpace pics.

    Since Nov 2006 • 1946 posts Report Reply

  • Danyl Mclauchlan,

    Readers of Alan Moore's 'From Hell' will not be surprised to see that the police investigator in charge of the case is a DCS Gull . . .

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 927 posts Report Reply

  • David Slack,

    If you prefer your notorious murderers to look a little less like the neighbour, check out this interview with Charles Manson.

    Devonport • Since Nov 2006 • 599 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    His account may have been deleted, but the photos still remain up on MySpace (at least for now)

    Oooh - I totally bow to your MySpace ninja-ing ...

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • andrew llewellyn,

    David, while Manson (he doesn't seem to have aged that much or is that old?) doesn't look like my neighbour, he IS the spitting image of the guy who's been painting the neighbour's house for the last 3 years (presume the neighbour isn't paying by the hour).

    Since Nov 2006 • 2075 posts Report Reply

  • andrew llewellyn,

    Also... have you guys seen this? It's a "Rich individual..."

    Since Nov 2006 • 2075 posts Report Reply

  • Marcelo Rodriguez Ferrere,

    Laila Harre had Roger Kerr for breakfast, lunch and dinner on the minimum wage issue on Morning Report today.

    I agree entirely. The age-old 'a minimum wage prevents [insert unskilled minority here] getting a foot-hold in the labour maket' fallacy was expertly rebutted by Laila. Peter Conway, chief economist from the CTU also did a good job showing the sense - both economically and socially - of raising the mimimum wage.

    The question becomes: why does Morning report even refer to Roger Kerr as being the natural opposition to Laila Harre (and others)? There may be adequate arguments opposing socially progressive policies, but they are lost in the mix when Roger Kerr's comments degenerate into a Friedman/Hayek rant.

    Roger Kerr isn't a professional economist. Nor does he adequate represent business, as was posted a couple of weeks ago here. So why should Morning Report give him any airtime at all? Laila categorically destroyed his argument, but it would have been more informative had his argument had any economic sense in the first place.

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 33 posts Report Reply

  • David Slack,

    he IS the spitting image of the guy who's been painting the neighbour's house for the last 3 years

    Run Skippy, run!

    Devonport • Since Nov 2006 • 599 posts Report Reply

  • Mat Wiseman,

    Oh no. I hope that loveable pooch - Hong Kong Phooey - doesn't get dirt swung his way for being an influence.

    Since Dec 2006 • 8 posts Report Reply

  • Juha Saarinen,

    It's a little hard to comment on things in a multi-category blog entry without risking the appearance of being uncaring or something but cordyceps... when I was in Malaysia, one of my favourite medicinal soups was made with black chicken and cordyceps. Good for you, and I don't mind the mushrooms sprouting out of the empty waste once occupied by my brain.

    However, you should not get that stuff out of a packet. Many of the Chinese made ones contain arsenic and mercury.

    Since Nov 2006 • 529 posts Report Reply

  • Juha Saarinen,

    Since Nov 2006 • 529 posts Report Reply

  • dylan,

    Laila didn't convince me (although she did seem better informed than Roger). After all do we really think that the flexible and cheap labour in NZ hasn't contributed to the low unemployment?

    But probably the thing that bugs me most in her interview (and the guy from the CTU's) was the comparison to Australia. With a GDP per Capita almost 1.5x higher than ours they can afford higher wages (35,9000 $/head vs 24,420 $/head, source:economist). I suspect largely because they are a country of enourmous resource wealth...more coal, gas, gold, uranium, Iron ore, copper etc. than you can poke a stick at.

    netherlands • Since Nov 2006 • 14 posts Report Reply

  • andrew llewellyn,

    Say Juha, it said I'm not authorised to view that soup...

    Since Nov 2006 • 2075 posts Report Reply

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