Hard News: Costly indeed
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*Sigh* - you just published - now there's a whole bunch of places you can't patent it ....
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trollish prickery
I'm genuine in my derision I assure you. And I'm not the one who suggested that line of action as a suitable remedy. If you're looking for "derailment", you'll need to look further.
And Gio, "well" is the trigger prefix you need to look for :)
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sigh* I've got my issues with both the BSA and the Press Council, but I think Tze-Ming and Keith achieved more by laying complaints to the Press Council over that load of Coddingtonswallop than any number of righteously indignant blog comments.
The two are hardly comparable.
Should Burton wish to prolong the whole thing -- and he'd probably be better advised not to -- he could take a Press Council complaint. The paper would claim it was simply stating the facts, roll out some blather about accountability, and, on the PC's past form (it's surprisingly hard to get an uphold from that body) probably win its case.
I submit that if a similar story had been written about a National Party minister your response might be stronger than "Meh. Take it to the Press Council."
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Cheerful intellectual Kerre Woodham
Rofflenui!
The head girl doing her usual 20 seconds of research.
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3410,
This has been awfully played.
I presume "I'm surprised" is just a rhetorical device, Kyle.
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And Gio, "well" is the trigger prefix you need to look for :)
Hey! I don't want to kill the man. I'm not a monster.
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I'm keen to patent a device that sends a mild electric current through Craig every time he starts a post with "*sigh*". I've got proof of concept, anybody want in?
Tried something similar as a anti theft device on the work truck. We were sick of the momo steering wheel going missing.The police later informed us if we didn't remove it we could be charged with possible manslaughter. At least it stopped someone one before it came to police attention.Jolly good device though.So imagination will suffice surely for your situ Gio. Just close your eyes and imagine.... :)
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I'm not a monster - that's what they all say.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_experiment
I'ld preffer it if voilence wasn't part of the arena.
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I'm surprised that Labour didn't get out in front of this. They must have known this was going to be released this week. Why weren't some ministers making releases a couple of weeks ago so that they could control the story better? This has been awfully played.
Shane Jones ("I'm a movie buff") could have saved himself a lot of trouble if he'd rented another film, namely a pretty good Australian movie, The Dish, starring Sam Neill.
In one scene, things are going awry for small-town mayor and aspiring candidate Bob McIntyre, and the PM has some helpful advice:
Prime Minister: You know, we've got a saying in the party. You don't fuck up...
(pause)
Mayor Bob McIntyre: And?
Prime Minister: That's it. -
Shane Jones ("I'm a movie buff") could have saved himself a lot of trouble if he'd rented another film, namely a pretty good Australian movie, The Dish, starring Sam Neill.
Saw that. Bunch of endearing Aussie boofheads saving the day with No.8 wire and dumb luck, but I was left wondering what happened to the people who were smart enough to have built the dish itself.
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I submit that if a similar story had been written about a National Party minister your response might be stronger than "Meh. Take it to the Press Council."
@Russell: I don't care whether you believe me or not, but "take it to the Press Council (or the BSA)" is precisely what I'd advise Grosser or McCully to do about very similar stories that give seriously misleading headline impression about their drinking on the job.
Meanwhile, I think laying formal complaints under the current, imperfect framework is a damn sight more edifying than watching nitwits like Bill English and Chris Carter whine about the media being out to get them and destroy their families etc.
And I think I'll call closure here, since you and others have obviously decided anything else I say on the subject is in bad faith.
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I've collected the non-stories I've been complaining about, and Roughan's column, in a new blog post.
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Meanwhile, I think laying formal complaints under the current, imperfect framework is a damn sight more edifying than watching nitwits like Bill English and Chris Carter whine about the media being out to get them and destroy their families etc.
Wasn't talking about them, although I do think Duncan Garner in particular seems to take a special interest in Carter's same-sex relationship.
I'm talking about two very clear examples of misleading reporting. It doesn't take a Press Council complaint to see that the stories are disingenuous bullshit.
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Giovanni - after further research I realise that you're going to have a really tough time with your patent .... there's prior art in those shock collars people put on dogs to stop them barking ....
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Paul, did you really take Gio's aside at face value? And good people don't use shock collars. Not on Craig. Not on dogs.
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I can confirm I wasn't actually suggesting torturing Craig. Just looking for novel ways to beg him to stop already with the theatrical condescension.
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But I enjoy his theatrics. Masterful are they. Worthy of La Scala surely!
Don't often agree with him, but love his expression.
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Oh no - I've just spent way too much time with patent lawyers over the years and sadly too much of it has rubbed off - plus I'm of the open source persuasion, you know - one of them, and I'm always looking for weaselly ways to void patents.
I might also point out that attempting to shock the opposition is also probably "obvious to one practicing in the field" assuming your field is arguing on blogs
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Obvious, yet so rarely implemented :)
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In response to one of the points raised earlier "why didn't Labour front foot this earlier?"
There are a number of possible reasons:
1) I very much doubt many of the former Ministers kept copies of their credit card statements so may have had only limited memory of their spending.
(I also suspect a fair few of them never looked at the statements much in the first place)2) The Labour Party only got copies of the information released to the Press Gallery a day in advance. I believe Internal Affairs may have briefed affected MPs on the logistical way the information would be released but as far as I know none of them had it substantially in advance of the media
(it's hard to front foot information you don't have an accurate assessment of)3) Given the amount of information involved - and I haven't seen my office floor since Thursday - there's always a chance evidence of mistakes may be missed.
(so why hand it to someone on a plate?) -
But they've known it was coming for ages. Surely someone thought to go around the ex-ministers and say "what was the worst you put on your credit card?" One of many bottles of wine and dinners and hotels I can imagine wouldn't have come up.
Porn? Surely the first thing Goff is going to be saying to Jones is "what the fuck were you thinking and how the hell didn't I know it weeks ago"? That could have been managed 10 times better.
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I am unsure if people'd remember what they put on one card or the other five years ago. (But yes this hasn't been handled well & Goff needs to show some leadership on this and make it clear Labour won't tolerate misuse of public funds.)
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(But yes this hasn't been handled well & Goff needs to show some leadership on this and make it clear Labour won't tolerate misuse of public funds.)
To stick up for Phil Goff a bit, you couldn't sanely argue Helen Clark and Michael Cullen were bad examples. If anything, they were the kind of people who gives credit card companies migraine. :)
Think Espiner made a good point on Q&A: Clark and Cullen, whatever you think of their politics, are both highly disciplined, careful people. (Somehow, I don't think you're going to see Helen giving the UN plastic a workout at New York's A-list restaurants, or Cullen getting some retail therapy with the rest of the NZ Post board.) Others, not so much.
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To stick up for Phil Goff a bit, you couldn't sanely argue Helen Clark and Michael Cullen were bad examples. If anything, they were the kind of people who gives credit card companies migraine. :)
It seems so. I think in Friday's reporting there was a bit about Cullen being highly miffed at the rather aggressive way Ministerial Services followed up his sole, emergency use of his card.
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I think in Friday's reporting there was a bit about Cullen being highly miffed at the rather aggressive way Ministerial Services followed up his sole, emergency use of his card.
I didn't see that, but can Ministerial Services ever catch a break? It seems if they follow up then they're attacked for being "aggressive" or running some kind of petty penny-pinching jihad; if they don't, then they're accused (unfairly) of taking a qui tacet consentire approach to things. They're attacked for having to enforce rules they don't actually write, and not using powers they don't actually have. It seems like they're damned no matter what they do, because they're the one politically safe target.
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