Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: Playing Nice?

142 Responses

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  • Jan Farr,

    Sorry - I do know how to spell 'you're' - see.

    Carterton • Since Apr 2008 • 395 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    our medical panel in the same show is 100% female.

    What, you didn't bother to find any men? :)

    Some unpublicised research in the 90s from the old NorthHealth RHA showed men worse off in all monitored health outcomes that affected both men and women (excluding testicular and ovarian cancers, for instance). No idea whether that included swine flu, but there you go.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • 3410,

    Russell, you have to put a space between the quote thing and the italics thing.
    You'll learn. :)

    Auckland • Since Jan 2007 • 2618 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    These things tend to be hard enough to put together as it is.

    Yes, I was trying to be compassionate about the resources of a small weekly show. If it were 60 Minutes or CloseUp or a full documentary, no tolerance here.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Steve Parks,

    If you can't rely on the people who write dictionaries to be pendants... the world really is ending.


    I know. They probably also give "imply" as a definition of "infer."

    Well, they certainly have given in to those who misuse "factoid" to mean "an insignificant or trivial fact." That definition is even given first in this Dictionary.com entry.

    At least they get it right later:

    fac·toid (fāk'toid)
    n.

    1. A piece of unverified or inaccurate information that is presented in the press as factual, often as part of a publicity effort, and that is then accepted as true because of frequent repetition.

    2. Usage Problem A brief, somewhat interesting fact."...

    ... "The -oid suffix normally imparts the meaning "resembling, having the appearance of" ."

    Wellington • Since May 2007 • 1165 posts Report Reply

  • Kyle Matthews,

    Sorry - I do know how to spell 'you're' - see.

    Weakest link. ref. "Off the island."

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report Reply

  • Peter Darlington,

    Telecom seems to have decided that co-operation is the better part of valour in hitching itself to the government's grand fibre plan -- and, in the process, putting some meat on the bones of the idea.

    Chorus would make a fine Fibre Co, provided Telecom was structurally separated and that the Govt or a body with a mandate to enforce the open access principles was given a majority on the board.

    Telecom haven't ruled out structural separation but make note of needing to be fair to their shareholders and this must surely be the clincher because if Telecom lost control of Chorus their share price would tank, I mean what's left? Xtra?

    Nelson • Since Nov 2006 • 949 posts Report Reply

  • Geoff Lealand,

    We've turned on a dime and gone for the swine in this week's Media7. The opening panel will look at the swine flu coverage

    I had a call from a Waikato Times journo this morning, wanting my thoughts on the coverage. As I didn't have anything profound to offer (other than to say that it was a media story 'with legs'--some of them very wobbly), I suggested he follow the discussion here.

    Screen & Media Studies, U… • Since Oct 2007 • 2562 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    We'd better stop talking about spelling then..

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Gareth Ward,

    if Telecom lost control of Chorus their share price would tank

    Well naturally, but each shareholder would also get a very large payout of their share of the serious moolah Chorus would bring in the new fibre environment. And I would expect Telecom to retain a non-controlling ownership stake.

    I mean what's left? Xtra?

    Well they'd still be a really muscled up Vodafone/ihug wouldn't they?

    Auckland, NZ • Since Mar 2007 • 1727 posts Report Reply

  • Jan Farr,

    Sorry - I do know how to spell 'you're' - see.

    Weakest link. ref. "Off the island."

    I can't swim.

    Carterton • Since Apr 2008 • 395 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    Satisfying reality television.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    Ooops - that needed one of these. :)

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Stephen Judd,

    If you can't rely on the people who write dictionaries to be pendants... the world really is ending.

    Your reliance has been misplaced since the OED got underway, at least. For decades if not a couple centuries, English lexicographers have record words as they are used, not as stylists wish them to be. Even Johnson wrote that one couldn't fix the language and that it was futile to try.

    Which is why I expect "cromulent" to appear soon if it doesn't already.

    see also "prescriptivist".

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 3122 posts Report Reply

  • Peter Darlington,

    Well they'd still be a really muscled up Vodafone/ihug wouldn't they?

    True, they will have a strength in mobile networks as well when they role the 3g stuff out in May.

    As an aside, who's to say we won't be having the same conversation with regards to open access cellular in the future just as we are now with fibre. It makes just as much sense to strip out the layer 2 there as it does over fibre. C'mon Russell (Stanners) and Paul, open up them networks!

    Nelson • Since Nov 2006 • 949 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    Russell, you have to put a space between the quote thing and the italics thing.
    You'll learn. :)

    Clearly ...

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Kumara Republic,

    Russell, you have to put a space between the quote thing and the italics thing.
    You'll learn. :)

    Clearly ...

    What would work is a Wikipedia-style button bar, where you just highlight text & click a button, without the need to type in anything extra.

    The southernmost capital … • Since Nov 2006 • 5446 posts Report Reply

  • Kumara Republic,

    PS. Image embedding, as it works for YouTube, would be nice too, as long as the image is auto-resampled down. Now that would take a bit of number-crunching...

    The southernmost capital … • Since Nov 2006 • 5446 posts Report Reply

  • Richard C,

    Even Johnson wrote that one couldn't fix the language and that it was futile to try.

    Just so. Which, perhaps rather too neatly, prodded me to recall Boswell's account of the following...

    After we came out of the church, we stood talking for some time together of Bishop Berkeley's ingenious sophistry to prove the nonexistence of matter, and that every thing in the universe is merely ideal. I observed, that though we are satisfied his doctrine is not true, it is impossible to refute it. I never shall forget the alacrity with which Johnson answered, striking his foot with mighty force against a large stone, till he rebounded from it -- "I refute it thus."

    Waiheke Island • Since Oct 2007 • 27 posts Report Reply

  • Idiot Savant,

    Parliament is debating swine flu at the moment...

    Palmerston North • Since Nov 2006 • 1717 posts Report Reply

  • Jan Farr,

    Ooops - that needed one of these. :)

    Thanks Sacha - paranoia dispelled. (Which may mean I've spelt it wrong.)

    Carterton • Since Apr 2008 • 395 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    I've given up trying to get the actual page on Stuff to load -- I'm getting the "internal error" message more often than not these days -- but The Standard looks at the Treasury study on the proposed fibre network, which seems to conclude:

    1. The budgeted $1.5 billion is nothing like enough to pay the taxpayer's half of a high-speed fibre network reaching 75% of New Zealanders. The total cost is more like between $5bn and $10bn.

    2. No 1 is especially true if you actually want "ultra-fast" broadband in the form of an active, rather than a passive fibre network.

    You may feel free to ruminate on where you read both of those points first ...

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • insider outsider,

    Speaking of reality TV did anyone hear the brilliant CEO of the Italian cruise ship attacked by pirates describe the event as the next level of reality TV, with priates wanting to be stars of their own reality shows

    Here about 6:16 in

    http://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/national/mnr/2009/04/28/pirates_fail_to_board_cruise_ship

    Could anyone imagine any NZ CEO taking such a philosophical approach in an interview. Not only that, he answered questions intelligently and articulately. Wow. I wanna work for him.

    nz • Since May 2007 • 142 posts Report Reply

  • Sam F,

    I'm getting the "internal error" message more often than not these days

    I have got it almost every single time. It's reached the point where I'll hardly ever follow a link to Stuff at all, no matter what machine I'm using. It's a pity.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 1611 posts Report Reply

  • Kumara Republic,

    Speaking of reality TV did anyone hear the brilliant CEO of the Italian cruise ship attacked by pirates describe the event as the next level of reality TV, with priates wanting to be stars of their own reality shows

    Sounds like we're closer to the Running Man and Series 7 than we think.

    BTW the Stuff article on the fibre plan seems to be working normally.

    The southernmost capital … • Since Nov 2006 • 5446 posts Report Reply

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