Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: The Thread, It Is Open

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  • Julian Melville, in reply to ,

    I have a steam punked commercial espresso machine.

    Details? We would like them, oh yes.

    Auckland • Since Dec 2006 • 200 posts Report

  • BenWilson,

    And does this country really need any more house builders? If we're going to invest in mass training, make it in this century's high-value export industries.

    Well, at the moment it does. And over the long run, I can't think of anyone else who should be building our houses.

    Edit:

    Actually, isn't this topic meant to be on the other thread?

    That too. That's probably where the Standard writer nicked my ideas.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 10657 posts Report

  • James Butler, in reply to ,

    steam punked commercial espresso machine

    Although I have to say, an espresso machine sounds kinda inherently more steam-smooth-jazz than steampunk.

    Auckland • Since Jan 2009 • 856 posts Report

  • Sacha, in reply to BenWilson,

    over the long run, I can't think of anyone else who should be building our houses

    Over the long run, our fixation on residential property has helped bugger the economy. I'd rather not encourage more of it.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report

  • JackElder,

    Given that commercial espresso machines involve a) actual steam and b) metal pipes and brass fixings, how much more steampunk can you really make one?

    Wellington • Since Mar 2008 • 709 posts Report

  • Sacha, in reply to JackElder,

    The machine in K'Road's Brazil always impressed me with it's exaggerated tubing, levers and whatnot

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report

  • James Butler, in reply to JackElder,

    Given that commercial espresso machines involve a) actual steam and b) metal pipes and brass fixings, how much more steampunk can you really make one?

    But don't you think that in the transition from punk -> cyberpunk -> steampunk -> steampunk espresso machine, something has been lost from the word “punk”? A steampunk gin still or heroin lab would be more apropos, methinks.

    Auckland • Since Jan 2009 • 856 posts Report

  • samuel walker, in reply to Sacha,

    The machine in K’Road’s Brazil always impressed me with it’s exaggerated tubing, levers and whatnot

    Ducting? I couldn't even turn on the kitchen tap without filling out a 27b/6... Bloody paperwork.

    Ere I am J H....

    Since Nov 2006 • 203 posts Report

  • Carol Stewart, in reply to Rich Lock,

    A question that has been troubling me for some time: what the hell was Ms Potter on when she wrote Pigling Bland?

    Rich, I know the answer to that. She was having a dark night of the soul.

    In 1933, the novelist Graham Greene published an article about Beatrix Potter. He came partly to praise her, not so much for her exquisite illustrations, which dovetail so perfectly with the simplicity of the storytelling, as for the truthful and unemotional power of Potter's narrative voice. Greene had read Beatrix Potter's books in childhood, and, like his contemporary Evelyn Waugh, believed that her style of "gentle detachment" had exerted a formative influence on the development of his own writing.


    But Greene discerned something else in Potter's work. With his tongue only slightly in cheek, he observed that her great comedies - Two Bad Mice, Peter Rabbit, Benjamin Bunny, Tom Kitten, Mrs Tiggy Winkle, and Mr Jeremy Fisher - had been followed by the darker tragedies, Jemima Puddle-Duck, Mr Tod, and Pigling Bland. This pessimism reached its climax with The Tale of Mr Tod. Between 1907 and 1909, he wrote, "Miss Potter must have passed through an emotional ordeal which changed the character of her genius", though Greene acknowledged that it would be "impertinent" to enquire into its precise nature.

    Impertinent indeed. From the Lake District farm to which she had retreated at the height of her productivity and success as a writer, Beatrix Potter took the rare step of issuing Greene with a stern rebuke. She had been suffering from flu, not emotional disturbance, while writing Mr Tod, and in any case she sharply deprecated "the Freudian school" of criticism.

    Wellington • Since Jul 2008 • 830 posts Report

  • Carol Stewart,

    NSFW, but heck, it's science.

    Wellington • Since Jul 2008 • 830 posts Report

  • Russell Brown, in reply to Hilary Stace,

    I know you guys don’t much like the Standard

    I like Leigh and I think The Standard can play a useful role, but it was depressing reading a post about the de-funding of TVNZ 7 and seeing sneering comments about how I'd be too much of a lackey of the boss class to comment on it (ironically, I had already written a blog post about the issue) -- and that was from one of the regular bloggers. In the context of me potentially losing my job, that seemed tasteless and nasty, and it seemed to be gaining steam after I gently pointed out that I had indeed already commented on the issue.

    I really don't have time for people who act like that.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report

  • Josh Addison,

    Here's a random thing: Childish Gambino (that's Donald Glover (that's Troy from "Community")) has released his first EP free for download.

    Onehunga, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 298 posts Report

  • Jake Pollock,

    I’m just going to leave this here.

    Raumati South • Since Nov 2006 • 489 posts Report

  • Bart Janssen, in reply to Carol Stewart,

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 4461 posts Report

  • samuel walker, in reply to Jake Pollock,

    Strandbeests...Jansen is a genius.

    There aren't any good quality videos of his animaris rhinoceros online... But if you ever have a chance to see the full documentary on his work Loek van der Klis - Works of Art by Theo Jansen (2006) there is a great sequence that shows the creation of the beast, several trial runs, and finally the beest being walked through an urban environment...

    animaris screenshot

    Since Nov 2006 • 203 posts Report

  • Geoff Lealand,

    Russell lets loose a monster upon the world but, in the end, it all reverts back to bleeding discussions about coffee!

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

  • samuel walker, in reply to Geoff Lealand,

    bleeding discussions about coffee!

    I just discovered how to invert my Aeropress...gets the oil back in the coffee...so very good.

    Since Nov 2006 • 203 posts Report

  • Carol Stewart, in reply to Bart Janssen,

    Those ancestors may have used penile spines to remove the sperm of competitors when they mated with females

    Fascinating; just like the vaginal complexity of the ducks (or was it Isabella Rossellini?)

    Wellington • Since Jul 2008 • 830 posts Report

  • Sacha, in reply to Geoff Lealand,

    it all reverts back to bleeding discussions about coffee

    You'll upset the proletariat's guardians with talk like that

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report

  • JackElder, in reply to Carol Stewart,

    just like the vaginal complexity of the ducks (or was it Isabella Rossellini?)

    There have been studies that posit that the penile corona in humans serves this purpose (that is, removing competing sperm).

    I can't stand bloody coffee.

    Wellington • Since Mar 2008 • 709 posts Report

  • BenWilson, in reply to Geoff Lealand,

    I can't stand bloody coffee.

    Yes, it's hard to get decent blood these days.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 10657 posts Report

  • Jackie Clark,

    Okay. Here's my say. And it's all touchy feely so those disinclined may like to look away. I have belonged to PAS (the community) since the beginning. At first, I thought it was a very interesting place, peopled by interesting, intelligent, thoughtful human beings. (Which it is.) But having been online and around the traps for a wee while, I wasn't here to make friends. However, something magic has happened. Having had occasion to meet many of the members of this community offline, I have found myself slowly falling in like with people left, right, and centre. I am, by nature, a shy person - not someone who finds it easy to cope in large noisy groups, unless I feel completely comfortable. I have found that with the people I have met from this community, there has been, mostly, for me anyway, an instant sense of ease and knowing. It is a pleasure, and a surprise, to find myself being greedy for more offline interaction with those of you I have already met. I just want those of you with whom I have formed/am forming relationships to know that for me, there is never enough time spent just being together, and that I appreciate so much being included in this wonderful community. There. That's my say.

    Mt Eden, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 3136 posts Report

  • Russell Brown, in reply to Geoff Lealand,

    Russell lets loose a monster upon the world but, in the end, it all reverts back to bleeding discussions about coffee!

    Yeah, they had a few words about that in that Standard thread. Sure sign of the feckless middle-class elite, apparently. Just a short black before I'm put up against the wall, please.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report

  • Sacha, in reply to Russell Brown,

    Do you reckon that's the same bloke who was berating us all about instant coffee?

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report

  • BenWilson,

    Sure sign of the feckless middle-class elite, apparently

    Yes, it's part of my disaster survival kit that I have instant coffee. You never know what the disaster could be - what if it's a proletarian revolution? I can slip the instant to the front of the cupboard, video myself dismantling the machine with a baseball bat (actually I was contemplating that anyway, the fucking thing broke, and man vs machine rage is seriously addictive), and be the people's hero.

    Edit: Man, I never knew quite how addictive. That youtube is a parody scene, and there are like dozens of them. It's the new Downfall subtitles.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 10657 posts Report

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