Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: We can make things better here

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  • Sofie Bribiesca,

    Dita De Boni expresses my feelings well this morning with her view of Davos and our representative fuknuckle. With Keri and Eleanor using their rights for freedom of speech also, the Harold has almost become palatable these last few days.

    here and there. • Since Nov 2007 • 6796 posts Report Reply

  • Ian Dalziel, in reply to Sofie Bribiesca,

    Dita De Boni expresses my feelings well...

    I liked that her sweetly sardonic tone continued into the photo caption as well:

    Britain's Prince Andrew was among the economic elite at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. John Key also attended the forum.

    One of these things is not the same...
    Nicely done.

    Christchurch • Since Dec 2006 • 7953 posts Report Reply

  • Rich of Observationz,

    Prince Andrew and John Key have a lot in common. Born in a state house, that sort of thing?

    Back in Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 5550 posts Report Reply

  • mark taslov, in reply to ,

    Perhaps you were misdiagnosed and aren’t dyslexic at all Steven, perhaps your English is simply of another time and another place.

    A time and place when a Tesla left us awestruck as opposed to merely being something we purchase to drive through gullies.

    Te Ika-a-Māui • Since Mar 2008 • 2281 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha, in reply to mark taslov,

    when a Tesla left us awestruck

    still. have you seen the acceleration on those things?

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Deborah, in reply to ,

    Steven, many, many times, the way you spell words has made me think new thoughts. Thank you.

    New Lynn • Since Nov 2006 • 1447 posts Report Reply

  • Rich of Observationz,

    Back in Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 5550 posts Report Reply

  • Bart Janssen, in reply to ,

    I was never diagnosed with dyslexia when I was at school. Dyslexia was not officially recognized until around ten years in New Zealand. I find that by putting it out there about the dyslexia helps.

    What I love about you is that you never use dyslexia as an excuse for not trying - as a result you inevitably succeed.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 4461 posts Report Reply

  • mark taslov, in reply to ,

    I find that by putting it out there about the dyslexia helps.

    For sure Steven, I’m surrounded by it; a good friend, my sister and I suspect my wife too. With the friend, she’d known from quite a young age, I didn’t really cotton on to the fact with my sister (who I’d just assumed didn’t sweat the small stuff) until she made an announcement over a recent rare game of scrabble, and only then could I see it. And with my wife, dysgraphia is pronounced specifically in her English usage: which I only tentatively infer due to the fact that in my experience Chinese students are – generally speaking – impeccable spellers of English to the extent that they’d put a lot of native users to shame (?):

    ” Other languages, such as Spanish, have mostly alphabetic orthographies that employ letter-sound correspondences, so-called shallow orthographies, making them relatively easy to learn. English, by comparison, presents more of a challenge. Logographic writing systems, notably Japanese and Chinese characters, have graphemes that are not linked directly to their pronunciation, which pose a different type of difficulty to the dyslexic learner. Different neurological deficits may cause varying degrees of difficulty in learning one writing system when compared to another, as the neurological skills required to read, write, and spell can vary between systems.”

    In many ways this form seems almost like the natural response to the insanity that is the English spelling system. Perhaps obliquely, as a left-hander I feel a sense of solidarity with dyslexics, struggling with the often arbitrary orthodoxy we're ensconced within, so I’m sorry if you may have felt like I was having a go at you, not my intention at all, I’m in no position to.

    Te Ika-a-Māui • Since Mar 2008 • 2281 posts Report Reply

  • Chris Waugh, in reply to ,

    I did however, revisit the Dyslexia NZ web sight just to check.

    Interesting website. This bit:

    Constitutional in origin refers to the fact that dyslexia has a substantive neurobiological basis. Brain research, including studies from Yale and Auckland universities, has shown that while it is common to use the ‘verbal’ left side of our brain to understand words, dyslexic people use the ‘pictorial’ right side – making them slower to process and understand language, but stronger in creative areas like problem solving, empathy and lateral thinking.

    ...reminds me of a couple of things I read about dyslexia and the Chinese language several years ago. Memory is hazy, but the basic point was that dyslexia exists in both English and Chinese but it functions very differently in the two different languages, thanks to the two very different writing systems, so that somebody who is dyslexic in English may well not be dyslexic in Chinese (assuming, of course, they learn to read and write Chinese) and vice versa.

    Wellington • Since Jan 2007 • 2401 posts Report Reply

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