Posts by InternationalObserver

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  • Hard News: Ready to Fly,

    Does Noel Leeming train its staff to make you feel like a dirty old man hanging around a kindergarten inside of a minute, or is that just a happy coincidence?

    Do you spend much time coming up with these colourful flourishes or do they just spill off your fingertips and straight into the computer?

    Since Jun 2007 • 909 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: New on the Street,

    Perhaps they could be convinced to post detailed lists/maps of where this capacity is going.

    Or come to our houses with hot coffee and fresh muffins and explain it in person. I'm sure Russell's Mother would appreciate that ...

    Since Jun 2007 • 909 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: Misquote Unquote,

    When after the Timorese independence referendum Indonesian paramilitaries set about the destruction of every road, school and hospital they built, I thought they had a point.

    Oh.
    My.
    God.

    Since Jun 2007 • 909 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: New on the Street,

    Beware the gateway broadband!

    I can handle it.

    Yeah, you could stop anytime you like, right?

    Since Jun 2007 • 909 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: Electrickery,

    for those that still care/are concerned about Obama's relationship with Wright. The Huffington Post have just reprinted this letter that Wright wrote to NYTimes a year ago.

    the letter is so eloquent I won't even try quoting just one part of it, so here's the HuffPo intro:

    In March 2007, New York Times reporter Jodi Kantor published a brief story about how Rev. Jeremiah Wright had been uninvited from delivering the invocation before Barack Obama's official presidential announcement.

    Wright responded by writing the following
    letter:

    Since Jun 2007 • 909 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: New on the Street,

    We want to turn as many New Zealanders as possible on to fast broadband.

    Beware the gateway broadband!

    Since Jun 2007 • 909 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: Slumpy Cashflow,

    Clearly a fool and his/her money are soon parted - here's another vid (for those who chuckle at others stupidity). Watch out for the chap who really does hand over his car keys because someone flashes a badge and says it's a Police emergency!

    Since Jun 2007 • 909 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: Slumpy Cashflow,

    As a general comment:

    I'm always amazed by the way people will believe anything. There seems to be a presumption that some sort of government agency is out there stopping dodgy businesses from taking our money. As if Acme Gilt Edge Securities couldn't advertise and take people's money if they weren't legitimate.

    I've always thought that even with my rudimentary knowledge of company law I could screw a large fortune out of gullible investors. If I was so inclined, which I'm not.

    In a parallel universe out there somewhere RB is running the long con. One day all his PAS readers on bizarro world will wake up and find he's cleaned out their online bank accounts. Who knew his site had trojan worms burrowing into our hard drives?

    Since Jun 2007 • 909 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: Slumpy Cashflow,

    Sorry, no sympathy, for private people to borrow to invest is just mad. Greed is not good.

    As others have noted already - you're being very harsh about a pensioner. But since not all pensioners are feeble minded it's also unfair to single them out as deserving of protection. There are plenty of low/mid income earners who were also seduced into buying 'investment' property.
    The NZ economy is/was largely unregulated and that always encourages cowboys to enter the market and rob good decent folks. How can you blame people for 'investing' in residential property when the nightly news was full of stories about rising property values and spectacular gains made. So it did make sense for people to 'unlock the equity' in their own home and use that as a deposit to buy a second one. Presuming you had enough discretionary income to service the mortgage (which was often not the case, but figures were manipulated to show otherwise)
    I'm sure everyone heard the 'let the tenants pay one off for you' type ads. Yes, it would have been good if people got better advice than simply attending a property investment seminar (where the people speaking all had vested interests) but [as has been already noted] the government was telling us all to invest for our own retirement and property was outperforming many other investments.
    Your comments smack of rabid socialism.

    by way of example someones-I-know of extremely fiscally prudent stripe, were literally hectored by their accountant

    Ah yes, accountants. Some of whom are as dodgy as a $3 coin. One f#ct my feeble minded father royally (and yet Dad still thinks 'it was all just bad luck').

    Since Jun 2007 • 909 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: A business most feral,

    heh heh - thanks for that lengthy dissertation on boysenberry cakes ... unfortunately I can't compare your story with a local version since I've not noticed them in NZ supermarkets either (but I will look now)! I'm not that proficient with the separate berry flavours either, which is why I also chuckle when I see the new flavour 'Wildberry' advertised locally so much. Presumably it's whatever berries the cafe/manufacturer has on hand - blended into one 'wildberry' flavour. But then again it may just be sugar and chemical flavouring and colour.

    If you're looking for NZ wine try googling 'Kauri Bay', I believe they have a distributor based in Japan.

    Since Jun 2007 • 909 posts Report Reply

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