Posts by Logan O'Callahan
Last ←Newer Page 1 2 3 4 5 Older→ First
-
It's interesting how a crappy washing machine going for a reserve of a dollar looks like selling for about $200 just because the notice was funny.
I mean, I got all the humor out of the ad and I didn't pay a thing. (Well, unless I lose a dollar to Steve B.)
And generate $1000 for charity.
-
If anyone has any advances on: "take foot off accelerator, point wheel in direction you'd ideally be going, resist urge to slam on brakes really hard, hope for the best" ... well, I'm all ears.
Works in a rear wheel drive. In a front wheel drive you may actually have to do the same but get your foot back on the gas. This is to overcome the effect of the engine braking the front wheels.
As it's popular mechanic I'm surprised not to see: welding, fibreglass work, attacking something with a gas torch, spray painting. The list of useful DIY skills is endless.
Of course, the most manly thing is to pulp your thumb with a hammer or lacerate body parts with a saw. Extra points if you swear, grunt a few times and bandage it with a poultice of blood soaked sawdust before returning to what you're doing.
-
I mean I am pro-life, ... Basically I believe that no one should take another's life except in self-defence. I hate war, even wars that needed to be fought such as World War II, I'm against the use of many weapons, eg, nuclear, cluster bombs, mines, chemical weapons, depleted uranium etc.
Tess, I admire the sentiment, but on this you may stand alone among the self styled pro-life group.
As far as they're concerned right to life stops at the US border.
-
It's sad that religious lunatics kill people
They're not lunatics. If they were, they wouldn't be murderers.
.............
What they are is fanatics, inflamed by the people who preach to them. Sound familiar.Seems basic proof that in the eyes of some people terrorism is only a muslim thing.
BP, open your eyes. You're totally on your own on the murder thing. It's a murder, and the press, *all* of them, agree. They won't call the person arrested the murderer until he's convicted. But they're happy to call it murder.
-
Only now do National recognise the wisdom of paying down the govt debt. Far cry from 2005-2007 when they trumpeted the OBERAC surpluses as a sign of government greed.
Am I reading the budget financial statements right? National budget for a $1billion increase in spending on Govt personnel compared with the equivalent period forecast from the 2008 Labour budget? (a $1.5 billion increase over 2008)
-
The counter argument to not borrowing to invest, is that borrowing to invest is the key driver of the private sector. Leverage is entirely where it's at -- ask Graeme Hart or any property investor. Judgement is a thorny thing though.
Well put.
Same applies to PPPs. Govt can borrow at a lower rate than business. If it makes sense for business to borrow and invest in public infrastructure, why not for government?
Or, if business aren't leveraging, then they must be hoping for a better return than the govt debt, in which case govt might as well be the direct investor.
The only winner on PPPs is lawyers and deal brokers. Just look at something like the deal maker sections of Australian Legal Business over the last few years. PPP deals are part of the M&A gravy.
BTW: Maybe Bill has in mind that changing the tax distribution is not tax cuts. So he can bring down the top rate, and bring in/up something else?
-
That's one of the main problem with the current patent system - it's the death of a 1000 cuts
I think it can be proved mathematically that the inventive step required to secure a patent reduces as the field becomes more congested. The same applies to academic papers and doctorates.
When someone made the first motorcar people said "yeh that's kind of clever, but its really just an extension of applying steam engines to ships". Later on someone invented intermittent wiper blades and the world bowed in amazement. And now you're a genius if you develop one-touch climate control of the front passenger seat foot well using fuzzy logic.
-
Copyright only applies to certain types of "work". The Copyright Act has pretty specific definitions for "works" that attract copyright, and a genome isn't one. However a sequence listing could be a literary work, but I don't think an organism that includes that listing would be an infringement.
On the patent front the key issue is novelty and inventive step. There is a worldwide trend to apply these tests more aggressively. Sequencing a gene is no longer enough to get a patent. Nor is simply proposing an EST for the sequence (in USA it once was). These days you need some product with an actual purpose or function.
I understand that alot of genetic research on plants is about enhanced natural selection (eugenics?). Once you isolate the gene you want, you can test for it and select your breeding stock. I also understood that more glysophate (roundup) resistant crops have been bred using these methods than using GM methods.
lawyers disclaimer: This is not my technical field, so don't ask curly questions.
-
Mr McShane has had a serious bug in his bonnet about the RMA from when he was trying to develop his Kaiwaka lifestyle block.
I once owned a block nearby. Nice area, great views, pleasant climate.
I'd like to say that proximity to Owen was one of the reasons we sold up. But that was only a beneficial side effect.
And notice the hypocrisy: the local families are only a fly spec in time relative to this motorway, but the present generation should have the unconstrained right to exploit the worlds resources without regard to future generations.
-
[quote]Yes, my shocking, got a little over excited there, as by the looks of it, that's still over three times what most teachers earn.[/quote]
My estimate is gross fees not lawyer income. So the 222k supports the lawyer, the two extra non-lawyer staff and the overheads of running a business.