Posts by Tom Beard
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I've said it before. Labour didn't screw the Greens in 2005. The Greens were unable to deliver Labour a majority in the House.
What if the Maori Party hadn't been the last cab off the rank?
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"Do you think that John Key's endless virtuous comments might come to haunt him?"
Yes, but virtue in politics is surely a plus. If he gets roasted one day because of 'virtue' then let it be.
For "virtuous", read "self-righteous".
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that interview with plunket this morning really was something.
i don't think i've ever heard the foreign minister sounding more tired. he only even managed to fire up about twice.
I noticed that. Though my main thought, bleary as I was at the time, was "this is going on a bit". I normally rely on the start of the sports news as my cue to get up and have a shower, but it wasn't until the 8am pips that I realised they were breaking with their usual schedule, so I ended up running late for work.
I don't mind having a lie in, but I'd rather not spend it in the company of Peters and Plunket.
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Just saw [Biden] in the crowd at the convention. With his unnaturally carrot-toned tan, and radioactively glowing teeth, he looks like a cross between a sleazy used car salesman, and something out of Miami Vice.
A pity. The guy used to have some real style back in the day.
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Now tell me what you love about McCain's policies.
Sage uses the word "Helengrad" unironically, so it's not too hard to tell where he's coming from.
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Late main meals are a luxury of the moneyed classes!
Definitely an interesting article. Though I wonder if it's a little Anglo-centric: aren't later mealtimes (9pm+) common in Mediterranean countries? That's probably something to do with siesta.
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One "early" habit that I can't get into is the idea of eating at 6pm. I'm much happier dining at 8pm or so, but that gets strange looks in some places. Is it a Kiwi thing? Or is it just that I've never had kids, and never had to get into a routine of feeding hungry hordes and getting them into bed?
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I believe that's the theory behind adolescents having a slightly different circadian rhythm - so they're less in direct competition with adults for mates and resources.
That makes sense: otherwise, the early teen would get the bird.
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I wonder if it is universal across cultures that early risers are valued?
It probably makes sense in rural cultures, and since most cultures have been rural until a few generations ago, the values of rising with the cock's crow are still ingrained. And it's only very recently in human culture that we've been able to light up the night and work whenever we want: if you slept in and wasted the morning light, it reduced the amount of time available for productive labour.
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"(It’s 3:42. I wonder what Turkish Delight is called in Turkey?)"
Wikipedia sez it's called lokum or loukoum.
That's the (dis)advantage of having a web-enabled phone: you can stay in bed and still check that sort of thing.
I spent about 7 years on rotating shiftwork. I could handle it at first, but after a while I found that I could no longer sleep more than a couple of hours after night shifts. On the plus side, I had an amazing amount of free time. On the minus side, after a couple of days I felt like I was in a third-person shooter, hovering a couple of metres behind and above my head and watching this other person stumbling around the world.
One lingering effect was that, since I spent my first working years having to consciously plan my sleep patterns, I remained acutely aware of what time I have to get to bed to get 8 hours' sleep. I used to get quite paranoid and antsy if I approached that time without getting near to bed, even though I've since realised that if left to my own devices, I'll probably wake up refreshed after about 7 hours.
These days, while I suffer from the odd night of insomnia (head whirring with ideas about work, writing or whatever), the main threat to a good night's sleep is a Mega Mai Tai at Matterhorn in the small hours of a Wednesday morning. Right, Robyn?