Posts by john shears

  • Island Life: Wake up and smell the…,

    Courage Mon Ami, Bon chance pour votre vacance, et Noel Viva la France viva Gascony .

    Great to have you back on line tell us some more about your travels as soon as you fully recover.
    John

    North Shore City • Since Nov 2006 • 21 posts Report

  • Southerly: Energy Special, Part 3:…,

    Thanks for that very interesting instalment David.

    Sorry to hear about the pride and joy having a hard time , I think I have mentioned before that the first 21 years are the worst .

    Re slaves the most recent example must of course be Russia & the Soviet Union. The concept of exporting criminals to Siberia started in the Czar's times and did not finish till after the Stalin era.

    This was the energy source that built the Trans Siberian Railway and mined the Yellow Cake for Nuclear energy for example.

    Looking forward to the next instalment,

    John

    North Shore City • Since Nov 2006 • 21 posts Report

  • Yellow Peril: My patch: Chinese whispers…,

    What a pleasant surprise to read your writing again, it has been too long.

    I really like the way you manage to introduce some humour into what seems to be a very sad if not sinister story.

    North Shore City • Since Nov 2006 • 21 posts Report

  • Hard News: Friendly Fire?,

    Some people really are silly.

    Yes , and some people are well known as Vice-Chair of the Business Roundtable, ergo the Roundtable is silly, I don't think so.

    North Shore City • Since Nov 2006 • 21 posts Report

  • Hard News: Brimful on the 45,

    Happy Birthday Russell ,Good Old Amstrad ,the first computor I drove also,I remember deciding to print labels for a mailing and there was a hitch in the programme that took me about 3 hours one evening to correct and then away it went. I guess an Amstrad would have thought a gig was a small cart pulled by a horse but it was a very forgiving machine to learn on. How we have progressed.

    North Shore City • Since Nov 2006 • 21 posts Report

  • OnPoint: Spoonfuls of sugar,

    Charles Dickens said it long ago remember?
    Income 19/6 spending 19/- = Happiness
    Income 19/6 spending 20/- = Unhappiness.

    There is this continual chatter from the right about how many people are leaving to go to Australia,Mr Key is always dropping into his conversation.

    I wonder when he will sell up and move over there?

    North Shore City • Since Nov 2006 • 21 posts Report

  • Hard News: The People's Choice,

    Congrats RB and all the team at PA.

    re the Law Lords and their decisions ,it is a fact ( thanks for reminding me RB) that they got it badly wrong as far as NZ telecommunications when they upheld Telecom by referring to an American piece of law which allowed Telecom to continue to be a monopoly and force many to have to grind through this exciting blog material on dialup. (T/C allow me to do it for $3.95 /month tho with no limit thanks T/C)
    They may have upheld the Law but they surely proved that the 'Law is an Ass' in this case.
    Did their Brit legal training not include the American Taft-Hartley Act and others that followed all aimed at breaking up monopolies?.
    David has always been innocent, in MHO,and this is another sad example of the demise of what was once NZ's leading city,a city that refuses to realise that they have not kept pace with the rest of the nation.

    North Shore City • Since Nov 2006 • 21 posts Report

  • Hard News: Art and the Big Guy,

    Bollocks. I love writing. I love it more when I get paid.

    Good one RB. On the subject of Art and royalties there seems to me to be some confusion. The original concept of protection of the rights of the person who conceived a new anything was to ensure that this anything could be enjoyed by all to the benefit of all rather than excellent ideas being hidden from the populace at large in case of exploitation.
    So we have Patents,Trademarks,Copyrights etc.
    and have had them for a good number of years,much longer than anyone reading or writing this thread and by and large they have worked.
    To say that the collection of royalties would be difficult is a nonsense it is happening right now and has done for many years,I have had personal experience in calculating and paying the royalties due.
    The difficulty with original works of art being sold at a higher price than the price paid to the artist is that we are not talking about a copy so copyright does not apply on the other hand we are certainly not talking about a product like baked beans.
    It seems to me that if the desire was there to support an Artist during his lifetime by the payment of some portion of the increased resale value of his work then there are likely to be enough lawyers who could figure a way of ensuring that this could be done in an equitable and workable way.
    A couple of instances that have worked well as far as copyrights are concerned are the Gilbert & Sullivan works which were very well controlled for 50 years after the death of G&S by the D'Oyley Carte Opera Co. who had the rights, and all Disney characters and any use of the original art in any shape or form on a world wide basis.

    Finally, even though a piece of graphic art such a a painting or drawing has been purchased the copyright belongs to the artist unless there is a written waiver of that right by the artist.
    Ad. Agencies make quite sure that such a waiver is signed even though the models used have been paid.

    Finally to rugby the other topic in this thread maybe some of the legals that draw up the contracts for rugby players
    (and the Americas Cup seeing as that has sneaked into the thread) could do some work on this in the off season.

    North Shore City • Since Nov 2006 • 21 posts Report

  • Southerly: By Popular Demand: Another…,

    At the risk of offending such a sensitive and caring author can I point out that you may consider it wise to edit this story in a minor way.

    It is a well known fact that blunt cutting devices cause accidents not sharp ones.

    Wish I had the money to buy the rights.

    John

    North Shore City • Since Nov 2006 • 21 posts Report

  • Hard News: Draped in their flag,

    (if you don't count flies and roaches)????
    Whoa!!! nobody, not even JH could count the flies in Aus. really!!!

    Russell I like you prediction that we will nedd to wash oiur hands a lot more in the elecronic future. I hope so but dried on towels not Flags please.

    North Shore City • Since Nov 2006 • 21 posts Report

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