Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: Angry and thrilled about Arie

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  • Lyndon Hood,

    TVNZ responds.

    No word on what the 'crime' in the criminal investigation might be?

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1115 posts Report Reply

  • bmk, in reply to ChrisW,

    Yes Hilary, there’s a way round it, but it’s inconvenient ain’t it! Hence my request for return to plain NZ time display, and see subsequent support and discussion with suggestion for option of re-setting as ‘x time units ago’ as a personal preference for those who might want.

    +1. Plain time is much easier. For example I may stop reading at 8pm at night and don’t get a chance to come back on to 5pm the next day. It is much easier for me to find the first post after 8pm than trying to calculate how many hours ago it was or being told unhelpfully ‘a day ago’.

    Another possible solution would be a ‘Go to first unread post’ that many other forums use.

    Not meaning to complain btw. I love this site and would just like to point out things that would imo improve usability.

    Since Jun 2010 • 327 posts Report Reply

  • tussock,

    Those with personal or family experience of Asperger's will probably recognise what was happening there: an autistic meltdown. It’s an overwhelming and disabling response to stress and confusion.

    Oh, shit.

    Right.

    Thanks, Russell, for another "that's what that was" moment or three. "Dissociation" being another term for that result, and can result from all sorts of sensory inputs for Aspies, not just high stress.

    So, yay, I've had quite a few dissociative events from mild stress, and the odd (mild, I hope) tantrum about being touched. So much for all the rationalisations that never quite made sense. That's all just more typical Asperger's things, which I just need to tell people I'm interminably not good with.

    <sigh> No wonder the bullies wouldn't give up on me in school. They could control my reactions far better than I ever could. More fun than a robotic dog, and not at all mild with the tantrums back then. 8[

    Shit.

    Since Nov 2006 • 611 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown, in reply to tussock,

    <sigh> No wonder the bullies wouldn’t give up on me in school. They could control my reactions far better than I ever could. More fun than a robotic dog, and not at all mild with the tantrums back then. 8[

    Aw, dude. I'm sorry you had to go through that.

    I've only realised via my sons that a kid I went to primary school with was undiagnosed AS. His circuit-breaker methods weren't subtle -- he would bite his own arm (and eventually, someone else's) when he got into a confrontation, to the point of permanent scarring. It makes me feel really sad when I think about it.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown, in reply to tussock,

    Thanks, Russell, for another “that’s what that was” moment or three. “Dissociation” being another term for that result, and can result from all sorts of sensory inputs for Aspies, not just high stress.

    So, yay, I’ve had quite a few dissociative events from mild stress, and the odd (mild, I hope) tantrum about being touched.

    The "dissociative event" wording is helpful for me in turn, thanks. That's what happens to our older son, he just goes offline. His younger brother experiences something more like a red mist.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Mandy S,

    So has this injustice changed your views on the Urewera 18 case Russell?
    Can you see now the ridiculous lengths the police will go to avoid being in the wrong?

    Auckland • Since Mar 2011 • 15 posts Report Reply

  • Islander, in reply to tussock,

    If we are lucky, we learn to say to those whom we love – Hey! I’ll hongi but I dont hug. Or, I really dont like kissing. Or, I really dislike people standing too close to me. But – if you/me get into a situation when there is no time to talk and people dont know you…well, last time that happened somebody broke my teeth and I broke 3 of her ribs. (Because it happened in a pub, and we’d both been drinking, we both agreed to let the matter rest.)

    I’ve made very sure, as best I can, never to get into that kind of situation again.

    Bullies at school* gave up on me very soon because I’m both quick & hefty & knew (at the time I was at school) several nifty wee wrestling holds.

    *Waaay back in the 1950s/60s it was normal to persecute people with glasses and people who read extensively & were good with words & -worst! didnt give a stuff about sports, clothes, or fashions in records etc.

    Has much changed?

    Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown, in reply to Mandy S,

    So has this injustice changed your views on the Urewera 18 case Russell?
    Can you see now the ridiculous lengths the police will go to avoid being in the wrong?

    It hasn't changed them in the sense that I already think that in the Urewera case the police put substantial resources into an investigation that did not turn out to be quite what they thought it was.

    OTOH ... Arie Smith didn't buy a gun with a silencer, or actively attempt to acquire a grenade launcher. I'm fairly sure in my view that people involved with the Urewera case did do those things.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Islander, in reply to Russell Brown,

    They also most certainly did try to buy guns with ineptly-forged gun licences-
    the Urewera18 people I mean.

    Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report Reply

  • DexterX, in reply to Stephen Judd,

    But, did TVNZ cross a line in interviewing basically all the participants but the police in a pending trial?

    I don't think so - I don’t watch TV as a rule; however, the stream of the Sunday “Tale of two light bulbs” is a great public interest piece.

    The court has made recommendations on three occasions the matter be handled by a diversion; this is a pretty good indicator of where it will end up. The judge is attempting to give the Police a face saving out which they do not have the wit to accept.

    I have confidence in the NZ Judiciary.

    The manner with which the Police have handled this incident is unsettling and unfortunate for everyone involved; including the reputation of the Police.

    This is a Police PR exercise going terribly wrong – I find myself asking; couldn’t they catch a real looter and why did the Police chose this man to be paraded in the full media spotlight as the face of looting - this parade oversteps the line IMHO.

    The Police have an inherently hard job to do and they need to do it better than this.

    Another tangent is, I am glad the police don’t carry side arms as they could have shot this guy.

    The public interest apsects are wide ranging and layered and go well outside the nature of the offence.

    TVNZ were right to run this peice as they have.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 1224 posts Report Reply

  • Islander, in reply to DexterX,

    +1

    Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report Reply

  • chris,

    Lovely writing on this return to the issue Russell, very sensitive, nice work. I have one question, I've heard other things along the lines of:

    "The items themselves were essentially valueless,"

    "two old-fashioned incandescent light bulbs"

    Which still leaves something to the imagination. Not being privy to all the details here, I'm wondering if someone would be game enough to calculate the rough value of these light bulbs in real world terms, if for nothing more than to put Arie's so-called loot in an even colder clearer perspective.

    Mawkland • Since Jan 2010 • 1302 posts Report Reply

  • Joe Wylie, in reply to DexterX,

    TVNZ were right to run this peice as they have.

    You can tell them so.

    They also most certainly did try to buy guns with ineptly-forged gun licences-
    the Urewera18 people I mean.

    Some of them, perhaps, but thanks to a near-dysfunctional justice system we can pretty much ignore such quaint niceties as the presumption of innocence.

    flat earth • Since Jan 2007 • 4593 posts Report Reply

  • Morgan Nichol, in reply to Russell Brown,

    Arie Smith didn’t buy a gun with a silencer, or actively attempt to acquire a grenade launcher.

    Grenade launchers aside, silencers aren't any sort of indication of malice in and of themselves, there are loads of silencers in use in NZ, they're completely legal, and completely common. They're not an assassin thing, they're a "protect your hearing" or "don't piss off the neighbours" or "don't scare off whatever you're hunting" thing.

    (Not that I'm any sort of gun guy or whatever.)

    Auckland CBD • Since Nov 2006 • 314 posts Report Reply

  • Sofie Bribiesca, in reply to Russell Brown,

    I’m fairly sure in my view that people involved with the Urewera case did do those things.

    So what about the jewellery maker in the flat in Wellington? She ,along with others were tarred with the same brush. Police acted in the same manner when dragging those Wellingtonians out of bed.

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

  • Stephen Judd, in reply to DexterX,

    I am glad the police don’t carry side arms as they could have shot this guy.

    Well yeah. The people who think the police should be dealing out summary justice need to realise that the police WILL make mistakes that can't be fixed as a result. Which ties in with the worrying report earlier in the thread that police after the quake were making it their mission to do so.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 3122 posts Report Reply

  • Jackie Clark, in reply to chris,

    I believe they (the owners) put a nominal amount of a couple of dollars.

    Mt Eden, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 3136 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha, in reply to tussock,

    Oh, shit.
    Right.

    Eloquent

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • chris, in reply to Jackie Clark,

    Thanks Jackie, 11 days in custody- that's sickening.

    Mawkland • Since Jan 2010 • 1302 posts Report Reply

  • Sofie Bribiesca, in reply to chris,

    Yep, and bet ya that ain't standard either. Can't be sure tho' ,never took anything

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

  • Islander, in reply to Morgan Nichol,

    Silencers are normal for people targeting rabbits/hares/possums in any rural situation. You do still have neightbours in remote areas, and - if you're out at nights - why bother them?

    Mind you, the noise a .22 makes...I'd prefer those silly bastards who shoot back up towards the Trig, or out on the beach, to have silencers on their .222/223/243's and esp. the 303/8's.. THEY do wake me up-

    Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report Reply

  • nzlemming, in reply to tussock,

    No wonder the bullies wouldn't give up on me in school. They could control my reactions far better than I ever could. More fun than a robotic dog, and not at all mild with the tantrums back then

    Yup. Explains a lot for me too. Red mist, totally fearless but completely uncoordinated. Heh, and they wonder why I don't want anything to do with the old boys' association.

    Waikanae • Since Nov 2006 • 2937 posts Report Reply

  • Hilary Stace, in reply to chris,

    The light bulbs (and switches) had no value to anyone but Arie (or someone like him). It was a condemned demolition site (pre all earthquakes).

    Wgtn • Since Jun 2008 • 3229 posts Report Reply

  • Hilary Stace,

    $2 was mentioned.

    Wgtn • Since Jun 2008 • 3229 posts Report Reply

  • Biobbs,

    As an expat, most days I am proud to tell people over here what country I come from, when they ask.

    Today isn't one of those days.

    The River Mouth, Denmark • Since Jan 2011 • 114 posts Report Reply

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