Posts by Sacha
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Hard News: Winning the RWC: it's complicated, in reply to Rich Lock,
That's part of the joy, yes.
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Hard News: Winning the RWC: it's complicated, in reply to Richard Aston,
parts of it require an intuitive intensity that approaches art
The flow you feel when playing well is the same as most creative processes.
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Hard News: Winning the RWC: it's complicated, in reply to Russell Brown,
Position?
(and no, that's not an opening for Emma. nor was that) -
Field Theory: All Blacks v Wallabies Tensionfest, in reply to Rich Lock,
It wasn't the ref that made those kicks miss
You try convincing some folk of that though. He's magic, that ref.
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Hard News: Winning the RWC: it's complicated, in reply to BenWilson,
a talented athlete
is there any other sort? :)
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Hard News: Winning the RWC: it's complicated, in reply to Sofie Bribiesca,
Better example - main TV news bulletins on both channels leading with 15 minutes of the latest game before the "other news".
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Hard News: Winning the RWC: it's complicated, in reply to HackneyKiwi,
Seems it goes up whether they win or lose, and therefore it's really nothing to do with rugby but a lot to do with alcohol.
I don't have the reference but I read something reputable years ago that concluded family violence levels are actually higher when the supported team *wins*. And as you say that's likely to be a combination of basic emotional arousal and our immature relationship with booze and ourselves.
Whether the game is signifcant to any one of us, it has certainly played a role in the country's culture (and not a uniformly helpful one by any means). The added corporate cheerleading has stuck in many a craw.
the practical-creative thing
Our old friend, number 8. Richard Florida has been mapping the concentration of different skill types in the US - and concluding that social ones are strengthened in larger cities.
For centuries, the specific geographic advantages of cities tended to obscure their underlying social role. When agriculture powered economic development, cities grew near fertile soils. In the industrial age, access to raw materials and ports became critical, along with the presence of enough physical labor to run large factories. But as those factors become less important, we can see more clearly what has arguably mattered the most all along.
Cities are our greatest invention, not because of the scale of their infrastructure or their placement along key trade routes, but because they enable human beings to combine and recombine their talents and ideas in new ways. With their breadth of skills, dense social networks, and physical spaces for interactions, great cities and metro areas push people together and increase the kinetic energy between them.
As highly skilled people concentrate in these places, the rate of innovation accelerates, new businesses are created, and productivity—and, ultimately, pay—grows. Wages generally increase with city size, as opportunities for specialization and interaction multiply.
He tangata, etc.
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Hard News: Winning the RWC: it's complicated, in reply to jb,
grousing liberal
nothing wrong with a slosh of blended whisky from time to time.
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Maori TV have been replaying the 1996 series about the history of rugby in New Zealand put together with historian Jock Phillips and others. Great old footage and not shying away from the relationship with apartheid, etc.
The sport really has been a major part of our national culture and identity especially in the monochrome post-WW2 era. These days, it's not so all-pervasive and rock stars can be musicians.
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Josie Campbell breaks down the terminology of the commentators.