Posts by Russell Brown
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Access: Autism, ABA and being a bad mother, in reply to BDB Inc,
Sweetie, you did not put him on a cross -she did and then another other thought it was funny.
It rather was.
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Access: Autism, ABA and being a bad mother, in reply to BDB Inc,
If you say you don’t like judgments and want a inclusive community should you should have put debunk “on a cross” ?
I'll take responsibility for that one. debunk, knowingly or not, was insensitive and then reacted in a silly way when I very gently suggested treading more carefully.
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OnPoint: Budget 2014: Yeah okay., in reply to Geoff Lealand,
I have not read anything about how Radio New Zealand, NZ Film Commission and NZ On Air fared in the Budget. Is it status quo for them ie further squeezing of funding?
The public broadcasting budget shrank overall because the digital transition funding ended. NZ On Air got an additional $500,000, but that only replaced money diverted to the Film Archive in the previous two years. So it's still basically a seventh year of the freeze -- which in real terms means seven successive years of cuts.
This government really does not like public broadcasting.
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Hard News: A law gone awry, in reply to BenWilson,
They can measure the drug levels of people in the crashes.
But they can't really determine impairment or even whether the driver had smoked pot in the past 24 hours. It's a very, very perilous measure to stake big claims on.
And the way that 72% stat is framed is dodgy.
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Hard News: Friday Music: Content with…, in reply to Ian Dalziel,
That’s Tuesday the 27th (not next Tuesday)
– just to clarify…Thanks for the save. Crucial date information accidentally omitted from the sentence there …
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Hard News: Friday Music: Content with…, in reply to bob daktari,
Chart boosting as you’ve called it is older than EDM and would no doubt stretch back to the very first compiled chart I’d wager.
Oh, sure, but it seems like it’s becoming pervasive.
Is buying votes any worse or different than asking people to vote the audiences lottery wheel of funding? Yes is the answer but only by degrees I’d suggest in response… @peace got a vote outta me today, I love the musical road they travel…
There’s a reason that hip hop acts have won so many TheAudience wildcards – they can mobilise their fans on the internet very effectively. But that’s very open.
Is it all that different than “paying” for a free download with a like?
Very different. You’re engaging with an individual listener. It’s a one-to-one exchange.
Gaming the system ain’t new… it just seems to be resident in a certain part of Mexico city currently – if only I could say the same for EDM
Some of these guys have nearly 20 million followers. If the single biggest source of Likes for every single one of them is a Facebook hype-shop in Mexico City, that starts to smell pretty bad.
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Hard News: Friday Music: Content with…, in reply to Rich of Observationz,
So Beatport makes a margin on all those fake downloads (the artist is just recycling their cut, possibly with the record company participating in the hyping cost if the musician has a very sweet deal).
Crocodile tears?
I think they're genuinely unhappy about it -- as evidenced by the no-second-chances policy they're applying -- because it smothers any real buzz that might be indicated by their organic sales. It wrecks their credibility.
The actual sales figures in dance music are small, but showing up in these charts is a way to get DJ bookings, which are far more lucrative. That's why DJ/producers will pay a company to generate sales that appear to have come from many different individuals.
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Hard News: Friday Music: Content with…, in reply to peter mclennan,
Heh. Of course you’d have found those much sooner if you’d only paid attention to my blog last year :-)
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From a reader not in a position to comment publicly, on security clearances and employment:
1. Vetting by the SIS is only for Confidential (CV), Secret (SV) and Top Secret (TSV). (Not Restricted as mention by Mark) There are also levels above TSV.
2. There is a big back log for vetting – months.
3. For SV (possibly) and TSV (certainly, I know!), you are interviewed by the SIS as well as your referees – so it is a time consuming process.
4. A security clearance is normally good for 5 years.
5. Your clearance not only controls what info you can see but which rooms/sections/floors of buildings you are allowed. (as well as which computers etc.) If you are on one of those floors/sections and your clearance expires without being renewed in time you will removed from the space.
6. External contractors have always been required to have clearances, when required. One only has to think of the big vendors who provide big iron and network gear to certain parts of the Government.
7. If you lose your security clearance you can lose your job if it is part of your job description.
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Hard News: Comedy Festival 2: The Genius…, in reply to Kath,
It’s definitely here already… I saw John Gordillo on Monday as well , and was thinking the same, that it wasn’t really a thing here – then today I saw this…
I tweeted him the image and he replied:
"Ugh. Fantastic."