Posts by wasabicube
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The problem I have with 3D movies is the constant want to focus on stuff that's out of the camera's focal plane. I like to swivel my eyes about the screen and absorb the details. In 2D this is fine - I can accept what the director deems to be in focus and that which is out - but in 3D you suffer from believing that you should be able to pull things into focus. This hurts my brain. It's a nice idea but until we get on the spot 3D renderings that respond to our direction I say it's a gimmick!
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The Twitter-bashing in the mainstream media is more than a little perverse especially when, as you point out, the criticisms often come from pundits who've never used the service.
I've been a Twitterer since November 2006 and in thrall of the tweets since around August of that year and, in my opinion, there has been too much emphasis placed on Twitter being a micro-blogging "site"; too many comparisons with Facebook (sorry Russell), MySpace and the like, and too much attention on the competition for the largest number of followers.
Most people I know use Twitter via the API, rather than the web site, using desktop or phone-top applications such as Tweetie or Twitterrific. They use it to take a real-time pulse of the lives of people in their geographically dispersed network of friends and acquaintances. The also follow people they don't necessarily know but whose opinions and perspectives they feel will enrich their lives.
Whether it be water-cooler chat, public service announcements, news, argument, discussion, pithy repartee, customer research or a fantastic source of crowd-sourced wisdom, the bottom line is that Twitter is, foremost, a fantastic medium for communication.
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I was distressed and saddened by yesterday's massacre. However, as in your final point, I couldn't help thinking that carnage on the scale would represent an average day in Iraq. All, equally, innocent victims but the latter, understandably, without the in-depth media analysis.
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I agree with Che's enthusiasm for Park and Ride. In the timeframe this may just work to offset the need for stadium parking.
Given the geography and historically woefully forethought for the likes of rail in Auckland - (aside: I still can't believe that new subdivisions don't have a PT element mandated) - P&R is the only sensible option to quickly retrofit a PT system. However, we have to have secure and convenient carparks with frequent and reliable links to where we want to go. Otherwise we'll just take the car all the way.
I work in Mairangi Bay and on many occasions I've used the Northern Express into the city, for meetings, rather than take the car the whole way. The bus service is just about frequent enough and the cost is very competitive with the cost of running the car and paying for parking. But, both the Albany and Constellation Stations' carparks are often full to overflowing by 8am. Whose bright idea was it to put such a tiny cap on the size of the carparks? Considering the Northern Busway isn't even complete, I think this shows the sort of forward-thinking that the city has with respect to P&R.
If you can't park you're not going to ride.
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I do like the idea of an iconic, waterfront stadium and I can't agree with those that believe it will be an eyesore. I'm fully in agreement with RB with respect to the hideous buildings that have been sanctioned around Quay Park, for which there seems to have been little or no debate.
I'm concerned that we can build this thing within the timeframe - and it would be a crime to put up an ordinary venue just to satisfy the time constraint.
In addition, having lived on Dominion Road in days gone by and seen the parking chaos that surrounds a match, I seriously wonder about the carparking options that we'd have within cooee of a new stadium. Clearly an underground carpark below the venue would be somewhat tricky. I can't say I have much faith that public transport will suddenly mature sufficiently to alleviate the need for a significant increase in central city parking in order to cope with the stadium.