Posts by BenWilson
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Mexted amuses me. I'd prefer him to Grant Fox any day. There, I said it.
PC vs Mac? That's a bit like reading Descartes these days. "What OS" is the real question? And the answer begins with L...
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Then again, if any TV station *could* lose money from having the broadcast rights to the Rugby World Cup in NZ, I'm sure a kiwi company could do it. We've already managed to hobble the Cup with the lamest stadiums in the rugby playing world out of sheer meanness and spite. So maybe the law should be changed to allow corporate profits to continue growing. That way when 4 million NZers get to watch McDonalds advertisements on Sunday during a major test, they can pat themselves on the back that even the religions of Christianity and Rugby come second to our true God - Scrooge. Then they can head out to McDonalds to save themselves the expense of eating nice food too, and wash it all down with Export Gold or whatever other disgusting beverage gets maximum air time.
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No offense taken in the first place. Sure I acknowledge it causes the station a hit in profit. But I actually don't care at all. I really don't. I don't own the station, and there were others that could have bid that have revenue streams that don't involve law changes just to keep corporate profits up.
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International
What business do you run Ben? How can TV3 make the RWC profitable if they can't run ads while the games are on? RWC charge huge fees for the rights - would you rather ads were run or the Taxpayer paid for the broadcast rights?
TV3 will be on almost continuously for several weeks. Sunday advertising will be a fraction lost to the station, and a big improvement for the consumer. Not that I really care, since MySky takes care of the ads you seem desperate to see.
And I run a business that doesn't work on Sunday. But it's not for religious reasons, I assure you.
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Of all the stupid annoying concessions to Christianity that we make, banning advertising on Sunday is one of them that is actually good. What are you guys thinking of? Like I give a rat's arse about broadcaster's profits. Getting exclusive coverage of the World Cup is likely to be well profitable enough, why argue for something STINK?
I mean honestly, how 'objectively alienated' do you have to be to get all bitter about NOT having more advertising?
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Since getting MySky, adverts have ceased to bother me at all - they could play them on Sunday to their hearts content. You do have to have the discipline to not start watching until about 30 mins into the test, but you do get the neat bonus of fast-forwarding every goal-kick attempt, the South African National Anthem, half-time, your choice of slow motion biffo, and you don't have to wait to hear from McCaw. Rugby jumped to a whole new level of appreciation for me.
But the temptation to watch the whole thing in arrears should be resisted for the All Blacks. I did that during a night out, and even though my Dad said nothing at all when I picked my boy up, I could tell the outcome just from the spring in his step. The trick is to estimate the ads, so that you hit live for the last ten minutes.
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I've been boning up on my igloo building and camel riding to cover all eventualities. And downloading wikipedia, of course.
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Happy Birthday Russell.
First program I wrote at age 10 was on paper to solve some task that would have been a real chore by hand, finding prime numbers. I didn't get to actually input it on a computer until about 6 months later, a ZX80 belonging to a mate. Worked fine. I still use the same algorithm to this day. No prizes for guessing what I do for a living.
Apparently those who cut their teeth coding on the low spec machines of that period are having a real nostalgia trip writing Java games and apps for phones, which are also low spec. Space Cowboys for programmers.
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But John, how's the coffee? :-)
Good luck with your plans. Mortgage free has got to feel nice.
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Most of the problem with our political economic ideas is that we even bother to have them. If people just got their own personal finances in order, rather than worrying about what the american dollar is doing, they might be better insulated against both.
Get rid of debt, unless it's against assets like property, pay your property off, save some money, and guess what, who gives a shit what policy the government is running? I really don't care what the tax rate is, what the interest rates are, what the government's monetary policy is, what the long term economic strategic plans of other nations are.
I mentioned that my exports are pegged to the NZD. That was NOT because I speculated on a rising NZD at all. It was because I wanted stability in my earnings so I could make plans. My business partner made a big mistake in not only tying his earnings to the USD, but also keeping his money in the bank over there. I finally managed to convince him that Bush was a fuxor by pointing out how much money he had lost by doing that.
You might say that it's hard to negotiate pegging to NZD. I say bollocks - I only had to ask. So long as you keep focussing on making your own shit better (in my case it is software), then you can dictate how you get paid, and plan for the future. There is far too much focus in modern capitalism on micromanaging economic statistics and far too little focus on BUILDING CAPITAL. It doesn't matter how good my accounting systems are, or how well I can pick international currency movements, if my software is shit and noone wants to buy it.
Anyone who seriously fears international crash should be doing everything they can to NOT be one of the little people when it happens. That doesn't necessarily mean being worth millions, but it does mean not running up massive debt for consumer items, or even worse, beer and cigarettes. It's a bitter pill to swallow if you've been doing that for years, but you have to swallow it or you will be someone else's bitch forever. No matter how clever you are in your understanding of politics and economics, both are ultimately spectator sports. No matter how much I scream my head off tonight, it's going to be 15 men who aren't me deciding how the game turns out. I would be foolish to let my emotional stability ride on that, just as I would be foolish to let my financial stability ride on the winds of international politics.
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