Posts by Gareth Ward
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On the Obama hip hop thing, I saw this interview a while back where he covers that off - and in quite a Russell Simmons way really ("the misogyny has to stop but the medium is a powerful way to communicate" etc etc)
And I still fail to see how the type of car you're driving influences the legislation around discharging a firearm at police. Interestingly the types of measures discussed in the Stuff article this morning are all quite plausible, but have nothing to do with stopping that sort of behaviour... -
OK... Why does the concept of sticking to your knitting (which presumably made the company worth buying in the first place), don't try and re-invent the wheel, and expand in baby-steps rather than jumping off a cliff to your expensive doom so hard to grasp? Really. Not getting it.
Normally the answer is because the buyers were private equity - that whole model revolves around delivering big gains very quickly because you've loaded the business with debt and need to get significant revenue and margin jumps to service that. But Yellow Pages seemed (at the time) to be a straight cash-game really, as I suspect they accessed the debt cash flow at very low rates. So I'm really not sure either.
The Trade-me question will be what eBay does with it? They're only buying the name (they have the technology themselves) so the question is are they buying it to turf it (and introduce ebay.co.nz) or buying it as a portfolio play to continue to run as it stands with the odd eBay intiative tacked on the side? -
I suspect our only body run along inquisitorial lines will remain the Waitangi Tribunal.
NOBODY expects the Waitangi Tribunal!
Our chief weapon is surprise...surprise and fear...fear and surprise.... Our two weapons are fear and surprise...and ruthless efficiency.... Our *three* weapons are fear, surprise, and ruthless efficiency...and an almost fanatical devotion to the Treaty.... Our *four*...no... *Amongst* our weapons.... Amongst our weaponry...are such elements as fear, surprise....I'll come in again.
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Beautiful stuff, as per.
When I was sitting in that (presumedly same) Ponsonby Scans'R'Us last year my nervousness took on the form of ranting about the "4D" images they were advertising. "It's a still image? What's the 4th dimension FFS?"
Quantum mechanics can help distract the nerves of the expectant it seems. -
I thought I'd get bitter on them when I first saw them, too. But now they've been in place for a while I think they're brilliant. No substitute for bigger roads, but absolutely a complementary device, for improving traffic flows and safety.
And backed up by some pretty impressive improvements in flow numbers etc if Transit's own reports are something you trust (admittedly many may not):
Data gathered since the signals have been turned on has given the following results for individual sections of the Southern Motorway (SH1):Curran Street northbound
* Improved northbound traffic flows on clip-on lanes on Auckland Harbour Bridge
* 18% - increase in throughput of vehicles
* 12% - improved peak period travel speedsWellington Street northbound and Northwest - North/Port-North
* 6% - increase in throughput of vehicles
* 4.5% - increase in travel speedsHobson Street to Market Road southbound
* 15% increase in throughput of vehicles
* 16% improved travel speeds
* Commuter traffic cleared 20-30 mins earlier during afternoon peak periods
* Safer merging and motorway incidents being cleared up to 15 minutes faster, to restore normal traffic flowsBetween central city and Ellerslie-Panmure, Mt Wellington and East Tamaki Interchanges southbound
* Peak period traffic flows have been significantly improved
* Shortened periods of congestion
* Motorway is carrying significantly more traffic during peak periods than before
* Travel speeds have increasedRamp signalling has been used for many years overseas as an integral part of comprehensive motorway management systems. The following statistics (averages) have been shown in similar projects in the United States and Europe, and are consistent with the expected outcomes in Auckland:
* 9% - Increase in throughput of vehicles
* 14% - Overall speed increase
* 22% - Decrease in travel time
* 24% - Reduction in crashes
* 91% - Improvement in the reliability of journey times -
The question really seems to be about a "clear line of fire" type decision. The aerial photos look like the AOS members shot at the truck with the van directly on the other side - questions about movement of the different vehicles etc make it all much more difficult than that static post-event photo though.
Seems like awfully bad odds fell the wrong way. And that's not particularly reassuring for anyone unfortunately.Traffic wise seemed fine for me - I even took the Southern Motorway to exit at Nelson St, with the expectation that the closed NW Motorway exit just before then would be chaos, but all flowed smoothly. Except for the two different cars swerving across lanes as their drivers tried to crane their necks over the barrier to see down the motorway. From all reports it sounds like it's a miracle there wasn't a lot more carnage around town.
Russell I certainly hope that old man turned out OK.
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Oh come on, that I'd watch.
Ha, very true, it would be great TELEVISION, just not great respect-for-the-historical-weight-of-the-moment I fear...
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if this doesn't melt your heart you don't have one ...
To me that's a frustrating mix of "wow, beautiful, poignant song etc etc" with "why in God's name is the whole thing cheapened by being televised with appropriate commercial breaks and piece to camera's?"
Charles' inauguration ball won't be hosted by Jonathon Ross and bought to you by all new Sunshine dishwasher powder...
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There's a rather touching image of Obama practising for the oath taken by Callie Shell of Time magazine.
While it borders on the obvious cliche, I still found this image pretty striking
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I just watched a clip of Beyonce singing 'At Last' for the Obamas' first dance at the inaugural ball. Sweet, and resonant on a few levels.
Certainly sweet and resonant, but what an odd mix of Telethon, Disney-Spectacle-on-Ice and historic occasion that whole televised thing was?