Posts by Rex Widerstrom
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giovanni tiso:
The Standard stands behind its arguments, it just happens to be an author collective
There've been some recent cracks in that facade though. First when I called "Steve Pierson" and (IIRC) "John A" on their toadying excuse-manufacturing on behalf of their new best friend Winston Peters and his band of thugs. Long story short I asked whether regardless of the donations issues they felt NZF worth supporting on its own merits or whether they were just propping up a discredited bunch of low achievers because they were propping up Labour. In other words, could The Standard really look me in the eye (metaphorically) and tell me they admired Ron Mark?
The only one who emerged to reply was Lynn Prentice, who took a "poster's opinions are their own, we're a collective but it's not anyone else's fault" line.
Then more recently there was the pass-the-bucket post by "Tillerman" on the topic of the PM's mountain misadventures which had "Tane" and other Standardistas basically apologising to the vast cross-section of commenters who'd hurled on their keyboards. Some Standardistas were even thinking aloud in the comments section about some sort of editorial policy-making being necessary.
Personally, I ted to automatically imbue a piece of writing with a real name attached with greater credibility than that written under a pseudonym. There may be a good reason for using one (you're a public servant, perhaps) but unless there is - and you state why - I have to wonder why you're so shy about standing by your work.
I think the fact that Russell et al are happy to use their names on PA and the fact that the quality of both posts and comments is uniformly high are not unconnected.
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Craig suggests:
And I might give the SST another chance if Ruth Laughensen [sic] applies for and gets the editor's job -- an actual journalist who's been doing some very solid work might be a good influence at the top.
Yes, yes, oh god yes!! (sorry about that). But the thought of the SST becoming a source of intelliget reportage and debate under the frankly excellent Ruth Laugesen is just about the most exciting thing I've heard in a long time (yes, I know exactly what that says about my life, thanks).
Perhaps we could start a movement to "draft" her into applying, lie they do with political candidates in the US. I'd chaeer till I was hoarse, with two provisos:
1. She keeps writing, not just editing; and
2. She makes at least giovanni tiso and myself (but I suspect lots of other people as well) very very happy by making her first order of business ceasing to pay NZ's most narcissistic and predictable "columnist" for his very very small "thoughts". -
"Winston's" blog site is in fact owned by - and undoubtedly written by - Frank Perry, the only speechwriter whose immunity to shame (or lack of better prospects, or both) has seen him remain with WP where others have fled.
As I have previously explained elsewhere Winston's familiarity with computers doesn't extend to turning on the mains, much less actually inputting anything.
It will be fun to read, though, as Mr Perry sees his hope of future employent following the party's polling down the plughole, when I expect the postings will become even more shrill and extemporaneous.
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I asked Whaleoil (and any other "anonymous" attackers of this girl, via Kiwiblog, what exactly made her so fascinating. I got a reply, but damned if it makes it any clearer.
I'm assuming this is some former "Big Brother" contestant? A reality TV hostess? A would-be singer whose daddy (or rich boyfriend) funded a single excreable recording?
Or have we now exahusted what I thought were the endless ranks of incredibly stupid media wannabes and sunk to making people famous purely on the basis that they're not entirely what they say they are?
In that case I expect there'll be a blog devoted to every bloke who tried to pick up a girl in a bar this weekend.
OTOH, there's usually a dollar or two to be made from this empty fleeting fame I gather (they pay BB contestants to turn up to discos and just stand there, apparently). So I'd just like to mention that PhD in alien anthropology I picked up at Area 51, my Zulu nationality, and my previous life as woman.
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John Schofield
To answer Rex Widerstrom yes the material from the debate and the other presentations from the Online Advertising Symposium will be available online at www.internetbureau.co.nz within a week of the event.
Choice! So fascinating user-generated material will be made available even to those who, like myself, have contributed not a penny to its creation. It will be fallen upon and devoured with interest, and will most probably lead to changes in the recommendations I put to clients who are establishing new sites.
QED, methinks. Just copypaste and you can email in your argument, Russell :-D
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Sure the whole "Slate" fiasco put paid to the argument that "paid content is king"?
Despite having some of the better-written content around, even the redoubtable Microsoft couldn't make enough to pay the piper, let along keep the king.
BTW can we access any of the Symposium material online? (After the event will do fine).
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Sorry, I should have clarified that when I said they're making walls out of polystyrene clad gyprock I wasn't referring to walls of dwellings, but walls round your yard (ya know, bigger than fences, as seen out front of ever self-respecting McMansion).
Okay look I'll give up 'coz I can't even assemble that furniture that comes with the pictures and the allen key and instead refer you here. It's an espisode of "Better Homes and Gardens". Scroll down to "Don't fence me in" and click the links.
As far as that sort of fencing goes, both the plastic lumber and the polystyrene don't look too bad. Saves trees, saves work, indeed what could go wrong.
While they're not building plastic houses in Australia (yet) there have been a few modular construction systems demonstrated on the ABC's New Inventors show, which features all sorts of "green" inventions (look for the "Channel Panel", "Quench Shower", "Southern Reflector", "Solid State Lighting" (very relevant when the government is spruiking fluorescents), "Wheelie Bin".
The plastic wall framing that someone's invented is the Panelform though I don't know whether they're making houses out of it.
And since I'm busy acting as an unpaid PR person for the ad-free goodness that is the ABC, and completely off topic, allow me to alert you to a new comedy that's set in the office of a PM that's obsessed with spin and glib "solutions". I could tell you the name but I won't spoil the fun - I'll let you gasp at the (presumably unintended) irony.
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Plastic lumber is, err, plastic that's made to look like lumber, actually. Can't imagine them going to the trouble of making it, then burning it.
There's a growing trend in Australia to making fences etc out of it because you never have to paint them and they never rot, and from a distance they look sufficiently 'real' to not dent property values.
But more exciting still is the increasing use of construction methods such as walls made of polystyrene sandwiched between two sheets of gyprock - cheap, mostly made of recyclables, easy to assemble, ready insulated...
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I'll start with a disclaimer: I've been advocating for e-democracy (a part of which is e-voting) since 1999. I was part of a group which brought Steven Clift to NZ that year. And I was Director of the NZ Electronic Electoral Trial - a JV between the Campaign for Digital Democracy (Calif.), Victoria University and my political consulting firm.
As a result I could easily write several thousand words on the topic (and will, if submissions are called upon a Bill to introduce it). But I won't burden you with my rhetoric here. Instead I'll urge you to read Steven's e-book and to Google and read the vast amount of critical thought given to the issue by Professor Stephen Coleman.
It's taking an almost physical effort of will to withhold those 3000 words, so I'll simply conclude by saying that this isn't a discussion we should fail to have simply because we're attached to the (albeit pleasurable and imbued with meaning) ritual of turning up to the polling booth, or fears of elite haxzors (no doubt employed by Crosby Textor;-) ) hijacking our elections.
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Yesterday's antics in the House have painted a clear and depressing picture of the choice facing New Zealand. Specifically, this picture and this picture.