Posts by Stephen Judd

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  • Hard News: Obscuring the News,

    The rerun Daily Mail stories make me angry. The Daily Mail have been documented again and again to be conscience-free liars, and yet because their web site is very successful, they are admired by other online news sites. The fact that the Herald see nothing wrong with the Daily Mail as a source speaks very poorly of them. Not to mention that if I wanted to read Daily Mail online, I could go straight to the source easily enough.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 3122 posts Report

  • Hard News: Obscuring the News,

    Another thought (which doesn't just apply to the Herald site). When you live and die by analytics, the resulting feedback loops can be bad. In seeking to maximise the highest number of reads by the most coveted demographic, you eliminate the possibility of serendipitous successes. Things are positioned prominently because they're popular, and they're popular because they're positioned prominently... it's a recipe for long term sameness and boredom.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 3122 posts Report

  • Hard News: Obscuring the News,

    Tim has really put his finger on something with the stories that turn out to be news of the weird from elsewhere once you click through. Stories that would be mildly interesting if they were from here, but lose all relevance when they're not. My theory is that the front page needs to be regularly updated, so people will keep refreshing, and there just isn't enough news generated locally to meet the need, so fillers are found from wherever.

    Anyway, welcome to the slow death of news sites as they decay into a soup of undifferentiated "content".

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 3122 posts Report

  • Hard News: "Meth contamination": the…,

    Someone might like to enquire how much Housing NZ money has been wasted on unnecessary refits/cleanup operations. I suspect it is many millions. Obviously the human cost of turfing people on the street is pretty terrible, but there is also the cost of houses not built or repaired because money was wasted on the meth scare.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 3122 posts Report

  • Hard News: Back in Christchurch,

    Little Pom's is just phenomenally popular, every day. I don't believe there's anything to it beyond having very good food and service (albeit at matching prices). The car park is full every morning which indicates to me it isn't neighbourhood people, but customers from all over coming there.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 3122 posts Report

  • Hard News: Back in Christchurch,

    Is it a coincidence that all these images are devoid of people? I still find Christchurch places horribly depopulated.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 3122 posts Report

  • Southerly: Høstens Vemod,

    Just gonna leave this here

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 3122 posts Report

  • Speaker: Confessions of an Uber driver,

    Ben, don't you some kind of written agreement with Uber? Does it describe any indemnity, compensation, or similar language for loss, damage, and legal liability while driving? If not, there's your real problem.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 3122 posts Report

  • Polity: House-buying patterns in Auckland,

    https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/foreign-buyers-account-3-property-transfers-between-january-and-march

    The tax data shows that between January and March 31 2016, three per cent of property (buyers) transfers, involved people who are registered as an overseas tax resident.

    Land Information New Zealand began collating tax data last year to get a better picture of the housing market. However it stresses the data does not amount to a foreign buyers register as overseas tax residency doesn't mean the same thing as nationality.

    In the three months of data released, there were 45,114 property transfers.

    1158 were where at least one of the property buyers provided an overseas tax residency (three per cent).

    321 of those were tax residents of China, 312 were from Australia and 99 from the UK.

    When the numbers are broken down to look at the Auckland market, the influence of overseas tax residents is slightly higher at four per cent

    I don't think this is exactly vindicating, eh. Conversely I'm already seeing lefty nativists on Twitter convinced that the stats must be wrong.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 3122 posts Report

  • Polity: Is being a tax haven worth it?,

    Steve, when I see you posting links from a site called "Wide-awake Gentile" who is a classic antisemite, Jewish Finance type, may I just say: no, fuck YOU.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 3122 posts Report

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