Posts by Paul Williams
Last ←Newer Page 1 2 3 4 5 Older→ First
-
Hmm, isn't that the formula for the relationship between kinetic energy and mass etc - a mechanism for measurement rather than a definition? A definition of energy would depend on the kind of energy, kinetic, chemical, gravitational etc and would describe the effects of energy...
-
I should note that the thing a real barber is good for is a shave with a cutthroat razor. There's nothing like being wrapped in a scalding towel and emerging minus a couple of layers of facial epidermis. Makes a man feel alive.
I have finally accepted that nothing; no product, no expertise, no gazillion dollars, will make my hair do anything it doesn't want to do and have simply gone to a barber for a short back and sides... and a shave.
The shave only happened because my barber enquired what I was up to that morning which was hosting a birthday party for two-year olds. At this he offered to extend my stay in his comfortable chair for the princely sum of $11 for which I would enjoy a shave - the best $25 I spent in a longtime ($25 being the price of a haircut and shave).
-
A party's values are important sure, but they don't always appear to guide what they do and can often obscure intentions. The fourth Labour government is a case in point however I'm of the school that sees many of the decisions as creatures of necessity not of malevolent and secret intent.
But what about what National does, has done, may do? Of what it may do, we know very little thanks to Key's me-too strategy. Of what it has done recently and what it tends to do in government we know plenty. In recent times this includes reneging on promises to cut the super surcharge, enacting the ECA, introducing market rents and cutting benefits. Also, to be fair, National has done some good things even when its rhetoric suggested otherwise - on the one hand the fiscal envelope, on the other significant progress settling Treaty claims.
Does Key stand for more of this? Does he stand for less and/or different policies? Who can tell? Will there be tax cuts? Will there be a closer relationship with the US? Will he cut GST on petrol or was that just policy-on-the-hoof a la the complementary medicines scandal?
Again, at the risk of seeming very partisan, I like Key but don't trust him. I don't trust him not because I think he's deceptive, I don't trust him because he's not giving me anything to judge him by and I think we've all had enough of governments (of whatever hue) doing whatever they want. I also wonder if he's had anything like enough experience?
-
And I'd also like the Nats to tell us what they want to do when they get into power, but since they're slaughtering the government in the polls but dip a little in popularity every time they open their mouths I'm not holding my breath.
It is not unusual for oppositions, particularly National oppositions, to present a small target but Key's strategy is risky - if he doesn't front on issues, he'll have to front on his inexperience. Perhaps though he figures the latter is less of an electoral turn-off (e.g. Barack Obama's point re Rumsfield and Cheney being the most experienced politicians in the US). Still, I can't recall a potential PM being less experienced than Key (Lange was in parliament seven years before being PM)?
-
I'd not seen the Barack clip, thanks.
It does say something about the banality of politics that visiting a strip club is the most salacious gossip. It's all become horribly boring and sanitary. Yawn.
I don't think Barack will win the nomination, which disappoints me, but I do think the baby-boomers are in their last years... thank god.
-
Fantastic video. Viral campaigning is always so much better than mainstream stuff in the press/TV.
I recently lost a phone traveling and had get a replacement - I was in a hurry and grabbed a cheaper Nokia with bugger all features. I'd not swap it back now for the more smick versions - the battery lasts me three or four days (and is in constant use) and it is incredibly simple to use with fewer menus and sub-menus than any phone I've had in years.
That said, I still think I'll get a iPhone when they become available in Aust.
-
Perhaps, but come one... he's a filthy rich yuppie scumbag and we all know that they're perverts. :)
Craig, I know your comment was in jest but I do have to (mildly) object to the stereotype. Either way, I figure most heterosexual men have been to strip clubs at some point or other, myself and politicians included. I don't really care too much, although I guess if a politician was regularly visiting Mermaids until the wee-small hours you'd wonder why?
I only wonder why Key's been so quick to declare his own visit? If not to preempt some salacious disclosure, then perhaps to draw a comparison with Clark - who's responded in pretty much the way you'd expect?
-
I'm very curious to know what Key's been so quick to tell his tale? I doubt he feels there's an advantage to it, rather I suspect he's had prior warning of some anonymous tip-off to the press.
The only reason Rudd's little night out has made such a splash is because, as Russell has pointed out, both he and Howard are after the Christian vote. The rise of evangelical Christian groups is significant on both sides of the ditch - Hillsong was very popular last election - and Rudd's the first federal Labor leader for long time to have buckley's chance of challenging capital "C" Conservative Howard.
-
No worse than usual - a couple of dangling participles, 4 split infinitives, an over-abundance of puncuational operatives and a tragically missed opportunity of displaying your newly-honed skills in the area of gerunds.
Par for the course, I'd say...
Shouldn't that be puncTuational?
-
You've never heard Brendon Telfer commentate the netball then.
Pay that!