Posts by Paul Campbell

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  • Island Life: Off the top of my head.,

    At least you got to see yours - I had one a few years back about the size of a $2 coin on the back of my neck - having it removed under a local was a most bizarre experience - I too felt every little piece, there was a lot of huffing and puffing, tearing and prodding - all behind me a tiny fraction of an inch from my spine .... and I never got to see what came out

    Cysts, it seems, grow their own layer of skin-like cells around them inside the cavity, apparently if they don't remove them all (all that tearing) they tend to come back .....

    I had mine removed when I lived in the US - when I first showed it to the doctor (worried about some cancerous growth on my spine) he tried to lance it but it had already turned rock hard ..... because of the wonders of the US health insurance system it took over a year to get it attended to ... even though I had excellent insurance removing it would be 'cosmetic surgery' (it was a fricking big lump the size of a half golfball on my neck) ... it took me a while and a couple of doctor's visits to cotten on that the doctor was subtly trying to coach me - "it was uncomfortable", "it was hard to sleep on my back", "it sometimes caused pain" .... once I managed to utter those magic words I was off to the surgeon to have it cut out (in a dingy doctors office, not the shiny white medical mecca I'd imagined)

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report

  • Hard News: At home with the art-hackers,

    I hope the microncontroller clicks with him - if he shows interest in actually making a board from scratch I recommend LadyAda's kits - easy to build, requires minor soldering skills

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report

  • Island Life: More billboards,

    Now we've got John Key
    We don't know what he stands for
    He's got a nice smile

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report

  • Island Life: Serving suggestion only,

    heh or maybe:

    We burned our bridges
    We're learning Maori

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report

  • Island Life: Serving suggestion only,

    Wait! we didn't say
    our branding needs to have the
    same blue as the flag

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report

  • Island Life: Serving suggestion only,

    actually thinking more about it it does lend itself to a haiku form factor ....

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report

  • Island Life: Serving suggestion only,

    I kind of glad they left that space in there on the billboard for people to fill in:

    Wave goodbye to higher taxes
    not your loved ones

    they can’t afford the tolls
    we'll be locking more of them up near you
    we're selling the hospitals, they can't afford to die
    ....

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report

  • Hard News: Go Us,

    And just to add to the confusion there's this

    "We have been blessed with five wonderful children who we love with all our heart and mean everything to us. Our beautiful daughter Bristol came to us with news that as parents we knew would make her grow up faster than we had ever planned. We're proud of Bristol's decision to have her baby and even prouder to become grandparents. As Bristol faces the responsibilities of adulthood, she knows she has our unconditional love and support.

    "Bristol and the young man she will marry are going to realize very quickly the difficulties of raising a child, which is why they will have the love and support of our entire family. We ask the media to respect our daughter and Levi's privacy as has always been the tradition of children of candidates."

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report

  • Hard News: Go Us,

    I guess I should apologise for vaguely starting this in this thread - mostly I guess what I was trying to convey was a sense of schadenfreude at seeing the swiftboaters get some of their own medicine, even if by mistake.

    I do still think she might really be Gidget though

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report

  • Field Theory: Out-yelled by Children,

    or maybe alive and spinning .....

    I've been thinking about afternoon vs. night games - their demise seems to be the main reason that's given for the poor turnout at Carisbrook and its rather controversial and overblown replacement (not to be called 'Carisbrook') - coming soon to a court near you, it's going to be a knock down drag out fight.

    Anyway they real fly-in-the-ointment is Sky - the rugby muckity-mucks have done a deal with Sky that requires night time games (for the Oz market) and no one wants to go to them when they can be warm at home. It's time they put their foot down and demanded a large percentage of day time games AND, more importantly 'blackouts'.

    For a living I design settop boxes for the US cable market - we're required to include software that will black out games within a certain distance of a particular event - typically a home game will be blacked out unless ticket sales are greater than say 75% or more

    How it's done depends on the TV provider (geographical coordinates, zip code, physical cables etc etc) any competent settop designer could nut out a design for Sky to use in about 10 minutes and implement it in a couple of weeks (after all they have a billing database telling them which settops are in which cities)

    All it needs is the various rugby unions to grow some balls

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report

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