Posts by Bart Janssen
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right-wing idiot populism where evidence just doesn't matter
The only reason this occurs is because of the lack of will and talent displayed by journalists. When journalists only want a one sentence answer then complex issues can never be explained. When interviewers interrupt and derail experts who are trying to explain things then the public never even has the chance.
The easy thing about idiot populism is that it is all soundbites and catchphrases. It always fits in the 20 second timeslot before the ad break and the idiot message can be written in the bold font (which is all the marketers believe anyone reads anyway).
Yet the public actually do care and will learn if they are given the chance – in spite of the bullshit that was spouted, most of the general public in NZ have a reasonable understanding of GE because the media finally published whole stories with full explanations – that the public read and listened to!
So long as we allow our media to package everything into 30 second bites we will always favour idiot populism over reasoned explanations.
including 9 years of economic growth
This isn’t quite true. The labour party did a lot of good things but our export economy needed more effort than it got and as a result a lot of the “growth” we saw was not sustainable. There were a bunch of smart folks pointing out that our “growth” was mostly overseas investment money that could be pulled out at any time. What we really need is strong export earning based growth – which is very very hard to achieve and really did need more effort form the Labour government.
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Yay for an Emma post and brain surgery jokes.
As for reunions, I just don't really know. I have some very fond memories of school and some very unhappy ones. I wasn't part of the "in crowd" but I wasn't universally hated either (I think).
I'm kind of curious what the girl I had a crush on for 10 years is like now, of course I'm eternally grateful I never had the guts to do anything about it because if I had I wouldn't be with my darling now.
I think the real problem is that even a couple years after I left school I was a totally different person and the friendships I had then just didn't make sense any more. And if I changed that much surely they would as well.
But some people seem to establish who they are very early and don't really change as much, or don't seem to. For those folks it makes sense that those who they liked then will still be people they like now.
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So very very glad to hear the surgery went well Emma. Take care of yourself and please let yourself recover properly.
It’s good to hear they were testing to ensure the appropriate bits of your brain were working. I hope the inappropriate bits are doing just as well :).
Lot's of loving thoughts being sent from here to there.
Oh and Karl if you read this out loud please use a deep masculine sexy voice, the one that makes girls go weak at the knees that I’ve been failing to get right for years.
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Good to see you guys didn't add another 30 pages while I away in Queenstown for a week (conference, not the gay ski week :)).
Megan - flats are just fine, after all you want to be able to focus on the food not your sore toes :). And it did sound mouth-wateringly good.
Throughout this thread I've been constantly reminded of some of the leadership training courses we had which emphasised that as far as the law is concerned harassment is in the eye of the harassee. It really does not matter what the other person thinks is normal if the person feels harassed then they are.
It doesn't matter how well intentioned I might be if I offend a girl with a comment then I have done wrong, not her. There is nothing she can wear or say or do that really justifies me offending her.
Which is an interesting problem for me sometimes because there are times when I notice a women's clothing as being very nice and would like to compliment her without ANY other agenda.
As for Queenstown, my darling found some cool beads and resisted buying boots. We ate out a few times and Botswana Butchery was damn nice food but fairly hopeless service. But everywhere in Queenstown is $10 a dish too expensive :(.
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I guess I'll have to explain to him that Merediths is no longer. [first]
And Cuisine only gave them 4 and 1/2 stars! Mr Meredith's food is still amazing even if Cuisine doesn't think it's the best.
However it was great to see O'Connell St Bistro get 5 stars and they even mentioned the dish my darling chose twice in a row because it was so nice the first time she'd tried it. But for me it was the steak tartare that rocked my boat mmmmmm
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If men are merely animals then they need to be trained or on a leash surely.
Since I don't like the idea of being on a leash I'm going to work on training
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It is my weekend, and in about an hour, I am about to sit down to lunch at the Restaurant of the Year.
Two things are required before you are allowed to post again.
1 A description if not a picture of the shoes you wear to this fine establishment.
2 A mouth watering description of the food
AM SO JEALOUS!
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teh interhosen
The internet is pants.
roflnui
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a woman's virtue being like a castle
Hey baby, can I maraud your castle...
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Men get out.
sniff bye then
skulks off into a corner to think fondly of thought provoking discussion that I am the wrong sex to be involved in...