Posts by Ben Gracewood

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  • Hard News: Party central is hurting my head,

    "Not party fucking central again", I thought to myself.

    But then again: Party Fucking Central! A giant swingers club on Queens Wharf. That'll keep the punters entertained.

    Orkland • Since Nov 2006 • 168 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: Grade-A lunacy. With your money.,

    Which is still counter-productive and wrong.

    Oh absolutely. It's just one of the many scenarios that tend to get risk-averse corporate bunnies all lathered up.

    "But but! What if a screen scraping iPhone app gives someone the wrong bus time and they miss their bus and they freeze to death and we get sued!?"

    Orkland • Since Nov 2006 • 168 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: Grade-A lunacy. With your money.,

    Interesting; I can't find the offending paragraph on the Manukau Libraries site anymore - have they nixed it since the blog post?

    Yep goneburger. I sent them an email this morning asking what I should do if a friend asks me on Twitter if Manukau library has a certain book.

    Normally I'd give them a URL.

    Orkland • Since Nov 2006 • 168 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: Grade-A lunacy. With your money.,

    Ben, can you check the amended post and see if I've missed anything about the Auckland Council T&Cs?

    Looks good. I think they're trying to cover scraping and re-using with the "do not [...] make it available to third parties through a networked computer environment". I presume that is designed to stop people writing an app over top of the library catalogs, bus timetables, etc..

    In any case, it's a load of scallops. You could read that clause as not allowing any data to go through a router!

    Orkland • Since Nov 2006 • 168 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: Grade-A lunacy. With your money.,

    I'm at a complete loss. On the one hand you have Auckland Council agencies going off and spending thousands of dollars on new systems that are already in place with existing councils, then on the other hand we have this bullshit.

    As I said on Twitter: I desperately want the new Auckland Council to re-use stuff, but can we at least not re-use the cockups?

    Orkland • Since Nov 2006 • 168 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: Chicken soup,

    I don't have any chicken soup, but I do a mean pony soup.

    Orkland • Since Nov 2006 • 168 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: Research Fail,

    The document praises US charter schools. These have been allowed to pick the kids they want, run the school day as it pleases them, teach whatever curriculum they want (as long as the kids pass the standardised tests), and employ who they want.

    You only need to read Jolisa's last blog to see how wonderfully that works out. Fucked if I'm going to send my kids to a school where they replace the lunch break energy release valve with more lessons.

    Orkland • Since Nov 2006 • 168 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: Research Fail,

    I really don't get it. Am I missing something?

    From Stuff:

    The provider would only be funded two-thirds of the cost of the child's course, with the final third paid as a performance bonus when the child succeeded.

    As a parent of EITHER a top 5% child or a bottom 20% child, why the hell would I send him to a school with only 2/3 funding of my local school?

    Even if I were positive that my child would succeed, why would I put his education at the mercy of the teachers and other kids succeeding?

    Truly puzzled.

    Orkland • Since Nov 2006 • 168 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: Auckland: where only one man votes,

    (BTW, an interesting survey crossed my desk the other day if anyone has an interest...)

    Any idea who's running that survey Slarty?

    Orkland • Since Nov 2006 • 168 posts Report Reply

  • Field Theory: Webstock, rollin' with heat,

    Lovely post Hadyn. You hit the Webstock je-ne-sais-quoi nail right between the eyes, if I may be permitted to mix some metaphors.

    Orkland • Since Nov 2006 • 168 posts Report Reply

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