Posts by Jeremy Andrew
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But I think democracy has one good thing going for it - it is capable of dealing peacefully with people who are clearly the wrong leader.
It won't happen overnight, but it will happen... Howard, Bush, et al.
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Almost every building and every wall (and they love their walls, the Afghans, understandably after decades of constant conflict) is made from a mud and straw combination. ). I'm reminded of a famous literary attempt by a few pigs that involved straw and can't help but wonder how these walls would withstand a VBIED (vehicle-borne improvised explosive device), or perhaps more likely here a DBIED (don't laugh – donkey-borne)
A nice adobe (mud brick - not photoshopped) wall would probably stand up better than a couple of layers of Gib and Hardiplank...
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My point was that it takes all sorts: I can't imagine anyone wanting to make a profession out of being an accountant, to me it looks like the most deadly boring job imaginable. But there's all sorts of people out there doing it, even some relatives of mine. Some people take a perverse kind of pleasure in getting huge columns of numbers to add up.
I feel similarly about being Prime Minister, it also ain't a job I'd covet.I think its fairly obvious that there's no tried and true way of being an ideal PM, or even necessarily a competant one - too many variables I suppose. That doesn't mean you can't look over someone's CV and take a crack at saying whether they have the experience and credentials to have a go at the job. I'd also guess that you could come up with a set of KPIs for the job and hold an annual performace review to assess how the incumbent is doing at acheiving them.
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Making a special catagory for those with political motives- "terrorists"- still seems to me to be heading down the wrong- dangerously wrong- road.
Its a valid point, is it a worse crime to plan to kill the PM than it is to plan to kill Joe Bloggs next door? What if your intent in killing the PM is to destabilise the Govt for some nefarious purpose? Is intending to destabilise, or otherwise weaken the Govt a separate crime, or a factor to be taken into account in the sentencing of the intent to kill charge?
Its kind of analogous to the Hate Crime and Home Invasion type legislation that pops up - is kicking shit out someone more of a crime if you call them a queer while you're doing it? Is beating someone up more of a crime if you bust through their front door to do it, than if you do it outside their front gate? -
Also, if it really is boring, then it seems unlikely to attract talented people. Again, not sure if that's a bad thing.
Like all the untalented accountants and auditors and clerical workers and computer programmers and <insert subjectively boring job here>...
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One of those sold to some crazy Dutch guy for US$200 in Australia
Just out of interest, one of what? For those of us whose work connections have Trademe blocked...
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I fail to see why I have to act as a go between for them.
I can see exactly why you have to act as a go-between - because you want a connection.
Of course, you shouldn't have to, but you have Hobson's choice. Roll on some kind of competition, not holding my breath though. -
You got the veiled allusion then ;-)
I also noticed that one shouldn't check the spelling of the word perineum by typing it into Google... not since they started including image search results.
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Perhaps even a surfeit. :-D
Yup
pleth·o·ra (plĕth'ər-ə)
n.
A superabundance; an excess. -
Anyone who doesn’t realise that Geoffrey Palmer was a former Labour Prime Minister doesn’t deserve to be allowed to vote.
There's a whole fascicle of 17-year-olds who will be voting next year that were barely born when Geoff had his 15 minutes of fame as PM.