Posts by Ben Austin
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Surely it shouldn't be a big problem in Wanaka, given that the population must be well over 50% immigrant. Alexandra or Oamaru however would be a different story
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I remember growing up in inland North Otago where it was said that you were not really accepted as local unless you were at least second generation in the area. Apparently that has changed as a result of the various agricultural calamities of the 1980s then the dairy boom of the 1990s, but I imagine there are still a few hold-outs about
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It might be a rickroll
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Might I suggest that in future you consider adopting the principles of hands-off management when you see thing-ish looking things on the lawn that have an air of mowiness.
That way both your fellow team member (the lawn mower in this case) and your good person will be able to focus on individual strengths that better deliver upon desired known outcomes while also controlling negative externalities.
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Dear lord, that Immigration Act appears quite the nasty piece of work. I would have hoped this would have been more of an issue, but I don't recall ever seeing it mentioned it through my casual reading of the media from afar this last two or so years.
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Having now seen the original beachside piers in Blackpool and Eastbourne in all their glory I am actually rather thankful that New Brighton has decided to go for something new, concrete and spartan. I don't think the lack of a decrepit pub, ramschackle fun fair and a suspicious looking chip shop really is much of a loss to New Brighton.
Also, I work around Croydon in south London/Surrey area and it seems that whomever drew up the the plans for Christchurch was fond of these parts, if the regular buses to Shirley, Addington Village or Sumner are anything to go by.
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@BenWilson - well, I don't think its recalcitrance, more just that I am perfectly happy with the level of communication email gives, and can't be bothered picking up a new system. Although now that my honour has been challenged I think I might become a boorish Google Wave advocate and start spamming my friends with requests for blips. That'd teach them and their "email all contacts" social networking ways!
More generally - my parents and most of the family friends are stalwart National organisers/voters, who cut their political teeth back in the late 1960s. To a man (for the purposes of clarity assume this refers to women as well) they all are strongly anti MMP and have been for as long as I can remember. They will gladly vote against MMP when given the chance if their votes match their opinions. Now I do concede this is just anecdotal but I get the strong feeling it isn't an unusual opinion amongst the older Party members
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Damm, I knew my refusal to join Facebook would hurt me eventually. I now feel alienated and disengaged
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I would say though that having been a regular reader of the ODT, Press, Dominion Post (and the two predecessors) and occasional Herald reader I would very much classify all of them as regional newspapers. This based on their type of stories and focus
The web presence is perhaps pushing them into becoming national news-sources but that is very much built on the regional foundation
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What is meant by a functioning regional newspaper? Does that include the ODT? For all its many ills it does seem to do a reasonable job of reporting on the Dunedin area and to a lesser extent, Otago. I would also agree with Kyle about the lack of South Island coverage - the Stuff/Herald sites I only find useful for national, North Island and some Christchurch issues.
Anything outside of that seems to quickly veer into Oddly Enough/Disaster reporting.
Also - Tony - your mash-up is quite interesting although perhaps slightly more exciting or useful if I was in the right timezone. Perhaps we could bug the MPs to sign up to Google Latitude as well!