Posts by Rich of Observationz
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if you want the engine & car schedules, toll will give them to you - you don't have to wait in the rain and count as they go through
Not sure what this was apropos of, but isn't it the end of trainspotting when that happens? A sad loss for youth - I guess it's WoW all the way from now.
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There are side band frequencies of reduced power and range that can be used, but there are big issues with those
Which don't seem to be that much of a problem to Fleet FM, Twisted, UP FM, Base FM etc. (E&OE here..)
Auckland's guardbands are fairly full I think, but every else (even in central Wellington) a twiddle of the dial suggests there is lots of free bandwidth. But there isn't any money in small scale radio - you have to do it because you want to, and maybe that's the problem for a country music station. bFM and Active both have excellent Americana/alt.country shows, as well.
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I think dance music has a different business model and a different (but obviously overlapping) audience to non-dance music.
DJs (as I undertand it) make money from, in order:
- gigs
- 12" (etc) mixes to what one could call the "prosumer" market - people who are into DJing at some level
- remix albums for consumers(The Tiestos and Paul Oakenfolds possibly make more on the remix CDs than on 12"s).
The record companies are not an essential part of this process. While a lot of succesful DJs are signed to majors, quite a lot are not - and Tidy Trax or Anjuna probably shift as much vinyl as one of the major-owned labels like Positiva (guessing here).
Also because (as Simon says) there are only a few dance radio stations and almost no TV exposure, conventional airplay doesn't really figure in getting a DJ noticed.
I think dance music is doing pretty well - established clubnights like Fevah, Twisted, Slinky can pack out venues - large venues in the case of Auckland. But if some government/industry promotion body wanted to subsidise dance parties featuring new NZ talent, then I know a few people that could do the necessary.
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Tom (Beard):
Ravers as the new bogans indeed! Mind, I did go into Super Cheap Auto in Petone at the weekend and they were playing hardhouse. The person I was with commented that if they play it in car accessory stores then it is clearly mainstream. -
Last time I went through LAX on NZ1, you leave the plane and are held in a primitive lounge area for two hours while they refuel/load and unload passengers/generally fluff around.
Because you are 'entering" the US, you are checked by a customs dude and get a green tag, which you then immediately hand do another customs dude (so you have been in the US for less than a minute). This must screw up their visitor stay statistics something rotten.
What they don't do is to security check you at any stage. So if you had an accomplice (like an LAX cleaner) hide weapons in the lounge area, you could get on the continuing flight with them.
Oh, and most walk-through detectors are adjustable. They set them according to level of paranoia / number of passengers / desire of the search staff to have a quiet day.
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PEOPLE WHO PUT THEIR SEATS BACK WHEN THERE IS SOMEONE BEHIND THEM
So unless the plane has every second row empty, one should not use the recline at all, ever? Maybe the airlines should disable that feature?
You could always buy two tickets and select the seat behind you for the imaginary person. Although, I think Ryanair charge per kilo for SLF* now, so you can see a per-metre charge coming in as well.
(SLF=Self Loading Freight. What airlines call their passengers).
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These are not watched substances.
These people have all the solvents you want in up to 209l containers. I'm sure they'd ask what one wanted it for, but a quick google reveals a helpful site explaining the (legitimate) purpose for all the main solvents.
Or, if you prefer an online site where you don't need to explain yourself, RS sell Isopropanol
in handy 5l cans. -
I didn't mean that Damien personally has a "social authoritarian agenda", I'm sure he doesn't.
I meant that the broadcast and print media in NZ does, and that the "dairies selling drug precursors" story is a clear example of this.
TV1 basically found a dairy owner/manager/lad behind the counter who was willing to mouth off and built this up into a story. The upshot of this was the usual "there are terrible bad things going on and we need to be protected". So many NZ media stories follow this model: boy racers, binge drinkers, gang members, graffiti artists - all needing to be suppressed.
I consider this a form of political bias. It's interesting to me that people in media (like Damien) who come from a fairly liberal background don't think this way.
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Lufthansa had in-flight WiFi, but they took it out, citing lack of demand (which I don't believe - it was only EUR20 a sector or so as well - it may well have been really crap and slow).
One thing with better entertainment is that at the moment, one main reason to upgrade is so one can spend the flight eating and sleeping. If I had internet, I'd be quite happy with a free seat next to me in the back (which you normally get when at gold airpoints).
The A320s are (or were) used for certain internal flights, usually around midday. So you might be able to experience this kit without leaving NZ, albeit for 20 minutes (and if they even switch it on).
Oh and I can confirm that the front of long haul Air NZ planes does have power. Though if you pay for the seat, the price would buy you six laptop batteries with plenty of change to spare.
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Drug abuse (and I don't automatically consider all use is abuse) is a health issue, and should be dealt with as such.
And is trying to restrict the availability of common household products a good way to do this? Especially as I suspect actual drug makers know how to get their needs a bit more subtly than walking into a dairy and asking you got the stuff for us to make P, bro
isn't there some South Auckland finance company offering usurious rates to people who can't afford to pay back their loans? Should I quit TVNZ too?
No, but I guess there'd be no mileage in doorstepping the advertising management, or indeed the responsible Minister, and asking how they justify carrying that stuff?
BTW, I think my comment was a bit snarly. It wasn't meant to be - bit it isn't often that we get someone from national media defending their social authoritarian agenda in a public forum.