Posts by Paul Williams
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Field Theory: Rugby World Cup stories, in reply to Russell Brown,
I loved how they just stood there and eyeballed each other for a while. Then the Samoans launched and the crowd roared. And the Fijians launched and the crowd roared even louder. Wow.
The Pacific nations' challenges are the highlights of any sporting competition anywhere on the globe IMHO. Sad it's only happened twice this tournament!
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Hard News: Auckland, so much enormity to…, in reply to Craig Ranapia,
Personally, I’m more concerned that anyone should be able to get a passport expedited by picking up the phone and called their Beehive bromance for reasons that should be too bloody obvious to require stating to intelligent people
I’m not so bothered. It is a step beyond ringing your local MP to help out but. PMs can and should apply the authority of their office to certain situations and there is a public interest in NZ brands, sporting or otherwise, being promoted offshore (I realise this is only tangentally connected but it is connected). Perhaps my personal circumstances are clouding my judgment, I once called on my local MP to help rush a passport application for my youngest (as it happens, it wasn’t needed, the NZ embassy in Australia rushed through the application well ahead of their standard business processes as it was for Christmas related travel).
Even if both parents have kept Aussie citizenship, the baby was born here and looks to be a NZ citizen: from the Internal Affairs website
In stark contrast with the children of kiwis living in Australia. My two youngest were born in Australia but becase we're not Permanent Residents, they are entitled only to NZ citizenship and passports. If they live here, I think, 10 years contiguously, they'll get citizenship automatically.
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Up Front: It's Not Sex, and It's Not Education, in reply to BenWilson,
My only real purpose in this is to assert my actual existence, and I expect that explains the existence of women who are also condom-reluctant. I’m happy to leave it at that.
I think that's a fair point and I wasn't arguing against it (though I suspect the word "some" might be inserted before "women").
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Ben, the following should not be misunderstood as a criticism or an argument with you; all men should expect and plan for any penetrative sex they wish to have with anyone to involve a condom (with the usual exceptions relating to partners and pregnancy). To expect or plan otherwise is indulgent. I don’t think women should have to ask a man to wear a condom, men should take responsibility for themselves.
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Wow George that is dramatic and beautiful.
Lilith, the genius of art is that I often think, "what thought process results in that notion"?
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Up Front: It's Not Sex, and It's Not Education, in reply to Jackie Clark,
Jackie, your kindy sounds ideal, and I love the idea of teaching zen, or rather incorporating zen, philosophy into the teaching.
On the issue of civics, I take your point that modeling the ideals is vital I also think being explicit about why helps. As part of the watching the rugby with my six year old I've made a point of explaining not just that booing isn't ok but why its not. It seems to help but I'm sure this is something you do as a professional I'm just, I guess, trying to explain what I mean by teaching civics albeit with a rather banal example (can rugby ever be banal?)
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Lilith_, that made my afternoon, thanks!
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OnPoint: Transcription of new Rick Perry…, in reply to 3410,
But then so is Lyle Lovett
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Equally and unsurprisingly weird, this RNZ interview with Meatloaf is weird!
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Up Front: It's Not Sex, and It's Not Education, in reply to Nat,
Didn't Fred Nile do a deal with Farry O'Barrell to pull the ethics classes in NSW Paul?
The deal's not entirely done or clear to be frank.
Rev Fred Nile did support Coalition legislation to cap public sector wages, which he threatened to block in the Upper House, but he's only got an agreement to introduce a private members bill amending the legislation that allows ethics classes which was (as you know but others may not) itself only amended last year by the former state Labor government.
IMO, what Kiwi kids most need is not ethics classes but logic classes. :)
I'm not necessarily of the view that logic is the antithesis of all religious beliefs even if it is to most of the traditional ones.
Incidentally, in my wish list, music and civics would be core curriculum. Jackie, you're at the cold front, what do you think?