Posts by Kyle Matthews
Last ←Newer Page 1 2 3 4 5 Older→ First
-
any one that says the ploughshares could have got their point across as effectively in other ways is wrong
This logic is a bit screwy, isn't it?
If I thought the education system was bad, would I be justified in burning down a school? Or if I had concerns about the health system, would I be justified setting a couple of wards ablaze?
Schools do useful things, the covers on the dishes are actually just cosmetic.
I've been to the Waihopai base, as part of an Anti Bases Campaign protest. This would have to be the biggest spotlight that has been put on them in years and years of turning up and protesting at the bases by a number of committed activists. Absolutely it's been effective at getting their message across.
It's not like it's the first time anyone jumped the fence there. No damage was done to the infrastructure itself. They just popped a balloon that is there to provide weather protection.
Actually the primary purpose of the 'golf balls' is to cover the dishes as having them visible and out in the open is just bad marketing - it's bad form to remind the general population that there are big dishes there spying on them. There's no need for dishes such as these to have weather cover, and in lots of places they don't have any covers. From memory when Waihopai was first built, there was no cover, it was added a couple of years later on the one dish they had then.
The dish would have been turned off for a period because it had a kevlar dome collapse on it. If it didn't have the stupid dome they wouldn't have had to turn it off - the activists wouldn't have been likely to be able to do anything to the actual dish.
-
End of tsarism.
Collapse of the Ottoman Empire and creation of modern Turkey.
Beginnings of the collapse of the British Empire (the war was a turning point in British economic fortunes).
Womens suffrage (partly)
Beginnings of a world system to limit conflict.Those are pretty broad claims - both in that they were all good things, and that they arose out of WWI in some significant way. The British Empire 'collapse' I would have argued was more driven by the changing ideas about empire and colonies, and the changing nature of those colonies and their aspirations, which played out post-WW2. Britain wouldn't have held onto India, large parts of Africa etc, if it had been stronger economically - post-colonialism was a worldwide movement. The Ottoman Empire was pretty much done, though like Russia and the Tsars, it was toppled over the edge by the war.
Indeed, the arbitrary slicing up of much of the Western world at Versailles had a significant role in making World War II happen, along with conflicts in Yugoslavia, parts of the Middle East, Russia etc.
-
They were indeed, but Weber's is also good and probably comes without all the subsidies, sponsorship and huge price tag of the festival equivalents. So worth giving them a plug.
I've seen the past three versions of the Weber's circus. It's a good circus to take the kids - jugglers, clowns, balancing and acrobatics, wheel of death motorbikes etc. It's what I'd call a 'regional circus' - good enough to tour NZ, Australia etc, bring in the crowds. The 'story theme' scenes with whatever character they've chosen to hold it all together (this summer it's the Jester) annoy the hell out of me.
If you want to see an international quality show, particularly for adults, see a Cirque show. Sadly they don't seem to make the South Island. For twice as much money you'll see a show that will do things that you might not see anywhere else in the world.
-
Personally I've had little to do with kindie teachers since I was four, but I do remember them as having very little sense of humour.
Especially when it came to catching little boys seeing who could pee furtherest up the wall.....
Kindergarten? I remember all the boys in my class being taken outside away from the girls to be spoken to by our female teacher on this subject, in intermediate school.
Oh how we giggled.
-
My Ph.D. dissertation is currently bound by a confidentiality agreement due to intellectual property issues
Does that happen often? I've always thought of the concept of a university was that research (aside from that being done as a specifically commercial venture) was for the advancement of mankind's knowledge and had to be published.
We've had theses in our department (history) sealed to protect the individuals interviewed, or material that the student was allowed to access on the condition that they're not made available to the public (MFAT has allowed access to non-public documents sometimes on this basis). Sometimes they have a set timeline on them, others are sealed indefinitely.
In sciences I presume it's more to do with future commercial opportunities or future research.
But there's no requirement for a PhD to be published for it to be granted. Publishability is typically something that the markers would take into account, but the quality of the research and the conclusions is the prime factor. Presumably if the thesis is sealed for commercial reasons, the thesis is very publishable, the writer/university/associated corporation just don't want it published until they've developed it further and got appropriate patents etc.
-
In terms of actual utility, I'm not sure on mainframes, but old-style offices probably got as much work done on an early 80's Wang word processoras we do today on the latest kit. Modern docs are prettier (and you have to have pretty documents to keep up with the competition) but I'm not sure they actually add value.
You've picked on the thing that hasn't changed that much - basic text. The old mainframe would have only been capable of doing basic word processing, database, maths, simple programmes, email, telnet, maybe ftp.
The difference between the utility of the macbook and mainframe is video, youtube, facebook, every company having a website, amazon.com, data projectors, email attachments, dvds, video conferencing, photoshop etc etc. Our world is changed because of the difference between those two computers. 'We' didn't build the first gui interfaces, or indeed the first internet structures, with those things in mind, they came as a result of the computers and the network that we now have.
-
the Southern Cross on Abel Smith St has Emerson's Bookbinder and Pilsner on tap, $25 for a big glass jug.
My god. I hope it's about three litres in volume.
They sell great 1.25 litre plastic bottles of both the above at the brewery for... about $8 each. A dozen of each, some books, music, and a hammock is my dream summer.
-
The Albert Arms (on the corner of George and London Sts) had been a very, very good, unpretentious pub for decades.
What happened to the Albert truly was criminal. I've been in there and it's cleaner, far more boring, and more expensive now that it's the bog. Upstairs is still OK if you're looking for good pub food.
Though to be honest, for me it was never the same after (Celtic band) Blackthorn stopped playing on Monday nights. You could feel the floor moving up and down about 4 inches with everyone dancing when they really got going.
-
Good show Russell - interesting panel discussion, shame you couldn't get further into the Hansford/Listener story. The best so far I thought.
Your second button down open however? Too distracting. If you're going to keep doing that, you need a big medallion and flares to match.
-
Don't forget, we're trying to get into the top half of the OECD, and stay there!
What's this 'we'?
Personally I couldn't care where we fall compared to other countries. As long as it does what it needs to do with improving technology. I just don't think it'll be doing that unless we get faster.