Posts by BenWilson
Last ←Newer Page 1 2 3 4 5 Older→ First
-
Speaker: Confessions of an Uber Driver…, in reply to goforit,
I'm not deactivated, and have helped a few drivers in that circumstance get reactivated. But these deactivations were not for fines at all. The arbitrary deactivations have been for ratings falling below an arbitrary threshold set by Uber. I'm not aware of any driver being deactivated because they incurred a fine, or a cease and desist order, due to lack of compliance. Quite the opposite, Uber encourages these drivers to continue as if it never happened, and let them (Uber) deal with the tickets.
So separate issue, one that I'm far more keen to pursue. I think I've given enough on compliance now, considering that there are hundreds of people who get paid good wages to make that their actual job. I'm actually more concerned about the people being tricked into a shitty low pay illegal job, who are receiving huge fines and blots on their record whilst the instigator continues to hold the pay down, fire the staff arbitrarily, break the law at will and gets held up as a poster child in the war against the supposed evil taxi empire.
I do think that busting the drivers probably has some effect in the long run. But it seems like a very, very ineffective and expensive alternative to simply directly challenging this company in court with the legal powers of an entire government. Priorities here are very much broken.
-
Speaker: Confessions of an Uber Driver…, in reply to goforit,
I'd love to be able to answer whether that is true. Hopefully I might soon be able to. But I do know this much: They certainly undertake directly with the drivers who have been fined to help them. Not in writing, of course. It's always a verbal promise made down at the office by the staff who literally claim not to work for Uber when actually pressed on the matter by someone holding anything looking vaguely like an official communication.
-
Speaker: Confessions of an Uber Driver…, in reply to goforit,
Yes, I did. They're going hard again, which is good. I'm still somewhat in the dark about where these prosecutions actually go in the end, though. The claim that Uber defends them is something I'd like answers to.
I also understand that the CVIU is following up with the people who are leasing out their PSLs, with mixed success. Some operators have heeded it and stopped immediately, others are playing hide and go seek with the CVIU, something I can't see working out for them in the long run. Depends on what Uber does, really.
-
Hard News: Medical cannabis: a polling experiment, in reply to Ian Dalziel,
They’re that expensive?
Not really. Starting around $50. They have their place, which seems to be mostly light users concerned about the unhealthiness (and unpleasantness) of smoke who use it for themselves. Strikes me that they'd be not very convenient for group use, or heavy use, on account of needing to be refilled and recharged frequently. But for light use, particularly planned in advance, I can see why people would like them. I guess the concept is for people to have their own one, rather than sharing them around.
-
Hard News: Medical cannabis: a polling experiment, in reply to Russell Brown,
That’s starting to change with pocket vaporisers …
I'm sure they help, but they're never going to be as discreet as popping a pill. Cool devices though, finally something functional enough to pass the KISS principle.
-
Hard News: Medical cannabis: a polling experiment, in reply to Rich of Observationz,
How many 18-25’s in the Wellington region? 40,000? Dance parties are a minority interest.
Yup, and it's also rather hard to take dope in a private venue. I can see why it would not be popular like that. At a party at someone's house, perhaps more so. Not that I am disputing that it's fallen out of fashion. I just don't know. Gut feel is that if more different alternatives are available (and more certainly is readily available than decades ago) that the general tastes would be wider, so it's likely it would have declined as a proportion of illegal drugs taken. Rather like tastes in TV watching.
But I'm sure there's data out there that is better than the gut feels of an old man :-)
-
Hard News: Medical cannabis: a polling experiment, in reply to bob daktari,
saw it as old peoples thing
Also, it messes with your ability to dance all night. It would be interesting to find out what proportion of young people are actually much into the dance scene, though. I would think that it might still be pretty popular with people who are more into the getting pissed scene than dancing specifically. That's loads of kids.
It is interesting that the yoof's lesser interest in medicinal pot shows up in actual data, though. I wonder if the question were about recreational pot whether the position might reverse, and younger people are more in favour than older. Phrased this way, it's almost like a question about whether a new kind of drug for the treatment of Alzheimers should be allowed. Something that people probably care about in proportion to their perception of how likely it is to affect them sometime soon.
Certainly this is the way I feel about it. It should be allowed, but I'm not that passionate about it. Probably I'll care more as a I start to personally know more and more people requiring palliative care. But it's not really a particularly interesting or socially transformative question, any more than what dosages of morphine should be allowed in pain relief. Fundamentally it's still the state legislating strong control over this substance, taking command of when it can and can't be used, and in the case of using it for fun - still streng verboten.
-
Speaker: After the Apocalypse, in reply to Russell Brown,
was it my son who introduced you to that game?
He showed it to me at length, yes. Also, my former business partner, who is an avid gamer. It was an interesting concept, although ironically the idea of a post-apocalyptic FPS set in a nuclear plant had been done many times before - Half Life and such greats. But the creepiness of that game was that this meltdown had actually happened and the location was actually real. It's a place in this world, right now. If you go there, you will actually get radiation sickness from too much exposure. It's an idea made for horror. Added to that is all the secrecy surrounding it.
I hope you checked that medal for radiation!! :-)
-
Great story, Clinton. IIRC Chernobyl is the setting for a post apocalyptic PC game S.T.A.L.K.E.R. It struck me as bad taste at the time, but I guess bad taste is a hallmark of horror oriented post-apocalyptic works.
Very, very eerie place. Amazing to think that even now there is an entire industry just dedicated to containing the aftermath of this disaster, and it's nowhere near big enough. It's like a giant scientific graveyard.
-
Polity: Key peddles cynical “interest…, in reply to Matthew Hooton,
You may try to fight this one blog post at a time but prime ministers will do what prime ministers do
He may, and he will. I hope. Because that is how all wars that are won are fought. One little battle at a time. Sure, it's an uphill battle to inject sense into reporting on interest rates and the economy in general. But when it's that or lay down and die, I say keep on keeping on.