Posts by Kyle Matthews

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  • Hard News: Bishop Brian: It's worse than…,

    Even if you were to accept the argument that it wasn’t the time or place at the actual conference (which I don’t), how would it not be the time and place in an interview after the event? We can expect a direct answer to a question such as (per your example) ‘Do you agree with the Catholic Church’s position on homosexuality?’ So why not here? Why was it like pulling teeth to get a straight answer out of the MPs about that issue?

    I can understand why they wouldn't do that either. To me it would be rude to accept an invitation to a church or something else, speak one thing while there, and then walk outside and say another thing to the cameras.

    You can't go to someone's house and be all nice, and then walk outside the door and slag them off, Maori or not.

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report

  • Southerly: One Hundred and Thirty-one…,

    I use the same tactic from time to time when riding around. I let the yellow high viz vest flap around in the wind, and if I’m wearing a jacket I let it flap around – I like to think that the movement of the jacket will catch driver’s eyes and I’ll be more safer. Perhaps I could make a long flowing brightly coloured satin ‘jacket’ to improve my chances?

    You might as well go the whole Priscilla Queen of the Desert :)

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report

  • Southerly: One Hundred and Thirty-one…,

    I remember the poor kid at school who always wore one back when they weren’t compulsory, and was mocked pretty much every single day about it, usually by the kids who had cars.

    That was me, except there really wasn't much mocking. I did that for about six months, and then Mum (through my Dad who was on the board of trustees) got the school to make them compulsory when riding to and from school. Probably not to make me feel like less of a loser, she worked at Starship Hospital and worked with kids who had had head injuries so she felt pretty strongly about it.

    And then a year or two later the law followed. Basically it's all my Mum's fault.

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report

  • Field Theory: Gruts,

    Otherwise, it is totally gay talk.

    Way to nose dive your post near the end.

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report

  • Southerly: One Hundred and Thirty-one…,

    Like David I work at the University and the thing that stops me riding in more often is concerns about bike security. I don't feel comfortable leaving my bike in a stand - even with a decent lock. The university has about 10 vertical cages that you can use, but not much chance of getting them.

    I used to have a big office that I just put my bike in one corner of and no one seemed to mind, but I don't really have an office any more, and certainly no where to put a bike.

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report

  • Hard News: We are all Twitter,

    But “they” couldn’t injunct Slater to stop revealing suppressed names?

    I think that's a case of laws not being able to stop someone being a dick. They're only able to try and deal with them afterwards.

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report

  • Hard News: Three months after,

    In some cases, it is. High-rise buildings in the CBD need to come down before anything can be done in the surrounding area. There are plenty of buildings that are basically fine but can’t be accessed or used until those highrises come down. the prospect of waiting up to a year for that to happen is pretty grim.

    But that's also not likely to be a problem of people not working shifts, 7 days a week.

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report

  • Hard News: Three months after,

    Surely not workforce planning issues exacerbated by cutting industry training programmes and apprenticeships?

    Given that there's a fair bunch of news stories coming out of Christchurch with people complaining that buildings are being knocked down too fast, I'm unsure if there's an actual problem that suddenly requires more demolition workers, more equipment for them to drive, or shift work.

    Especially since it's largely not going to be knocking the buildings down that is going to take a crapload of time, and a fuckload of money, it's building their replacements that will do that. One person and a crane could destroy a house and drag off the debris in well under a hundredth of the time it would take a second person to build its replacement.

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report

  • Hard News: Three months after,

    That's presuming there are sufficently capable people to run more than one shift. Maybe there are only X people who can drive the demolition machines, and there are enough machines for them to do a full week's work Monday - Friday. You can go from 40 people working to 80 in one shift if you can have them working all at once, shift work only makes sense if there's limited physical space of plant to work with.

    I presume there's a bunch of overtime going in already - I read somewhere about demolitions happening in the evening.

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report

  • Hard News: Someone has to be accountable…,

    Yeah, don’t hold your breath. It didn’t lead the paper yesterday and there’s no follow-up today.

    It’s only half a billion dollars, after all.

    Compare and contrast with the amount of coverage "Government ministers cost us between $300 and $2000 when they handed back their own drive cars to fix dings and scratches" got on TV a few weeks ago.

    I think whichever 6pm news show I was watching spent more of their graphics budget on putting each minister inside a little car on TV zooming across the screen, than the actual "expenses scandal" cost the taxpayer.

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report

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