Posts by Sam F
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Muse: Merry Darth George Hathos Day!, in reply to Sacha,
Quiet year?
I wish. It's been extremely busy and haven't had much time to contribute although I never stopped lurking. Hopefully in the next year I'll have enough braintime spare to not only post more but actually put thought into what I write (rather than drive-by snarkings against easy targets like Garth).
Actually, Darth was never a neoliberal and has at various times railed against inequality and deprivation. It’s just a shame that most of the time he was blathering about homosexuals and stuff.
Precisely, which was what made his run in print so frustrating - occasional glimpses of what we actually needed to read more about.
I obviously jest in referring to it as an intentional troll, but oddly I'd almost rather believe it was that, rather than a seasoned journo managing to mostly waste a decade and a half of column space in a national paper for some mundane reason: maybe because moral panic was easier to write about to a weekly deadline, or because it drew more eyeballs and angry/supportive letters and emails.
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>Last Herald column of career
>Closes on the most vexing problem facing New Zealand
>Suddenly it’s unemployment and inequality, not immorality and abortion and the gays as it’s apparently been for the last fifteen yearsI expected a suitable capstone to a decade of trolling every reasonable person in New Zealand and I did not leave disappointed.
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Whoa - a margin of four votes in Christchurch Central...
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Hard News: Last Words, in reply to Ben McNicoll,
And I’m pretty sure I recall Pita Sharples saying something similar, or at least hedging his bets in that direction, recently.
Yup, on NatRad earlier in the week. He didn't confirm whether or not they'd support sales if consideration to iwi investors wasn't on the table.
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Hard News: The Politics of Absence, in reply to Kracklite,
I wish so very much that we had our equivalent of the Buffalo Beast’s list of the 50 Most Loathsome Americans. Of course it’s ad hominem, but that’s the point, and it’s done with such fire it’s admirable – something to stir the fretful sleepers, one hopes.
I helped put one together for Craccum back in 2007, but yeah, it's tough to replicate the punch of the original American version.
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No link on the Herald site yet to Garth George's superbly reactionary effort on this topic (well, sort of on this topic, it rather shades off into solo parenthood and the DPB and abortion and other related mortal sins). I am bereft.
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Perfect post for my almost-Friday - thanks, Russell.
So it's possible these days to access Redbaiter's insanity in one central web location, rather than having to ferret it out manually from blog comments? I feel old.
Also, having trouble registering the extent of my disappointment with the NZPA shutdown. I confess before yesterday I had no idea how it was funded, or how vulnerable it was to a sudden plug-pulling - I just got used to solid news stories with that unassuming little acronym trailing behind. And now, it's on the way out - plus a friend and great writer who I don't see enough of is now (I think) suddenly out of a job.
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Hard News: The Wall and the Paper, in reply to Russell Brown,
Just, wow.
Personally I've now passed the point where getting progressively angrier at Laws' progressively more offensive behaviour has given way to a calm, simple desire to see him off the airwaves and out of our papers permanently.
Anyone got a go-to list of those I should not be spending money with until this happens?
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Hard News: The Thread, It Is Open, in reply to James Butler,
Steampunk coffee machines
What interested Lord Vetinari right now was the device all by itself on a table in the middle of the room. It looked like a collection of copper balls balanced on one another. Steam was hissing gently from a few rivets, and occasionally the device went blup-
'Your lordship!'
Vetinari looked around. A hand was waving desperately at him from behind an upturned bench.
And something made him look up, as well. The ceiling above him was crusted with some brownish substance, which hung from it like stalactites.
Blup
With quite surprising speed the Patrician was behind the bench. Leonard of Quirm smiled at him from underneath his home-made protective helmet.
'I do apologise,' he said. 'I'm afraid I wasn't expecting anyone to come in. I'm sure it will work this time, however.'Blup
'What is it?' said Vetinari.
Blup
'I'm not quite sure, but I hope it's a-'
And then it was too noisy to talk.[...]
'And that's today's invention, is it?' said Vetinari.
'Well, yes. It would have been a scale model of a device for reaching the moon and other celestial bodies, but I was thirsty.' -
Hard News: Nothing important, just some tunes, in reply to Steve Barnes,
"And now they’re coming for your social security money. They want your fuckin’ retirement money. They want it back, so they can give it to their criminal friends on Wall Street. And you know something? They’ll get it. They’ll get it all from you, sooner or later."
Oh how I wish George Carlin had at least hung on to see the GFC and bailouts fulfil his prophecy.