Posts by Rachel Prosser
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First to start discussion (perhaps because of the complexity of the material you've brought us Hadyn.)
I want to dive in, but am not quite sure what to say.
Caster Semenya's physiology brings into question the issue of what is normal. It also a reminder that gender/sex isn't quite such an either/or case as we usually think it.
I'd hazard a guess that most elite, non-cheating, athletes will be exceptional in some way.
Instinctively, I'd draw a distinction between naturally occuring variations in human physiology, and deliberate interventions aimed at changing it by introducing artificial hormones.
It's tricky to discuss, because there's so much misinterpretation of research into gender differences - like Cordelia Fine points out http://www.stuff.co.nz/sunday-star-times/features/487630
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Diverting a bit (well back to Russell's revised post)
I was in the BNZ Central Christchurch branch today (waiting a bit for the computer to unfreeze so I could put the pin on my credit card) and looked around.
I was trying to put my finger on what wasn't quite working. You had to wait for the tellers in an avenue of shiny brochures - lots of marketing paraphernalia with pretty cartoon pigs, and the new comic sans-ish logo. Then there was the old fashioned bank/office block decor and ceiling tiles.
And then I realised that all the material was, like the pig, cartoonish artwork. It would look the same in Second Life as it did IRL. And there wasn't a photo of a real person (or anything real or natural) at all - bar one poster for a charity event.
Then I crossed the road and ANZ's material is full of pictures of the people it serves (or actors like them)
I wonder who BNZ is targeting? Kids?
(*I realised I couldn't spell paraphernalia - looked it up and discovered it was a term of art in law referring to the separate property of married women - clothing and jewellery appropriate for her station, but not part of her dower, or heirloom jewellery - the property of the heirs. Fascinating)
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It's all William the Conqueror's fault!
I think William was a Norman, hence the idea of "The Norman Yoke" on the anglo-celts who were there pre 1066.
"Oh- they're selling womens underwear"
I guess that's OK then
It reminded me of the great ad for Hanes using the Momix dancers
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Which reminds me, I've gone the super-courteous smiley " excuse me, I think you dropped something!" Usually produces a bashful response like "um, yeah, sorry".
But these women clearly wanted to mess up Sumner. Maybe they were anti its current residents because it's got so expensive to buy a house there now?
As for a cure, "Don't Mess with Sumner" doesn't quite have the same ring as the successful "Don't Mess with Texas!" campaign.
Maybe the little fence by the harbour where everyone puts the "Welcome back home"/"Happy Birthday" signs could have an anti-litter message.
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David, is the title of your next book "My Second Stabbing"?
Or is that work in progress?
Hee!
Or round these parts - Roflenui!
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Thank Rick - there's a lot of information there.
Also, good on you for taking on a voluntary role in a charitable trust. It isn't easy - there's a lot of accountability which goes with it (and that all takes time). Grant funders want copies and evidence and that all takes away from the time spent doing the stuff you set up the trust to do.
It's easy to be critical from the sidelines, harder to be the one taking risks and doing it. Mistakes get made, things are tried which don't always work, and at the end of it, any benefit you do get from it (by way of salary or other access) risks being criticised regardless.
I'd still be interested in hearing the Doug Howlett stuff. WhenI first heard of Kidscan, my impression was that it was Doug Howlett and Ali William's personal charitable trust, not the other way around.
Russell, it would be good to get someone from the Charity Commission or Society of Accountants to comment on accounting procedures for "in-kind"stuff. I suspect there's more than one way of measuring, each of which can be fair, but yield wildly different results.
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'Stereotype isn't argument either"
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It's Christchurch. Need I say more?
What Philip said.
Cliche isn't argument.
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Carter and McCaw don't have nicknames
Dan Carter is Desi, or DC
Richie is a nickname (short for Richard), but I remember Richie saying in an interview that Justin Marshall changed his website profile to "Fluffy". It was to do with his hair. That's where the nickname came from. Here's the man himself. He mentions "a couple" of nicknames but doesn't say what the other one is.
Richie's Confessions of a Crusader interview
And Dan Carter talks about his nicknames, and cold showers too.
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Last time I looked the teams from the country's population base were in the bottom 5 spots:
Northland, North Harbour, Auckland, Counties, Waikato.
Can't really see those 5 teams merging into one - even if it ended up that way!
Mind you, the provinces have less on to watch - maybe the Made For TV rugby would be more entertaining with large provincial crowds.
OB costs would go up though.