Posts by Ben Austin
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The sooner everyone understands how hard health rationing is the better, and that since we are all part of a state health system for someone to win others must lose.
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They showed Infernal Affairs (HK version) at a film festival a few years back in Wellington, maybe 04? Great big screen action film.
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To rehash a tired old donkey:
I subscribe to an EU focused information rights newsletter, and when I remember to read it they often have some interesting stuff.
Here are some links for copyright:
A US publisher's take on NZ and our copyright laws from 2007 - we are a "special mention" state.
Note they really don't like the proposed TPM provisions -
http://www.iipa.com/rbc/2007/2007SPEC301NEWZEALAND.pdf
An indepth examination of the history of TPM legislation - I've only read part of it so far, and so far it is rather interesting. -
I tried to think of something for this but they all involved me drinking too much, and while that was no doubt fun its not really memorable.
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Love that website, I'm not sure whether to be happy or angry that my site is apparently kosher.
I'll go with happy as I have friends in mainland China.
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The concern I have is that in large organisations this is just one more communications process/system that will be added to the list. It would require significant buy-in from the organisation (not just the IT department or blue sky senior leadership), let alone the community. Do people necessarily have time for this in their current practices? I’m not so sure. Having dealt first hand with attempts to get people to adopt/use message board/wiki/misc. collaborative/educational tools for government/business/university I am now incredibly cynical about how this actually would work out. People have enough trouble keeping up with internal email communications let alone a new high speed collaborate consultation system that integrates the wider public.
At the Blend event in Wellington a person asked how the SSC would actually ensure these new tools/processes would be implemented in a meaningful way, suggesting that coercive powers might be required. I agree with this, especially in the state sector where organisations retain control of their IT&T purchasing and processes.
It is not just a matter of building a system that the public feel comfortable using. It is essential that this system is easy to integrate into the government organisations that use it, that it is not unduly time consuming or costly to use, that all staff know how to use it and do. All this sounds pretty obvious, and it is, but it does not necessarily follow that it is an easy thing to do successfully.
As an example - David, how many people actually use the SSC promoted Shared Workspace tool in the manner it was designed/intended for? Do people use the collaborative tools it offers, or is it just a glorified filing system? Do you audit usage?
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The statute books can be an amusing read for sure. Something like this is surely one of those offences that never gets used, and in the US at least merely awaits an angry plaintiff to take cause with it and appeal to the SC?
Oh, and go to www.legislation.govt.nz and look up the Crimes Act 1961 - it lists current and repealed sections, many of which are very similar to the ones listed in this chapter. I note with sadness that wrecking is no longer a crime, perhaps it now falls under piracy?
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Sounds like an archaic law if ever I heard of one - let me guess, it either predates the 20th century, or it was passed in the 1920s?
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If one must be an unconscious cultural patroniser, I'd far rather it be over issues of pancakes, waffles and other sweet, baked goods.
Oh and yeah, that bakery on Willis St is pretty good, although I've always been a little more partial to the rhubarb cake from the Bretzel bakeries.
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I am always a little surprised when people tell me that they think morality is declining, or that things are more unstable/dangerous than they once were. I think perhaps its either because there is a strong myth that things were safer/more moral in some past time, or perhaps people are predisposed to think things were better “back in the day”.
I don’t get this really. Every time I hear these fears expressed I think about how much better my life is now that it once would have been, due to technology, social change and all sorts of things. Where is the crime in the streets? Where are the block long dole queues? Where are the boarded up shops, the abandoned commercial/industrial sites? Where is the public nudity, the drug addicts lying on the streets? How exactly is public morality in danger?
Sure, there is war in Iraq, and Islamic terrorism is not a myth. But this type of thing is nothing new, not in the slightest but things are not nearly as bad as they seem. Where we have Iraq and the US/UK today, we had Afghanistan and the Soviets in the 1980s. Where we have Islamic terrorists we once had the militant left wing/Palestinian nationalists. Before that we had Vietnam, and all the colonial liberation movements. We had apartheid South Africa and Rhodesia. We had NATO vs. the Warsaw Pact and the prospect of nuclear holocaust. We had Mao killing millions of his countrymen in stupid social/economic experiments (and any number of other dictators). What do we have today? Things may still be stupidly violent in many parts of the world, but so far as over all tension goes things are certainly better than they once were.
There is no evitable decline, things are getting better, and people are freer and safer than they ever were. I just wish we’d all lighten up and recognise this. What is so bad about living in a materialistic culture, where people don’t starve and human rights are so strongly protected?