Author Archive

What can he possibly mean?

Chicago Mayor Richard Daley making a point about the limits of his relationship with Obama’s chief of staff Rahm Emanuel … “Sure I talked to him, I talk to him. Sure, I know about it,” Daley said. But Daley said he hasn’t offered Emanuel any advice about a mayoral run. “I don’t give any advice, […]

Lost or stolen part 2 …

Apropos this … Lost iPhone prototype spurs police probe Silicon Valley police are investigating what appears to be a lost Apple iPhone prototype purchased by a gadget blog, a transaction that may have violated criminal laws, a law enforcement official told CNET on Friday. Apple has spoken to local police about the incident and the […]

Of trumpets

In response to Perry’s comment: “Anyone who finds it necessary to self-proclaim their religious virtue should be treated with great caution” Yes Perry, I agree – your litmus test is useful. But context is everything. A “mask” of self proclaimed virtue in business (or, more accurately, SALES, like the spruikers we discuss here occasionally) can […]

Live by the ethical assumptions of your market – or change your soul?

Liars Poker and The Big Short author Michael Lewis responds to the SEC’s fraud charges against Goldman Sachs on Bloomberg … The Bond Market Will Never Be The Same After Goldman First para: If you happen to be sitting on the Goldman Sachs bond-trading floor life must feel horribly unfair. You did nothing worse than […]

So what do we think?

New Auckland Super City logo … . The logo for the new Auckland Council will be a red Pohutakawa encircled by a green koru circle. Not bad at all. It’ll get criticised, but personally, I like it and appreciate the elements of traditional native motif. (As you might expect with a blog called The Paepae.com) […]

How convenient

While we’re on the topic of authenticity and journalistic ethics… Research into the only known film of the Anzac campaign has revealed that soldiers identified as Australians are New Zealanders and Irishmen…. Soldiers in a vivid trench fighting scene thought to have been of Australians were the 5th Royal Irish Fusiliers at Suvla Bay, and […]

4G iPhone – Lost or stolen?

Stolen, in my view, and poor media ethics to boot. Here’s Jeff Bercovici‘s “Why Apple Could Sue Gawker Over ‘Lost’ iPhone Story”. I understand the moral calculus they used. We all feel intuitively that picking up something that someone else left behind is not as bad as seizing it by force, stealth or deception. But […]

Dean Letfus: the reputation he deserves?

Someone emailed me a link to an article by property economist Gareth Kiernan of Infometrics in which he sets out to debunk (pull the legs off) arguments proffered by some self-proclaimed ‘property experts’ like spruiker Dean Letfus in defence of the tax treatment of property investment. …So I don’t buy into the whole “social service” […]

The ethical answer is to side with the victim

A nice example of thinking it through to journalistic integrity from Andy Ihnatko on the rumour and scuttlebutt about the possibly stolen ‘new 4th generation iPhone’ that was ‘found in a bar’. [cough splutter] Key quote: Let’s get back to my original question: what would I have done? We’ll never know for sure. But I […]

Before the deluge – Jackson Browne

Some of them were dreamers And some of them were fools Who were making plans and thinking of the future With the energy of the innocent They were gathering the tools They would need to make their journey back to nature While the sand slipped through the opening And their hands reached for the golden […]

Great graphic!

I don’t know anything about this event (click on the image to read a description) but the graphic just pulled me in. Great work! I don’t have any association with this event. I don’t know if the logo image is original to ‘Kim Knight – Qi Gong Instructor Auckland’ or not, but I like it.

A few thoughts on copyright

Intellectual property can seem very like real property, especially when it is yours, and not some faceless corporation’s. As a result people feel that once they own it—especially if they have made it—they should go on owning it, much as they would a house that they could pass on to their descendants. from a short […]

Is cloud-based e-mail ‘private’? Depends who you ask!

From Google’s friend-of-the-court submission to a case where the US Dept of Justice is trying to get access to Yahoo users’ e-mail for law enforcement officers to read: “…users who store their e-mail in the cloud enjoy a reasonable expectation of privacy that is protected by the U.S. Constitution.” “Society expects and relies on the […]

SEC says “FRAUD”

So the SEC says Goldman Sachs defrauded Its own investment ‘clients’ and cooperated with Paulson & Co to effectively weight the bets against them — bundling bad debt then betting against the bundle. Engineering failing investments to sell to ‘the little people’, retail investors or ‘pigs’ is a time-honoured (but dishonourable) tactic on Wall St. […]

Bill O’Reilly is a shallow man

Watch this to see how shallow and glib a denial can be.