Author Archive
iOS 5: Tips, Tricks & Hidden Features
OK, just because I upgraded to Apple’s new iOS5 yesterday (with millions of others) I’m not assuming everyone who reads this blog will be interested … but some of you might: iOS 5: Tips, Tricks & Hidden Features by Chris Herbert at macstories.com. Me? I like it so far. – P And, naturally, John Gruber […]
BSA finding: PM’s hour NOT electioneering — “light flim-flam and frivolity”
I did say in A dignified response to Labour’s complaint that I thought RadioLIVE would ‘no doubt’ have sought advice before going ahead with The Prime Minister’s Hour … it seems that was good advice — at least as far as the Broadcasting Standards Authority is concerned. See: Complaints over RadioLIVE’s Prime Minister’s Hour not upheld […]
Confronted with information indicating we are wrong, we get ‘cranky’
I listened to a brilliant lecture with Q&A on iTunes U last night by Eli Pariser, the author of The Filter Bubble. He was talking about the ideas in his book as part of a London School of Econmics Summer 2011 Public Lectures and Events. (Here’s the iTunes U URL [1 hr 20 min]. He’s […]
Birds of a feather?
Ha! I found this funny: I googled the term ‘disvalidation‘ this morning (I know it’s not a real word, but wanted to see if it was used, you’ll see why in a later post on the Filter Bubble) … and saw a web result that, on a glance, I thought had the word ‘education’ in […]
Drunken yobos spit in MP’s face, then skite to their mates like idiot schoolboys
Just yesterday I said “As I see it, [Trevor] Mallard cops flak from haters and nutters simply for being part of Labour’s online presence…” Here’s a case in point, from last night — via Cameron Slater and Twitter. How it looks to me: A pair of adolescent drunken yobos (Clint Heine and anonymous ‘inventory2‘) hassling a […]
Engaging, rather than demonising
I respect and pay tribute to people whom engage with others with whom they disagree — and I try to do so myself. I’m reading veteran BBC journo Peter Taylor’s book Talking to Terrorists. It’s very good, deeper than I expected, and insightful of the motivations of people involved in struggle. This is from the […]
Astonishing corruption at Murdoch’s Wall St Journal
Crikey. If this is how Murdoch’s flagship Wall St Journal operates, what’s going on in the background at Fox News? This tale of corruption, money-channelling and ‘news’ articles used as bribes to keep the conspiracy alive is devastating. It’s from Nick Davies who exposed News International’s phone hacking and police & political corruption … The Guardian […]
Hansard can be a real bitch, eh Mr Key?
Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers, Questions to Members 4 October 2011 – Hansard Hon Phil Goff: Is it correct that New Zealand’s credit rating with those two agencies is now the same as Spain’s—a country that National has constantly derided as being an economy in trouble? Rt Hon JOHN KEY: I cannot […]
A character reference for Trevor Mallard that I find more plausible
Long-serving Labour MP Trevor Mallard cops a fair bit of hateful abuse from the attack dogs in the NZ political blogosphere. He’s routinely denigrated and slandered by people with an obvious axe to grind — partisan political activists. You know the type. As a point man in the Labour Party he’s obviously a target for […]
Privacy? Not if you use Gmail
From Read Write Web … Google Hands Wikileaks Volunteer’s Gmail Data to U.S. Government Gmail users got a hefty dose of reality today when it was revealed that Google handed over one user’s private data to the U.S. government, who requested it without a search warrant. The contacts list and IP address data of Jacob […]
Bradbury: Martyr or moderated troll?
There’s been a reflexive kerfuffle about hard-left attack dog Martyn Bradbury being told his services will no longer be required as a ‘political commentator’ by NZ public radio after he read a billious scripted rant on a recent ‘discussion panel’. Let me be clear about my own opinion of Martyn: I think he is a […]
Getting to know your ‘targets’
Via Andrew Sullivan, via Cameron Slater over the weekend, this interesting New York Times essay by Stanley Fish on how public ‘enmity’ can be a precious thing, and ‘meeting your opponents’ puts you at a terrible risk of ending up liking those you criticize. Good writing. But how could Habermas ever be taken away from […]
