The Paepae | . . . hosted by Peter Aranyi @ Page 107

2 Comments »

Bless this guy and his team for showing the frailty of the hypocrisy and falsely alarmist nature of the ‘claims’ by the religious right … and pulling out Charlton Heston’s principled speech…

… showing their attempted selective application of the ‘founding principles’ of the US Constitution so well.
Watch the video below the fold… Continue reading →

Big Questions

religion

‘The problem with Google is that Eric Schmidt is creepy’

Posted in 21 August 2010

Big Questions - Writing/Publishing

3 Comments »

Not just for geeks: Here’s a really thoughtful post about Google, culture, and information privacy.

From John Gruber.

Well worth your time to read. And I like the way he’s unafraid to mention the FACT that people’s personality, ethics and character can lead their decision-making. Good on him. – P

geek, Google, online life

The future of publishing?

Posted in 21 August 2010

Olly Newland with interest.co.nz's Bernard Hickey see ollynewland.co.nz

Olly Newland and Bernard Hickey on the set at interest.co.nz (click to watch the interview at ollynewland.co.nz)

I had the pleasure a week or so ago of accompanying one of my authors Olly Newland on a visit to the interest.co.nz offices. The Auckland-based e-publishing business seems like a success story by any measure.

Its nearly ubiquitous host, journalist Bernard Hickey provokes ALL sorts of comment — good and bad — on a regular basis by his sometimes outlandish (and almost always perceived as partisan) statements on various matters financial and investment-related.

Bernard garners bagloads of ‘F R E E’ publicity and branding for interest.co.nz (as well as the revolted discontent of those who see themselves as his rivals) by apparently being ever available to the news media and his almost tireless efforts to seemingly be everywhere and make comment on everything in his niche. It’s paying off, as much as e-publishing can, I think. (I hope it is.) Certainly in terms of ‘positioning’ and ‘mindshare’ in their niche, these guys are tops.

In my observation, a lot of people enjoy a good argument — particularly men who spend much of their time justifying past decisions or denying fault of any type. (ahem) So the interest.co.nz comment stream is one long bunfight of conflicting opinions … particularly after one of Olly’s columns is published there … great! Continue reading →

Business/Investment - Media issues - Writing/Publishing

Bernard Hickey, journalism, online life

Wedge issue

Posted in 20 August 2010

In what’s showing up as a litmus test in the run up to the US November elections, my hero Senator Al Franken author of Lies – And the Lying Liars Who Tell Them is, as expected, speaking to uphold and defend the US Constitution.*

Franken said conservative opposition to the mosque is “one of the most disgraceful things that I’ve heard.”

“I don’t know how many of you have been to New York, but if a building is two blocks away from anything, you can’t see it. It’s a community center. They’re going to have a gym. They’re going to have point guards. Muslim point guards,” Franken said, to laughter and applause.

“They (Republicans) do this every two years. They try to find a wedge issue, and they try to work it.” source

Yeah. That’s how I’m perceiving it too.

Franken also reportedly called out former House Speaker Newt Gingrich specifically for incendiary comments about the proposed religious center earlier this week.

“The most offensive thing I heard was from Newt Gingrich: ‘We can’t let the Nazis put up a building next to the Holocaust Museum,” asserted the Democratic Senator. “That’s equating all Muslims with Al Quaida. George W. Bush said Al Quaida is ‘a perversion of Islam.'” source

Where do these guys get off?

Read this:

The religious right want this to apply to WHO, exactly?

From Answers.com

The first ten amendments were presented and ratified with the Constitution [15 December 1791]. The Constitution would probably not have been ratified without the rights guaranteed to the states and people in these amendments, which are called the Bill of Rights.

*This is what US Senators swear…

* OATH OF OFFICE for Congressmen, Senators of the United States:

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.

The US President swears this:

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.

Big Questions

Al Franken, religion, telling the truth

Another con

Posted in 19 August 2010

image: Daily Telegraph article (click)

In my in-box today … Does this con actually work? Have you heard of anyone falling for it? Really?

Hi,
Its me Mike I really don’t mean to inconvenience you right now, I made a little trip to UK and I misplaced my passport and credit cards,please I know this may sound odd, but it all happened very fast. I need to get a new passport, and get on the next available flight home. I’ve been to the US embassy, they’re willing to help, but I’m out of cash and I have minimum access from here. Can you loan me some money and I’ll be willing to repay you as soon as I get home.

Please reply as soon as you get this message, so I can forward the details as to where to send the funds, you can try reaching me on this number for now, +447024035615 or 011447024035615, I also have an ID to pick the funds up if sent via western union through walmart, or money Gramm through walmart i will be waiting for your responses

Mike [snip]

Seems pretty thin to me.

According to this Daily Telegraph article Britons receive more than 420,000 scam emails every hour.

Every seven seconds someone is conned out of money – an average of £285 per person.

Crikey! What does that tell us?

Media issues

con-artists, online life

Lessons about lying from ‘expert’ Dean Letfus

Posted in 19 August 2010

After overtly damning Obama’s and Bloomberg’s careful, judicious statements about the constitutional protection of religious freedom as “lies”, instant expert Dean Letfus then (if I read him right) takes another swing at lil ol’ me with this brief treatise on news media ethics and “lies” … Continue reading →

5 Comments »

Last week in my post about Tall Poppy syndrome being the last refuge of the scoundrel I mentioned property spruiker Dean Letfus’s apparent reluctance to answer criticism …

Spruiker Dean Letfus says he has been studying lies.

What I DO find interesting, however, is that the spruiker in question, Dean Letfus, doesn’t actually answer my criticism — of (a) his marketing methods, (b) his hyperbolic claims & promises and (c) his demonstrated track record as a property spruiker/commission agent while promoting himself as an ‘educator’ — in a meaningful way. No. Instead, he chooses the Madoff-esque route of slandering his critic while spouting double-speak to the faithful…

Pursue truth, real truth, knowing you will rarely find it in people who have agendas, are negative or critical, and where their envy is showing.

Oh dear. Speaking personally, I interpret that dodge-the-question-smear-the-messenger behaviour as fitting part of a pattern…

Guess what? He’s still not answering — he’s still doing the smear thing.

AND he’s claiming new expertise (to add to his property and internet ‘guruships’) … (1) as a student/teacher of America’s founding documents and constitution, and also
(2) how politicians and the media tell lies “with supporting lies”. (He’s worked it out, apparently: ‘I have now studied sufficiently to understand [it] as a “tactic” or “strategy”.’ )

Yesiree, the President of the United States, former US senator and sometime constitutional law professor Barack Obama says religious freedom is enshrined in the US constitution, but property salesman, former print finisher and self-professed internet guru Dean Letfus from Pakuranga dismisses that opinion (and NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg‘s) as “patent rubbish” (!) — based on WHAT, you ask? Oh, some quotes he probably copied-and-pasted from a religious propaganda website justifying bigotry and second-class status for US citizens of other religions? It’s almost embarrassing.

Business/Investment - Media issues

Barack Obama, Dean Letfus, religion, spruikers

Right/wrong vs Can/should

Posted in 18 August 2010

Oh boy. John Stewart (in fine form) revs up on the plan to locate an Islamic community centre (Mosque) two blocks from the site of the World Trade Centre. I like his take, as usual … and his roasting of the Fox News phoneys on their lack of consistency.

And then there’s a squirmy/bad taste segment on religious freedom with The Daily Show‘s ‘Senior Religion correspondent’ John Oliver…

Well worth watching. (Video below the fold.)

This issue is, it seems to me, another of those where people’s rhetoric kicks in and they start throwing partisan labels around — well before engaging their brains.
Continue reading →

Encouragement

authenticity, prejudice, religion

Godwin’s Law (again)

Posted in 17 August 2010

Godwin’s Law strikes again…

Billionaire investor: 'Obama Administration's Tax Proposals Are Like 'When Hitler Invaded Poland'. Yeah right. (click)

What an arse, sorry, billionaire investor arse.

Business/Investment

Godwin's Law, hyperbole

Hyperbole and puffery — that’s your DEFENCE?

Posted in 17 August 2010

'We didn't expect anyone to believe our puffery.' Oh dear. (image: treehugger.com)

Lawyers for fuel giant Shell facing misleading advertising charges have told a court in Wellington that claims in their advertisement for petrol containing an additive ‘designed to take you further’ were “hyperbole and puffery” and they didn’t expect anyone to believe them. (Source: Radio NZ News)

RNZ Court reporter summarising Shell’s statement of defence: “The imagery was obviously hyperbole and puffery. No one would actually have believed it … and it can’t therefore be misleading.”

Wow, pretty sharp defence boys. GREAT for trust in your brand.

Listen to Morning Report:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Or stuff.co.nz:

Ads for oil giant Shell misled consumers by giving them the impression they could travel “appreciably further” by using the company’s petrol, a marketing expert testified today.

Shell New Zealand is defending 22 charges laid by the Commerce Commission under the Fair Trading Act.

They relate to an advertising campaign from April 2006 to May 2007 in which Shell claimed a fuel economy formula added to its petrol was “designed to take you further”.

Commerce Commission lawyer John Dixon told Wellington District Court today that the advertising made false or misleading claims, and the company had engaged in conduct that was liable to mislead the public. Continue reading →

enclosure: http://podcast.radionz.co.nz/mnr/mnr-20100817-0854-Court_case_continues_over_marketing_of_Shell_fuel-048.mp3 1329664 audio/mpeg

Business/Investment

hyperbole, marketing

Plagiarism as a business model

Posted in 15 August 2010

Business/Investment - Media issues

Makes you think: One of Tom Scott's excellent 'warning labels' for news media. (click)

What’s coming up for discussion with the new media/old media/social media/internet marketing debate is: how important is ‘original material’?

It’s an issue not just for the Rupert Murdochs of the world: original, quality content for news media — actually any media — is expensive to produce on anything like an ongoing and quality basis. It really is.

Some observers can get all breathless and excited about new media and the ‘instant-ness’ of the internet but much of the runaway success of sites like The Huffington Post and any number of copycats and also-rans is directly attributable to their parasitic behaviour towards the old media they sometimes denigrate. But at least they generally acknowledge sources.

Now, this isn’t intended to be another wee grizzle about aggregators who scrape information from other sources then surround it with their ads … no, that’s cycnical enough, as we have discussed.

But what I’ve seen through this blog and observing others is an emergence of a different aspect of the ‘Content is King‘ idea — and dishonest attempts to build businesses on plagiarism — unsourced copying of original material.

Duplicate content vs ‘original content’

Search engines, we are told, despise duplicate content, although it seems that aversion seems to be overstated by some. (Google: “Duplicate content on a site is not grounds for action on that site unless it appears that the intent of the duplicate content is to be deceptive and manipulate search engine results.”) Continue reading →

authenticity, copyright/plagiarism, marketing, online life

Leadership — not always about popularity

Posted in 14 August 2010

5 Comments »

That’s what I’m talking about. Enough with the pious BS from the religious right and those looking for a smokescreen or trying to earn brownie points with their one-eyed supporters.

Another student of the US Constitution opposes ignorant, shallow religious bigotry. Amen.

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama on Friday forcefully endorsed allowing a mosque near ground zero, saying the country’s founding principles demanded no less.

“As a citizen, and as president, I believe that Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as everyone else in this country,” Obama said, weighing in for the first time on a controversy that has riven New York City and the nation.

“That includes the right to build a place of worship and a community center on private property in lower Manhattan, in accordance with local laws and ordinances,” he said. “This is America, and our commitment to religious freedom must be unshakable.” Continue reading →

Encouragement

Barack Obama, courage

The escape of exnzpat, Part 3

Posted in 14 August 2010

exnzpat

Original fiction - Writing/Publishing

Lincoln

In my dream I saw a man. It was me. And I remember this…

“…I can feel the walls closing in on me: banks, brokers, lenders, wives, children, and dogs — especially dogs! Where was Lincoln? “That Bad Dog!” There… there he was on the dining room floor. The floor I spent hours sanding and polyurethaning! “Bad Dog!” I went to him, nail puller in my hand…” Excerpt from “exnzpat buys a rental”

Success at last! Lincoln had had a small clump of dirt lodged up high between the toes of his right paw, and after what seemed like ages of licking and gnawing, he finally dislodged it.

Lincoln stretched out on Michael’s bed. Michael moved uncomfortably away from him, deep in his own sleep. Lincoln took immediate advantage of the space on the bed and stretched out completely, his head almost touching the boy. Lincoln attempted to lick at the back of the boy’s head but the distance was too great. He snorted and closed his eyes and soon the rhythm of his breathing matched that of the boy.

What had it been? Six dinners, maybe seven dinners since his master had gone mad? Standing above him — enraged, his arm outstretched in anger, the hard metal thing in his hand — and then a strange thing! The yellow horse thing that lived in the attic above had slid slowly through the ceiling. Lincoln had known that it was there too – he had sniffed at it during the deepest and blackest moments of the each and every night spent in the gray little home. He smelled it – and other things too. Dangerous things – their smell stung his nostrils! Now he saw it, coming up swiftly behind his master. Giant and huge it was; monstrous, yellow in color, with flat and flabby arms, like bird wings. The creature grabbed his master’s hand and stayed the blow.

“Run Lincoln, run. Don’t look back. Hide, and don’t come out no matter what.”

The words were not spoken, and yet he heard them all the same. From his master he heard only a gasp of surprise as the beast took his arm.

“Go now,” the thing said once more. Continue reading →

exnzpat

In a nutshell: a matter of trust

Posted in 13 August 2010