Posts Tagged ‘authenticity’
The sort of spruiker who gives spruikers a bad name
My hero Neil Jenman shares his experience with an Australian spruiker … Interesting about the tie-up between Steven Fagan, his book ‘Accidental Millionaire’ and Carly Crutchfield. Have a read: Nick and Wendy are a delightful young couple. In 2004, after advice from Fagan’s property group, they purchased an apartment in the western Sydney suburb of […]
Linking to sources — why it’s vital for credibility (Case study: property spruiker Sean Wood)
I read a really interesting article I read this morning on The Guardian’s Comment is free website: ‘A case of never letting the source spoil a good story’ subtitle: Perhaps it’s too embarrassing for some writers to risk linking to primary sources that readers can check for themselves Wherein Ben Goldacre concludes: But more than […]
An insight into sociopaths and liars
This quote, from an excellent Tom Junod piece in Esquire on Murdoch’s Fox News Gruppenführer Roger Ailes, says a LOT about the trouble with trying to shame the manipulative, or liars and con artists … The pundits, the professors, the professional journalists, the left-wingers, the tree huggers, the liberal blogosphere, President Obama — they all […]
Losing respect
Both my kids have learnt sailing at our local sailing club. Last weekend, in pretty rough conditions, I helped out in a minor way when the club hosted a big Auckland regatta … a huge effort by the club, parents and volunteers, and really worthwhile, especially for the junior sailors. I noticed this quote about […]
If you prick us, do we not bleed?
I had the opportunity for a long face-to-face discussion with Dean Letfus yesterday, as earlier forecast. For those of you who haven’t met him, let me say first off I find Dean an intelligent, personable chap, with good communication skills and a sense of humour. (I’ve never subscribed to the ‘Say no good thing about […]
Anonymous comment vs IMPERSONATION
Regular readers of thePaepae.com (and my occasional posts at the PropertyTalk forum) will, I hope, have absorbed my views regarding participation in internet discussions, viz: I believe in speaking in my own name. From my observation, in many cases it seems the anonymity of some commenters on the web seems to encourage them to make […]
Learning how smart our elders can be …
“When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much he had learned.” — Mark Twain That’s true. And funny. And then there are times when it seems the old […]
Well said, and good on you for speaking up
Ben Gracewood, explaining why he took a stand and quit his Breakfast TV gig rather than ‘condone racism’: So when I read this morning that a Breakfast presenter [Paul Henry] has made yet another trolling statement (this time barely veiled racism), I decided I’ve had enough. Previously I’ve had to be circumspect about my responses […]
Taking a direct approach
Remember my comment from ‘When ‘gurus’ attack …’ I was encouraged by a comment recently in a BBC interview with John Podesta, former Clinton chief of staff and Obama administration transition head… Podesta says he sets out to be an independent even critical voice, and adds this proviso: “If you’re going to be critical of […]
Mr Phil Jones: re-heating cold horseshit
Ugh. I’ve just been slimed (again) by a man I personally regard as a dishonest and obnoxious bully-boy. So, in keeping with my general policy of confronting and directly answering criticism, here’s a response: (Only read it if you’re actually interested … OK?) It was a case of ‘speak of the devil’ — A couple […]
Google Is Now Officially Evil
Google Is Now Officially Evil — Business Insider Worth reading, and so is the lawsuit filing from Skyhook (PDF hosted at Daring Fireball) In short, Skyhook says that Google effectively forced Motorola to cancel a deal with Skyhook in which Skyhook would have provided location-based services in Motorola phones — because Google wanted Motorola to use Google’s […]
Agree or disagree?
A Member of Parliament admits he has a criminal past. But he does it very badly, slowly, and destroys his own credibility in the process. I agree with this comment from my old Press Gallery colleague John Armstrong: When he was asked on Tuesday if there was anything else in his past which warranted mention, […]