Wellington, the mayoralty and local politics.
This would be humorous if the implications of the copyright amendments were not so serious: Also speaking in favour of the bill, National MP Jonathan Young compared the internet to Skynet, the fictional artificial intelligence network in the Terminator movies that tried to destroy mankind. That was in the National Business Review. I believe […]
Read More… from National thinks the internet is ‘Skynet’ as copyright amendments pass second reading
This one hasn’t happened for a while (over a year), and, the last time I blogged about it, I managed to solve the issue—after putting up with it for years prior to that. (The solution before December 2009 was to wait for the computer’s foul mood to pass—hardly scientific.) Unfortunately, this fix no longer […]
Read More… from Errors abound in the New Zealand internet as government flip-flops again
It’s shows like The Apprentice that have kept me away from watching TV. I was surprised to learn, in conversation last week, that TV viewership is up, while print is down. Shows you can’t base too much of what the general public does on your own experience. I estimate my magazine and book […]
Read More… from It’s about content, especially when reality is more appealing than reality TV
After this issue with Microsoft Internet Explorer 9, I went to the McAfee forums to record it so others knew. The McAfee volunteers and tech support guys have, in the last while, been fantastic. There’s one volunteer there, Peter, who’s always been right. So I would be foolish to ignore their advice. You […]
Read More… from Internet Explorer 9 can’t even display Microsoft’s own page
I am happy to say that Firefox 4 Release Candidate 1 is working smoothly with no crashes to date. It reminds me of, well, Firefox 3·0, before Mozilla started doing weird things to it and we had the multiple-crashing 3·5 and 3·6. Let’s hope this situation lasts. Meanwhile, the bugs I reported to the […]
The Christchurch earthquake is certainly not over, not while the city rebuilds. And the bill, at a meeting I had with some other luminaries last Thursday, is estimated to be in excess of the NZ$20,000 million that the New Zealand Government predicts. So, other than juggling the funds, what does the Government intend to […]
Read More… from In the wake of the ’quake, a time to be bold
Earlier this month, I gave a workshop talk to the Leadership and Development Conference for the New Zealand Chinese Association in Auckland. I’ve just uploaded the speech notes, and as I did so, I wanted to append a few more thoughts. The topic was identity—not just branding, but personal identity. My self-critique […]
As jobs are vital to any economy, there is, at least, a glimmer of good news from Christchurch’s manufacturing sector. Tait, Sanitarium, and Steel & Tube appear to have escaped major damage, says The New Zealand Herald. It’s not much solace to those who have lost everything from homes to limbs to family […]
Read More… from Glimmers of hope for the people of Christchurch
Above I’d mention the war, but Honda was founded after the surrender. I despise fax-spam, and under my reading of the Telecommunications Act, these come under nuisance calls. But regardless of the legality, it seems rather hypocritical for Honda to have sent me one for its Insight hybrid car. Think about it: a lot […]
In November 1993, while my mother was dying of cancer, I went and bought 12 cans of Wattie’s baked beans from Woolworth’s in Kilbirnie. She said it would be an easy breakfast to prepare for her, so I should go and get some. There was a limit of six, but there was a misunderstanding about […]