Wikipedia corrects serious error after 12 years

Well done, Wikipedia, you got something right. It only took you 12 years.    Nick, who appears to be a senior editor at the site, fixed up the complete fabrication that a user called ApolloBoy entered about the ‘Ford CE14 platform’ in 2005, after I wrote a pretty scathing piece on Drivetribe about Wikipedia’s inadequacies, […]

Read More… from Wikipedia corrects serious error after 12 years



What a great opportunity for New Zealand that lies before us

Above: When I refer to Hillary in the below blog post, I mean the self-professed ‘ordinary chap’ on our $5 note.   As the results of the US presidential election came in, I didn’t sense a panic. I actually sensed a great opportunity for New Zealand.    I’ve been critical of the obsession many of […]

Read More… from What a great opportunity for New Zealand that lies before us



Brexit reminds us that we need to take a lead in making globalization fairer

Brexit was an interesting campaign to watch, and there’s not too much I can add that hasn’t been stated already. I saw some incredibly fake arguments from Brexit supporters, including one graphic drawing a parallel between the assassinations of Anna Lindh in 2003 and Jo Cox MP, saying how the murder of the former led […]

Read More… from Brexit reminds us that we need to take a lead in making globalization fairer



Travel diary (or, a diary that travels)

A photo posted by Jack Yan (@jack.yan) on Apr 9, 2016 at 10:31pm PDT A photo posted by Jack Yan (@jack.yan) on Apr 10, 2016 at 10:37pm PDT   What a fun project! In September, a class in a Québec school set its pupils a travel diary project. The idea: see how well travelled each […]

Read More… from Travel diary (or, a diary that travels)



Why Stephen Fry left Twitter, and what could be next

Stephen Fry wrote a witty blog post (he is the Stephen Fry, after all) on why he left Twitter. I won’t quote the whole thing, as it’s his copyright, but I will excerpt a chunk here: … let us grieve at what twitter has become. A stalking ground for the sanctimoniously self-righteous who love to […]

Read More… from Why Stephen Fry left Twitter, and what could be next



A long time ago (you know the rest)

Those great, shared cultural experiences. I’m sure some of you remember how ground-breaking it was in 1977 to see this film. Sure, we’d seen the actors in parts before, on TV, in some smaller films, but this one propelled them into greater stardom. The memorable tunes. One of the greatest cinematic antagonists. The fact we […]

Read More… from A long time ago (you know the rest)



Trump a creation of the media, not of ad spends

This is by no means a blog post in favour of the Republican poll front-runner, although this graphic from Vox (not the old Vox that I used to be on) was very interesting: Jeb Bush's operation appears to have set $32.5 million on fire pic.twitter.com/dziA85tUAz — Vox (@voxdotcom) December 11, 2015    When I ran […]

Read More… from Trump a creation of the media, not of ad spends



Alarm für Cobra 11 changes direction again, with Daniel Roesner as Paul Renner

Poor Vinzenz Kiefer. The co-star of Alarm für Cobra 11: die Autobahnpolizei, which commemorates its 20th anniversary next year, will be written out of the show, and not by his choice.    Since the departure of Tom Beck as Ben Jäger a few years ago, the producers of the long-running German action series decided to […]

Read More… from Alarm für Cobra 11 changes direction again, with Daniel Roesner as Paul Renner



How a car accident makes you grateful

The trouble with all the yellow-peril reporting that’s far more prevalent than it should be in Aotearoa is when something happens to you that may get people thinking about a stereotype.    Back in March, of course, we had one writer justifying racism toward (east) Asian tourist drivers in the Fairfax Press, when the facts […]

Read More… from How a car accident makes you grateful



A year of random thoughts: 2014 in review

For the last few years, I’ve looked back at the events of the year in a tongue-in-cheek fashion. (In fact, in 2009, I looked back at the decade.) Tumblr’s the place I look at these days for these summaries, since it tends to have my random thoughts, ones complemented by very little critical thinking. They […]

Read More… from A year of random thoughts: 2014 in review