Author Archive
Pressure and persuasion
Cost of principles? Too pricey, it seems. ‘Tested and found lacking’ would be one way to describe Google’s push-me-pull-you relationship with the Chinese government. Highlighted first in March Google ‘leaves’ China over censorship with worldwide fanfare and admiration that they’d finally grown some stones, it started to unravel a bit (The cost of principles?) and […]
Giving scumbags a second chance
Surely this is an argument for lifetime bans from business and legal practice. It was a surprise to read over the weekend that Blue Chip’s shonky lawyer had, like Mark Bryers and other crooks, come back for a second bite of the cherry — i.e. just as with Bridgecorp’s Rod Petricevic, the failure to drive […]
Incredible Science
My hat’s off to the Faculty and Students of the Auckland University Science department who put on a brilliant day for kids (and, ahem, accompanying adults) at yesterday’s Incredible Science Day. Wow we had a good time and the place was buzzing. Special mention to the Wow Physics show which was a heady, indulgent mix […]
Re-touching to the point of distortion
From an eye-opening Dove soap commercial. Kudos to them! Watch it happen in high speed stop-motion below the fold.
What an amazing coincidence!
Er, does anyone really expect anyone to believe this? (It appeared in my browser all by itself this morning after I visited who-knows-what dodgy website.) Or is it a sign of a ‘scarcity mindset’ to even question my good fortune in ‘winning’ this ‘prize’? Oh boy. (It jiggled and blinked on the screen, too, in […]
The cost of principles?
Not a flattering headline, but I’m sure they have their reasons for the [reported] backpeddle after this brave start back in March: Google ‘leaves’ China over censorship Will Google roll over for China? By Marianne Barriaux | NZ Herald Wednesday Jun 30, 2010 BEIJING – Google has changed tack in China to address government complaints […]
Heads must roll! (Not really)
Move over General McChrystal, here’s someone else who has been fired for expressing his opinion outside of his authority … “I must be the only guy ever to have been fired in New Zealand for telling the truth,” Gibbs said. “It was a big call to go with what I thought was right or upset […]
Good bit of advice
from PropertyTalk, in response to someone declaring they’ve been sold a pup by a smooth-talking Kiwi property spruiker running ‘seminars’ in an Asian city (ha! who’da thunk it?) … this good advice-slash-confession from someone who clearly knows what he’s talking about (poacher turned gamekeeper?): Hi Chan, I am sorry to hear that you are in […]
More property rights go up in flames in Fiji
Last week we discussed the (then) latest development in property investment in military-rule Fiji. A ‘stagnant’ resort development (Momi Bay) was seized by the government — over the protests of the receivers of Bridgecorp the NZ funder which held securities over the project. Basically, leaving them whistling. I also briefly related how property spruiker Dean Letfus […]
Questionable news value
I can’t see what, exactly, makes this six-month-old story worthy of a front-page splash… Nonsense. Last line of the ‘lead story’: News of his daughter’s arrest has come at an unwelcome time for Phil Goff, who replaced former prime minister Helen Clark as Labour leader when she stood down in 2008. Polls have had him […]
Do your opinions invalidate your reporting?
While we’re down this ‘your opinions make your journalism questionable‘ rabbit hole, if you’re interested, in the US a reporter/columnist for The Washington Post, David Weigel has just been fired/’resignation accepted’ after email trails revealed his rather robust private-ish views of some in the right wing movement (Tea Party etc) it was his beat to […]
You say potato, I say …
Cry me a river. Hanover Finance co-founder Mark Hotchin will not be moving into his $30 million Paritai Drive mansion. Instead, it will be sold, and Mr Hotchin seems likely to stay overseas. Klaus Sorensen, who is acting as a spokesman for Mr Hotchin: “We’re not saying why it’s being sold, we’re just simply saying […]
The new breed of journalist-commentator
There’s really good insightful ‘defence’ of Michael Hastings — the journalist who (gasp) reported now-sacked-for-his-impertinence General McChrystal’s disparaging comments about his masters. Interesting that Hastings’ ‘friend and admirer’ the writer Barrett Brown describes Hastings thus: it was written by a perfect specimen of the new breed of journalist-commentator that will hopefully come to replace the old […]
