Author Archive
I think they call this convergence …
re the iPhone prototype that was, er, lost then fenced … Scott Adams Dilbert has a strip which shows truth is at least as strange as satire… Read it at Dilbert.com And read this TUAW report of a Search Warrant being executed at the Gizmodo editor’s house. Oops. And here’s Fake Steve Jobs’ typical acid […]
Sarah Palin: cashing in on the brand
Very interesting article by Gabriel Sherman: “The Revolution Will Be Commercialized” on how Sarah Palin became a national industry and built her wealth, quickly, by seeing that there was money to be made … but serving out her term as Alaska’s governor wasn’t the way to get it. Nowadays, for both poles of the political […]
Scott Adams – on ‘legal’ use of Dilbert cartoons
LOTs of people routinely reproduce Scott Adams’ Dilbert (and Gary Trudeau’s Doonesbury, my other favourite) thinking their lil’ ol’ blog is too small to matter and they can fly under the radar. Adams discusses his views past and present, and presents his new, streamlined, licensing model with ‘License Me’ button. The post is worth reading […]
The Band Played Waltzing Matilda
My son and I attended the Anzac Day parade and memorial service on the hill in our village today. Moving. There are big questions about our culture’s mix of the military and the ecclesiastical, but they can wait for another day. This song, first sung to me by my friend Ben in NYC, was in […]
Absolutely brilliant!
Jon Stewart responds to Bernie Goldberg’s response to Jon Stewart calling Fox News out on their terrible hypocrisy in rather colourful terms … I know that I criticize you and Fox News a lot, but only because you’re truly a terrible, cynical, disingenuous news organization. — Jon Stewart. Watch video at thedailyshow.com Calling Fox News […]
What can he possibly mean?
Chicago Mayor Richard Daley making a point about the limits of his relationship with Obama’s chief of staff Rahm Emanuel … “Sure I talked to him, I talk to him. Sure, I know about it,” Daley said. But Daley said he hasn’t offered Emanuel any advice about a mayoral run. “I don’t give any advice, […]
Lost or stolen part 2 …
Apropos this … Lost iPhone prototype spurs police probe Silicon Valley police are investigating what appears to be a lost Apple iPhone prototype purchased by a gadget blog, a transaction that may have violated criminal laws, a law enforcement official told CNET on Friday. Apple has spoken to local police about the incident and the […]
Of trumpets
In response to Perry’s comment: “Anyone who finds it necessary to self-proclaim their religious virtue should be treated with great caution” Yes Perry, I agree – your litmus test is useful. But context is everything. A “mask” of self proclaimed virtue in business (or, more accurately, SALES, like the spruikers we discuss here occasionally) can […]
Live by the ethical assumptions of your market – or change your soul?
Liars Poker and The Big Short author Michael Lewis responds to the SEC’s fraud charges against Goldman Sachs on Bloomberg … The Bond Market Will Never Be The Same After Goldman First para: If you happen to be sitting on the Goldman Sachs bond-trading floor life must feel horribly unfair. You did nothing worse than […]
So what do we think?
New Auckland Super City logo … . The logo for the new Auckland Council will be a red Pohutakawa encircled by a green koru circle. Not bad at all. It’ll get criticised, but personally, I like it and appreciate the elements of traditional native motif. (As you might expect with a blog called The Paepae.com) […]
How convenient
While we’re on the topic of authenticity and journalistic ethics… Research into the only known film of the Anzac campaign has revealed that soldiers identified as Australians are New Zealanders and Irishmen…. Soldiers in a vivid trench fighting scene thought to have been of Australians were the 5th Royal Irish Fusiliers at Suvla Bay, and […]
4G iPhone – Lost or stolen?
Stolen, in my view, and poor media ethics to boot. Here’s Jeff Bercovici‘s “Why Apple Could Sue Gawker Over ‘Lost’ iPhone Story”. I understand the moral calculus they used. We all feel intuitively that picking up something that someone else left behind is not as bad as seizing it by force, stealth or deception. But […]
Dean Letfus: the reputation he deserves?
Someone emailed me a link to an article by property economist Gareth Kiernan of Infometrics in which he sets out to debunk (pull the legs off) arguments proffered by some self-proclaimed ‘property experts’ like spruiker Dean Letfus in defence of the tax treatment of property investment. …So I don’t buy into the whole “social service” […]
The ethical answer is to side with the victim
A nice example of thinking it through to journalistic integrity from Andy Ihnatko on the rumour and scuttlebutt about the possibly stolen ‘new 4th generation iPhone’ that was ‘found in a bar’. [cough splutter] Key quote: Let’s get back to my original question: what would I have done? We’ll never know for sure. But I […]
Before the deluge – Jackson Browne
Some of them were dreamers And some of them were fools Who were making plans and thinking of the future With the energy of the innocent They were gathering the tools They would need to make their journey back to nature While the sand slipped through the opening And their hands reached for the golden […]
