Author Archive
This hoovering up of ‘meta data’ is getting downright creepy
Remember this map from my 2011 post?: Despite that, your honour, I wasn’t ACTUALLY there. Read this and tell me it doesn’t make you just a little antsy … The National Security Agency is currently collecting the telephone records of millions of US customers of Verizon, one of America’s largest telecoms providers, under a top […]
Top Posts — May 2013
Some of the most-viewed posts, in order, at ThePaepae.com in May … So who is Simon Lusk? Richard Nixon’s resignation letter Watchdog issues warning about Sean Wood Property Tutors enterprise Mourning public figures The Right Way In the service of the 9th floor Tag: Cactus Kate How do you spell phishing? A scam targeting Dropbox […]
How many times a day do you look at your smartphone?
I drifted into a discussion last night about smartphone attention. A cited statistic ‘people look at their phone 150 times a day’ struck me as way over the top. But others disagreed. One (obviously a pitiful, addicted soul) even sent me a link in support: An Attempt to Validate the 150x Per Day Number Based […]
Oops, another Whale Oil truth FAIL.
First off, let me say this is NO Big Deal. But I find it mildly interesting and, since that reaches the threshold for blogging … Only an idiot would expect consistency from Cameron Slater In April, prompted by Cameron’s industrial-strength lunatic conspiracy theory that Twitter mention maps revealed undeclared ‘bias’ when journalists communicate with other people […]
The right wing is ‘demanding its pound of Crazy’
Sometimes I really like Josh Marshall’s use of language. This is a good example. – P The link he’s referring to is here.
Spin within spin. Laughable. (What? Simon Lusk AGAIN?)
Intriguing to see the subterranean right wing operative Simon Lusk dragged into watery sunlight AGAIN so soon after recent publicity. See David Fisher’s reports in the NZ Herald: National turns on hard right advisor and Ports and bloggers colluded: strategist. But it was swallow-your-coffee-quickly funny to see Simon Lusk’s business associate, the irrelevant Cameron Slater, […]
What is this @3NewsEditor? Pravda?
I was surprised to see 3News ‘back-announce’ a report from the first day of The Greens annual conference last night with a pure propaganda statement from the Prime Minister. Whoever was running the newsroom at the weekend made a really odd decision. Reading Mr Key’s statement — which had nothing whatsoever to do with Russel […]
The sad disintegration of my confidence in Judith Collins
Papakura MP Judith Collins sacrificed much of her credibility earlier this month with what I saw as a cynical, self-interested and mealy-mouthed non-explanation for her government’s blocking of MMP reform. Ms Collins’ smokescreen — her “I’m not their nanny” punchline when justifying her lack of more than token effort or (cough) leadership to formulate legislation […]
Goodbye Zander. RIP.
A sweet young kid in our wider family passed away last night. I write these words with tears spilling onto my shirt, choking on my grief for his mother and all who loved him. Hard times. – P
Simon Lusk EXPOSED
I love the irony of this. Here’s what caliginous National Party ‘campaign strategist’ Simon Lusk says on his (oh look, suddenly not password protected for now*) website about keeping a low media profile — trying to channel Bob Jones in the last sentence, methinks: Simon does not comment to the media because he believes the […]
Jon Stewart: ‘There is nothing Apple can do to get us mad at them.’
Hardy-har-har And here, with less mirth, making the same point is Joe Nocera writing in the The New York Times … Here Comes the Sun Indeed, Apple’s fabulous success over the past decade or so — its creation of the iPads and iPhones that the world lusts over — is a large part of the […]
Backfire
Donald Trump (whom I don’t follow on Twitter), clearly displeased by something Jonathan Chait wrote, has a crack at him and the excellent New York magazine. Which Chait (whom I do follow) immediately re-tweeted. Visit the tweet online to see how it backfired on The Donald. (He may not see it that way.) When public […]
Space Oddity (Chris Hadfield cover)
Commander Chris Hadfield has been a brilliant ambassador for Space exploration on board the International Space Station. His personality and engagement has shone through. This ‘cover’ of David Bowie’s song Space Oddity is wonderful. Millions have seen it and enjoyed it. I put it here as a tribute to Hadfield and Bowie. – P
Who is better at snooping? GCSB or Google?
Microsoft ‘internal’ video. Read the background at The Verge: Leaked Scroogled video sees Microsoft parody Google’s Chrome ad – P
Google deceives the taxman with smoke and mirrors
British tax department ‘bamboozled’ by Google: MPs confront search giant over ‘devious’ attempt to avoid paying UK tax The internet giant Google was today branded “devious, calculating and unethical” by MPs who accused the company deliberately subverting its motto ‘do no evil’ in order to pay less tax. Infuriated members of the House of Commons […]
