That thing where someone you criticised on your blog needles you about it as soon as they see you—then says they couldn’t care less. Right.
“To avoid criticism do nothing, say nothing, be nothing.” — Elbert Hubbard
ttrttpt — and applies to both parties.
Eddie Mair presents an afternoon news and current affairs show, PM, on BBC Radio 4 which I listen to two or three times a week on my TuneIn Radio app.
Mair is undoubtedly one of the best interviewers I have ever heard, and I’ve worked with/for a few good ones in my time. He is very smooth and silky, has great attention to detail and keeps his focus on the issues of the interview without forgetting to listen to the answers being given and following up. He is prepared to interrupt and talk over his guests but doesn’t do so in a bombastic way. He is very, very good at what he does.
Mair interviewed London Mayor Boris Johnson on TV the other day — an interview that some have gleefully reported left Johnson’s reputation in tatters and was the equivalent of a bicycle crash. (I’m not kidding: see Boris Johnson caught in bicycle crash of an interview with Eddie Mair – Patrick Wintour, The Guardian.)
It really is a good interview, with Johnson, who Caitlin Moran famously described as “a posh albino fanny hound disabled by his own funnyness” clearly caught in the headlights. Moran described to Kim Hill (probably NZ’s ultimate radio interviewer) how Johnson whose biggest priority is to be funny has evolved into the next generation of politics — making people feel good rather than dealing with ‘nasty politics’ or actually declaring a manifesto, values or a plan.
Watch it here at the BBC …(the ‘bike crash’ starts about 7 mins in):
Click to watch video at BBC.co.uk
or, if that’s not available, here’s an audio recording of the whole thing (15 mins)
Observe how, towards the end, as the heat begins to show, Johnson vainly tries to fly the ‘What people really want to know’ flag, citing the ‘triviality of politics’ because the focus on these inconvenient issues of integrity and trustworthiness was starting to bite. That’s a strategy routinely deployed by politicians-under-pressure the world over when they don’t like the questions being asked — notably in this part of the world by NZ prime minister John Key responding (er, not really) to questions about the Tea Pot tapes citing ‘the issues that matter’.
Remember this “Strain of ‘teapot tape’ shows as Key storms out of press conference” from 3News during the last election?:
From a (quite sharp) Canadian public health/awareness campaign.
via Andrew Kaczynski (click)
Dark.
Here’s a compilation of Top 40+ Creative Ads Made to Stop You Smoking including this one:
– P
I own several watches. The one I use the most has a self-charging mechanism (no batteries, ever) driving a dead accurate quartz movement in a titanium and gold case with matching t&g strap. It’s very light and unobtrusive, except sometimes at night. The watch face glows in the dark — not the hands and numbers the whole face is luminous. I like it.
But I also like the look of this ‘concept’ of an iWatch.
If (not when) Aople makes an iWatch what would it do? (Pic: Cult of Mac – click)
So, what would it do? Well, if even some of the stuff being talked about (see Cult of Mac “Why the Apple iWatch Will Have These 6 Killer Features” actually appears on offer, I’m interested.
I did notice Nike said they were happy with iOS, exclusively for some of their applications. I use the Nike+ Running app a lot, in conjunction with my phone’s iPod/Music and Downcast (podcasts) app.
I noticed (and appreciate, when walking) the reduced weight of the iPhone 5 vs the iPhone 4 … but having that and an iPod built into your watch? Cool! (I’d also want a camera.)
I wonder if it will happen.
– P
I enjoy public speaking, and socialising, but I’m an “introvert” — a walk in solitude, which I do most days, re-energises me. Those are my footprints on the beach this morning. (Pic: Peter Aranyi – click to enlarge)
Shapes
For Hell takes on many shapes, each independent to the celestial tariff, but as independent as each tariff is, Hell is Hell and Carriage has a tendency to remain much the same.
There is a place. It is not Hell, but it is a place all the same, call it Carriage if you will, but it is a place, a thing, that imprisons the tariff. We are the tariff, lest I make it plainer.
Carriage is shape – little knots of pain, tied tight within the fabric of space and time — bleed it out, bleed it out, bleed all it out out until the great feast of the Eidola are done.
* * *
I am on a fast running, deep, black river, riding high upon a great water lily. Tattooed upon my left breast is a small red cross. I am Spenser’s Redcrosse Knight, gallant only in murder, triumphant in stealing another man’s body, and exultant in using that man’s body to steal his woman’s virtue.
I am exnzpat! Continue reading →
In a cold, lonely world, it’s good to know there are some things you can rely on. Like the visceral partisan loyalty of National Party attack blogger Cameron Slater.
Cameron demonstrates his earnest support for his pick for next leader of the National Party: Papakura MP Judith Collins. Strictly speaking, Ms Collins is only his pick for leader as an interim measure before the ascendancy he predicts for Jami-Lee Ross — as revealed here: Is John Key ‘hugging a corpse’? Does he have a choice?
Is Truth not much more than a partisan organ?
Anyway, for now, Cameron seems committed to #spinningforJudith, as one wag put it in a hashtag.
Cameron was virtually alone as I recall, in going to bat for Ms Collins over the scurrilous suggestions by today’s fish and chip paper the NZ Herald that her appointment of a friend of her husband’s to a state sector role dealing with human rights proceedings was questionable. As the weekend NZ Herald reported (Judith Collins picked husband’s friend — Sat 2/2/13), Ms Collins had personally nominated Robert Kee, then overruled her officials’ advice to appoint someone else who actually had, you know, high level experience of dealing with human rights issues.
Focusing on the issues that matter, Cameron Slater swung into damage control and by a miracle, against the odds, where others had failed, managed to get an interview with Ms Collins that very same Saturday morning … then someone at Truth promptly churned out a ‘news story’ — not focussed on the questionable appointment process but — about the photo the NZ Herald used to illustrate their story.
Flush with the power of his role atop a nationally-distrubuted Hookers directory newspaper (cough), Cameron vented partisan outrage against the journalist and the newspaper which had embarrassed his princess, describing them in unflattering terms and suggesting the reporter was somehow corrupt. (Rich, huh?) Continue reading →
I spotted this building under construction in Manukau yesterday on my way to Whitcoulls Distribution Centre with boxes of books.
Building for a future in ‘The Shaky Isles’ (click to enlarge)
I’m not the civil engineer in the family, but boy, look at the earthquake resistant support structure there! Those diamond-shaped frames at the right, and the massive reinforcing in the concrete wall beside the stairwells.
If I’m not imagining it, could it be a bit of post-Christchurch earthquake consciousness flowing through?
– P
Reading a quite good column from Marco Arment about the Google Reader shut down, emerging competition and ‘free’ services (he’d earlier said, and I agreed: “It may suck in the interim before great alternatives [to Reader] mature and become widely supported, but in the long run, trust me: this is excellent news.”) I came across this section (bolded) which echoes a conclusion I reached about business a few years back.
Our industry is prone to many common failures of unregulated capitalism, with the added instability of extremely low barriers to entry and near-zero cost per user in many cases.
If you try to play by the traditional rules and regulations, you run the risk of getting steamrolled by someone who’s perfectly willing to ignore them. Usually, that’s the biggest potential failure of the tech world’s crazy economy, which sucks for you but doesn’t matter much to everyone else. But sometimes, just like unregulated capitalism, it fails in ways that suck for everyone.
I run a training business which formed alliances with some top experts in their fields — people who had earned the right, by stint of their long track records, to be considered ‘qualified’ to teach others about the steps to success.
It was striking then, to see a couple of my clients, people who’d come to learn at the feet of the ‘gurus’ during training events I’d set up, launch their own copycat versions of those events … with themselves as ‘gurus’.
I call them copycats because that’s what they were. Shamelessly. e.g. I ran a course called ‘Property Investor’s School’ (which they attended) and they launched a weekend ‘Property University’ — before being advised by the NZ Qualifications Authority that ‘university’ is a protected term … and switching to ‘Property Academy’.
Where they surprised me (and it’s a long tale) wasn’t in their mimicry, imitation and copyright infringement, although that was striking, but in their apparent dishonest willingness to just make stuff up about their own experience and expertise as ‘gurus’.
I had (naively) thought a barrier to entry in the field of ‘property investing expert’ was actually being an experienced property investing expert (like the people I worked with) … but I soon saw that I was wrong. Continue reading →
Well, if it’s good enough for my favourite right wing vixens (see My favourite right wing vixens branch out) … it’s good enough for me.
Here’s a shot of my skin care products … still wet from their use just now this morning.
The three speed motorised vibrating shaver might be something the girls wish to avoid. Or not.
Handled.
– P
Dedicated to Cactus Kate. (Isn’t aloe vera in the cactus family? There might be an angle there, Cathy.)
Rain has arrived at Howick Golf Club. The greens (small G) will be loving it. (Pic: Peter Aranyi)
This rain is a blessed relief. The small earthquake centred on Motutapu Island apparently (er, just out the window) was not. Still, small potatoes compared to Christchurch.
I can’t remember the last earthquake in Auckland.
– P
PS Here’s how the course looks ‘normally‘.
Ha! What looks like a co-ordinated campaign to damage a brand via social media ‘influencers’ has been exposed because one of the shills FORGOT TO ERASE HIS INSTRUCTIONS! (Hahaha!):
Prominent Weibo Users Paid to Bash Apple? Introducing China’s ’820 Party’
Oops. An attempt to create some supposed ‘grass roots’ backlash in co-ordination with some negative media came unstuck. Does this ever happen in (cough) say, the political sphere,do y’think? With, say, right wing bloggers … neh, probably not. Just coincidence, I’m sure. Or my imagination. (click to read the story at TeaLeaf Nation.)
Of course that could never happen here, eh? {snort} Weeeell …
Or could it? What’s this (local) web ‘advertising’ service offering, do you think? “Engagement” Continue reading →
My two favourite right wing vixens Louise Mensch and Cathy Odgers (Cactus Kate) have, for the moment, moved on from right wing politics and launched into the highly competitive, challenging arena of skincare and make-up product reviews and beauty tips. (No kidding.)
These two women certainly don’t need to soften their image as far as I’m concerned, but, oh well …
Louise, who I quoted earlier saying: “Are you trivialising the sisterhood if you dye your hair or have your eyebrows threaded? The answer is no” posted a pair of engaging instructional ‘video blogs’ two days ago …
Followed by a quick (33 secs) dress-up guide (in fetching black leggings and b-boots) …
Continue reading →
Yeah, like a lot of people I use the Google Reader API to sync my RSS — but only because they monstered everyone else out of the “market” * and many of the standalone RSS reader apps (especially iOS based readers, but also Vienna and NetNewsWire) switched to use Google Reader to sync feeds, subscriptions and read states.
Then this happens …
It’s Not Just Reader – Google Kills Its RSS Subscription Browser Extension, Too
Sarah Perez | TechCrunch
Oh Google. Thought we wouldn’t notice that you’re trying to kill off not just Google Reader, but also your support and endorsement for the RSS format itself? People have just started noticing that Google’s own RSS Subscription Chrome browser extension has disappeared from the Google Chrome Web Store. Though it’s unclear at this time exactly when the extension was removed, the change appears to be recent. …
Read the rest of Sarah Perez’s article which quotes a powerful analogy from The Guardian‘s Rupert Goodwins: Killing Google Reader is like killing the bees: we’ll all be worse off.
There are other services that aggregate RSS, but many of them rely on Google Reader. Many others have been driven out of business by Reader’s dominance, including most that synchronise across several devices – precisely the way that busy information VIPs work. These people are the apex pollinators of the web, the first responders and the most influential creators of quality across an internet that so desperately needs it. They find Reader mindful where Twitter is mindless; Reader organises and prioitises, it keeps information in sight, not rushes it away.
Such people will find other ways to get their data – less easily, less reliably and less well integrated with how they work – but for now, they are angry and uncertain. “I feel betrayed,” the radio programme maker said. “I used to recommend Google to everyone, but now I can’t trust it. It’s all very well putting all the books in the world online, but what’s the point if you then shaft the readers?”
Google is creepy.
Roll on the alternatives.
-P
* read Marco Arment on this:
It may suck in the interim before great alternatives mature and become widely supported, but in the long run, trust me: this is excellent news.
And then there’s this: Breaking: Google Has Begun Purging Ad-Blocking Apps From The Play Store by David Ruddock Android Police
Sooo ‘open’.
From 12 Questions: Bruce Sheppard by Sarah Stuart in the NZ Herald today:
6. Who taught you cynicism?
Better question would be what, and that is simple – time and experience. Not much is what it seems, and the world has been spun to hopelessly complex levels for what appear to be very limited useful outcomes. By being sceptical I aim to peel away the nonsense of issues and look for the beauty within. Sometimes the inner evil is so great that I have to shout loudly, using colourful language or costumes. In a world of mass media it is easy to be drowned out.
‘Many saw evil. They dared to stop it.’
And sometimes people speak up about wrong as they see it — to their own detriment, and damage in other parts of their lives.
Remember: if there was no risk it wouldn’t take guts.
On a related note, DO WATCH Russell Brown’s Media3 (available on demand here) for a strong interview which I was lucky enough to watch being taped with journalists/authors Nicky Hager and Jon Stephenson. They discuss Bradley Manning, Wikileaks and whistle blowers here and abroad. Hager’s view of Manning’s contribution to history is worth absorbing. I think he’s right.
Also discussed is how government officials, including NZ Prime Minister John Key, can be seen to have engaged in efforts to discredit inconvenient truth-tellers (I’ve recorded Mr Key’s past efforts to, as I see it, smear Hager, who wrote blockbuster The Hollow Men and, separately, the Tea Pot Tapes cameraman). Jon Stephenson talks, carefully, about his recent legal moves to push back against some of that and details disturbing threats he’s personally received.
The same Media3 episode deploys Russell Brown’s summary of The National Business Review‘s ‘sincere apology to Phil Kitchin and The Dominion Post‘ interlude, discussed here in Why has @TheNBR been so #slippery about their apology to Phil Kitchin and @DomPost?
– P
Deputy chair Adele White says disgraced Howick Local Board chairman Michael Williams doesn’t seem understand role models, nor the effect his behaviour has had on the Local Board. Good on her.
Deputy chair of the Howick Local Board Adele White addressed the disgraced chairman Michael Williams at the Board meeting last night [11 March].
Ms White, famously in these parts, stared down an attempt by the chairman to remove her as Deputy on flimsy grounds see: Bunfight at Howick Local Board.
With her permission, these are Ms White’s comments to the Board resolution of no confidence in Michael Williams as chairman, and seeking his resignation from the Howick Local Board following his conviction last month on drink-driving charges he’d kept secret since May 2012.
I heard her comments at last night’s meeting. I think they’re worth reproducing in full.
“Mr Williams:
The role of Local Board member is one of significant responsibility.In placing their votes accordingly, our community are putting their trust and faith in each of us, in the hope that we will represent their wishes, their issues and their financial contribution fairly, honestly and democratically.
The honour that comes with being an elected member must at all times be respected and upheld. This means that our behaviour both whilst participating in Board activities and in our other walks of life must be beyond reproach.
We often underestimate the significance of ourselves as role models to others in the community – especially our youth.
Michael – I don’t believe that you have considered this; or the effect that your behaviour has had on our Board at all.
I think back to the days after the last elections when you were phoning around looking for support as you so desperately wanted the role of chairperson. I pointed out that your reputation of being obstinate, and being a bully preceded you, but you assured us all that you would work for the board. You also invited me to feel free, as your Deputy, to keep you in check.
My comments have forever fallen on deaf ears. Sadly – you are still known as a bully.
