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Diversity is a wonderful thing.

Controlled diversity is a wonderful thing. Uncontrolled one has a problem: you invite people of all cultures, and some of those cultures can be quite xenophobic themselves. End result: they will come and settle down across your home, because it's a good place to live, in terms of quality of life etc; but they will treat you like subhuman scum, because, as far as they're concerned, you're one.

Oh, and they get a vote in your country, too. And they will, of course, vote their conscience (which, to remind you, is that people like you are subhuman scum).

Since you're a Kiwi, I would like you to remind of a certain local affair that is sort of relevant (note the implied message there: stoning to death is not okay in this society here and now, but societies change, and there are some out there in which it is perfectly fine).

Speaking more globally, I don't mind mosques at all. I come from a country where Muslims are a significant minority, and have been in that position for several centuries now - and most of them are well-integrated in a sense that, while they keep their faith and their unique national customs, and there are plenty of mosques in regions where they make a local majority, they do not draw the line in day-to-day life. One of my grandparents is Muslim. Some of his children are, too; some are not, like my father - he never pressed the latter to accept Islam, and did not reject them because of their "apostasy".

But when I watch things like this, I can't help but ask myself if there is, indeed, a serious issue with the current stream of Muslim immigrants to Europe. Tolerance is a great thing towards everything, except for intolerance and hatred - and if someone is so willing to draw the line separating them from me, you can be sure that I'll take that line as a de facto demarcation between "us" and "them".

> Hitler claimed to be a christian.

Yeah right.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10616778&pnum=0

Anyway, lots of Nazis claimed to be scientists. Does that make science responsible for Nazi crimes? Of course not.

> Even the Nazis had Christianity as their state religion.

Not really.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10616778&pnum=0

What you don't understand is that part of the CIA has ALWAYS had an investment arm, even before the CIA and OSS existed. The CIA was born out of the private intelligence networks already well established by Wall Street, hence why so many of the early CIA was filled and run by Ivy League schools and Yale's Skull and Bones crowd.

The funny thing is Facebook has long since been implicated as being funded indirectly by In-Q-Tel.

The second round of funding into Facebook ($US12.7 million) came from venture capital firm Accel Partners. Its manager James Breyer was formerly chairman of the National Venture Capital Association, and served on the board with Gilman Louie, CEO of In-Q-Tel, a venture capital firm established by the Central Intelligence Agency in 1999. One of the company's key areas of expertise are in "data mining technologies".

Since 1947 the CIA and other intelligence activities have been more and more privatized. They have always used front companies. Search for the Northwoods Documents, which were authored in the late 1950's.

Many have argued that E.O 12333 privatized a lot of intelligence work. Read Confessions of an Economic Hitman if you want to know one reason why they do this.

This is really only news to people who don't pay attention.

Not only do they upload Lolcats, but download CP too!

NZ just had a 7.8 quake that barely woke up the sheep! http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10584761 Seriously though, bugger all people live down there so the biggest report of damage I heard of was some traffic lights falling over. :-)

Yeah 7.5 isn't a huge Quake - they say the next big one to hit the Alpine Fault in South Westland or Nelson Lakes could easily be a 9.0+. If this is intended for California I really think it should be designed to withstand an 8.0 which is supposedly about the maximum the greater Los Angeles area could be subject to, I don't think it's possible to claim anything like they have invented an "earthquake-proof house".

NZ just had a 7.8 quake that barely woke up the sheep! http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10584761 Seriously though, bugger all people live down there so the biggest report of damage I heard of was some traffic lights falling over. :-)

Too many parents just let their kids run rampant because they don't want to exert the effort to set and enforce boundaries.

New Zealand is particularly bad for this now. "Parents are telling truancy officers that they don't know how to make their children go to school because they can no longer smack them."

I wonder if lasers could be used to divert lightning from commercial airliners in-flight? There was some speculation it could have contributed to the recent Air France crash, though apparently it's not a leading theory.

Until someone crashes while gawking at the bleeding billboards?

Almost happened the other day: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sideswipe/news/article.cfm?c_id=702&objectid=10583035 (last paragraph in column).

I have heard that NZ is not all that anxious to let foreigners immigrate (same as here in the US BTW). If you have enough money you can buy your way in, yet this is getting harder. And if you are a highly skilled migrant you can get in. But I suspect during a global recession the urgent need for migrant labor might be diminished.

public does better because public health is motivated by people not losing their jobs at the next election rather than profit.

I'm sure it is, but good intentions don't pay the bills. Put more crudely: spit in one hand, and wish in the other, and guess which hand fills up first.

My cousin in a new MD who got a nice 6 month trip to NZ as a contract psychiatrist (yes, that's her specialty) because NZ pays full-time doctors so little that no one wants to work there.

And then there the constant running out of money:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10575739&pnum=0

Immigration New Zealand has told one pregnant woman that - despite her financial stability - she would "be putting an additional strain on our already short services", which the department claimed were "stretched in most areas of the country".

For more of the many words written by Bennett, hop on that curiously named link right below.

Which one, "ruled" or "ruled"?

For more of the many words written by Bennett, hop on that curiously named link right below.

Which one, "ruled" or "ruled"?

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/technology/news/article.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10561127

Mmm hmm. "users should be able to flag to an independent adjudicator anything they regard as mistaken evidence"

He's playing word-games (that's a nice euphemism for "lying through his teeth") when he says he thinks an independent adjudicator would be a good idea. The classic example of an independent adjudicator is a court; but no way in hell does he want courts deciding this kind of thing.

Why, I wonder? After all, it's not as though courts are supposed to be independent, or have any experience in the whole adjudication business ...

The declaration you quote simply doesn't hang together. He says he wants independent adjudication, but it is manifestly obvious that he actually wants anything but independent adjudication. In fact I'd go so far as to conclude that what he really means is "independent of the judicial system".

Let's take a look at another couple of his statements, all from the page you quote from:

There are no human rights issue involved.

• Internet access is an aspect of freedom of speech.
• No provision is made either in law or in any code of practice that I've seen for re-connection. Ever. You get accused (and found guilty by an "independent adjudicator") one too many times, you're exiled from the internet for life.
• The process as a whole is clearly not designed for the benefit of artists, as only publishing corporations are capable of developing the infrastructure to use the process.

"No human rights issue" my shiny metal arse.

Preventing copyright infringement is something that ISPs already set out in their terms and conditions.

So why push for duplication of the regulations?

Section 92A will be great news for consumers

OK, this one is just so manifestly the exact opposite of the truth that it gets beyond stupid and into the realm of insanity. Come on, after reading that, you can't really seriously be imagining that this is a man whose words are to be taken at face value -- can you? -- when he says things like "independent adjudicator".

The copyright holder can then demand that an ISP disconnects that user

And the language in the article the implies that is...?

without the user ever having a chance to demonstrate their evidence.

Mmm hmm. "users should be able to flag to an independent adjudicator anything they regard as mistaken evidence"

Of course, I'm making the mistake of Reading The Fine Article, and trying to make evidence-based comments, rather than commenting on what I imagine the law will be like. I'm clearly The Man's bitch.

New Zealand, the government has put the law on hold pending agreement between rights holders groups and internet groups on the law's implementation. If no agreement the law will be suspended (whatever that means). NZ Herald news link

Does this mean we'll be seeing them release the code for facebook?

See this for context.

Careful what you wish for - the New Zealand Government came very close to doing just this... only the recent change of government stopped it:

It was suggested:http://www.stuff.co.nz/4586858a11.html (June 08)

It got some instant attention from people who raised lots of contentious issues: http://www.stuff.co.nz/AAMB0/aamsz=760x120/4587346a7693.html (June 08)

The party that won our early-December election suggested in November that they would 'review' the policy - http://www.stuff.co.nz/4775021a11.html (Note the following: "Australia plans to ban the sale of incandescent light bulbs from next year when Britain will start phasing them out. China, which makes 70 per cent of the world's lightbulbs, recently agreed to phase out incandescent bulbs.")

Then as of 17 Dec 08 the new government said it was 'consumers choice' and repealed the decision to get rid of incandescents... http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10548446

I'm glad they did it, because I want the choice. I have a mix if CFL and Incandescent at home (buy the right bulb for the job, I say) and I do maintain that the CFL light is best when it's on for a period of time...

As for LEDs? I have an LED 3-D Maglite Clone and a 4-D Maglite (genuine), the latter of which uses Incandescent. It puts out more light, and i'm sure that's not just voltage talking. For 'being seen' the LED is fine (with a wand on the tip for traffic control, for example) but for casting light, id rather have a lightbulb.

and the media's jumped on it because it makes the story more interesting

I hope you're not suggesting that the NZ Herald has lowered its journalistic standards.

Seems to be a lot of that lately: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10547079&ref=rss

They tried once, I'm sure they can try again.

Absolutely.

That's great for you, maybe not so much for him. Have you asked him if mainstream Muslims consider him an apostate?

This is a retarded question attempting to pigeonhole a huge group of people simply because it's easier than treating people like individuals.

You seem to imply that I have never dealt with Muslims on the individial basis. I did. Of those I've met, every single one had either concurred with this opinion of one prominent (in his country) Muslim politician, or said that it was too soft.

And what do you think Qantas is going to retort? That the malfunction was caused by radio signals from passengers' electronic devices. Duh! Look at it. A computer starts spewing "random data". That can only be caused by random radio waves from random clicking with a wireless mouse. No, in a few months time, everyone bringing a wireless mouse on board will be considered a terrorist.

RTFA. Qantas were investigating a possible link.

This story on the same news site seems a lot more level headed on the subject...

You're paranoid.

I've never had or even seen anyone having their laptop searched. They only do it if they feel you are being incredibly suspicious in the first place.. what these criteria are, we don't know (and won't ever know..) but it's safe to assume that 99.999% of people take their laptops through without incident, unless you're going through Newark, in which case you don't need to be under any suspicion.

After reading that news story I actually made sure all the stuff I had in my luggage when I came through Newark this August was ACTUALLY there (I just dumped it on a shelf and didn't bother to even untangle the cables) and it was so maybe I just missed him.

All in all, I'd be more worried about theft, or even the aircraft not plummeting from the sky because you have wireless turned on in-flight, than privacy.

That would be because Steve Jobs is not dead.

is dead. And Slashdot isn't reporting it. I guess that are too busy with the idle section.

That would probably be because Steve Jobs is not dead, though that never stopped them before, given BSD's "untimely demise". ;)

To true.

Interesting story here about Judge Harvey: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=149638

Sounds like maybe this judge needs to think a little harder about how the Internet works.

No, this is happening because he's been thinking way too much on this topic already.

The judge suffers from a weird case of self-centered career thesis myopia. He wrote a thesis/book titled internet.law.nz. He teaches a course on this very topic at the University of Auckland. He considers himself an expert in that area. And this is basically what happens when you make your local expert know-it-all -- a real judge -- with real powers. Common sense goes out the window, and super-conflated thesis-related academic mental masturbation takes over his every case.

Judge Harvey teaches the Law and Information Technology course at the University of Auckland. The course looks at the way technology impacts on evidence, jurisdiction and freedom of information. Judge Harvey has also written a textbook on the internet and law called internet.law.nz.

I had a pretty severe accident in my SUV a couple of months ago.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/search/search.cfm?kw1=tokoroa%204wd&kw2=&op=all&searchorder=2&display=20&start=0&thepage=1

We were both doing around 60mph in opposite directions at the time of impact - the white car lost control while overtaking and spun into my lane

I walked away from the wreck with some bruising from the seatbelt.

According to a local story he was discharged without conviction because he didn't show criminal intent, rather he was he motivated by proving his abilities, and conviction would be unduly detrimental to his future prospects.

it should also be noted that the judge took the guys Aspergers into consideration, and the fact his parents are working on his social skills.

At the risk of extending this rather off-topic fork, I feel its important to correct a mis-truth in the above.

By removing the defence of reasonable force there is no longer a defence for smacking your child; how is that NOT illegal?

For clarity, the truth is that it has always been 'illegal' to smack your kids (ala 'assault anyone') but reasonable force has always been a valid defence for parents, in the course of disciplining their kids. No longer the case, making prosecutions much more likely to succeed. Net result is that we now have busybodies and narkers stepping in...

News coverage from when it became law: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10440080%5D

Noted as the most extreme law in the world on the subject: http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO0705/S00223.htm

A father gets a warning put on his police record for flicking his childs ear:
http://stuff.co.nz/4354765a10.html

The latter occurred because a bystander 'took umbrage' and an off-duty police officer phoned it in. The guy then winds up surrounded by 6 cops!

Sorry but I couldnt let you spread mis-truths about New Zealand Law. It is illegal to smack your child here, because there is no legal defence for what essentially is an assault in the eyes of the law. Splitting hairs further has no value.

According to a local story he was discharged without conviction because he didn't show criminal intent, rather he was he motivated by proving his abilities, and conviction would be unduly detrimental to his future prospects.

If you had asked this question back in 1883 I would've said see this 1882 report from the Michigan department of health, when they believed freezing could purify water, since naturally occurring ice water is so delicious and hardly retains arsenic at all.

But we now know that we're soon to be exposed to ancient germs when all the icebergs melt.

So even though the Macbook is rated to a storage temperature of -24 degrees C, you might do better bringing it with you to the tanning salon. Also people will think that you go outside on occasion, win/win.

Here's a counter example, but I now conceded the issue is not AP and similar, but my local media removing those details.

It can be significant to young children born to vegan parents however, so I guess it is something to keep in mind as a vegetarian or vegan when considering children. The following link is about an important court case in New Zealand that occurred in 2002 to do with providing the necessities of life to children. Specifically, the parents denied their child B12 as they thought they could only get it from meat.

Parents of baby Caleb found guilty of manslaughter - Wednesday June 05, 2002

We had an online census in NZ a while ago.

From all reports, it went well.

Had a person come to the household, with the census papers. On the papers, was a web address and a PIN code to access the online version of the census.
If you filled out the online version, you ticked a box on the paper version, and gave it back to the nice person that collected them a week or so later.

Didn't hear any reports about security breaches.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10371468
Searching the site for "online census" will pull up a few more articles.

Here is your flying car. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/9/story.cfm?c_id=9&objectid=10497910

That is, you can't hijack a plane with a knife, but only if you think you can't:

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10491291

Via:

http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2008/02/hijacking_in_ne.html

The people in quesition kill women for teaching their daughters to read. They stone women to death for having been raped. And what do I hear from somewhat more modern Muslims? Not, "These people have to be stopped, especially since they want to run the entire middle east that way (and London, and Canada) - how can I help?" but rather, "Oh, we're not all like that, and you're a bigot for even wondering if Islam itself, by its nature, seems to be built around these notions."

Note that the guy who said this is not a random Muslim immigrant from the streets. He is an old guy, not a yound hothead, has lived in NZ for 30+ years by the time he made that statement, and, as an elected MP, is effectively an representative of the active Muslim community in the legislative. So much for the "religion of peace on average", then.

Some details here: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10456534

In NZ we have a new Guinness Book record holder - texting blindfolded.

Don't worry, the CIA has a backup of your profile, posts, pictures, etc.

CIA's ties to facebook

You think it is bad there. Here in New Zealand they are allowing txt speak in school examinations. This despite the fact that almost every sensible person in the country is against the idea.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10409902

Education in NZ has been dumbed down to the point now that no child can fail. We are seemingly breeding a generation of stupid/lazy people. Unfortunately these are the ones who are going to look after us when we're old. Now there's a scary thought.