Slashdot Mirror

I'm more concerned about the hypocrisy in the criminal justice system.

Driver posts 'hide your children' on Instagram after causing death of teen cyclist

Rouxle Le Roux had been drinking and smoking marijuana on the night she got behind the wheel of a car and crashed into 15-year-old Nathan Kraatskow.

Le Roux was on her learner's licence. She and her friends didn't stop. They left the teen at the scene on Auckland's North Shore's Oteha Valley Rd, where he later died of his injuries.

Le Roux avoided a jail sentence when she appeared at the Auckland District Court on Friday, having earlier pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing death.

Her lawyer said her "client was sorry and had since required hospitalisation for mental health problems". (I find the criminal justice system in Commonwealth countries often caves when female defendants pull out the mental health card; doesn't seem to hold water for many male defendants.)

One does wonder if the sentence would have been the same had the genders been reversed.

Either you are the guy in the article and you are using American style language to make your story more readable for this audience OR this exact situation is more common around the world than you might think ...
Fleeing driver stopped by trucker intervention

You don't jail the engineers or architects who design a building that fails in an earthquake.

Well actually. In the 2010 Christchurch earthquake, we had a building called the CTV Building that fell over and killed 115 people: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

The engineer has not been held responsible, because he quit from the professional engineering society before they laid charges against him, and the police (apparently incorrectly) decided that he could not be held culpable for their deaths.

It's a fairly minor scandal here and the families of the victims have appealed to the attorney general to re-review the case

https://www.stuff.co.nz/nation...
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/...

> The second point related to a legal technicality only flagged in the final months of the police investigation. The law says that any death resulting from negligent conduct must occur no more than one year and one day after that conduct ended.

This part of the law is being repealed by the government.

Yes, he owns property in New Zealand and was granted citizenship under controversial circumstances.

http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/...

http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/...

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/busi...

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/medi...

https://www.stuff.co.nz/nation...

Peter Thiel is a New Zealand citizen.

I didn't vote for him... :)

How about this example. Being old is no guarantee that you will be responsible.

Another example:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

More detail:
https://interactives.stuff.co....

If he wants relief it's up to New Zealand to stop cow-towing to the beltway thugs...

Ha ha ha! That would be the same New Zealand Government that gave Hollywood $50 million of local taxpayers money when they threatened to move the Hobbit movies away.
Sorry, I just checked, actually nearly $200 million of our local money.
Arseholes, all of them.
The next bunch of rich wankers coming with their hands out will be the American Cup sailing pricks, I think last time that cost the general public here nearly $40 million, and what did we get?
Fuck all.
Sorry, rant over.

Except the Herald, Stuff, and Scoop. And those were the first three I tried. RNZ does too.

Your first link is a reprint of a Washington Post story. Second one starts with a middle-endian date format - must be a foreigner.
Third one is a press-release by an illiterate wanker with numerous spelling/punctuation/grammar errors including the humourous "bold-face liar". He prints lies in a heavy font?

Except the Herald, Stuff, and Scoop. And those were the first three I tried. RNZ does too.

We seem to be doing fairly well no matter who wins the race, given where the boats are made

We do have among the least affordable housing in the world (in Auckland at least) to make up for that, also awful commutes.

"A recent New Zealand study found that the risks of death from second hand smoke is between the risk of getting melanoma and dying in a car crash.
"

Interesting that you picked the NZ study and not one from somewhere else because here Melanoma and car accidents are both big killers due to us having far stronger sun, very low levels of ozone meaning we have the highest incidence of melanoma in the world: http://www.stuff.co.nz/nationa...

Also, the driving standards here are terrible as are the roads, and there's a lot of old cars still in use with the average age of cars being 14+ years meaning they lack a lot of the modern safety features and given that's an average, there are plenty of cars that are 30+ years old still running around. We have a very high accident rate and many deaths on the roads as a result of poor driving and old vehicles.

Put those together and then consider that smoking sits in between them and then think, how safe is smoking? It is already illegal to smoke in a car with children and there's a push for the country to be completely smoke free by 2025 because that's at least something that can be done to improve health as we can't fix the ozone layer, turn off the sun, or train drivers to not be crap behind the wheel apparently.

As for pollution, NZ is 85% renewable energy so that's nice, but transport makes up a lot of our pollution and the air in cities like Auckland is very poor at some times of the year due to traffic fumes along with a large amount of wood burners. There's very little support to move to EVs (I have one) or to encourage no-polluting heating (I have heatpumps) and there are even efforts to penalise those who generate their own electricity (I have solar) so it is pretty poor in the face of the whole clean green New Zealand image.

In New Zealand, police Taser guns are fitted with a camera that starts recording video as soon as the Taser is switched on. Footage of some incidents has led to police being criticised for their excessive and illegal use of Tasers.

Weapon of choice: Are Tasers being abused? http://www.stuff.co.nz/good-re...

Police Taser use against man ruled excessive http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/n...

Do you get ACC coverage if the cops tase you?

In New Zealand, police Taser guns are fitted with a camera that starts recording video as soon as the Taser is switched on. Footage of some incidents has led to police being criticised for their excessive and illegal use of Tasers.

Weapon of choice: Are Tasers being abused? http://www.stuff.co.nz/good-re...

Police Taser use against man ruled excessive http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/n...

http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/89095298/Ratepayers-pick-up-bill-for-international-IT-specialists-Wellington-job-hunt

Some trips for somebody's buddies, ratepayer funded, happens from time to time...
No biggie, not that much money, pretty much sums up the business attitude, and not just Wellington.

Wellington Regional Economic Development Agency (WREDA) chief executive Chris Whelan said the cost to bring each candidate to New Zealand for a week would be about $2750.

This equates to about $275,000 for 100 candidates.

The agency is investing $300,000 in the campaign.

WREDA, which combines the economic development activities of Wellington City Council and Greater Wellington Regional Council, is funded by Wellington ratepayers.

LookSee Wellington was about giving people, who might be open to moving to this side of the world, a chance to "come and have a look-see" before deciding to relocate, and without having to pay to get here, Whelan said.

The employer fee - known as a marketing success fee - is written in the employment agreement. It is set at just over $9000 per hire.

A proportion of each fee will be returned to WREDA as the principal sponsor of the programme.

"The cost associated with a successful hire is a flat fee that is significantly lower than market rates for conventional recruitment agency selection for mid to senior-level IT professionals," Whelan said.

For anyone outside NZ, here's the obligatory link to Ultra-fast broadband terminal installed in toilet. The problem with decreeing that everyone gets fibre as quickly as possible is that the quality of some of the work done isn't the highest...

it sounds like plain extortion. Personally I would go to the local provincial or federal authorities, and if they say it's illegal, demand that they press charges for extortion.

I don't live in Canada, but here in New Zealand we have this thing called Private Prosecution where anyone can take a criminal prosecution against anyone else. The fact that the prosecutor has to pay their own expenses makes it a rare occurrence, but when a local mayoral candidate was accused of cheating on his electoral expenses and the Attorney General declined to take the case, a private citizen did us all a favour and took over. It ended with a loss on appeal, but the idea was a great one IMHO: This gives some information.

I see the AG did eventually take over the case, but in a pretty half-hearted manner.

The point I'm trying to make is that taking an extortion case against a copyright owner in these circumstances ought to be at least possible, and would be a lot of fun.

There was this story from about 12 years ago. Unfortunately the linked article is no longer available but I did find a follow up that has a more "current" one. The dino has survived until at least 2014 but I didn't find anything newer than that.

From the looks of the pictures it's simply shaken itself to pieces. Down here in Australia and New Zealand, Samsung top loaders have a bad reputation for catching fire and burning peoples houses down. Lastest Samsung Washing Machine Fires

Let me add this:

Two years later, it was revealed that potentially 22 million emails were deleted. - The "deleted" emails were recovered - nearly all 22 million of them. (Though on an obscure NZ website, the story is a Reuters story.)

Yes, dumb story.

Should have gone with a 'Is the Olympics a huge waste of money?' angle: http://www.theatlantic.com/bus... http://www.businessinsider.com... http://money.cnn.com/gallery/n... http://www.thenational.ae/spor...
Answer: No, if you're a pork-barrelling supplier, a politician or Olympic hanger on partying at the tax payers expense. Yes, if you're one of Brazil's poor threatened with poverty http://riotimesonline.com/braz... crime http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/o... and disappearances http://www.ibtimes.com/road-ri...

"Just switch to nitrogen asphyxiation if you want a humane execution which isn't dependent upon strapping the condemned down to a table, having to have a non-professional put an IV in, trouble getting drugs, etc..."

Then watch liberals try to ban the 'dangerous chemical, nitrogen'. It will be the American version of this epic moment in Green theology:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/nationa...

It's a feel good scam.

To quote RNZ,"New Zealand's target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions 11 percent below 1990 levels by 2030 remains conditional on aspects of the Paris deal that have not yet been nailed down, namely that there are functioning and transparent carbon markets in place."

Add that to our the recent Morgan Foundation report labelling New Zealand a climate change cheat for dealing in dodgy Carbon Credits, the utter failure of our government to rein in our dairy industry and the widespread degradation of the environment here we are not really doing anything except making the rich richer.

What I don't get is that they are still, local bodies included, happily building infrastructure on land that their own people tell them will be be flooded or underwater in fifty years. They don't care, they don't believe, and they don't want to deal with it.

http://stuff.co.nz/life-style/...

Some citations (other than Huff Post):
http://www.smh.com.au/interact...
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new...
http://www.stuff.co.nz/busines...
http://www.stuff.co.nz/busines...
http://www.stuff.co.nz/busines...

Some citations (other than Huff Post):
http://www.smh.com.au/interact...
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new...
http://www.stuff.co.nz/busines...
http://www.stuff.co.nz/busines...
http://www.stuff.co.nz/busines...

Some citations (other than Huff Post):
http://www.smh.com.au/interact...
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new...
http://www.stuff.co.nz/busines...
http://www.stuff.co.nz/busines...
http://www.stuff.co.nz/busines...

So the damage is the result of him marketing himself as a sexual powerhouse and the reality of being exposed as a 'er' little finger and thus he is no longer able to lie and make money by putting down other men as little fingers http://www.stuff.co.nz/oddstuf..., so is this court rage by a similarly afflicted judge and jury. So should you really be able to claim damages for no longer be able to tell lies and profit by doing so whilst damaging the psychology of 'er' little finger afflicted males. So who should be paying damages for the harm caused in reality.

Sleazy Keyzy http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/celebrities/75393732/Guy-Williams-John-Key-is-a-genius-and-I-hate-it is doing his utmost to remedy our oversights and play catchup with the TPPA.

As a Kiwi, our PM John Key has stated the will of his US masters that Snowden isn't welcome here

http://www.stuff.co.nz/nationa...

Yeah, I kind of figured they wouldn't be available world-wide, but the links contain enough details (season 19, episodes 1 and 5) that you should be able to locate them on, shall we say, "other" sources.

I'm not sure what it's like in other places, but in New Zealand, copyright law requires ISPs to disclose information about accounts used for P2P, and account holders can be charged without trial. Law to fight internet piracy passed

I expect there are ways around this, but I tend to try to adhere to copyright law, even if I don't agree with it (while some other people I know seem to have it the other way around--go figure).

Doesn't stop the US, so why should it stop us Aussies.

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/05/04/bin.laden.legal/

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/9739447/Dotcom-raid-legal-FBI-taking-evidence-not

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/07/02/world/americas/bolivia-presidential-plane/

FUCK YOU TO HELL AMERICA!!!!

Uber headquarters are in San Francisco so I suggest extradition to Australia for the CEO. Failing that, entice the homeless of San Fran to burn the cunts to the ground!!!!

Haven't you heard? FSM lives under the sea
http://www.stuff.co.nz/oddstuf...

> Why did you lie under oath in court to try and get John Banks put in jail?

Have you got a link? I did a quick search and found:

"Kim Dotcom challenges John Banks to sit-down interview"
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/n...

And an article with plenty of details, but it boils down to each saying the other's lying:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/nationa...

Not necessarily.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/technol...

A bit of Googling reveals that he left in 2011: http://www.stuff.co.nz/nationa...
Oh, and it's Rocket Lab, not Rocket Labs.

Can he pull little girls hair?

That's not fair... She was 26, and he thought it was consentual.
John Key: Ponytail pull not sexist

Meanwhile, in New Zealand... http://static2.stuff.co.nz/125...

... The company behind the global mode is Thumbing its nose

http://www.stuff.co.nz/busines...

"We assumed they were OK with Global Mode and we continued to spend money innovating the facility,"

"We did that on our understanding that geo-unblocking to allow people to digitally import content purchased overseas is perfectly legal. If you say it is not, then we are going to need a lot more detail from you to understand why. Simply sending us a threatening letter, as frightening as that may be, does not get us there and is not a fair reason for us to shut down our whole business,"

"It's much worse than even countries like Peru that likes to balance roads precariously on the side of mountains without any kind of safety barriers or landslide prevention"

I think you'll find that in Peru, the landslide prevention comes down with the landslide and mashes you against the safety barriers before those get swept away too.

Even where I come from, there are roads which semi-regularly get 20,000 cubic yards of "stuff" landing on them - http://www.stuff.co.nz/nationa... (bear in mind that strip of blacktop in the photo has a couple of 20 ton earthmovers on one end trying to shift what's on it - the photo at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... gives a better idea of the terrain.), but there's a better driving culture there.

Scarily, Russian road death rates aren't the highest in the world, despite the prevalant russian culture of drunk driving.

New Zealand has had a tech expo with similar rules - a company ignoring the rules made news last year, so it's not a first (kind of old news here, really).

how is

boys-don't-count gender-based CS teacher funding

Unless I misunderstand this that means, the school will get less/no money more teaching boys. How can that do anything but discourage boys from attending. Encourage and Discourage are 2 sides of the same coin, if you go around saying we really want girls then boys will get the message that they are not wanted, which of course is true since each girl in computer class is worth more to the school. Or if there are limited places then boys will be refused entry in favor of girls.

I don't really see why we need every profession to have equal distribution of the sexes, anyway? Men and women are different, no matter how much the PC brigade want them to be the same. If a girl doesn't want to do computers why does society see the need to brainwash them into doing it.

Also in areas where men are underrepresented. It seems like the law forbids this type of behavior. (I know different country)

from http://www.stuff.co.nz/nationa....

He said despite male teachers being in a minority, scholarships were only available for women, disabled people and those from varying ethnic backgrounds.

The commission had said it would be unlawful to offer male-only scholarships.

I personally think the gender in-balance in teachers is much more important than the one in technology, teachers are major role models children's lives, and children need role models of both sexes, where who cares who wrote the latest app, or the latest network protocol.

In New Zealand, police tasers are equipped with cameras that start recording black and white video when they are turned on. Recently, using the taser video recording of an incident, it was established that two police officers had used excessive force and had given false evidence in court.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/n...
http://www.stuff.co.nz/nationa...
http://www.stuff.co.nz/good-re...

In New Zealand, police tasers are equipped with cameras that start recording black and white video when they are turned on. Recently, using the taser video recording of an incident, it was established that two police officers had used excessive force and had given false evidence in court.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/n...
http://www.stuff.co.nz/nationa...
http://www.stuff.co.nz/good-re...

I suspect you meant that a jest, but she was actually fairly vile. One opinion: http://www.stuff.co.nz/aucklan...

I grew up using Wellington's electric buses my entire life.
And now the council is going to scrap the lot of them - how fitting that slashdot should run an article ...
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/10202967/Wellingtons-trolley-buses-to-go
Politicians in the pockets of industry again...

Amazingly it won't stop idiotic local councils from ripping them up, even today. Here's a good example - http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/10202967/Wellingtons-trolley-buses-to-go

The NZ economy has benefited from Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, King Kong, Avatar and many other high budget movies where a significant part was made in New Zealand.

I'd say that's more to do with Peter Jackson and James Cameron than the rest of Hollywood though.

That's actually not true - the movie subsidies we are paying (as taxpayers) have resulted in a net loss to the economy as was pointed out in 2010 - [www.stuff.co.nz]

It's for exactly that reason that he gets any traction in public opinion in NZ. The first time he came to the attention of most Kiwis at all was when the NZ police raided his house with swat teams, helicopters and the works at the behest of US law enforcement. For ... copyright infringement.

Then it turned out that our intelligence services had been spying on him illegally, (along with 80 or so other foreign-born NZ residents) Some of our politicians had been taking political donations from him and later denying all knowledge, and our Prime Minister claimed to know nothing about the illegal spying despite being briefed on it 12 months earlier

In addition FBI agents in NZ sent copies of his personal files to the US despite the ruling of NZ courts.

In essence, our local politicians and law enforcement acted like such complete and total dickwads that they made even a guy like Kim Dotcom look the good guy by comparison. The let him into the country for his money, despite his convictions. Then when the US law enforcement came knocking they turned on him like a bunch of weasels.

In fact public opinion is starrting to swing against him. Kiwis typically aren't impressed by the kind of excess and showboating he is famous for. I don't think is party will get that many votes, but in a country the size of NZ, and due to the peculiarities of our version of MMP, a small party can sometimes gain a couple of seats and be in a position to act as kingmaker.