I’ve noticed on a few right-wing blogs over the last couple of days (yes, I’m looking at you Mr. Farrar) increasingly mentioning a politician/bureaucrat referred to as “H2″. They are referring, of course, to Helen Clark’s chief of staff, Heather Simpson. Apparently here in Wellington with Helen as H1, Heather is known as H2.
Her name has appeared in the media most recently over her letter to Parliamentary Services on the controversial pledge cards that kick-started the current nastiness in NZ politics. I didn’t think much of that letter in the media other than a member of Helen’s staff was probably just doing what was dictated to her by H1 herself.
I don’t have enough knowledge to know how accurate this article is and I’m sure if you looked hard enough there is probably a rebuke or two in the blogosphere but it does make for interesting reading as a citizen of this country. The media, however, has confirmed she is one of the top 4 most influential Labour party members.
As for the pledge card issue itself, I don’t really feel that debating it here would shed any new light on the subject. Labour should pay it back but politically they can’t, especially after National’s repeated claims of corruption. As Audrey Young points out:
“National’s fight against Labour’s election spending is not about the 2005 campaign, it’s about the 2008 campaign and who wins”.
Last weekend I went to see An Inconvenient Truth. Wow. Please please please go and see it for yourself, it is an amazing film. If you haven’t heard of the film (where have you been!) it is a documentary on climate change and especially global warming, featuring Al Gore. It centers around a presentation Gore has been giving for many years on the topic of climate change.
I found the film engaging and well produced given the material they were working with. It was extremely refreshing to hear evidence on climate change without the FUD. The film starts brilliantly and really sets the scene. I appreciated many aspects of the film such as: refusing to treat the audience like idiots; not ignoring Gore’s defeat in the 2000 election; focusing on the real support that exists in America for the Kyoto Protocol even though the country hasn’t ratified the treaty.
One of the best points in the film is when Gore asks you to imagine how we are going to be perceived by our children’s children if, when presented with this problem and the ability to do something about it, we did nothing. The changes we are seeing in our climate are gradual in reference to our own lifetimes, but are extremely fast-paced when considered in terms of the lifetimes of our rivers, or glaciers, or landscapes.
It has been said of Gore recently, “Where was this man in 2000!?”. I can’t help but ask the same question after watching his presentation style, conviction, and passion. Why was he cast as a boring mono-tone speech-reader as Vice President and Presidential Nominee (at least here in far away NZ).
The widget here allows you to pledge to go and see the film. If you are going to see the film anyway or as a result of this blog post, send in your details. It will be great to see how many pledges we can get. In Wellington, I know you have, at least, the choice of either Paramount or Rialto screening the film. Click the links for each cinema’s session times.
88% of all users have never heard of RSS.
1% of internet users use Digg on an average day.
20% of the world speaks English.
This is especially relevant to all of you who are (like me) young Wellington IT professionals. We live in a very insulated environment and can sometimes forget how much of this isn’t “normal”. Let me add a few more of my own specific for Wellington:
Wellington has the highest average income of a city in New Zealand.
Wellington has the highest percentage of people with tertiary qualifications.
Wellington has the highest amount of people who walk to work and use public transport.
As Seth points out, the point of this list isn’t to persuade you to give up your new media quest and become another Auckland drone driving your oversized SUV to work. “No, all the growth and the opportunity and the fun is at the leading edge, at the place where change happens.” It’s just worth remembering where you are on the bell curve in contrast to where a lot of other people are. Keep in touch with this side, you have as much to learn from them as they do from you.
I need some of these. I’d probably be able to give them all out in a couple a days, and probably for these infractions:
* Walking three abreast on city sidewalks
* Not dealing with car alarm
* Not letting others out of the train/bus/store/post office before pushing way in
* Not giving up seat on public transportation when someone obviously needs it more than you
* Berating servicepeople for things not their fault
A totally neat piece of design, a USB thumb drive with a tiny pump inside it that gradually blows itself up depending on the amount of data it holds. Studio: PlusMinus
If you’re like me, you’ll probably have quite a large and varied MP3 collection. One where you’re not really aware of everything that is actually in your library and where it would take weeks or even months to listen to every song back to back.
How do you ensure you get at least a chance to listen to everything and indeed rediscover old favourites? Try this idea I learned from Trey while we were travelling.
In iTunes, create a new Smart Playlist and set the play count to 0.
Voila! You now have an instantly updating Never Played list. As soon as something is played to the end, it’s play count will update to 1 and it will thus be removed from the list. It’s a great way to work your way through your songs – I have (only) 5 days of music to get through now…
I wonder if this will have an impact inasmuch at it will close the company. Better get to the old Krazy Lounge on Cuba St that they’ve been using as a temporary sales store before they close up. Although it has been reported that the Fidel’s empire will be invading this space shortly.
When I think of how our media, our government, our intellectuals and so on have treated China this decade, compared with the past, this generally sums it up. Bravo Western capitalism, bravo.
Generation XY is holding a competition to see who can come up with a suitable acronym similiar to JAFA, but for Wellingtonians. I agree there are some really common traits with Wellingtonians… such as being able to recognise 24 shades of black suit… but good luck trying to find/name a term. I liked the comment he made about walking along Lambton Quay:
you can cross the road anywhere without looking because someone else will get hit first
Her name has appeared in the media most recently over her letter to Parliamentary Services on the controversial pledge cards that kick-started the current nastiness in NZ politics. I didn’t think much of that letter in the media other than a member of Helen’s staff was probably just doing what was dictated to her by H1 herself.
One of the best points in the film is when Gore asks you to imagine how we are going to be perceived by our children’s children if, when presented with this problem and the ability to do something about it, we did nothing. The changes we are seeing in our climate are gradual in reference to our own lifetimes, but are extremely fast-paced when considered in terms of the lifetimes of our rivers, or glaciers, or landscapes.
