Immigration and crime

Not a dog-whistle story but an interesting Freakonomics-esque piece of research.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080226/us_nm/usa_immigration_crime_dc

Too bloody busy trying to earn some dosh and stay one step ahead of the INS?

Forget about Kiwi youth - its them foreigners!

Funny how some tourists think that they are free to abuse their host country's hospitality.

Some time ago I was visiting one of our caves with stalagmites and all that stuff. It was well managed and had signs up saying something to the effect that these formations had taken thousands of years to build up and please don't touch them. So what did the German tourists in front of me do? *Not a rocket scientist moment*

Is it too much to ask for people to show some respect for not just other people's property but a bit of common sense?

A sign that the End Time is nearing....

.. is grads using leetspeak in job letters.

That's just so like hard out pathetic.

HK celebs are saying sorry too

Of the 5 people who read this blog, I expect I am the only one who takes any interest in HK celebs.

Edison Chen, one of HK's more prominent move stars, got caught with his pants down - well, on film at least. And it was all of his own making.

He is now particularly contrite and says it's not a good example. Laugh? I nearly pissed myself.

Leaving aside the issue of why all 7 women agreed to be photographed by him while they were having sex with him, he clearly has some issues with relationships. No mention by Chen as to what sort of help he would be seeking though. Typical.

Update: The fallout continues with Gillian Chung - one the women in the photos getting dropped from singing at the opening of the Olympic games. Ouch.

As a friend pointed out to me, the photos in themselves are not "bad" and I had to agree that if that's what rocks your socks and everyone is a consenting adult then one cannot morally sneer at them.

Today's emotion

is Despair

I have experienc'd

The worst, the World can wreak on me--the
worst

That can make Life indifferent, yet
disturb

With whisper'd Discontents the dying
prayer--

I have beheld the whole of all,
wherein

My Heart had any interest in this
Life,

To be disrent and torn from off my
Hopes

That nothing now is left. Why then live on
?

That Hostage, which the world had in it's
keeping

Given by me as a Pledge that I would
live--

That Hope of Her, say rather, that pure
Faith

In her fix'd Love, which held me to keep
truce

With the Tyranny of Life--is gone ah ! whither
?

What boots it to reply ? 'tis gone ! and
now

Well may I break this Pact, this League of
Blood

That ties me to myself--and break I shall !

- Samuel Taylor Coleridge

I'm starting to like this guy

Having been away from OZ for some time, I'm not so familiar with all the political personae, especially in the new Rudd government.

However, if Chris Evans is actually as portrayed in this article, then he doesn't sound half bad.

A politician who:

(a) wants to divest himself of power; and
(b) is fulfilling promises to sort out the mess made before his election

is a major plus.

Words fail me

after seeing this headline from the Sydney Morning Herald:

I shouldn't have had sex with her body, says murder accused

I can only hope the subeditor was trying to be funny.

And now for something completely different...

Thespoof.com is a most excellent site for anyone in need of a laugh.

My advice is to dip your toes in occasionally. More than one or two articles at a time gets a bit overwhelming. Especially Paris Hilton.

Wellywood goes retro (by a few thousand years)

So we are going to get a new terminal based on a "rock" theme.

It's easy to bag an unusual design. But I kinda like it.

It's going to be a bitch to clean the outside though. I guess that's what departure fees are for.

Hopscotching with intent

Police are to be put into low-decile schools.

This will definitely get the big brother conspiracy theorists' knickers into a twist.

I would have thought after the publicity that HVHS would have been on the list but IIRC its not low decile. It used to be a fairly snobby place until the catchment was increased and white flight took hold.

Anyway, I digress.

This bit intrigues me:

Police chiefs are introducing the system to build up trust with youngsters
and to gather intelligence about youth gangs, drug dealing, and to tackle
crime before it happens.

Hmmmm

• Tackling crime before it happens is a throwaway line.
• Intel on gangs and drugs is after the fact.
• The only preventative component made explicit is building up trust.

Not sure how trust is going to stop anti-social behaviour. First of all, anti-social behaviour (tagging, robbery, theft - the typical stuff young offenders get involved in) will not be avoided if you like the fella in the nice blue uniform and stabproof vest. The trouble runs much deeper.

Quite possibly this will only introduce the kids to the police earlier than getting nicked.

Personally, I think the resources would be better spent trying to instil better parenting skills through community groups.

The Dog CD makes it to Reuters

This was news in NZ back around Christmas time.

Nice to see Reuters are up with play.

At least they didn't have a dog version of Snoopy's Christmas (or did they?)

More on Kiwi driving

This time from the Herald.

Attitudinal change. Sounds good. However, it will be interesting to see how one can instil a healthy respect for the lethality of motor vehicles into the "bullet-proof" hoons.

How low can you go?

According to Jeff Kennet, former Victorian Liberal Premier, airing the Lib's dirtywashing in public is degrading.

Given that the coalition had fallen to abysmally low levels in the eyes of the electorate, I wonder if the appropriate term should be "subgrading".

As a Victorian, he should know that a bit of blood-letting is good for the humours.

Kiwis are crap drivers.... at last someone admits it

Article from Stuff quoting the the editor of New Zealand Driver magazine as saying we are a "nation of lousy drivers".

I put my hand up there and admit to be being one, too.

The difference is that I know my limitations and I take the view that my car is not some super fancy way of showing how macho I am but a bloody heavy blunt force trauma on wheels.

Compared to many of my compatriots on the road, I show excessive caution and I get my fair share of abuse for it. But I will gladly suffer that. Having been a bystander to accident where an elderly pedestrian was literally pulverised by a speeding car, I am happy to be on the receiving end of abuse than to see someone get killed up close again.

Sorry is such a hard word to say

... if you're an Aussie Liberal or a denizen of talkback radio.

A good post from Ruth on that.

Rugby players are hetero

Well, they didn't say that exactly but it's practically there...

Someone should remind them about the construction worker in the Village People.

Sanity after the fact

The bill is waived - so someone came to their senses. Did the pressure come from on high?

Shame on the civil servants who needed to be leant on to show a bit of compassion.

A sign of commitment

Stuff has story on a road sign that isn't actually part of the wine trail and points away from the general direction of the nearest vineyard.

I really like this part where Positively Wellington Tourism chief executive, Tim Cossar, says:

"But the signs are just part of our commitment to the trail as opposed to saying
there is a vineyard around the corner."

And while I'm on the topic of stupid signs, there is at the start of Lambton Quay on one side of the intersection (facing Lambton Quay) a 50 km/h sign and immediately opposite at the start of Lambton Quay proper is a 30 km/h sign. [If I was more technological adept I would put a photo on here - but I'm not, so I won't.]