2008 July

Quote of the Day

Context: Winston Peters

The old reptile has this ability to slither out of the grasp of competing swamp creatures and end up basking on the best rock in the pool.
– Tim Selwyn

Johnny’s Jandals

Blogs from the left and right are weighing in on John Key’s flip-flops, dead rat swallowing and me-tooisims.

First a delicious piece of satire from Simon Pound over at Public Address:

John Key has announced the adoption of yet another flagship Labour policy – having a female leader. In a one-page policy briefing released today he stated that under a National government he would undergo gender realignment to have what it takes to lead the Country.

“I’ve been up and down the country talking to people and it kept being said to me that one of Labour’s biggest strengths is that their leader is a woman. Having already adopted most of their policy platform it was a no-brainer that I should seek to become a woman.”
…
ACT leader Rodney Hide could not be reached for comment having lost his cellphone while attempting to jump a shark on a jetski.

Even diehard National supporter, DPF, is disappointed, frustrated and just generally upset about National’s recent behavior.

And this from NZPundit, via The Standard:

Blind Faith

Do you ever get the feeling, while browsing some news sites, that you should be looking at The Onion?

From the Article:

At least 50 people have lost their sight after staring at the sun hoping to see an image of the Virgin Mary, according to reports.
…
Forty-eight cases of sight-loss, allegedly caused by photochemical burns on the retina, have been recorded at St Joseph’s ENT and Eye hospital in the region since Friday.

Despite warnings, and the potentially harmful effects of their actions, believers are allegedly still flocking to a hotelier’s house in Erumeli near where the divine image is said to have appeared.

Might just be one of those days…

Southern Amp 2008 Lineup

Morphyoss has the first lineup announcement for the Christurch music festival, Southern Amp:

• The Living End
• The Dandy Warhols
• The Potbelleez
• Gyroscope
• Tiki
• Testament
• The Jordan Luck Band
• Autozamm
• Goodwill
• Concord Dawn
• Little Bushman
• Dimmer
• Die! Die! Die!
• Fur Patrol
• Goodnight Nurse
• State of Mind
• The Valves
• Pitch Black
• The Exiles

NICE! It’s due to kick off November 9th. Looks like some party! If the second announcement is anything like this one, I might have to be there!

Labour, Progressive & Greens Win Fourth Term

Although, it seems, they’ll be able to sit this one out. John Key seems happy enough to carry on their legacy for a time to come. There’s only so many dead-rats you can swallow (whole, mind you) under the guise of “policy inoculation” before you’re actually selling out.

It’s obvious National will do anything to win.

Some of the most hotly debated policies and programs of the Labour Party have been promised to also exist under a National government, should you be so good to, you know, vote for them.

Interest free student loans? Check! Working for Families? Check! Kiwisaver? You betcha! Aside from the 90-day fire-and-forget bill, ACC and the promise to look at the public broadcasting charter, most of their policy appears to consist of keep, retain and continue.

iPhone and Vodafone Data Plans…

and the rip-off that they entail.

As you might know, if you try and use an existing youChoose connection with iPhone, Vodafone will tell you to sign up to the iPhone-only data plans with a mandatory 24-month term. Not really surprising for a company who will start charging prepay customer $1 to call the customer care help center.

That is, even if you already have their Mobile Broadband (200Mb/1Gb) plans assigned to your account. With these “mobile broadband” plans it’s possible to pay slightly more per month, $10, to not be locked into a term.

That option isn’t available with the iPhone mobile data plans. And Vodafone will also tell you there’s no way to use your iPhone on the “mobile broadband” data plans.

They’re lying.

With that site it’s possible to configure your iPhone to use the generic mobile data APN (access point) and not the iPhone only plans. You can use the casual data rate or any other data plans you want. It’s also completely reversable and seemingly undetectable.

Vodafone do not want you to have a fully functional iPhone without signing a 24-month contract. Too bad!

Happy Hacking!

Narrow Collision

A woman was watching the late news when a breaking news bulletin comes on:

“There is a car currently driving the wrong way up a Wellington highway. People are urged to stay off that road until the situation is resolved”

The woman, knowing her elderly friend Harry Spencer is on the road tonight gives him a call on his cellphone in advance…

“Harry, look out, the news said there’s a madman driving on the wrong side of the motorway! Be careful!”

“One madman? There’s fuckin’ dozens of them!”

Thought Of The Day

Labour pledge Universal Student Allowance.

Interpreted as many as an “Election Bribe”.

Is it still a bribe if National adopt the policy (as they did with interest free student loans)?

If the main complaint is that “lower paid will end up subsidising the rich”, what do they call National’s plan to double the government funding towards private education institutes?

Rogers Caves to Angry iPhone Canucks

Rogers, Canada’s sole iPhone provider, released it’s plans some time ago to screams of protest, horror and mostly, rage.

Their plans were so upsetting to Canadians who had to sit out of the iPhone launch while their brothers to the south (and west) rubbed their noses in it. The announcement spawned websites, petitions and blog posts across the internet.

It’s even rumored to have drawn the ire of Apple itself who are said to have made a power play to divert a majority of stock destined for Canada to Europe. They also have said that Canadian Apple stores will not be selling the device on launch day.

However, it seems that they have been heard by Rogers, who have decided to release a better value data portion to their plans raising the cap up to 6GB. Still not the unlimited plans that AT&T are offering but a huge improvement.

Will Apple ding Vodafone NZ for their behavior? Will Vodafone NZ listen to it’s customers? Don’t hold your breath.

King of Cartoonists

I always enjoy reading Stuff catoonist, Mike Moreu’s, work. Funny, relevant and poignant. Lots of jokes about politics but even-handed when dishing out the hurt.

You can see his gallery here and he also writes a blog on Stuff called Tooned In which is interesting for a look inside his head.