The Bar

Survey: Has anyone else been experiencing really poor speeds with Xtra based broadband accounts (incluyding the resellers such as Orcon, IHug, Telstra etc etc etc)?

Everyone I know who has such an account has had terrible speeds in last 2 weeks. I know there was some kind of news article on it somewhere also.

Telecom NZ must surely be the worst telco in the Western world?

http://www.hottieamps.com/

Spotted this on various sites round the net - just thought people may be interested - talk on NZ getting a version of the DMCA type legislation.

Some points.

- the one redeeming feature of the legislation, permitted format-shifting, expires in 2 years unless it is actively renewed via further legislation.

http://www.knowledge-basket.co.nz/gpprint/docs/bills/20061021.txt

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I stumbled upon this today. Is it old news? I haven't seen any conversation about it on these boards. Having nothing to sell myself, I must say it looks pretty radical.

http://www.snocap.com/join/store/ms/?cid=6d084c33-6ffc-4162-bd19-991021e...

Anyone else excited about the 'grumpiest homo in rock' coming to Welly ?

No?

. . . well I am

alternative from say popular music played on c4 and juice? 24 hours of my music, promoting my type of music I enjoy listening to wouldn't that inturn just make it popular? (say like watching J2?) 36 presenters? action sport news/lingerie & fashion show, etc? prehaps starting off abit too big, prehaps just get titles on the videos first and you might wanna lose nicky watson if your trying to avoid pop culture.

will have to catch borat though, and children of men which we are getting a month earlier than the US! and its a strong contender for oscar nods. Aren't we lucky with these choices this weekend.

What have you guys seen lately and enjoyed?

Invible was great, Mark Wahlbergs still got it! Great gridiron action/comedy. Flags of our fathers has been forgotten in NZ cinemas and will be off the screens soon, I suggest you catch it too. Out of the Blue was very disturbing but its importance shines through.

Howdo, Uncle DG here, its been awhile, I trust your all doing well.
So we had a rather shitty salmon season this year, the lack of fish was bad enough but add to that the fights, arrests, life time bans from assorted hotels/ bars, money paid out in damages/bail and it really wasn't worth the trip. But there was one thing that made it all worth while (sort of). We'd been out on the last trip of the season and were heading back to PFI to off load what few fish we had. I was crashed out down below as was the skiff man, the skip was passed out drunk in the galley and the "boy" was driving. Somewhere around 2am there was a huge crash, rocked the fuck out of the boat. Both Choch and I came out of that folks hold like rabbits on crack, we're like what the fuck was that but the boys not at the wheel, he's out on the back deck looking at the fucking iceberg he just hit. I throttle us down and we wait, there's no immediate list but the bilge alarm starts screaming. Im likie oh shit man here we go right but we're still not listing so I figure we're not going down right now so it's safe enough to go below and take a wee peek and see how much damage there is. I go back down into the folks hold and right where Chochie would have been sleeping if he hadn't switched sides earlier in the season was a whole mess of splintered planks (we fish an old wood slab), I can see we're taking on water but the hole is about 6 inches above the water line. I head back up top and tell skip (drunken fucker) It took me 5hrs to get us into dock but we made it, if the hole was 6 inches lower though we would've been fucked. Still how many of you have hit an iceberg?

OK. Someone had to say it so i thought it mayaswell be me.
Who else here went to U2, and who else thought that it was one hell of an amzingly lifechangingly incredibly best bloody concert youve ever been to?
Perfect sound, perfect band (except Edge did make a whole 2 small mistakes) , perfect show, perfect set list. ......
The only concert that I have ever wanted not to end.
*sigh*

Goddamn it this crap has gotta stop - supergroup/fist - gimme a break . . . . . arrrrghhhhhh !!!!!

STOP IT.

Police use Taser for first time to subdue man

1.30pm Saturday September 9, 2006

An Auckland labourer last night became the first person in New Zealand to be subdued by a Taser -- the 50,000 volt electrical charge gun used by police to incapacitate alleged offenders.

An officer used a Taser gun to disarm and arrest the 18-year-old man after police responded to two incidents in a Western Springs street about 8pm last night.

A police statement said the man suffered only minor lacerations from the probe contact and no injuries when he fell and was arrested.

He was examined by a doctor at the Auckland central police station.

The man was to appear in Auckland District Court charged with assault with a weapon, threatening to kill, possession of an offensive weapon and possession of a knife.

A controversial 12-month Taser trial started on September 1 in Auckland and Wellington.

The small yellow gun fires two metal spurs which pierce clothing and skin.

Six-metre wires attached to the darts transmit five seconds of charge, temporarily paralysing the person shot.

Until last night's incident police had reported drawing Tasers four times as a deterrent and on each occasion the target surrendered without it being fired.

It was first pointed at an alleged offender in Orewa last Sunday morning when a 29-year-old man threatened to kill his mother and himself with a knife.

The man surrendered and was charged with threatening to cause injury.

In Auckland on Monday, two men fled from a burglary in Waitakere and were chased by police. When stopped, police saw one was armed with a long screwdriver.

They directed the Taser's laser beam at the man and he dropped the tool.

Wellington officers also used the threat of shock treatment to arrest a man threatening passers-by with a knife in central Wellington's Courtenay Place early on Wednesday.

Members of the armed offenders squad had access to the weapon during yesterday's tense hostage drama at Auckland's Paremoremo prison.

Police eventually stormed a store room to free a female prison officer who had been held by an inmate.

-ends-

Quite good, I thought, that they've been using it as a deterrent without actually firing it. Very responsible, good on you cops. Seeing the laser on your body would probably be pretty terrifying...

the all blacks and fuck yeah. was waiting for someone to make a thread, but you all seem too cool for school. that's the serious business what they're laying down now. if they keep playing like fucking gods, rugby will become a huge sport. so build the stadium, anywhere, quickly beaurocrats and stop pissing away the cash.

and argentina, fuck yeah!

that's the best shit, southern mongrel ripping the england new asshole, fucking holy wars motherfucker!

just wanted to mention it, thoughts?

wow, don brash just resigned. I almost feel sorry for him after the roasting he got from Noelle on bFM this morning. Maybe that was the last straw; she asked about a leadership change during the bollocking & even then he was insistent he wasn't going to step down.

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Okay, I suggested this in another topic, but I'm going to put it out there in its own special little place. I think with the depth of knowledge and extensive record collections that we collectively have, we should definitely share the love and swap some mix CDs. Therefore, I propose we start a mix tape club.

If you're interested, post a comment here to register your interest, and email me your address (anything to hubris.co.nz gets to me). Then everyone can make a mix CD based on the theme and send however many copies as there are players to me, and I'll divide them up and send them out to everyone once I receive everyone's contributions.

Rad. As far as a theme goes, how about we kick it off with 'Mixtapes remixed' - take tracks that other people's mixtapes have helped you discover, or the very best tracks that you've put on compilations for others. If you want to make linear notes, that'd be even radder. If you think this theme is pants, but want to participate, please feel free to suggest a different theme.

a cool tone-deaf test online.

from the website - While working at the music and neuroimaging lab at Beth Israel/Harvard Medical School in Boston, I developed a quick online way to screen for the tonedeafness. It actually turned out to be a pretty good test to check for overall pitch perception ability. The test is purposefully made very hard, so excellent musicians rarely score above 80% correct. Give it a try!
In our research, we were looking for neuro-anatomical correlates of tonedeafness (called "congenital amusia" in the scientific literature. We gave several dozen subjects a high-resolution MRI scan and used a statistical package to analyze the images. This technique, called VBM (voxel-based morphometry), has been used to study the changes in the brain caused by Alzheimer disease and many other neurological conditions. The test you are about to take was used as a screening test to roughly characterize patient’s pitch discrimination and musical memory abilities. Even though musical memory is strongly tested here, we have found that people who are tonedeaf tend to have normal musical memories.

[ http://jakemandell.com/tonedeaf ]

This is of course just shameless advertising of another website, but I'm going to disguise it by pretending this thread is all about what you think the best things in Wellington are. And while you discuss that, I'm going to encourage you to also go along to the Wellingtonista, and vote in their First Annual Wellingtonista Awards for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Excellence.

The Wellingtonista have sweated and slaved over the categories, and now it is your turn for action. Why should you vote? Because your opinion counts. And so that you'll receive an invitation to the awards. And because you'll go in to the draw to win awesome prizes, including but not necessarily limited to goodies from Babylicious, signed copies of 101 Stories That I Want To Tell You, stunning tshirts, signed photos of The Dropkicks and lifelong Country Club membership.

Wahoo!

Now discuss.

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i've decided after the discussion on welfare and judging my beneficiary friend behind his back i don't want to post here anymore, 'cos although i still stand by my views the way to make things work out is through a change of government rather than to voice my opinions and attacking people here on a message board

see youse in the music industry

Individual Thought Patterns.

[ http://www.emptywords.org/ ]

No idea ... :-)

Anyone buy from this site?

Okay, what do I need to buy so I can plug both my and my wife's computers into my telstraclear cable modem?

Surely some sort of router will do the trick?

Can someone who's actually achieved such a feat point me at the correct hardware?

...and the finalists are...

"We're taking this bloody car all the way to Invercargill, boy!
Goodbye Pork Pie
Written by Ian Mune & Geoff Murphy
Delivered by Tony Barry (as John)

"Cook the man some fucking eggs."
Once Were Warriors
Written by Riwia Brown from the novel by Alan Duff
Delivered by Temuera Morrison (as Jake Heke)

"I know what to do about mother."
Heavenly Creatures
Written by Peter Jackson & Fran Walsh
Delivered by Melanie Lynskey (as Pauline)

"You're not gonna hurt my babies anymore. Not while I can do something about it."
Once Were Warriors
Written by Riwia Brown from the novel by Alan Duff
Delivered by Rena Owen (as Beth Heke)

"I've only been a Pakeha for one minute and already I hate you Maori!"
Utu
Written by Keith Aberdein & Geoff Murphy
Delivered by Tana Poata (as Puni)

"I'm a Derek, and Dereks don't run."
Bad Taste
Written by Peter Jackson
Delivered by Peter Jackson (as Derek)

Go and vote at the Frontseat website...

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two topics for discussion in one post...

well i just downloaded the Goo Goo Dolls' new album, i glad i did because i only like one song a lot on it (Let Love In) and the others range between ok to listen to and crap. i also downloaded Rob Thomas' new album and enjoyed most of the songs (especially This Is How A Heart Breaks and My My My) so i brought the CD

i know it's not legal and if they wish to sue me they're welcome to take that course of action

when i'm a musician with an album i want people to download it first and then decide whether or not they want to buy it, which also holds me to account because i want to make sure there are enough good songs for people to feel like the CD is worth buying. if they enjoy it and don't buy it well they probably wouldn't have brought it in the first place anyway. i support the Goo Goo Dolls as a fan but would not want to encourage them by spoiling them and making them feel like they can just come up with any old tunes and sell lots of CDs

in other news i got a health certificate for an extension for an essay on the condition that i take medication for my 'mental illness' which is supposedly bipolar disorder. has anyone had this disease and what were the effects of the medication you took? if anyone would like my advice if you're struggling with depression don't take anti-depressants 'cos they make you less capable of thinking deeply and once you come off them you realise you just wasted a whole part of your life being dumb (they really depend on you moving on with your life so that when you come off them you're in a situation where you don't get depressed, but if you're still in that situation the drugs do nothing)

that's just from my experience, and also i tend not to trust them as i used to be prescribed with aropax and then a year later it was in the paper for causing suicides, and prior to taking them i used to get depressed but never had suicidal thoughts now i have them every now and then (although i no longer seriously consider it)

so with the new 'depression awareness campaign' what does everyone think, i think it's kinda silly they got that guy fronting it, whoever he is but i think he's someone famous, i don't think you can get one person to represent something that affects lots of people and claim to speak on behalf of them all (for example, me as a Christian musician i always make sure i'm only giving my own views on Christianity)

has anyone read 'I Had A Black Dog' - i wouldn't recommend it, it's crap and the story basically says i get depressed, i took pills, i got better. there's another book that's way better, called 'Taming The Black Dog' which deals with it from a 'non-judgmental, here are some alternative ways of handling life, and i know you need people to help you but they don't understand' perspective and is much better because it doesn't rely on an 'independent, it's all your fault and here's the amazing quick fix' solution as was the case in I Had A Black Dog

so, what are your views on people downloading your songs, and have you ever had to take medication for mental illness and would you recommend it?

Okay, so this post is to serve three purposes.

1. To brag about how I'm off on holiday for two and a half glorious weeks on Saturday.

2. To ask you for your recommendations of things to do in New York/San Francisco and perhaps LAX as well. I'm not talking about "Empire State Building/ride a cable car" level of duh here, but rather cool bars, cafes, shops, or quirky sight-seeing things that you've done and think are awesome.

3. If you can't do that, then share a travelling annecdote with us instead.

my friend is doing some sort of cancer campaign where she gets people to sponsor her to shave her head and gives the money to kids with cancer. i think it's kinda silly and that she should just go around asking people to donate money if they wish, but it reminded me of a few years back when i was in Nelson a barber was shaving people's head for it and if a woman was willing to shave her head $100 would go to the charity - but no woman in town on that Saturday afternoon who walked past the Cathedral was willing to. sorry to be so "i wouldn't understand 'cos i'm not a woman" but hey girls that's pretty pathetic, i can't believe not everyone wanted to go up to get their heads shaved. but again, the symbolic gesture i think is dumb and people should just donate

and here's a question, what does everyone like the most about themselves?