Disqus - Latest Comments for cammacrae

Re: Hong Kong Best Food Box Hill: white people not welcome

cammacrae — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 07:53:55 -0000

Unfortunately this isn't rare in Boxy - just try getting served at the Bubble Cup place in the Centro!

I lived there for 5 years - moved bayside early '08 - and this sort of thing used to happen on the the time. I worked around it though - Indochine is easily the best food in the area and it wasn't uncommon that I'd have both lunch and dinner there. I really don't think they're too fussy who they take the money from. Ditto Tien Dat (which is in the same family I believe). Tan Tan are always friendly too, but you have to be a bit more selective with the menu.

Box Hill is mostly a great place to live, but it can be incredibly racist.

Re: Culture wars and Stephen Conroy

cammacrae — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 01:36:48 -0000

*So this is actually a culture war...*

Of course!

A HTTP filter will have precisely zero impact on kiddie porn. Too many people, our muppet Senator being one of them, conflate the web and the internet. An IRC filter I could understand; although I'd vehemently oppose it too.

One red herring after another...

Re: A New Approach To Facebook

cammacrae — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 02:13:39 -0000

Explains the glut of spammy business accounts following me on twitter these days! I've always thought of FB for personal, twitter for conversation and live events (amazing to what the flow within seconds of a minor earthquake here last week) and linkedin for business.

Re: A SWOT Analysis On America

cammacrae — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 02:51:12 -0000

"Religious nutjobs.." Brush up on your history - try the 20th century, or even just the 90s.

"Winner/loser mentality..." Seems either you favor social protection only for irresponsible corporations and the rich who have mismanaged them, or your reading comprehension skills might benefit from access to a socialized education system.

"Free market economy..." Indeed. But notice how the finance sectors of properly regulated market economies aren't imploding. Perhaps more intriguing, federal finances are now absolutely dependent on large inflows of foreign capital - most notably from countries that have rebuffed the American style of laissez-faire capitalism.

"Chicken little..." Historically, the combination of war and debt does not end well - it's probably prudent to be a little alarmed.

Re: The Public Debate

JLM — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 23:00:38 -0000

I have come to appreciate the wisdom of the Founding Fathers more and more as the forces of our country continue to evolve and move. The Electoral College ensures that no part of the country with its unique regional view of the world (e.g. oil producing states or coastal states) is able to dominate the politics of the nation. I think the FFs were very, very clever. For some guys who knew nothing about the Internet, Blackberrys, spreadsheets or cell phones --- they did a damn good job.

On that note, I wonder if there is a politician alive today who could come off the bench and have played in their league. Certanly no point guards!

Re: The Public Debate

cammacrae — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 19:43:31 -0000

Wow - you must have a comfortable couch ;)

A highly evolved democracy isn't the first thing that comes to my mind when thinking of the US, and not because it's a republic, but because the electoral system is antiquated. I'd like to see proportional representation, preferential voting and an end to the electoral college system - now that would be evolved!

That said, I hear ya.

Re: The Public Debate

JLM — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 15:35:00 -0000

That would be the "imperfect" part I noted above. Hats off to New Zealand --- the best damn trout fishing on this planet!

From time to time, I tell my wife, a lawyer, that I don't think women should be allowed to vote in the US even now. It is very, very important to have a comfortable couch in your home office. LOL

I admire and respect all democracies in any part of the world. I often think about new democracies trying to understand democratic countries in which democracy has flourished for hundreds of years. Ours is a highly evolved democracy and I fear has become so complex that we lose sight of the basic principles. We were, after all, founded in part because of a tax on tea and yet we are a nation of $4 lattes. It's not the money, it's the principle of the thing.

Re: The Public Debate

cammacrae — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 08:55:17 -0000

Longest surviving democracy in the world? That would very much depend on your definition of democracy, however New Zealand, a constitutional democracy, was first past the post with universal suffrage in 1893.

Re: Zakaria Quote Of The Day

cammacrae — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 19:59:35 -0000

Interesting that the South Koreans prefer complexity also - Google redesigned their homepage to be intentionally complex: http://blogoscoped.com/archive/2007-06-04.html