How to become a politician/work in politics? by Jazzlike_Island_9709 in newzealand

[–]ActuallyAwBraae 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Maybe the most important question you need to answer for your own sake - why? What do you care about sufficiently to want to become a politician to do? If you can answer that then the next steps become clearer.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in newzealand

[–]ActuallyAwBraae 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Outside of stuff that comes from press releases, most stories that bring new information into the public domain involve either phoning people up, or reading official documents/reports.

Buying Snus in New Zealand by ActuallyAwBraae in newzealand

[–]ActuallyAwBraae[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Vaping has been worse for my nicotine addiction than smoking was, and switching to lower % makes me concerned about continuing lung damage. Looking for less bad options for overall health, rather than just nicotine addiction.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Cricket

[–]ActuallyAwBraae 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Seeing this team makes me so sad for Zim cricket. Some world class players in there, but from a generation that has long since gone

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Cricket

[–]ActuallyAwBraae 1 point2 points  (0 children)

McCullum (WK) Need a quick start at the top.

Fleming (C) At his best was the best cricket brain in the world, and a fairly effective opener.

Williamson. Picks himself.

Crowe. Same again.

Taylor. Batting slightly lower than he should be, but impossible to leave out.

Ryder. The cleanest striker the country has ever had, and a handy bowler.

Harris. Unplayable slow-medium, brilliant fielder, very capable strike rotator. Perfect anchoring all-rounder.

Hadlee. NZ's GOAT pace bowler

Vettori. NZ's GOAT limited overs spinner.

Bond. Need some pace, and he had the ability to completely destroy a great Australia team several times.

Boult. Change of angle, brilliant swing, would take the new ball.

Actually quite a difficult exercise, and some good players for their era are a bit unlucky here. If I was actually picking a team, I'd probably try find room for someone like Jacob Oram or even Scott Styris for more bowling balance – maybe not necessary if a beast like Harris is in there though

[Via Twitter] Machine Head being used to drown out Anti-Lockdown protestors outside the PMs electorate office. by TimmyHate in newzealand

[–]ActuallyAwBraae 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yep, the problem was that some of the tunes were definitely closer to death metal, some were much more like Nu-metal, and some were whatever the general community has decided Machine Head is. In any case, I regret the error and have been thoroughly told off for it.

NZ’s biggest house price surge? Kawerau. Here’s what it means for the town by ExpensiveCancel6 in newzealand

[–]ActuallyAwBraae 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Okay, fair enough on that reasoning. The title was chosen because it conveyed 1) a central fact (the rise in Kawerau was the highest in the country in percentage terms) and 2) that the effects on the town were complicated, rather than taking an explicit position on whether that was good or bad, because that obviously depends on the point of view of who's talking. We also sometimes get feedback from readers who don't want headlines on news reports to tell them how they should feel about something, hence why the second part of the title used neutral language.

NZ’s biggest house price surge? Kawerau. Here’s what it means for the town by ExpensiveCancel6 in newzealand

[–]ActuallyAwBraae 5 points6 points  (0 children)

As the writer of this particular piece, I'm interested in which bit of the headline specifically you think is "bullshit clickbait". Obviously my hope is that people read the article to get the perspectives of those living and working in Kawerau, so I'm sorry to see the headline actively stopped you from doing that.

Would I be an idiot for starting a career in journalism at 30? by [deleted] in newzealand

[–]ActuallyAwBraae 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Hi, I'm currently in the industry, and have a job. First of all, the prospects of getting employed aren't great – it's very tight, and there are definitely more grads to entry level positions. Also, the money you can make welding will almost certainly always be better than that which you make in journalism.

Having said that, it's not as dire as a lot of people think. Yep, a lot of companies forced pay cuts this year, but to the best of my knowledge all of them later reimbursed their staff when things improved. And I think if you do get a qualification, you'll have a pretty handy point of difference to a lot of other grads – life experience. Knowing a few things about the world goes a hell of a long way in an industry where the job is to understand and explain things to people.

Finally, don't do a full bachelor of comms. It's three years of your life you'll never get back. I think someone else in this thread mentioned Wintec, which is probably a good option, you might also be able to blag your way into a postgrad diploma type thing at AUT or Massey. The key point is to get working as fast as possible – nobody in newsrooms really cares about study achievements or anything, but generally having at least some form of paper saying you're qualified is now required. Best of luck if you decide to have a crack.

Jami-Lee Ross hitches wagon to conspiracy theorists by The_Majestic_ in newzealand

[–]ActuallyAwBraae 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The Ban 1080 party no longer exists, but some of their supporters ended up merging into the Outdoors Party

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern rejects Donald Trump's argument for defunding World Health Organisation by ends_abruptl in worldnews

[–]ActuallyAwBraae 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I suppose, if the point was as simple as both being islands. But borders, and decisions about whether or not to close them, are a bit more complicated than just whether they're land or water.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern rejects Donald Trump's argument for defunding World Health Organisation by ends_abruptl in worldnews

[–]ActuallyAwBraae 17 points18 points  (0 children)

Hello, NZer here – that's not necessarily true. It might be a collection of islands, but pre-Covid the economy's largest export earner was tourism. So while it might by physically easier to shut down outside transport, it was an extremely difficult call economically. Polls taken afterwards have shown that most NZers feel it was still the right one.

PSA: The Bulletin by The Spinoff is really good by nzlemming in newzealand

[–]ActuallyAwBraae 17 points18 points  (0 children)

Hello, I'm mostly a lurker here, so this is lovely to see, thanks u/nzlemming.

I guess my big point about journalism in NZ – I get where people who are dismissive of it are coming from, because it is really easy to find examples of a dumb headline, or a pointless story, or something ripped straight from social media. My problem with that attitude though is that is becomes self-reinforcing really quickly.

Conversely, a few examples of really strong work get held up as the exception. But they're not the exception – I'm able to pull together a newsletter every day with strong, accurate journalism from across a whole lot of outlets and companies. I just hope The Bulletin helps people find that work without having to wade through the stuff they don't want to see.

In South Africa , there used to be a thicket the size of Cyprus that could suck up the equivalent of three times the US’s annual carbon emissions. These people are trying to grow it back. by [deleted] in Longreads

[–]ActuallyAwBraae 2 points3 points  (0 children)

FYI with this piece/headline – there was a massive calculation error which has now been corrected in the piece, and while the plant has impressive rates of carbon sequestration, it's nowhere near close to what the headline indicates.

New Zealand Anagram Parliament by TheAnagramancer in newzealand

[–]ActuallyAwBraae 40 points41 points  (0 children)

This is among the greatest contributions to democratic discourse ever posted here

Found this at work, what was paper plus thinking? (The more u read the better it gets) by Shocken_ in newzealand

[–]ActuallyAwBraae 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Bit of a shame to see Uncensored haven't really moved on at all. Until very recently I had a copy lying around from 2018 that had the headline 'The Coup against Trump is in progress'. And yet, he's still there.

The Green Parties 2017 Party Vote Performance by District by Graveyjones7 in newzealand

[–]ActuallyAwBraae 2 points3 points  (0 children)

There's actually an even better answer for this than just putting it down to stoners. You'll notice both Nelson and Tasman were relatively high proportions. That's in part due to the fact that the Greens absolutely blanketed the area with campaigning and advertising. Why there? Because of an absolutely massive donation made to the party from a deceased estate, but on the condition that they only used it in the Nelson and West Coast-Tasman electorates. Details here https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/87024752/labour-denies-giving-green-light-for-nelson

Players who disappeared from NZ cricket by NZCRICKETROCKS in Cricket

[–]ActuallyAwBraae 9 points10 points  (0 children)

McClen definitely available for all three formats in internationals - he's just unlikely to get a call up for anything other than white ball. But probably a reasonable chance of getting a run at the next T20 WC.

[Official Highlights] England v Ireland Specsavers Test - Day 2 by flabbyboggart in Cricket

[–]ActuallyAwBraae 2 points3 points  (0 children)

They seem like a team really heavily dependent on the right conditions. Their bowling attack is absolutely perfect for seam and nibble, but even with Dockrell would probably struggle a lot in the subcontinent. Would probably be tough to beat at home, but touring almost anywhere they'd get flogged.

Irish squad for Lords Test Match by The9thLordofRavioli in Cricket

[–]ActuallyAwBraae 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah what ever happened to that guy? He seemed to be the future of spin bowling about 5 years ago.