The Inquisitr » new zealand

New Zealand, Nigeria Qualify For World Cup

AHN — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 23:16:51 +0000

New Zealand will move on to the World Cup finals next year after defeating Bahrain 1-0 in the second leg Saturday night in front of a record crowd of 35,194. Nigeria will also go to the Cup after a dramatic come-from-behind win over Kenya.

Rory Fallon’s header moments into halftime will send the team to South Africa. The last time New Zealand was on that path was with the national team in 1982.

New Zealand found itself in trouble after defender Ben Sigmund was yellow-carded in just the third minute. The Whites could have scored earlier after Shane Smeltz’s header from Leo Bertos’ free-kick. But the header bounced on top of the net in the eighth minute.

Again the deadlock looked like it ended in the19th minute. Chris Killen sent a left-foot past Bahrain goalkeeper Sayed Mohammed Jaffar, but it went off the crossbar. Bahrain Jaycee John’s volley was denied by New Zealand goalkeeper Mark Paston 30 minutes into the match.

Again Paston kept his team in front when he dived to his right after Sayed Mohamed Adnan’s strike.

Shane Smeltz came close to adding another goal for New Zealand in the 20th minute when his strike went wide. The Whites had a chance again in the last period when Killen’s overhead kick went over the crossbar with nine minutes left in regulation.

Nigeria also qualified for the Cup with a late rally to beat Kenya 3-2 in Nairobi. Obafemi Martins tallied two goals to help his team come from behind.

Nigeria was behind at half-time after a 15th-minute goal from Kenya’s Denis Oliech. But Nigeria moved ahead 2-1 with Martins strike. Martin netted the winner in the 83rd minute.

Why you should visit New Zealand before Australia

Duncan Riley — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 10:01:27 +0000

For those who aren’t regular readers of this site, this site is Australian owned. We’re hosted in the United State because Australian hosting is insanely expensive, but so is visiting here as I found out tonight.

Let me say upfront that if you’ve never been to Australia, you should. As a survey pointed out last week (I tried Googling it without success) the survey found that Australians are proud of their own country more than other places, by several points, and roughly 10-20% vs what Americans think of themselves. Whilst being proud of your country may not always be a great thing, I’d say in this instance that it is justified. Think America, with no guns, universal health care, high wages and low unemployment. Yes, you can have all of those combined.

As much as I love my country however, there’s one flaw: it’s expensive. Put aside the drop in the US dollar, and the price of accommodation here, at least outside the odd city is way more expensive than many other places. Maybe not Europe, but everyone expects Europe to be expensive. I’m talking relatively spending on a AUD or USD basis.

I did Seattle and San Francisco in August, and I did 4 1/2 star and 5 star accom on both legs. Both times were cheaper (even given the dollar difference, which was better at the time) vs Australia for even 3 star.

So I’m spending next weekend (Friday night to Monday night) in New Zealand. The flight itself is shorter than flying to Western Australia, a state I spent nearly 10 years in. But the cost of the flight vs when I flew to Western Australia late September is under one half the cost for our family of three. I don’t know what the price of NZ vs AUS is from the US, but I do know that the West Coast to Australia has never been cheaper. If you can get a cheaper fair the saving might balance the rest vs NZ, but I can’t say for sure.

Here’s what I’m doing: for <$500 AUD (about $470 USD) I’ve booked 3 nights accommodation, including two nights in a Hyatt Regency (5 star) and one night in the Quest Rotarua (which are usually about 4 stars but flat like), and car hire. I’d struggle to get a decent sized car in Australia for that money, and the equivalent hotels + car would be closer to AU$1000, if you’re lucky.

There was an article this week in an Australian newspaper about how the tourism industry is doing it tough due to the exchange rate vs the US dollar. Let me say that even when the rate was 60c that Australian hotels were still grossly over priced vs their American equivalents. What I’ve found though is that New Zealand gets that over charging drives tourists away and has priced to fit.

Given the cost, my forthcoming trip to New Zealand will probably not be my last. What does it say when I can go away to overseas for significantly less than a domestic trip under 2 hours to somewhere like Queensland.

White House Appoints Openly Gay Attorney As Ambassador

AHN — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 19:30:47 +0000

The White House has chosen David Huebner, an openly gay lawyer, to be its ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa. The move comes the same week as LGBT groups gather in D.C. for a National Equality March, and three days before President Barack Obama keynotes the annual dinner of the nation’s largest gay rights group.

Huebner specializes in international arbitration and mediation for Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton and was formerly chairman of the California Law Revision Commission. A Princeton University and Yale Law School graduate, he previously taught international business and intellectual property at the University of Southern California’s Gould School of Law and is licensed as a solicitor in England and Wales.

Obama has appointed a number of openly gay officials to his administration, including White House Office of Public Engagement Deputy Director Brian Bond and Export-Import Bank chairman Fred Hochberg, but his announcement of Huebner’s nomination comes the same week as the LGBT community gears up for two key events.

Gay advocates and their supporters are gearing up for a National Equality March in the nation’s capital on Sunday to “to demand action from the federal government to protect [their] rights in all fifty states.”

On Saturday, the Human Rights Campaign, the biggest LGBT organization nationwide, holds its annual dinner in Washington. The President will deliver the keynote addres of the night, which will include the first Edward M. Kennedy National Leadership Award.

The HRC has praised Huebner’s appointment and said the Obama administration “continues show their dedication to diversity and making decisions not based on someone’s sexual orientation, but based on their qualifications.”

But during the summer, the group and other LGBT advocates had accused Obama of failing to act on campaign pledges, such as repealing the Defense of Marriage Act, a federal law passed in 1996 that bans gay marriages, and “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” the government’s ban against homosexuals serving freely in the military.

The criticisms were prompted by a brief submitted by the administration in response to a lawsuit from by a gay couple, Arthur Smelt and Christopher Hammer, who married in California and are challenging the constitutionality of DOMA.

At the height of the uproar, Obama had signed a memorandum granting job benefits to same-sex couples of federal employees, and then hosted a White House reception for LGBT leaders, marking the 40th anniversary of 1969 riots that began in the Stonewall Inn, considered the birth of the modern gay movement.

New Zealand author thinks libraries are a form of theft

Steven Hodson — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 23:37:40 +0000

In a post back on September 23 New Zealand author Brian Edwards puts forth the proposition that our public libraries are just a form of theft and that people who lend their friends books are thieves.

Yes you read that right. Every time you take a book out at the library you and the library are stealing money from book authors. It seems that Mr. Edwards feels that book authors should be paid every time a library lends out a book. In his opinion the act of lending books is tantamount to taking food out of his mouth

Every public library in New Zealand bought at least one copy of Helen. And they lent each of those copies to other people to read for… nothing. Last year there were still 227.4 copies of the book in New Zealand public libraries. If each of those copies was taken out by one person a month, that’s 2,729 people who read but didn’t pay for my book – my six month’s work. At $4.50 per unsold copy (ed: his share of book sales in stores), that’s a theoretical loss of income to me in one year of $12,280.

He continues on and accuses libraries of grand theft copyright

But there’s a principle here: when one person buys a book and lends it to another person to read, they effectively become an accessory to theft. Their generous act amounts to little more than stealing the author’s work. When a public library buys a book and lends it to thousands of other people to read, it’s grand theft copyright and really no different from illegally downloading music or movies or copying CDs or DVDs on your computer.

I’m still shaking my head over this one. Michael Masnick at Techdirt puts it best

Edwards also seems fully enamored with the myth that copyright law is based on some sort of "labor theory" — that the more time you put in, somehow the more money you deserve to get out. While I’m unfamiliar with New Zealand copyright law, in the US, such theories have been widely discredited in the courts repeatedly. And, of course, they make no sense when viewed alongside the actual purpose of copyright law. Edwards seems to believe that copyright is welfare for creators, rather than an incentive to create.

In the meantime, perhaps the public libraries of New Zealand can do Mr. Edwards a favor next time he publishes a book: don’t buy it. Ditto for anyone who might think of lending it… er… I mean, being an accessory to a crime in distributing copyrighted materials.

I would add that maybe the libraries in New Zealand should pull his books – just to be on the safe side of the law.

Now THIS is how you catch a fish

Duncan Riley — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 12:25:17 +0000

New Zealander’s have always had a strong competitive streak, but we’ve just found a video that shows that when they aren’t tending to sheep, New Zealander’s are something special.

The video shows a man catching a Marlin by jumping out of a helicopter and tackling it in the water.

For those of you not familiar with a Marlin, the fish is well known for being able to reach speeds of about 110 kilometres per hour (68 mph) and grow to 5 metres (16 ft) in length and 670 kilograms (1,500 lb) in weight. The short version is we aren’t talking about a small fish here by any stretch.

They build them tough in New Zealand, as this video demonstrates:

Google provides some slapdown on who really serves DMCA notices

Steven Hodson — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 02:13:03 +0000

Copyright laws around the world are in the process of being re-written and in many cases they are a draconian move into the the past with us – the users – being made out to be the worst criminals in the world. With secret meetings being held by world governments in order to get the entertainment backed ACTA (Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement) passed there is an increasing push to increase Internet censorship and people’s access to the Internet being removed by accusations alone.

The newest country to fall in line with this is New Zealand whose new copyright law would see supposed file shares kicked offline based on accusations rather than court convictions. As part of the hearings around this new copyright law entertainment lawyers have been making the rounds telling everyone in the government that the backbone of the ability to take down illegal things on the Internet – otherwise known as the DMCA – isn’t that bad since bogus take downs are in fact very rare.

Enter Google who in written submissions and the numbers to back it up say that the exact opposite is the case (emphasis mine)

In its submission, Google notes that more than half (57%) of the takedown notices it has received under the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act 1998, were sent by business targeting competitors and over one third (37%) of notices were not valid copyright claims.

As such, Google says "Section 92A puts users’ procedural and fundamental rights at risk, by threatening to terminate users’ internet access based on mere allegations and reverse the burden of proof onto a user to establish there was no infringement."

It goes on to say, "Section 92A undermines the incredible social and economic benefits of the open and universally accessible internet, by providing for a remedy of account termination or disconnection that is disproportionate to the harm of copyright infringement online."

The submission also takes issue with the claim that user education is stated as a “primary purpose” of the draft code, "but there is little reference to education about users’ rights, including limitations and exceptions enabling lawful use of copyright protected works, in addition to their obligations."

Source: PC World Magazine – New Zealand

I may not be the biggest fan of Google but in this case I throw them the high five.

Buying violent video games could net parents jail time

Steven Hodson — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 22:19:01 +0000

The fact that governments the world round love to trot out violent video games as the cause of kids gone bad is one thing; but in New Zealand you could get jail time for buying you kid that violent video games. Bill Hastings the country’s Chief Censor believes that parents caught buying games like Grand Theft Auto for their kids should be punished with three months jail time or a fine of up to $10,000.

They might think the offence is silly, but it ain’t… That’s what the law says, but… you’re not going to have police officers in every bedroom… There would certainly be some shock value to prosecuting a parent who gives their under-18 child access to a restricted game. It would send out a message that the enforcement agency means business.
I think the word ‘game’ can mislead people for sure. It’s not checkers. For the first time in history, kids are more savvy with technology than parents… parents need to get up to speed on the digital divide. They need to look at what their kids are playing and doing…

It should be the pleasure in being able to sleep at night knowing that you have done the right thing by your kids. That should be the motivating factor.

Source: Stuff.co.nz

Ya .. that’s gonna work really well.

Weather Fail

Duncan Riley — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 22:39:33 +0000

Times are tough in the media business, and mistakes are being made. Yesterday we reported on a rather interesting Krispy Kreme graphic in Augusta, Georgia, and today it’s a weather report from New Zealand.

Someone at One News forgot to double check the graphics before they appeared on screen, with the following result:

(via Huffpost)

YouTube teams with ONE News for New Zealand election debates

Duncan Riley — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 03:54:26 +0000

YouTube has announced a new deal with New Zealand’s ONE News for an election debate centered on user contributed questions. The deal is similar to the CNN/YouTube debates held earlier this year, but with one significant difference: this debate comes later in the political process, and includes New Zealand’s current Prime Minister.

ONE News on Television New Zealand is New Zealand’s leading news service, with their 6pm bulletin having an audience share of 44%.

The ONE News YouTube Election Debate between Helen Clark and John Key will air live in New Zealand October 14, with each candidate answering questions submitted by users on YouTube New Zealand. Google describes the deal as a historic first, marking the first time the head of a national government and a challenger will face YouTube video questions in an official live TV debate.

The official debate channel can be found at nz.youtube.com/debate.

Invade New Zealand

Duncan Riley — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 01:01:39 +0000

The above video is from this weeks The Gruen Transfer, and is the hottest viral video in Australia at the moment. The full screen version (without the studio laughing) can be viewed at invadenewzealand.com. More details on the show here. The show is also available on the Australian iTunes store and on the Gruen Transfer site (there’s another great invade NZ ad as well), but likely georetarded, so you’ll have to visit “other” sites to download it.

NZ Man Convicted Of Assault, Hedgehog Weapon Charges Dropped

Duncan Riley — Fri, 30 May 2008 05:06:30 +0000

A New Zealand man has been found guilty of assaulting a teenager with (and we’re not making this up) a hedgehog.

According to The Age, Whakatane District Court was told that William Singalargh picked up the hedgehog and threw it several metres at a 15-year-old boy in February. Police reported that the teen was hit in the leg, causing a large, red welt and several puncture marks.

Singalargh was convicted of common assault and offensive behavior and fined $NZ700. The more serious charge of assault with a weapon (the hedgehog) was dropped, despite the clear role of the hedgehog in the matter. The current welfare of the hedgehog is not known.