Monthly Archives: February 2021

Racist at the highest. Feel sorry for the victim

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Faine Kahia Will do it again

Discharge without conviction for sports star ‘important for Māoridom’ – lawyer

Benn Bathgate16:52, Feb 24 2021
Faine Kahia pictured at an earlier court hearing.
MATT SHAND/WAIKATO TIMES
Faine Kahia pictured at an earlier court hearing.

An aspiring Formula One racer has escaped a conviction for a sex crime after a judge ruled it would be “the end of your career in motorsport”.

Faine Kahia,​ 24, received a discharge without conviction at Rotorua District Court on Wednesday after being found guilty of male assaults female and one representative charge of unlawful sexual connection with a young person under 16.

Kahia was found guilty of the two charges in the wake of a trial in 2018, where he was also found not guilty of allegations he raped the same victim. The offences and alleged offences dated back to 2016.

Kahia’s lawyer Ron Mansfield noted at the time of the sexual offending he was 17 and his victim was 15-years-and-two-months of age.

He also repeatedly stressed the consequences of a conviction on Kahia’s motor sport aspirations.

“The reality comes from funding and brands, and they will not look past a conviction of unlawful sexual connection,” he said.

“Without a conviction he can go forward and achieve at the top level. It’s important for him. . . it’s important for Māoridom.”

Judge Tony Snell said it was “a bold statement to say it’s important for the whole of Māoridom,” but Mansfield argued it was important for young Māori men to see that with hard work and dedication, you “can make it on the international stage”.

Kahia’s victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, also read a victim impact statement to the court, describing how she “fell victim to his manipulation”.

Faine Kahia's sporting aspirations were centre stage at his sentencing for unlawful sexual connection with a young person under 16.
SUPPLIED/STUFF
Faine Kahia’s sporting aspirations were centre stage at his sentencing for unlawful sexual connection with a young person under 16.

“Within the first couple of weeks of our relationship Faine informed me he’d had sex before and was ready when I was.”

She said he then began asking for sex two times a week.

“It wasn’t long before it turned into frustration and anger, he told me he wasn’t going to wait forever.”

She said her personality changed from a bubbly, outgoing person to someone “always worrying about the next thing I’d do to set him off.

“I spent a lot of time apologising for things. If he lost a motor sport race it was my fault. . . it was always my fault.”

She also said she had spent a lot of time blaming herself for being “young, dumb and stupid”.

“Those thoughts were so detrimental to my mental health.”

She also described the stress of having to give evidence at trial.

“A frightening experience. I had to explain intimate and horrible details to a room full of strangers. . . being made out to be a liar, an attention seeker and mentally ill.

“Faine Kahia’s actions have caused a huge amount of pain and suffering over the last six years. . . anxiety, depressive thoughts and post-traumatic stress disorder. For so long I was afraid of Faine but I want to emphasise I have come out of this so much stronger. I am no longer afraid of him.”

She also referred to his sporting aspirations being raised at trial.

“You cannot get away with hurting women because you are an aspiring motor racer, the cover up of ‘she’s out to ruin my career’ won’t last much longer.”

Snell praised the victim’s courage in reading her victim impact statement, but said he believed she was also referring to charges Kahia had been found not guilty of, and that he had to be mindful of that in sentencing.

He said there was a minimal age gap between the pair at the time of the offending of 22 months, their relationship was consensual and that the assault charge, for him grabbing her arm and trying to drag her away, was more modest when compared to other offending under the charge category.

He also said that while “high profile sports people are still subject to the same law as every other person in the country”, he accepted Mansfield’s argument that “the type of organisations you want to work for and drive for won’t look behind this conviction”.

“The sponsors would not want to be connected with a driver who has sexual offending or a hint of that surrounding them.

“Both in New Zealand and internationally, convictions will end your career in motor sport,” Snell said.

“One of the most difficult decisions I’ve had to make in a long time. . . in the end what I am going to do is grant the discharge without conviction by the finest margins.”

Snell imposed a condition that Kahia undertake counselling “about boundaries”.

“It is imperative he gets some assistance.”

The Birth of OK, 182 years ago

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The Birth of OK, 175 Years Ago

The Birth of OK, 175 Years Ago

Thanks in part to its adoption in the 1840 presidential campaign, what began as a lame joke in a Boston newspaper morphed into one of the most ubiquitous expressions in the English language

Bleary-eyed readers scanning page two of the Boston Morning Post on March 23, 1839, may have barely noticed the linguistic oddity buried in the blizzard of ink in the second column. At the end of a short, throwaway item taking sarcastic jabs at a Providence newspaper stood the abbreviation “o.k.” next to the words “all correct.” Much like the modern-day world filled with text-friendly shortcuts such as LOL and OMG, an abbreviation craze swept nineteenth-century America, although with a twist. In an attempt at humor, young, educated elites deliberately misspelled words and abbreviated them for slang. For example, “KG” stood for “know go,” the incorrect spelling of “no go.” The joke is lost on us today, but it was LOL funny in the 1800s.

So when “o.k.” appeared in print, it was intended to be the shortening of “oll korrect,” the humorous misspelling of “all correct.” According to Allan Metcalf, author of OK: The Improbable Story of America’s Greatest Word, Boston Morning Post editor Charles Gordon Greene, who often wrote witticisms and took shots at other broadsheets in print, was likely the author of the attack on the Providence newspaper and thus the man who gave birth to OK.

OK reappeared in another Boston Morning Post article three days later, and it very slowly seeped into the American vernacular during 1839. By the end of the year, it had showed up in the Boston Evening Transcript, New York Evening Tattler and the Philadelphia Gazette. The spotlight of the following year’s presidential campaign, however, set OK on the path to linguistic stardom.

In 1840, incumbent Martin Van Buren faced a reelection campaign against William Henry Harrison, the war hero popularized by the slogans “Tippecanoe and Tyler Too” and “Log Cabin and Hard Cider.” Van Buren’s supporters came up with their own campaign rallying cry—“O.K.” Van Buren was born and bred in the upstate New York town of Kinderhook, and he developed the nickname “Old Kinderhook.” The Democratic president’s supporters began to form “O.K. Clubs” around the country. As Metcalf writes, “OK now could have a double meaning: Old Kinderhook was all correct.”

Harrison’s opponents also began to adopt OK, but used it in a much different manner. They used the expression to cudgel Van Buren’s mentor, Andrew Jackson. The editor of the New York Morning Herald wrote that Jackson was such a terrible speller that he believed “ole kurrek” was the proper spelling of “all correct” and signed “O.K.” on his presidential papers to indicate his approval. The myth spread far and wide.

Ultimately, the American voters didn’t believe that Van Buren was OK. Harrison won the 1840 election, but so did OK. The expression started to appear in everyday speech, and in 1864 it showed up in the Slang Dictionary of Vulgar Words. It popped up periodically in popular culture as well. The OK Corral, Livery and Feed Stable in Tombstone, Arizona, became world-famous in 1881 after the legendary gunfight that included Doc Holliday and the three Earp brothers. In the 1943 musical “Oklahoma!,” Rogers and Hammerstein declared that the state was “O.K.,” and the 1967 Thomas Harris book “I’m OK, You’re OK” was one of the most popular self-help guides ever written.

While OK became part of the popular lexicon, its origins were disputed for more than a century. Some linguists pointed to Van Buren and Jackson. Others thought it was based on the manufacturer of a popular army biscuit, Orrin Kendall, or a Choctaw chief named Old Keokuk. President Woodrow Wilson thought it evolved from a Choctaw word that he spelled “okeh.” It wasn’t until American linguist Allen Walker Read, a Columbia University English professor, uncovered OK’s true origins in the 1960s, however, that it could be traced back to a newspaper editor’s off-hand quip in 1839.

12 Useful Ways to Reuse an Old Router (Don’t Throw It Away!)

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Old router cluttering up your drawers? Here’s how to repurpose your old router and save some money instead of throwing it away!

old-router
Reckon it’s time for a new router? Maybe your new Internet Service Provider (ISP) has sent one out, or you simply fancy an upgrade. Either way, you’re faced with a problem:

What should you do with the old router?

In the case of switching your ISP, you’ll often be asked to return the older device. But if you have an old router kicking around the place, here are several ways you can reuse it.

What You Can Do With an Old Router

It might be in a box; it could be cluttering up a drawer or lost at the back of a wardrobe. Whatever the case, your old router or modem/router combi unit can be reused.

We’ve identified 12 ways you can reuse an old Wi-Fi router:

  1. Guest Wi-Fi connection
  2. Wireless repeater
  3. Cheap internet radio
  4. Use the old router as a network switch
  5. Adapt it as a wireless bridge
  6. Convert your router into a NAS
  7. Use an old router as a web server
  8. A DIY VPN router
  9. Sell the router on eBay
  10. Set up a separate network for IoT devices
  11. Learn more about home network
  12. Donate it to a church or school

Let’s take a look at each of these uses for old routers in more detail.

1. Build a Wireless Repeater

Reuse your old router

What if your Wi-Fi network doesn’t extend across the full range of your home? Although you might opt for powerline Ethernet adapters, adding a second router into the mix is a good alternative.

This means connecting the old router to your new wireless network, using the Wi-Fi signal. It can then share access to the Wi-Fi network, giving greater coverage. Although there may be some latency issues, this is a quick and easy way to extend your wireless network.

It has various uses, from boosting your Wi-Fi signal around your home to letting you stream video to your tablet while chilling in the garden.

2. Guest Wi-Fi Connection

If you have people regularly dropping in and using your wireless internet, why not give them their own network?

This is like the wireless repeater project, but with a twist. The router connects to your existing, password-protected network, but gives password-free access to new devices. This will use the guest network feature of your old router. By default, this prevents guests accessing other devices on your network.

If this level of security isn’t enough, check the firewall settings on the main router to adjust.

3. Cheap Internet Radio Streamer

Want to enjoy your favorite radio stations on the internet? Some routers can be configured to play internet radio, if you’re prepared to install OpenWrt or DD-WRT custom router firmware.

You’ll need some other software, as well as a USB soundcard to output audio.

While not an easy build, and plenty of other internet radio options are available, this is still a great project. It gives you an insight into installing custom firmware, as well as an appreciation of how to stream music.

4. Use the Router as a Cheap Network Switch

Most routers don’t have more than six Ethernet ports. With the increase in wireless technology around the home, this figure might even be as low as four. But with a clear need for devices to be connected over Ethernet, you might run out of ports.

For example, online gaming with a console or PC is more reliable using Ethernet. Your TV decoder will provide better streaming over Ethernet than wireless.

If you run out of Ethernet ports, you can add more with a network switch. It’s basically the networking version of a mains power bar, with additional ports plugged into one port on the router.

Your old router typically has four or more ports, so connecting will instantly increase the number of ports available. You should disable wireless networking on the old router, to avoid conflicts.

5. Turn Your Old Router Into a Wireless Bridge

What if your new router is wireless only? Perhaps the ISP doesn’t offer a router with Ethernet ports, or maybe you use a 4G or 5G internet provider. Either way, if you need to connect Ethernet devices to your home network, a wireless bridge is the answer.

While inexpensive, an old router can be repurposed as a wireless bridge.

This works a little like a wireless repeater, but rather than share the Wi-Fi connection, the wireless bridge offers Ethernet. The old router connects to your existing Wi-Fi network—simply connect devices to the Ethernet ports.

6. Convert Your Router Into a NAS Drive

Looking for a way to store your data on a single device and access it from anywhere in your home? You need Network Attached Storage (NAS), which is basically a hard disk drive attached to your network.

While NAS devices are affordable enough, with an old router hanging around, you can save money. Note that this is limited to routers that can run custom firmware (like DD-WRT) and have a USB port. You should also be able to browse the contents of any connected USB devices via the router.

(Without USB, there’s no way to attach the hard disk drive or USB flash storage.)

Once set up, your custom-built NAS should give you instant access to your files from anywhere in the house.

7. Use an Old Router as a Web Server

Think about it: your old router will run OpenWRT or DD-WRT. It can host a NAS or a smart home hub. It stands to reason that it can also host a basic web page.

This might be a home-only website, intended to share vital information to your family. Alternatively, it might even be a blog, as custom router firmware will support LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP). This means that you could potentially install WordPress.

Run a website and need an affordable staging area for testing themes, plugins, and new code? Your old router might be the low spec server you need.

8. Make Your Own VPN Router

Old routers supported by custom firmware can be set up with VPN software. This means that if you have a VPN account with, say, ExpressVPN (MakeUseOf readers can save 49% on our top ranked VPN choice), it can be set up on your router.

Consequently, every device on your network is protected by the VPN. You don’t need to install individual client apps on your PC or mobile devices when connecting to a VPN through your home network.

Note that some old routers have VPN provision, but this only works when they’re set to modem-only mode.

RELATED:How To Set Up A VPN On Your Router

9. Make Money From Your Old Router

Sell your old router on eBay

If you don’t fancy wasting time trying to set up your old router with modern hardware, why not sell it?

Various outlets will let you make a few dollars from old tech, most notably eBay. Simply list the device with the make and model number. Your customer will typically be anyone looking for an affordable router, but networking enthusiasts, and retro tech collectors might also be interested.

Generating cash for old equipment is a great way to raise funds for new gadgets.

10. Set Up a Separate Network for IoT and Smart Home Devices

As mentioned earlier, most current routers will let you set up a secondary network. But this isn’t only for guests to your home. It has several uses, not least setting up a secondary network for Internet of Things (IoT) and smart devices.

But what if your router doesn’t support this? It’s time to consider your old router. As with creating a wireless bridge, the router can be linked to your main network, and you then simply connect your IoT devices to it. In the event of problems, you can easily pull the plug, while the firewall on the router can be used to configure connections.

11. Learn More About Home Networking

Routers are pretty much plug and play. They configure new connections automatically, allowing you to get online quickly and easily.

If you wanted to learn more about your home network, you would look at the admin screen. But if you clicked the wrong option, everything could go wrong. The solution? Use an old router to learn more about home networking. Firewalls, DMZs, MAC filters, and more can all be learned with hands-on experience that doesn’t knock your entire network offline.

Using a network hosted on an old router, you don’t have to rely on a factory reset if things go wrong.

Finally, why not simply donate your old router to a good cause? Schools, kindergartens, churches, charities, and more could use it.

Any organization that relies on goodwill can use your old router to extend their network, stream internet radio, set up a guest Wi-Fi network, or any of the other uses listed here.

You might not make any money from the router, but you’ll know that it is being used for a good cause.

Your Old Router Isn’t So Old After All!

These are all great ways to repurpose an old router, no matter how old it might be. Even if it misses some key wireless features, you can still use it as a switch, or a guest network.

If none of this works, however, it might be time to consider selling or recycling the device.

Oh for Fuck sake

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Meadow Fresh ad banned from TV for showing girl riding bike on footpath for 3m

Anna Loren10:09, Feb 18 2021
The Meadow Fresh ad showed a girl going to the dairy by herself for the first time to buy some milk. Another version, pictured, showed the girl walking to the dairy.
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The Meadow Fresh ad showed a girl going to the dairy by herself for the first time to buy some milk. Another version, pictured, showed the girl walking to the dairy.

A milk ad that shows a young girl biking on the footpath for three metres has been banned from television for “condoning an illegal practice”.

The ad, for Meadow Fresh Calci Original milk, showed a girl going to the dairy to buy a bottle of milk, then briefly riding her bike on the footpath.

Under the Land Transport (Road User) Rules, cycling on a footpath is illegal unless delivering mail or newspapers, but this law is currently under review.

A viewer first saw the ad in September 2020 and complained to the Advertising Standards Authority.

“[Riding] a bicycle on a footpath … is against the law and dangerous as cars backing out can hit bikers, who are faster and less likely to hear the car,” the complainant said.

Milk has been through a lot of changes over the years.

“My concern is that this will confuse not only children, but parents, who will assume that it is OK to let their children break traffic rules and ride on footpaths, when it is not.”

The authority’s complaints board ruled there were no grounds to proceed, saying the ad did not show or condone a disregard for safety.

“Rather, it reflects the reality that some parents encourage their children to ride their bikes on the footpath, believing it to be safer.”

The fact the law is under review is also relevant, the board said.

However, the complainant appealed that ruling in a lengthy email, citing a number of overseas studies which showed riding a bike on a footpath is more dangerous than riding on the road.

The complainant argued the ad encouraged unsafe behaviour and could confuse viewers.
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The complainant argued the ad encouraged unsafe behaviour and could confuse viewers.

“That the law might possibly change does not help and makes no sense – is it OK now to smoke marijuana?” the complainant wrote, referring to the recent cannabis referendum.

“The answer is no, so would an advertisement showing a person returning home after a walk to the dairy to buy chocolate and then smoking marijuana be acceptable?”

The complaints board agreed that “despite current practices and proposed changes”, riding a bike on the footpath is currently prohibited.

It has “no choice but to uphold the complaint”, it said, and ruled the ad was not socially responsible and therefore in breach of the Advertising Standards Code.

It must not be used again, the authority said.

Goodman Fielder, which owns Meadow Fresh, said it stood by its decision to show the girl riding safely on the footpath.

The ad aired for the last time on November 7, and there are no further plans to use it, the company said.

All Lives Matter

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Nothing Racist in saying All Lives Matter, as it’s NOT.

If you think it is, Then your the racist.

Colour is only skin deep, so from being white skinned to a tan brown, to a Dark as tan (or black as they are called) isn’t racist, Just different skin pigment’s.

Your not Born a Racist, but you can be swayed to think that way. That’s not Colour, that’s a mind set.

I know a few Coloured that hate white people, So that’s racist, But for some reason it’s OK, but if a white hates a coloured, that’s not ok.

WHAT THE FUCK. Just get on with your lives,

I’ll rant more after a few Drinks.

ALM

The myth of Saint Jacinda

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Every time I read another excitable media article about New Zealand’s prime minister Jacinda Ardern, I am reminded of an old quip: ‘Viewed from a distance, everything is beautiful.’ That was Publius Cornelius Tacitus (AD 56-120). Were this Roman intellectual and historian alive today, he would make a great columnist. His tactic was to spin political and historical analogies so they could influence public affairs back home.

Tacitus’s Germania, for example, was about framing the Germanic tribes as a noble culture so that his Roman compatriots would recognise their own society as corrupt and decadent in contrast. The only problem was that Tacitus had never crossed the Rhine. That did not matter much: most Romans had not travelled far north either.

That is happening again, except this time New Zealanders are the noble savages being lovingly invented by global columnists. Hardly any of these writers actually live in New Zealand or understand it. Their op-eds reveal more about them than the country they purport to write about. In normal circumstances, this would not be a problem. But over the past few years, Jacinda Ardern has risen to international stardom. Her rise was based on remote reporting by a progressive world media thirsting for a noble alternative to strongmen leaders.

Anyone wishing for an anti-Trump, an anti-Johnson or an anti-Bolsonaro could not dream up a more suitable figure than Ardern. If she did not exist, she would have to be invented. She ticks all the boxes. As a young woman who became prime minister at the age of 37, she is one of the world’s first millennial heads of government. She is only the second world leader to give birth in office (the first was Benazir Bhutto of Pakistan).

Ardern’s political tenure is soaked in progressive holy water. The list of her adopted causes is long. She cited child poverty as her reason for entering politics. When she first ran for prime minister in 2017, she declared climate change her ‘generation’s nuclear free moment’. In early 2019, she promised in the Financial Times to champion a new ‘economics of kindness’. This was demonstrated shortly afterwards in the world’s first ‘well-being budget’.

Ardern has become the media’s poster child of a modern, centre-left politician, not least thanks to her expertise in communicating to every audience. Whether it is a Facebook Live broadcast from her home in her pyjamas or a traditional press conference, Ardern oozes a highly personalized brand of warmth, kindness and empathy.

This PR dexterity helped her steer through two major first-term crises. She found the right words to heal a shocked nation after a terrorist attack on the Christchurch Muslim community in March 2019. Last year, her near-daily TV appearances guided Kiwis through the first months of the coronavirus crisis.

For people watching from afar and sick of dealing with mortal, flawed and ineffective leaders, Ardern’s superheroine star shines bright. As the psychologist Jonathan Haidt revealed in The Righteous Mind, we wish for things to be true, and no amount of counter-evidence will change our minds. Ardern is lucky that humans have this mental bug because on practically every single metric her administration has failed.

She wanted to solve New Zealand’s housing crisis by building 100,000 homes over a decade. This unworkable state-run program was abandoned after two years, and house prices have skyrocketed faster than before. A promised light-rail connection from Auckland’s central business district to the airport met the same fate: the project was scrapped before it even started. Child poverty also rose under Ardern’s leadership, as did carbon emissions. The so-called ‘wellbeing budget’ earmarked funds to fix mental health — but has still not found any projects on which to spend the money.

Even in the two major crises, actual policy implementation differed immensely from the PR-shaped perception. A gun buyback scheme after the Christchurch attack was a costly fiasco. And the country’s success against Covid-19 was more a result of geography than policy. The government failed to manage even basic quarantine facilities.

In the 2020 election campaign, Ardern should have struggled to explain why her grand promises had so utterly failed. Except no one demanded any accountability, and Ardern cruised to an absolute majority based on her saintly image. Ordinary Kiwis, unused to being the global centre of attention, also desperately want this internationalist narrative to be true.

The gap between people’s impression of Ardern and her actual performance as a leader has widened to a gulf. So long as enough modern Tacituses write gushing Ardern portraits, her superstar status will not change.

This article was originally published in The Spectator’s February 2021 US edition.