...after an erotic romance novel? And a better question, why would the Registrar of Births permit such a cruelty?

Ten-days ago I went through the process to 'Upgrade' my new ASUS laptop from Win-11 Home to Pro, paid the $209.
A confirmation email arrived, then nothing happened.  I'm still on Win-11 Home.
I've tried to contact Microsoft, impossible!
Any suggestions, please?
PeterE.

Interesting idea from Brazil which is opposite to all the bash/bash/bash punitive methods & which seems to be getting good results. Perhaps to some extent, education,books & music could work better in rehabilitation.


https://www.cbc.ca/radio/undertheinfluen...-1.6442390


"A publisher in Brazil, called Editora Carambaia, recently mounted the most unusual marketing campaign. They teamed up with a professor who does remarkable work at a local prison by helping the inmates form a book club.

Carambaia then began donating a wide variety of books to the prison. That book club helped the inmates develop their analytical and communication skills. And out of that came a surprising insight: prison inmates read 9 times more books than civilians. So together with the National Justice Council, the Carambaia publishing house created a program called The Prison Reviews.

The publisher did something that had never been done beforeÔÇöthey turned prisoners into book critics. Because the inmates were passionate readers, they were encouraged to write book reviews. They were given 30 days to read a book, then submit a review to be evaluated by a committee.
Those reviews turned out to be remarkable and insightful. So much so, that Carambaia turned those reviews into an advertising campaign.

The reviews were used in magazine ads, social networking posts, radio commercials, bookstore posters and even bookmarks and stationary. Videos were also created so the inmates could deliver their reviews on camera, and a mini-documentary was posted on YouTube showing how participating in the project had enriched their lives.

The Prison Reviews program not only helped improve the prisoners' reading and writing skills and provided the Carambaia publishing house with an innovative advertising campaign, it did one more thing. Each well-written review would shave four days off an inmate's sentence. It fuelled the inmates' passion for reading, it gave them dignity, it gave them hope and it showed the outside world that marginalized people have a voice.
As someone said, the Prison Reviews project allowed inmates to re-write their destiny."





https://globalvoices.org/2012/08/08/braz...book-read/



"All four federal prisons are expected to implement the programme, and state prisons may do so as well. But is there really such a redemption through reading?

Quote:

This project went touring in prisons, taking the music to the prisoners. The response was so good that led to many other types of projects and relationships that resulted in over 200 film exhibitions for prisoners, 20 shows, 14 libraries and many other actions."

I don't much like their chances; he spoke the truth. There is no reason for him to resign. Neither side is without fault in this, & it needs to end.


https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-67215620


[b]"Israel has demanded that the UN's secretary general retract comments he made about the Gaza war and apologise.[/b]
Ant├│nio Guterres said in a speech to the Security Council on Tuesday that he condemned unequivocally Hamas's deadly attacks in Israel two weeks ago but that they "did not happen in a vacuum".


Israeli ambassador Gilad Erdan accused him of "justifying terrorism" and called for his immediate resignation.
On Wednesday, Mr Guterres rejected "misrepresentations" of his statement.


But Mr Erdan said in reply that the UN chief "once again distorts and twists reality", and called for his resignation.
Addressing a meeting of the UN Security Council in New York on Tuesday, Mr Guterres urged all parties in the war [b]to respect and protect civilians[/b].
"I have condemned unequivocally the horrifying and unprecedented 7 October acts of terror by Hamas in Israel. Nothing can justify the deliberate killing, injuring and kidnapping of civilians - or the launching of rockets against civilian targets."


He then told the council that it was "important to also recognise the attacks by Hamas did not happen in a vacuum", adding: "The Palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation."
He described how Palestinians had "seen their land steadily devoured by settlements and plagued by violence; their economy stifled; their people displaced and their homes demolished".
"But the grievances of the Palestinian people cannot justify the appalling attacks by Hamas. And those appalling attacks cannot justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people."



Mr Guterres also said he was deeply concerned about "the clear violations of international humanitarian law that we are witnessing in Gaza".
He expressed alarm at Israel's continuous bombardment of Gaza, as well as the level of civilian casualties and "wholesale destruction of neighbourhoods".


Without naming Hamas, he stressed that "protecting civilians can never mean using them as human shields".


And without naming Israel, he said: "Protecting civilians does not mean ordering more than one million people to evacuate to the south, where there is no shelter, no food, no water, no medicine and no fuel, and then continuing to bomb the south itself."


The UN chief also appealed for a humanitarian ceasefire to make the delivery of aid to Gaza easier and safer, and to facilitate the release of the hostages."

You have to wonder about this - he surely can't have forgotten but either he genuinely had or perhaps his age is catching up with him. Eother way, he'll never admit to getting it wrong.


https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politic...pms-office


"NZ First leader Winston Peters has accused former prime minister Dame Jacinda Ardern of "an appalling lack of transparency" over what she knew about the 15 March terror attacks before they happened.

And not for the first time. They've made good progress, here's hoping it continues & they meet their deadline.

https://edition.cnn.com/2023/10/23/europ...index.html


[b]"Thousands of women across Iceland ÔÇô including the┬áprime minister┬áÔÇô went on strike Tuesday as part of a campaign pushing for greater┬ágender equality┬áin the country.[/b]
It marked the seventh time that women in Iceland have gone on strike in the name of gender equality, campaign organizers said on their official website. The first strike took place on October 24, 1975.

The strike, known as the ÔÇ£WomenÔÇÖs Day OffÔÇØ or ÔÇ£Kvennafr├¡ÔÇØ in Icelandic, was organized to raise awareness about the ÔÇ£systemicÔÇØ wage discrimination and gender-based violence faced by women in Iceland, according to organizers.

Some schools and libraries in the Scandinavian country did not open their doors on Tuesday, according to Icelandic public service broadcaster RÚV. Only one bank branch opened on the entire island, RÚV reported, warning readers that its own coverage had been reduced due to its female journalists participating in the strike. Medical clinics in the capital area were only treating emergencies during the strike, due to end at midnight local time (8 p.m. ET), according to RÚV.
[b]In the capital of Reykjavík, a crowd of thousands of women gathered on Tuesday afternoon on Arnarhóll, a hill next to the city center, according to RÚV.[/b]
One of the strikeÔÇÖs most high profile participants was the countryÔÇÖs prime minister, Katr├¡n Jakobsd├│ttir, who ÔÇ£did not attend to her official dutiesÔÇØ on Tuesday, a spokesperson from her office told CNN.

[b]ÔÇ£[/b]As you know, we have not yet reached our goals of full gender equality and we are still tackling the gender-based wage gap, which is unacceptable in 2023. We are still tackling gender-based violence, which has been a priority for my government to tackle,ÔÇØ Jakobsd├│ttir also told news site Iceland Monitor in an interview on Friday.





ÔÇ£[b]Women in Iceland are striking today, for the 7th time since the famous #womensdayoff in 1975,ÔÇØ IcelandÔÇÖs President Gudni Johannesson┬áposted┬áon X, formerly known as Twitter, accompanied by a black and white photo of a huge crowd. ÔÇ£Their activism for equality has changed Icelandic society for the better and continues to do so today.ÔÇØ[/b]

IcelandÔÇÖs Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a┬átweet┬áTuesday: ÔÇ£Today we repeat the event of the first full day womenÔÇÖs strike since 1975, marking the day when 90% of Icelandic women took the day off from both work and domestic duties, leading to pivotal change including the worldÔÇÖs first female elected president of a country.ÔÇØ

David Seymour may not get the reaction he wants. That he even has such an intention shows clearly how out of touch he is.


https://www.stuff.co.nz/pou-tiaki/300994...1#cxrecs_s



[b]"ACT wants to push ahead with its Treaty referendum ÔÇô but reporter Joel Maxwell discovers there could be extraordinary pushback from everyday M─üori.[/b]

Numerous reports along these lines https://www.businesstoday.in/latest/worl...2023-10-24

Lots of noise from the right recently about how they're going to 'get tough' on young offenders involved in ram raids. Which is all very well to gain votes but the reality could be very different.
While no one wants idiot kids doing stupid stuff like ram raids, most of us might not be comfortable with children of 10 or 12 being prosecuted especially since that would be against the Geneva convention.

Eventually I suspect we may have to take another look at how we decide when someone becomes fully responsible for their actions, now that the Dubnedin study has established that human brains aren't fully functioning until the mid 20s. In particular the area of the brain which deals with consequences of actions.

Perhaps we could instead, support & help parents to be better parents.


https://www.waikato.ac.nz/news-opinion/m...onsibility


"This comes not long after a recent rise in ram raids and smash-and-grab burglaries by young offenders was┬ácalled a ÔÇ£tsunamiÔÇØ┬áof youth crime by the National Party police spokesperson.
But just how the justice system should deal with children and teenagers remains a complex question ÔÇô especially when it comes to the minimum age of criminal responsibility.

In fact, New Zealand is among a number of countries criticised by the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child for retaining an unacceptably low age of criminal responsibility.
ItÔÇÖs now more than 60 years since the Crimes Act set the age at┬áten years. Children younger than that, the law says, are incapable of forming criminal intent. Since that law was written, we have learned a lot more about the┬ábrain development┬áof children and adolescents, and how their decision-making abilities differ from adults.

Given this also affects their ability to comprehend the court process itself, and therefore their right to a fair trial, is it time New Zealand revisited the minimum age and the reasons for raising it?
Even politicians calling for a tougher approach to youth crime seem to agree that keeping children out of the criminal justice system should be a priority, particularly for young and first-time offenders.

Currently, children aged┬áover ten but under 14┬áare subject to the adult criminal justice system. But they may avoid conviction if it can be shown they didnÔÇÖt know their actions were wrong or illegal."

I have just seen my bank statement and the pension, which was $1033  per fortnight has gone down by $41, That's a sizeable chunk of my grocery bill. I'm going to have to tighten my belt somewhat.
I don't remember any of the political parties saying they were going to reduce the pension.
Does the reduction affect anyone else?