Is the Defender a Hoax?

The alert reader will recall my post on the 10th of March where I put forward the proposal that if you repeat something often enough it becomes true (irrespective of the facts). 

This was in response to the distinct lack of testing information coming out about the new Defender frost fan in spite of repeated advertising singing its praises at being ultra quiet.

Well go figure, an enterprising student has reinforced the theory that an inaccuracy repeated often enough can easily pass as the truth. Have a read of this article where a Dublin University Student posted a fake quote which was attributed to Maurice Jarre on Wikipedia (shortly after Jarre's death).

It turns out that the quote was widely reported as genuine to the point where the student felt it necessary to point out his deliberate deception for fear that history would take the quote as genuine. The media it seems was only too happy to report from a source with no attempt at verification and with no questions asked.

Does this sound familiar?

It should.

We've been hearing advertising about the low noise of the Defender fan since December 2008. But still no facts. No journo has asked for any confirmation of the figures, and no independent testing data has been supplied (to my knowledge, and I try to keep abreast of these things).

This could of course simply be the ranting of the fringe element, but I happened to take a drive down Paynters Road in Blenheim on the weekend, and the site where there are supposedly two of those big green Defender fans installed had one Silver fan and one bare pole. 

Still testing by any chance?

I'd like to say that history would be the judge, but you know how easily history can be concocted.

Jack Frost Successfully Predicts Future!!

Ha!

I never want to miss an opportunity to say I told you so, and so I better cut to the chase.

In this post in the middle of March, I predicted that in spite of the problems that have beset the local wineries from economic difficulties, to dumping wine (no matter how many times you deny it, selling 'skins' for nix is still dumping in my book), to cr@ppy weather, Botrytis and more frequent frosts, there would still be a proclamation of an excellent season, because THERE IS NEVER A BAD SEASON.

Golly, imagine my surprise to read this article in stuff.co.nz. Here's some classic quotes;

• "the fruit was brilliant "
  
• "the winemakers rated the chardonnay as the best they had ever seen"
  
• "It's shaping up to be one of the best vintages"
  
• "the quality of the pinot grape was at an all-time high"
  
• "We are really excited about the fruit that we have harvested"
  
• "In 16 years working vintages, this year was the best for quality"
  
• "Marlborough had had a stunning season"
  
• "the region had a great harvest"
  

Ahh... Yes... Another great season.

The Wineries have already placed their adds for the celebration of another great year with fantastic flavours (really, they have).

Hang on, let me check... Isn't the wine still in the tank??

I was interested in seeing a documentary on bottled water, where a doubter who had a hard time believing the cost of a $5 bottle of NZ water stated that "I thought the wine industry had a monopoly on bullsh!t". 

I think you'll find that economic times are hard and the competition for bullsh!t is fierce.