“We’re there to do the business of advancing our people.”
—Outgoing Māori Party president Pem Bird, Radio NZ National, 7:54 a.m., Thursday 4 July 2013
Humbug Corner is dedicated to gathering, and highlighting, the most striking examples of faux solicitude, insincere apologies, and particularly stupid recycling of official canards. It is produced by the Insincerity Project®, a division of Daisycutter Sports Inc.
Have a gander at all of the humbugs….
No. 11 Whenua Patuwai: “They’re my brothers and to see one of them goes [sic]—it’s tough.”
No. 10 “Sir” Owen Glenn: “I do care that every person, especially children, have [sic] the right to feel safe.”
No. 9 “Sir” Owen Glenn: His abuse inquiry is floundering after revelations he was accused of physically abusing a young woman in 2002.
No. 8 Barack Obama: “…people standing up for what’s right…yearning for justice and dignity…”
No. 7 Barack Obama: “Nelson Mandela is my personal hero…”
No. 6 John Key: “Yeah well the Greens’ answer to everything is rail, isn’t it.”
No.5 Dr. Rodney Syme: “If you want good, open, honest practice, you have to make it transparent.”
No. 4 Mike Bush: “Bruce Hutton’s… integrity beyond reproach…such great character…”
No. 3 Dean Lonergan: “Y’ know what? The only people who will mock them are people who are dwarfists.”
No. 2 Peter Dunne: “What a load of drivel and sanctimonious humbug…”
No. 1 Dominic Bowden: “It’s okay to be speechless.”
Forcing down Evo Morales’s plane was an act of air piracy
by JOHN PILGER, The Guardian, Thursday 4 July 2013
Imagine the aircraft of the president of France being forced down in Latin America on “suspicion” that it was carrying a political refugee to safety – and not just any refugee but someone who has provided the people of the world with proof of criminal activity on an epic scale.
Imagine the response from Paris, let alone the “international community”, as the governments of the west call themselves. To a chorus of baying indignation from Whitehall to Washington, Brussels to Madrid, heroic special forces would be dispatched to rescue their leader and, as sport, smash up the source of such flagrant international gangsterism. Editorials would cheer them on, perhaps reminding readers that this kind of piracy was exhibited by the German Reich in the 1930s.
The forcing down of Bolivian President Evo Morales’s plane – denied airspace by France, Spain and Portugal, followed by his 14-hour confinement while Austrian officials demanded to “inspect” his aircraft for the “fugitive” Edward Snowden – was an act of air piracy and state terrorism. It was a metaphor for the gangsterism that now rules the world and the cowardice and hypocrisy of bystanders who dare not speak its name.
In Moscow, Morales had been asked about Snowden – who remains trapped in the city’s airport. “If there were a request [for political asylum],” he said, “of course, we would be willing to debate and consider the idea.” That was clearly enough provocation for the Godfather. “We have been in touch with a range of countries that had a chance of having Snowden land or travel through their country,” said a US state department official.
The French – having squealed about Washington spying on their every move, as revealed by Snowden – were first off the mark, followed by the Portuguese. The Spanish then did their bit by enforcing a flight ban of their airspace, giving the Godfather’s Viennese hirelings enough time to find out if Snowden was indeed invoking article 14 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states: “Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.”
Those paid to keep the record straight have played their part with a cat-and-mouse media game that reinforces the Godfather’s lie that this heroic young man is running from a system of justice, rather than preordained, vindictive incarceration that….
Easy, just pay a few other people a bit less. Start with the Mayor, then the councillors, then all the council execs and so on down. Hell, maybe some of those council execs aren’t really that necessary anyway.
It’s simple circumcision theory – you can take 10% off the top of any prick. They’ll find their 600k or whatever it is in no time.
Q: Are business cases scoped accurately, and qualified by competent levels of governance, supported by processes, designed to deliver tangible benefits for Auckland?
A:___
Q: Were vendor contracts negotiated by the ATA, which would ensure locked in inflated profits for many years, at the expense of Aucklanders?
A:___
Q: Are industry awards being handed out to provide cover for financial failures, which are not fully disclosed to the public?
A:___
Q: Will the true financial position be hidden, until after the city assets have been transferred to the private sector?
A:___
Q: Will Auckland’s true financial position be exposed, before the city officially falls into default?
I would be somewhat suspicious of this figure. It is not rocket science to work out how much it costs. You find out how many people receive less than the proposed minimum wage, see how much they earn and calculate how much more they will earn.
The Councillors need to interrogate the figures more rather than just accept what they are being told.
I just meant the story is just as much about the errors, and what the errors actually are, as it is that the council has backtracked. Yes, I know, a very thin hope that someone might actually investigate and report.
Reference the controversy about the Labour gender balancing plan for Parliament candidate selection.
Every policy change, whether major or minor, needs to have a communication strategy attached to it. This is necessary irrespective of the merits of the policy. News management is not an optional extra, when fighting the uphill battle against a neo-liberal media.
“Labour leader David Shearer would not comment beyond saying he was supportive of increasing the number of women in Labour. However, he is understood to have voiced concerns privately about it.”
Shearer is on the NZ Council. “Privately” disagreeing to the media about the decision of the Party’s Governing Body is NOT the way to get on top of this particular bush-fire. The quality of advice being given to our leader is disgraceful.
I wonder what fate the Women’s Sector have in mind for him now? Perhaps I’ll invite two sisters to join me around a boiling cauldron. “‘Tis time, ’tis time”
”Does the Prime Minister stand by His statements to this House that He had no previous discussions with any of His Ministers about Kim Dot-com befor the police raid on His Coatsville mansion”,
“Yes” replied Bill English answering on behalf of the Prime Minister,
The House paused briefly into a silence that would best be described as ‘menacing’ but Winston Peters having asked this one ominous question didn’t come back to His feet with the expected ‘point of order’ or ‘supplementary’,
Absent from this little exchange was the constant barking from the Government benches which had accompanied similar questions from Labour’s Grant Robertson earlier in Thursday’s ‘Question time’, the subtle difference from Winston being a specific query about Slippery the Prime Ministers discussions of Kim Dot-com with His Ministers,
Rather than the bark of interjection from the Government benches this particular question met with such a deafening silence which literally yelled across the silent chamber ‘Gotcha’,
Does Winston have a little knowledge that specifically shows that their were discussions between Ministers and Slippery the Prime Minister befor the raid on the Coatsville mansion, or was He just fishing to gauge the reaction from the Government benches,
Along with the Heralds John Armstrong who in the strangest piece of journalism He has recently penned warned of the demise as Prime Minister of the Slippery one should this particular litany from the mouth of the PM also turn out to contain less than the truth, i smell blood,
Peters question was way too specific for there not to be some mouse trail of evidence to have lead Him to ask such a specific question and next Tuesday’s question time might be worth a watch…
The questions that Peters asked the PM in Q1 on Tuesday were very specific. Peters was very careful to stick to his script, not make any asides or other comments or raise any matters following each of the PM’s answers. Most unlike Peters, normally.
Similarly Robertson was very specific in his questions in Q2 yesterday – and put emphasis on some matters (eg German resident) and was trying to get English to be specific in his responses. Peters’ question at the end of Q2 was again very specific.
Imbalance of men to women, or is it in fact just a man’s world.
Perhaps someone could explain the difference between these two situations (apart from the obvious that is)
I’m clearly of the view that allowing the private sector to collect information on you enables governments to access that information. It simply shouldn’t be collected in the first place and there’s no good reason for facial recognition software in picture theatres or shops.
The unfettered collection of information about you needs to cease.
lprent
Yesterday it took me one and a half minutes to get onto The Standard page. Today was quite fast, I made a comment and submitted about 10.38 a.m.,, and then counted to 200 before I shut down the blank page of the Standard. The comment hasn’t been picked up behind the scenes by the machine – I can’t see Rosetinted up with the Comments.
Other sites are as quick and accessible as normal.
Odd. Normally I’d get a messages on my phone and email if the CPU spiked on the web systems or the database.
Looking at the monitoring for the last 6 hours. Just looks absolutely normal. No drops which is what happens when cloudflare has an issue, and no CPU spikes (bots) and with increased numbers of connections to the DB (when the DB jams up).
My guess is that your ISP had a problem routing to the cloudflare in sydney (the most common server for NZ connections).
This is the last weeks average CPU at 15 minutes intervals (higher time resolutions down to a minute show similar levels).. I use 15 minutes at above 50% as my trigger point. The only day I showed a problem was NZST tuesday at 10:23, 10:51, and 13:16 on the webserver (and pretty well matched on the database). That was a new spam bot network trying to leave comments. It took a few hours before the system identified all of the IP’s it was using.
Web server
Database
BTW: We had a few outages last month mostly because I didn’t have the monit restarts running after the server shift and we had a few stoppages during the night when backups were running. This is the pingdom report from last month.
rocky will be keeping an eye on the system while I’m away investigating the network access in samoa next week (yeah there is meant to be wifi…) and warming up.
edit: The pingdom times are in NZST. The 5-10 minute ones are usually either me doing maintenance later at night or early morning or the automatic backups. The longer ones were backup failures or plugin screwups that I missed.
Umm it was a quiet week last week – the bots were almost non-existent… These are cloudflare’s numbers which report everything (click to see the larger view)
Yeah right. All of the systems measure things differently. It gets a bit meaningless..
The numbers on cloudflare, google analytics, wordpress states, statcounter, sitemeter, and awstats (all of which I use) barely have any relationship with each other. Especially on what are bots, what is a visit, what is a visitor, and even in what is a pageview.
They are like polls. only really useful if you don’t compare stats between different companies (ie the DPF fallacy) and only look at trends from one.
For the record, I tend to trust google analytics the most for looking at humans because they rely at least in part on the cookies and IP info used on google sites. They show us with between 25k and 40k unique human visitors per month over the last year. And between 7k and 18k per week. And between 2k and 7k daily.
It varies quite a lot – we get spikes when something (usually an image) goes viral offshore. But if you exclude the people that we only see once (ie find us when searching) then looking over the last 18 months you see this..
Visitors – days since last visit
0 80.5%
1 7.2%
2 3.0%
3 1.7%
4 1.1%
5 0.8%
6 0.1%
> 1 week 5.6%
Well over 90% of all our readers including the one page wonders are from NZ.
In other words we’re really not interested in following the Whaleoil plan for maximizing advertising revenue.
the problem: companies move their prices at the same time, by the same amount and apparently this is not price fixing.
hello folks, i am appealling to the collective intelligence here for strategies to organize, inspire and educate the populace to push back at the oil companies.
i figure if enough (10-25%) of the population where to boycott a particular company for say 3 months we may see a breaking of ranks from the oil companies and their pricing.
the idea is that if enough of us move in one direction then we can not be stopped.
to have this succeed sends a message to the big guys (companies and legislators) but more importantly to individuals that we do have power.
i am not too interested in past evils of the various companies as they are kind of a must have.
if successful it does not have to be limited to oil companies – supermarkets or other duopoly, power companies.
i figure the AA would not be keen aas they have a loyalty scheme with one brand.
Yea – I know …. it beggars belief yes? A bit on an insult to whatever the definition of intelligence you might hold.
Perhaps …. a single buyer model. Something akin to the electricity proposals. Either that, or complete disconnect with the means by which petroleum products are sourced (all that Singapore dependency excuse usually offered).
Perhaps even a mission to South America – not unlike that “highly successful” jaunt John Key[s] undertook earlier this year that was going to produce results.
Labour 50% women on the list proposal a disaster. The girls in a nearby office hate it – they say its put working women back 50 years. And many I know are Labour supporters.
They want an equal chance and an equal hearing based on merit. They don’t need protection by regulation and they certainly don’t want to displace someone else if they are more capable at the job.
Disaster.
By the way I said “girls”…these are mostly women over 40 in senior and responsible positions in education and social work, a mix of private sector and public sector.
From what I can tell, that’s not what Labour are proposing. Would it be so hard to get our facts straight?
I’m told by a reflexive “that’s great !” female mate of mine that this effective mandatory gender share thing remains not more than a remit to be put forward at the conference in November. Not formal policy of the NZLP.
Even the purist must acknowledge that it’s wildfire politically. See what the pigs have done with it already.
Please don’t let it become an issue which defines left thinking in New Zealand. Because if we do the pigs will smash us over.
I believe that to back it as an imperative without intelligent management is fuck’n’ hubristic and selfish. Suggestive of – “Let’s buzz OURSELVES hard. Yeah, we’re so fuck’n’ pure and intelligent”. No. Fuck you. You’re not “left” except as a self proclaimer if it’s all about YOUR imperative.
People have the imperatives they an afford. Many, many New Zealanders can have no imperative other than putting food on the table. Their circumstances are such that without that narrow focus there will be no bloody food on the table. Think about that. Imagine that.
The fourth paragraph, I have no idea what it means.
The last one I call bullshit on. It’s not proposals like the one yesterday that are preventing addressing serious issues like poverty. It’s the fact that Labour is a bloody mess that is the problem. By all means stuff a whole bunch of issues back in the box, but that won’t get you anywhere useful because those issues aren’t preventing the necessary things from being done.
If Labour wasn’t such a bloody mess, then this proposal would have been handled in a completely different way. You’re aiming at the wrong target.
“The last one I call bullshit on. It’s not proposals like the one yesterday that are preventing addressing serious issues like poverty”
Oh yeah, there’s no way that Labour’s great policy set on addressing working, beneficiary and child poverty is being overshadowed by this in the slightest.
Yessss111 Thank you! Heard on Nat Rad this morning the same premise from Sue Moroney but she wouldn’t be heard and the rest of the programme was put over to whoever was the opposing view. Nat radio seemed to be putting it as a fait accompli and not as a remit to be put forward to be discussed. Shoddy.
“The girls in a nearby office hate it – they say its put working women back 50 years.”
“How is it doing that?”
They want an equal chance and an equal hearing based on merit.
How nice for them. Did you point out that they don’t have that now? And ask them if they would like that fixed, and how they would like that fixed?
And I’d still like to know how the rule change would put women back 50 years. That’s to the the early 60s, so you should be able to pull up some interesting stats to compare to. They don’t need protection by regulation and they certainly don’t want to displace someone else if they are more capable at the job.
Can you please show me how the rule change would displace someone MORE capable at the job?
“From what I can tell, that’s not what Labour are proposing. Would it be so hard to get our facts straight?”
I don’t know, do you think I should ask them?
Yes, obviously. What an odd question.
It has been useful though CV to see that your objections aren’t just about timing or the competency of Labour’s PR, but that you also object because you believe the lie that women can overcome structural sexism by their own personal effort.
Maybe somebody could reference the experiment that showed random selection produced the same results as targetted selection? That said, I agree this move could undermine women who are selected/promoted because, *you know*, they only got the position due to their gender rather than their ability. That, and it’s bloody window dressing…
Aye, but we live in a patriarchy, right? And so the potential put down that would point to a man only attaining his position due to his gender has bugger all potential at the end of the day. totally different potential if you ain’t pink and ain’t male though, aye?
Maybe somebody could reference the experiment that showed random selection produced the same results as targetted selection? That said, I agree this move could undermine women who are selected/promoted because, *you know*, they only got the position due to their gender rather than their ability. That, and it’s bloody window dressing…
I’d like to see how Labour thinks the actual rule change might work in practice, but if what you say is true it’s a pretty clear sign of how much of a sexist society we still live in.
“Labour 50% women on the list proposal a disaster. The girls in a nearby office hate it – they say its put working women back 50 years. And many I know are Labour supporters.”
Is it just me, or does that story sound like a desperate lie? Not to mention sexist, obviously.
So, where was I reading that this was a leak? See, if there is any story here, it’s that…or more precisely, the timing of it. There was JK and the spying debacle. And here came a free pass to distract from somebody within Labour. It’s kinda fucking unbelievable.
The proposal has been around for “months” apparently. Clearly now was the best time to discuss it. We just had to wait for Cameron Slater to break the story.
So, where was I reading that this was a leak? See, if there is any story here, it’s that…or more precisely, the timing of it. There was JK and the spying debacle. And here came a free pass to distract from somebody within Labour. It’s kinda fucking unbelievable.
Smeone said yesterday (maybe this came from Labour?) that it was part of a bunch of rule changes emailed to members ahead of public release (by a few hours?). It’s not so much that someone leaked to Slater/Lusk, as Labour handed it to them on a plate.
‘To be alienated means to be someone other (alienus) than oneself; It also can mean to belong to someone else. In more profound sense, it means to be deprived of one’s self, to be subjected to, or even identified with someone else. That is definitely the effect of propaganda. Propaganda strips the individual, robs them of part of themselves, and makes them live an alien and artificial life, to such an extent that they become another person and obey impulses foreign to them. They obey someone else.
To produce this effect, propaganda restricts itself to utilizing, increasing, and reinforcing the individual’s inclination to lose himself in something (human) bigger than they are, to dissipate their uniqueness, to free their ego of all doubt, conflict, and suffering- through fusion with others; to devote themselves to a great (sic) leader and a great cause. In large groups, humans feel united with others, and therefore try to free themselves through blending. Indeed, propaganda offers them that possibility in an exceptionally easy and satisfying fashion. Yet, it pushes the individual into the mass until they disappear entirely.
To begin with, what is it that propaganda makes disappear? Everything in the nature of critical and personal judgement. Obviously, propaganda limits the application of thought. It limits the propagandee’s field of thought to the extent that it provides them with ready-made (and, moreover, unreal) thoughts and stereotypes. It orients them towards very limited ends and prevents them from using their own minds or experimenting on their own. It determines the core from which all their thoughts must derive and draws from the beginning a sort of guideline that permits neither criticism or imagination. More precisely, imagination will lead only to small digressions from the fixed line and to only slightly deviant, preliminary responses within the framework. In this fashion, we see the ‘progressives’ make some “variations” around the basic propaganda tenets.
The acceptance of the ‘line’, of such ends and limitations (BAU), presupposes the suppression of all critical judgement, which in turn is a result of the crystalization of thoughts (see fluidity of thought) and attitudes and the creation of taboos. As Jules Monnerot accurately said: All individual passion leads to the suppression of all critical judgement with regard to the object of that passion. Beyond that, in the collective passion created by propaganda, critical judgement disappears altogether, for in no way can there ever be collective critical judgement. Humans become incapable of ‘separation’, of discernment (the word ‘critical’ is derived from the Greek ‘krino’- separate). The individual can no longer judge for them-self due to inescapably relating their thoughts to the entire complex of values and prejudices established by propaganda. With regard to POLITICAL situations, they are given ready-made value judgments invested with the power of truth by the number of supporters and the word of experts.
What the individual loses is never easy to revive. Once personal judgement and critical faculties have disappeared or have been atrophied, they will not simply reappear when propaganda has been suppressed. In fact, this is one of propaganda’s most durable effects: years of intellectual and spiritual education would be needed to restore such faculties. The propagandee, if deprived of one propaganda, will immediately adopt another; this will spare them the ‘agony’ 😉 of finding themselves at some event without a ready-made opinion, and obliged to think about and judge it for themselves. At the same time, propaganda presents facts, judgments, and values in such confusion and with so many methods that it is literally impossible for the average person to proceed with discernment. They are often forced to accept, or reject, everything ‘in toto’.
-Jaques Ellul : ‘Propaganda : The Formation of Men’s Attitudes.
A Great City : small firms, smart people and connections to the outside world; the purpose behind modern cities is to pass on information, and the more effectively and efficiently they do this, the more…they blossom, the more successful and sustainable they become-Dr. Edward Glaeser.
My Goodness! (OMG, OMFG even).
The nicest man on Earth had an Imperator Fish on “The Panel”. Not only that, as I listened, there were no ahurr ahurr ahurrs, attempts at linguistic gymnastics, or any other humbug displayed by the nicest man on Earth host.
Me thinks the nicest man on Earth needs a few more ‘The Panel’ guests who don’t take shit.
Of course they run the risk of a Bradbury style excommunication.
(Check it out @ Morissey) – still a bit of fluff, but better than most of the other MSM noises being aired at the time.
I heard the programme too, Tim. Yes, Scott York and Julia Hartley Moore, as well as host Jim Mora, spoke seriously and like adults. It was a pretty good programme. I missed the first part of the pre-show segment, but I did hear a little of that screech-owl Balducci guffawing at the plight of Edward Snowden yet again. Something about the possibility of him marrying a Russian woman and thereby gaining permanent asylum in Russia. I don’t know how serious the story was, but Susan Balducci certainly seemed to be tickled pink by it.
the Malthusian angle was glanced upon earlier in the week on TS;
-poverty
-power cuts
-food shortages
-inflation
-debt
-unemployment
-water shortages predicted
-opaque decision-making
-Islamization
Came across to me as pretty genuine. He’s exhausted and the developments over the past week would have been the tipping point. They hope to interview Lianne Dalziel towards the end of the programme.
Crass 73 doesn’t deny that charter is all about profit taking for the already wealthy. Ignore the immature person. Not our problem that he has no moral fibre.
What was more interesting was to see the large contrast between the way the PM speaks and behaves facially against his doppelganger Jay Deutsch who clearly has empathy and his face well shows this.
Sure they are different people but it was a little uncanny and hinted at what was possible if Key had a sense of decency rather than self entitlement. Body language and what is behind the eyes speaks volumes.
On a more sombre note also watched The House I Live In which looks at the imprisonment of people for drugs in the US. Sadly we’re going down the same road at the same time there is some resistance emerging in the US. The section towards the end about the steps taken to create an enemy seem particularly relevant to NZ with the steps taken to demonise the poor and beneficiaries here.
Just realised that link I found is to a streaming (pirate) site – have removed. I can tell cause it has the latest superman movie there as well.
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Buzz from the Beehive Reactions to news of the government’s readiness to make urgent changes to “the resource management system” through a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) suggest a balanced approach is being taken. The Taxpayers’ Union says the proposed changes don’t go far enough. Greenpeace says ...
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Feel worried. Shane Jones and a couple of his Cabinet colleagues are about to be granted the power to override any and all objections to projects like dams, mines, roads etc even if: said projects will harm biodiversity, increase global warming and cause other environmental harms, and even if ...
Bryce Edwards writes- The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. ...
Michael Bassett writes – If you think there is a move afoot by the radical Maori fringe of New Zealand society to create a parallel system of government to the one that we elect at our triennial elections, you aren’t wrong. Over the last few days we have ...
Without a corresponding drop in interest rates, it’s doubtful any changes to the CCCFA will unleash a massive rush of home buyers. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: The six things that stood out to me in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate on Monday, April 22 included:The Government making a ...
Sunday was a lazy day. I started watching Jack Tame on Q&A, the interviews are usually good for something to write about. Saying the things that the politicians won’t, but are quite possibly thinking. Things that are true and need to be extracted from between the lines.As you might know ...
In our Weekly Roundup last week we covered news from Auckland Transport that the WX1 Western Express is going to get an upgrade next year with double decker electric buses. As part of the announcement, AT also said “Since we introduced the WX1 Western Express last November we have seen ...
TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 29 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Stats NZ releases its statutory report on Census 2023 tomorrow.Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivers a pre-Budget speech at ...
A listing of 29 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 14, 2024 thru Sat, April 20, 2024. Story of the week Our story of the week hinges on these words from the abstract of a fresh academic ...
The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. The Government says this will ...
This is a column to say thank you. So many of have been in touch since Mum died to say so many kind and thoughtful things. You’re wonderful, all of you. You’ve asked how we’re doing, how Dad’s doing. A little more realisation each day, of the irretrievable finality of ...
Identifying the engine type in your car is crucial for various reasons, including maintenance, repairs, and performance upgrades. Knowing the specific engine model allows you to access detailed technical information, locate compatible parts, and make informed decisions about modifications. This comprehensive guide will provide you with a step-by-step approach to ...
Introduction: The allure of racing is undeniable. The thrill of speed, the roar of engines, and the exhilaration of competition all contribute to the allure of this adrenaline-driven sport. For those who yearn to experience the pinnacle of racing, becoming a race car driver is the ultimate dream. However, the ...
Introduction Automobiles have become ubiquitous in modern society, serving as a primary mode of transportation and a symbol of economic growth and personal mobility. With countless vehicles traversing roads and highways worldwide, it begs the question: how many cars are there in the world? Determining the precise number is a ...
Maintaining a safe and reliable vehicle requires regular inspections. Whether it’s a routine maintenance checkup or a safety inspection, knowing how long the process will take can help you plan your day accordingly. This article delves into the factors that influence the duration of a car inspection and provides an ...
Mazda Motor Corporation, commonly known as Mazda, is a Japanese multinational automaker headquartered in Fuchu, Aki District, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. The company was founded in 1920 as the Toyo Cork Kogyo Co., Ltd., and began producing vehicles in 1931. Mazda is primarily known for its production of passenger cars, but ...
Your car battery is an essential component that provides power to start your engine, operate your electrical systems, and store energy. Over time, batteries can weaken and lose their ability to hold a charge, which can lead to starting problems, power failures, and other issues. Replacing your battery before it ...
In most states, you cannot register a car without a valid driver’s license. However, there are a few exceptions to this rule. Exceptions to the RuleIf you are under 18 years old: In some states, you can register a car in your name even if you do not ...
Mazda, a Japanese automotive manufacturer with a rich history of innovation and engineering excellence, has emerged as a formidable player in the global car market. Known for its reputation of producing high-quality, fuel-efficient, and driver-oriented vehicles, Mazda has consistently garnered praise from industry experts and consumers alike. In this article, ...
Struts are an essential part of a car’s suspension system. They are responsible for supporting the weight of the car and damping the oscillations of the springs. Struts are typically made of steel or aluminum and are filled with hydraulic fluid. How Do Struts Work? Struts work by transferring the ...
Car registration is a mandatory process that all vehicle owners must complete annually. This process involves registering your car with the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and paying an associated fee. The registration process ensures that your vehicle is properly licensed and insured, and helps law enforcement and other authorities ...
Zoom is a video conferencing service that allows you to share your screen, webcam, and audio with other participants. In addition to sharing your own audio, you can also share the audio from your computer with other participants. This can be useful for playing music, sharing presentations with audio, or ...
Building your own computer can be a rewarding and cost-effective way to get a high-performance machine tailored to your specific needs. However, it also requires careful planning and execution, and one of the most important factors to consider is the time it will take. The exact time it takes to ...
Sleep mode is a power-saving state that allows your computer to quickly resume operation without having to boot up from scratch. This can be useful if you need to step away from your computer for a short period of time but don’t want to shut it down completely. There are ...
Introduction Computer-Assisted Translation (CAT) has revolutionized the field of translation by harnessing the power of technology to assist human translators in their work. This innovative approach combines specialized software with human expertise to improve the efficiency, accuracy, and consistency of translations. In this comprehensive article, we will delve into the ...
In today’s digital age, mobile devices have become an indispensable part of our daily lives. Among the vast array of portable computing options available, iPads and tablet computers stand out as two prominent contenders. While both offer similar functionalities, there are subtle yet significant differences between these two devices. This ...
A computer is an electronic device that can be programmed to carry out a set of instructions. The basic components of a computer are the processor, memory, storage, input devices, and output devices. The Processor The processor, also known as the central processing unit (CPU), is the brain of the ...
Voice Memos is a convenient app on your iPhone that allows you to quickly record and store audio snippets. These recordings can be useful for a variety of purposes, such as taking notes, capturing ideas, or recording interviews. While you can listen to your voice memos on your iPhone, you ...
Laptop screens are essential for interacting with our devices and accessing information. However, when lines appear on the screen, it can be frustrating and disrupt productivity. Understanding the underlying causes of these lines is crucial for finding effective solutions. Types of Screen Lines Horizontal lines: Also known as scan ...
Right-clicking is a common and essential computer operation that allows users to access additional options and settings. While most desktop computers have dedicated right-click buttons on their mice, laptops often do not have these buttons due to space limitations. This article will provide a comprehensive guide on how to right-click ...
Powering up and shutting down your ASUS laptop is an essential task for any laptop user. Locating the power button can sometimes be a hassle, especially if you’re new to ASUS laptops. This article will provide a comprehensive guide on where to find the power button on different ASUS laptop ...
Dell laptops are renowned for their reliability, performance, and versatility. Whether you’re a student, a professional, or just someone who needs a reliable computing device, a Dell laptop can meet your needs. However, if you’re new to Dell laptops, you may be wondering how to get started. In this comprehensive ...
Two-thirds of the country think that “New Zealand’s economy is rigged to advantage the rich and powerful”. They also believe that “New Zealand needs a strong leader to take the country back from the rich and powerful”. These are just two of a handful of stunning new survey results released ...
In today’s digital world, screenshots have become an indispensable tool for communication and documentation. Whether you need to capture an important email, preserve a website page, or share an error message, screenshots allow you to quickly and easily preserve digital information. If you’re an Asus laptop user, there are several ...
A factory reset restores your Gateway laptop to its original factory settings, erasing all data, apps, and personalizations. This can be necessary to resolve software issues, remove viruses, or prepare your laptop for sale or transfer. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to factory reset your Gateway laptop: Method 1: ...
“You talking about me?”The neoliberal denigration of the past was nowhere more unrelenting than in its depiction of the public service. The Post Office and the Railways were held up as being both irremediably inefficient and scandalously over-manned. Playwright Roger Hall’s “Glide Time” caricatures were presented as accurate depictions of ...
Roger Partridge writes – When the Coalition Government took office last October, it inherited a country on a precipice. With persistent inflation, decades of insipid productivity growth and crises in healthcare, education, housing and law and order, it is no exaggeration to suggest New Zealand’s first-world status was ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – In 2022, the Curriculum Centre at the Ministry of Education employed 308 staff, according to an Official Information Request. Earlier this week it was announced 202 of those staff were being cut. When you look up “The New Zealand Curriculum” on the Ministry of ...
Chris Bishop’s bill has stirred up a hornets nest of opposition. Photo: Lynn Grieveson for The KākāTL;DR: The six things that stood out to me in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate from the last day included:A crescendo of opposition to the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill is ...
Monday left me brokenTuesday, I was through with hopingWednesday, my empty arms were openThursday, waiting for love, waiting for loveThe end of another week that left many of us asking WTF? What on earth has NZ gotten itself into and how on earth could people have voluntarily signed up for ...
Hello! Here comes the Saturday edition of More Than A Feilding, catching you up on the past week’s editions.State of humanity, 20242024, it feels, keeps presenting us with ever more challenges, ever more dismay.Do you give up yet? It seems to ask.No? How about this? Or this?How about this?Full story Share ...
Determining the hardest sport in the world is a subjective matter, as the difficulty level can vary depending on individual abilities, physical attributes, and experience. However, based on various factors including physical demands, technical skills, mental fortitude, and overall accomplishment, here is an exploration of some of the most challenging ...
The allure of sport transcends age, culture, and geographical boundaries. It captivates hearts, ignites passions, and provides unparalleled entertainment. Behind the spectacle, however, lies a fascinating world of financial investment and expenditure. Among the vast array of competitive pursuits, one question looms large: which sport carries the hefty title of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Minister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...
The Government’s newly announced review of methane emissions reduction targets hints at its desire to delay Aotearoa New Zealand’s urgent transition to a climate safe future, the Green Party said. ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
“China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Refreshed health guidance released today will help parents and schools make informed decisions about whether their child needs to be in school, addressing one of the key issues affecting school attendance, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. In recent years, consistently across all school terms, short-term illness or medical reasons ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is streamlining high-level oceans management while maintaining a focus on supporting the sector’s role in the export-led recovery of the economy. “I am working to realise the untapped potential of our fishing and aquaculture sector. To achieve that we need to be smarter with ...
Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson is speaking at the International Wool Textile Organisation Congress in Adelaide, promoting New Zealand wool, and outlining the coalition Government’s support for the revitalisation the sector. "New Zealand’s wool exports reached $400 million in the year to 30 June 2023, and the coalition Government ...
The Government is making legislative changes to make it easier for new early learning services to be established, and for existing services to operate, Associate Education Minister David Seymour says. The changes involve repealing the network approval provisions that apply when someone wants to establish a new early learning service, ...
Changes to the Resource Management Act will align consenting for coal mining to other forms of mining to reduce barriers that are holding back economic development, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The inconsistent treatment of coal mining compared with other extractive activities is burdensome red tape that fails to acknowledge ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Hawkins, Senior Lecturer, Canberra School of Politics, Economics and Society, University of Canberra BagzhanSadvakassov/Upsplash, CC BY-SA Australia’s inflation rate has fallen for the fifth successive quarter, and it’s now less than half of what it was back in late 2022. ...
ACT's Rural Communities and Veterans spokesman Mark Cameron responds to cancellations and protests of ANZAC Day commemorations in Wellington. He says, "These pitiful attempts to detract from ANZAC Day are not at all indicative of the feelings of mainstream ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Meighen McCrae, Associate Professor of Strategic & Defence Studies, Australian National University American and Australian stretcher bearers working together near the front line during the Battle of Hamel in 1918.Australian War Memorial While the AUKUS alliance is new, the Australian-American partnership ...
Pōneke based peace activists staged a silent protest at the ANZAC day service to highlight New Zealand’s complicity in war and genocide, and urge the government to take concrete steps to stop the genocide in Palestine. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Magdalena M.E. Bunbury, Postdoctoral Researcher, James Cook University Burial with a horse at the Rákóczifalva site, Hungary (8th century AD).Sándor Hegedűs, Hungarian National Museum, CC BY How do we understand past societies? For centuries, our main sources of information have been ...
Amanda Thompson doesn’t really do Anzac Day. But what she does do is remember the people she knew who had a lifetime to remember stuff they didn’t really want to, because of a war they didn’t ask for. And she does make Anzac biscuits.First published in 2021.All my ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kathryn Willis, Postdoctoral Researcher, CSIRO Xavier Boulenger/Shutterstock In the two decades to 2019, global plastic production doubled. By 2040, plastic manufacturing and processing could consume as much as 20% of global oil production and use up 15% of the annual carbon ...
With our collective remembrance, and steadfast belief in our common humanity, we strengthen our hope and resolve to do what we can to foster dialogue and understanding, and to heal divisions in our pursuit of peace. ...
Principal reasons for the opposition is the loss of the public’s democratic right to have “a fair say” and the vital need for a government free from corruption, said Casey Cravens of Dunedin, president of the New Zealand Federation of Freshwater ...
Never mind the scoreboard – in the 2000 Bledisloe Cup decider, the real trans-Tasman battle was won before kickoff.First published in 2016. The dawn of the new millennium was a dark time for the All Blacks. Their final game pre-Y2K was a 22-18 loss to South Africa in the ...
I’m on the wrong side of 40, I never pursued creative work and now my job is killing my soul. Help! Want Hera’s help? Email your problem to helpme@thespinoff.co.nzDear Hera,May I start with the least original conversation opener you’re likely to hear around the motu at the moment, particularly in Wellington: ...
“Never again - No AUKUS” was the message of the wreath laid at this morning’s national ANZAC Day commemorative service at Pukeahu National War Memorial Park this morning by the Stop AUKUS group. ...
Until this month, Auckland swimmer Hazel Ouwehand had never met a qualifying time in an Olympic event for a New Zealand team, even as a junior. Now she’s very likely off to the Paris Olympics after swimming well under the qualifying standard in the 100m butterfly twice – both in ...
While Anzac Day has experienced a resurgence in recent years, our other day of remembrance has slowly faded from view.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand. Original illustrations by Hope McConnell.First published in 2022.The high school’s head girl and ...
Australian and New Zealand volunteers fought together in the Waikato War, yet still its place in the Anzac tradition is unacknowledged by our defence forces or Returned Services Association.First published in 2018.When I was a boy cub I attended Anzac Day services in the South Auckland suburb of ...
A poem by Wellington writer Tayi Tibble.Hoki Mai She kisses him goodbye with her eyes still wet and alight from their last swim in the Awatere river. At the train station celebration, she leads the Kapa Haka but her voice keeps breaking under and over itself like waves. ...
A poem from Bill Manhire’s 2017 book of verse Some Things to Place in a Coffin.My World War I Poem Inside each trench, the sound of prayer. Inside each prayer, the sound of digging. Image courtesy of Auckland War Memorial Museum. ...
There are three books I have wolfed down in one sitting over the last two years. Colleen Maria Lenihan’s gorgeous and sad debut Kōhine, Noelle McCarthy’s memoir Grand about becoming her mother and then unbecoming her, and now Hine Toa, a staunch yet gentle self-portrait by living legend Ngāhuia te ...
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Asia Pacific Report Students and activist staff at Australia’s University of Sydney (USyd) have set up a Gaza solidarity encampment in support of Palestinians and similar student-led protests in the United States. The camp was pitched as mass graves, crippled hospitals, thousands of civilian deaths and the near-total destruction of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James B. Dorey, Lecturer in Biological Sciences, University of Wollongong Australian teddy bear bees are cute and fluffy, but get a look at that massive (unbarbed) stinger! James Dorey Photography Most of us have been stung by a bee and we ...
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Humbug Corner
No. 12: Pem Bird
“We’re there to do the business of advancing our people.”
—Outgoing Māori Party president Pem Bird, Radio NZ National, 7:54 a.m., Thursday 4 July 2013
Humbug Corner is dedicated to gathering, and highlighting, the most striking examples of faux solicitude, insincere apologies, and particularly stupid recycling of official canards. It is produced by the Insincerity Project®, a division of Daisycutter Sports Inc.
Have a gander at all of the humbugs….
No. 11 Whenua Patuwai: “They’re my brothers and to see one of them goes [sic]—it’s tough.”
No. 10 “Sir” Owen Glenn: “I do care that every person, especially children, have [sic] the right to feel safe.”
No. 9 “Sir” Owen Glenn: His abuse inquiry is floundering after revelations he was accused of physically abusing a young woman in 2002.
No. 8 Barack Obama: “…people standing up for what’s right…yearning for justice and dignity…”
No. 7 Barack Obama: “Nelson Mandela is my personal hero…”
No. 6 John Key: “Yeah well the Greens’ answer to everything is rail, isn’t it.”
No.5 Dr. Rodney Syme: “If you want good, open, honest practice, you have to make it transparent.”
No. 4 Mike Bush: “Bruce Hutton’s… integrity beyond reproach…such great character…”
No. 3 Dean Lonergan: “Y’ know what? The only people who will mock them are people who are dwarfists.”
No. 2 Peter Dunne: “What a load of drivel and sanctimonious humbug…”
No. 1 Dominic Bowden: “It’s okay to be speechless.”
Forcing down Evo Morales’s plane was an act of air piracy
by JOHN PILGER, The Guardian, Thursday 4 July 2013
Imagine the aircraft of the president of France being forced down in Latin America on “suspicion” that it was carrying a political refugee to safety – and not just any refugee but someone who has provided the people of the world with proof of criminal activity on an epic scale.
Imagine the response from Paris, let alone the “international community”, as the governments of the west call themselves. To a chorus of baying indignation from Whitehall to Washington, Brussels to Madrid, heroic special forces would be dispatched to rescue their leader and, as sport, smash up the source of such flagrant international gangsterism. Editorials would cheer them on, perhaps reminding readers that this kind of piracy was exhibited by the German Reich in the 1930s.
The forcing down of Bolivian President Evo Morales’s plane – denied airspace by France, Spain and Portugal, followed by his 14-hour confinement while Austrian officials demanded to “inspect” his aircraft for the “fugitive” Edward Snowden – was an act of air piracy and state terrorism. It was a metaphor for the gangsterism that now rules the world and the cowardice and hypocrisy of bystanders who dare not speak its name.
In Moscow, Morales had been asked about Snowden – who remains trapped in the city’s airport. “If there were a request [for political asylum],” he said, “of course, we would be willing to debate and consider the idea.” That was clearly enough provocation for the Godfather. “We have been in touch with a range of countries that had a chance of having Snowden land or travel through their country,” said a US state department official.
The French – having squealed about Washington spying on their every move, as revealed by Snowden – were first off the mark, followed by the Portuguese. The Spanish then did their bit by enforcing a flight ban of their airspace, giving the Godfather’s Viennese hirelings enough time to find out if Snowden was indeed invoking article 14 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states: “Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.”
Those paid to keep the record straight have played their part with a cat-and-mouse media game that reinforces the Godfather’s lie that this heroic young man is running from a system of justice, rather than preordained, vindictive incarceration that….
Read more…
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jul/04/forcing-down-morales-plane-air-piracy?CMP=twt_gu
GCSB Bill
For Dot Com to John Con: “Show me your integrity!”
Funnily enough John Key could say the same thing to Dot Con…
Wow, so they are both morally bankrupt, whoop e doo, only one was elected to the top office in the land. If you have a point, make it, troll.
The person making the most traction against National and John Key is fraudalent, con-artist German.
Says alot about the collective nous of Labour.
Making traction now is he? That’s what I love about wingnut arguments: they’re so utterly insincere.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/waikato-times/news/8878710/Council-balks-at-living-wage-cost
Yeah it sounds good in theory but when you work out how much it costs and whos going to pay for it…not so much
Easy, just pay a few other people a bit less. Start with the Mayor, then the councillors, then all the council execs and so on down. Hell, maybe some of those council execs aren’t really that necessary anyway.
It’s simple circumcision theory – you can take 10% off the top of any prick. They’ll find their 600k or whatever it is in no time.
Damn this is odd but I agree with you
Shit, I’d better check my sums then.
Q: Are independent consultants costs publicized?
A:___
Q: Are business cases scoped accurately, and qualified by competent levels of governance, supported by processes, designed to deliver tangible benefits for Auckland?
A:___
Q: Were vendor contracts negotiated by the ATA, which would ensure locked in inflated profits for many years, at the expense of Aucklanders?
A:___
Q: Are industry awards being handed out to provide cover for financial failures, which are not fully disclosed to the public?
A:___
Q: Will the true financial position be hidden, until after the city assets have been transferred to the private sector?
A:___
Q: Will Auckland’s true financial position be exposed, before the city officially falls into default?
A:___
I would be somewhat suspicious of this figure. It is not rocket science to work out how much it costs. You find out how many people receive less than the proposed minimum wage, see how much they earn and calculate how much more they will earn.
The Councillors need to interrogate the figures more rather than just accept what they are being told.
Well thats what happens when you borrow the Greens calculator to work out the sums initially then use a normal one to confirm
Running out of lines?
That’s the same one you used last night but last night you said Labour.
A good line is worth repeating 🙂
Not really especially when it’s not even related to the comment you’re responding to.
imitation being the finest form…
Looks like a hatchet job to me. How did they get the figures so wrong between the first and second times?
Give you ten to one it’s snafu not conspiracy.
Someone didn’t do their sums right.
And where is the analysis of the difference, MSM?
Not sure what you mean by that Weka. MSM bias/incompetence/distraction. What does this have to do with Hamilton District Council staff errors?
I just meant the story is just as much about the errors, and what the errors actually are, as it is that the council has backtracked. Yes, I know, a very thin hope that someone might actually investigate and report.
that’s cos other people further up the pecking order want some fat in the budget for their own pay increases (RNZ), Winston Smith.
Probably not far off the mark
Reference the controversy about the Labour gender balancing plan for Parliament candidate selection.
Every policy change, whether major or minor, needs to have a communication strategy attached to it. This is necessary irrespective of the merits of the policy. News management is not an optional extra, when fighting the uphill battle against a neo-liberal media.
“Labour leader David Shearer would not comment beyond saying he was supportive of increasing the number of women in Labour. However, he is understood to have voiced concerns privately about it.”
Shearer is on the NZ Council. “Privately” disagreeing to the media about the decision of the Party’s Governing Body is NOT the way to get on top of this particular bush-fire. The quality of advice being given to our leader is disgraceful.
I wonder what fate the Women’s Sector have in mind for him now? Perhaps I’ll invite two sisters to join me around a boiling cauldron. “‘Tis time, ’tis time”
there is that golden rule of politics that shearer has broken..
..that ‘don’t piss off the women!-dictum’..
…i also saw that as another death-knell for him..
..(after/compounding his recent threats to ‘terrorise’ maori..so..if you were a maori woman in labour..?
..where to turn..?..)
..far-right nattys often sneer at key as being labour-lite..
..funny how shearer actually is his/this mirror-image..eh..?
..it’s way past time to roll him..
..he isn’t going to get any better..eh..?
..many out here would really like to see a labour party vowing to returning to their (original)-knitting..eh..?
..and david (bludging-benificiary-on-a-hot-tin-roof) shearer dosn’t hold that promise..
..far from it..
..phillip ure..
”Does the Prime Minister stand by His statements to this House that He had no previous discussions with any of His Ministers about Kim Dot-com befor the police raid on His Coatsville mansion”,
“Yes” replied Bill English answering on behalf of the Prime Minister,
The House paused briefly into a silence that would best be described as ‘menacing’ but Winston Peters having asked this one ominous question didn’t come back to His feet with the expected ‘point of order’ or ‘supplementary’,
Absent from this little exchange was the constant barking from the Government benches which had accompanied similar questions from Labour’s Grant Robertson earlier in Thursday’s ‘Question time’, the subtle difference from Winston being a specific query about Slippery the Prime Ministers discussions of Kim Dot-com with His Ministers,
Rather than the bark of interjection from the Government benches this particular question met with such a deafening silence which literally yelled across the silent chamber ‘Gotcha’,
Does Winston have a little knowledge that specifically shows that their were discussions between Ministers and Slippery the Prime Minister befor the raid on the Coatsville mansion, or was He just fishing to gauge the reaction from the Government benches,
Along with the Heralds John Armstrong who in the strangest piece of journalism He has recently penned warned of the demise as Prime Minister of the Slippery one should this particular litany from the mouth of the PM also turn out to contain less than the truth, i smell blood,
Peters question was way too specific for there not to be some mouse trail of evidence to have lead Him to ask such a specific question and next Tuesday’s question time might be worth a watch…
Interesting point, bad12. Going to have a look now – missed question time yesterday.
The questions that Peters asked the PM in Q1 on Tuesday were very specific. Peters was very careful to stick to his script, not make any asides or other comments or raise any matters following each of the PM’s answers. Most unlike Peters, normally.
http://inthehouse.co.nz/node/19552
Similarly Robertson was very specific in his questions in Q2 yesterday – and put emphasis on some matters (eg German resident) and was trying to get English to be specific in his responses. Peters’ question at the end of Q2 was again very specific.
http://inthehouse.co.nz/node/19769
Peters also claimed to “know” that Key knew about KDC earlier than Key claims, on TV3 news last night – towards the end of this link.
http://www.3news.co.nz/Did-Key-lie-or-is-Dotcom-bluffing/tabid/1607/articleID/303806/Default.aspx
Peters also attended KDC’s appearance at the Security and Intelligence Committee. He was sitting at a table behind Banks.
While Peters likes to be in ‘on the act’, he is a wily old hand and has many contacts including probably Davidson QC, who headed the Wine Box inquiry.
Ageism, sexism, reverse discrimination, affirmative action…
Imbalance of men to women, or is it in fact just a man’s world.
Perhaps someone could explain the difference between these two situations (apart from the obvious that is)
This in America – difference (38 years)
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=10890976
This in New Zealand – difference (37 years)
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10894878
Its A Man’s World , but it would be nothing, nothing without a woman or a girl!
Noticed this this morning to continue yesterday’s links on the data being collected on you:
“We envision advertising in theatres will be based on who’s in the theatre, using facial recognition.”
http://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/digital-living/8880595/Digital-cinema-management-a-box-office-hit
I’m clearly of the view that allowing the private sector to collect information on you enables governments to access that information. It simply shouldn’t be collected in the first place and there’s no good reason for facial recognition software in picture theatres or shops.
The unfettered collection of information about you needs to cease.
People will need to wear a mask when going to see a movie ffs.
Although lots of material for comedic movie scenes.
lprent
Yesterday it took me one and a half minutes to get onto The Standard page. Today was quite fast, I made a comment and submitted about 10.38 a.m.,, and then counted to 200 before I shut down the blank page of the Standard. The comment hasn’t been picked up behind the scenes by the machine – I can’t see Rosetinted up with the Comments.
Other sites are as quick and accessible as normal.
Odd. Normally I’d get a messages on my phone and email if the CPU spiked on the web systems or the database.
Looking at the monitoring for the last 6 hours. Just looks absolutely normal. No drops which is what happens when cloudflare has an issue, and no CPU spikes (bots) and with increased numbers of connections to the DB (when the DB jams up).
My guess is that your ISP had a problem routing to the cloudflare in sydney (the most common server for NZ connections).
I found ts pretty slow loading for a period of time yesterday too – last night I think. Pages, and trying to post comments.
Looking…. Don’t really see it at the server side.
The Date/Time is in UTC (Greenwich) time
This is the last weeks average CPU at 15 minutes intervals (higher time resolutions down to a minute show similar levels).. I use 15 minutes at above 50% as my trigger point. The only day I showed a problem was NZST tuesday at 10:23, 10:51, and 13:16 on the webserver (and pretty well matched on the database). That was a new spam bot network trying to leave comments. It took a few hours before the system identified all of the IP’s it was using.
Web server
Database
BTW: We had a few outages last month mostly because I didn’t have the monit restarts running after the server shift and we had a few stoppages during the night when backups were running. This is the pingdom report from last month.
Downtimes
From To Downtime
2013-06-01 04:24:42 2013-06-01 04:29:42 0h 05m 00s
2013-06-04 06:19:42 2013-06-04 06:24:42 0h 05m 00s
2013-06-18 02:49:42 2013-06-18 02:59:42 0h 10m 00s
2013-06-19 02:49:42 2013-06-19 08:24:42 5h 35m 00s
2013-06-23 09:24:43 2013-06-23 09:39:42 0h 14m 59s
2013-06-24 02:49:42 2013-06-24 08:09:42 5h 20m 00s
2013-06-29 01:44:42 2013-06-29 01:54:42 0h 10m 00s
rocky will be keeping an eye on the system while I’m away investigating the network access in samoa next week (yeah there is meant to be wifi…) and warming up.
edit: The pingdom times are in NZST. The 5-10 minute ones are usually either me doing maintenance later at night or early morning or the automatic backups. The longer ones were backup failures or plugin screwups that I missed.
Umm it was a quiet week last week – the bots were almost non-existent… These are cloudflare’s numbers which report everything (click to see the larger view)
Page views
Hits
Bandwidth
Oh well lunch is over. Getting back to debugging.
edit: Opps – fixed images
23,345 unique viewers.
Yeah right. All of the systems measure things differently. It gets a bit meaningless..
The numbers on cloudflare, google analytics, wordpress states, statcounter, sitemeter, and awstats (all of which I use) barely have any relationship with each other. Especially on what are bots, what is a visit, what is a visitor, and even in what is a pageview.
They are like polls. only really useful if you don’t compare stats between different companies (ie the DPF fallacy) and only look at trends from one.
For the record, I tend to trust google analytics the most for looking at humans because they rely at least in part on the cookies and IP info used on google sites. They show us with between 25k and 40k unique human visitors per month over the last year. And between 7k and 18k per week. And between 2k and 7k daily.
It varies quite a lot – we get spikes when something (usually an image) goes viral offshore. But if you exclude the people that we only see once (ie find us when searching) then looking over the last 18 months you see this..
Visitors – days since last visit
0 80.5%
1 7.2%
2 3.0%
3 1.7%
4 1.1%
5 0.8%
6 0.1%
> 1 week 5.6%
Well over 90% of all our readers including the one page wonders are from NZ.
In other words we’re really not interested in following the Whaleoil plan for maximizing advertising revenue.
approx 80% of readers visit every day…
Nope. ~80% of the visitors who read the site read it more than once in a day. ~87% read it at least once every 24 hours.
re petrol pricing:
the problem: companies move their prices at the same time, by the same amount and apparently this is not price fixing.
hello folks, i am appealling to the collective intelligence here for strategies to organize, inspire and educate the populace to push back at the oil companies.
i figure if enough (10-25%) of the population where to boycott a particular company for say 3 months we may see a breaking of ranks from the oil companies and their pricing.
the idea is that if enough of us move in one direction then we can not be stopped.
to have this succeed sends a message to the big guys (companies and legislators) but more importantly to individuals that we do have power.
i am not too interested in past evils of the various companies as they are kind of a must have.
if successful it does not have to be limited to oil companies – supermarkets or other duopoly, power companies.
i figure the AA would not be keen aas they have a loyalty scheme with one brand.
your thoughts please
Yea – I know …. it beggars belief yes? A bit on an insult to whatever the definition of intelligence you might hold.
Perhaps …. a single buyer model. Something akin to the electricity proposals. Either that, or complete disconnect with the means by which petroleum products are sourced (all that Singapore dependency excuse usually offered).
Perhaps even a mission to South America – not unlike that “highly successful” jaunt John Key[s] undertook earlier this year that was going to produce results.
Labour 50% women on the list proposal a disaster. The girls in a nearby office hate it – they say its put working women back 50 years. And many I know are Labour supporters.
Out of touch on Planet Labour.
“The girls in a nearby office hate it – they say its put working women back 50 years.”
How is it doing that?
“Labour 50% women on the list proposal a disaster”
From what I can tell, that’s not what Labour are proposing. Would it be so hard to get our facts straight?
They want an equal chance and an equal hearing based on merit. They don’t need protection by regulation and they certainly don’t want to displace someone else if they are more capable at the job.
Disaster.
By the way I said “girls”…these are mostly women over 40 in senior and responsible positions in education and social work, a mix of private sector and public sector.
I don’t know, do you think I should ask them?
I agree, the woman came home last night fair bristling at what Labour was proposing.
She’s a highly educated woman in her 30’s who is currently in a managerial role.
Please, before you make your wife out to be so ignorant again, can you just check whether she understands that Labour is considering this proposal?
I give it a 95% chance of passing at Conference. It’s as good as done.
How would you fix the gender bias then CV? Women are simply not currently getting an equal chance and an equal hearing based on merit.
I’m told by a reflexive “that’s great !” female mate of mine that this effective mandatory gender share thing remains not more than a remit to be put forward at the conference in November. Not formal policy of the NZLP.
Even the purist must acknowledge that it’s wildfire politically. See what the pigs have done with it already.
Please don’t let it become an issue which defines left thinking in New Zealand. Because if we do the pigs will smash us over.
I believe that to back it as an imperative without intelligent management is fuck’n’ hubristic and selfish. Suggestive of – “Let’s buzz OURSELVES hard. Yeah, we’re so fuck’n’ pure and intelligent”. No. Fuck you. You’re not “left” except as a self proclaimer if it’s all about YOUR imperative.
People have the imperatives they an afford. Many, many New Zealanders can have no imperative other than putting food on the table. Their circumstances are such that without that narrow focus there will be no bloody food on the table. Think about that. Imagine that.
You had me for the first three paragraphs.
The fourth paragraph, I have no idea what it means.
The last one I call bullshit on. It’s not proposals like the one yesterday that are preventing addressing serious issues like poverty. It’s the fact that Labour is a bloody mess that is the problem. By all means stuff a whole bunch of issues back in the box, but that won’t get you anywhere useful because those issues aren’t preventing the necessary things from being done.
If Labour wasn’t such a bloody mess, then this proposal would have been handled in a completely different way. You’re aiming at the wrong target.
“The last one I call bullshit on. It’s not proposals like the one yesterday that are preventing addressing serious issues like poverty”
Oh yeah, there’s no way that Labour’s great policy set on addressing working, beneficiary and child poverty is being overshadowed by this in the slightest.
“How would I fix the gender bias”
I wouldn’t. By the way, Labour’s proposal doesn’t either.
Yessss111 Thank you! Heard on Nat Rad this morning the same premise from Sue Moroney but she wouldn’t be heard and the rest of the programme was put over to whoever was the opposing view. Nat radio seemed to be putting it as a fait accompli and not as a remit to be put forward to be discussed. Shoddy.
“The girls in a nearby office hate it – they say its put working women back 50 years.”
“How is it doing that?”
They want an equal chance and an equal hearing based on merit.
How nice for them. Did you point out that they don’t have that now? And ask them if they would like that fixed, and how they would like that fixed?
And I’d still like to know how the rule change would put women back 50 years. That’s to the the early 60s, so you should be able to pull up some interesting stats to compare to.
They don’t need protection by regulation and they certainly don’t want to displace someone else if they are more capable at the job.
Can you please show me how the rule change would displace someone MORE capable at the job?
“From what I can tell, that’s not what Labour are proposing. Would it be so hard to get our facts straight?”
I don’t know, do you think I should ask them?
Yes, obviously. What an odd question.
It has been useful though CV to see that your objections aren’t just about timing or the competency of Labour’s PR, but that you also object because you believe the lie that women can overcome structural sexism by their own personal effort.
They’re in their 40s and they get referred to as “girls”. Says it all, doesn’t it?
Watch the polls plummet deary. Then tell me what that says.
ANOTHER disaster? That’s like “electoral oblivion” squared!
I couldn’t resist:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZcZ6eJoxeE
Maybe somebody could reference the experiment that showed random selection produced the same results as targetted selection? That said, I agree this move could undermine women who are selected/promoted because, *you know*, they only got the position due to their gender rather than their ability. That, and it’s bloody window dressing…
The women who would only get their position because of their gender, as opposed to the men right now who do what exactly?
Aye, but we live in a patriarchy, right? And so the potential put down that would point to a man only attaining his position due to his gender has bugger all potential at the end of the day. totally different potential if you ain’t pink and ain’t male though, aye?
If you knows of a better retort, go to it 🙂
Maybe somebody could reference the experiment that showed random selection produced the same results as targetted selection? That said, I agree this move could undermine women who are selected/promoted because, *you know*, they only got the position due to their gender rather than their ability. That, and it’s bloody window dressing…
I’d like to see how Labour thinks the actual rule change might work in practice, but if what you say is true it’s a pretty clear sign of how much of a sexist society we still live in.
“Labour 50% women on the list proposal a disaster. The girls in a nearby office hate it – they say its put working women back 50 years. And many I know are Labour supporters.”
Is it just me, or does that story sound like a desperate lie? Not to mention sexist, obviously.
So, where was I reading that this was a leak? See, if there is any story here, it’s that…or more precisely, the timing of it. There was JK and the spying debacle. And here came a free pass to distract from somebody within Labour. It’s kinda fucking unbelievable.
The proposal has been around for “months” apparently. Clearly now was the best time to discuss it. We just had to wait for Cameron Slater to break the story.
you never know – maybe whoever was the gatekeeper kept thinking that the best time to deal with the issue was “not now”…
If there was a leaker, I’d assume it was a homophobic, misogynist MP. A name springs to mind.
So, where was I reading that this was a leak? See, if there is any story here, it’s that…or more precisely, the timing of it. There was JK and the spying debacle. And here came a free pass to distract from somebody within Labour. It’s kinda fucking unbelievable.
Smeone said yesterday (maybe this came from Labour?) that it was part of a bunch of rule changes emailed to members ahead of public release (by a few hours?). It’s not so much that someone leaked to Slater/Lusk, as Labour handed it to them on a plate.
Hey TRP, screw you.
We’ll see how desperate things get as this proposal gets continuous airplay later this year.
What ev’s CV. It appears your lifestyle defines you.
Remember my words. The media get another field day with this at Conference this year. What ever the final vote the proposal will be a media lose-lose.
There is only one thing in life worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.
Oscar Wilde
‘To be alienated means to be someone other (alienus) than oneself; It also can mean to belong to someone else. In more profound sense, it means to be deprived of one’s self, to be subjected to, or even identified with someone else. That is definitely the effect of propaganda. Propaganda strips the individual, robs them of part of themselves, and makes them live an alien and artificial life, to such an extent that they become another person and obey impulses foreign to them. They obey someone else.
To produce this effect, propaganda restricts itself to utilizing, increasing, and reinforcing the individual’s inclination to lose himself in something (human) bigger than they are, to dissipate their uniqueness, to free their ego of all doubt, conflict, and suffering- through fusion with others; to devote themselves to a great (sic) leader and a great cause. In large groups, humans feel united with others, and therefore try to free themselves through blending. Indeed, propaganda offers them that possibility in an exceptionally easy and satisfying fashion. Yet, it pushes the individual into the mass until they disappear entirely.
To begin with, what is it that propaganda makes disappear? Everything in the nature of critical and personal judgement. Obviously, propaganda limits the application of thought. It limits the propagandee’s field of thought to the extent that it provides them with ready-made (and, moreover, unreal) thoughts and stereotypes. It orients them towards very limited ends and prevents them from using their own minds or experimenting on their own. It determines the core from which all their thoughts must derive and draws from the beginning a sort of guideline that permits neither criticism or imagination. More precisely, imagination will lead only to small digressions from the fixed line and to only slightly deviant, preliminary responses within the framework. In this fashion, we see the ‘progressives’ make some “variations” around the basic propaganda tenets.
The acceptance of the ‘line’, of such ends and limitations (BAU), presupposes the suppression of all critical judgement, which in turn is a result of the crystalization of thoughts (see fluidity of thought) and attitudes and the creation of taboos. As Jules Monnerot accurately said: All individual passion leads to the suppression of all critical judgement with regard to the object of that passion. Beyond that, in the collective passion created by propaganda, critical judgement disappears altogether, for in no way can there ever be collective critical judgement. Humans become incapable of ‘separation’, of discernment (the word ‘critical’ is derived from the Greek ‘krino’- separate). The individual can no longer judge for them-self due to inescapably relating their thoughts to the entire complex of values and prejudices established by propaganda. With regard to POLITICAL situations, they are given ready-made value judgments invested with the power of truth by the number of supporters and the word of experts.
What the individual loses is never easy to revive. Once personal judgement and critical faculties have disappeared or have been atrophied, they will not simply reappear when propaganda has been suppressed. In fact, this is one of propaganda’s most durable effects: years of intellectual and spiritual education would be needed to restore such faculties. The propagandee, if deprived of one propaganda, will immediately adopt another; this will spare them the ‘agony’ 😉 of finding themselves at some event without a ready-made opinion, and obliged to think about and judge it for themselves. At the same time, propaganda presents facts, judgments, and values in such confusion and with so many methods that it is literally impossible for the average person to proceed with discernment. They are often forced to accept, or reject, everything ‘in toto’.
-Jaques Ellul : ‘Propaganda : The Formation of Men’s Attitudes.
Toto 😀
A Great City : small firms, smart people and connections to the outside world; the purpose behind modern cities is to pass on information, and the more effectively and efficiently they do this, the more…they blossom, the more successful and sustainable they become-Dr. Edward Glaeser.
Very interesting. Good stuff Rogue.
Dean Parker: Labour must recapture the spirit of ’38
But I’m not sure about Labour as they’ve been making the same noises as National. A new party may have better luck.
Keep dreamin’, Labour will never recapture that spirit. How can it?
The people in Labour at that time are very different from the people in Labour today, especially in life experiences.
Disingenuity is not pretty WS. You scream of it. To match your unabashed ugliness in a social sense and of mind.
My Goodness! (OMG, OMFG even).
The nicest man on Earth had an Imperator Fish on “The Panel”. Not only that, as I listened, there were no ahurr ahurr ahurrs, attempts at linguistic gymnastics, or any other humbug displayed by the nicest man on Earth host.
Me thinks the nicest man on Earth needs a few more ‘The Panel’ guests who don’t take shit.
Of course they run the risk of a Bradbury style excommunication.
(Check it out @ Morissey) – still a bit of fluff, but better than most of the other MSM noises being aired at the time.
I heard the programme too, Tim. Yes, Scott York and Julia Hartley Moore, as well as host Jim Mora, spoke seriously and like adults. It was a pretty good programme. I missed the first part of the pre-show segment, but I did hear a little of that screech-owl Balducci guffawing at the plight of Edward Snowden yet again. Something about the possibility of him marrying a Russian woman and thereby gaining permanent asylum in Russia. I don’t know how serious the story was, but Susan Balducci certainly seemed to be tickled pink by it.
Yorke ( 😀 )
I somehow KNEW I had botched it! Thank you for that correction, my friend.
http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lpo3x6YRNJ1qcpthfo1_250.jpg
😎
“Balducci the screech owl”.
God your word pictures tickle me Morrissey.
They are the brilliance of technicolor and the richness of oil in one !
Perfect !
No money for Pike River families (well, maybe 5K)
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10895019
-legal fees swallowed it all up.
Gareth Morgan and Geoff Simmons take on taxing takeaways
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=10894777
‘An Appetite for Destruction’- “user-pays” for poor diet marketing, those in poverty and the ‘time-poor’.(oh, and apparently, ‘the lazy’).
This is well worth reading for anyone trying to get their heads around recent events in Egypt.
Nervana Mahmoud gives a nuanced, succinct account of how Morsi came to power and how he lost it.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/commentary/heres-why-egyptians-are-glad-the-military-ousted-their-president/article12981767/#dashboard/follows/
the Malthusian angle was glanced upon earlier in the week on TS;
-poverty
-power cuts
-food shortages
-inflation
-debt
-unemployment
-water shortages predicted
-opaque decision-making
-Islamization
now the danger
Campbell Live tonight:
One of NZ’s most high profile politicians will be making a major announcement.
Quick sweep stake: my entry
Banks is going to announce his resignation from politics?
The Resurrection of Aaron Gilmore 😀
I hope someone isn’t ill.
Actually karol that’s what I wondered…
John Key is going to give away most of his millions, so no-one need be homeless or go begging in NZ.
Bob Parker standing down for next Ch Ch election – Lianne Dalziel scared him off?
Is that a guess or what was actually on Campbell live?
No. CL actual.
Breaking on Stuff now.
Ta.
Can’t say I am surprised, and would guess he would have done this anyway even without Dalziel standing. Post earthquake stress…
What did he say on CL?
Came across to me as pretty genuine. He’s exhausted and the developments over the past week would have been the tipping point. They hope to interview Lianne Dalziel towards the end of the programme.
David Shearer has a job at the UN, packing it in as Dear Leader.
http://www.3news.co.nz/Study-at-odds-with-teachers-union-claims/tabid/423/articleID/303913/Default.aspx
D’oh! Bit harder for the unions now that the media is starting to pick up on the lies…
Suck on these then chris
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/8154853/Ofsted-academies-performing-worse-than-other-schools.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2013/mar/25/ofsted-conerns-academies-undermine-improvement
Crass 73 doesn’t deny that charter is all about profit taking for the already wealthy. Ignore the immature person. Not our problem that he has no moral fibre.
It’s late and this will likely get buried as all good people are likely asleep.
Occasionally I watch kitsch TV and caught tonights Secret Millionaire.
What was interesting was that the millionaire looks surprisingly like our PM.
http://www.bdainc.com/about-us/management/jay/
What was more interesting was to see the large contrast between the way the PM speaks and behaves facially against his doppelganger Jay Deutsch who clearly has empathy and his face well shows this.
Sure they are different people but it was a little uncanny and hinted at what was possible if Key had a sense of decency rather than self entitlement. Body language and what is behind the eyes speaks volumes.
On a more sombre note also watched The House I Live In which looks at the imprisonment of people for drugs in the US. Sadly we’re going down the same road at the same time there is some resistance emerging in the US. The section towards the end about the steps taken to create an enemy seem particularly relevant to NZ with the steps taken to demonise the poor and beneficiaries here.
Just realised that link I found is to a streaming (pirate) site – have removed. I can tell cause it has the latest superman movie there as well.
From the Wall Street Journal:
“Egyptians would be lucky if generals turn out to be in mold of Pinochet…who midwifed a transition to democracy.”
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324399404578583932317286550.html#articleTabs%3Darticle
for goodness sake!