Daily Review 25/01/2019

Written By: - Date published: 5:30 pm, January 25th, 2019 - 23 comments
Categories: Daily review - Tags:

Daily review is also your post.

This provides Standardistas the opportunity to review events of the day.

The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy).

Don’t forget to be kind to each other …

23 comments on “Daily Review 25/01/2019 ”

  1. Drowsy M. Kram 1

    On 23 January 2019, Judith Collins said that the Minister of Housing and Urban Development (Twyford) had “been in the job 18 months“.

    https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/380728/collins-calls-for-twyford-to-lose-housing-portfolio

    The coalition government, however, was formed on 26 October 2017, slightly less than 15 months ago. Incredible Crusher can’t help spinning, even when there’s no need.

    https://times-age.co.nz/big-small-community/

    • mickysavage 1.1

      Why do facts matter?

      • Drowsy M. Kram 1.1.1

        A brief presentation in support of ‘Facts matter’ – https://goo.gl/B6XZZW

        http://www.factcheck.org – any similar websites based in NZ or Australia?

        • Dennis Frank 1.1.1.1

          Facts are a matter of opinion. Most people think it’s a fact that the sun rises in the morning. Students of physics learn that ain’t no fact: what is happening is that the world is turning, the horizon drops down in the east and reveals the sun.

          Physics graduates have assimilated the theory of relativity, so they know the real fact is that the sun is not as stationary as the physics student believes it is, since all motion is relative to one’s frame of reference, and scientific hubris drives graduates towards the god’s-eye view. That ultimate fact is that there is no ultimate frame of reference anywhere…

          • Incognito 1.1.1.1.1

            Beam me up, Scotty. I can’t, Captain!

          • Drowsy M. Kram 1.1.1.1.2

            DF, is your ultimate fact a matter of opinion?

            Trust no one.

          • McFlock 1.1.1.1.3

            Nah, bollocks.
            The physics student knows the observation that the common person is describing. The physics grad knows the same for the physics student.

            Now, their models for understanding a phenomenon might differ in complexity, but pretty much everyone knows that if they walk off a vertical, tall cliff with rocks at the base, they’re in for a very bad day.

          • In Vino 1.1.1.1.4

            “Facts are a matter of opinion” That is an opinion, and not a very helpful one. I tend to be more pragmatic and accept facts like sunrise, sunset until evidence changes. Despite the fact that you have ‘no ultimate frame of reference anywhere’, I suspect you live day to day just as I do.
            Edit – You have collected some great responses with that one!

            • Dennis Frank 1.1.1.1.4.1

              Yes, I have the same user-friendly take as you, personally. Nonetheless, what physicists are prone to identify as fact is as I described it. Not to suggest they all agree – quite the contrary. They’ve been arguing about it for a century…

          • Phil 1.1.1.1.5

            Special relativity is irrelevant to day/night as rotation is not relative. The Earth spinning on its axis is not the same as the universe spinning about the same axis in the other direction for many reasons including that the latter would require (not so) distant objects to be travelling faster than light which special relativity forbids.

      • greywarshark 1.1.2

        Facts to National are when things look ‘pretty’ right. And that could be enough for a judicious opinion worth having, if the judge had an appropriate level of experience, probity and judgment. With the level of RW politicians not having a good standard to copy as their criteria from Labour, who knows when they will reach bottom when presenting their ‘facts’.

    • patricia bremner 1.2

      WHY THE SURPRISE… she couldn’t get police stats right either. Or wouldn’t ..take your pick lol

  2. Pat 2

    “It never rains but it pours,” said Prof Dave Reay, at the University of Edinburgh. “Our own CO2 emissions are still increasing, and now the world’s natural carbon sinks are set for a bad year too. We know these sinks have been mopping up around half of all our emissions to date. We can only hope their faltering in 2019 is just a short-term blip, as without their help any chance of a safer climate future will turn to dust.”

    Nothing else can be expected with a growth agenda.

    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jan/25/worrying-rise-in-global-co2-forecast-for-2019

  3. RedLogix 4

    I’ve spent the past two hours watching this. Very, very impressive and thought provoking. An intelligent and profound synthesis of both our history and possible future:

    • mickysavage 4.1

      Put it up as a post!

      • RedLogix 4.1.1

        Jeremey Rifkin covers off most of the themes I’ve been tinkering with here for some time now.

        I’m certain there are detailed debates we could have on some of his details; but his big picture aligns with both my professional experience. For instance the IOT is a real thing our big vendors are running with right now.

        And after a decade here at TS for over a decade, I realise I’m no longer captured by the politics of the Second Industrial Revolution, capitalism and socialism. These are behind us; not lost, but no longer the central question.

        • Poission 4.1.1.1

          It was covered initially by the book the third wave (alven toffler ) which became (after its initial banning ) the highest seller behind the official speeches in China in the early 80’s.

          The transformation is in Tofflers book powershift in the control of information by the elites, and information entropy by large (spurious) data dumps.

          Voltaire bastards describes the fictions postulated by the IYI elites (in detail)

          and Harari details current and emergent problems in 21 lessons for the 21st century (as david hilbert shaped the world of mathematics with his problems for the 20th century)

          In a world deluged by irrelevant information, clarity is power. Censorship works not by blocking the flow of information, but rather by flooding people with disinformation and distractions. 21 Lessons for the 21st Century cuts through these muddy waters and confronts some of the most urgent questions on today’s global agenda.

          https://www.ynharari.com/book/21-lessons/

        • WeTheBleeple 4.1.1.2

          This is such good material. Thanks for posting it. I’d love to see it as a standalone post and resultant discussion of some of it.

  4. Draco T Bastard 5

    Drinking water study raises health concerns for New Zealanders

    Last year, a Danish study reported a link between nitrate in drinking water and the risk of developing colorectal (bowel) cancer. This finding could have important implications for New Zealanders.

    New Zealand has one of the highest bowel cancer rates in the world. Recent data show also that drinking water supplies in some parts of New Zealand have nitrate levels more than three times higher than the threshold level for colorectal cancer risk identified in the Danish study.

    This study and other research raise an important question about the contribution nitrate exposure through drinking water may be making to New Zealand’s high rates of bowel cancer.

    Nitrate fertiliser is added to pasture and crops to accelerate plant growth. Much of it enters waterways either directly with rain and irrigation or through animal urine.

    Can we change the way we farm yet so as to stop poisoning our waterways?

    • Gabby 5.1

      We can apologise to the noble farming fraternity for allowing our weak cancer prone bowels to obstruct their selfless endeavours. We should probably find a way to transfer more tax revenue to them as well. That would ease their hurty feewings.