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notices and features - Date published:
7:00 am, September 22nd, 2019 - 12 comments
Categories: Deep stuff -
Tags: the future
This post is a place for positive discussion of the future.
An Open Mike for ideas, solutions and the discussion of the possible.
The Big Picture, rather than a snapshot of the day’s goings on. Topics rather than topical.
We’d like to think it’s success will be measured in the quality of comments rather than the quantity.
So have at it!
Let us know what you think …
The current rise of populism challenges the way we think about people’s relationship to the economy.We seem to be entering an era of populism, in which leadership in a democracy is based on preferences of the population which do not seem entirely rational nor serving their longer interests. ...
The server will be getting hardware changes this evening starting at 10pm NZDT.
The site will be off line for some hours.
I'm marching on Friday; anyone else here going along?
Virtual marching for me I think.
Nationwide 27th Friday – Auckland, Christchurch, Dunedin. I guess each locality will have their own plan.
Under the banner of School Strike4Climate New Zealand
And further 7 October. https://extinctionrebellion.nz/act/
Overview from Scoop: http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO1909/S00143/extinction-rebellion-leaving-it-to-the-students.htm
From March 2019
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/national-video/news/video.cfm?c_id=1503075&gal_cid=1503075&gallery_id=204666
Focus: James Shaw speaks at march over climate change
Some laughs for Sunday morning:
"Striking to change a planet’s climate is nothing less than stupidity. Believing mankind is changing the Earth’s climate is just as stupid, especially when there is NO EVIDENCE whatsoever that mankind is causing the climate to change. For the dumb kids who don’t understand this because the media says the climate is changing, the predictions are based on computer projections, not evidence. Why? Because there is no evidence!"
http://www.averagekiwi.com/2019/09/20/only-the-least-intelligent-students-with-bad-parents-will-attend-the-nonsense-climate-strike/
Not worth the trouble of reading and sounding like one of Simon Bridges' advisors, but for the sake of balance, it's worth remembering that there are the unbalanced out there…
I was always skeptical of computer models – the model is only as good as the folk who created it. But glacial retreat is a nice concrete set of data points that can't be faked.
You might be interested in this link; don’t let the title put you off.
https://sciblogs.co.nz/ariadne/2019/09/09/biologys-next-revolution/
Hmm – of course I'm part of the generation for whom the proliferation of electron microscopes was the tech game changer – there were no cytoskeletons back when I did biology. The pragmatic value of pattern recognizing AI is realizable to those who use it but requires a leap of faith on the part of those who don't that is unlikely when the matter is contentious.
https://ukcsc.co.uk/earth-power-hemp-batteries-better-than-lithium-and-graphene/
I think getting there would be quite easy if we had a govt that wanted too but keeping the nose in the trough is more important. Gun laws were changed in months. Drug laws need changing but 70 years of misinformation has made ;I believe. rational disscussion unlikely.
From the article:
"So there you have it. If we already knew that there is no need to use the fossil fuels that are destroying the planet’s climate, because hemp biofuel provides a better alternative, we now know that there is no need to destroy the environment by mining for lithium and the materials that are used in batteries. We can literally grow technology. Hemp can save and power the world."
Opinion – Average Kiwi Honest, reliable opinions about life in New Zealand
Only the least intelligent students, with bad parents, will attend the nonsense climate strike
We all know that bad parents simply don’t care about their children’s education. Most truants have loser parents, and grow up to be involved with crime, or in low paid employment usually like their parents. The nonsense so-called “climate strike” coming up will be attended mostly by the least intelligent …
Aiming for the below average thinker from one of the better boys schools I think.
I refer to recent Radionz talk interview on boys schools in the UK and how they turn them out so they will fit into the narrow door of the zombie financial middle & upper class.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/sunday/audio/2018707127/dr-nick-duffell-why-boarding-schools-produce-bad-leaders
Students interested in careers with a help the planet theme.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/afternoons/audio/2018713819/careers-to-save-the-planet
Good news:
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/398951/waterway-clean-up-won-t-harm-economy-nzier-says
That was because the dairy industry was smaller than was commonly supposed, averaging just 3.9 percent of the New Zealand economy over two and a half decades.
But the report admitted some regions might suffer economic hardship more than others.
The research was commissioned from NZIER by three environmental bodies, Forest & Bird, Greenpeace, and Fish and Game.
(Note – only 3.9% of economy – how did we get bamboozled in letting this sector get a free run at the nation’s goodies at all? Answer – because we have been asleep and perhaps that new woke thing is about getting clued up to what is going on. Is it?)
And the eels will appreciate clean water again. As will Maori who have found them a good food for centuries before the capitalists (us) came along and mucked it all up.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/399301/taranaki-eels-could-be-affected-by-firefighting-foam-contaminants-for-years