Open mike 03/08/2016

79 comments on “Open mike 03/08/2016”

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1. Paul 1

   3 August 2016 at 6:23 am

   Such an admirable leader.
   Owen Jones meets Jeremy Corbyn again.

   • ianmac 1.1

     3 August 2016 at 9:06 am

     Parallels for NZ Paul?

   • Reddelusion 1.2

     3 August 2016 at 7:09 pm

     Hardly, very bland, career politician it’s the medias fault, missing millions will save me , same script different country

2. Gangnam Style 2

   3 August 2016 at 7:04 am

   HNZ knows its meth test are not fit for purpose, but will still evict tenants, in fact it will increase testing. Wankers, complete & utter wankers.

   • BM 2.1

     3 August 2016 at 7:30 am

     Don’t smoke meth or let other people smoke meth in your state house, problem solved.

     If you can’t do that, go live on the street.

     • Gangnam Style 2.1.1

       3 August 2016 at 7:42 am

       Grow a brain mate, think a bit harder, the tests are proven to be flawed, just as much meth are on your banknotes in your wallet.

       • Scott 2.1.1.1

         3 August 2016 at 4:28 pm

         Sure, there is plenty of debate about whether the levels being treated as requiring remediation are right or not, but BM’s basic point is entirely valid – it doesn’t get there by itself.

     • mauī 2.1.2

       3 August 2016 at 9:47 am

       I would place as much faith in your problem solving ability as I would Nek Minut Smith.

     • framu 2.1.3

       3 August 2016 at 12:12 pm

       or HNZ could insist on proper testing guidelines that actually mean something

       christ BM – use your brain for a damn change – stop sticking up for scammers

   • Gangnam Style 2.2

     3 August 2016 at 7:33 am

     & then they bill you $30,000+ for the test! Add it up, 600 houses tested, 200 ‘infected’, is that $20,000,000 for the testing? 600 x 30,000 equals 20,000,000? Jeebus, someone is making a pretty penny out of misery.

     • Draco T Bastard 2.2.1

       3 August 2016 at 9:36 am

       …someone is making a pretty penny out of misery.

       Yep and that’s all that National need to know to consider it a success. Their actions have nothing to do with the health and well being of the country but are solely for the further enrichment of their rich mates.

     • The Lone Haranguer 2.2.2

       3 August 2016 at 9:51 am

       HNZ making money from Meth testing – now thats a silly assertion.

       Seriously Gangnam Style, so you think that HNZ went to the tenant and said “Hey lady. hey dude, theres traces of Meth in your house so can you kindly flick $30,000 from one of your term deposits to cover it?

       And the tenants said “sure, we have so many term deposits that I will break one today and fix you up.”

       Get real.

       What actually happens is that HNZ gets no money, and then wastes a further chunk of money setting lawyers onto the ex tenant who has no money.

       And then HNZ have to fix or demolish the house, and lose more money.

       • b waghorn 2.2.2.1

         3 August 2016 at 11:04 am

         “And then HNZ have to fix or demolish the house, and lose more money.”

         If every p contaminated place in the country had to be fixed or replaced i would bet that every motel and hotel in the country will need work.

       • Gangnam Style 2.2.2.2

         3 August 2016 at 11:42 am

         No independent oversight into the tests, real estate agents performing the tests, using the same swab over the whole house to get the result, same chemicals used in some cleaning solvents & fly spray, plus the desired need from HNZ to get people out of their houses. The amount of money involved is obscene & does not smell right, it’s basically “blank cheque policy”, I thought righties were against that kind of thing? Ecept when it’s punish the poor, then there is an endless money flow.

         • weka 2.2.2.2.1

           3 August 2016 at 1:57 pm

           “plus the desired need from HNZ to get people out of their houses.”

           That’s the one that interests me. Is there a clear chain of command coming from the people that want houses vacated and sold? Or is it that it’s just now entrenched in the culture of HNZ that houses are assets to be realised, so this is the shit they do as a matter of course? Not so much intentionally (we’ll get rid of tenants and sell the houses), but the idea being that the housing stock is more important than the people.

       • framu 2.2.2.3

         3 August 2016 at 12:41 pm

         “HNZ making money from Meth testing – now thats a silly assertion.”

         i dont think that assertion was ever made – reads to me like GS is pointing the finger at the testing industry

       • Draco T Bastard 2.2.2.4

         3 August 2016 at 2:37 pm

         HNZ making money from Meth testing – now thats a silly assertion.

         That wasn’t the assertion. It was pretty obvious that HNZ was spending lots of money resulting in profiteers making lots of money. This means that everything you said was a lie.

   • save nz 2.3

     3 August 2016 at 5:16 pm

     Where is all the meth coming from??? What happened to JK’s war on P?

     Bit the dust like all his ideas that could be helpful to society.

3. Gosman 3

   3 August 2016 at 7:10 am

   Congratulations to Venezuela’s Socialist rulers. They have now reached the stage of forced labour to combat the food shortages that their rule has brought about.

   https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2016/07/venezuela-new-regime-effectively-amounts-to-forced-labour/

   • mikesh 3.1

     3 August 2016 at 7:49 am

     I guess many of them would starve if Venezuela had a more “free market” economy. Would that be preferable?

   • One Anonymous Bloke 3.2

     3 August 2016 at 8:10 am

     Congratulations to Somalia’s free market Libertarian government. The civil war is now in its thirtieth year.

     • Gangnam Style 3.2.1

       3 August 2016 at 8:24 am

       Congratulations to communist China, propping up western ‘free market’ countries, party time!

       • One Anonymous Bloke 3.2.1.1

         3 August 2016 at 8:32 am

         Congratulations to the social democracies in Europe and Scandinavia, demonstrating how false Gosman’s premise is, and it’s the only one he’s got 😆

         • Garibaldi 3.2.1.1.1

           3 August 2016 at 8:40 am

           Congratulations to New Zealand whose rock-star economy is dependent on immigration and an out of control property boom.

           • save nz 3.2.1.1.1.1

             3 August 2016 at 1:51 pm

             Congratulations to the US and their band of EU comrades – as declared many years ago, they have defeated Afghanistan and Iraq and ended the war on terror.

             A war that nobody even knew existed, (the main terrorists from 9/11 were from Saudi, the West’s BFF in the region). Go figure!

   • Stuart Munro 3.3

     3 August 2016 at 9:27 am

     Congratulations to Gosman – wannabe Ahmadinejad of the Key kleptocracy.

     • North 3.3.1

       3 August 2016 at 5:30 pm

       What a brilliant “Congratulations” thread there. It must be a ‘device’ with a special name or something.
       Was about to add some Cliff Richards……..

4. Draco T Bastard 4

   3 August 2016 at 9:20 am

   If this is true:

   Well-placed sources in the Government say the Land Information survey on foreign buyers was delayed while Ministers re-wrote the survey questions, says Labour’s Housing spokesperson Phil Twyford.

   “I’m told the survey was delayed by Cabinet while Ministers – including Steven Joyce –interfered with the way the questions were framed.

   “This is pure political manipulation and it has all the hallmarks of a Steven Joyce special.

   “It would have been so easy to simply ask home buyers if they were citizens or residents. But instead the Government produced a convoluted set of questions that made nine months of data collection effectively useless.

   “National has got itself into another housing fiasco by deliberately designing a survey to muddy the water and confuse the public debate about the impact of foreign buyers in the real estate market.

   Then the entire National Party caucus needs to be placed in jail now. We simply cannot allow this level of corruption.

   EDIT:
   Categories of Lies – White Lies, Grey Lies, and Black Lies

   The thinking of the more Machiavellian liars and deceivers is essentially egotistical and focused on their wants and needs. They tend to think that they are entitled to do whatever is in their interests, regardless of the consequences on others. When caught out, they often shrug off the lies they use to cover-up what they have done, with the excuse that “everybody lies”. This argument assumes that all lies are the same; and if all lies are the same and everybody lies, then effectively this argument implies that the truth doesn’t matter.

   Describes National to a ‘T’.

   • Rosie 4.1

     3 August 2016 at 11:46 am

     The problem Draco, if this is true, that Steven Joyce has manipulated survey questions to suit his own needs, to paint a rosier picture of foreign investment in property, then nothing will happen.

     For eight years, after fiasco, after false reporting, after denial of scientific fact and academic reasoning, after questionable to put it mildly, corrupt to put it more succinctly “deals” such as the Saudi sheep farm, the granting of millions of $$$ of “Pacific aid money” to a wealthy National Party donor, after turning a blind eye to the families of the victims of Pike River mine, after walking away from hurting Cantabrians, after pulling funding from essential health services such as Women’s refuge, after introducing cruel sanctions to suffering vulnerable beneficiaries whose children pay the price, after our PM not only getting away with but being supported in his physical and psychological assault of a woman – and all of this in front of an international media to watches on in horror (Remember “Il Cretino!!! The Italian papers cried)……….

     Nothing will happen.

     I’m sorry to be pessimistic. It’s why I no longer comment as much as I used to. All ideas come to nothing – or at least they are stewing and building while our country is on hold, hopefully the latter.

     Watch and wait and we will see that nothing will come of this, like everything before it.

     • srylands 4.1.1

       3 August 2016 at 11:51 am

       “the granting of millions of $$$ of “Pacific aid money” to a wealthy National Party donor”

       I must have missed this. Who is this person you are referring to?

       • Rosie 4.1.1.1

         3 August 2016 at 12:41 pm

         S. Most readers will be familiar with your approach: Act all innocent about a topic you are fully aware of, bait the reader by asking a question and then go into an attack on the reader whilst defending the indefensible.

         You know perfectly well who I’m talking about.

       • McFlock 4.1.1.2

         3 August 2016 at 12:44 pm

         looking for another sugar daddy?

         • Rosie 4.1.1.2.1

           3 August 2016 at 12:50 pm

           😀

     • Garibaldi 4.1.2

       3 August 2016 at 12:10 pm

       Couldn’t agree more Rosie. Don’t worry about being pessimistic , it’s perfectly logical with the way things are being run in this world. It’s a bloody uphill battle when the majority of our dumbed down population are actively coerced to accept that…. war is peace…..freedom is slavery …. ignorance is strength.

       • Rosie 4.1.2.1

         3 August 2016 at 12:48 pm

         What I’ve found particularly disturbing lately is joining faceblab for the first time, and seeing just how disconnected from NZ’s and the world’s current state of affairs some folks are. It’s like there is a concrete wall between them and the most basic knowledge about the seriousness of our socio-political problems. Maybe they like it this way. I don’t know.

         It’s been an eye opener for sure.

         • North 4.1.2.1.1

           3 August 2016 at 5:41 pm

           Good to read you again Rosie !

           • Rosie 4.1.2.1.1.1

             3 August 2016 at 9:05 pm

             Kia ora North 🙂

   • Ch_Ch Chiquita 4.2

     3 August 2016 at 5:34 pm

     Listening to Nick Smith avoiding the simple question was rather amusing. He thinks we are all stupid and don’t know the difference between a tax resident and an actual resident. My parents are tax residents only because they have a savings account here (and they pay tax on it) so they will not need to bring cash with them when they come to visit. Still doesn’t turn them into a NZ resident.
     I don’t know what the questions are but how difficult can it be to ask ‘are you holding a: a. Student visa b. Temporary work visa c. NZ permanent resident d. None of the above’
     He was also saying many got it wrong or didn’t answer at all! Well then, get back to them and demand an answer.

5. Rodel 5

   3 August 2016 at 10:15 am

   There is hope….

   On Tuesday Richard Hanna, a three-term Republican became the first Republican in Congress to say he will vote for Hillary Clinton.

   Referring to Trumps attacks on the Khan parents..Hanna asked, “Where do we draw the line? I thought it would have been when he alleged that U.S. Sen. John McCain was not a war hero because he was caught,”. . . ..

   I believe Trump evaded joining the armed forces because of a foot defect but when questioned later couldn’t remember which foot.

   Disney couldn’t write this script.

   • b waghorn 5.1

     3 August 2016 at 11:08 am

     ” couldn’t remember which foot.”

     The one that’s always in his mouth would be my guess.

     • Rodel 5.1.1

       3 August 2016 at 11:23 am

       Ha! No it was just one foot, not two.

   • joe90 5.2

     3 August 2016 at 12:00 pm

     I believe Trump evaded joining the armed forces because of a foot defect but when questioned later couldn’t remember which foot.

     He’s lost track of his lies.

     For many years, Mr. Trump, 70, has also asserted that it was “ultimately” the luck of a high draft lottery number — rather than the medical deferment — that kept him out of the war.
     Continue reading the main story

     But his Selective Service records, obtained from the National Archives, suggest otherwise. Mr. Trump had been medically exempted for more than a year when the draft lottery began in December 1969, well before he received what he has described as his “phenomenal” draft number.

     Because of his medical exemption, his lottery number would have been irrelevant, said Richard Flahavan, a spokesman for the Selective Service System, who has worked for the agency for three decades.

     [..]

     In a 2011 television interview, Mr. Trump described watching the draft lottery as a college student and learning then that he would not be drafted.

     “I’ll never forget; that was an amazing period of time in my life,” he said in the interview, on Fox 5 New York. “I was going to the Wharton School of Finance, and I was watching as they did the draft numbers, and I got a very, very high number.”

     But Mr. Trump had graduated from Wharton 18 months before the lottery — the first in the United States in 27 years — was held.

     http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/02/us/politics/donald-trump-draft-record.html?_r=2

     • alwyn 5.2.1

       3 August 2016 at 1:50 pm

       Oh dear. Trump has got a memory that is just as defective as poor old Kris Faafoi. I’m sure people recall his remarkable ability to remember things that happened when he was only a few months old.
       Trump remembers things before they happened. Still what can one expect. They are both politicians.

       • joe90 5.2.1.1

         3 August 2016 at 1:54 pm

         Aww, alwyn has a Labour done did it too moment….
         /

         • Sabine 5.2.1.1.1

           3 August 2016 at 5:36 pm

           what Labour did it in the States too?

           damn that party is coming around.

       • Draco T Bastard 5.2.1.2

         3 August 2016 at 2:24 pm

         Trump has got a memory that is just as defective as poor old Kris Faafoi.

         Actually, it’s more that he’s got a memory just Like John Keys – it changes in relation to what he thinks is in his best interests.

         Otherwise known as lying.

         • North 5.2.1.2.1

           3 August 2016 at 5:46 pm

           Brill’ !

       • reason 5.2.1.3

         3 August 2016 at 9:58 pm

         Maybe alwyn is suffering from Keyzheimers disease …………. it’s like Alzheimer ……. but allows the infected person to choose what they forget.

6. coffee connoiseur 6

   3 August 2016 at 12:13 pm

   Its just like getting people to understand that they and the time in their life is of the same value as the time of the persons life next to them.
   20 hrs from my life is 20 hrs from my life.
   20hrs from your life is 20 hrs from your life
   20hrs from the coffee ladies life is 20 hrs from the coffee ladies life.
   20 hrs from the guy who cleans toilets life is 20 hrs from the guy who cleans toilets life.

   20hrs is 20 hrs

   Once we strip away the false value system and understand that money is in many ways a false value system then we can start to build a world that enables people to live their life in the best way possible. One where we make the best use of technology to enable them to do so……

   Consider that our current system is – you have to work in order to earn tokens (money) so that you can pay to survive. That’s what our system is.
   Consider that the majority will not have enough to retire.
   Consider that taking into account getting ready for work and travelling to and from work most people spend 60 – 70 hrs per week on work related activities. Over a lifetime that’s 60 or 70 hrs per week x 48 weeks per year (taking out 4 weeks for holidays – consider that in ours system too out of 52 weeks in a year you get to have 4 of those where you don’t have to work. WOW 4 weeks!!!!! Thankyou so much for my 4 weeks out of 52 where I don’t have to work). Lets say you live to 80 but like most people you can’t afford to retire so you spend 60 years doing that and we wont even factor in things like relationship break ups or losing your job and the fact that if those things happen to you then shit gets a lot harder for you or anyone else in that position.

   Right so you have 60 hrs x 48 weeks x 60 years
   So in the current system you are going to have to work 172,800 hrs of your life so that you can pay to live on this planet.

   If you like we can add school onto that too. With school you get about 11 weeks off per year and you spend say an 1.5 hrs getting ready, travelling to and from school but lets just make it 2hrs in case you get homework.
   Your at school from 9 – 3.30 so that’s 6.5 hrs per day plus 2hrs or 42.5 hrs per week.
   So 42.5 hrs x (52 weeks – 11 weeks you get off is 39 weeks) x lets say 13 years for school
   So 13 x 42.5 x 39 = 21 547.5hrs

   Then lets add in sleep cause athough its nice you’re not really living you’re at best having a cool dream so if you life for 80 years lets say 8rs sleep (cause that’s what you’re supposed to get

   Which is 8 hrs x 365 days of the year x 80 years = 233,600 hours sleeping.

   So to recap
   Work 172,800 hrs
   School 21 547.5hrs
   Sleep 233,600 hours

   Total 427,947.5 hrs of your life doing those activities

   In a life of 80 years your total hours on the planet is 700,800hrs
   Minus 427,947.5 hrs
   Then out of 700,800rs you get a grand total of 272,852.5 hrs to actually experience and live the life you want to…….
   But that doesn’t take into account cooking cleaning and all the other stuff you have to do to live
   So 272,852.5 hrs – cleaning cooking going to the supermarket etc. etc. to live the life you want to live…….
   If you have enough money…..

   But that’s ok because at least your worth more than the coffee lady and the toilet cleaner  right?

   Or we could have a system where we use IT to enable the human experience here on this planet by ensuring that everyone has a smartphone and/or tablet and can connect to product hubs and service hubs (which already exist) and you could maybe need to work

   Then we still have sleep 233,600hrs
   We still have school (but without the homework because who really wants homework!!!???). 16,477.5hrs
   Work say 20 hrs per week for say 20 years of your life and be able to work from home in many cases or at least not have the levels of peak hour traffic we have now and you could work (including an 1.5 hours travel time and getting ready) 26,400 hrs

   So then the equation becomes 276,477.5hrs of your life spent working sleeping or at school (and 233,600 hrs is spent sleeping)
   Out of your 700,800hrs of life.
   Leaving you to 424,322.5 hrs of your life where you can experience and do whatever you want to do…….

   And in this world with technology as an enabler, money no longer has to be a barrier to overcome.

   But you do have to give up the notion that the hours of your life are more valuable that the lady who makes your coffee or the guy who cleans your toilets…..

   • coffee connoiseur 6.1

     3 August 2016 at 4:30 pm

     if your wondering wtf at the above.
     its basically that by changing the system and using technology in far better ways you could get 17 years of your life back that 99% of people wont get with the current system.

   • Scott 6.2

     3 August 2016 at 4:39 pm

     What worries me is that I just spent 0.2 hours reading that. This is 0.2 hours I’m never getting back.

     • reason 6.2.1

       3 August 2016 at 10:06 pm

       what worries me Scott is your saying it took 12 minutes to read what coffeeconnoiseur wrote …………… and unlike porn you probably don’t even understand it.

       Good on you for spending the hour and a half to type your reply though ……

   • One Two 6.3

     4 August 2016 at 12:32 am

     Someone gets it!

7. mac1 7

   3 August 2016 at 1:11 pm

   Radio news and the Herald (http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11686368) both say today that an employee of a public authority has pleaded guilty to charges of taking bribes.

   He took bribes from a firm and gave preference in contracts to that firm in return.

   Is there any possibility that the firm offering the bribes and taking the bribe-induced contracts is guilty of wrong-doing and can also be brought before a court?

   • joe90 7.1

     3 August 2016 at 1:15 pm

     Yup.

     Stephen James Borlase, who had run private contractor Projenz, faces eight charges of bribing George and Noone and four of doctoring the number of hours claimed to have been worked in invoices to Council.

     • save nz 7.1.1

       3 August 2016 at 1:58 pm

       That’s just the tip of the iceberg, “Auckland Transport boss pleads guilty to corruption charges”.

       The reason there is no public transport in Auckland is that there is a toxic corrupt and incompetent culture in AT supported by the toxic culture from the Super City of fiefdoms at the council.

       My guess is that they got a small fish, in a very large pond of corruption.

       • save nz 7.1.1.1

         3 August 2016 at 2:13 pm

         The types of decisions AT loves making… thanks for destroying our city AT!

         Auckland transport is planning to build a massive road in South Auckland that would destroy hundreds of our homes, cut a swathe through communities and destroy irreplaceable native bush known as ‘Grahams Bush.’ Auckland Transport wants to build this road to improve traffic congestion and make roads for yet to be built houses – at the cost of existing houses and communities!
         But The Tree Council has lodged an appeal with the Environment Court against the decision by Auckland Transport to accept the Notices of Requirement recommended by Commissioners on behalf of the consent authority for the Redoubt Road-Mill Road corridor upgrade. Now they need your help: http://bit.ly/1y7VQoJ

         • Sabine 7.1.1.1.1

           3 August 2016 at 5:38 pm

           yep Grahams Bush has been fighting for a while now.

8. mac1 8

   3 August 2016 at 1:18 pm

   Small potatoes here, but maybe the main course will be even tastier.

   http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11686355

   A tax-evading tradie has been banned from practising because of his tax-evasion practices. Now for the big cheeses in the tax evasion menu. Yum!

9. James 9

   3 August 2016 at 2:19 pm

   Looks like Corbyn might not be such a shoe-in in the UK if 25% of his 25Gbp supporters are banned. On the bright side – Labour will keep their money thank you very much.

   http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/aug/02/labour-leadership-jeremy-corbyn-quarter-supporters-barred-voting

   • Scott 9.1

     3 August 2016 at 4:48 pm

     Isn’t the question on leader really about who might stand the best chance of helping the party to win an election?

     The current Labour MPs are in a good position to judge who helps their electoral chances, and are motivated by self-interest to do so. By contrast the membership may enjoy having a leader who says things they like to hear, but that is hardly going to help reach out to the middle voters who decide elections. Preaching to the converted can only get you so far.

     Labour have the same problem here with Little, and the selection method that put him in his job.

     • swordfish 9.1.1

       3 August 2016 at 8:55 pm

       Except polling suggests that the Leaders favoured by the Blairite/Brownite sections of the PLP have proven no more popular (and often demonstrably less popular) with both Labour voters and voters in general than Corbyn. Whether it be Eagle and Smith this year or Cooper and Kendal last year.

       Corbyn has certainly received some very poor personal ratings from voters over the last year – it’s just that the PLP plotters’ candidates are held in even lower regard.

10. save nz 10

    3 August 2016 at 2:25 pm

    Shamubeel Calls Bullshit #2: on Andrew Little’s problem with the Unitary Plan

    http://thespinoff.co.nz/auckland-2016/01-08-2016/shamubeel-calls-bullshit-andrew-littles-affordable-housing-complaint/

    Hmm Shamubeel is the same economist that has told Kiwis for the last 10 years that there was going to be a housing crash each year, renting was a better investment than owning your own home (as homes in Auckland increased $1000 per week) and that immigration has nothing to do with the property boom.

    Yep, have to go with Little on this one, there is not going to be any affordable houses for Kiwis with the unitary plan, the affordable options were deleted, they are designed for new arrivals as the new migrants, as they don’t like old Kiwi villas and bungalows and want new apartments and McMansions and gardens are not popular as clearly a waste of space that you can cram some more people into.

    Gotta give the punters what they want!

    Lucky the council planners have left a few streets free of intensification for the prominent New Zealand rich listers, so they don’t have to have their leafy large waterfront sites, decimated.

    • save nz 10.1

      3 August 2016 at 2:35 pm

      I mean with supply and demand – has anyone looked at how many people in the world there are to buy our houses? We allow anyone to buy here from Russia, to the middle east to the EU.

      Thanks for the supply and demand lesson Shamubeel. sarc.

      “Lianjia, which has more than 6000 branches in over 25 cities in China, will co-list Ray White’s New Zealand and Australian and properties in Mandarin on its websites.

      The exposure to Lianjia’s audience – about 260 million Chinese buyers – will provide Ray White with the leverage into China and, more importantly, fulfil the organisation’s strategy of becoming more diverse and a brand that is more attractive to the Chinese community. …”

      • Muttonbird 10.1.1

        3 August 2016 at 10:45 pm

        That NZ real estate companies are now direct marketing to cheap Chinese money makes me think there will never be a soft correction in NZ housing.

        No matter what happens with the continuation of stagnant wages, a slower economy, further job losses, interest rate rises, there will always be direct marketing by the likes of Ray White to cheap Chinese money, and those people will delight in picking at the bones of of New Zealand society.

    • Jenny Kirk 10.2

      3 August 2016 at 3:23 pm

      + 100% save nz.

    • Draco T Bastard 10.3

      3 August 2016 at 5:47 pm

      Exclusive: The Greens unveil new urban design policy

      More and more New Zealanders want to live in smaller houses and apartments, especially in the younger and older age groups. People want to live within walking or cycling distance of the places that they travel to most often. Most people are happy with mixed-use development, putting homes close to offices, shops, parks, schools and public transport routes.

      So, giving the people what they want is the complete opposite of what you think that they want.

11. Colonial Viper 11

    3 August 2016 at 3:27 pm

    Read how a recent Democratic House Rep’s net worth has gone up by millions in the last 6 years

    While we have often heard that members of Congress, who are not only exempt from insider trading oversight, are also ardent daytraders we had never seen it in action.

    Until now.

    The following publicly filed monthly Periodic Transaction Report by Democrat Congresswoman, Judy Chu, shows us just how pervasive daytrading is not only for algos, but for those who supposedly are paid to serve their constituents. What is interesting is the size of the trades – between $1,000 and $15,000 each, this is not some novice, penny pincher; what is even more interesting are the underlying securities of choice: volatile, and levered, calls and puts on not only the S&P500, but also on some of the most volatile securities out there, such as the VIX.

    http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-08-02/something-strange-emerges-when-looking-congresswomans-daytrading-records

    • One Two 11.1

      4 August 2016 at 12:37 am

      Hillary was years ahead of that curve

      https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillary_Rodham_cattle_futures_controversy

12. Ad 12

    3 August 2016 at 3:59 pm

    Dunedin’s Blueskin Bay wind farm set to appeal to the Environment Court:

    https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/wind-farm-appeal-opponent-leaving

    • Psycho Milt 12.1

      4 August 2016 at 9:15 am

      Good. Fucking NIMBYs opposing everything except their own activities.

      … the proposal drew the ire of nearby neighbours, who said property prices, quality of life and even, possibly, health would be negatively affected by the installations.

      I guess we should be grateful they at least put the word “possibly” in there – if it was cellphone towers the health-destroying woo would pretty much be taken for granted.

      Mr Pickford, whose Pryde Rd property would be about 800m from the turbines, said he had “had a gutsful”.

      That’s one motherfucker of a wind turbine, if it can be “intrusive and visually dominant” over a property 800 meters away. Are we building them the size of Auckland’s Sky Tower now?

      • alwyn 12.1.1

        4 August 2016 at 6:13 pm

        ” Are we building them the size of Auckland’s Sky Tower now?”

        At Blueskin Bay the answer is no. They will be less than125 metres high to the tip of the blade. Sky Tower is, I think about 220 metres.

        On the other hand it won’t be very long before the largest towers will be greater in height than that. The highest I am aware of at the moment are planned to be 200 metres high. That is a bloody big tower.
        https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2014/09/15/hartlepool-highest-wind-turbine-scheme-proposed/

13. Anne 13

    3 August 2016 at 5:30 pm

    @lprent
    Is the ‘Replied’ function still disabled? Not been working for me since the week-end.

    • Draco T Bastard 13.1

      3 August 2016 at 5:40 pm

      The ‘Replies’ tab is working for me but not until after I’ve commented.

    • lprent 13.2

      3 August 2016 at 8:05 pm

      I was just looking at that as well. The change on the weekend was to shift it from not working due to a problem with the fragment part of the cache not working. So I shifted it to using jQuery to fetch it,

      It is odd. Had a query this morning about it still not appearing. First time I looked at it this evening it didn’t show. Now it is showing.

      As Draco says @13.1 maybe after I have left a comment.

      I’ll have a look at it ‘soonish’. But since I haven’t left work yet, soonish may be the weekend.

      • Anne 13.2.1

        3 August 2016 at 10:16 pm

        Thanks lprent. No hurry.

      • Lanthanide 13.2.2

        3 August 2016 at 10:32 pm

        Yeah, it’s after you leave a comment that it starts working.

        • UncookedSelachimorpha 13.2.2.1

          3 August 2016 at 11:02 pm

          Works after commenting, but stops again if I close / open browser.

14. Jack Ramaka 14

    4 August 2016 at 12:01 am

    JK still the most popular PM in NZ History?

    [lprent: Moved to OpenMike because it has nothing to do with trade. Banned for 4 weeks for simple diversion trolling. I’m trying to make myself the most disliked moderator by trolls and the most beloved by anyone who has ascended above your grunting level. BTW: How am I doing in this popularity contest? You can answer in 4 weeks. ]

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