I think that this policy implimented in France is the type of policy we should look at here in NZ, and the rest of the world for that matter.
The idea is to include a "repairability" index rating on products available for purchase. The rating includes factors such as availability of spare parts, ease of access to replace parts etc.
From an environmental perspective I think there is such a huge waste of resources and damage to the environment that occurs because these days products tend to be cheaply made and disposable. It is seldom worth repairing appliances, especially smaller ones these days. So, encouraging businesses to build better quality products with availability of spares has to be a good thing. If the quality is higher products will last longer and it will be more worthwhile repairing them.
When I was married 30+ years ago, my wife had a Kenwood food processor. It had been built in Britain. That lasted over 20 years before it finally was unusable. These days, we are doing well if a similar item lasts several years, especially if it is being used a lot.
Even cheap appliances could be made repairable. For instance, just by identifying the main wearing components and designing the products so those parts are easy to access and replace by the owner would make the items more worth repairing.
I think that attitudes are changing from an environmental perspective with consumers now, as can be evidenced by many companies changing the materials in their packaging to cardboard rather than plastic for instance. So, consumers may welcome this type of option becoming available.
Also, it would open up opportunities for companies inside NZ to start manufacturing better quality products. And the appliance repair industry would also get a leg up through this.
So, I think this type of idea is something political parties should consider promoting.
I've got quite good at repairing 1970's appliances like our cake mixer. They have machined parts and just consist of resistors and the like. When they burn out it is really easy to unscrew them (they use good metal and are screwed together, not snap together and the plastic is thick not cheap and brittle) identify what happened and repair to better than new.
I've still got my mothers 1940s hand operated eggbeater (well my sister pinched it but like an elephant, I never forget). It is made of solid steel. From England, when they built battleships there.
The problem is that in the 1970s and 80s cake mixers were valuable enough to be prizes on game shows. They lasted a lifetime, but they cost a bomb. Our entire post-inudstrial, late capitalist service economy model is completely reliant on a rampant consumer materialism with very high retail consumption of disposable goods – everything from a Warehouse eggbeater, a Briscoes cake mixer to disposable coffee cups to excessive overseas travel – fuelled by personal debt.
The point is making a solid, 50 year lifespan cake mixer that is repairable undermines the entire neoliberal capitalist job model of the last fifty years. If the cake mixer and other kitchen aplliances don't need replacing every 5-10 years then the all the jobs in the importers warehouse, the retailer, the distribution system, etc etc would vanish.
Yes, I understand that the cost of having appliances produced at the quality level of half a century or more back would make the cost prohibitive for many these days.
But, even with cheap appliances, it should be possible to at least make the wearable parts easily accessible and, perhaps sell the items with a set or two of spares so consumers can easily extend the life of these items without needing to take them to a repair shop.
Something else I find quite obscene is the way that people are pushed to keep upgrading what they already have. For instance, why do people feel they need to constantly upgrade their TVs to something with a few more, normally irrelevant features when their existing one works fine.
Also, business models based on encouraging consumption, such as selling printers at less than the cost of the cartridges. There is an obscene rationale from this, that it is cheaper to continually replace printers than purchase cartridges which just adds to needless waste.
Something else that contributes to the endless and needless consumerism and waste is the availability of easy credit, and the perception these days that we should all be able to have what we want now.
In my parents day, they would have just made use with what they had until they could afford to purchase what they wanted. And when they made the purchase, it would be something they purchased of good quality and would look after it and aim to keep it going for as long as possible.
These days, it is just chuck it away when it breaks down.
Further to that comment above is the annoyance with the likes of Apple TV boxes and modern TVs is that when some app is available, it isn't available for models over a certain age, sometimes as little as three or four years old.
Often it seems that there isn't any technological reason why the older models couldn't run the apps. Rather, it seems to be a deliberate policy to force people to upgrade if they want the newer features.
Another example I find really annoying is the Imac I purchased a few years ago. It basically is unrepairable. It can be repaired or upgraded by a technician. But requires careful removal of the front glass screen that involves breaking the glue holding the glass in place, and has to be done carefully to avoid breaking the glass.
Contrast that with the PC in a case where it was easy to open the side panels to clean out heat sinks, and upgrade or repair as required.
Constantly upgrading mobile phones (some do it annually)- is the ultimate in built in obsolescence.
Many (looking at you, here Apple) are either impossible or prohibitively expensive to repair. And none have an upgrade pathway.
Unless you live totally off-grid – in a 'Good Life' style existence – modern life really does require having a mobile phone.
[Yes, yes, there are exceptions – and I'm defining 'need' as 'participating in NZ 21st century life'. But if you have kids, for example – schools and ECE and holiday programmes all need a real-time contact – so unless you sit at home beside the landline, you need a mobile.]
I know this one is well beyond the ability of NZ to impose (or even influence, really) – but it's one of the areas which would make a huge difference.
I communicate with distant friends using a series of sub-audial grunts, like those employed by whale and manatee. My thick, boney eyebrow ridges serve as a receiver for their replies. We don't talk often.
When you’re on the same wavelength of jungle drum, one beat can say it all! It can be exhausting having to repeat the same word over and over again because of poor reception or hard-hearing recipient.
I've built a high tower on which to sit, above the tree-tops, when sending and receiving. It's constructed from thousands of expired smart-phones, gleaned from the neighbourhood's recycling-bins.
I heard that those 1G networks are slow but very reliable. One downside of those towers is that they cannot be used during thunderstorms. The upside is that on sunny days the reflective screens of those smart-phones can be used as mirrors to send light signals, which is the 1G+ option that can rival traditional optical fibre connections and it is much cheaper. Visiting dodgy websites can be a bit of a problem because VPN is not really an option with 1G.
Good on you! And you don’t strike me as a socially isolated teen (you wish?) and you seem to be a moderately effective local politician with some YouTube fame (and other social media, I assume)
I don’t want you to get too big for your boots, that you stay grounded. I’ve heard that some polies can’t handle the (relative) success & fame – do you know who I am? I’m sure you’re made of much stronger wood, so just in case
Do you have school age children, a job which requires you to be on call, or elderly parents? For teens and young adults, those without a cellphone (when everyone around them does) are really operating under a significant social handicap.
Yes, there are (as I said) some exceptions – mostly among the … richer in years … who still operate their social connections outside social media… but for the majority of us, a mobile is required to effectively participate in NZ 21st century life.
Even the government thinks so – the Civil defence/tsunami warning system operates through mobile phones, only.
You seem the think that all NZ school children at secondary (and primary?) school who can afford it have & use a mobile phone. Some (…) make a stand, for whatever reason (children can be like that), and refuse to use their phone and don’t even charge or switch it on, which can drive their parents mad because they rely on it. I don’t think the ‘requirement’ is as high as you think it is.
No, I don't think that all primary school children have mobile phones.
I do think that the vast majority of secondary school kids/teens have mobile phones. Primary, much less so – and I agree, at that age it’s much more about parental security, than kids desire for communication.
Choosing not to answer their parents – is a completely separate issue 😉
But, not having a phone is really socially isolating for teens. All of the meet-ups, etc are organized via social media, and their interaction is frequently via various apps: Discord & Instagram for the teen in this household ATM – Facebook is just for aged parents – but subject to change. Observationally, they rarely (if ever) actually speak to anyone on the phone – apart from aged grandparents – it's all texting.
Any of them who have a job – especially one of the typical zero hours contracts, that Teens so often get – will absolutely require a mobile (and one charged and switched on), or they won’t get any work.
I'm sure some do make a stand – but surprisingly few, Even the most radical of climate change activists – and passionate supporters of Greta Thunberg – amongst the peers of the household teen – still use their mobile phones to organize.
There's a good reason why removing the mobile phone is still the ultimate in behaviour-management consequences for most teens.
The point is that some teens choose to not use their phones (or even have one) for whatever reasons. Whether this is socially isolating, because they are socially isolated or choose to not engage with their peers by phone, or neither/some other reason is an interesting question that I cannot answer for you here on TS. I note that they often still can be active users of another electronic device for gaming and after-hours socialising. I also note that almost all teens have access to a device for their school work – the digital divide became clear during the lockdowns when it turned out that not all teens have online access and/or the means, but this will soon disappear again from most people’s minds. The point is/was about mobile phones being such a requirement or necessity in modern life, which I challenge – it is definitely a convenience and for some NZ teens a luxury (but so are sports shoes).
Evidence that a significant proportion of teens are choosing not to use mobile phones?
From my, admittedly unscientific, mental survey of the household teen's peers, our wider family network, and a variety of friends who teach in secondary schools at all deciles (phone management in classes is a constant student-management issue)- the numbers would be *tiny*.
The fact (which I admit) that a very small minority of the population may choose to not use mobile phones, isn't really relevant to the fact that they are required for most participation in modern life. Yes, you can choose to live off-grid, and not engage in any social interaction – but most people don't (and don't want that kind of life)
According to teacher friends in South Auckland (low decile schools) the teens they teach are much more likely to have a mobile phone, than they are to have home internet (they have chromebooks, etc. now, through the Education system, post covid – but not Internet access – except via mobile hotspot). Most do their homework (if they do it – other deprivation issues going on) – at the local library, where there is free wifi.
Either you haven’t properly read & understood my 2 comments or you want me to chase your strawmen.
FYI, mobile phone ownership & usage is very high among NZ teens and there are plenty of surveys and studies that show this.
You’re conflating high usage, personal reliance and convenience with genuine requirement for mobile phones. Your argument is that because many/most people jump into the mud they all want to and (should?) jump into the mud. If anything, it is giving into to peer social pressure rather than demonstrating the alleged requirement. Fact is that some people get by perfectly ok without using a mobile phone and without becoming social outcasts and/or uneducated illiterates.
Taking a mobile phone away from an addicted user, especially a teen, has the same response as with any addict going through withdrawal. Arguably, an ironically having the phone becomes a requirement because of the personal dependence – these effects are very real (and worrisome).
PS for simple but effective communication (e.g. emergencies or basic texting), a basic phone without all the so-called smartphone features (bells & whistles such as Giga pixel cameras) can be perfectly adequate. They tend to be called ‘dumbphones’ or ‘duty phones’. See this Approved Mobile Phone list – May 2022 from Otago University (https://www.otago.ac.nz/its/otago719498.pdf).
Yes, it's a cause of amusement in larger groups, when they test the mobile alert system, the order in which the various phones receive it and sound the alarm.
Yes, this same information may (or may not) be supplied via broadcast media – but that relies on you (the audience) happening to be listening to the radio/tv at the time (for a 3am tsunami warning, not likely).
Specifically, none of the alerts are transmitted via the landline phone system.
You may (or may not) be living in an area with audible sirens to alert for tsunamis.
What is Emergency Mobile Alert?
Mobile Alerts are messages about emergencies sent by authorised emergency agencies to capable mobile phones. The alerts are designed to keep people safe and are broadcast to all capable phones from targeted cell towers.
The *point* of this discussion was that non-ownership of a mobile phone excludes you from some societal benefits.
A personally targeted (i.e. sent to your mobile phone – rather than requiring you to know to go and seek it out on the radio) emergency alert was a specific example.
There is no equivalent alert system for landlines. [Although, there could be, if the govt felt that it was worthwhile. They don't, because a sufficiently high (and growing) percentage of the population have mobile phones]
No mobile phone, no alert sounding in your house.
Sometimes, I feel that we are just talking past each other.
There is, of course, the advantage of a mobile phone is that I no longer have to buy a separate computer, camera, video and audio player, watch, calculator, star identifier, GPS navigator maps, stopwatch, alarm clock and many other items. Thanks to the constant advances in the ability of mobile phones to replace all of those.
That software changes turn many of them into useless bricks in less than 5 years is annoying. As is being charged $1000's to add to Apples bank account, for something that costs a fraction of that to produce.
Planned absolesence keeps millions in jobs, and economies afloat.
Which is why a more sustainable economy is impossible, while we have an economic system that is dependant on infinite growth.
Don’t forget the monitoring of your health data. I believe that in some cases & countries this may even be covered by private health insurers (depending on your policy, of course!
Build quality is exactly why you buy Apple products which are far more reliable and long-lasting than their cheaper PC and Android counterparts, some of which are truly disposable.
Apple's philosophy is high quality, great user experience, and seamless interconnectivity and is therefore the opposite of built-in failure and obsolescence.
That’s almost an anathema to me! Like selling my soul to the highest bidder so that I can have the logo on my forehead to show I’m a soulless hipster with good taste but questionable judgement.
Pretty sure it would be hard to find a manufacture honouring a warranty after being repaired by someone unlicensed, or paying someone unlicensed to repair under warranty.
Nope. Any reputable dealer should be able to replace a broken screen or a battery. Apple requiring this to only be done by licensed dealers, is an absolute rort.
How come you're so hot on defending a multi-billion-dollar American corporate empire?
They're doing exactly what all the other corporates (that you so often decry) are doing – maximizing their business model and return to shareholders.
I don't denigrate them for playing the game according to the current rules – but give them no corporate brownie points for doing so.
However, I do think that the rules should change.
The articles made it really, really clear that Apple were doing the slowdown, deceptively (via automatic update, without telling users), in order to 'encourage' them to trade up to the new model. When caught, they paid up. Enough said. No corporate every pays up unless they know they are guilty – and are trying to avoid even worse court-ordered penalties.
Charge leads for Apple may not be a problem soon. The EU are forcing them into USB C.
I still have my MS surface after 5 years. They said when I bought it the battery may need replacement after 5 years. It is replaceable. Still fine though. Won’t load Win 11, but MS are still supporting 10 which works fine.
In that time, my wife has gone through 3 Apple tablets and 2 Iphones which we have had to replace for various reasons.
Ah, yes, I remember reading something about Apple & USB, but I like to hold on to my grudges.
Spent a small fortune on f-ing Apple products over the years
My Dell laptop is > 10 years old and the battery is completely dead. It also doesn’t load Win11 but I don’t care. MS Office 2010 (out of support). My brain is in dire need of an upgrade too – all good things come to an end, eventually.
Apple phones are effectively bricks after 5 years. None of the apps are backwards compatible after that long.
Built-in obsolescence is just as much a feature of their business model as it is for Samsung and Huawei (and, all the rest). Their *entire* marketing campaign is all about 'buy the latest' not 'buy the phone which will last a lifetime'
It's just that they've cornered the top end of the obsolescence market. Pay a premium for branding.
And other manufacturers phones stop working at all after 3 years. Their marketing campaign might hype a new release but, news flash, that is what marketing campaigns do.
5 years and counting on my 1st Samsung (had to replace, because of an accident to it – repairs not cost-effective – which is what this thread is about). Current Samsung 3.5 years – and not an issue in sight.
Price – less than half of an Apple iphone. Quality slightly worse (mostly in the camera, which I mourn a little, but not enough to pay for either a top of the line Samsung or an Apple product).
For Apple, you're paying for the logo and brand styling, and to be part of the 'tribe'- maybe a 'little' for quality – but the difference would be literally unnoticeable to most people for what they use their phone for.
All of the product reviews I’ve read, comparing top of the line Samsung (and other Android phones) with Apple basically say there is no difference in UX or quality.
For sure. They are all pretty good value for a tiny supercomputer with cutting edge software like AI image processing. Evolves so fast that nothing is stable for more than a few years.
Thinking about this again (as I laced on by Allbirds and went out to the local bakery to buy bread for lunch) [getting my virtue signalling in ;-)]
I really think that that up-front cost is a significant barrier for many families – for whom there is very little disposable income.
I bought my Allbirds 3 years ago – they took me around a 7 week trip of Europe, with miles of daily walking, I continue to wear them most days in winter, and they are the most comfortable shoes I've ever owned.
They were expensive. But the cost/return ratio has certainly worked out for me.
But, I refused to buy a pair for the household teen, whose feet are still growing. In the time I've owned my Allbirds, I would have bought 8-9 pairs of shoes for the teen – both feet growing, and lost shoes (grrr)
The cost/return ratio for Allbirds doesn't work in this instance. I don't buy expensive Adidas or Nike trainers, for the teen, either.
When I was growing up, shoes were *expensive*. I remember my Mum doing the budget to buy new school shoes for the 3 of us (hand-me-downs didn't work – we were all too close in age). Roman sandals in summer were cheap enough, but winter shoes were always a struggle.
Moving to a more sustainable, long-lasting, solution – will be more expensive. And that solution isn't always warranted. Sometimes, just having a cheap pair of shoes, which will last 6 months (because the kid will have outgrown them by next winter) is actually all that's needed.
Not necessarily 'prohibitively' expensive – but 3-4 times the cost of the 'cheap' disposable one – which makes them a niche product – only available for the relatively wealthy who can afford the 'excess' cost in return for the luxury brand.
My Kitchen Aid mixer (US – solid as a rock, and absolutely able to be repaired, should it need it) – is going on for 30 years of regular use. I bought it, deliberately, because I did a lot of baking, and wanted a heavy-duty mixer that would last the distance. At the time – it was approx 5x the cost of a cheapie plastic one (and I bought it at a super-end-of-season markdown price – with no choice of colour (sniff)). Long-term, a good buy – but it's hard to see that as a young person (everyone I knew was horrified – 'you spent that much on a mixer' – or as my mother said 'an eggbeater!')
Yep, I'm thoroughly familiar with the inimitable Sam Vimes.
Terry Pratchett continues to be one of my favourite 'comfort' re-reads (sadly taken from us much too soon). Characterization, Language, Humour and the ability to poke a stick at the most unlikely of social constructs – all a constant joy.
I have a 25 year old Magimix food processor, 20 year old Dualit toaster (elements have been replaced), 10 year old Kitchen Aid mixer, 20 year old Italian espresso machine (boiler cap has been replaced). All regularly used and still going strong.
Yes, those printed computer boards are incredibly annoying.
I have had that experience with a dishwasher that failed due to the control board failing. The cost of the replacement board plus the cost of someone to fit it was prohibitively expensive.
I am sure the board was being sold at a price many more times the cost of production, and was part of the "built in obsolescence" plan of the manufacturers who probably thought I would by a new dishwasher.
I think I did actually do that. The problem for the manufacturer was that I was pissed off at them as a result of that so purchased a different brand.
Just an FYI friend of mine had a LG tv it stopped – "it's the circuit board it's a frisbee now" fortunately his brother is a very skilled and knowledgeable IT guy.
Circuit board goes in the oven bag into a warm oven and remove it as soon as you smell solder and hey presto one working tv – Apparently with the soldered connections on circuit board the solder can crack causing it to fail. Heating can re-melt the solder causing a repair. Strange world.
One of the current issues on ships is the very short life span of computerised control systems.
Before computerised engines, it was rare for engines to break down at sea. I had only three in ten years. The mechanical parts still rarely fail.
Computerised fuel and other systems, cause problems on a regular basis. And it usually seems to be the ones you don't have a spare board for.
It makes me laugh when they talk about autonomous ships. The costs of reliable electronic control systems, that last 15 to 20 years would easily exceed crew costs.
My (building) frustrating experience with most modern appliances (incl. cars) is that their weakest point often is poorly designed and/or poorly manufactured electrics/electronics with sub-standard components, not so much the wear & tear of the moving parts. They also have no in-build ‘resilience’, i.e., one faulty component kills the whole thing dead and useless.
But one of the more surreal moments in my life. Getting out of bed. Turning on the TV and there is Tom Cruise presenting the Jubilee and then the Trinidad and Tobago military band playing "Dancing Queen" by ABBA.
As I say cool…..But a bit weird when you have just woken up 🙂
But they Both are trying very hard to change this very sad state of affairs.
Personally I live as Sustainably as possible. (and that is absolutely possible : )
I rebuild Bicycles ( 100 plus : ) that would have gone to the scrap metal.
And…being practical…can "sometimes" fix a washing machine, stereo,video/dvd, etc etc. Problem being….a lot are now UNrepairable. Printers are one very bad throwaway….(the jerks sell the printer cheaper than the replacement ink cartridge !!
And in lot of newer type appliances, cant even open them up…as NO screws!
anyway, please look at Petition and repair Cafe Aotearoa.
My wife and I buy most of our clothes at Savemart and other op shops
What's interesting about that is the differences between men and women, in that my wife has no issues finding expensive clothing barely worn (sometimes tag's still on) whereas for me it's a lot harder
Seems like women are more likely to buy clothes, not wear them then donate them whereas men are less likely
I think from a marketing perspective there is some hope in all this.
One good thing about the marketing approach is that it focuses on understanding consumer desires, attitudes, and beliefs and aims at meeting those needs.
Thus as consumers become more concerned about environmental factors (as they are) then the marketing perspective should lead to companies picking up on those changes in public sentiment, and aiming to align their products and services accordingly.
We can already see this approach having an effect in various aspects. For instance, companies using a lot more cardboard in packaging rather than polystyrine, supermarkets trying to eliminate plastic from there packaging etc.
At the moment, this is all a bit superficial. But, I think that is where governments can align their policies with the change in sentiment as well so that companies have an environment that enables them to make more fundamental changes without the fear of losing out to their competitors.
Hence, that policy that France has adopted that I pointed to in my first post seems to make a lot of sense. From a marketing perspective it gives companies a point to differentiate there products so that people feel they are getting value for spending more on a product that should last them longer.
Oh good on you signing ! And yep, absolutely Consumer Awareness/pressure will make Manufacurers/Suppliers change (I hope not kicking and screaming? : )
I've been involved in Sustainability and associated for…a long time,and as in your link, I look World wide for updates and Innovation.
Re the polystyrene and excess packaging ! I remember reading years back where Germans (Great Recyclers ! ) just started unpacking the appliance Instore..and leaving extraneous detritus there. Well…that focused the Store Owner !
As to Polystyrene….possibly one of THE worst pollutants. And a developed byproduct of the petroleum industry : (
As I like to look ..for Alternatives..there is any amount of Compression Resistant Cardboard (some like a honeycomb ) etc.
And…back to Consumer Pressure. I'm ever hopeful..but also try to let people know HOW.
One thing that annoys me about the current approach to sustainability is that there often seems to be a short-sighted focus on the most obvious aspect without considering other factors.
For instance, I am all for EV technology.
But the focus seems to be on the cars themselves without considering the other highly relevant factors. For instance, the sourcing of raw materials, the effect of manufacturing on the environment, the availability of charging infrastructure, the availability of renewable generation to charge the batteries, and end of life disposal of batteries.
The result of a narrow focus can be that people feel they are doing the right thing. But it ends up becoming an exercise in virtue signalling if the whole production and use chain from beginning to end isn't considered.
The whole paradigm of duplicating capabilities of petrol cars needs to be considered.
For many people the range and carrying capacity of petrol cars is not needed.
Making the resource intensity of car manufacturing much less.
For example, Mazda with the MX 30 use a battery big enough to be more than adequate for most city owners. But smaller than competitors. Saving weight, resources and energy usage.
From an overall environmental perspective, I like the concept of hydrogen-powered cars if they can become viable. The biggest issue is around producing the hydrogen in the first place. However, if this can be done economically, I think the overall environmental footprint would be better than EVs.
A typical think piece based entirely on wishful thinking and a category mistake. No consideration of how South Korea got to be in the economic and developmental position it is in the first place after the Korean War – i.e. a military junta from 1961 to 1963, and a virtual dictatorship from 1963 to 1972 driving development. Nor do I think the degree of nationalism you see in South Korea today would catch on here.
It's one of those daft arguments like "we should model ourselves on Singapore" which pays no attention to the unique conditions that allow Singapore to operate the way it does – ie. it's vital position in SEA, the fact it's the only non-corrupt tech hub to do business in in that part of the world, and a degree of top down authoritarianism we simply wouldn't put up with in this country.
Having spent some time with the architect of their economic policy from 1950, Lee Kie- Hong, there is much that we could learn – but the conventional response is always to reject such suggestions out of hand, without considering any of the details. The contrast is informative.
NZ is actually quite keen on economic resurgence. It became a platform for Muldoon, Douglas, and was much of the misplaced attraction of John Key – but none of them was much cop frankly. NZ produces regular crops of self-styled 'steady hands' and 'economic miracle workers' none of whom have a ghost of a clue what they're doing.
In the meantime Korea has equipped itself with high speed rail, universal internet, the best subway system in the world – the kinds of things NZ governments barely dare to dream of – a single conventional train from Hamilton to Auckland, which we had a hundred years ago, is about as far as things go. The same lack of vision is presently dooming our climate response.
It looks like Putin is alg about the Himars systems going to Ukraine (with the 80km range missiles not the 300km ones) saying that Ukraine already had missiles with that range, so it doesn't change anything.
That being the case, the US should send a few hundred of the systems.
Are people who post on political blogs nuts? Of course we are. We are the electronic version of people who write letters to the editor, except we are nuttier. To loosely paraphrase Chris Trotter (re blogs):
'' a hand full of people jumping up and down and arguing on a very small part of the internet''
In my opinion there are two classes of nut: Those who know they are nuts and carry on regardless. And those who have no idea they are nutty. They believe they are pontificating arguments of importance that will influence something, somebody, down the track. Thankfully I belong to the former class.
Jumping forward.
A while back I commented to Iprent that I dealt more with emotional feel and psychic imprints around a topic rather than dry facts. Hence, Incognito stating I can argue my opinions but not the facts. That is true to a DEGREE.
The problem with facts is you can attack their architecture. The fact may remain but a taint is added: eg ''The study was 5 years old, so may not be currently accurate.'' Even though the facts show, and a recent review confirms the original study is still current and proven valid, a taint has been added.
Iprent shows two examples of this in his replies to stories I have posted:
1- I posted that inflation was at the time running at 5.9%. He added much commentary around that figure. But nothing had changed. The figure was still 5.9%.
2- I posted that the current radio survey/ratings had Mike Hosking's show top in its time segment and that it had picked up increased audience numbers. Iprent basically said those type of surveys are inaccurate and meant little. I knew he was incorrect simply because of the anger out in the community aimed at Labour. I knew he was incorrect because of the hate Lefties have for Hoskings. 77, 000 people signed a petition to get rid of Hosking a few years back when he was at TV1. I bet many of those who signed were Lefties who didn't even watch the great one. I knew Iprent was incorrect because in many of Mikey's interviews, the interviewee says '' that's a good question.'' before answering. So I'm getting my feel for the topic/fact, not from the facts, but from peripheral issues/emotions surrounding the topic.
I have always thought I would love to have my system made into a programme that could be used to save myself time. A programme that could scan issues and posts for the emotions and feeling underneath facts and words.
And someone has done that, but with the twist of using computers to analyse social media posts and gain an insight into people's mental states.
Quote:
''What sets the new model apart is a focus on the emotions rather than the specific content of the social media texts being analysed. In a paper presented at the 20th International Conference on Web Intelligence and Intelligent Agent Technology, the researchers show that this approach performs better over time, irrespective of the topics discussed in the posts.
What a surprise – the ignorant and opinionated dolt is impressed by another ignorant and opinionated dolt.
So your grasp on realty is so tenuous you admire a calumniator – why tell us? Go direct to Hosking talkback – there you will find many other stupid people whose discourse is likewise unleavened by inconvenient facts.
[Don’t take the bait, don’t feed the trolls, don’t attack others here, don’t start flame wars and leave it to the Mods – Incognito]
This comes across as yet another unhinged rant by you because you have a chip on your shoulder and you’re confused about how this site works. It is also a broad attack on the site and its commenters implying that they have mental disorders and they’re nutty without knowing it.
Whether you call it “emotional feel and psychic [sic] imprints”, views or viewpoints, or opinions, it is all the same, but none give you a free pass to spout your BS without consequences. Facts, claims of facts, assertions, all of those you need to be able to support, as part of your argument.
You make up some BS hypothetical example about a fact, which proves nothing and clears up nothing. And it’s f-ing irrelevant. Taking liberties with facts, making tentative extrapolations, and projections into the future are all symptoms and very recent examples of your disingenuous commenting here. But then you give 2 examples by Lprent that supposedly show how right you were and how wrong Lprent was.
You did not include links!! I should ban you for this alone.
So I'm getting my feel for the topic/fact, not from the facts, but from peripheral issues/emotions surrounding the topic.
No, forget your ‘feels’ and learn to properly argue here, following the simple rules of this site.
I’m deliberately not moderating you here because I want to give other Mods a chance to do so. If not, I’m sure I will moderate one of your comments soon enough because you have no credit left and show no signs of improvement.
The guest knew his time would be short and so, before he was chosen for the departure line, determined on gaslighting the neighbourhood.
Dartmouth researchers have built an artificial intelligence model for detecting mental disorders using conversations on Reddit, part of an emerging wave of screening tools that use computers to analyze social media posts and gain an insight into people's mental states.
What sets the new model apart is a focus on the emotions rather than the specific content of the social media texts being analyzed. In a paper presented at the 20th International Conference on Web Intelligence and Intelligent Agent Technology, the researchers show that this approach performs better over time, irrespective of the topics discussed in the posts.
"Social media offers an easy way to tap into people's behaviors," says Guo. The data is voluntary and public, published for others to read, he says.
In their study, the researchers focused on what they call emotional disorders—major depressive, anxiety, and bipolar disorders—which are characterized by distinct emotional patterns. They looked at data from users who had self-reported as having one of these disorders and from users without any known mental disorders.
The map is a matrix that would show how likely it was that a user went from any one state to another, such as from anger to a neutral state of no emotion.
Different emotional disorders have their own signature patterns of emotional transitions. By creating an emotional "fingerprint" for a user and comparing it to established signatures of emotional disorders, the model can detect them. To validate their results, they tested it on posts that were not used during training and show that the model accurately predicts which users may or may not have one of these disorders.
While the researchers don't look at intervention strategies, they hope this work can point the way to prevention.
One more reason to have an online username and maintain internet ID privacy … .
So the psychiatric gulag is hunting patients online. It might however provide useful information as a background check for access to guns.
However, it could be so easily manipulated by those who know of the design. A few deliberate provocations, or calculated insults to create an impact/effect.
Anything to say about the post? Apart from invective? I won't ask you to self reflect and state what class of nut you are, simply because you are incapable of doing that. Idiot.
[It looks like you’re heading for self-martyrdom and want to drag other commenters, who are stupid enough to take the bait, down with you. Suffice to say, the bans won’t be of equal length – Incognito]
Open access notables A survey of interventions to actively conserve the frozen North, van Wijngaarden et al., Climatic Change:The frozen elements of the high North are thawing as the region warms much faster than the global mean. The dangers of sea level rise due to melting glacier ice, increased ...
Bryce Edwards writes – New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure. The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On ...
In 2015, then-Prime Minister John Key announced plans for a huge ocean sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands, banning fishing and mining from 15% of Aotearoa's EEZ. It was bold, it was ambitious, and it suggested that National might actually care about the environment. Except they fucked it up: Key failed ...
1. Who has just been given the accolade New Zealander of the Year?a. The Kokakob. The Cook Strait Ferryc. Fair God. Dr Jim Salinger 2. Which of these is an affront to decent society?a. Dame Edna Everageb. Mrs Doubtfire c. Dr. Frank-N-Furterd. Brian 3. Who is Penny Simmonds?a. The aspiring actress in Big ...
New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure.The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On the face of it, the court found ...
Buzz from the Beehive Waves of rain are set to lash much of the North Island during Easter Weekend as a low-pressure system forms east of New Zealand, according to a weather forecast published in the past day or so. Niwa was warning of a “moisture-laden” long weekend, with rain expected ...
Look around us…Nicola Willis’ promises of balancing the books, of cutting spending without reducing services, and of delivering game changing tax cuts are disappearing before her eyes.Everyday we see stories of violent crime ending in horrific injuries, or worse. The cost of living worsens, whereas the PM claimed renters would ...
TL;DR: My top six news of note on the morning of Thursday, March 28 include:The Government will have to borrow between $10 billion to $15 billion more than previously expected in order to make up for a slowing economy and to pay for $14.9 billion of tax cuts, according to ...
This story by Naveena Sadasivam and Kate Yoder was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. The long-awaited jobs board for the American Climate Corps, promised early in the Biden administration, will open next month, according to details shared exclusively ...
Should landlords be able to deduct the interest on the loans they take out to bankroll their property speculation? The US Senate Budget Committee and Bloomberg News don’t think this is a good idea, for reasons set out below. Regardless, our coalition government has been burning through a ton of ...
Treasury’s first report on the economy since the change of government presents a damning indictment of Labour’s economic management. The problem for National is that it is so damning that logically, coupled with a rapidly slowing economy, Finance Minister Nicola Willis should respond to it by postponing or even cancelling ...
Budget tensions are becoming evident within the Coalition Government. Winston Peters made numerous political points in his speech to the NZF annual conference. But the attack on his own government’s fiscal policies raised issues of substance. ‘Today in the Sunday Star Times, journalist and former advisor to the Labour ...
Buzz from the Beehive The media – sure enough – have been binging on Finance Minister Nicola Willis’ release of the Budget Policy Statement and a statement headed Government announces Budget priorities This assures us – or rather, this parrots the Luxon team mantra – that the Budget “will deliver ...
The Ides of March brought me COVID followed by a bereavement. No wonder they tell you to be careful of them.I’m home now and have resumed the interrupted recuperation. Very much looking forward to getting back to regular things. Meanwhile, some thoughts…OneThis new Prime Minister guy just keeps getting more dire. ...
News that the Chinese ATP 40 cyber-hacking unit penetrated parliamentary internet networks in 2021 has renewed concerns about the PRC’s malign intentions in Aotearoa. But is the hack that significant given the length of time that has passed since its … Continue reading → ...
When Parliament passed the Intelligence and security Act in 2017, they assured us all that it was full of safeguards. Any intrusive surveillance of New Zealanders would be subject to a "triple lock", requiring the approval of the Minister and (supposedly independent) Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants, as well as post-facto ...
Eric Crampton writes – Richard Harman’s Politik newsletter provides a bit of the context that ought to have been showing up in other media reports on potential reductions in public service staffing. Media has been reporting on staffing cuts on the order of about 7%. Is that ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – It’s becoming increasingly apparent that many perceive free speech to have become the preserve of the politically right wing, the religiously conservative, the libertarian fringe, the anti-trans, the anti-Māori and…. well, just fill in with whatever groups or individuals you don’t like and don’t ...
Don Brash writes – As everybody who is not blind and deaf is aware, there is a huge political preoccupation with climate change at the moment, a widespread (though by no means unanimous) belief that global temperatures are rising mainly as a result of the greenhouse gases created ...
TL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy on Wednesday, March 27 include:Chris Bishop laid out his vision for filling Aotearoa-NZ’s $100 billion infrastructure deficit in a speech yesterday, emphasising user pays and private funding, but failed to say how to achieve bipartisanship on population, public borrowing and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Former Finance Minister Grant Robertson and former Prime Minister Chris Hipkins have been conveying how unhappy they are with the tax system. Last week in his valedictory speech, Robertson called for the introduction of a wealth or capital gains tax. And this week Hipkins ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Buzz from the Beehive China has loomed large in Beehive considerations over the past 24 hours, largely because of that country’s mischief-making in the cyber espionage department. Two media statements emerged on that subject hard on the heels of the PM baulking at questions put to him on RNZ’s Morning ...
Chris Trotter writes – WHY IS THE NATIONAL PARTY doing so much for landlords, property developers, trucking, and construction companies, and so little for everybody who isn’t already pretty well-off? It’s as if protecting landlords’ investments and building apartments and roads now constitute the whole of National’s ...
Bryce Edwards writes – When she was campaigning to be Minister of Finance last year, Nicola Willis pledged that she would resign from the job if she failed to deliver tax cuts in her first Budget. Now, it’s that pledge, along with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s ...
Robert MacCulloch writes – The Reserve Bank has doubled staff numbers in five years to 510, with personnel costs rising to $80 million in 2023 from $32 million in 2018 – up by a whopping 150%. I guess when you print $50 billion and flood markets with liquidity, ...
The furore. In case you didn’t notice there was a controversy in the weekend involving dolphins in a little town off the South Island. Don’t panic, they haven’t declared independence and resumed whaling, this was simply a sailing event.The problem began when racing was cancelled on the opening day of ...
For 20 years or more, the case for a meaningful capital tax gains has been mulled over and analysed to death, including by the tax working group chaired by Sir Michael Cullen. More than once, the International Monetary Fund has said a CGT would be a good idea for New ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: The Public Health Communications Centre (PHCC) call for urgent preventive action and a risk assessment survey of long covid in this briefing noteLocal scoop: NZ road deaths surpass OECD rates, so why is the govt reversing safety plans? ...
This story was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. This story is part of a collaboration with Grist and WABE to demystify the Georgia Public Service Commission, the small but powerful state-elected board that makes critical decisions about everything from raising ...
This is a guest post from Robert McLachlan Global warming is accelerating; 2023 was off the charts. We need to stop burning fossil fuels. In New Zealand, transport accounts for half of all fossil fuels burnt. In the Emissions Reduction Plan, transport emissions fall 41% by 2035. As the ...
Labour productivity has been receding rapidly over the past two years, reversing a post-lockdown rise. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy as at 6:26am on Tuesday, March 26 include:Workers have been treading water in output per hour worked for 12 years, ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 2 include:Today, Parliament resumes sitting at 2pm for the second week of a two-week session. Officials for SIS and GCSB report their annual reviews in public to the Intelligence and Security Select Committee from 5.10pm.Tomorrow, ...
Faced with a barrage of criticism over the promised tax cuts from usually supportive commentators, Finance Minister Nicola Willis yesterday reaffirmed her intention to include them in this year’s Budget. The Government is up against it over the cuts just about every way it turns. Commentators like Fran O’Sullivan, Matthew ...
Here’s my pick of today’s substack posts as of 6:26pm on Monday, March 25: writes via his substack that Market-rate housing will make your city cheaper writes via his substack about the problems talking to double-cab ute (truck) drivers about their vehicles. today about moments of radicalisation in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Just before Christmas, Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivered something that was pitched as a mini-budget and brayed about the decisive action being taken to repair the Government books and support income tax relief in Budget 2024. In a statement headed Fiscal repair job underway. she introduced ...
My sister Belinda asked Dad yesterday what one word would describe Mum best. He said: vivacious.If you only knew her from the photos on the slideshow we've made for today,you might wonder about that, because the camera tended to lie with Mum.If ever she saw a camera pointed at her, she ...
There are two major public consultations closing in the next week, Auckland Council’s Long Term Plan (LTP), and the draft Government Policy Statement on Land Transport (GPS). Closing dates and times: LTP closes Thursday 28 February, at 11.59pm – a minute to midnight! GPS closes Tuesday 2 April, at 12pm noon – note that’s ...
From Kiwiblog’s David Farrar – Bryce Wilkinson writes: Senior Fellow Bryce Wilkinson’s analysis reveals that since March 2009, New Zealand has spent $158 billion more overseas than it has earned, but its NIIP has only fallen by $32 billion.Statistics New Zealand shows that receipts from overseas reinsurers have ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition? Brian Easton writes – The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could ...
Dear Nicola Willis,Right now you’ve probably got lots of competing demands coming at you. Ministers who’ve inherited quite a mess, or so you’ve told us, looking for money in the budget to improve things. I imagine that’s why they came to parliament - to make things better.You’ll have to make ...
The Local Government, Transport and Auckland Minister hasthreatened councils with intervention if they don’t merge water assets to take them off balance sheet, just as the now-repealed Three Waters plan directed. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things of note this morning for Monday, March 25 include:Simeon ...
A listing of 36 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 17, 2024 thru Sat, March 23, 2024. Story of the week Thanks to John Mason having the stamina to sit down to watch "Climate - the Movie" ...
This morning the Q&A programme had Simeon Brown on to talk about National’s replacement for Three Waters. In case anyone’s forgotten the three are - drinking water, waste water, and sewerage. It’s quite important not to get them mixed up. In much the same way that you wouldn’t want to ...
Today’s newsletter comes with a mini-podcast conversation between me and my buddy Liv Tennet, talking about her time as a child actor in Lord of the Rings. It’s a conversation with a lot of giggles as she talks about falling off a horse, and becoming a meme. Read ...
The Desmog Climate Disinformation Database documents, "individuals and organisations that have helped to delay and distract the public and our elected leaders from taking needed action to reduce greenhouse gas pollution and fight global warming." It's a who's who of the organised climate change denial movement, in other words. In ...
Bob Edlin writes – A High Court judge has decided miscreants who have mana – or who claim to have mana – should be treated differently from miscreants who have none. It’s a ruling that suggests indigenous law-breakers have a better chance of securing a discharge without conviction ...
Welcome to the first, and possibly last, edition of Brickbats, Bouquets and Bull’s Wool. In which I’ll take a look at the events of the last week or so, and rate them.In such ratings the numbers usually have more to do with the opinions of the reviewer, than the actual ...
Roger Partridge writes – My earlier column this month, New Zealand’s highest court could be facing a turning point, prompted a flood of feedback from business readers and lawyers alike. A common query was what Parliament can do to restrain an overreaching judiciary. This week I discuss two steps Parliament ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.16pm on Friday, March 22: writes about New Zealand's Building Boom—And What the World Must Learn From It over at his substack. challenges the Auckland Council’s use of a 3.8 degrees of warming forecast to oppose a wave-park and data centre project ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition?The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could deliver her promised income tax cuts. Appointed minister, she ...
Buzz from the Beehive Ministers of the Crown have drawn attention to one sector of the science sector which is unlikely to be subjected to heavy spending cuts, a state-funded broadcaster which is doing nicely, thank you, and a sporting event that had $5.4 million from the public purse puffed ...
Abbott’s Freestyle Libre sensors allow continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). The sensor is applied to the back of the patient’s arm, with a thin filament under the skin measuring glucose levels constantly. But it costs around $100 per sensor and must be replaced once every 14 days. Photo by BSIP/Universal Images ...
The Inspector General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) recently released a report in which he exposes the existence of a foreign intelligence partner-controlled technological “capability” inside the headquarters of the GCSB, NZ’s 5 Eyes-affiliated signals intelligence collection and analysis agency. … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – Nearly three decades after the introduction of MMP and multiparty governments there should be a greater level of understanding about their finer points than often appears to be the case. The reaction to the despicable outburst from the Deputy Prime Minister at the weekend highlights ...
The sweet kisses from fruit of summerHave slowly been turning dullerYou say, "those times"And "remember the daysWhen we went outside and there still was the shade?"Taking no reason into play…Autumn. Clear, blue days shortening to longer nights, growing colder. Aotearoa.That’s us. The temperature dropping, the looming car crash - so ...
Bryce Edwards writes – “It is often said that behind every great man is a great woman”. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their “Ladies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxon”. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April ...
David Farrar writes – The Electoral Commission has published the expense returns for political parties for the 2023 election. I’ve put them in a table with how many votes a party got so we can see the spend per vote. National only spent $3.34 for every vote they got, almost ...
Winston Peters’ headline-making actions over the past week may have been a show of political power intended to strengthen his hand in Budget negotiations. It was no accident that his State of the Nation speech was as it was. He made it as New Zealand First Leader, not as Deputy ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:Former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson bowed out of politics this week, giving a series of exit ...
Graham Adams writes — If you love the law or sausages, as the saying goes, best not to look too closely at how they are made. And after watching the orgy of self-pity when Newshub’s closure was announced on February 28, television journalism should definitely be added to the list of those ...
Venerable New Zealand political commentator, Chris Trotter (https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/), is a sad creature these days. Once one of the most reliable Leftist writers out there – Economic Left at that – Trotter seems to have absorbed the worldview of Auckland culture-war obsessives. It is not for me to categorise what he ...
The cruelty of short-term memory loss is that each time you ask where she is, you get the fresh shock and grief of the news. That was Dad's day yesterday.Comfortingly, it seems to be less so today. Last night he looked crumpled, today he seems more settled. There's a card ...
Photo by Alvan Nee on UnsplashIt’s that new day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when and I co-host our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm. Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream for our chat about the week’s news ...
Buzz from the Beehive One minister is talking tough while a colleague – whose ministry had acted tough and drawn a barrage of flak – has shown an official softening. Some ministers are doing what Labour was good at, which is distributing public funds to causes regarded as worthy or ...
A ballot for 4 Member's Bills was held today, and the following bills were drawn: Insurance Contracts Bill (Duncan Webb) Income Tax (Clean Transport FBT Exclusion) Amendment Bill (Julie Anne Genter) Crimes (Increased Penalties for Slavery Offences) Amendment Bill (Greg Fleming) Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) ...
One of the strongest narratives about "our" spy agencies is that they are basically institutional traitors, working for foreign powers (or just themselves), without any control or oversight by the elected government. And today, we have yet another report from the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security which explicitly confirms this. ...
“It is often said that behind every great man is a great woman”. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their “Ladies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxon”. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April to meet the Prime Minister’s ...
The Coalition Government’s plan to ‘get Auckland moving’ is a cuts cover-up that will ultimately cost Aucklanders more to move around the city, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Slashing the Ministry of Pacific Peoples by 40% will have a devastating impact on pacific communities and further highlights how little this government cares about anything other than cutting taxes for the wealthiest few. ...
Labour has proposed an urgent inquiry to investigate the ever-increasing profits of supermarkets, aiming to lower costs for shoppers and food producers alike, says Labour Spokesperson for Commerce and Consumer Affairs Arena Williams and Primary Production Spokesperson Cushla Tangaere-Manuel. ...
With 14% of jobs on the line at the Ministry for Ethnic Communities, the responsible Minister Melissa Lee is failing to stand up for the very communities she’s meant to be representing. ...
COURT OF APPEAL: TRIFECTA OF VICTORY FOR NZ FIRST, TRIFECTA OF FAILURE FOR OPPONENTS For the third time since April 2020, New Zealand First has defeated the Serious Fraud Office and all those complicit in a malicious attack against a political party going about its lawful business in a lawful ...
The Green Party stands with people who live in public housing, people in dire housing need, experts and advocates in demanding better than the Government’s archaic approach to housing those who need our support the most. ...
New Zealand has recently lost the hosting rights of some major international sporting events including the America’s Cup, the Rugby Championship, Netball World Cup, and the Wellington Sevens. We are now at a huge risk of losing SailGP as well. And it won’t stop there. The recent issues with SailGP ...
A Member’s Bill drawn this week would modernise insurance law and make things fairer and more transparent for consumers, Christchurch Central MP Duncan Webb said. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues has confirmed she was aware of funding issues in mid-December and did nothing to stop it. On 14 March, she signed off on changes that were announced and implemented on 18 March without any consultation with disability communities. ...
Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter says her members' bill is an opportunity for the coalition government to plug the gap in electric vehicle incentives. ...
The National Government continues to talk about irresponsible tax cuts that will only drive up inflation, despite the country entering a technical recession. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues must act urgently to reinstate flexibility around the funding for disability support and apologise to disabled carers. ...
This story has been initiated by a leftie shill reporter who proactively sought to call a member of a former band, which disbanded twelve years ago, give their biased appraisal of what was said in my speech, and concocted a ham-fisted attempt at a story that does nothing but show ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Many in the mainstream media have taken what was said in New Zealand First’s State of the Nation Speech in Palmerston North on Sunday and deliberately, deceitfully, and ignorantly misrepresented what I said and why I said it. The headlines and commentary on the news stated that I compared ‘co-governance ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
Good afternoon. Thank you for, in your very busy lives, turning up to this meeting today. On October 14th last year New Zealanders overwhelmingly voted for change. That is exactly what this new government is bringing. New Zealand First campaigned to ‘take back our country’ and stop the disastrous economic ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed the passing of legislation to move light electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) into the road user charges system from 1 April. “It was always intended that EVs and PHEVs would be exempt from road user charges until they reached two ...
New Zealand is strengthening its ability to combat illegal fishing outside its domestic waters and beef up regulation for its own commercial fishers in international waters through a Bill which had its first reading in Parliament today. The Fisheries (International Fishing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill 2023 sets out stronger ...
Economists Carl Hansen and Professor Prasanna Gai have been appointed to the Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Committee, Finance Minister Nicola Willis announced today. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is the independent decision-making body that sets the Official Cash Rate which determines interest rates. Carl Hansen, the executive director of Capital ...
Apartment owners and buyers will soon have greater protections as further changes to the law on unit titles come into effect, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “The Unit Titles (Strengthening Body Corporate Governance and Other Matters) Amendment Act had already introduced some changes in December 2022 and May 2023, and ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Egypt and Europe from this weekend. “This travel will focus on a range of New Zealand’s traditional diplomatic and security partnerships while enabling broad engagement on the urgent situation in Gaza,” Mr Peters says. Mr Peters will attend the NATO Foreign ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown is encouraging all road users to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. “Road safety is a responsibility we all share, and with increased traffic on our roads expected this Easter we ...
About 1.4 million New Zealanders will receive cost of living relief through increased government assistance from April 1 909,000 pensioners get a boost to Superannuation, including 5000 veterans 371,000 working-age beneficiaries will get higher payments 45,000 students will see an increase in their allowance Over a quarter of New Zealanders ...
Ensuring social housing is being provided to those with the greatest needs is front of mind as the Government restarts social housing tenancy reviews, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. “Our relentless focus on building a strong economy is to ensure we can deliver better public services such as social ...
The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary will not go ahead, with Cabinet deciding to stop work on the proposed reserve and remove the Bill that would have established it from Parliament’s order paper. “The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary Bill would have created a 620,000 sq km economic no-go zone,” Oceans and Fisheries Minister ...
Dam safety regulations are being amended so that smaller dams won’t be subject to excessive compliance costs, Minister for Building and Construction Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on reducing costs and removing unnecessary red tape so we can get the economy back on track. “Dam safety regulations ...
The coalition Government is expanding the medium-scale adverse event classification to parts of the North Island as dry weather conditions persist, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced today. “I have made the decision to expand the medium-scale adverse event classification already in place for parts of the South Island to also cover the ...
The passing of legislation giving effect to coalition Government tax commitments has been welcomed by Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “The Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill will help place New Zealand on a more secure economic footing, improve outcomes for New Zealanders, and make our tax system ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins and Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds today announced plans to transform our science and university sectors to boost the economy. Two advisory groups, chaired by Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, will advise the Government on how these sectors can play a greater ...
The Budget will deliver urgently-needed tax relief to hard-working New Zealanders while putting the government’s finances back on a sustainable track, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The Finance Minister made the comments at the release of the Budget Policy Statement setting out the Government’s Budget objectives. “The coalition Government intends ...
The coalition Government will look at options to address a zoning issue that limits how much financial support Queenstown residents can get for accommodation. Cabinet has agreed on a response to the Petitions Committee, which had recommended the geographic information MSD uses to determine how much accommodation supplement can be ...
Cabinet has agreed to a short extension to the final reporting timeframe for the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care from 28 March 2024 to 26 June 2024, Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says. “The Royal Commission wrote to me on 16 February 2024, requesting that I consider an ...
The coalition Government is delivering an $18 million boost to New Zealanders needing to travel for specialist health treatment, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says. “These changes are long overdue – the National Travel Assistance (NTA) scheme saw its last increase to mileage and accommodation rates way back in 2009. ...
The Government is recognising the innovative and rising talent in New Zealand’s growing space sector, with the Prime Minister and Space Minister Judith Collins announcing the new Prime Minister’s Prizes for Space today. “New Zealand has a growing reputation as a high-value partner for space missions and research. I am ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed New Zealand’s concerns about cyber activity have been conveyed directly to the Chinese Government. “The Prime Minister and Minister Collins have expressed concerns today about malicious cyber activity, attributed to groups sponsored by the Chinese Government, targeting democratic institutions in both New ...
Independent Reviewers appointed for School Property Inquiry Education Minister Erica Stanford today announced the appointment of three independent reviewers to lead the Ministerial Inquiry into the Ministry of Education’s School Property Function. The Inquiry will be led by former Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully. “There is a clear need ...
State Highway 1 across the Brynderwyns will be open for Easter weekend, with work currently underway to ensure the resilience of this critical route being paused for Easter Weekend to allow holiday makers to travel north, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Today I visited the Brynderwyn Hills construction site, where ...
Introduction Good morning to you all, and thanks for having me bright and early today. I am absolutely delighted to be the Minister for Infrastructure alongside the Minister of Housing and Resource Management Reform. I know the Prime Minister sees the three roles as closely connected and he wants me ...
New Zealand stands with the United Kingdom in its condemnation of People’s Republic of China (PRC) state-backed malicious cyber activity impacting its Electoral Commission and targeting Members of the UK Parliament. “The use of cyber-enabled espionage operations to interfere with democratic institutions and processes anywhere is unacceptable,” Minister Responsible for ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced New Zealand will provide logistics support for the upcoming Solomon Islands election. “We’re sending a team of New Zealand Defence Force personnel and two NH90 helicopters to provide logistics support for the election on 17 April, at the request ...
The European Union Free Trade Agreement Legislation Amendment Bill received Royal Assent today, completing the process for New Zealand’s ratification of its free trade agreement with the European Union. “I am pleased to announce that today, in a small ceremony at the Beehive, New Zealand notified the European Union ...
Public consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons has concluded, Internal Affairs Minister Hon Brooke van Velden says. “I have been advised that there were over 11,000 submissions made through the Royal Commission’s online consultation portal.” Expanding the scope of the Royal Commission of ...
Hardworking families are set to benefit from a new credit to help them meet their early childcare education (ECE) costs, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. From 1 July, parents and caregivers of young children will be supported to manage the rising cost of living with a partial reimbursement of their ...
A specialised Independent Technical Advisory Group (ITAG) tasked with preparing and publishing independent non-binding advice on the design of a "green" (sustainable finance) taxonomy rulebook is being established, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “Comprising experts and market participants, the ITAG's primary goal is to deliver comprehensive recommendations to the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins has thanked the Chief of Army, Major General John Boswell, DSD, for his service as he leaves the Army after 40 years. “I would like to thank Major General Boswell for his contribution to the Army and the wider New Zealand Defence Force, undertaking many different ...
25 March 2024 Minister to meet Australian counterparts and Manufacturing Industry Leaders Small Business, Manufacturing, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly will travel to Australia for a series of bi-lateral meetings and manufacturing visits. During the visit, Minister Bayly will meet with his Australian counterparts, Senator Tim Ayres, Ed ...
Government commits almost $3 million for period products in schools The Coalition Government has committed $2.9 million to ensure intermediate and secondary schools continue providing period products to those who need them, Minister of Education Erica Stanford announced today. “This is an issue of dignity and ensuring young women don’t ...
Good morning, it’s great to be here. First, I would like to acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of Building Surveyors and thank you for the opportunity to be here this morning. I would like to use this opportunity to outline the Government’s ambitious plan and what we hope to ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti has announced the Government’s commitment to the Auckland Secondary Schools Māori and Pacific Islands Cultural Festival, more commonly known as Polyfest. “The Ministry for Pacific Peoples is a longtime supporter of Polyfest and, as it celebrates 49 years in 2024, I’m proud to ...
Before moving onto the substance of today’s address, I want to recognise the very significant and ongoing contribution the Breast Cancer Foundation makes to support the lives of New Zealand women and their families living with breast cancer. I very much enjoy working with you. I also want to recognise ...
New Zealand has notched up a first with the launch of University of Canterbury research to the International Space Station, Science, Innovation and Technology and Space Minister Judith Collins says. The hardware, developed by Dr Sarah Kessans, is designed to operate autonomously in orbit, allowing scientists on Earth to study ...
Introduction Thank you for inviting me to speak with you today and I’m sorry I can’t be there in person. Yesterday I started in Wellington for Breakfast TV, spoke to a property conference in Auckland, and finished the day speaking to local government in Christchurch, so it would have been ...
The Coalition Government is contributing more than $1 million to support the establishment of an emergency multi-agency coordination centre in Northland. Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell announced the contribution today during a visit of the Whangārei site where the facility will be constructed. “Northland has faced a number ...
New Zealanders have enjoyed a broader range of voices telling the story of Aotearoa thanks to the creation of Whakaata Māori 20 years ago, says Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka. The minister spoke at a celebration marking the national indigenous media organisation’s 20th anniversary at their studio in Auckland on ...
Commercial catch limits for some fisheries have been increased following a review showing stocks are healthy and abundant, Ocean and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The changes, along with some other catch limit changes and management settings, begin coming into effect from 1 April 2024. "Regular biannual reviews of fish ...
By Anneke Smith, RNZ News political reporter A petition urging the New Zealand government to provide urgent humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people has been tabled in the House. More than 200 people gathered on Parliament’s forecourt today and they were met by MPs from Labour, the Greens and Te ...
Pacific Media Watch The Paris-based global media freedom watchdog RSF (Reporters Without Borders) has appealed for information about the “disappearance” of Palestinian journalist Bayan Abusultan. She was reportedly last seen on March 19 among people “sequestered” in this week’s raid and siege of Al Shifa hospital by Israeli troops in ...
EDITORIAL:The Jakarta Post It happens again and again; indigenous Papuans fall victim to Indonesian soldiers. This time, we have photographic evidence for the brutality, with videos on social media showing a Papuan man being tortured by a group of plainclothes men alleged to be the Indonesian Military (TNI) members. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robyn J. Whitaker, Director of the Wesley Centre for Theology, Ethics, and Public Policy & Associate Professor, New Testament, Pilgrim Theological College, University of Divinity A strange and eclectic range of activities takes place across these few weeks of the year. Some ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University It’s Easter weekend, which means many of us will be kicking back with the greatest hits on repeat. But whether you’re a boomer, or an ‘80s or ’90s kid, you might be ...
RNZ Pacific Fiji’s Acting Public Prosecutor has filed an appeal against the sentences of former prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama and suspended police chief Sitiveni Qiliho in their corruption case. Bainimarama was granted an absolute discharge for attempting to pervert the course of justice while Qiliho received a conditional discharge with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Arosha Weerakoon, Senior Lecturer and General Dentist, School of Dentistry, The University of Queensland Casezy idea/Shutterstock How does toothpaste work? What did people use before toothpaste was invented? – Amelia, age 7, Meanjin (Brisbane) Thanks for your ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brett Hallam, Associate professor, UNSW Sydney IM Imagery/Shutterstock Solar SunShot is well named. The Australian government announced today it would plough A$1 billion into bringing back solar manufacturing to Australia, boosting energy security, swapping coal and gas jobs for those ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Dix, Research Fellow in Nutrition & Dietetics, The University of Queensland Easter is the time for chocolate. The shops are full of fantastically packaged and shiny chocolates in all shapes and sizes, making trips to the supermarket with children more challenging ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emma Felton, Adjunct Senior Researcher, University of South Australia Even in a stubborn cost-of-living crisis, it seems there’s one luxury most Australians won’t sacrifice – their daily cup of coffee. Coffee sales have largely remained stable, even as financial pressures have ...
Mining company Trans-Tasman Resources has unexpectedly withdrawn its application for a consent to suck the valuable metals vanadium and titanium from the Taranaki seafloor, as it apparently wagers on the Government’s new fast-track process. It had spent two-and-a-half days putting its case to the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision-making committee, at ...
Contrary to the Associate Minister of Education’s claims, analysis of Healthy School Lunches Programme - Ka Ora, Ka Ako assessments has revealed it provides excellent value for the taxpayer dollar, as a groundswell of public opposition to Government ...
Greenpeace says wannabe Taranaki seabed miner Trans-Tasman Resources is likely banking on Christopher Luxon’s fast-track process to side-step proper scrutiny of its Taranaki seabed mining proposal by bailing out of the Environmental Protection Agency hearing ...
Kiwis Against Seabed mining today slammed Australian owned would-be seabed miner Trans Tasman Resources (TTR) for abandoning its application to the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) to mine the seabed of the South Taranaki Bight. The company ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katie Attwell, Associate Professor, School of Social Sciences, The University of Western Australia Ground Picture/Shutterstock Months after COVID vaccines were introduced in 2021, governments and private organisations mandated them for various groups. Health and aged care workers were among the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Dzurak, Scientia Professor Andrew Dzurak, CEO and Founder of Diraq, UNSW Sydney Diraq For decades, the pursuit of quantum computing has struggled with the need for extremely low temperatures, mere fractions of a degree above absolute zero (0 Kelvin or ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne A national Essential poll, conducted March 20–24 from a sample of 1,150, gave the Coalition a 50–44 lead including undecided, a reversal ...
The Taxpayers’ Union has today made a formal request under the Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Open Government Information () for information held about how New Zealand Members of Parliament are spending taxpayer ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robert Nelson, Honorary Principal Fellow, The University of Melbourne A Byzantine depiction of the Eucharist in Saint Sophia Cathedral, Kyiv.Jacek555/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA A nasty quarrel arose in the 11th century over what kind of bread should be used in holy ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Patrick Hesp, Professor, Flinders University Patrick Hesp In some parts of Australia, coastal dunes are retreating from the ocean at an alarming rate, as waves carve up the beach and wind blows the sand inland. But coastal communities are largely ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Luke Heemsbergen, Senior Lecturer, Digital, Political, Media, Deakin University With an impressive 60% of the US smartphone market, Apple is undeniably big, but not a clear monopoly. Yet, years of innovation by Apple have effectively given the company its own exclusive ...
Whether you’re facing layoffs or are just an emotional junior staffer, it’s always a good idea to scout out a good crying place before you need it. It’s an incredibly hard time for Wellington. Across the city, thousands of public servants are hearing tough news about redundancies and layoffs. Government ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Miller-Jones, Professor, Curtin University Nuclear explosions on a neutron star feed its jets. Danielle Futselaar and Nathalie Degenaar, Anton Pannekoek Institute, University of Amsterdam, CC BY-SA How fast can a neutron star drive powerful jets into space? The answer, it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Daryl Adair, Associate Professor of Sport Management, University of Technology Sydney Earlier this week, independent MP Andrew Wilkie accused the AFL of conducting “off the books” illicit drug testing to identify players using substances of abuse, then inappropriately withdrawing them from matches ...
The Government’s announcement that it will scrap plans for a vast marine sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands is ‘shameful’ and will make it impossible for Aotearoa New Zealand to meet its international commitments, says the World Wide Fund for Nature ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Quiggin, Professor, School of Economics, The University of Queensland Shutterstock The federal government has bowed to pressure from the car industry, announcing it will relax proposed emissions rules for utes and vans and delay enforcement of the new standards ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Suzanne Rutland, Professor Emerita, University of Sydney In his latest book, Jewish Life in Medieval Spain, Jonathan Ray focuses on the tumult of the 14th century in Spain – a time of the plague, civil strife and war between the two largest ...
While creating a slate of world-class shows, Whakaata Māori also developed a generation of world-class creatives. Television is an odd word. It mixes the Ancient Greek and Latin languages, and its most literal meaning is “far-off sight”. In the contemporary and living language of te reo Māori, “whakaata” as a ...
Yesterday the UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Israel’s war on Gaza. This significant step and the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza prompted an urgent debate in the New Zealand Parliament. Leader ...
The Government’s decision to reduce access to continuous glucose monitors (CGM) not only threatens the lives of children with type 1 diabetes and increases the potential for ‘Dead in Bed’ syndrome, but also threatens the health of their parents an ...
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The Deputy Chairperson of the Finance and Expenditure Committee is calling for public submissions on the Budget Policy Statement 2024. The Budget Policy Statement 2024 (BPS) sets out the Government's priorities for the 2024 Budget. It explains the approach ...
Brutal government spending cuts that will see the size of the Ministry for Pacific Peoples slashed by 40% will hit Pasifika communities hard, the PSA says. The Ministry has told staff that it is seeking voluntary redundancies, and to redeploy and reassign ...
I live with five people I mostly love, but our different ideas about generosity are starting to really irk me.Want Hera’s help? Email your problem to helpme@thespinoff.co.nzDear Hera,This is a bit of a random one but here goes. I’m 22 and work an OK job (OK meaning I get paid ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Maria Nicholas, Senior Lecturer in Language and Literacy Education, Deakin University Earlier this month, the New South Wales government announced it would roll out programs for gifted students in every public school in the state. This comes amid concerns gifted school ...
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I think that this policy implimented in France is the type of policy we should look at here in NZ, and the rest of the world for that matter.
The idea is to include a "repairability" index rating on products available for purchase. The rating includes factors such as availability of spare parts, ease of access to replace parts etc.
From an environmental perspective I think there is such a huge waste of resources and damage to the environment that occurs because these days products tend to be cheaply made and disposable. It is seldom worth repairing appliances, especially smaller ones these days. So, encouraging businesses to build better quality products with availability of spares has to be a good thing. If the quality is higher products will last longer and it will be more worthwhile repairing them.
When I was married 30+ years ago, my wife had a Kenwood food processor. It had been built in Britain. That lasted over 20 years before it finally was unusable. These days, we are doing well if a similar item lasts several years, especially if it is being used a lot.
Even cheap appliances could be made repairable. For instance, just by identifying the main wearing components and designing the products so those parts are easy to access and replace by the owner would make the items more worth repairing.
I think that attitudes are changing from an environmental perspective with consumers now, as can be evidenced by many companies changing the materials in their packaging to cardboard rather than plastic for instance. So, consumers may welcome this type of option becoming available.
Also, it would open up opportunities for companies inside NZ to start manufacturing better quality products. And the appliance repair industry would also get a leg up through this.
So, I think this type of idea is something political parties should consider promoting.
Yes "Built in obsolescence " needs to end. To conserve and to avoid enless plastic clutter "Repair " needs to be fashionable and rewarding again.
I've got quite good at repairing 1970's appliances like our cake mixer. They have machined parts and just consist of resistors and the like. When they burn out it is really easy to unscrew them (they use good metal and are screwed together, not snap together and the plastic is thick not cheap and brittle) identify what happened and repair to better than new.
I've still got my mothers 1940s hand operated eggbeater (well my sister pinched it but like an elephant, I never forget). It is made of solid steel. From England, when they built battleships there.
The problem is that in the 1970s and 80s cake mixers were valuable enough to be prizes on game shows. They lasted a lifetime, but they cost a bomb. Our entire post-inudstrial, late capitalist service economy model is completely reliant on a rampant consumer materialism with very high retail consumption of disposable goods – everything from a Warehouse eggbeater, a Briscoes cake mixer to disposable coffee cups to excessive overseas travel – fuelled by personal debt.
The point is making a solid, 50 year lifespan cake mixer that is repairable undermines the entire neoliberal capitalist job model of the last fifty years. If the cake mixer and other kitchen aplliances don't need replacing every 5-10 years then the all the jobs in the importers warehouse, the retailer, the distribution system, etc etc would vanish.
Yes, I understand that the cost of having appliances produced at the quality level of half a century or more back would make the cost prohibitive for many these days.
But, even with cheap appliances, it should be possible to at least make the wearable parts easily accessible and, perhaps sell the items with a set or two of spares so consumers can easily extend the life of these items without needing to take them to a repair shop.
Something else I find quite obscene is the way that people are pushed to keep upgrading what they already have. For instance, why do people feel they need to constantly upgrade their TVs to something with a few more, normally irrelevant features when their existing one works fine.
Also, business models based on encouraging consumption, such as selling printers at less than the cost of the cartridges. There is an obscene rationale from this, that it is cheaper to continually replace printers than purchase cartridges which just adds to needless waste.
Something else that contributes to the endless and needless consumerism and waste is the availability of easy credit, and the perception these days that we should all be able to have what we want now.
In my parents day, they would have just made use with what they had until they could afford to purchase what they wanted. And when they made the purchase, it would be something they purchased of good quality and would look after it and aim to keep it going for as long as possible.
These days, it is just chuck it away when it breaks down.
Further to that comment above is the annoyance with the likes of Apple TV boxes and modern TVs is that when some app is available, it isn't available for models over a certain age, sometimes as little as three or four years old.
Often it seems that there isn't any technological reason why the older models couldn't run the apps. Rather, it seems to be a deliberate policy to force people to upgrade if they want the newer features.
Another example I find really annoying is the Imac I purchased a few years ago. It basically is unrepairable. It can be repaired or upgraded by a technician. But requires careful removal of the front glass screen that involves breaking the glue holding the glass in place, and has to be done carefully to avoid breaking the glass.
Contrast that with the PC in a case where it was easy to open the side panels to clean out heat sinks, and upgrade or repair as required.
Constantly upgrading mobile phones (some do it annually)- is the ultimate in built in obsolescence.
Many (looking at you, here Apple) are either impossible or prohibitively expensive to repair. And none have an upgrade pathway.
Unless you live totally off-grid – in a 'Good Life' style existence – modern life really does require having a mobile phone.
[Yes, yes, there are exceptions – and I'm defining 'need' as 'participating in NZ 21st century life'. But if you have kids, for example – schools and ECE and holiday programmes all need a real-time contact – so unless you sit at home beside the landline, you need a mobile.]
I know this one is well beyond the ability of NZ to impose (or even influence, really) – but it's one of the areas which would make a huge difference.
I don't have a phone 🙂
We can tell from your appearance that you’re off the grid and live a subsistent life
I do have a phone but hardly ever use it – it was supa-convenient for the couple of times I had to do the Covid scans and show my vaccination status.
I communicate with distant friends using a series of sub-audial grunts, like those employed by whale and manatee. My thick, boney eyebrow ridges serve as a receiver for their replies. We don't talk often.
When you’re on the same wavelength of jungle drum, one beat can say it all! It can be exhausting having to repeat the same word over and over again because of poor reception or hard-hearing recipient.
I've built a high tower on which to sit, above the tree-tops, when sending and receiving. It's constructed from thousands of expired smart-phones, gleaned from the neighbourhood's recycling-bins.
I heard that those 1G networks are slow but very reliable. One downside of those towers is that they cannot be used during thunderstorms. The upside is that on sunny days the reflective screens of those smart-phones can be used as mirrors to send light signals, which is the 1G+ option that can rival traditional optical fibre connections and it is much cheaper. Visiting dodgy websites can be a bit of a problem because VPN is not really an option with 1G.
I broadcast and receive over the RG system; only occasionally reliable but cheap as chips to run.
Good on you! And you don’t strike me as a socially isolated teen (you wish?) and you seem to be a moderately effective local politician with some YouTube fame (and other social media, I assume)
Who needs a smart phone!!
Moderately effective!
Hrrrrrumph!
(New short-film to be released tomorrow – Happen Films present, via You tube, "Growing wild together")
I don’t want you to get too big for your boots, that you stay grounded. I’ve heard that some polies can’t handle the (relative) success & fame – do you know who I am? I’m sure you’re made of much stronger wood, so just in case
Do you have school age children, a job which requires you to be on call, or elderly parents? For teens and young adults, those without a cellphone (when everyone around them does) are really operating under a significant social handicap.
Yes, there are (as I said) some exceptions – mostly among the … richer in years … who still operate their social connections outside social media… but for the majority of us, a mobile is required to effectively participate in NZ 21st century life.
Even the government thinks so – the Civil defence/tsunami warning system operates through mobile phones, only.
You seem the think that all NZ school children at secondary (and primary?) school who can afford it have & use a mobile phone. Some (…) make a stand, for whatever reason (children can be like that), and refuse to use their phone and don’t even charge or switch it on, which can drive their parents mad because they rely on it. I don’t think the ‘requirement’ is as high as you think it is.
No, I don't think that all primary school children have mobile phones.
I do think that the vast majority of secondary school kids/teens have mobile phones. Primary, much less so – and I agree, at that age it’s much more about parental security, than kids desire for communication.
Choosing not to answer their parents – is a completely separate issue 😉
But, not having a phone is really socially isolating for teens. All of the meet-ups, etc are organized via social media, and their interaction is frequently via various apps: Discord & Instagram for the teen in this household ATM – Facebook is just for aged parents – but subject to change. Observationally, they rarely (if ever) actually speak to anyone on the phone – apart from aged grandparents – it's all texting.
Any of them who have a job – especially one of the typical zero hours contracts, that Teens so often get – will absolutely require a mobile (and one charged and switched on), or they won’t get any work.
I'm sure some do make a stand – but surprisingly few, Even the most radical of climate change activists – and passionate supporters of Greta Thunberg – amongst the peers of the household teen – still use their mobile phones to organize.
There's a good reason why removing the mobile phone is still the ultimate in behaviour-management consequences for most teens.
The point is that some teens choose to not use their phones (or even have one) for whatever reasons. Whether this is socially isolating, because they are socially isolated or choose to not engage with their peers by phone, or neither/some other reason is an interesting question that I cannot answer for you here on TS. I note that they often still can be active users of another electronic device for gaming and after-hours socialising. I also note that almost all teens have access to a device for their school work – the digital divide became clear during the lockdowns when it turned out that not all teens have online access and/or the means, but this will soon disappear again from most people’s minds. The point is/was about mobile phones being such a requirement or necessity in modern life, which I challenge – it is definitely a convenience and for some NZ teens a luxury (but so are sports shoes).
Evidence that a significant proportion of teens are choosing not to use mobile phones?
From my, admittedly unscientific, mental survey of the household teen's peers, our wider family network, and a variety of friends who teach in secondary schools at all deciles (phone management in classes is a constant student-management issue)- the numbers would be *tiny*.
The fact (which I admit) that a very small minority of the population may choose to not use mobile phones, isn't really relevant to the fact that they are required for most participation in modern life. Yes, you can choose to live off-grid, and not engage in any social interaction – but most people don't (and don't want that kind of life)
According to teacher friends in South Auckland (low decile schools) the teens they teach are much more likely to have a mobile phone, than they are to have home internet (they have chromebooks, etc. now, through the Education system, post covid – but not Internet access – except via mobile hotspot). Most do their homework (if they do it – other deprivation issues going on) – at the local library, where there is free wifi.
Either you haven’t properly read & understood my 2 comments or you want me to chase your strawmen.
FYI, mobile phone ownership & usage is very high among NZ teens and there are plenty of surveys and studies that show this.
You’re conflating high usage, personal reliance and convenience with genuine requirement for mobile phones. Your argument is that because many/most people jump into the mud they all want to and (should?) jump into the mud. If anything, it is giving into to peer social pressure rather than demonstrating the alleged requirement. Fact is that some people get by perfectly ok without using a mobile phone and without becoming social outcasts and/or uneducated illiterates.
Taking a mobile phone away from an addicted user, especially a teen, has the same response as with any addict going through withdrawal. Arguably, an ironically having the phone becomes a requirement because of the personal dependence – these effects are very real (and worrisome).
PS for simple but effective communication (e.g. emergencies or basic texting), a basic phone without all the so-called smartphone features (bells & whistles such as Giga pixel cameras) can be perfectly adequate. They tend to be called ‘dumbphones’ or ‘duty phones’. See this Approved Mobile Phone list – May 2022 from Otago University (https://www.otago.ac.nz/its/otago719498.pdf).
"Even the government thinks so – the Civil defence/tsunami warning system operates through mobile phones, only."
Or, your partner's.
Half of NZ's married or partnered population is exempt from that 'requirement'.
Yes, it's a cause of amusement in larger groups, when they test the mobile alert system, the order in which the various phones receive it and sound the alarm.
Never the same twice.
There’s no way this can be correct, and it isn’t: https://www.civildefence.govt.nz/get-ready/civil-defence-emergency-management-alerts-and-warnings/
Emergency mobile alerts – are only provided via mobile phone
https://www.civildefence.govt.nz/get-ready/civil-defence-emergency-management-alerts-and-warnings/emergency-mobile-alert/
Yes, this same information may (or may not) be supplied via broadcast media – but that relies on you (the audience) happening to be listening to the radio/tv at the time (for a 3am tsunami warning, not likely).
Specifically, none of the alerts are transmitted via the landline phone system.
You may (or may not) be living in an area with audible sirens to alert for tsunamis.
That’s saying that mobile phone calls are only made to mobile phones, i.e. a tautological statement.
Actually, mobile phone calls can easily be made to landlines.
I do it all the time when calling the less technologically literate members of the whanau (if I'm allowed to use that word)
sigh
Sigh, right back at you.
The *point* of this discussion was that non-ownership of a mobile phone excludes you from some societal benefits.
A personally targeted (i.e. sent to your mobile phone – rather than requiring you to know to go and seek it out on the radio) emergency alert was a specific example.
There is no equivalent alert system for landlines. [Although, there could be, if the govt felt that it was worthwhile. They don't, because a sufficiently high (and growing) percentage of the population have mobile phones]
No mobile phone, no alert sounding in your house.
Sometimes, I feel that we are just talking past each other.
I'll stop now.
You said “only”, which was not correct.
Have a nice day.
There is, of course, the advantage of a mobile phone is that I no longer have to buy a separate computer, camera, video and audio player, watch, calculator, star identifier, GPS navigator maps, stopwatch, alarm clock and many other items. Thanks to the constant advances in the ability of mobile phones to replace all of those.
That software changes turn many of them into useless bricks in less than 5 years is annoying. As is being charged $1000's to add to Apples bank account, for something that costs a fraction of that to produce.
Planned absolesence keeps millions in jobs, and economies afloat.
Which is why a more sustainable economy is impossible, while we have an economic system that is dependant on infinite growth.
Don’t forget the monitoring of your health data. I believe that in some cases & countries this may even be covered by private health insurers (depending on your policy, of course!
Build quality is exactly why you buy Apple products which are far more reliable and long-lasting than their cheaper PC and Android counterparts, some of which are truly disposable.
Apple's philosophy is high quality, great user experience, and seamless interconnectivity and is therefore the opposite of built-in failure and obsolescence.
LOL.
None of my families Apple products have been really useeable after two years.
Apple even lost a court case over it. Apple Agrees To Pay $113 Million To Settle 'Batterygate' Case Over iPhone Slowdowns : NPR
The ultimate in planned obsolescence. Apple investigated by France for 'planned obsolescence' – BBC News
It is a pity the excellent Nokia linux based cell phones, were bought out and buried by Microsoft.
Now we have a choice of Apple or Andriod, both of which are frankly, crap. Even Windows phone were better.
My pet peeves, especially with f-ing Apple, are batteries & charge-leads.
How about having to go to a licensed Apple dealer (and pay a premium) or void the guarantee.
That’s almost an anathema to me! Like selling my soul to the highest bidder so that I can have the logo on my forehead to show I’m a soulless hipster with good taste but questionable judgement.
Which of course reenforces that Apple are committed to reliability and length of use.
No. It shows that Apple are committed to extorting the maximum possible for the use of their products.
Their business model is to deliberately inflate the cost of repair, making purchase of a new model more desirable.
Pretty sure it would be hard to find a manufacture honouring a warranty after being repaired by someone unlicensed, or paying someone unlicensed to repair under warranty.
Nope. Any reputable dealer should be able to replace a broken screen or a battery. Apple requiring this to only be done by licensed dealers, is an absolute rort.
How come you're so hot on defending a multi-billion-dollar American corporate empire?
They're doing exactly what all the other corporates (that you so often decry) are doing – maximizing their business model and return to shareholders.
I don't denigrate them for playing the game according to the current rules – but give them no corporate brownie points for doing so.
However, I do think that the rules should change.
The articles made it really, really clear that Apple were doing the slowdown, deceptively (via automatic update, without telling users), in order to 'encourage' them to trade up to the new model. When caught, they paid up. Enough said. No corporate every pays up unless they know they are guilty – and are trying to avoid even worse court-ordered penalties.
Charge leads for Apple may not be a problem soon. The EU are forcing them into USB C.
I still have my MS surface after 5 years. They said when I bought it the battery may need replacement after 5 years. It is replaceable. Still fine though. Won’t load Win 11, but MS are still supporting 10 which works fine.
In that time, my wife has gone through 3 Apple tablets and 2 Iphones which we have had to replace for various reasons.
Ah, yes, I remember reading something about Apple & USB, but I like to hold on to my grudges.
Spent a small fortune on f-ing Apple products over the years
My Dell laptop is > 10 years old and the battery is completely dead. It also doesn’t load Win11 but I don’t care. MS Office 2010 (out of support). My brain is in dire need of an upgrade too – all good things come to an end, eventually.
How many families do you have?
The reason for Apple slowing phones down is legitimate unless you are a conspiracy theorist.
Fact is, the policy was again an attempt by Apple to prolong the use of their devices, which is the whole point of this particular thread…
Really drunk the coolaid here…..
Do you have any evidence (apart from Apple press-releases) that slowing down older phones was in any way legitimate?
Because the EU courts don't appear to agree with you (see KJT's links above)- though, perhaps they're all conspiracy theorists over there.
You can easily read the explanation about what they did and why in both those articles.
Apple phones are effectively bricks after 5 years. None of the apps are backwards compatible after that long.
Built-in obsolescence is just as much a feature of their business model as it is for Samsung and Huawei (and, all the rest). Their *entire* marketing campaign is all about 'buy the latest' not 'buy the phone which will last a lifetime'
It's just that they've cornered the top end of the obsolescence market. Pay a premium for branding.
And other manufacturers phones stop working at all after 3 years. Their marketing campaign might hype a new release but, news flash, that is what marketing campaigns do.
Yes, consumers pay a premium, for quality.
Someone should tell my Nokia 7.2 it is supposed to stop working after 3 years. Not showing any signs of it. Unlike my wife's 2 year old I thing.
And. It was a quarter of the price of the I phone.
5 years and counting on my 1st Samsung (had to replace, because of an accident to it – repairs not cost-effective – which is what this thread is about). Current Samsung 3.5 years – and not an issue in sight.
Price – less than half of an Apple iphone. Quality slightly worse (mostly in the camera, which I mourn a little, but not enough to pay for either a top of the line Samsung or an Apple product).
For Apple, you're paying for the logo and brand styling, and to be part of the 'tribe'- maybe a 'little' for quality – but the difference would be literally unnoticeable to most people for what they use their phone for.
All of the product reviews I’ve read, comparing top of the line Samsung (and other Android phones) with Apple basically say there is no difference in UX or quality.
Also no real difference in price at that spec level.
Agree about the top end specs/price for Apple/Andriod phones.
However, can buy a very decent mid-spec Samsung for way less than the bottom spec iPhone.
For sure. They are all pretty good value for a tiny supercomputer with cutting edge software like AI image processing. Evolves so fast that nothing is stable for more than a few years.
Thinking about this again (as I laced on by Allbirds and went out to the local bakery to buy bread for lunch) [getting my virtue signalling in ;-)]
I really think that that up-front cost is a significant barrier for many families – for whom there is very little disposable income.
I bought my Allbirds 3 years ago – they took me around a 7 week trip of Europe, with miles of daily walking, I continue to wear them most days in winter, and they are the most comfortable shoes I've ever owned.
They were expensive. But the cost/return ratio has certainly worked out for me.
But, I refused to buy a pair for the household teen, whose feet are still growing. In the time I've owned my Allbirds, I would have bought 8-9 pairs of shoes for the teen – both feet growing, and lost shoes (grrr)
The cost/return ratio for Allbirds doesn't work in this instance. I don't buy expensive Adidas or Nike trainers, for the teen, either.
When I was growing up, shoes were *expensive*. I remember my Mum doing the budget to buy new school shoes for the 3 of us (hand-me-downs didn't work – we were all too close in age). Roman sandals in summer were cheap enough, but winter shoes were always a struggle.
Moving to a more sustainable, long-lasting, solution – will be more expensive. And that solution isn't always warranted. Sometimes, just having a cheap pair of shoes, which will last 6 months (because the kid will have outgrown them by next winter) is actually all that's needed.
Not necessarily 'prohibitively' expensive – but 3-4 times the cost of the 'cheap' disposable one – which makes them a niche product – only available for the relatively wealthy who can afford the 'excess' cost in return for the luxury brand.
My Kitchen Aid mixer (US – solid as a rock, and absolutely able to be repaired, should it need it) – is going on for 30 years of regular use. I bought it, deliberately, because I did a lot of baking, and wanted a heavy-duty mixer that would last the distance. At the time – it was approx 5x the cost of a cheapie plastic one (and I bought it at a super-end-of-season markdown price – with no choice of colour (sniff)). Long-term, a good buy – but it's hard to see that as a young person (everyone I knew was horrified – 'you spent that much on a mixer' – or as my mother said 'an eggbeater!')
Boots theory – Wikipedia
Yep, I'm thoroughly familiar with the inimitable Sam Vimes.
Terry Pratchett continues to be one of my favourite 'comfort' re-reads (sadly taken from us much too soon). Characterization, Language, Humour and the ability to poke a stick at the most unlikely of social constructs – all a constant joy.
Mmm – the quality doesn't cost, it pays argument!
I have a 25 year old Magimix food processor, 20 year old Dualit toaster (elements have been replaced), 10 year old Kitchen Aid mixer, 20 year old Italian espresso machine (boiler cap has been replaced). All regularly used and still going strong.
And…
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jun/04/why-your-ability-to-repair-a-tractor-could-also-be-a-matter-of-life-and-death
Yes, those printed computer boards are incredibly annoying.
I have had that experience with a dishwasher that failed due to the control board failing. The cost of the replacement board plus the cost of someone to fit it was prohibitively expensive.
I am sure the board was being sold at a price many more times the cost of production, and was part of the "built in obsolescence" plan of the manufacturers who probably thought I would by a new dishwasher.
I think I did actually do that. The problem for the manufacturer was that I was pissed off at them as a result of that so purchased a different brand.
Just an FYI friend of mine had a LG tv it stopped – "it's the circuit board it's a frisbee now" fortunately his brother is a very skilled and knowledgeable IT guy.
Circuit board goes in the oven bag into a warm oven and remove it as soon as you smell solder and hey presto one working tv – Apparently with the soldered connections on circuit board the solder can crack causing it to fail. Heating can re-melt the solder causing a repair. Strange world.
Best yarn of the day. Barfly.
One of the current issues on ships is the very short life span of computerised control systems.
Before computerised engines, it was rare for engines to break down at sea. I had only three in ten years. The mechanical parts still rarely fail.
Computerised fuel and other systems, cause problems on a regular basis. And it usually seems to be the ones you don't have a spare board for.
It makes me laugh when they talk about autonomous ships. The costs of reliable electronic control systems, that last 15 to 20 years would easily exceed crew costs.
My (building) frustrating experience with most modern appliances (incl. cars) is that their weakest point often is poorly designed and/or poorly manufactured electrics/electronics with sub-standard components, not so much the wear & tear of the moving parts. They also have no in-build ‘resilience’, i.e., one faulty component kills the whole thing dead and useless.
Our british bought Kenwood processor lasted well over 25 years.
On our second for the last decade.
Don't get me wrong. Was cool.
But one of the more surreal moments in my life. Getting out of bed. Turning on the TV and there is Tom Cruise presenting the Jubilee and then the Trinidad and Tobago military band playing "Dancing Queen" by ABBA.
As I say cool…..But a bit weird when you have just woken up 🙂
Good Morn tsmithfield, Patricia, and Sanctuary. Re planned/inbuilt Obsolescence,and UNrepairable and/or UNrecyclable appliances etc…
I dont know if you have heard of, or seen….
https://community.greenpeace.org.nz/petitions/make-it-our-right-to-repair
https://www.facebook.com/RepairCafeNZ/
But they Both are trying very hard to change this very sad state of affairs.
Personally I live as Sustainably as possible. (and that is absolutely possible : )
I rebuild Bicycles ( 100 plus : ) that would have gone to the scrap metal.
And…being practical…can "sometimes" fix a washing machine, stereo,video/dvd, etc etc. Problem being….a lot are now UNrepairable. Printers are one very bad throwaway….(the jerks sell the printer cheaper than the replacement ink cartridge !!
And in lot of newer type appliances, cant even open them up…as NO screws!
anyway, please look at Petition and repair Cafe Aotearoa.
My wife and I buy most of our clothes at Savemart and other op shops
What's interesting about that is the differences between men and women, in that my wife has no issues finding expensive clothing barely worn (sometimes tag's still on) whereas for me it's a lot harder
Seems like women are more likely to buy clothes, not wear them then donate them whereas men are less likely
Great for her but makes it harder for me
You could browse the women's section for something nice 🙂
Signed the petition.
I think from a marketing perspective there is some hope in all this.
One good thing about the marketing approach is that it focuses on understanding consumer desires, attitudes, and beliefs and aims at meeting those needs.
Thus as consumers become more concerned about environmental factors (as they are) then the marketing perspective should lead to companies picking up on those changes in public sentiment, and aiming to align their products and services accordingly.
We can already see this approach having an effect in various aspects. For instance, companies using a lot more cardboard in packaging rather than polystyrine, supermarkets trying to eliminate plastic from there packaging etc.
At the moment, this is all a bit superficial. But, I think that is where governments can align their policies with the change in sentiment as well so that companies have an environment that enables them to make more fundamental changes without the fear of losing out to their competitors.
Hence, that policy that France has adopted that I pointed to in my first post seems to make a lot of sense. From a marketing perspective it gives companies a point to differentiate there products so that people feel they are getting value for spending more on a product that should last them longer.
Oh good on you signing ! And yep, absolutely Consumer Awareness/pressure will make Manufacurers/Suppliers change (I hope not kicking and screaming? : )
I've been involved in Sustainability and associated for…a long time,and as in your link, I look World wide for updates and Innovation.
Re the polystyrene and excess packaging ! I remember reading years back where Germans (Great Recyclers ! ) just started unpacking the appliance Instore..and leaving extraneous detritus there. Well…that focused the Store Owner !
As to Polystyrene….possibly one of THE worst pollutants. And a developed byproduct of the petroleum industry : (
As I like to look ..for Alternatives..there is any amount of Compression Resistant Cardboard (some like a honeycomb ) etc.
And…back to Consumer Pressure. I'm ever hopeful..but also try to let people know HOW.
cheers
Polystyrene packaging? Gold. (Assuming y'all are into power-conserving haybox cooking.)
(And somewhere in this modern take on the Haybox is a bit of corrugated cardboard as well.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGLFeYNr2w0&t=111s
towels work too.
Signed.
"Rage Against the Machine"
The Machine was probably a printer.
Or a "micros@ft" product. Plenty of memes of Xbox's (INBUILT Red Ring of Death : (
And Windows (vista ?! etc etc etc) going out …sometimes, through…a Window. : )
Of course…Geeks/Nerds have shown ways to repair the Xbox…even when they were supposedly throwaways. And Update PC’s with Alternatives .
Take that, Bill Gates…Lord of Nearly a Lot : )
Yes, Thank you P.L.A. Great.
Hi, cheers for signing too !
One thing that annoys me about the current approach to sustainability is that there often seems to be a short-sighted focus on the most obvious aspect without considering other factors.
For instance, I am all for EV technology.
But the focus seems to be on the cars themselves without considering the other highly relevant factors. For instance, the sourcing of raw materials, the effect of manufacturing on the environment, the availability of charging infrastructure, the availability of renewable generation to charge the batteries, and end of life disposal of batteries.
The result of a narrow focus can be that people feel they are doing the right thing. But it ends up becoming an exercise in virtue signalling if the whole production and use chain from beginning to end isn't considered.
The whole paradigm of duplicating capabilities of petrol cars needs to be considered.
For many people the range and carrying capacity of petrol cars is not needed.
Making the resource intensity of car manufacturing much less.
For example, Mazda with the MX 30 use a battery big enough to be more than adequate for most city owners. But smaller than competitors. Saving weight, resources and energy usage.
From an overall environmental perspective, I like the concept of hydrogen-powered cars if they can become viable. The biggest issue is around producing the hydrogen in the first place. However, if this can be done economically, I think the overall environmental footprint would be better than EVs.
There is no way hydrogen for cars can have a better footprint than EV's. The sums simply don't add up.
Reticulation and storage come into the equation as well. Hard to beat an electric grid for energy transmission.
As lightweight high energy "batteries" for ships and planes hydrogen has potential. For land transport the numbers don't add up.
Oh yea…with you on all that. And I get that not everyone can..or "could" Cycle. Why I also talk Public Transport…and Transition Towns.
But
https://theconversation.com/cycling-is-ten-times-more-important-than-electric-cars-for-reaching-net-zero-cities-157163
And there is Apathy of course…
As
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somebody_else%27s_problem
Anyway…as I said Ever Hopeful…(and its a Sunny Day, so off to the Outside World)
Nice talk..and keep Looking : )
Having spent some time in Korea, I have to agree with Simon Draper.
Stuff closed the comments pretty quick – they don't feed the preferred narrative.
South Korea has a vision for the future. Where is New Zealand's? | Stuff.co.nz
A typical think piece based entirely on wishful thinking and a category mistake. No consideration of how South Korea got to be in the economic and developmental position it is in the first place after the Korean War – i.e. a military junta from 1961 to 1963, and a virtual dictatorship from 1963 to 1972 driving development. Nor do I think the degree of nationalism you see in South Korea today would catch on here.
It's one of those daft arguments like "we should model ourselves on Singapore" which pays no attention to the unique conditions that allow Singapore to operate the way it does – ie. it's vital position in SEA, the fact it's the only non-corrupt tech hub to do business in in that part of the world, and a degree of top down authoritarianism we simply wouldn't put up with in this country.
Not wrong about NZ, lack of vision, however.
Having spent some time with the architect of their economic policy from 1950, Lee Kie- Hong, there is much that we could learn – but the conventional response is always to reject such suggestions out of hand, without considering any of the details. The contrast is informative.
NZ is actually quite keen on economic resurgence. It became a platform for Muldoon, Douglas, and was much of the misplaced attraction of John Key – but none of them was much cop frankly. NZ produces regular crops of self-styled 'steady hands' and 'economic miracle workers' none of whom have a ghost of a clue what they're doing.
In the meantime Korea has equipped itself with high speed rail, universal internet, the best subway system in the world – the kinds of things NZ governments barely dare to dream of – a single conventional train from Hamilton to Auckland, which we had a hundred years ago, is about as far as things go. The same lack of vision is presently dooming our climate response.
Strike what, kindergartens, hospitals, schools, churches, care facilities?
https://twitter.com/Gerashchenko_en/status/1533406786702741504
It looks like Putin is alg about the Himars systems going to Ukraine (with the 80km range missiles not the 300km ones) saying that Ukraine already had missiles with that range, so it doesn't change anything.
That being the case, the US should send a few hundred of the systems.
Yes , four's a bit measly, a token effort, almost as if the US is not serious
I understand that four were immediately available in Europe.
The Ukrainians need to be trained on these so I expect that is what the first four will be used for and that more will likely be on the way.
I don’t think the US and NATO fully disclose everything they are doing for obvious reasons.
Are people who post on political blogs nuts? Of course we are. We are the electronic version of people who write letters to the editor, except we are nuttier. To loosely paraphrase Chris Trotter (re blogs):
'' a hand full of people jumping up and down and arguing on a very small part of the internet''
In my opinion there are two classes of nut: Those who know they are nuts and carry on regardless. And those who have no idea they are nutty. They believe they are pontificating arguments of importance that will influence something, somebody, down the track. Thankfully I belong to the former class.
Jumping forward.
A while back I commented to Iprent that I dealt more with emotional feel and psychic imprints around a topic rather than dry facts. Hence, Incognito stating I can argue my opinions but not the facts. That is true to a DEGREE.
The problem with facts is you can attack their architecture. The fact may remain but a taint is added: eg ''The study was 5 years old, so may not be currently accurate.'' Even though the facts show, and a recent review confirms the original study is still current and proven valid, a taint has been added.
Iprent shows two examples of this in his replies to stories I have posted:
1- I posted that inflation was at the time running at 5.9%. He added much commentary around that figure. But nothing had changed. The figure was still 5.9%.
2- I posted that the current radio survey/ratings had Mike Hosking's show top in its time segment and that it had picked up increased audience numbers. Iprent basically said those type of surveys are inaccurate and meant little. I knew he was incorrect simply because of the anger out in the community aimed at Labour. I knew he was incorrect because of the hate Lefties have for Hoskings. 77, 000 people signed a petition to get rid of Hosking a few years back when he was at TV1. I bet many of those who signed were Lefties who didn't even watch the great one. I knew Iprent was incorrect because in many of Mikey's interviews, the interviewee says '' that's a good question.'' before answering. So I'm getting my feel for the topic/fact, not from the facts, but from peripheral issues/emotions surrounding the topic.
https://www.change.org/p/tvnz-get-rid-of-hosking-1347aa6d-8044-4a33-ba59-7fe0a5dba42b/c/468079907
I have always thought I would love to have my system made into a programme that could be used to save myself time. A programme that could scan issues and posts for the emotions and feeling underneath facts and words.
And someone has done that, but with the twist of using computers to analyse social media posts and gain an insight into people's mental states.
Quote:
''What sets the new model apart is a focus on the emotions rather than the specific content of the social media texts being analysed. In a paper presented at the 20th International Conference on Web Intelligence and Intelligent Agent Technology, the researchers show that this approach performs better over time, irrespective of the topics discussed in the posts.
https://techxplore.com/news/2022-03-ai-mental-disorders-based-web.html
Lordy – the results of scanning this blog would be interesting.
What a surprise – the ignorant and opinionated dolt is impressed by another ignorant and opinionated dolt.
So your grasp on realty is so tenuous you admire a calumniator – why tell us? Go direct to Hosking talkback – there you will find many other stupid people whose discourse is likewise unleavened by inconvenient facts.
[Don’t take the bait, don’t feed the trolls, don’t attack others here, don’t start flame wars and leave it to the Mods – Incognito]
Mod note
Noted.
Thankyou. That's all I wanted.
You don’t always get what you want and be careful what you wish for here from now on.
This comes across as yet another unhinged rant by you because you have a chip on your shoulder and you’re confused about how this site works. It is also a broad attack on the site and its commenters implying that they have mental disorders and they’re nutty without knowing it.
Whether you call it “emotional feel and psychic [sic] imprints”, views or viewpoints, or opinions, it is all the same, but none give you a free pass to spout your BS without consequences. Facts, claims of facts, assertions, all of those you need to be able to support, as part of your argument.
You should read this first: https://thestandard.org.nz/policy/#rules.
You make up some BS hypothetical example about a fact, which proves nothing and clears up nothing. And it’s f-ing irrelevant. Taking liberties with facts, making tentative extrapolations, and projections into the future are all symptoms and very recent examples of your disingenuous commenting here. But then you give 2 examples by Lprent that supposedly show how right you were and how wrong Lprent was.
You did not include links!! I should ban you for this alone.
The first one about inflation I could trace to this: https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-02-02-2022/#comment-1857344. You were being educated and you still don’t realise it. And you didn’t state that inflation was 5.9%, FFS!
The second one about Mike Hosking is a bit of a guess, but I assume it is this one: https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-06-12-2021/#comment-1839806. However, I cannot see the connection with your present rant, so maybe I’ve got the wrong one.
No, forget your ‘feels’ and learn to properly argue here, following the simple rules of this site.
I’m deliberately not moderating you here because I want to give other Mods a chance to do so. If not, I’m sure I will moderate one of your comments soon enough because you have no credit left and show no signs of improvement.
The guest knew his time would be short and so, before he was chosen for the departure line, determined on gaslighting the neighbourhood.
One more reason to have an online username and maintain internet ID privacy … .
So the psychiatric gulag is hunting patients online. It might however provide useful information as a background check for access to guns.
However, it could be so easily manipulated by those who know of the design. A few deliberate provocations, or calculated insults to create an impact/effect.
Anything to say about the post? Apart from invective? I won't ask you to self reflect and state what class of nut you are, simply because you are incapable of doing that. Idiot.
[It looks like you’re heading for self-martyrdom and want to drag other commenters, who are stupid enough to take the bait, down with you. Suffice to say, the bans won’t be of equal length – Incognito]
Mod note