Open Mike 07/07/2018

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, July 7th, 2018 - 55 comments
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55 comments on “Open Mike 07/07/2018 ”

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    • Draco T Bastard 1.1
      7 July 2018 at 11:58 am

      An irritating article:

      However, when manufacturers start transporting produce in glass bottles, costs start to rise. A 330ml plastic soft drink bottle contains around 18 grams of material while a glass bottle can weigh between 190g and 250g. Transporting drinks in the heavier containers requires 40% more energy, producing more polluting carbon dioxide as they do and increasing transport costs by up to five times per bottle.

      So the correct answer is don’t transport it. Or, at least, minimise transportation.

      To me its’ probably worthwhile removing soft-drinks from the market.

      There are some, however, who warn that abandoning plastic after nearly 70 years of using it to package our food could have other far more costly, unintended consequences.

      “I think people underestimate the benefits of plastics in reducing food waste,” says Anthony Ryan, professor of chemistry and director of The Grantham Centre for Sustainable Futures at the University of Sheffield.

      What’s the comparison of wasted food from before the plastics revolution to now? Then we may be able to determine if all this plastic is saving food.

      One company that has already shifted to bioplastic is British skincare company Bulldog. It has swapped its traditional plastic tubes for polyethylene made from sugarcane.

      But it’s still polyethylene.

      Surprisingly, due to rising oil prices, recycled plastic is actually cheaper to use than fresh, virgin plastic made from oil. A tonne of virgin PET costs around £1,000 while clear recycled PET costs just £158 per tonne.

      No, that’s not surprising. What’s surprising is that any one ever thought that using new resources was cheaper than recycling.

      IMO, this proves that the pricing mechanism of The Market isn’t working.

      Contamination of PET plastic with PLA, however, can leave the resulting bottle weaker and unfit for use, meaning the whole batch will have to be discarded. As manufacturers try to reduce their plastic footprint by using greener, biodegradable plastics, the risk of mixing with conventional plastics will only increase, potentially driving up the cost of recycled materials.

      Yeah, that’s not actually using ‘greener’ plastics. Just ensuring that the plastic used was recycled would be far greener.

      Really, the problem here seems to be that the proper recycling infrastructure was never put in place – probably because of the delusional idea that throwing away resources was cheaper than recycling.

  2. Tony Veitch [not etc.] 2
    7 July 2018 at 9:09 am

    And so it begins: The orange puff-ball imposes tariffs on Chinese good. China imposes tariffs of US goods. Russia imposes tariffs on American goods . . .

    Welcome to the next global recession. And it’s likely to be worse than ’29.

    • Bewildered 2.1
      7 July 2018 at 11:41 am

      If your so certian go short the market Tony, you can’t loose,albeit you and Ed have been predicting the new 29 for about 5 years so maybe a bit of caution

    • Draco T Bastard 2.2
      7 July 2018 at 12:01 pm

      And the answer will be the same as after the Great Depression – more diversified local production for the local market.

      Either that or a world war which achieves the same thing.

    • cleangreen 2.3
      7 July 2018 at 3:52 pm

      Yep Tony,

      We are aleready entering the next global ressession so dont fret the bankls will close down this time to make things bnetter for us alll in the end because all the financial systems and insurance systems are fully extended to the adge so we will enter another time of “honest renewal” again so we are not being swindled again by these financial magots.

      Insurances have increased 25% in 12 months and we need to take insurance companies apart for their collussion and robbery.

      https://www.reuters.com/article/us-insurance-rates/north-american-commercial-property-insurance-rates-seen-rising-sharply-in-2018-idUSKBN1D62G6

  3. alwyn 3
    7 July 2018 at 10:00 am

    Gaia has spoken.
    https://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/105284011/whale-continues-to-star-in-wellington-but-fireworks-could-be-canned
    Perhaps the idiots on the Wellington Council will now decide that a Fireworks display in mid-winter is not such a great idea and will go back to the traditional November time around Guy Fawkes day when the weather is a great deal better.
    The whale has come as a messenger from the Gods to point out their error.
    Justin Lester, take note.
    Well, something like that if you are suitably superstitious.

    • Pete George 3.1
      7 July 2018 at 10:17 am

      November is a bad time for fireworks for kids, especially when 5 November falls mid week. It doesn’t get dark enough (down south anyway) until after 10 pm.

    • veutoviper 3.2
      7 July 2018 at 10:58 am

      I disagree Alwyn because the early Nov timing of the previous Guy Fawkes displays had to be late evening 9 – 10pm* which is very late for young children AND was totally the wrong timing for animals such as those at the Zoo (including endangered species) because it is during the main breeding period and frightened animals can kill their young in such situations. [* The fireworks planned for this weekend were scheduled for 6.30pm, thus much better for young children.]

      I agree the wind today (and expected tomorrow) in Wellington may have led to the postponement of the fireworks anyway but we don’t have these high gale force winds continually during the winter months – and we do have them during spring and autumn and occasionally during summer, as well as in winter.

      The Southern Right Whale is certainly causing a lot of interest in Wellington and some have said it is actually a really good sign – not a bad one.

      Here is a great photo by Simon Wolfe of the whale and the downtown area including the Beehive – plus further down the thread, similar photos of whales in various other cities (Sydney, Perth, New York and San Francisco).

      https://twitter.com/WoolfSimon/status/1014652341599866880

    • Anne 3.3
      7 July 2018 at 11:09 am

      Surely Weta Workshop could create a mock female whale with movable parts that could be dropped into the water at the entrance to Cook Strait and they could noisily flap it’s flappers by way of a remote control which would attract the attention of the lovelorn whale in the harbour? 😈

      • veutoviper 3.3.1
        7 July 2018 at 11:25 am

        LOL!

        I am not sure that they know which gender this whale is, although NIWA and DOC (I think) did get some bio specimens from it a few days ago. There were suggestions that it may be female and has come into the harbour to give birth, but it seems to be enjoy playing to the audience etc so perhaps not.

  4. Tony Veitch [not etc.] 4
    7 July 2018 at 10:14 am

    And so it begins: the orange puff-ball imposes tariffs on China. China retaliates with tariffs on American goods. Russia comes to the party with tariffs on US products. . . .

    Welcome, folks, the next global recession. And it’s likely to be worse than ’29.

    • Draco T Bastard 5.1
      7 July 2018 at 12:05 pm

      IIRC, Tenure Review was never what the people wanted. They really would have preferred the land being made part of the conservation estate.

      It was obvious, when Labour started it, that we were going to lose out while the greedy bastards made out like the bandits that they are.

      • bwaghorn 5.1.1
        7 July 2018 at 2:40 pm

        But I was assured by some of Labour’s spokesman on this very blog not that long ago that labour had changed their mind about tenure review .
        Surely they would not lie to me?

        • Draco T Bastard 5.1.1.1
          7 July 2018 at 5:34 pm

          They probably did – once they knew that the process that they put in place to sell it all was a big rip off. A little late at that point.

  6. Tony Veitch (not etc.) 6
    7 July 2018 at 10:50 am

    And so it begins: the orange puff-ball imposes tariffs on China. China retaliates with tariffs on American products. Russia joins the party with tariffs on US goods. The EU and Canada?

    Welcome to the next global recession. Likely to be worse than ’29.

    • Tony Veitch 6.1
      7 July 2018 at 11:36 am

      Sorry about the doubling up – didn’t think the first post ‘took’.

    • Bewildered 6.2
      7 July 2018 at 11:47 am

      Can’t have it both ways tony, is not not closed economics, build Everything yourself, globalisation and trade is bad ( ie TPP) etc On these fronts you should be Trumps biggest supporter

      • Draco T Bastard 6.2.1
        7 July 2018 at 12:29 pm

        Tariffs are part of free trade. Government manipulation of their currency, as China does, isn’t. Tariffs then become part of the necessary tools trade happens upon an even playing field.

      • Tony Veitch (not etc.) 6.2.2
        7 July 2018 at 12:56 pm

        I’m not a Trump supporter – but then, neither am I in favour of globalisation. We should be easing out of buying things we can produce here from Lithuania or Moldova or . . .

        But a global recession serves no-one any good. The last major one threw up Adolf and WW2.

        • Draco T Bastard 6.2.2.1
          7 July 2018 at 5:35 pm

          Actually, the last major one resulted in the banks and rich people getting bailed out to the tune of around about $1 trillion dollars.

    • Ad 6.3
      7 July 2018 at 4:01 pm

      If it goes on too long and gets too asymmetrical, China must start thinking about using the $1.18 trillion in government bonds and consider how to weaponise them. No sign of it yet, but ….

      In the meantime in the rules-based universe within which we are completely embedded, the EU and Japan – respectively the third and fourth largest economies – have last night agreed to sign a trade agreement between them.

      So there are still parts of the world seeking to work together in trade within relatively calm waters.

      The relationship to watch is the one between China and the EU. So far it hasn’t blossomed as it might. But if it really did flourish, Trump would find reflection in that old saw:

      when you build a wall, take care not just of what you are walling out, but what you are walling in.

      • Tony Veitch (not etc.) 6.3.1
        7 July 2018 at 5:01 pm

        Robert Frost: Mending Wall

        “Before I built a wall I’d ask to know
        What I was walling in or walling out,
        And to whom I was like to give offence.”

        Trump should read his American literature – no, perhaps not, he’s not mentioned by Frost at all.

        Very true, Ad.

  7. soddenleaf 7
    7 July 2018 at 12:13 pm

    Why stop? Benefits should overru n into work. It costs to start a new job.

    I can we why a loan is income, if the loaner writes off the loan when the beneficiary gets a job. So rich families can now help their relatives. So why not help the poorest, get a bank loan, and can overrun the benefit into work to pay it back.

    The whole Idea of a benefit is to provide cash to stop ghettos, disease, instability, poor outcomes for kuds. So the debate over callbacks is abusive and absurd,if you are proving money, get on with it, if someone lies then it’s a lie so sue. It’s this nonsense that once someone is in recipes they cant earn more, sure when it was overly God pre ops, but right now it’s not enough for most. So as long as a benefitary tells winz they got a job, and how much income that is, then keep the benefit payments going depending on the income. Shift the fraud to actual fraud not desperate, or compassion, of relatives.

  9. Chris T 9
    7 July 2018 at 1:19 pm

    Interesting but not surprising there is no article on Winstons comments about Wally Haumaha

    Just saying

  10. joe90 10
    7 July 2018 at 1:41 pm

    There are drones not only among the bees, but also among people. They are the Mexicans!

    These kids at Trump's Montana rally said one of the most important things they want the president to do is build his border wall because Mexicans are “overpopulating us" pic.twitter.com/j2wDpUNQ0x— BuzzFeed News (@BuzzFeedNews) July 6, 2018

  11. marty mars 11
    7 July 2018 at 1:49 pm

    I’m not going to link but some people who mock victims are foul bullys. Shows how utterly fucked as humans they are imo.

  13. joe90 13
    7 July 2018 at 3:21 pm

    Bugger.

    Elvis Costello is recovering from a “small but very aggressive cancerous malignancy” and has canceled six shows as a result https://t.co/DzDXCuALSM pic.twitter.com/qOi7X5SNeM— Rolling Stone (@RollingStone) July 6, 2018

    • Ad 13.1
      7 July 2018 at 5:57 pm

      He was pretty awesome when he did his show in Auckland three years ago.

      The only thing off my wishlist-playllist was Deep Dark Truthful Mirror.

  14. marty mars 14
    7 July 2018 at 4:42 pm

    Cruelty to animals first, leads to cruelty to people second imo.

    “He also cornered an albatross, kicked it and threw it overboard, where it was attacked by other seabirds…

    On about 12 or more different occasions he either chased seabirds into a corner and kicked them with steel-capped gumboots or hit them with a gaff.

    …sentenced to 200 hours’ community work and ordered him to pay $1000 to the prosecution”

    https://www.odt.co.nz/regions/west-coast/ill-treating-seabirds-punished

    wow what a deterrent – bet he won’t get caught doing that again…

    • Kay 14.1
      7 July 2018 at 5:26 pm

      “And then, of course, there is Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s classic 1834 poem “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.” In this epic ode, the narrator kills an albatross, bringing disaster and death to his ship and crew:

      And I had done a hellish thing,

      And it would work ’em woe:

      For all averred, I had killed the bird

      That made the breeze to blow.

      Ah wretch! said they, the bird to slay,

      That made the breeze to blow!

      To punish him for killing the albatross, the crew makes the narrator wear the dead albatross around his neck.

      Ah! well a-day! what evil looks

      Had I from old and young!

      Instead of the cross, the Albatross

      About my neck was hung.

      The albatross remains around the narrator’s neck until he blesses some water snakes, but he is cursed to carry the symbolic weight of the guilt around for the rest of his life.”
      https://people.howstuffworks.com/why-is-it-bad-luck-to-kill-albatross.htm

    • Gabby 14.2
      8 July 2018 at 10:44 am

      Sounds like a vicious little shit, but possibly of limited ‘capacity’, which might explain the soft sentence.

  15. joe90 15
    7 July 2018 at 4:52 pm

    History, huh.

    Government admits:Unaccompanied minors medicatedCase Managers do NOT work nights, weekends or holidays.Charging parents $8-$20 per minute for callNo plans of reunification @realDonaldTrump @VP never planned to reunify the children they forcibly separated & holding hostage pic.twitter.com/Lu6OGpNvPO— SpicyFiles (@SpicyFiles) July 6, 2018

    “Records linking children to their parents have disappeared, and in some cases have been destroyed, according to two officials of the Department of Homeland Security.” Destroyed. https://t.co/FksXg78xG5— southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) July 6, 2018

    Time to pull this one back up, in light of learning at least one child prison has a body lice outbreak.Body lice infestations are often followed by typhus outbreaks (typhus spreads by body lice). This is common in badly run prisons & camps.Typhus is what killed Anne Frank. https://t.co/9xiotWrqxk— Dr Sarah Taber (@SarahTaber_bww) July 6, 2018

    Yonatan Zunger 🔥 @yonatanzunger

    The simplest solution, one very popular in previous versions of this, is to simply cut investment in food, medicine, sanitation, and so on. “Those children come from dirty countries,” we’ll be told; “they bring diseases with them. It’s no surprise they’re dying like that.

  16. Anne 16
    7 July 2018 at 6:29 pm

    Why is this not major news around the world? Why are Western governments and their sycophantic media mates largely ignoring clear evidence of the despotic nature of this vile US president and his equally vile and corrupt lackeys? Why, why, why?

    • MikeS 16.1
      7 July 2018 at 7:30 pm

      Well I guess other Western governments don’t see it as their place to involve themselves in the laws of other democratic western countries. You don’t get despotic governments in the United States due to the way their republic is set up. (Congress, etc) Although I guess you could argue the entire lot of them (Democrats and Republicans) are a despotic bunch of crooks as a group.

      I’m no fan of his but can see quite clearly how and why Trump was elected. There is nothing wrong with a country trying to prevent people from entering illegally. Most western democracies (where everybody wants to come and live) have strict policies regarding illegal entry, NZ is no exception but we are lucky here in NZ that we are miles away from anywhere and are surrounded by a wall of sea so we don’t have thousands of people every day trying to come here illegally. If we had a thousand people a day trying to enter NZ illegally how do you think we would handle it?

      However, these children being separated from their parents is heartbreaking and disgusting. When these people are detained then surely the humane thing to do must be to have a detention system where their children remain with them until they are granted asylum for genuine asylum seekers or deported for the majority. My understanding is that this practice of separating children is stopping? (not sure if that is correct but hope it is).

      All that being said, below is a link to a document stating the immigration reforms Trump wants to implement.I can’t really find anything wrong in regards to the reforms he has documented. Putting the interests of your own citizens ahead of illegal immigrants is surely a good thing???

      https://assets.donaldjtrump.com/Immigration-Reform-Trump.pdf

      • Anne 16.1.1
        7 July 2018 at 7:42 pm

        Well I guess other Western governments don’t see it as their place to involve themselves in the laws of other democratic western countries.

        Hitler was a “democratically elected” leader and he proved to be a despot and a madman. Trump is going down the same path and even if the end result does not pan out exactly the same way… it is incumbent upon all Western style democracies not to enable him to continue along a pathway which will end in chaos and a world-wide Depression and we all know how that will end.

  17. AsleepWhileWalking 17
    7 July 2018 at 9:10 pm

    After watching a whole heap of stuff on social housing etc around the world, and half a Richie Allen Show episode on 2x speed this David Icke video appeared in my suggestions.

    Icke’s take on why houses around the world became unaffordable

    https://youtu.be/VtRVgt7IeXY

  18. joe90 18
    7 July 2018 at 10:08 pm

    You can keep him, Australia.

    Please?

    .

    A controversial Kiwi pastor based in Australia could be forced to come back to New Zealand after being arrested for harassing people at two Brisbane mosques.

    In a press conference today, Australia’s immigration minister Peter Dutton told reporters Logan Robertson was taken into custody on Friday evening, the Guardian reported.

    Robertson had been placed in detention and faced deportation, Dutton said.

    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12084967

    Robertson on TS.

    https://thestandard.org.nz/the-nz-equivalent-of-the-westboro-baptist-church/

  19. greywarshark 19
    7 July 2018 at 11:21 pm

    NOTE FOR LATER
    For those interested in housing and other things – here is a list of topics for a lecture program from the University of Auckland.

    Fast Forward Spring 2018
    6.30pm, the University of Auckland.
    the upcoming Spring Fast Forward lecture series presented by the School of Architecture and Planning at the University of Auckland.
    All lectures are free and open to the public.
    For further information visit http://www.creative.auckland.ac.nz/fastforward

    https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/about/news-events-and-notices/news/news-2018/07/fast-forward–from-kiwibuild-to-co-ops-.html
    • 18 July – Pamela Bell, PrefabNZ
    • 25 July – Presentations. Co-operative Housing: Auckland Experiences.
    • 1 August – Panel discussion. What should happen on the Unitec site?
    • 8 August – Jodi and Andrew Batay-Csorba (Toronto).
    • 15 August – Hendrik Tieben (Hong Kong): Towards better integration of transport, housing, community space in Hong Kong.
    • 29 August – The Honourable Phil Twyford: Housing, urban development and transport.
    • 5 September – Orchid Atimalala.
    • 19 September – Panel discussion. Architects discuss design for medium-density.
    • 26 September – Sue Evans, Housing New Zealand.

  20. David Mac 20
    8 July 2018 at 12:26 am

    With tourism, what do you think is NZ’s #1 asset?

    Mountains? Everyone has got them.

    Architecture? Yep, it’s all over the globe.

    Scenery? Every country has their postcard vistas.

    The unique aspect of New Zealand is Maori and it’s high time we started treating them accordingly.

  21. David Mac 21
    8 July 2018 at 12:33 am

    I think the government should give their share in Air New Zealand to Nga Puhi as part of their treaty settlement.

    Create some desirable attainable career paths.

    • Nic the NZer 21.1
      8 July 2018 at 6:11 am

      What will that do? Shareholders typically have no say in employee selection anyway. The government could create a policy of positive discrimination for employing staff of maori decent but this bluntly sounds problematic in itself.

  22. eco maori 22
    8 July 2018 at 10:30 am

    Marae on tv one on Sunday Lets get this straight there is a male chauvinistic bulling type of people who get to the top in the police force . The reason why Eco Maori questions Wally Haumahana getting the postion is because we can not let the Mokopunas see thats is ok to treat wahine or people who have come to the police with a complaint like a lesser being . We need leaders in our systems to give wahine and everyone the respect they deserve and to show te mokopunas thats is the correct way to behave you know that old saying moko see moko does full stop are you going to say there is know other Maori candidate.
    I agree with Russel that Once were Warriors gave non Maori something to attack maori with Ka kite ano

  23. eco maori 23
    8 July 2018 at 3:38 pm

    Freedom of speech is still honour in Aotearoa lauren southern and stefan molyneux can do all the talking they like in there country if Kiwis want to listen there speechs will be easy to find on the internet. There is a very good reason that they are being kept out of Aotearoa . Especially when they have supporter who use death threats and rape to try and intimidate a Wahine Maori Co leader of our Green Party . What a bunch of muppets Ana to kai link below.

    https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/105323849/greens-coleader-marama-davidson-receives-violent-threats-on-social-media

    Ka kite ano

  24. eco maori 24
    8 July 2018 at 6:53 pm

    Good evening Newshub that storie about The man named black its best that people are informed about the crimes he done to mokopunas in his care he has passed on now that picture of him was the one behind one of my old clients houses on Pitau road Mount Manganui Tauranga I posted the picture of him on one of my posts I did not know who the person in the picture was now I have a name to the face . I have abandoned my lawn run as there were to many sandflys in Tauranga and they were putting to much stress on my clients . Pitau meaning has a lot of Mana all around Tauranga there is a lot of Tangata whenua strong history in those parts I ——–it
    Heres hoping those mokopunas in the Thailand caves all get out safely .
    Loyd is enjoying his stay in Britain they take there foot ball very seriously in those parts of Papatuanuku Thats all Eco Maori is saying on te sports Ka kite ano

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