Open mike 10/03/2013

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, March 10th, 2013 - 165 comments
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Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose.

The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to Policy in the banner).

Step right up to the mike…

165 comments on “Open mike 10/03/2013 ”

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  1. AsleepWhileWalking 1
    10 March 2013 at 8:03 am

    + 1 for only mild use of mansplaining when there is plenty of opportunity to use it more
    +10 for OP’s proving beyond doubt that we do in fact live in a rape culture
    + 7 for all those posters who declare that a drunk woman is partially, if not fully responsible for any subsequent rape that occurs while she is intoxicated (curiously no mention of any men having their dicks cut off while passed out drunk being entirely responsible for the loss of their manly member)
    +2 for the poster who declares that, “you will get more credibility here if you post under your ‘usual’ name”. It’s only plus two because frankly it’s getting old and isn’t even intellectually offensive anymore because it’s not like anyone is actually going to use their real names because OP implied they needed more credibility in the first place. An intelligent argument should do just fine actually.

    http://www.trademe.co.nz/Community/MessageBoard/Messages.aspx?id=1222972&topic=5

    • AsleepWhileWalking 1.1
      10 March 2013 at 8:09 am

      And +20 for this little gem from ratherbefishin, otherwise known as Greg from Waitakere City.

      Occupation: Getting well from a serious car accident.

      Hmmmm. Probably run down by a pissed off feminist.

      Sure, there are predators out there, but your dauhgters [sic] are presenting themselves as bait. Look most rapes, not all, the girls are drunk or on drugs, dressed over provocatively, act like fools, put themselves in situations that is condusive to making the situation worse. It’s the parents fault for not naking them safe and teaching them the right values about mixing in the ‘right’ cirlces….you can’t get rabbits from rats.

      • The Al1en 1.1.1
        10 March 2013 at 8:27 am

        You +20 that?

        “Sure, there are predators out there, but your dauhgters [sic] are presenting themselves as bait.”

        There are predators out there, no doubting that, but whatever conduct or dress (lack of) sense, the ‘bait’ argument can only comes from those excusing or mitigating the ‘hunter’.

        “Look most rapes, not all, the girls are drunk or on drugs, dressed over provocatively, act like fools, put themselves in situations that is condusive to making the situation worse.”

        Doesn’t matter if women are drunk, drugged, in short skirts, boob tubes and give a guy the come on. The self control still remains with the male of the species. Always has, always will… Unless you’re a chimp.

        “It’s the parents fault for not naking them safe and teaching them the right values about mixing in the ‘right’ cirlces”

        Blame the parents of the victim of sex crimes. Nice work, idiot.

        “you can’t get rabbits from rats.”

        Or reasoned debate from trade me.

      • millsy 1.1.2
        10 March 2013 at 11:35 am

        Absolutely disgusting.

        But the handle ratherbefishin explains volumes about this guy. Some thickheaded kiwi bloke douchebag who wants to string gays up with piano wire and sees women as sub human.

        Greg. I promise you, come the revolution, you will be sorry.

      • Murray Olsen 1.1.3
        10 March 2013 at 5:37 pm

        Anyone that can write that about rape must have a real struggle stopping themselves from attacking young women. I suggest preventative custody to safeguard society. If the guy hasn’t raped already, I bet he will.

    • just saying 1.2
      10 March 2013 at 8:53 am

      It’s interesting that the commenting gets worse over time, and watching rape culture proponents work hard to prevail. I didn’t read the comments to the end because the thread was becoming ever-more demoralising to read. I assume the pro-rape-culture team continued to dominate the discussion through aggression and insults, seldom making any genuine effort to address the arguments of the protestors.

      Still, I believe there has been real progress made in the public consciousness, since I was helped to join the dots to an understanding of rape culture, a few years ago.

      The LGBT rights movement is always an inspiration in what can be achieved, but I’m only too aware of the personal brunt of public contempt and derision, and other kinds of psychological and physical violence borne hardest and most continuously by those at the forefront of the movement from the beginning. It was hard and dangerous work, and the fight continues today, but from a position of relative strength. But progress can happen in the teeth of seemingly overwhelming resistance.

      And there are some hopeful signs:

      http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10870210

      • kiwi_prometheus 1.2.1
        10 March 2013 at 1:20 pm

        ” rape culture proponents”

        Who are they? Can you cite anyone who says rape culture is great and needs to be maintained?

        “rape culture” is a concept which only belongs to feminist ideology, it is not generally accepted.

        You are trying to smear anyone who doesn’t pedal feminist doctrine as rape supporters.

        You are like those rightwing yanks who accuse anyone who opposes them as being terrorists supporters or sympathisers.

        • Draco T Bastard 1.2.1.1
          10 March 2013 at 3:00 pm

          Who are they?

          People like you who claim that rape culture doesn’t exist despite all the evidence that it does.

        • QoT 1.2.1.2
          10 March 2013 at 5:05 pm

          194 million results for “rape culture” on Google. Only 6.5 mil for “deconstructionist Marxist feminist”.

      • Colonial Weka 1.2.2
        10 March 2013 at 7:22 pm

        js, thanks for the tautoko yesterday 🙂

    • NickS 1.3
      10 March 2013 at 11:34 am

      Urge to summon Cthulhu rising….

      The trademe boards are up their with major gaming forums for the level of burning stupid and outright sexist, echo-room bullshit. Nothing that a little “gentle” moderating couldn’t fix, but trademe lacks teh spine to do so, afraid that they’ll loose customers.

      • QoT 1.3.1
        10 March 2013 at 1:07 pm

        To this day I get pageviews from the Trademe forums to a post I wrote about Pippa Wetzell/Paul Henry/Breakfast, apparently from people who can’t spot the fact that my blog isn’t a news site and that the post in question is satire.

        • NickS 1.3.1.1
          10 March 2013 at 2:29 pm

          O_o

          Well, trademe board users aren’t the brightest bunch at times…

          (May the elder things grant me the mighty banhammer of troll-halla to smack the unworthy back unto the wretched lands of talkback, ramen)

  2. Te Reo Putake 2
    10 March 2013 at 8:17 am

    Lord Ashcroft spends some more money, doesn’t get the result he hoped for:

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2013/mar/09/labour-election-win-tory-poll

    A couple of learnings for NZ; Labour is underacheiving (the Cameron Government is nowhere near as hopeless as Key’s lot) and if NZ First go into coalition with the tories after the next election, they can look forward to ceasing to exist 3 years later.

    • The Al1en 2.1
      10 March 2013 at 8:38 am

      Sort of makes me glad the lib dems failed to get rid of first past the post.
      One can only imagine how shockingly poor the conservative party would be if backed by the loonies and racists of the right to hold on to power.

    • ianmac 2.2
      10 March 2013 at 9:03 am

      I wonder if the Lord was using the “research” as a cunning way to direct the Tories in the direction that he wanted. Scare tactics?

      • The Al1en 2.2.1
        10 March 2013 at 9:13 am

        Lurch to the right, play to baser instinct. What could go wrong?
        Worked so well for JK, even NZ Labour are at it.

      • Te Reo Putake 2.2.2
        10 March 2013 at 9:25 am

        Yep, Al1en, that’s exactly what Ashcroft wants. However, the results don’t help him turn them in that direction. If the poll had shown losses at, say, 20 seats, he could have got traction to move policy to the right; to strengthen the appeal to vavering traditional tory voters who have shifted to the anti-european UKIP. However, what this poll shows is that the electorate wants middle of the road or even left policies. So Cameron has to move to the centre to shore up the tory vote. That’s got to piss off Ashcroft more than just a bit.

        • The Al1en 2.2.2.1
          10 March 2013 at 9:34 am

          Calamity and complacency aside, Labour, as unpopular as can be in government, will be back after only one term out, and whilst not the Labour party many here would prefer it to be, it’s got a well spoken leader that holds to core left principles. The people respond.

          Camp mallard should have looked further afield for a game plan than the blinding light of our pm that so clearly bedazzles them and sets their agenda.

    • Populuxe1 2.3
      10 March 2013 at 3:35 pm

      NZ First will not go into coalition with National. The 1990s are over, everyone out of the pool.

    • mickysavage 2.4
      10 March 2013 at 8:35 pm

      What gives TRP?

      A month ago you were saying everything is fine and Shearer will lead Labour to victory and now you are saying that Labour is underachieving. What is happening?

      • Te Reo Putake 2.4.1
        10 March 2013 at 8:44 pm

        Nothing gives, MS. I was making the comparison with UK Labour, who also started from a poor election result and are lead by someone who is still working to convince his own party of his merits, yet have gone on to gain enough support to govern alone. The NZLP caucus are underacheiving in comparison.

        • mickysavage 2.4.1.1
          10 March 2013 at 9:03 pm

          So what changes need to be made to Caucus, asked in the most neutral way possible …

          • Anne 2.4.1.1.1
            11 March 2013 at 8:54 pm

            It comes down to attitude mickysavage. At present the caucus catechism is:
            our (read ABC club) side is good.
            the other side is bad.

            We will only take notice of our side.
            We will ignore everything the other side says and does.

            Today I received my electorate’s first newsletter for the year. It contained a letter (no indication where it came from) from an unnamed new, young member who attended his/her first conference last November.. It was essentially a eulogy to David Shearer and contained such language as…working for a brighter future (now where have I heard that before), more progressive and more inclusive society… this is the Labour way and all of it was achieved at the Conference.

            Why am I suspicious of this letter? Well, it has an [insert name here] quality about it.

            I sincerely hope I’m wrong.

  3. Jim Nald 3
    10 March 2013 at 8:34 am

    “Drought gripping the North Island is the most severe in history, with the crisis far from over both for now and in years to come, scientists say.

    “Long, dry spells are forecast to double by 2040 as temperatures continue to rise and New Zealand heads towards a more Mediterranean climate.

    “Experts warn it could spell the end for farming as we know it and may cost the country billions of dollars in drought relief each year before practices are adjusted.”

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/8405004/North-Island-drought-worst-in-history

    • Draco T Bastard 3.1
      10 March 2013 at 11:47 am

      “Experts warn it could spell the end for farming as we know it and may cost the country billions of dollars in drought relief each year before practices are adjusted.”

      Actually, the best thing we could do would be to have the government buy enough farms to feed everybody and put in place practices (Heaps of R&D at the universities) to farm in the new environment. Then you let all the rest continue or fall upon their own – just as capitalism calls for.

      • Colonial Viper 3.1.1
        10 March 2013 at 1:35 pm

        University R&D can’t help in this situation. It’s the wrong approach to modifying and applying existing knowledge.

        • Colonial Weka 3.1.1.1
          10 March 2013 at 2:15 pm

          I agree, the best research is being done outside of universities. The unis could get in behind though.

          I’ll reiterate what others have said here recently – drought is being created by conventional farming as much as (if not more so) than by climate change.

          This TED talk (20 mins) shows how to graze animals so you don’t end up in a drought (both locally and from climate change). Alan Savory has been doing this on the ground research for over 50 years, and developed systems of mob grazing that reverse desertification and sequester carbon and restore local microclimates on such a large scale that they probably would effect macro climate if adopted en masse.

          At the end the TED host calls the presentation truly astonishing, but these farm technologies, based on mimicking natural cycles, are well known in sustainably land management circles and are even being used successfully in NZ.

          http://www.ted.com/speakers/allan_savory.html

          John Liu’s work is worthy too, here he looks at the restoration of the severely damaged huge Loess Plateau in China back into a food producing oasis, as well as restoration in other parts of the world (50mins)

          http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=J3WisjXYik4

          And a quick look (5mins) at the Greening the Desert project in Jordan (one of the driest places on earth supporting humans). Geoff Lawton took 10 acres of salinated man-made desert and had it starting to produce food from trees within four months.

          • Colonial Viper 3.1.1.1.1
            10 March 2013 at 2:18 pm

            Exactly. For instance, modern farming has destroyed tens of thousands of hectares of tussock land, which were crucial for feeding atmospheric moisture into the land.

          • Draco T Bastard 3.1.1.1.2
            10 March 2013 at 2:58 pm

            At the end the TED host calls the presentation truly astonishing, but these farm technologies, based on mimicking natural cycles, are well known in sustainably land management circles and are even being used successfully in NZ.

            That’s one thing that’s been bugging me for years. Academia in NZ is unwilling to accept knowledge gained outside of academia in NZ and that needs to change.

            • Murray Olsen 3.1.1.1.2.1
              10 March 2013 at 5:44 pm

              Maybe that happens in some specific branches of academia, DTB, but it couldn’t be applied in Physics, for example. I’m part of academia whether I like the label or not, and apart from Hitler’s attempt at introducing Aryan Physics, I’ve never seen evidence of what you suggest.
              Which areas would you say this unwillingness applies to?

        • Draco T Bastard 3.1.1.2
          10 March 2013 at 2:54 pm

          The horticultural arms of universities tend to have farms where they research better methods of farming.

          • Colonial Viper 3.1.1.2.1
            10 March 2013 at 3:01 pm

            Too much of it is the wrong kind of research. You need research working with real farmers on their own land.

            • Draco T Bastard 3.1.1.2.1.1
              10 March 2013 at 4:01 pm

              You need research working with real farmers on their own land.

              Well, if the universities are doing their job, then they are. The simple fact of the matter is that the farmer is unlikely to be able to do the research but once the research has been done can help come up with better methods of implementation and the university owned farms would probably have farm managers on them as well.

              • Colonial Weka …
                10 March 2013 at 9:18 pm

                “The simple fact of the matter is that the farmer is unlikely to be able to do the research”

                Why do you say that? Many farmers practice empirical science anyway, and any farmer with either a good working knowledge of the scientific method, or support with that, can do research on their own property. It’s not rocket science 😉

                Universities in NZ aren’t leading the way on developing sustainable practice, they’re following. And the way that universities are structured and operate, the hard sciences in particular, is inherently reductionist, making studying whole systems harder and less likely. This is why we are in the ridiculous situation of trying to solve river/waterway pollution from industrial dairying by chemically treating paddocks to prevent increases in nitrogen, instead of changing farming practices to prevent excess nitrogen in the first place. The inability to see natural cycles in their whole and to work with them is the big stumbling block, that and greed economics/capitalism. Universities are going to research conventional farming, because that’s what we do. They’re not focusing (enough*) on the kind that is making a difference.

                Crown research is just as bad. Restructuring that happened in the 80s and 90s prevented the early adoption of sustainable practices, and many of the field researchers lost their jobs. From what I can tell focus was on economics and practices that created financial wealth.

                *there are some notable exceptions eg the long-standing Biological Husbandry Unit at Lincoln has been pioneering organics for over 3 decades.

                Seriously DTB, watch some of those videos and then compare what they are talking about with what is being done in universities, then you will get what I mean.

                • Draco T Bastard …
                  11 March 2013 at 8:13 am

                  Why do you say that?

                  Because the farmers are more likely to be using land to make a profit with what they know. If they were doing anything else our waterways wouldn’t be as polluted as they are.

                  It’s not rocket science

                  No, it’s a hell of a lot more complex.

                  The inability to see natural cycles in their whole and to work with them is the big stumbling block, that and greed economics/capitalism.

                  That I can agree with but i also think that they’re changing. As I said, a number of them now have their own farms to work with and when you’ve got that then you must start to see the entire system rather than just the pieces.

                  This is why we are in the ridiculous situation of trying to solve river/waterway pollution from industrial dairying by chemically treating paddocks to prevent increases in nitrogen, instead of changing farming practices to prevent excess nitrogen in the first place.

                  Or they could be doing both.

                  • Colonial Weka …
                    11 March 2013 at 8:35 am

                    “Because the farmers are more likely to be using land to make a profit with what they know. If they were doing anything else our waterways wouldn’t be as polluted as they are.”

                    We’re talking at cross purposes. I’m talking about farmers who are doing the cutting edge work on sustainable land management. They’re doing their own research, and being successful at creating new models of farming that don’t wreck the land (or quite as fast). Universities are lagging behind this.

                    ” ” It’s not rocket science”

                    No, it’s a hell of a lot more complex.”

                    No, it’s not. Working with biological systems that mimic nature to grow food requires expertise, but you do not need an advanced science degree to understand it, not implement it. Nor study it.

                    “That I can agree with but i also think that they’re changing. As I said, a number of them now have their own farms to work with and when you’ve got that then you must start to see the entire system rather than just the pieces.”

                    Why? If you’ve been trained all your working life to look at the isolated detail and not the systems, and if your work situation demands that that is how you do research, and that kind of research is what gets the funding, why would you get to see it differently. Having one’s own farm doesn’t make one see differently – to use your example, if it did then farmers wouldn’t be polluting the environment.

                    “Or they could be doing both.”

                    Treating excess nitrogen by applying chemicals to a paddock is equivalent to the old lady that swallowed the fly. It’s just daft. If you manage land holistically in the first place, you don’t need to do that kind of disruptive intervention (or very rarely). I’m guessing you’re not that familiar with the kinds of technologies I’m talking about and don’t really understand the paradigm differences and why they matter. Maybe someone else can explain it?

    • Rogue Trooper 3.2
      10 March 2013 at 1:29 pm

      Golly. Yep. Jim

  4. johnm 4
    10 March 2013 at 8:41 am

    “David Cameron a liar a cheat a criminal in public office”
    The artist taxi driver
    Don’t forget Cameron and John Yankee are chums.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hEU9uN-bo0&list=UUGThM-ZZBba1Zl9rU-XeR-A&index=1

    This government looks to the U$K for ideas to apply here. 🙁

    • johnm 4.1
      10 March 2013 at 9:27 am

      Tories’ hidden privatisation plan revealed
      25 Feb 2013 00:00

      The massive step towards full privatisation of the NHS is being made in ­regulations sneaked out earlier this month – exposed by the Daily Mirror

      http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/nhs-tories-hidden-privatisation-plan-1729681

      “The new rules impose “compulsory competitive markets” on the entire health service.

      The changes are planned under the overhaul launched by Tory former Health Secretary Andrew Lansley. He claimed there was nothing in it to “promote or permit the transfer of NHS activities to the private sector”.
      But now all services are to be offered to the highest bidder from April 1.
      The move would allow “any qualified provider” including giants such as Virgin Care to outbid local hospitals.

      Critics fear the rules will let companies asset-strip NHS facilities. Labour have warned firms could cherry-pick the easiest, most profitable, procedures, leaving the NHS to pick up the tab for tricky and expensive surgery.”

      “This intended ‘privatisation’ will mean a short term of financial gain for
      the Tory Party followed by higher costs as shareholders have their hands out for their profit. Charing X Hospital is stuffed with new equipment, but understaffed – I wonder why! This government from what I deduce are thieves and profiteers. How much do they expect to make from our Schools and ‘Academies'”

  5. AsleepWhileWalking 5
    10 March 2013 at 8:53 am

    Rodney Hide explains that since most business owners make less than the minimum wage (why the hell else would anyone run a business!) the pinkos shouldn’t expect a living wage. So there.

    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=10870282

    Rodney discretely omits any mention of the ability of business owners to sell their business and pay no capital gains tax, assuming that stupid lefties ” think running a business is easy. That’s because they have never done it.”

    • tc 5.1
      10 March 2013 at 9:39 am

      Or extract living and other expenses from the business’s effectively living directly from its funds.

      A rort that rortney would be all too familiar with

    • BM 5.2
      10 March 2013 at 9:43 am

      Good luck trying to sell a business not making money.
      You’ll also find, unless a business has locked in contracts apart from stock and plant the business really has no value at all.

      • Colonial Viper 5.2.1
        10 March 2013 at 9:45 am

        That must be why Rortney and co. are so keen to buy our power generators.

        • BM 5.2.1.1
          10 March 2013 at 9:59 am

          Mighty river power is a great investment, hopefully it will stimulate more interest in stocks and away from property
          .Apart from property there’s no where else for people to invest there money and get any form of return.

          • RedLogix 5.2.1.1.1
            10 March 2013 at 10:07 am

            hopefully it will stimulate more interest in stocks

            So it’s a bait and switch then?

            • BM 5.2.1.1.1.1
              10 March 2013 at 10:14 am

              Not sure how you get bait and switch?

              • RedLogix …
                10 March 2013 at 10:20 am

                Not sure how you miss it…

                • BM …
                  10 March 2013 at 10:27 am

                  Bait-and-switch is a form of fraud used in retail sales but also practised in other contexts. First, customers are “baited” by merchants’ advertising products or services at a low price; then customers discover the advertised goods are not available. Other products are “switched” for them; however, these items are often costlier.
                  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bait-and-switch

                  I don’t see the link with encouraging people to invest in the share market?

                  • RedLogix …
                    10 March 2013 at 11:19 am

                    If there were already a lot of good share ‘products’ on the NZX …. then we would hardly need the government to be ‘baiting’ interest in the sharemarket with the float of MRP. Would we?

                    Given that the float is going to be well over-subscribed, or that there will be lots of people making a quick profit on the deal, the expectation you’ve raised is that there will be plenty of euphoric cash sloshing about looking for another deal. Hence the ‘switch’.

                    That’s pretty much the scenario you’ve raised is it not?

          • Colonial Viper 5.2.1.1.2
            10 March 2013 at 10:08 am

            That’s because private sector money has proven shitty, unimaginative and non-entrpreneurial.

            Because they have created fuck all worth while new ones, they have to invest in assets which are 40 or more years old.

            • BM 5.2.1.1.2.1
              10 March 2013 at 10:30 am

              How about instead of spending your days posting on the interwebs, you get out there and show them how to do it.
              With your abilities and ideas you’d be worth billions within the year.

              • The Al1en …
                10 March 2013 at 10:34 am

                “With your abilities and ideas you’d be worth billions within the year.”

                You’d be in need of a bailout within minutes 😉

              • Pascal's bookie …
                10 March 2013 at 10:35 am

                How about instead of buying shares in a state controlled company so that the state can spend that money on state stuff, you invest in a private company?

                Or do you think the state has better ideas about what to do with your capital than you do?

              • Colonial Viper …
                10 March 2013 at 10:41 am

                Sure will do, but this is not about me. It’s about how shitty private sector and corporate leadership has been in NZ that they’ve barely created any new worthwhile assets to invest in and so have to go poaching public ones.

                • BM …
                  10 March 2013 at 10:51 am

                  Then stop talking about it and get out there and show them how it’s done.
                  Throwing shit from the bleachers isn’t really that helpful, especially some one with your business acumen and total awesomeness.

                  NZ need you to get out there and for you to lead the way.

                  • Colonial Viper …
                    10 March 2013 at 10:55 am

                    But it’s not about me and it’s not about you.

                    It’s about the $100B in savings deposits in this country where people haven’t bothered to invest that money in jobs, busineses or industry, and have instead just sat that money on the sidelines.

                    That’s anti-business and anti-growth.

                    No wonder they have to poach public assets; there’s no imagination there.

                • rosy …
                  10 March 2013 at 10:58 am

                  ” they’ve barely created any new worthwhile assets to invest in”

                  Well they have… but the worthwhile ones all get bought up by overseas interests. If they were on the stock market they then get de-listed. Just like the State assets will be.

                  • Colonial Viper …
                    10 March 2013 at 11:02 am

                    Well yes they have, some small and medium businesses worth say $20M or $100M. Sam Morgan’s Trademe being about the only exception with a value much higher than that.

                    But on the industrial scale of an MRP? Nothing; absolutely nothing.

          • millsy 5.2.1.1.3
            10 March 2013 at 10:10 am

            Why not put their money in a bank, instead of getting rich from sky rocketing power prices that hurt the poor?

            Those who are going to buy shares in MRP are no different than those who own rental property in Christchurch. Both will feed on human misery.

            Middle class types will demand higher and higher dividends, and power prices will go higher and higher.

          • Draco T Bastard 5.2.1.1.4
            10 March 2013 at 11:55 am

            Apart from property there’s no where else for people to invest there money and get any form of return.

            The whole point of capitalism is that there are massive amounts of ideas around just begging for capital investment and that such capital investment is done in a very highly efficient manner through the stock exchange. If that’s not happening then I’d say that the capitalist ideal just doesn’t work.

            Basically, I figure that the ideas are out there but that the rich (who are the only ones with enough accumulated wealth) aren’t investing in them because they want guaranteed returns and not to actually take any risk. This is proven by the way that they’re lining up to buy power shares which they know they can’t lose on as the government can’t let power crash and burn. Basically, the people lining up to buy power company shares are just looking to bludge for the rest of their lives off of the hard work of the rest of NZ.

            • felixviper 5.2.1.1.4.1
              10 March 2013 at 10:35 pm

              What’s happening now is more and more resembling the later stages of every game of Monopoly that has ever been played.

              Nothing to do with investing or creating, all about the consolidation of existing wealth and resources into fewer and fewer hands.

              • Draco T Bastard …
                11 March 2013 at 8:19 am

                +1

                Monopoly and dictatorship is the natural end point of capitalism and that is what we’re seeing. The accumulation into fewer hands and the governments then passing policies, such as selling state assets, that benefit only those few.

    • millsy 5.3
      10 March 2013 at 9:46 am

      Im over people like Rodney who think that workers should, pretty much, have their wages and conditions slashed.

      If he came round to my house telling me that I shouldnt be getting the money that I get from my job, he would be on the floor getting the shit kicked out of him.

      • The Al1en 5.3.1
        10 March 2013 at 9:55 am

        “If he came round to my house telling me that I shouldnt be getting the money that I get from my job, he would be on the floor getting the shit kicked out of him.”

        He ran away from me when I challenged him in the Environment Waikato building in Hamilton a few weeks after his holiday rort was exposed.
        Yellow by party, yellow by nature.

        • tc 5.3.1.1
          10 March 2013 at 11:55 am

          Like so many paid shills, all tough and righteous behind a media article.

          lacking any intelligence to argue the issue in public, Banks being especially thick. It’s almost as if they never wrote it themselves……

      • millsy 5.3.2
        10 March 2013 at 9:58 am

        I wonder what sort of thrill Rodney gets from taking the food out of the mouths of the children of poor workers.

      • Murray Olsen 5.3.3
        10 March 2013 at 8:14 pm

        Think of the floor, Millsy. Do it outside. Really, I share your sentiments. How the hell did such naked greed and loathsome thinking ever get taken seriously outside of textbooks on forensic psychiatry?

    • Murray Olsen 5.4
      10 March 2013 at 7:16 pm

      Maybe we should be happy with a minimum wage that allows us to fly around the world for holidays, have a couple of cars, a few houses, and constantly rising capital value. To come up with this rubbish, Hide really is contemptuous of his readers. One more corrupt self-serving orc who should do us all a favour and just disappear.

  6. Morrissey 6
    10 March 2013 at 9:18 am

    http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article34224.htm

    Why Israeli Apartheid is Worse Than South Africa’s Version
    Is Palestinian Solidarity an Occupied Zone?
    by GILAD ATZMON March 09, 2013

    Once involved with Palestinian Solidarity you have to accept that Jews are special and so is their suffering; Jews are like no other people, their Holocaust is like no other genocide and anti Semitism is the most vile form of racism the world has ever known and so on and so forth.

    But when it comes to the Palestinians, the exact opposite is the case. For some reason we are expected to believe that the Palestinians are not special at all – they are just like everyone else. Palestinians have not been subject to a unique, racist, nationalist and expansionist Jewish nationalist movement, instead, we must all agree that, just like the Indians and the Africans, the Palestinian ordeal results from run-of-the-mill 19th century colonialism – just more of the same old boring Apartheid.

    So, Jews, Zionists and Israelis are exceptional, like no one else, while Palestinians are always somehow ordinary, always part of some greater political narrative, always just like everyone else. Their suffering is never due to the particularity of Jewish nationalism, or Jewish racism, or even AIPAC dominating USA foreign policy no, the Palestinian is always a victim of a dull, banal dynamic – general, abstract and totally lacking in particularity.

    This raises some serious questions.

    Can you think of any other liberation or solidarity movement that prides itself in being boring, ordinary and dull? Can you think of any other solidarity movement that downgrades its subject into just one more meaningless exhibit in a museum of materialist historical happenings? I don’t think so! Did the black South Africans see themselves as being like everyone else? Did Martin Luther King believe his brothers and sisters to be inherently undistinguishable?

    I don’t think so. So how come Palestinian solidarity has managed to sink so low that their spokespersons and supporters compete against each other to see who can best eliminate the uniqueness of the Palestinian struggle into just part of a general historical trend such as colonialism or Apartheid?

    The answer is simple. Palestinian Solidarity is an occupied zone and, like all such occupied zones must dedicate itself to the fight against ‘anti Semitism’. Dutifully united against racism, fully engaged with LGBT issues in Palestine and in the movement itself, but for one reason or another, the movement is almost indifferent towards the fate of millions of Palestinians living in refugee camps and their Right of Return to their homeland.

    But all this can change. Palestinians and their supporters could begin to see their cause for what it is, unique and distinctive. Nor need this be all that difficult. After all, if Jewish nationalism is inherently exceptional as Zionists proclaim, is it not only natural that the victims of such a distinctive racist endeavor are at least, themselves, just as distinctive.

    So far, Palestine solidarity has failed to liberate Palestine, but it has succeeded beyond its wildest dreams in creating a Palestine Solidarity Industry, and one largely funded by liberal Zionists. We have been very productive in schlepping activists around the world promoting ‘boycotts’ and ‘sanctions’ meanwhile Israel trade with Britain is booming and Hummus Tzabar is clearly apparent in every British grocery store.

    All those attempts to reduce Palestinian ordeal into a dated, dull, generalised materialist narrative should be exposed for what they are – an attempt to appease liberal Zionists. Palestinian suffering is actually unique in history at least as unique as the Zionist project.

    Yesterday I came across this from South African minister Ronnie Kasrils. In a comment on Israeli Apartheid he said : “This is much worse than Apartheid…Israeli measures, the brutality, make apartheid look like a picnic. We never had jets attacking our townships; we never had sieges that lasted month after month. We never had tanks destroying houses.”

    Kasrils is dead right. It is much worse than Apartheid and far more sophisticated than colonialism. And why? Because what the Zionists did and are doing is neither Apartheid nor is it colonialism. Apartheid wanted to exploit the African, Israel wants the Palestinian gone. Colonialism is an exchange between a mother and a settler state. Israel never had a mother State, though it may well have had a few ‘surrogate mothers’.

    Now is the time to look at the unique ordeal of the Palestinian people. Similarly, now is the time to look at the Zionist crime in the light of Jewish culture and identity politics.

    Can the solidarity movement meet this challenge? Probably, but like Palestine, it must first, itself, be liberated.

    Gilad Atzmon’s latest book is The Wandering Who? A Study of Jewish Identity Politics

    http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article34224.htm

    • Populuxe1 6.1
      10 March 2013 at 3:38 pm

      It’s that bloody Borat again, isn’t it.

      • McFlock 6.1.1
        10 March 2013 at 5:25 pm

        Lol

      • Morrissey 6.1.2
        10 March 2013 at 7:33 pm

        Gosh you’re a funny guy. And you’re serious.

        And you’re not right wing. Oh no.

        • Murray Olsen 6.1.2.1
          10 March 2013 at 8:25 pm

          Israel has constitutional democracy and a free press. Those are the important things for Pop. He’s a caricature.
          Meanwhile, what worries me most about Israel and the hardcore Zionists is how they have managed to refine anti-semitism as being anything they don’t like. Their efforts to rewrite the history of Palestine are heroic in their magnitude. They are writing the Palestinians out of existence.
          The one and only thing that Goff ever did that I liked was to tell Tel Aviv that they didn’t decide who he could visit and go ahead with a visit to Arafat. I can’t see either Shearer or Key doing anything comparable.

          • Morrissey 6.1.2.1.1
            11 March 2013 at 7:07 am

            The one and only thing that Goff ever did that I liked was to tell Tel Aviv that they didn’t decide who he could visit and go ahead with a visit to Arafat.

            Fair comment, Murray, but even then, Goff did not have the integrity or the courage to meet with the Hamas leadership.

            I can’t see either Shearer or Key doing anything comparable.

            Neither can I. I don’t believe any of the talk about how Shearer used to “stare down warlords” in Iraq.

            • Te Reo Putake 6.1.2.1.1.1
              11 March 2013 at 8:12 am

              “I don’t believe any of the talk about how Shearer used to “stare down warlords” in Iraq.”

              Me neither. Mainly because the country concerned is Somalia. If you have any evidence that Shearer lied about his work and experiances in Lebanon, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Rwanda, Afghanistan, Serbia and Somalia, and, latterly, Iraq, then by all means front up with it. Or just admit you’re just making shit up, as usual.

              • muzza …
                11 March 2013 at 7:53 pm

                How about Keys back story, comfortable with that, and his career timeline, and claiming to have not been involved in the attcck on the NZ$ etc?

                Such a nice man, from a state home , you know, self made *business man*, he just wants to do whats best and right for his own country….etc, blah!

                Yeah, stories, they get made up, then molded to what suits the agenda.

                What will it mean for your self worth once you realise you have been taken for yet another ride by the team with the *gay coloured* shirts on!

              • Morrissey …
                11 March 2013 at 8:14 pm

                I made nothing up. I simply quoted one of the most common factoids (or, more accurately, falsoids) put into the media at the time Shearer was making his run for the leadership.

                Based on his inability to say anything coherently, even when faced with a friendly interviewer, I doubt that he “stared down warlords in Iraq”, as his spin-doctors claimed repeatedly.

                You seem to have an emotional investment in Shearer; I wonder if you were one of the ones involved in the spinning of this patently absurd legend.

                • Te Reo Putake …
                  11 March 2013 at 9:25 pm

                  So, no proof then, Mozza? Why am I not surprised? If you have any reason to doubt Shearer’s work history, now would be a good time to pony up. Otherwise, you tend to look like a bit of a sad sack. BTW, what was it like for you when you did your humanitarian work? Y’know, when you put your life at risk to help others? Do, tell, mate, I’m sure your backstory will be fascinating.

                  • muzza …
                    11 March 2013 at 9:39 pm

                    Were you there with Shearer when he did his *humanitarian work*, or when he *stared down warlords*…

                    If you were not there with him, then your support, like the fantastical words of the PR spin behind Shearer, and Key etc, are simply endorsing the puppets of those who simply, made shit up!

                    Sad diversion BTW Voice, Mozza is not Trojan horse leader of the LP selling himself as giving a toss about NZ, or its people (include the Africans in that), using a fantastical back story, the rival of the *great self made businessman*, John Key!

                    Obama got a Nobel prize for peace, yeah, shit gets manufactured to suit a purpose!

                    • Te Reo Putake …
                      11 March 2013 at 9:47 pm

                      Any proof the stories aren’t true, Muz? No? Then bollox to you too. Just another keyboard warrior, sans the balls to actually face reality as it is lives. Y’know, the real difference between you and Moz and David Shearer is that he can’t talk the talk and you two phonies can’t walk the walk.

                    • muzza …
                      11 March 2013 at 9:58 pm

                      Voice – So you were not with Shearer on his UN adventures then, we have established that!

                      Talk of reality, and walk or talk, is foolish, you have no idea about my situations/contributions, than you do of Shearers, thats the reality sport!

                      As I’ve said on here a long time back, your personal efforts to the LP etc, will not be any less meaningful, in reality, at the time it becomes even more obvious than it already is, David Shearer exposed as yet another parachuted sham traitor pretending to be a Kiwi!

                    • Te Reo Putake …
                      11 March 2013 at 10:22 pm

                      You’ve established nothing but your own self deluded twatitude, muzza. What a gutless wonder.

                    • gobsmacked …
                      11 March 2013 at 10:30 pm

                      Shearer’s humanitarian work (and personal courage) is well documented and recognised. It long predates his decision to run for Labour leader, or even stand in Mt Albert. (for example, his office was bombed in Baghdad, and yes, he had to deal with warlords in Somalia).

                      The fact that Shearer is poor at his current job doesn’t mean we have to belittle his previous one(s).

                    • Colonial Viper …
                      11 March 2013 at 10:38 pm

                      Fair enough. So is it to much to ask for this. I want to see that personal courage on display right up front and centre as Labour Leader standing explicitly for Labour values.

                      Somalia, knee capping your own colleagues, promising private house building corporates windfall profits, whatever doesn’t count. In this game, you’re only as good as your last sales pitch, not the one you successfully made 10 years ago.

  7. Skinny 7
    10 March 2013 at 9:33 am

    Tuning into RNZ this morning I caught the tail end of a news item about a near gassing of workers in the Kaimai tunnel link here; http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/130074/kiwirail-revises-training-after-workers-exposed-to-gas 

    You would think after the Pike River disaster this kind of thing couldn’t happen? What Kiwi Rail’s General Manager Rick Vanerveld has to say is a bloody disgrace & he should be sacked! 

    If I recall correct this bloke  was in the papers axing  nearly 200 Track jobs about this time & then I heard he got in contractors. Yip that sounds right as they were contractors in that tunnel, untrained in gas emergency evacuation etc. This mug is backing one of his Managers, who rather then 
    take the gassed workers for immediate medical treatment, instead takes them for a feed like they had too much to drink…”that’s shocking he should have been fired for that &not seeing they were trained.” 

    It will never happen the bosses always back their own & fudge things over after the pricks!

     I wonder if the media are following this story up? I smell a cover up & bet there is a lot more to this story! 

    • tc 7.1
      10 March 2013 at 9:46 am

      Our industrial landscape is starting to resemble third world environments with a govt willingly undermining health, safety and backing management all the way.

      Kiwi rail is a classic example as its got slipperys henchmen kicking it at every turn and a puppet CEO natty boy.

    • NickS 7.2
      10 March 2013 at 11:28 am

      T_T

      OSH and ACC should be claiming a few scalps over this. And this is business as usual when companies axe staff and hire external contractors and sub-contractors, as currently all the health and safety risk is moved onto the external contractors, who usually try and cut corners to save money…

      (I’ve done temping, and all we got was a very basic H&S video, while working directly for a company I’ve been given pretty decent H&S)

      • RedLogix 7.2.1
        10 March 2013 at 1:00 pm

        As I’ve said before, I know two senior H&S people who’ve both confirmed to me that ‘contracting out the risk’ is the major motivation.

        The entire trend towards contracting, temping and casualisation is exceedingly bad. It’s damaging at every level. Contracting has a place, but only in certain specific scenarios. Where it is plainly being used to replace full-time employment, this practise must be stamped out.

        Looking forward to hearing David Shearer announce strong policy aimed squarely towards at fixing this.

        • Rogue Trooper 7.2.1.1
          10 March 2013 at 1:37 pm

          notes not handy, but, the article on TV ONE on cannabis use and opiate use in the NZ workplace blew my mind (but didn’t surprise me). When I dug ditches / drove a dump-truck, a quarter to a third of the crew were stoned or fried. 🙂

          • RedLogix 7.2.1.1.1
            10 March 2013 at 1:57 pm

            Another comment my acquaintances have made is that it’s been more than 20 yrs since the passing of the 1992 H&S Act ….but serious harm injuries have scarcely declined at all. Still hovering around the 5000-7000 pa mark.

            Some employers (like my one) do take their H&S responsibilities very seriously; far too many others simply parasite off the system doing the least they can possibly get away with doing. Or less. And their employees (or contractors) simply pick up on the lack of leadership.

            It’s not hard. If everyone knows that certain H&S breaches are automatic dismissal offences … then everyone very quickly plays the game.

            • Colonial Viper 7.2.1.1.1.1
              10 March 2013 at 2:00 pm

              And big fines for directors…and jail time for them if someone actually dies due to management negligence.

            • Rogue Trooper 7.2.1.1.1.2
              10 March 2013 at 2:12 pm

              personally, and objectively Red, I agree with the comment made earlier this week re: we just don’t have the political class (the liquidity or investment) to reverse up the decline; I talk to a wide range of people, from the giftedly “insane” to the lucidly “sane” on these sociological / geographical matters and the outlook seems to be “Gimme Shelter”
              (+ thanks to TS and wider directed reading, there is plenty of confirmation on the ‘net if one is not a caught up playing “games” or looking for things to buy) btw, thanks for your endorsement of the influence of “faiths” in all this calamity in your postings.

              yet, we could always Welcome China, but then, there is always that great wall, (i don’t think the Chinese will ever forget the Nanking Massacre / RAPE of Nanking either).People are people (for example, all these pissed diplomat / negotiators at UN conferences) and what was sown by the majority of the West (grass for example) will be mown down in time. There is an “eclectic” prophecy for ya; it has all gone too far, in my humble opinion.

        • NickS 7.2.1.2
          10 March 2013 at 2:21 pm

          /nod

          Yeap, and the the business hiring temp’s know also they’re getting a shit deal, as usually the workers aren’t that capable due or even interested and so poor work results. As I’ve heard oft from commercial businesses I’ve worked for via student job search.

          [insert shoddy contracting via lowest-bidder stories here]

          Looking forward to hearing David Shearer announce strong policy aimed squarely towards at fixing this.

          O_o

          From Captain Mubblefuck?…

          We’re more likely to get a complete reversal on asset sales by Key than such a piece of policy from Labour at present /cough

        • felixviper 7.2.1.3
          10 March 2013 at 10:42 pm

          “Looking forward to hearing David Shearer announce strong policy aimed squarely towards at fixing this.”

          I’m in danger of toppling over from all this looking forward to things David Shearer should’ve already done.

    • She'llberight 7.3
      10 March 2013 at 4:00 pm

      There sure is a lot more to it.  http://i.stuff.co.nz/waikato-times/news/7290292/Union-fears-KiwiRail-cuts-threaten-workers-safety This rank and file Union guy blew the whistle on serious Health & Safety issues at Kiwi Rail, including the Kaimai tunnel incident. Those bastards running the railways tried to use the job cuts to get get rid of him. Last I heard he got forced to move up to the far North or be made redundant. In other words ‘sacked’.
      I would have thought whistle blowers were protected by law and the Employer would be skating on thin ice if he took a personal grievance?  

  8. Jenny Kirk 8
    10 March 2013 at 9:45 am

    The following link is to Rod Oram’s comments on Govt proposals to change the RMA. Govt is holding public meetings over next couple of weeks to “explain” their discussion paper. Oram suggests Govt is leaving out vital facts, and just using surveys as factual reasons to change the RMA.

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/opinion-analysis/8400307/Oram-A-naked-power-grab

    • LynWiper 8.1
      10 March 2013 at 10:57 am

      Yes an excellent read.

    • Draco T Bastard 8.2
      10 March 2013 at 12:41 pm

      Oram suggests Govt is leaving out vital facts, and just using surveys as factual reasons to change the RMA.

      That would be normal for this government. Paint a pretty picture but leave out the facts so that people don’t realise the truth and thus can’t make informed decisions. It’s all part of the We know best syndrome of National and the ideological ignoring of reality.

      • Skinny 8.2.1
        10 March 2013 at 4:53 pm

        This is a great article by Oram & really exposes National for scare mongering!  

    • Draco T Bastard 8.3
      10 March 2013 at 2:18 pm

      And then there’s this bit:

      Granting considerable new powers to central Government such as the ability to take individual consent decisions out of local councils and place them in a new national body; and inserting provisions in local council plans without any consultation.

      Yep, more dictatorial control from this government.

  9. NickS 9
    10 March 2013 at 11:19 am

    http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/122573-Clean-Fusion-Power-Could-Be-Feasible-by-2017

    Basically this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Field-reversed_configuration For more detailed info, check this: http://www.frascati.enea.it/ProtoSphera/ProtoSphera%202001/1.%20General%20framework.htm

    Fingers crossed it bloody well works as this would allow us to kick our coal habit within a couple of decades at least. Mainly as you need the infrastructure for harvesting and delivering deuterium on very large scales + manufacture the reactors.

    • Lanthanide 9.1
      10 March 2013 at 11:31 am

      There’s actually a lot of research going on in fusion power sources. The “always 50 years away” really refers to the big tokamak reactors that will eventually get there, but obviously not for a long time and at such a cost that they’re not truly feasible as a source of power.

      In the mean time, we may see one of these ‘alternative’ methods take off.

      • NickS 9.1.1
        10 March 2013 at 12:04 pm

        Tokamak’s are problematic mainly due to the fluid physics of the plasma, lots of eddies that reduce fusion output and require large amounts of computing power to model and iron out. ITER will probably provide better data on whether or not Tok’s can ever produce enough power for commercial viability.

        And yeah, tok’s and laser-based interial confinement fusion systems have pretty much taken the lion’s share of available funding. ICF particularly as it provides useful data for nuclear weapons, but mainly it’s been international treaties and science politics that’s kept these two methods in the forefront in my opinion*.

        The other main alternative runner is the Polywell, which has achieved fusion, but they’ve lost US Naval funding as of 2012 so are trying to get private funding.

        As for cold fusion – load of crap at present, too little non-problematic data, in particular Bubble Fusion is another shining example of how science can go wrongzors.

        ________________________________________
        *Could make for a fun history of science area actually… Generally you see a pattern of older, established scientists holding sway over an area and so it becomes difficult to bring in new ideas unless they have a lot of empirical evidence behind them. Seems to affect physics more.

        • Lanthanide 9.1.1.1
          10 March 2013 at 12:16 pm

          I’ve been following pollywell for 5 or so years now, didn’t know they lost their navel funding though, that sucks. Alternatively, it seemed like the government wasn’t really giving it the funding it deserved and kept everything Top Secret, so this could be an improvement.

        • Colonial Viper 9.1.1.2
          10 March 2013 at 12:51 pm

          I reckon that these developments are about 25 years too late to have a big impact on the energy future of the world, and I’m thinking about India and China here, two massive coal users. The best case I see is for a relatively small number of fusion generators to be built in time for VIP and high priority uses.

          Unless of course the dream of having a suitcased size generator putting out a MW of energy comes true, but that’s the stuff of Star Trek.

          • Rogue Trooper 9.1.1.2.1
            10 March 2013 at 12:57 pm

            Howdy Hombre’, “Q” could (he could do just about anything)

          • NickS 9.1.1.2.2
            10 March 2013 at 2:02 pm

            I don’t think so, China at least accepts climate change is a very serious issue, and if this reactor is viable, they’ll probably cancel the coal plants waiting to be built and redirect funding towards building these reactors. Heck, depending on how the energy from the reactor is being turned into electricity, you could retrofit current coal burning plant’s with them and drive the in place steam turbine power generators. Saving a lot of infrastructure costs in the process.

            And your forgetting just how much shear industrial capacity is present, given the drive, it can easily be redeployed towards producing just about anything, and the FRC reactor Skunk Work’s is proposing is far less complex that a tokamak. Mainly due to the confinement of the plasma via a magnetic bottle which doesn’t need a huge array of powerful electromagnets to run, and so doesn’t need entirely special lining as there’s no plasma eroding it.

            It will obviously take time to build and set up using current carbon-based energy sources, but if Skunk Works can get it to produce a large net energy from a self-sustaining fusion reaction, the possibilities are literally mind-boggling. For one, human civilisation might just have enough energy to start mining the air for carbon at an industrial scale and reduce atmospheric CO2 concentrations. Along with no longer needing to dam so many rivers for energy production, allowing for the rehabilitation of certain river systems and removal of dams in very tectonically active areas.

            Then there’s the obvious advantages in terms of electrification in the developing world for food and medicine preservation and storage. All from a reactor that is highly portable compared to the nuclear* and carbon-based alternatives.

            Are we still stuffed climate and resource wise? Yeap, but this is the sort of technology that when combined with other green-methods would allow us to adapt, survive and even reduce global temperatures. Albeit, a rather problematic set of “if” statements are still involved, mainly as democratic governments can be bloody stupid and some powerful non-state actors (i.e. corporations) have their heads firmly stuck in the short-term, despite the looming crises…

            Oh, and it makes SPAAAAAAACE a lot easier to move around in, as this reactor can be used to generate thrust directly, or used to run an ion-based drive array :3

            ________________________________________
            *well, pebble-bed reactors show some promise for portability and safety, but there’s a whole range of issues, including all the usual ones…

            • Colonial Viper 9.1.1.2.2.1
              10 March 2013 at 2:27 pm

              This is the absolute tech-solution best case, not saying it won’t happen but I wouldn’t rate it at a higher than 10% chance right now.

              The Skunk Works is not going to release this tech to the world (or to China) for a very long time. It would be too much of a strategic advantage for the USA.

              Once the technology has a pilot which can produce say 100MW sustained, I’ll believe that it is on the way.

              Right now, I’m tempted to put it in the category of civilisation saving solutions requiring “Unobtanium” to work.

              • NickS …
                10 March 2013 at 2:46 pm

                Yeap, but this is the sort of technology that when combined with other green-methods would allow us to adapt, survive and even reduce global temperatures

                😛

                As for this not being available to China, lets just say this tech isn’t exactly hard to replicate (based off currently published research on FRC and other reactors) and Lockhead-Martin might suck deeply and greedily on the teat of US Defence contracts. But this is a major money spinner that would give them a far more secure line of funding than the US DoD contracts. Which is going to get cut to the bone as American politicians are now beginning to stop holding it’s budget as sacrosanct.

                Although the moronic right are a significant issue that may cause problems.

                • Colonial Viper …
                  10 March 2013 at 2:52 pm

                  Worth bearing in mind that Lockheed Martin could also make a tonne of money exporting the F-22 Raptor, but it’s banned from doing so through national security legislation and technology export restrictions.

                  • NickS …
                    10 March 2013 at 3:05 pm

                    True, but that’s mainly because they’re getting government funding to develop and build the F22 airframe, internals and computer systems.

                    And while certain political douchebags might push for Skunk Works’ FRC reactor tech to not be exported to China and Russia, the shear need for this technology will hopefully hammer those idiots out of sight. Otherwise China’s gotten very good at industrial espionage 😉

                    Sometimes humanity prevails against it’s more stupid, short-sighted impulses.

                    • Colonial Viper …
                      10 March 2013 at 3:11 pm

                      Otherwise China’s gotten very good at industrial espionage 😉

                      Heh.

                      And it’s not like China is standing still in the field either

                      http://npre.illinois.edu/news/fusion-reactors-innovation-be-tested-china

                    • NickS …
                      10 March 2013 at 3:20 pm

                      They’re still trying the tokamak route, though the stuff being trailed is very interesting. Main issue with the tokamaks is that so far, they appear to need to be rather large to provide significant power (scalability being teh term). Along with the turbulence issues with eddies in the plasma that can cause power spikes/drops. Also China’s part of the ITER project.

                      But I suspect the Chinese aren’t standing still on other alternatives and their fusion research will be keeping an eye on anything out of Skunk Works.

                • Draco T Bastard …
                  10 March 2013 at 4:17 pm

                  As for this not being available to China, lets just say this tech isn’t exactly hard to replicate (based off currently published research on FRC and other reactors)

                  Yep, and other governments, except ours, probably have their research already looking in to it – especially after the release of that video.

              • NickS …
                10 March 2013 at 2:46 pm

                Yeap, but this is the sort of technology that when combined with other green-methods would allow us to adapt, survive and even reduce global temperatures

                😛

                As for this not being available to China, lets just say this tech isn’t exactly hard to replicate (based off currently published research on FRC and other reactors) and Lockhead-Martin might suck deeply and greedily on the teat of US Defence contracts. But this is a major money spinner that would give them a far more secure line of funding than the US DoD contracts. Which is going to get cut to the bone as American politicians are now beginning to stop holding it’s budget as sacrosanct.

                Although the moronic right are a significant issue that may cause problems.

              • NickS …
                10 March 2013 at 2:46 pm

                Yeap, but this is the sort of technology that when combined with other green-methods would allow us to adapt, survive and even reduce global temperatures

                😛

                As for this not being available to China, lets just say this tech isn’t exactly hard to replicate (based off currently published research on FRC and other reactors) and Lockhead-Martin might suck deeply and greedily on the teat of US Defence contracts. But this is a major money spinner that would give them a far more secure line of funding than the US DoD contracts. Which is going to get cut to the bone as American politicians are now beginning to stop holding it’s budget as sacrosanct.

                Although the moronic right are a significant issue that may cause problems.

                • NickS …
                  10 March 2013 at 2:49 pm

                  /facepalm – damn 500 error… Clean up please?

                  • Draco T Bastard …
                    10 March 2013 at 5:52 pm

                    When you get a 500 error on a comment just go to the front page and then reload the page that you were on. Your comment is usually there. I also suggest, if you’re really paranoid, a ctrl-a, ctrl-c before hitting submit.

                  • lprent …
                    10 March 2013 at 8:37 pm

                    In theory (as in I will believe it when I don’t see it), I should have largely eliminated the main cause of those this afternoon just before 1700 hours. There was a SEO plugin with a bad habit of locking the whole post table when it pulled all 11777 public posts for an analysis. It particularly caused a problem when a re-edit tried to start it a second time while the first was still running (for some obscure reason). Eliminated it, changed it for a less clueless plugin doing the same thing, and couldn’t see the reproducible effect afterwards.

                    I won’t know for sure until I see some new posts going up when the system is loaded. Ditto for finding out how well the new plugin keeps the search engines updated on comments. This one has less visible controls.

                    The log hasn’t shown any 500 responses since I restarted the apache server to start analysing the lag at about 2000 (been out)

              • Populuxe1 …
                10 March 2013 at 4:01 pm

                The tech isn’t coming out of the “Skunk Works” – it’s mostly private sector, or possible government funded projects in France and Japan. The Polywell is pretty well understood, and I think you seriously underestimate China’s tech state of the art.

          • prism 9.1.1.2.3
            10 March 2013 at 9:02 pm

            CV
            While thinking about India there was a good update on Radionz this morning on how it is thinking and acting which might put recent vicious attacks on women in the picture among other matters.

            http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/sunday
            11:44 Wayne Brittenden’s Counterpoint
            Wayne Brittenden has been Radio New Zealand’s correspondent in several capital cities over the years. Each week he gives fresh insights into a wide variety of topics of national and international concern, followed by Chris Laidlaw’s discussion of the issue with guests. Today, while India is now seen as belonging to the middle economic bracket countries, new Oxford University research reveals what critics within India have known all along — that the last 20 years of unfettered market forces haven’t reduced the vast number of those living in dire poverty. Wayne looks at today’s neo-liberal consumerist India, and Chris follows up with Dharmendra Kumar, the Director of the Indian Campaign Group, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Watch. (14′49″)
            Download: Ogg Vorbis MP3 | Embed

    • Murray Olsen 9.2
      10 March 2013 at 8:50 pm

      A less polluting and more efficient power source certainly opens up a lot of opportunities. If it’s used by the public sector to provide cheap power and save natural resources, it could be a great advance. If it ends up in the hands of the same greedy corporates, the price of power probably wouldn’t even go down. The technological solutions are always possible, but we need the social organisation which allows them to be used for more than the benefit of a small minority.

  10. joe90 10
    10 March 2013 at 11:38 am

    A test run with a view to having our very own twelve golden men?.

  11. millsy 11
    10 March 2013 at 12:08 pm

    A lot of posters on here have indicated their displeasure at the Clifford Bay ferry terminal/port.

    Youll probably even be less pleasured by the fact the Dictator of Christchurch has said that the govenment does not want to own it.

    So it will be privately owned, because the government doesnt belive in public ownership of things like ports, etc.

    Cool.

  12. NickS 12
    10 March 2013 at 12:55 pm

    *digs through wikipedia’s fusion power articles*

    *finds part of the US Strategic Defence Initiative, aka “Star Wars”*

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MARAUDER

    I can haz ion cannon?

    Pretty Please?

  13. AsleepWhileWalking 13
    10 March 2013 at 2:49 pm

    Go to 6.50 into video. Max suggests tying minimum wage to money supply (that’s how bankers are paid!)

    http://maxkeiser.com/2013/03/07/breakingtheset-max-keiser-on-bitcoin-hugo-chavez-myths-latin-american-socialism/

  15. Rogue Trooper 15
    10 March 2013 at 3:01 pm

    Turning Japanese
    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10870285
    so in Christchurch.
    tail-end of an RNZ article on cancer treatment, along with Stress, Resentment is a significant etiological factor. (best to unload the sack on our back as we tramp through life; His yoke is Light
    😉 )

    • Populuxe1 17.1
      10 March 2013 at 4:05 pm

      Not especially. If China doesn’t continue to prop it up, it will have to deal with the hot mess that result. Sounds like realpolitik to me.

      • Colonial Viper 17.1.1
        10 March 2013 at 5:36 pm

        Yep. And after all is said and done, North Korea is still a piece (albeit a rather risky, unreliable one) on China’s side of the playing board.

  18. NickS 18
    10 March 2013 at 5:16 pm

    http://tvnz.co.nz/politics-news/marriage-equality-bill-loses-public-support-says-colin-craig-5364683

    And this is what National’s possibly looking at going into a coalition with? Ye gads, it’s almost enough to make me want to keep ACT’s undead corpse around. Notice too, how he conveniently doesn’t cite any polling evidence.

    • QoT 18.1
      10 March 2013 at 8:50 pm

      Well, he has a point. If you take “public support is shifting towards a traditional view of marriage” to mean “by lying to people about the current law and scaremongering about issues that don’t exist and also lying about the process being followed, we’ve created a lot of confusion and then carefully worded our polling questions so they almost get the answers we want”. Craig’s just being more concise, is all.

  20. Mary 20
    10 March 2013 at 6:31 pm

    TV One News has just announced Joyce has committed to fixing Novopay within three months. An education sector person was hailing it on the news on tele as great to hear and that it was about time. But that’s not what Joyce said. He did say that he wanted as much done as possible to fix things within three months. That’s very different. In fact, does this mean that Joyce accepts not as much as possible was done over the past few months? Probably, but people need to listen to these slippery characters. When the three months is up and nothing’s been done Joyce will simply say that he did not give a commitment to fix Novopay within three months, and he’ll be right.

    • tc 20.1
      10 March 2013 at 7:04 pm

      Joyce can’t promise anything except behind the scenes bullying.

      A guaranteed fix is returning to the working Datacom system these clowns know SFA about the actual detailed technical and process issues.

    • ianmac 20.2
      10 March 2013 at 8:10 pm

      Of course it buys Joyce time and by that time the heat will have gone out and maybe the population will be bored by the story. Trust Mr Joyce? Sure can.

  21. lprent 21
    10 March 2013 at 10:26 pm

    Ok not seeing any 500 errors for valid pages apart from at the wp-admin side looking at edit-comment pages. That looks like a simple timeout issue.

  22. gobsmacked 22
    11 March 2013 at 10:39 pm

    Native Affairs was on tonight (Maori TV) and featured an interview with David Shearer. I didn’t see it, because – not for the first time – it was poorly publicised. Some reaction here …

    https://twitter.com/search/realtime?q=%23NativeAffairs&src=hash

    I never know whether Labour’s media reticence is deliberate strategy or just incompetence. Is it so hard to use social media and other outlets to say: “Today the leader will be on bFM, Maori TV, etc (as happened today). Why not issue a bulletin every day, announcing the day ahead? Too simple?

    I learn far more from Google and Twitter than I ever do from the people who are PAID to publicise their party, their polcies, and their people. What on earth do they do all day?

    • gobsmacked 22.1
      11 March 2013 at 10:59 pm

      Note to self … it helps if you can read the date on the thread. Sorry.

      (insert “embarrassed” smiley here)

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