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6:00 am, May 11th, 2024 - 55 comments
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The current rise of populism challenges the way we think about people’s relationship to the economy.We seem to be entering an era of populism, in which leadership in a democracy is based on preferences of the population which do not seem entirely rational nor serving their longer interests. ...
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https://www.waikatotimes.co.nz/nz-news/350269895/tauhara-power-station-turbine-gets-test-drive
The knuckle dragging simian brown must have over looked this little bueaty when ranting about more gas needed for power production.
Marc Daalder writing for Newsroom has a brilliant fact filled explanation of the energy supply "problems." Brown should be shamed for using his misinformation about gas etc for political gains. (There is still more than enough gas available but usage has dropped.)
Actually Newsroom does a much better job than most Media outlets.
https://newsroom.co.nz/2024/05/10/government-hypes-gas-crisis-ahead-of-restarting-drilling/
Newsroom are well worth supporting with a subscription in my opinion.
Thanks for the link ian.
Informative and balanced, while being critical.
I figure if we are at the tipping point, for it to be cost efficient to go all electric domestically, then surely we are there for commercial purposes.
https://www.rewiring.nz/electric-homes-report
I freed myself from the shackles of the usurious power peddlers…
I have a large solar panel..two smaller panels..rechargable lights..sound system…cook with gas…
= Bye bye power bills…
It's not hard to do..
..imagine…no more power bills… self-sufficiency rules..!
Go you good thing.
When a Key commodity is privatised, shareholders rub their hands in glee when there are shortages.
Bradford's 'reforms' were what pushed me off grid. We are in the process of installing our 3rd and hopefully final system.
Then, commission the biodigester, made out of a 1000litre IBC(s) to get off the bottled gas…
So obvious..and such a no brainer. Sad that the NO brains were elected into, ironically, power .
Fast track coal, scream the shit heads.
As well as new building we also need to learn how to retrofit our existing housing stock and establish best practice for doing this.
Not everyone wants to live in a new house. Plenty still live and are happy in, an older house.
With the long time practice to ensure that older folk can stay in the community rather being warehoused somewhere else this is vital.
Families with children also need access to homes, that need not be new, that have good standards for warmth.
That’s precisely the situation my 88 year old mother is in. She still lives in the (small) family home we all grew up in in the ‘60’s and 70’s, but with ceiling insulation and a heat pump added. She has fantastic neighbours, and has no desire to move to something new.
Oh to be fortunate and wealthy enough to have that choice.
With the cost of new builds, some people have no choice but to stay in their old homes.
I didnt say they did. Also, did you read the link?
And it may be you are the fortunate person who has either their own home and managed to insulate…or fortunate enough to have a Landlord who cares about more than the rental income?
Unlike….
An..example of what the UNfortunate deal with
how far below best practice are we building?
I actually don't think we are. Most houses have good insulation: top, bottom,sides. double glazing, many have air/heat transfer kits, heat pumps. They don't have forced air mechanical ventilation or automatic temperature control. Still a limiting factor is our prevalent building material of wood
The trouble is that the features that would be the icing on the cake for many such as radiators or whole house heating are beyond the reach of the typical home house builder. We rely on heat pumps on walls rather than harnessing the power of heat pump technology to power whole house heating. (ie a bank of pumps connected to radiators) Solar is not yet mainstream in new builds. Individual wind turbines are not seen much here in the perennially windy city (clue not Chicago!)
But our existing housing stock is fine to be renovated. Many sustainable firms do not offer programmes with loans etc to insulate walls or do double glazing (except the poor people's Dble glazing kits which are great). They are not doing any research into solutions for accessing under floor insulation for home built with no human under floor access.
Our small street though we witnessed tunneling on the scale of Douglas Bader at Stalag Luft III B when a neighbour had tunnelers working to make tracks for humans to install underfloor insulation.
Even though we can do all of these things, some better/more effectively than others, the elephant in the room is always the cost of electricity.
Max Bradford needs to make himself ponder on how difficult his reforms have made it for most to afford even a modest heater to take the chill off. Failing Bradford seeing the light then some sort of review should be done with an aim of winding back the rich boys electricity 'reforms'.
Perhaps Labour could add this to the list, and any other 'state' owned assets that may fall into private hands with this Govt.
In a discussion about thermal performance how is timber, around R1.4/25mm, limiting?
Sorry I meant in relation to brick or stone. We have to work with what we have got, stone & brick are so expensive, and so as compared with solid as stone or brick we do have a limitation to start with.
And sure we are good at upping the rating with innovative sheetings/sheathings behind.
The R-value for most cladding is negligible.
Thickness required of various insulation materials to achieve an R-Value of 22.
The most utility method of upping R values is to increase insulation on the house side of the vapour barrier.
Ok, I'll go all hippy on you and mention straw bale, cob, aircrete and rammed earth.
Having said all that we have just redone the lean-to in the west wall hat is part of the master bedroom on our villa. Ready for elderly Mum to occupy.
6×2 framing for the walls and 10×2 rafters for the ceiling for the thicker Batts, expol under floor and heat pump plus radiators.
My 1933 bungalow is constructed of kauri weatherboards on the outside and 9 by 1 inch rimu planking on the inside. Add building paper and a lining of Gib to the internal walls, lots of Batts in the attic, and insulation to the underfloor spaces, – it is very snug. I could retrofit double glazing, but for the moment, good curtains will have to do. There is a heat pump in the kitchen/family room and the site is north/west facing so gets good sun.
Nothing wrong with well built and insulated wooden houses.
wall insulation?
I really don't get why people build these insulated houses and don't put up curtains.
I don't either Weka.
Quite apart from the privacy aspect every little bit of protection against the cold helps. I suspect that they are related to the ones though who never pull their curtains back to get solar warming during the day or ventilate their houses to change air and prevent mould (and know the best times to do this).
We seem to have lost much of the commonsense about 'driving' a home somewhere along the way.
I really don't get why we have so many damn windows.
Glazing on north-facing walls can be reasonably large. Where there is good solar access and exposed concrete floors to provide thermal mass, north-facing windows should be approximately 10-15% of total floor area. With timber floors, north-facing windows should be closer to 10% of floor area. Where solar access is poor, the north-facing windows should be less than 8% of floor area.
Glazing that is east, west or south-facing should be smaller and designed mainly to meet daylight and view requirements. This glazing is usually a net heat loser in winter, depending on climate and heating.
East-facing windows should be reasonably small – less than 5% of the home's total floor area.
South and west-facing windows should ideally be less than 3% of floor area and be designed for daylight, views and cooling cross-flow breezes in summer.
https://www.level.org.nz/passive-design/glazing-and-glazing-units/
warmth, light, view. One of the reasons for having decent east facing windows is if you are in a hot climate you can open those windows in the afternoon when it is hottest, and close the curtains on the west and north sides. If there were limited windows on the east, it would be hotter inside and darker.
Yes Weka this is what my sister in inland Otago does in summer. East windows & doors open, west closed and curtained
I do agree that some house builds go completely over board. Also, why did high ceilings come back into style? It’s like the efficiencies gained by insulation and better passive solar were seen as something that could be spent by doing high ceilings, floor to ceiling windows and no curtains. That’s not conserving energy, it’s excessive energy use despite the triple glazing and high R value insulation.
High ceilings have always been a display of wealth.
Interesting question. And why did high ceilings become 'fashionable' in the first place – a woman's (or man's) home is her/his castle?
Just for info – I don't know the answer, but joe90 is probably on to it.
"Adding to the list of the benefits of high ceilings, he gushed …"
Agree with this. My house has stood the test of time and is as warm and comfy as I want it to be. (I generally function on a lower temperature than many homes are heated to and having opening windows/access to fresh air are key to me. I suffered terribly (like no other time) with sinus and other chest/nasal infections while living in apartments with non opening windows in Europe.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/350272573/nz-weather-live-power-grid-emergency-due-geomagnetic-storm
Labour and the Greens fault, no doubt.
Thanks for that link to the Stuff article – TS is a great source of news.
Friends in the South are hoping for aurora views this evening – though may be hampered by cloud-cover (not as cold as last night, but less visually exciting)
Sadly, we're not likely to see them in Auckland; both because we're likely too far north – but also the light pollution would drown it out. Perhaps they could save power by dowsing the street lights to let us see the aurora!
"Perhaps they could save power by dowsing the street lights to let us see the aurora!"
They would if they could but wouldn't dare. Some grinch would take them to court. Damn pity.
I've just seen images of the aurora taken in Foxton. Stunning!
I thought it was one of the things that was bragging rights for our southern cousins.
The most moral army in the world…
//
Strapped down, blindfolded, held in diapers: Israeli whistleblowers detail abuse of Palestinians in shadowy detention center
[…]
They paint a picture of a facility where doctors sometimes amputated prisoners’ limbs due to injuries sustained from constant handcuffing; of medical procedures sometimes performed by underqualified medics earning it a reputation for being “a paradise for interns”; and where the air is filled with the smell of neglected wounds left to rot.
According to the accounts, the facility some 18 miles from the Gaza frontier is split into two parts: enclosures where around 70 Palestinian detainees from Gaza are placed under extreme physical restraint, and a field hospital where wounded detainees are strapped to their beds, wearing diapers and fed through straws.
“They stripped them down of anything that resembles human beings,” said one whistleblower, who worked as a medic at the facility’s field hospital.
“(The beatings) were not done to gather intelligence. They were done out of revenge,” said another whistleblower. “It was punishment for what they (the Palestinians) did on October 7 and punishment for behavior in the camp.”
https://edition.cnn.com/2024/05/10/middleeast/israel-sde-teiman-detention-whistleblowers-intl-cmd
Test
The Carrington Event in early September 1859 was the largest solar storm on record.
Auroras were visible in low latitudes and miners in the Rockies were said to have arisen and breakfasted in the middle of the night thinking dawn was approaching. Induced current in telegraph lines caused fires, ignited batteries, and allowed telegraphs to be sent and received despite batteries being disconnected.
An event of that magnitude today would likely cause hundreds of billion of dollars worth of damage.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/world-news/350275087/rare-geomagnetic-storm-sparks-power-grid-alerts-around-world-stunning-auroras
Stunning photos of the Aurora including one from Blockhouse Bay Auckland. Can't see it from my place on the Shore. 🙁
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/stunning-aurora-lights-continue-for-nz-tonight-clear-skies-make-for-better-viewing-conditions/TDUYASBJBJDJ7AONV37Q75HRQE/
Stunning display south of here. Mostly red spreading from the southern horizon to near overhead, looks very like a bushfire sunset, with occasional vertical greens.
AJ.. heh heh. Waiting for the t-shirts. ..LABOUR DID THIS! Totally responsible for LARGEST SOLAR STORM ON RECORD!.
I might have believed you if you had claimed "Labour are planning to turn on the largest Solar Storm on Record"
Labour actually doing it? Who are you trying to kid? They never in actually succeeding with anything significant.
Alwyn’s more garbled than usual. Blame the aurora – it helps put things in perspective.
https://www.1news.co.nz/2024/05/11/awe-inspiring-aurorae-amaze-over-south-island-more-expected/
Our electromagnetic infrastructure, and indeed life itself as we know it, is possible only because of spaceship Earth's magnetosphere – and it's FREE! "Raise shields!"
https://scied.ucar.edu/learning-zone/sun-space-weather/earth-magnetosphere
Does anyone understand this Sharon Murdoch cartoon and can explain it?
https://twitter.com/domesticanimal/status/1789386842078380240
Women only so best I check.
The one on the right seems to have a penis on the end of the pointing arm, perhaps mocking the idea that a man can protect a woman's space literally/figuratively while having a penis. Or that anyone with a penis can protect a space designed for women or mocking that women, unless they have lady dick, are not women?
But I don't know…..
So many have got the wrong end of the press release because of the MSM mistake in saying NZ first were refusing access to unisex spaces. Par for the course for MSM in NZ. Wouldn't have a clue about women's issues even if they had said issues piled up in boxes in their lounge.
Hipkins repeated the lie about unisex as well. Totally fucking bizarre.
I usually find Murdoch's cartoons self explanatory, but I really have no idea what she is trying to say with that one. Does 'I trust you do have a women's space' refer to women's vaginas?
https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA2405/S00077/new-zealand-first-members-bill-to-protect-womens-spaces.htm
The proposed legislation (members bill only – not coalition) requires a minimum of two separate toilets – one for each sex. And legal consequence for those who use one not of their birth sex.
yes, I know, but I don't understand what Murdoch is saying with the cartoon.
She is inferring
She could have gone further – does one need a "birth certificate" or drivers licence or passport ID to access a public place toilet (all currently issued based on self gender ID). This is like the "phony war", just the beginning.
I don't see how you got those two points from that cartoon.
the problem isn't having ID or not, it's that sex isn't formally defined in NZ law.
Not sure what you mean by phoney war. There are coherent reasons for having single sex toilets.
The term phony war comes from a period in WW2.
It applies here because a member proposing legislation about having separate toilets based on sex, will come up against earlier parliamentary legislation to enable gender self ID (as per birth certificate, DL and passport).
To have any meaning, it would have to impact on other legislation.
And I do not know what other conclusions could be drawn.
generally yes, that is the norm. However there is legislation that predates self ID eg the right to discriminate on the basis of sex was established in BORA 1990 and HRA 1993
https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1990/0109/latest/whole.html#DLM225519
https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1993/0082/latest/DLM304617.html
Afaik, the BDMRR amendment was never intended to change the definition of sex, it was simply to make changing the BC easier.
https://thestandard.org.nz/the-problems-for-women-with-sex-self-id-in-law-and-society/
So what we have is protections that allow for single sex spaces, social conventions around that eg that sex refers to biology, and the DIA stating in 2021 that single sex spaces aren't affected by self ID.
We also have a sociopolitical push from gender identity activists to make changes socially eg remove single sex spaces. That is why this Bill exists. That it's being done by Peters/NZF as a form of populism doesn't alter that changes are being made without consultation and that will attract backlash. I'm not convinced that this Bill is necessary, nor that it is well written, but it's what we have in the absence of meaningful debate.
The Post today told an outright lie about the Bill,
https://twitter.com/aniobrien/status/1789117790034772361
one that the leader of the Opposition repeated. It's bizarre beyond belief, but here we are.
Ani did a mega thread,
https://twitter.com/aniobrien/status/1789133707619836231
The meaning is that self ID no more impacted on spaces than the right given since 1995 to identify differently (via a managed process) to birth sex – or the more general point that there was no legal definition of sex identity.
Thus sex based identity can be extended (via gender identity) to those not born of that sex, and unless this is seen to be in conflict with the rights of those born of that sex it would not be a breach of human rights.
Not that they are prepared to put it that baldly without a court determination.
Is it then possible to identify the legal circumstance of any bathroom "incident" without court precedent (and after Court of Appeal and Supreme Court also concluded)?
In the meantime, police action launched as a result of managing an incident – without any legal resolution, until a case went to court.
At the moment there is presumably no requirement to have separate male and female sex toilets in new public buildings, but this is common and with unisex areas as well – often with wheel chair access, which "others" can use.
A headline saying that the legislation would ban the provision of just unisex toilets in new buildings would be valid.
actually self ID legislation is having a significant impact in that it is affirming social change that is distorted because of No Debate. Consider why there are no posts about this on TS now. Or why there are few left wing voices address the issues for women.
what is sex based identity? Sex isn't an identity, it's a fixed state of being.
If you mean that trans women can self ID into women's toilets even where those toilets are designated female only, then use, this is exactly what the Bill is designed to address.
Consider a pub that has a women's toilet, men's and unisex. The women's toilet is a large room with basins/mirrors and cubicles that don't got floor to ceiling. Under the proposed law, if a man goes into that space, women could go to the owner of the pub and ask them to take action eg evict the man from the pub. If the man refuses to leave, the police can be called. Just like any other barring that happens in a pub.
At the moment, the same pub could take the same actions, because single sex spaces are protected in law. But I think the legislation used in court would be whatever allows pubs to evict patrons. The problem we have at the moment is that self ID is effecting a cultural shift. No Debate means that many places that might want to remove men from women's toilets won't do so for fear of being cancelled. And there are of course many people who are ok with men in women's spaces and they're not going to support women in that situation.
This is a really good example of why the issue isn't about genital inspections or transphobia. Even allowing for Bomber's fairly extreme and nonsensical rant style, it neatly points to the fact that men can just decide to ride roughshod over women's rights and then women have to fight. That's the war.
Agree Weka. I am concerned that there is so little in the way of widespread support for women from the community of men generally. This is not about being kind or using pronouns.
I think the community of men should step up and say, 'it doesn't matter how you are dressed fellow man you are able to come into the the toilets of your biological sex'.
This would work for all the well intentioned trans 'women'. They would recognise that it doesn't matter how you are dressed you are still a male.
It would not work on the AGP males.
Autogynephilia is defined as a male's propensity to be sexually aroused by the thought of himself as a female. Being frank the ability to do something about being sexually aroused is to masturbate, possibly rape. The numbers of pictures of males masturbating in womens toilets is legion.
I have not got figures but I suspect that in this cohort it is highly unlikely that they would have surgery to create a vagina, that would miss the point. They need male apparatus to do the next step. Sorry for being frank but in the dreamy world of rainbows and so called 'trans rights' this is ignored
Part of 'passing' as a female is to do 'female' things like going to the womens toilets. Of course they look nothing like a female. They are instantly recognisable as male. Many women have an inbuilt/innate sense of being able to recognise males no matter how they dress. This most acute at times when we have to let our guard down eg toiletting, breastfeeding children, tending to childrens' needs generally a fractious child in a stroller will take most of a mother's attention.
If there were unisex toilets then anyone could use them. This of course would not be supported by the AGP men.
The aim and object of these men is to gain access to women's toilets. I suspect this is who the legislation is primarily aimed at. It cannot come soon enough.
I hope that along with it, in the future, we will look at the building regs that seem to have screwball requirements for the proportions of male/female toilets. Many women have found themselves using or guarding men's toilets, at say concert venues, so that other women can use them, while an equal number, and counting, are using and lining up to use the women's toilets.