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notices and features - Date published:
6:00 am, August 11th, 2010 - 28 comments
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It’s open for discussing topics of interest, making announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose.
Comment on whatever takes your fancy.
The usual good behaviour rules apply (see the link to Policy in the banner).
Step right up to the mike…
For those who believe that wind generated power is a viable and good way to progress here is an article about Portugal’s experience and rapid progress over the past few years.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/10/science/earth/10portugal.html?th&emc=th
And what is happening in Britain as the 130 billion cut in Government spending starts to bite as they try to balance the budget.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/10/world/europe/10britain.html?th&emc=th
Famous last words?
“They are superdomesticated and they just don’t really like to go wild,’ said Norman Ellstrand, a professor of genetics at the University of California, Riverside.
Refering to genetically modified canola plants which are growing as weeds, in one case reported still growing while everything else around was killed by spraying.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/10/science/10canola.html?th&emc=th
Still they are nice yellow flowers .. yellow is my favourite colour 🙂
Four days in a row the Open Mike post has had an extra zero in the title. Can one of the moderators please change it back to 2010. The thought of skipping ahead 18,000 years and finding National are in government is scary.
Ooops – my mistake. Thanks, fixed.
Bugger,I wanted to get off at 2013.
An interesting take on the problems caused by unions accessing workplaces:
“However, they indicated that they have not received many complaints from employers regarding workplace access by unions. In some instances where access to workplaces has been an issue, (they) believe poor understanding of the current law by employers has been the source of the dispute. They suggest that educative resources may be of value in raising a better level of understanding of the Act for employers.’
Who’s ‘they’ I hear you asking? The EPMU? The CTU? Some far left ginger group? Nope its, er, Business New Zealand.
So, if the employers don’t think there is a problem, why is Wilkinson proposing this change?
The quoted passage comes from the DOL advice given to the Minister. The rest of the advice is along similar lines and can be found here:
http://www.dol.govt.nz/initiatives/workplace/ers/unionacces.pdf
Has this NACT government got a mission for each of its ministers to think up some key policy changes that should reduce cost of government? It seems they all must make changes whether or not they are good policy.
Have we reached the stage of runaway climate change? Considering the incredible temps the Russians are suffering from and the unbelievable floods in Pakistan?
Refer link http://www.countercurrents.org/glikson090810.htm
Hi, another link on the big increase in temps lately:
http://www.postcarbon.org/blog-post/127215-we-re-hot-as-hell-and-we-re
Global warming shows no signs of levelling off
Emphasis mine
IMO, we hit runaway climate change a while back – we just haven’t realised it yet.
John, its well advanced but I hope to hell it’s not run away yet. The real issue for us Cassandras is to:
• keep the noise up to all and sundry.
• act locally to do what you can.
There are one hell of a lot of “peak’ issues that all link back to the commonality of “growth’ of our environmental foot print and impact. To address them we need critical mass of agreement and it’s a long way off. Don’t despair or nothing will happen, but keep calling a spade a spade.
BTW my tomatoes never ripened in Wgtn last year due to the cold winds we had up until December, maybe caused by an extremely warm mid Pacific water mass drawing cold air from the southern oceans. Global warming is slightly bizarre, but it is there it is.
Bring those green tomatoes indoors and they will ripen nicely if left on the windowsill where sunlight reaches.
…or make chutney.
According to the Met guy on Morning Report this morning it is not the first time this event has occoured, mayhem in the upper atmosphere or something.
Hi, Climate Change again, getting worse: here’s a link explaining the extreme freakish winter temps hitting South America! refer link:
http://tomnelson.blogspot.com/2010/07/record-cold-hits-south-america-carbon.html
Paula Bennett will be getting tips on how to do her job from members of the failed free market greed is all state of the US. John continues to practice the ideology that comes from that unhappy land refer link
http://www.lifeaftertheoilcrash.net/Archives2009/RobertsUSFailedState.html
Hi Here’s a polemical comment on the failed state of the US whose rubbish ideology we took on board with the Rogernomics coup refer link
http://exiledonline.com/american-dumbfucks-put-on-a-clown-show-for-billionaire-masters-called-dumbfuck-club-the-first-rule-of-dumbfuck-club-is-americans-cant-possibly-be-dumber-that-these-fucks-scene-1-banksters-s/
Hi,here’s a very interesting conversation that light heartedly touches on NZ but goes onto discuss more serious issues such as climate change, economics of running a species such as tuna into extinction and the destructive neo-liberal cult Milton Friedman started and to which the rich have clung to,to absolve themselves of responsibility for others or the Planet. I can only shudder in horror that Paula Bennett would go to such an economic and social disaster,as the US is now, to get job tips!But wait on If we creep up to the Americans we might get that free trade agreement right?!Pigs might fly too.Refer link Warning deals with the real world not one network news fantasies
http://maxkeiser.com/2010/08/11/1159-the-truth-about-markets-nz-11-august-2010/
This from today’s Herald …
Of course climate change is a myth and we are actually cooling or at the end of a hocky stick or something …
Link is at http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10665275
250 square kilometres can be hard to visualise, so try picturing (roughly) all of Wellington up to Porirua.
Aucklanders, about the size of Gt Barrier Is. Or most of the Manukau Harbour.
Central dwellers, picture the eastern half of Lake Taupo. The big half.
And South Islanders? Don’t worry, like mickey said it’s all a big hoax.
Grrrrr.
If anything the North Island has more Fed Farmers science denying bozos than the South Island 😛
Heh, sorry couldn’t resist.
Stephen Hawking has used his fine brain to work out an objective position for humans with means – set up house on another planet. I don’t think he is strong on irony so there’s an idea.
Anyone read Greg Bear? I think he wrote a story where a group left for another planet. The ones left behind were really p.o.
Then there are the Golgafrinchans from The Restaurant at the End of the Universe. They concocted a story about a world ending calamity in order to load the useless third of their homeworld population into a deep space ark and send them off so that the rest of them could stay behind and enjoy life without them.
From the What the Fuck [Insert Peer Reviewed Journal here]? Files, comes this:
Biblical fever = influenza. You’re kidding me, right?
Surely the reviews and Editor were drunk when they let this one through…
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/4013987/Online-job-ads-continue-to-grow
Online ad numbers are bigger than last year. All this conclusively proves is that more people are advertising online – not using print ads… It’s not evidence that jobless numbers are plumetting. Try again Basher…