I had to leave a rather long note about when and how we moderate on legal issues and public interest because Bob (at least) clearly doesn’t understand it.
You’d think that after all of these years since Lange vs Atkinson that people will have caught up with the arguments that the court of appeal and privy council ruled on.
Try clapping your hands 110 times within 13 secs. That’s how fast the floors were pulverized. It went so fast, they couldn’t even hit eachother. The floors were pulverized to dust in mid-air.
The Toronto hearings condensed for those of you interested to hear what scientists, Architects and engineers have to say about the events of 9/11
Without commenting on the merits of this particular instance, it seems fairly logical that the further away we get from an event, the more plausible different theories about it are. Fewer people have direct knowledge, primary sources start to fade … see also: Nazca Plateau, Jack the Ripper, the moon landings.
I am healthily skeptical about 9/11 particularly building 7 and the Pentagon that do not appear to have been hit by planes and the suspicious lack of publicly available photos of wreckage from flight 93.
This stuff should be pursued to the end, just as one Augusto Pinochet was, because it is about how “civilized” societies function. The WWII Polish Katyn forest executions by Soviet forces were known about by the allies from the start but they only ’fessed up this year! Do those in charge do horrible things to the people? I can sense a few nods from readers here… yes they bloody do, so why not sections of the US spook/corporate brigade.
At one stage Lprent suggested if interest in this topic was going to continue then maybe a dedicated thread could be set up. This could be worth looking at, so the disinterested or general reader could avoid. But that is easy for me to say as I do not run the blog!
Perhaps instead a simple links hub could be facilitated.
Somewhere that links only are posted into either a Truther/Denier ‘twin tables’ set up that people can freely investigate without the judgement and the vitriol that usually accompanies them.
Just a thought.
Good on ya, TC. However, the best response is probably the rolling eyes or taking this ever useful advice: DNFTT. Still, you managed to get one fool to throw in a bizarro world link to the JFK shooting, so well done for that!
ps. Freedom, I’m not saying the GFC and 9/11 fantasies are definitely linked, but the answer to your question might be found here.
TRP, i am not going to get into a 911 debate here as face to face communication is the only successful method of helping someone break through the cognitive dissonance that is strangling the world. If you choose to continue ignoring the laws of physics and the mind-buggeringly huge amount of data that obliterates every aspect of the official story there is little that a hundred hours of online bickering will achieve.
People either wake up or they don’t. I stopped wasting my time fighting it online last year. instead i take every opportunity that arises in the real world to engage, assist and educate anyone who shows the telltale signs of 911 ignorance. I can honestly say i have personally witnessed the ‘awakening’ of over a hundred people in that time and it is getting easier every single time.
So either people have a growing awareness of the issue or i am just an incredibly persuasive individual who gets rational adults to believe in what you call fantasies.
Cheers to you, too, freedom. I’m pretty much at the same level of frustration as yourself and most of the time I ignore the madness of the 9/11 truth deniers. But, this is a left wing site and occasionally I rise to the bait that the righties throw. I know I should really take my own advice and stop feeding the trolls, but occasionally its worthwhile anyway, just for conversations such as this.
Ultimately, the best defence against the mis-named truthers is the truth. And the complete lack of any factual comfirmation of an alternative conspiracy to the successful AQ led attack on the WTC speaks volumes.
11 years, 8 days. Still no evidence. Occam’s razor remains as sharp as ever.
I like to remind truthers that the Bush government was so freaking inept at everything else it tried but somehow has pulled of the most masterful of conspiracies without there ever being a whistle blower?
Ok – normally i dont join in this argument, because it has no end – ever.
however – im still of the opinion that…
“there are many conspiracies about 9/11 – the US govt’s is one of them”. Theres just too much stuff that doesnt add up in ANY given explanation.
I know that puts me in a bit of a stasis/fence sitting position – but i can live with that
I don’t have an opinion either way, but I do like to watch the argument sometimes and how illogic pops up on both sides.
For instance, the idea that the Bush administration is so inept they couldn’t have pulled this off, plus the argument that no-one has ever spoken out about the conspiracy, remind me of the commentary in the days following 11/9 where people couldn’t believe that Arabs were capable of planning and carrying out such an attack.
Sure Berny, but in the days after 11/9 that’s not what people were talking about. They struggled to get their head around how the lowly Arabs could pull that off against the mighty USians.
They struggled to get their head around how the lowly Arabs could pull that off against the mighty USians.
“Yes. That’s how propaganda works.”
True, but I think it was also the US people just not being that aware of the rest of the world and having a retarded view of Middle Eastern countries.
Anyway, my original point, somewhere, such as it was, was that saying that there is no conspiracy because Bush is an idiot is akin to saying Al Qaeda weren’t smart enough to pull off the attacks. Neither argument makes logical sense. (and yes, I know, logic in this debate, a vain hope).
but the logic falls down because it’s a flse equivalence.
The controlled demolition theory calls for an extremely complicated plan that hasn’t been put forward. ie, we know that it must have been extremely complicated, and we have had no suggestion of how they might have carried it out. We also know that the alleged planners have a track record of fucking much simpler things up.
The terrorist attack theory is highly detailed; there are loads of very good analytical and investigative books, including interviews with the planners, timelines, historical threads, the whole gambit. It’s also a much simpler explanation of events, needing much less planning, and the alleged planners had the experience to do it.
How many options do I have?
I’ve lived in pain my whole life, captivating?Engineered?UNPaidFor?
I should change my handle to BloodyOrphan, maybe that’d help
Maybe they just pretend to agree so they can escape your explanations, freedom.
I’ve got some doubts about what happened with building 7, but haven’t seen anything yet which comes close to making me think about why the other two towers collapsed. As for the wreckage in the forest – when planes hit vertically or near vertically, they tend to excavate deep holes for themselves. Bf 109s going into English soil sometimes managed to get surprisingly deep.
As for the Pentagon – the plane flew over the top of a friend’s car just before it hit. His wife was driving and he is an American scientist, so we’re probably trying to suppress something. Yawn.
Trav yeah trav60,000 tons of material coming down 14ft gaining momentum then gathering in another 70 floors at 2,000 tons each I think your brains have been pulverized by blinkered thinking.
As for your thermite theory its just a theory thermite could easily be made from the aluminium joinery and the aluminium lining of the gibboard (Dry wall )rubbing together under huge forces 500,000 tons with the momentum building gathering up as the building crashes down the amount of energy and destruction would be in the 100,s of millions of tons equivalent in energy dissipated which could quite easily produce pockets of nano thermite.
For those of you wanting to learn more about what Mike E is talking about here is an excellent analysis of the collapse of the South tower and why there is no pile driver (Which would be against the laws of physics as the top of the building would find the path of least resistance) from Greame McQueen. called waiting for the Wham!
And Mike E you might take your blinkers off for about an hour and watch the presentation too and the same goes for McFlock
Without seeing the presentation cause it’s been removed, there could’ve been a number of factors affecting the actual collapse ….
Initial Impact ?
Wind
Interior weight redistribution
Pure random office weight distribution
And those poor people of course.
From the footage I’ve seen, admittedly vague these days, it looked pretty natural to me, if an airplane colliding with a building can be described as natural.
Airplane fuel burns hot enough to melt Steel.
There’s another possible “Moving Mass”
i have to respond to that mike, and i will do so with a quick question
Care to explain how a steel I-beam that was identified as coming from above the point of impact was found embedded in a building 400+ m away from where it was originally riveted and welded into place?
The nonsensical statements that have no basis in science (or even bother with logic) such as that delivered from mike e above, are why i prefer to keep my 911 work on a face to face platform these days. People are far less willing to throw out bs when they have to sit there defending and or explaining their assertions that always end up contradicting or defeating their own statements.
Its funny these conspiracy theorists seem to believe aliens have already landed and just about everything is a conspiracy just about all the theorists I know are unemployed or in low wage jobs I suppose its a form of escapism.
But these conspiracy theorists Don’t believe in Vaccinating their children either!
Another one was that the swine flu vaccination was going to wipe out your immune system.
My family has all got the swine flu jab and you couldn’t meet a healthier bunch of people.
I see their kids ( the ones who haven’t immunised their children )and most of them are anaemic
and physically small Always off school sick with something wrong!
Well Mike, I know some pretty high level business people, intelligent, educated and the like, and guess what, they ask questions too, because they are not stupid, and they don;t believe what is rolled out by TPTB , on all manor of subjects. Only a complete fool believes that corporations, war machines, intelligence industries, big oil, pharma, war on drugs, war on terror etc are there for your well being. Only a FOOL would not want to at least try to see if there is more going on, and a coward would deny it!
Questioning the party line, and looking for understadings is a responsibility we all should take on, sure that does not mean we will all agree etc, which is fine, but hey the conversations become much more interesting than rugby, beer and other house extensions, or isn’t so and so a bitch, and other irrelevant topics. making up so called conversation in NZ.
Which person makes the world a potentially worse place for everyone to live, now and in future, including for your kids, nieces, nephews or gandkids etc?
1: The person who seeks understandings and answers, and questions events which shape this world?
or
2: The person who accepts what they are told and never questions the version of what they are told is happening around them?
no mcFlock it is simply an instructive and basic visualization tool that forces your consciousness to realize that one hundred and ten floors of steel and concrete can not fail and collapse to the ground faster than you can clap one hundred and ten times. It is the niggling reality of the situation that you are fighting and which causes you to react so predictably.
At 3 metres / floor, 110 floors = 330 metres in 13 seconds.
Average speed = 25 Metres per second. (about 90KpH).
G = 9.8M/s/s
After 13 seconds free-fall acceleration that = 147.4M/s (530KpH). It would have travelled 891.8 Metres. At 3M/floor that’s 297 times.
Average speed 68.6M/s or 247KpH.
Obviously this doesn’t include wind or concrete resistance, but in order to replicate the theoretical average frequency of floor destruction at freefall speeds, you would need to clap nearly 300 times in 13 seconds.
Obviously the law of gravity breaks the laws of physics.
Hahahah,
Let’s calculate something and exclude one of the most prominent qualities: that of concrete resistance.
The law of gravity obeys the three laws of Physics. If the law of gravity had been obeyed as well as the laws of physics the top which you claim acted as a sledge hammer would have found the path of least resistance.
You should really watch Greame McQueen’s presentation linked to above.
There there C, calm down. Of course the laws of physics were obeyed. Nothing can break the laws of Physics. It is just that the official story can’t have happened unless 19 young Muslims could break them. In order to pulverise the buildings and allow them to come down into their own footprint someone had to have access to all three buildings and place explosives in them, s’all.
Only with a huge amount of extra energy could those buildings come down. Office fires and kerosene could not have done that.
You realise that the plane itself is made of many elements with different melting points (like aluminium and magnesium) which would melt and burn before steel, adding to the ferocity of the fire, and that steel is significantly weakened in high temperatures
Secondly you have never explained when and how the explosives got into a building with 24 hour surveillance and bomb sniffing dogs and without alerting security or anyone else that worked there.
You also failed to address the fact that the it wasn’t the top few floors vs the rest of the building but the top few floors vs. the floor immediately below.
I watched it this morning and personally believe it’s complete bollocks.
Trav, read this next bit very slowly …. the top of the building DID follow the path of least resistance. All laws, including Newton’s, which you claim weren’t, were followed to the letter.
Either you are right in which case there was no resistance all the way to the ground where just seconds before there had been a huge solid and undamaged building indicating the destruction of the building by something other than the Sledgehammer Mike e is talking about or you’re wrong and the top bit rammed the bottom bit to smithereens breaking the laws of physics.
You can’t have it both ways. Your turn.
no-one has ever said there was “no resistance”, or course there was. But just not as much as you think there was. Your use of the words: “just seconds before there had been a huge solid and undamaged building” are clearly incorrect. The top clearly fell through at least 1 floor with little to no resistance.
The floor trusses in those 2 buildings were clearly the weak point. With the top 12 floors tipping and leaning to one side, all of the resulting force was being transferred through a smaller footprint, clearly more than was able to be withheld, leading to the structural failure. The floors were made of only 4 inch thick “lightweight” concrete.
To quote wikipedia: “While the buildings were designed to support enormous static loads, they provided little resistance to the moving mass of the sections above the floors where the collapses initiated. Structural systems respond very differently to static and dynamic loads, and since the motion of the falling portion began as a free fall through the height of at least one story (roughly three meters or 10 feet), the structure beneath them was unable to stop the collapses once they began. Indeed, a fall of only half a meter (about 20 inches) would have been enough to release the necessary energy to begin an unstoppable collapse”
and … “Once the collapse initiated, the mass of failing floors overwhelmed the floors below, causing a progressive series of floor failures which accelerated as the sequence progressed. Soon large portions of the perimeter columns and possibly the cores were left without any lateral support, causing them to fall laterally towards the outside pushed by the increasing pile of rubble. The result was the walls peeling off and separating away from the buildings by a large distance (about 500 feet in some cases), hitting other neighboring buildings. Some connections broke as the bolts snapped, leaving many panels randomly scattered. Significant parts of the naked cores (about 60 stories for the North Tower and 40 for the South Tower) remained standing for some seconds before they also collapsed themselves”
Anyway, you and i have had countless arguments about this topic and neither one of us is going to budge. I don’t even know why i bothered commenting on the topic again. The weight of evidence is on my side, not yours. so, as you most eloquently put it …. your turn.
I’d love to see a truther account one tenth as detailed as the various and numerous accounts that are to be found of the mainstream theory.
For example, I’d like to know how much ‘nano thermite’ would have been needed and where it was placed. Then we’d need a discussion that takes account of the nature of thermite, that it burns rather than explodes, so it usually requires aditional explosives to shift the cut steel.
Factor that into the images we have of the collapse and explain how it all happened, and whether it makes sens to do it that way.
The plan would have had to take account of the fact that several floors were severely damaged by the plane crashes and fires. How was this built into the pla? How did the wiring plans for the thermite and explosives build redundancy in to deal with this?
Is the controlled demolition theory explaining what we see, or is the controlled demolition account trying to force itself on to what is being observed?
But we never get offered any detail. After a decade, there is still no explanation of their account.
agree! i’m especially interested in how all the tons and tons of explosives and thermite were wired into the building with kilometers of demolition cord, under the noses of tens of thousands of employees ….. without ANYONE noticing.
All the while being placed in exactly the correct place for a plain to hit the buildings and not damage said explosives rig. Then requiring someone to press the button to initiate the collapse while knowing 300 odd innocent firefighters were still inside the building with no change of escape.
Benny D is right but trav you are just repeating con job.
You don’t understand laws of physics tell me why it takes 1.2km to stop a1200tonne train going along tracks !
then tell me how you would stop 60,000 tonnes which is gaining momentum also fighting the effects of gravity stops .
The train isn’t gaining momentum and has only a mild gravitational drag!
Those buildings were built quickly cheaply using formally illegal methods until they conned NY City to go back to old methods using clip in prefabricated floor trusses !
Now you will find that the flooring systems in use today has to be bolted in with very expensive non sheer temp proof bolts!
They’ve learned from the mistakes!
I was pointing out that the speed of the towers was within the bounds highest possible speed with no resistance, i.e. freefall speed, and that therefore your “hands clapping” argument is batshit-stupid idiocy.
We might have some agreement, though – the towers fell at slower than freefall speed due to concrete being in the way.
Just for the record, this bloke can clap 12-13 times a second. So, clearly, it is possible to clap 110 times in 13 seconds, which probably negates whatever vague point Trav was trying to make. But no matter, it just makes the comparison entirely consistent with the rest of the truther claims, which are equally bogus.
What isn’t a conspiracy theory is that it has been found that GW Bush has been found to have lied to the American public in saying he wasn’t warned of an impending attack he was warned but didn’t take it seriously as he thought that no one would dare attack the US!
Those cats were talking about it in 99, problem was no one could fathom it.
and I’m just a cat off the street.
They created a lot of fear with that “engineered” approach.
You can see it in Afghanistan and other places right now
The first speaker is a lady by the name of Laurie van Auken. She was one of the people who fought for an investigation into what happened. She lost her husband on 9/11. As long as people like her want to fight for a new and independent investigation I’m with her
Fair enuf, in a civilised world that’s a good thing, power too them, but I think in this case the inuendo I speek of is all there is behind it, truely sorry for their loss, heartbreaking.
It was street level info from NZ.
Regardless of whether you thought the WTC was deliberately demolished or not, you have to admit, that it is rather strange for the all 4 airliners’ black boxes to vanish.
Given that black boxes have been recovered in dense jungles, shark infested oceans and icy rivers, it would be pretty straightforward for them to be recovered in the rubble of a destroyed building or in the Pennsylvania countryside.
“The Flight 93 flight data recorders were recovered. The Flight 77 black boxes were also removed from the Pentagon, but one of them (the cockpit voice recorder) was too badly damaged to be used. The only boxes not to be recovered were from the World Trade Centre impacts ”
The World Trade Centre ones were destroyed – is that surprising given the extreme forces involved there?
Black boxes aren’t indestructible. They aren’t always recovered.
And these crashes were not normal – crazies at the steering wheel with the accelerator to the floor.
It’s like the old moon landing conspiracy nonsense:
“There are no stars in the background!” – because the sun light fades them out, the sky is black because there is no atmosphere on the moon otherwise it is just like we don’t see stars in the blue daytime sky.
And seriously, would someone go to all that trouble to fake a mooning landing and forget to paint the stars on the background? 🙄
The moon is a completely alien environment, what is experienced on Earth and taken for granted is turned upside down.
That type of issue is why I remain a 9/11 skeptic Millsy, not a ‘Truther’, follow the evidence.
No plane appears to have hit the Pentagon or building seven so what did happen?
A govt., or sections of it, would not harm it’s own people? C’mon Pol Pot, Indonesia, Chile, Syria.
Building 7 was hit by a large chunk of one of the falling towers, TM. And while you’ll get no argument from me on America’s historical propensity to use its power extra-judicially, to do so against its own citizens on a mass scale has no modern precedent.
The wikipedia site has pretty common sense descriptions of the main theories, including the video of the Pentagon crash. The guts of it is, for me, that there is no credible alternative to the established facts. And the complete absence of human corroboration of the inside job is the clincher. No whistleblower, no stray email, no oh so human cock up.
It is what it is. A relatively simple plot, using a classic guerilla technique, modernised; multiple hits to maximise the chance of success. They succeeded because a highjacking with the intention of destroying the aircraft and all aboard was inconceivable. Security, till then, had been premised on the idea that political hijackers wanted publicity and a safe haven; that they intended to survive.
There were a whole load of plane bits lying around the pentagon. Bits of engine, wheels, parts with the American airlines logo. It can only be deliberate ignorance that prevents you Doing the simplest of google searches to see them.
There were a whole load of plane bits lying around the pentagon. Bits of engine, wheels, parts with the American airlines logo. It can only be deliberate ignorance that prevents you Doing the simplest of google searches to see them.,
That comment I just had to laugh at, especially when you used the words ignorant, google search, bits of engine, wheels, parts , logos etc.
Its like Voice saying that Wiki is a reliable source., and no prescedent etc…
Yeah, yeah, yeah … you moan, but you have no evidence to support your position, muzza. And that’s your fundamental problem. 11 years, two weeks, no evidence.
ps, I’ve come to the comclusion that there is a false flag aspect to 9/11. And you are part of it, my friend. Yep, CIA/Haliburton ‘truthers’ are running a false flag op to muddy the waters around a straightforward terrorist attack in order to keep the need for Homeland security at the forefront of the American people’s minds.
It’s probably the greatest conspiracy ever conceived in the history of the world, but I can’t say any more because there is a black helicopter over my house recording everything I do ….. aaaaaargh, noooooo, gravy for the mind …. tell the world my story, tell them muzzaaaaaaaaaargh!!!
Yeah, yeah, yeah … you moan, but you have no evidence to support your position, muzza. And that’s your fundamental problem. 11 years, two weeks, no evidence.
Its all BS on every angle, it so obvious, no need to spend time dwelling on it. No need to waste time on what stinks from top to bottom!
ps, I’ve come to the comclusion that there is a false flag aspect to 9/11. And you are part of it, my friend. Yep, CIA/Haliburton ‘truthers’ are running a false flag op to muddy the waters around a straightforward terrorist attack in order to keep the need for Homeland security at the forefront of the American people’s minds.
Now you’re catching on, slow, but better you got there….I don’t even mind that its you who finally caught on to my position on such matters around deliberate confusion on every angle. Next you just have to develop the inate ability to be able to tell the shite in the lies….You dont have it though, your words tell me that for sure. Worse you have no interest in even trying, which is why you will remain confused on so many issues!
It’s probably the greatest conspiracy ever conceived in the history of the world, but I can’t say any more because there is a black helicopter over my house recording everything I do ….. aaaaaargh, noooooo, gravy for the mind …. tell the world my story, tell them muzzaaaaaaaaaargh!!!
Funny how she never once mentions the airliner debris on the lawn.
You’d think amongst all the other things she’s assessed she’d have a damn good theory about how the parts were stored inside the building to be found after the event or conveniently dropped in full view in the moments before people arrived on the scene to lend help.
Odd this is never addressed given that she has worked out everything else. Did she forget?
It seems that the only crime in the universe where the people pointing out that there is a problem with the story of the people who have most to gain by the crime, namely the military industrial complex who had earned trillions with the wars started in the aftermath, have to prove their allegations before a police investigation is started is the crime of 911.
This compares to a case were bystanders, who after a bloody body has been found, have to prove the guy who inherited all the dosh is guilty, after they point out the story he is telling is scientifically impossible, before a proper police investigation is started.
If you find a bloody body and call the police they come and investigate. They interrogate, question and use science to prove or disprove who has done the deed.
It is not our job to find out every detail and every facet of the story. We have done our job in that we have pointed out that scientifically the official story is a load of BS.
Even the members of the 9/11 commission declared they were set up to fail and are denouncing their own results.
We want a new and independent investigation into what happened on that day and we are not alone in this.
End of story!
I want a new and independent inquiry into why she completely ignores the most telling pieces of evidence, something you just spent a lot of words dancing around but never actually addressed either. Alternatives are fine, but they lack credibility when they just pretend counters don’t exist.
Even NIST denies the damage was cause for the collapse. In fact after seven years they said that they could not explain the collapse of building 7. Could have something to do with the fact that they refused to investigate the possibility of controlled demolition perhaps?
TM building seven how many tonnes of debris fell on building 7
Do they have cameras pointing at the pentagon all the time maybe now but not then the black box was recovered innocent passengers were killed!
The right wing will be laughing their heads of off over these conspiracy theorists !
At the time of the attack on the Pentagon some 83 camera’s were pointed at the Pentagon at all times. Every footage of those cameras has been confiscated. We know this because the FBI The FBI acknowledges Having 83 video’s in their possession which they refuse to release. Only 6 frames have been released to date which do not show clear footage.
Here’s one of the classic situations where something mundane gets built upon and reimagined until the ‘facts’ shift to give the veneer of something suspicious.
“83 camera’s ..pointed at the Pentagon at all times” were nothing of the sort. There were 83 films taken by or given as evidence to the FBI. Most showed no images of the crash site (some were of the WTC events, some were from Florida and one from Wisconsin!) or were by people who attended the site after the event. Some were tourist videos, so pretty bored tourists if they have their cameras pointed at the Pentagon ‘all the time’
Why were they not released? Because the FOIA request only asked for videos showing the impact. The one that showed it was released after the completion of the Massoui trial.
Most, if not all, of the others have also been released since. http://penttbom.com/
So Eve presents a whole lot of not even half truths she has muddled together into a half baked blob of nothing, then adds some fairy dust and hey presto it’s a scandal.
.
Christchurch, I have realised, is experiencing one of those good old cliches / sayings that your granny always used to say. One of them ones which ring true and you get to see in action from time to time…
And that is “Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.”
This government, with no plan to do anything anywhere in the economy or elsewhere, sees in Christchurch an opportunity to show it does stuff. You know, “right, lets get on with it. No point is sitting around, just get stuck in”. But they are bozos blowing it with their bluster and big man bullshit.
Two example. Firstly, the blueprint is such a massive undertaking that it is almost certainly going to struggle. Getting into the detail and action it becomes apparent that there are major issues not thought through sufficiently. The sorts of issues that cause things to stall, then re-think, then try again and by that time everyone has realised that the government actually had no idea in the first place.
Secondly, the school closures. The people and protests on te news are 100% right. The schools have been a beacon of normality for people, especially children. So why the rush? Why not start the conversation now and tell the communities that some time in the next couple of years some schools are going to have to close? Then the communities would have time to adjust, discuss, etc. That would seem to be the obvious and caring way. But no…
sounds good to me vto.
and by that time a decent Labour government that understands the concept of fair play for all will be back in power and the job can be done properly instead of the Jerry built way they are doing things now.
Just been reviewing the slow queries log after seeing nasty slowdowns over the last few days. Added a few indexes into comments that hopefully will improve things. Apologies to anyone caught while the scripts were running.
Oh well off to the paid employment and what looks like a bug deep deep inside of webkit.
Great. I have seen that a few times myself. FF has this script engine that runs a lot of the internals and sometimes it seems to get itself quite screwed up. I suspect plugins myself.
I’m migrated pretty much to Chrome for normal use these days because it is on all my platforms :- linux, ios, android, virtual microsoft machines, microsoft server 2003 R2 (legacy systems), osx (to use xcode for ios grrr…), and even in the once a month boot of a dual partition vista (for bloody itunes grrr). It also seems to be pretty damn robust and quite fast for every platform I’ve used it on. Whereas firefox keeps feeling heavier and slower with each release
Yeah suspect it’s flash player myself, re installed it to no avail tho.
(Had a strange error / crash after visiting the standard this time)
Haven’t used chrome much, it’s installed but not used.
‘skating away, skating away….on the Thin Ice of a New Day”
Well-grounded actually. (just have to manage the emotional cycles of the day)
We all have our crosses to bear, i imagine
i also imagine the Diversity of people who may read or reference The Standard
came across Cam Sl bleat about anonymity of TS post-ers. Clearly, anonymity is not universal
came across Cam Sl bleat about anonymity of TS post-ers. Clearly, anonymity is not universal
He is a somewhat selective and always has been. For some strange reason he never seems to get the lesson that it makes very little difference if authors here are using their real names (like Ben Clark), or a psuedonym like myself when I’ve been using the same one for 30 years – it was my first login name, or where it is a psuedonym.
But you can’t get a sense of a person until you actually know them in person. Knowing someone on the net is an exercise in knowing one of their personas, the same as it is knowing them where they work, or whatever. It is a spurious argument that knowing who they are offers any particular value to their opinion unless they are an expert in their field like Mike is (which of course neither Whale or the other great whiners about real names – journos – never are).
However opinion is opinion and it makes bugger all difference who writes it – it is what it says that is important. You can always tell someone who writes something useful even if you disagree with it. It forces you to think
I suspect that what really gets him is the latter point. If you have nothing meaningful to say, then poor opinion like his invariably is gets treated as being crap regardless if it is a psuedo or “real name”. So he clings to the “outing” he was so irritated about 5 years ago just as he clings to his pseudonymous persona….
Whereas firefox keeps feeling heavier and slower with each release
Could be at that. Just checked memory use and it’s using close to 300MB and I thought it was bad when it was using ~100MB. The reason why I didn’t keep using Chrome, even though I liked it, was because Google won’t allow it to block ads from Google (Using AdBlock) but is quite happy for it to block everyone else’s.
I don’t block ads* apart from malware so that isn’t an issue.
* Actually there are a few ad site that I block by IP – but that is because their ads irriate the hell out of me. I see that we picked one of those up this morning – the jiggling dialog style. I’ll have to tell scoop that the company making it is not to use our site again.
Something happened when I just posted my comment to Return to Planet Key – I got an error message . Eventually I refreshed and the comment was posted, but I couldn’t edit (minor capitalisation typo).
In Parliament, Grant Robertson has just asked the “Dotcom” questions to the Police Minister that were suggested on this very blog, on Tuesday and Wednesday.
But she wasn’t there (Brownlee stood in) and nor was Key. They were there on Tuesday and Wednesday. Too late now.
That’s Labour’s incompetence in a nutshell. If there’s nobody there who can think of this stuff for themselves, why don’t they just have somebody standing by at lunchtime, and we’ll tell them the questions to ask, before 2 pm. No charge for the first ones used – after that, 10% of the MPs’ salary. It’s not like they’re earning it.
Hear ye!Hear ye! Apparently Commanderkey is announcing,possibly to the world, of his intention to send four SAS personnell to Afghanistan to obtain information on who is responsible for the recent attacks on NZ soldiers. What does SAS stand for? Will not someone see them coming now? Apparently, they will do nothing themselves,but share their info with somebody else. Who?Possibly an infiltrator in the Afghanistan Force. But, that’s alright,apparently this is not a revenge mission.Maybe he just wants an apology and then everything will be ok buddy.
Hope said personnell are good at their jobs and can stay safe, or stupidkey could have some blood on his hands.
ps key is an idiot!
Key could get Whalespew and three other gungho volunteers from that vile blog to go and give the “ragheads” what they deserve. I’d contribute a month’s salary on successful completion of the mission.
s construction of a new private prison began in south Auckland today, ONE News can reveal the scale of the Government’s controversial deal.
The prison, located in the suburb of Wiri, had a sod-turning ceremony today but ONE News understands there are hundreds of prison beds lying empty in jails across New Zealand.
And Serco, the overseas company which will manage the new 960-bed facility, has confirmed it will be paid for 100% occupancy of the prison even if beds remain empty.
Oops, it seems that the government hiring the private sector just results in the private sector getting government guaranteed profits while not actually saving us money.
“Anne Tolley must, by law, table the contract between Corrections and the Serco-led consortium that will build and operate Wiri. I challenge her to do so before the House rises next Thursday, rather than drop its details during a parliamentary recess, which I am sure is her plan”, Labour’s Justice spokesperson Charles Chauvel, said.
“Serco told the London Stock Exchange earlier this month that it expected revenues of £15 million (NZ$29 million) per annum from the operation of the prison, and £2 million from the period before the prison even opens. The LSE has more information than the New Zealand public about what the taxpayer will pay under the arrangement.
Other: Gunpowder Plot Iran-Contra
Anything ever done by an intelligence service.
All the GWBush wars – e.g. yellowcake, “smoking gun”, yadda yadda
Gulf of Tonkin.
I think that, to be labelled a conspiracy, it has to be more than just a coverup after the event. I’d label Hillsborough, Erebus, and Bloody Sunday as coverups, for example.
The Gulf of Tonkin incident and the Burning of the Reichstag are more deserving of being called conspiracies, as they were both planned in advance. The destruction of the USS Maine in Havana was possibly a false flag operation, which maybe qualifies.
I think the biggest conspiracy theory of all is the spreading of theories about Bilderberg, the Illuminati, Zionist one world government etc. All these have the effect of causing despair in people because if something is done behind the scenes by almost omnipotent forces, what can be done about it? On the other hand, anyone who analyses capitalism knows broadly what our ruling class will do and what needs to be done to stop it. Of course, this requires a lot more than watching youtube. You have to get off your ass and mobilise for a start. It’s not easy.
Yeah, there is an instinctive distinction between a plain “coverup” and a full conspiracy. But then the coverup can be an extensive and systemic conspiracy, e.g. Dreyfus.
The trouble is that a lot of the stuff that happens in the world isn’t anyone’s master plan, most of the time it’s an improvised response to a changing situation which folk then quietly work around. ISTR that the Nazis mounted a real “false flag” operation in 1939, staging an attack on their own border posts by pretend-Polish soldiers.
Watergate definitely counted as a conspiracy, but then it was another programme that evolved into illegal activities beyond par.
As an aside, the most reasonable explanation I read for the USS Maine was that it was a coal bunker fire that had heat conducted through the metal structure to an ammunition bunker. But then it was certainly perverted and transformed into a casus belli.
God bless the NZ SAS and their Friends in combat and those they are protecting.
It’s possible, they are trying.
In the name of peacefull coexistence and life I bless them.
It was super ceded by Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit. The world and human civilization were the material expression of Spirit/Idea.
Then Marx came along and took the next logical step removing the Spirit/Idea part for an efficiency gain. All that there is, is material, and man is God.
Two points:
If the universe is a cold meaningless place, then the warmth and meaning of people is much more important.
And asserting that anyone’s blessing is worth sweet FA is a much stronger religious assertion than a quick blessing by someone who’s not entirely sure it will have an effect.
You don’t believe in a god then the universe is an indifferent, cold, meaningless place.
Er, nope. That doesn’t follow at all.
That only makes sense if a god is the only thing that could prevent a universe being ‘indifferent, cold, and meaningless’; and I can’t think of any reason why that might be, or any reason why an atheist would believe it. It’s pants pretty much.
You are the one who has suggested that god is a necessary condition for ‘meaning’ (and so on), in the universe. I said that has not been shown to be the case. You haven’t established that.
How does it follow from from what I said, that I should have ‘bagged’ whatever it is you think that theologians have over philosphers?
Short answer, it doesn’t. Typical slippery question begging from the theologician camp.
Explain to me why god is necessary for the things you claim.
You’ll need to define those things first, (the opposites of ‘indifferent, cold, meaningless’) and as you do so, be careful that that what you are describing are not subjective experiences of the universe by sentient beings. Because if that’s the case, then what’s needed for those things to exist is sentient beings, not necessarily gods.
Whereas God believers are stuck with “faith” and questions like “If God is so freaking loving and all powerful why are there little children who have had their feet and hands blown off by mines disguised as children’s toys?”
Meaning is a subjective thing k-p. In the western way of looking at it at least.
Sticking with that angle, meaning is what people find. It’s how they perceive, explain, experience.
You are not going to find it on the outside, it must be active, and provided by yourself. And it won’t be universal. One person’s experience of the universe will, of necessity, be different to everyone else’s, so it’s cray cray to expect their meanings to be the same, and that’s ok.
Or to take a more eastern angle, we are ourselves just ‘expressions of the universe’.
I’m the universe being me, just as my chair is the universe being a chair.
Why? To what end?
Ends in themselves, strip away the ego, and just let the universe be the things it is. Relish that and savour it. Be the universe observing itself.
Both those angles are saying the same thing by the way.
Only selected stakeholders are getting a say in this while the general public will get a couple of weeks to comment at the end. The private insurers must be drooling in anticipation. Lean on your MP to open up the submissions?
The right wingers took a big hit though. One of their top players had to quit after saying if gay marriage is permissible why not bestiality?
I think he has got a good point – its the Slippery Slope argument. But he went down in a hail of bullets from the media and opponents, his argument dismissed as “ridiculous” or “homophobic” whatever the fuck that is suppose to mean. 🙄
See there you go – now YOU are deny rights to people.
So obviously you dont think individual rights are absolute.
And neither do I.
Basically you’re pushing rational contract theory – the same one that is the foundation for neo classical economics actually – rational individual free agents entering contracts with each other. And look where that has got us, haha.
So back to marriage. Consent is NECESSARY, but it is not SUFFICIENT. Is love necessary let alone sufficient? No, after all it can be faked.
But it is necessary but not sufficient that the two agents be of the opposite sex, there are physical, psychological and functional elements unique to that arrangement that is and must be acknowledged in the idea of marriage.
No, you presented a counter example and I said okay, that would involve a conflict of interests, I’ll give you that one. But there is no conflict of interests between two unrelated men marrying, any mor that between an unrelated man and woman.
Any union between two people involves “physical, psychological and functional elements unique to that arrangement”. Why does gender need to be singled out?
If your relationship does not have those unique elements of one based on consent, you don’t qualify for marriage.
If your relationship does not have those unique elements of a heterosexual one, you don’t qualify for marriage. Why? Because the differentiation of the sexes is such a significant central characteristic of the human species. That must be recognised, and that is what the institution of marriage does.
Pretending that “gender doesnt matter” will destroy the meaning of marriage.
Gays have got their civil unions. They were suppose to be happy with that, but of course once they got it, they then wanted more.
Wow! Have you ever considered ringing a talkback station?
“Because the differentiation of the sexes is such a significant central characteristic of the human species. That must be recognised, and that is what the institution of marriage does.”
If your relationship does not have those unique elements of a heterosexual one, you don’t qualify for marriage. Why? Because the differentiation of the sexes is such a significant central characteristic of the human species. That must be recognised, and that is what the institution of marriage does.
No.
Marriage is a legal recognition of a relationship between people that, in many instances, is more intimate than most familial bonds.
It doesn’t but “Let me marry who I love!” does and that is the central argument given by pro gay marriage advocates.
Love is a mutual emotion. As far as I can see, nobody’s said “I want to be able to marry someone against their will”. That would be against the entire concept of marriage. Both parties at the ceremony say “I do”, not one party saying “I’ll take that one”. But genital allocation among the parties being intrinsic to the ceremony and concept? Not so much.
Dude, unrequited “love” is obsession, infatuation, affection, a crush… but not “love”.
If you want soppy love quotes, love is when you’re prepared to share the deepest, darkest, worst thing about yourself to another person, and it doesn’t matter to them.
Come on KP – you can’t be serious.
If that sign was at a gay marriage protest, then ‘who I love’ is referring to their partner…not their Grandma.
If a pub has a sign outside saying ‘smoking section’…that does not mean you can pull out a glass pipe and start smoking crack – it is referring to cigarettes/tobacco.
Kiwi_prometheus
If you wish to have sex with animals, or even confine this to one animal, go for it. I really don’t care either way. I just hope it’s a carnivore with large teeth.
The only essential difference I see among people is that some want a better world for themselves and others want a better world for society as a whole. This has nothing to do with gender.
Why has it failed? Because capitalism is a mode of production for profit; and profitability is in secular and terminal decline, in Graeber’s view. Graeber says there are three claims that capitalism makes to justify it as a progressive mode of social organisation: it fosters scientific and technological growth; second, it increases overall prosperity; and third, it creates a more secure and democratic world. But it increasingly fails to deliver on all three: “we can feel especially confident that none of this will happen within the framework of contemporary capitalism or any form of capitalism”.
Emphasis mine:
The drive for profit and accumulation must result in advancement in technology being curtailed as capitalism cannot afford to solve the climate crisis and other environmental nightmares. To prop up profit essential services are being cut.
Conflating capitalism and democracy is what right wingers do.
Capitalism and democracy chaff. But capitalism moderated by democracy does allow everyones boat to lift with the rising tide of living standards = political stability of course because everyone feels they are getting a reasonable slice of the pie with future expectations of more!
“capitalism cannot afford to solve the climate crisis and other environmental nightmares”
Its not about Capitalism doing this. It’s democracy which can – re ozone depletion and solution.
But capitalism moderated by democracy does allow everyones boat to lift with the rising tide of living standards = political stability of course because everyone feels they are getting a reasonable slice of the pie with future expectations of more!
Really? Did you not notice the increasing poverty over the last 30 years? The quarter of a million children in hardship? The majority of the people aren’t getting a good deal. In fact, they’re being shafted so as to prop up the 1% profits.
Its not about Capitalism doing this.
No, it’s about capitalism preventing it. That’s why NACT keep saying that we need to balance between the economy and the environment means.
As an addendum to that one have this one: Of Flying Cars
Americans do not like to think of themselves as a nation of bureaucrats—quite the opposite—but the moment we stop imagining bureaucracy as a phenomenon limited to government offices, it becomes obvious that this is precisely what we have become.
And that most definitely applies to NZ as well. Contrary to what most people seem to believe about the free-market the bureaucrats have taken over.
Auckland Transport have started rolling out new HOP card readers around the network and over the next three months, all of them on buses, at train stations and ferry wharves will be replaced. The change itself is not that remarkable, with the new readers looking similar to what is already ...
Completed reads for April: The Difference Engine, by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling Carnival of Saints, by George Herman The Snow Spider, by Jenny Nimmo Emlyn’s Moon, by Jenny Nimmo The Chestnut Soldier, by Jenny Nimmo Death Comes As the End, by Agatha Christie Lord of the Flies, by ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Have a story to share about St Paul’s, but today just picturesPopular novels written at this desk by a young man who managed to bootstrap himself out of father’s imprisonment and his own young life in a workhouse Read more ...
The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill English, Simon Bridges, Steven Joyce, Roger Sowry, ...
Newsroom has a story today about National's (fortunately failed) effort to disestablish the newly-created Inspector-General of Defence. The creation of this agency was the key recommendation of the Inquiry into Operation Burnham, and a vital means of restoring credibility and social licence to an agency which had been caught lying ...
Holding On To The Present:The moment a political movement arises that attacks the whole idea of social progress, and announces its intention to wind back the hands of History’s clock, then democracy, along with its unwritten rules, is in mortal danger.IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in ...
Stuck In The Middle With You:As Christopher Luxon feels the hot breath of Act’s and NZ First’s extremists on the back of his neck and, as he reckons with the damage their policies are already inflicting upon a country he’s described as “fragile”, is there not some merit in reaching out ...
The unpopular coalition government is currently rushing to repeal section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act. The clause is Oranga Tamariki's Treaty clause, and was inserted after its systematic stealing of Māori children became a public scandal and resulted in physical resistance to further abductions. The clause created clear obligations ...
Buzz from the Beehive The government’s official website – which Point of Order monitors daily – not for the first time has nothing much to say today about political happenings that are grabbing media headlines. It makes no mention of the latest 1News-Verian poll, for example. This shows National down ...
It Takes A Train To Cry:Surely, there is nothing lonelier in all this world than the long wail of a distant steam locomotive on a cold Winter’s night.AS A CHILD, I would lie awake in my grandfather’s house and listen to the traffic. The big wooden house was only a ...
Packing A Punch: The election of the present government, including in its ranks politicians dedicated to reasserting the rights of the legislature in shaping and determining the future of Māori and Pakeha in New Zealand, should have alerted the judiciary – including its anomalous appendage, the Waitangi Tribunal – that its ...
Dead Woman Walking: New Zealand’s media industry had been moving steadily towards disaster for all the years Melissa Lee had been National’s media and communications policy spokesperson, and yet, when the crisis finally broke, on her watch, she had nothing intelligent to offer. Christopher Luxon is a patient man - but he’s not ...
Chris Trotter writes – New Zealand politics is remarkably easy-going: dangerously so, one might even say. With the notable exception of John Key’s flat ruling-out of the NZ First Party in 2008, all parties capable of clearing MMP’s five-percent threshold, or winning one or more electorate seats, tend ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is ...
Luxon will no doubt put a brave face on it, but there is no escaping the pressure this latest poll will put on him and the government. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political ...
This is a re-post from The Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler In the wake of any unusual weather event, someone inevitably asks, “Did climate change cause this?” In the most literal sense, that answer is almost always no. Climate change is never the sole cause of hurricanes, heat waves, droughts, or ...
Something odd happened yesterday, and I’d love to know if there’s more to it. If there was something which preempted what happened, or if it was simply a throwaway line in response to a journalist.Yesterday David Seymour was asked at a press conference what the process would be if the ...
Hi,From time to time, I want to bring Webworm into the real world. We did it last year with the Jurassic Park event in New Zealand — which was a lot of fun!And so on Saturday May 11th, in Los Angeles, I am hosting a lil’ Webworm pop-up! I’ve been ...
Education Minister Erica Standford yesterday unveiled a fundamental reform of the way our school pupils are taught. She would not exactly say so, but she is all but dismantling the so-called “inquiry” “feel good” method of teaching, which has ruled in our classrooms since a major review of the New ...
Exactly where are we seriously going with this government and its policies? That is, apart from following what may as well be a Truss-Lite approach on the purported economic “plan“, and Victorian-era regression when it comes to social policy.Oh it’ll work this time of course, we’re basically assured, “the ...
Hey Uncle Dave, When the Poms joined the EEC, I wasn't one of those defeatists who said, Well, that’s it for the dairy job. And I was right, eh? The Chinese can’t get enough of our milk powder and eventually, the Poms came to their senses and backed up the ute ...
Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is higher than for any other mayor ...
Buzz from the Beehive Pharmac has been given a financial transfusion and a new chair to oversee its spending in the pharmaceutical business. Associate Health Minister David Seymour described the funding for Pharmac as “its largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff”. ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government is trying to achieve and its ...
TL;DR: Here’s my top 10 ‘pick ‘n’ mix of links to news, analysis and opinion articles as of 10:10am on Monday, April 29:Scoop: The children's ward at Rotorua Hospital will be missing a third of its beds as winter hits because Te Whatu Ora halted an upgrade partway through to ...
span class=”dropcap”>As hideous as David Seymour can be, it is worth keeping in mind occasionally that there are even worse political figures (and regimes) out there. Iran for instance, is about to execute the country’s leading hip hop musician Toomaj Salehi, for writing and performing raps that “corrupt” the nation’s ...
Yesterday marked 10 years since the first electric train carried passengers in Auckland so it’s a good time to look back at it and the impact it has had. A brief history The first proposals for rail electrification in Auckland came in the 1920’s alongside the plans for earlier ...
Right now, in Aotearoa-NZ, our ‘animal spirits’ are darkening towards a winter of discontent, thanks at least partly to a chorus of negative comments and actions from the Government Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on ...
You make people evil to punish the paststuck inside a sequel with a rotating castThe following photos haven’t been generated with AI, or modified in any way. They are flesh and blood, human beings. On the left is Galatea Young, a young mum, and her daughter Fiadh who has Angelman ...
April has been a quiet month at A Phuulish Fellow. I have had an exceptionally good reading month, and a decently productive writing month – for original fiction, anyway – but not much has caught my eye that suggested a blog article. It has been vaguely frustrating, to be honest. ...
A listing of 31 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 21, 2024 thru Sat, April 27, 2024. Story of the week Anthropogenic climate change may be the ultimate shaggy dog story— but with a twist, because here ...
Hi,I spent about a year on Webworm reporting on an abusive megachurch called Arise, and it made me want to stab my eyes out with a fork.I don’t regret that reporting in 2022 and 2023 — I am proud of it — but it made me angry.Over three main stories ...
The new Victoria University Vice-Chancellor decided to have a forum at the university about free speech and academic freedom as it is obviously a topical issue, and the Government is looking at legislating some carrots or sticks for universities to uphold their obligations under the Education and Training Act. They ...
Do you remember when Melania Trump got caught out using a speech that sounded awfully like one Michelle Obama had given? Uncannily so.Well it turns out that Abraham Lincoln is to Winston Peters as Michelle was to Melania. With the ANZAC speech Uncle Winston gave at Gallipoli having much in ...
She was born 25 years ago today in North Shore hospital. Her eyes were closed tightly shut, her mouth was silently moving. The whole theatre was all quiet intensity as they marked her a 2 on the APGAR test. A one-minute eternity later, she was an 8. The universe was ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. This fact brief was written by Sue Bin Park in collaboration with members from our Skeptical Science team. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is Antarctica gaining land ice? ...
Images of US students (and others) protesting and setting up tent cities on US university campuses have been broadcast world wide and clearly demonstrate the growing rifts in US society caused by US policy toward Israel and Israel’s prosecution of … Continue reading → ...
Barrie Saunders writes – Dear Paul As the new Minister of Media and Communications, you will be inundated with heaps of free advice and special pleading, all in the national interest of course. For what it’s worth here is my assessment: Traditional broadcasting free to air content through ...
Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government is trying to achieve and its arguments for such a bold reform. ...
Peter Dunne writes – The great nineteenth British Prime Minister, William Gladstone, once observed that “the first essential for a Prime Minister is to be a good butcher.” When a later British Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan, sacked a third of his Cabinet in July 1962, in what became ...
Ele Ludemann writes – New Zealanders had the OECD’s second highest tax increase last year: New Zealanders faced the second-biggest tax raises in the developed world last year, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) says. The intergovernmental agency said the average change in personal income tax ...
We all know something’s not right with our elections. The spread of misinformation, people being targeted with soundbites and emotional triggers that ignore the facts, even the truth, and influence their votes.The use of technology to produce deep fakes. How can you tell if something is real or not? Can ...
This video includes conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Simon Clark. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). This year you will be lied to! Simon Clark helps prebunk some misleading statements you'll hear about climate. The video includes ...
It is all very well cutting the backrooms of public agencies but it may compromise the frontlines. One of the frustrations of the Productivity Commission’s 2017 review of universities is that while it observed that their non-academic staff were increasing faster than their academic staff, it did not bother to ...
Buzz from the Beehive Two speeches delivered by Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters at Anzac Day ceremonies in Turkey are the only new posts on the government’s official website since the PM announced his Cabinet shake-up. In one of the speeches, Peters stated the obvious: we live in a troubled ...
1. Which of these would you not expect to read in The Waikato Invader?a. Luxon is here to do business, don’t you worry about thatb. Mr KPI expects results, and you better believe itc. This decisive man of action is getting me all hot and excitedd. Melissa Lee is how ...
…it has a restricted jurisdiction which must not be abused: it is not an inquisitionNOTE – this article was published before the High Court ruled that Karen Chhour does not have to appear before the Waitangi Tribunal Gary Judd writes – The High Court ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes – One of reasons Oranga Tamariki exists is to prevent child neglect. But could the organisation itself be guilty of the same?Oranga Tamariki’s statistics show a decrease in the number and age of children in care. “There are less children ...
David Farrar writes: Graeme Edgeler wrote in 2017: In the first five years after three strikes came into effect 5248 offenders received a ‘first strike’ (that is, a “stage-1 conviction” under the three strikes sentencing regime), and 68 offenders received a ‘second strike’. In the five years prior to ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has surprised everyone with his ruthlessness in sacking two of his ministers from their crucial portfolios. Removing ministers for poor performance after only five months in the job just doesn’t normally happen in politics. That’s refreshing and will be extremely ...
TL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the two days to 6:06am on Thursday, April 25:Politics: PM Christopher Luxon has set up a dual standard for ministerial competence by demoting two National Cabinet ministers while leaving also-struggling ...
Hi,Today I mainly want to share some of your thoughts about the recent piece I wrote about success and failure, and the forces that seemingly guide our lives. But first, a quick bit of housekeeping: I am doing a Webworm popup in Los Angeles on Saturday May 11 at 2pm. ...
It is hard to see what Melissa Lee might have done to “save” the media. National went into the election with no public media policy and appears not to have developed one subsequently. Lee claimed that she had prepared a policy paper before the election but it had been decided ...
Open access notablesIce acceleration and rotation in the Greenland Ice Sheet interior in recent decades, Løkkegaard et al., Communications Earth & Environment:In the past two decades, mass loss from the Greenland ice sheet has accelerated, partly due to the speedup of glaciers. However, uncertainty in speed derived from satellite products ...
Buzz from the Beehive A statement from Children’s Minister Karen Chhour – yet to be posted on the Government’s official website – arrived in Point of Order’s email in-tray last night. It welcomes the High Court ruling on whether the Waitangi Tribunal can demand she appear before it. It does ...
Mr Bombastic:Ironically, the media the academic experts wanted is, in many ways, the media they got. In place of the tyrannical editors of yesteryear, advancing without fear or favour the interests of the ruling class; the New Zealand news media of today boasts a troop of enlightened journalists dedicated to ...
It's hard times try to make a livingYou wake up every morning in the unforgivingOut there somewhere in the cityThere's people living lives without mercy or pityI feel good, yeah I'm feeling fineI feel better then I have for the longest timeI think these pills have been good for meI ...
In 1974, the US Supreme Court issued its decision in United States v. Nixon, finding that the President was not a King, but was subject to the law and was required to turn over the evidence of his wrongdoing to the courts. It was a landmark decision for the rule ...
Every day now just seems to bring in more fresh meat for the grinder.In their relentlessly ideological drive to cut back on the “excessive bloat” (as they see it) of the previous Labour-led government, on the mountains of evidence accumulated in such a short period of time do not ...
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Buzz from the Beehive Melissa Lee – as may be discerned from the screenshot above – has not been demoted for doing something seriously wrong as Minister of ...
Morning in London Mother hugs beloved daughter outside the converted shoe factory in which she is living.Afternoon in London Travelling writer takes himself and his wrist down to A&E, just to be sure. Read more ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – The recent announcement of the University Advisory Group, chaired by Sir Peter Gluckman, makes very clear where the Government’s focus and priorities lie. The remit of the Advisory Group is that Group members will consider challenges and opportunities for improvement in the university sector including: ...
Eric Crampton writes – The Reserve Bank of New Zealand desperately wants to find reasons to have workstreams in climate change. It makes little sense. They’ve run another stress test on the banks looking to see if they could find a prudential regulation case. They couldn’t. They ...
Rob MacCullough writes – Pundits from the left and the right are arguing that National’s Fast Track Bill that is designed to speed up infrastructure decisions could end up becoming mired in a cesspool of corruption. Political commentator ...
Looking at the headlines this morning it’s hard to feel anything other than pessimistic about the future of humanity.Note that I’m not speaking about the future of mankind, but the survival of our humanity. The values that we believe in seem to be ebbing away, by the day.Perhaps every generation ...
Swabbing mixed breed baby chicks to test for avian influenzaUh oh. Bird flu – often deadly to humans – is not only being transmitted from infected birds to dairy cows, but is now travelling between dairy cows. As of last Friday, Bloomberg News reports, there were 32 American dairy herds ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
What is it with the mining industry? Its not enough for them to pillage the earth - they apparently can't even be bothered getting resource consent to do so: The proponent behind a major mine near the Clutha River had already been undertaking activity in the area without a ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi, and Mema Paremata mō Tāmaki-Makaurau, Takutai Tarsh Kemp, will travel to the Gold Coast to strengthen ties with Māori in Australia next week (15-21 April). The visit, in the lead-up to the 9th Australian National Kapa haka Festival, will be an opportunity for both ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
There are heartening signs that the extractive sector is once again becoming an attractive prospect for investors and a source of economic prosperity for New Zealand, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The beginnings of a resurgence in extractive industries are apparent in media reports of the sector in the past ...
The return of the historic Ō-Rākau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mō Ō-Rākau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced 25 new high-speed EV charging hubs along key routes between major urban centres and outlined the Government’s plan to supercharge New Zealand’s EV infrastructure. The hubs will each have several chargers and be capable of charging at least four – and up to 10 ...
The coalition Government will not proceed with the previous Government’s plans to regulate residential property managers, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I have written to the Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee to inform him that the Government does not intend to support the Residential Property Managers Bill ...
The Government has announced an independent review into the disability support system funded by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston says the review will look at what can be done to strengthen the long-term sustainability of Disability Support Services to provide disabled people and ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has attended the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva and outlined the Government’s plan to restore law and order. “Speaking to the United Nations Human Rights Council provided us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while responding to issues and ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay heads overseas today for high-level trade talks in the Gulf region, and a key OECD meeting in Paris. Mr McClay will travel to Riyadh to meet with counterparts from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). “New Zealand’s goods and services exports to the Gulf region ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford has outlined six education priorities to deliver a world-leading education system that sets Kiwi kids up for future success. “I’m putting ambition, achievement and outcomes at the heart of our education system. I want every child to be inspired and engaged in their learning so they ...
The new NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) App is a secure ‘one stop shop’ to provide the services drivers need, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Digitising Government Minister Judith Collins say. “The NZTA App will enable an easier way for Kiwis to pay for Vehicle Registration and Road User Charges (RUC). ...
Whānau with tamariki growing up in emergency housing motels will be prioritised for social housing starting this week, says Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka. “Giving these whānau a better opportunity to build healthy stable lives for themselves and future generations is an essential part of the Government’s goal of reducing ...
Racing Minister Winston Peters has paid tribute to an icon of the industry with the recent passing of Dave O’Sullivan (OBE). “Our sympathies are with the O’Sullivan family with the sad news of Dave O’Sullivan’s recent passing,” Mr Peters says. “His contribution to racing, initially as a jockey and then ...
Assalaamu alaikum, greetings to you all. Eid Mubarak, everyone! I want to extend my warmest wishes to you and everyone celebrating this joyous occasion. It is a pleasure to be here. I have enjoyed Eid celebrations at Parliament before, but this is my first time joining you as the Minister ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced Pharmac’s largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff. “Access to medicines is a crucial part of many Kiwis’ lives. We’ve committed to a budget allocation of $1.774 billion over four years so Kiwis are ...
Hon Paula Bennett has been appointed as member and chair of the Pharmac board, Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced today. "Pharmac is a critical part of New Zealand's health system and plays a significant role in ensuring that Kiwis have the best possible access to medicines,” says Mr Seymour. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
“China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonti Horner, Professor (Astrophysics), University of Southern Queensland A bright Eta Aquariid meteor photobombed this photo of comet C/2020 F8 (SWAN) in May 2020.Jonti Horner Meteors – commonly known as shooting stars – can be seen on any night of the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Flannery, Honorary fellow, The University of Melbourne Shutterstock Current concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO₂) in Earth’s atmosphere are unprecedented in human history. But CO₂ levels today, and those that might occur in coming decades, did occur millions of years ago. ...
Winston Peters has been keen to dismiss speculation on our involvement in Aukus but will give a speech tonight on the direction of our foreign policy, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Patrick Usmar, Lecturer in Critical Media Literacies, Auckland University of Technology Getty Images With the coalition government’s ban of student mobile phones in New Zealand schools coming into effect this week, reaction has ranged from the sceptical (kids will just get ...
A new report on protecting journalism and democracy in New Zealand recommends a levy be charged on global platforms like Facebook and Google to fund media firms undertaking public interest reporting. It also calls for the reinstatement of a powerful Broadcasting Commission to distribute public funding for journalism and other ...
On International Workers' Day, also known as May Day, the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions Te Kauae Kaimahi and the wider union movement are celebrating the proud history of the labour movement during a tough time for working people. ...
From bills to beards, a walk through the former Green co-leader’s time in politics. After close to a decade in politics, James Shaw is preparing to bid farewell to parliament. Tonight will see the former minister deliver his valedictory address, certain to be a speech filled with Shaw’s trademark wit ...
Two months ago, MPs unanimously voted to give themselves a week off in Efeso Collins’ honour. On Tuesday, most were too busy to give even an hour of their time. The day Fa’anānā Efeso Collins died, parliament felt different. In a building that operates at a breakneck pace, everyone stopped ...
India’s election involves hundreds of millions of people and is a months-long affair. Here’s how voting works and what’s at stake.The biggest-ever election in world history started on April 19, with more than 10% of the world’s population eligible to vote. Elections in India, the world’s most populous country ...
Comment: Journalists are very good at telling other people’s stories, but they fall well short when writing about their own profession. Perhaps that is why it is so undervalued. Every successive poll on the public’s attitude toward journalism is more alarming than the last. In the last month we have ...
Opinion: A young Māori woman and her Pacific partner arrive at their local hospital by ambulance. She has gone into labour at just under 24 weeks, but the couple haven’t recognised the symptoms – and don’t know the risks of premature birth for their baby. By the time they arrive, ...
Behind closed doors, NZ First will be arguing fiercely against any watering down of the ministerial decision-making powers in the Bill The post Bishop backtracks after fast-track backlash appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Emotional scenes played out in the Invercargill courthouse on the first two days of the coronial inquest into the death of Gore toddler Lachlan Jones, in which the boy’s mother was accused of disposing of her son’s body. The second season of Newsroom’s award-nominated podcast The Boy in the Water ...
Opinion: The impression from the carpark is very inviting. The area is well fenced but barred so there is easy visibility of loved ones. Inside, the spaces are welcoming and clean and staff are friendly and clearly comfortable. I am greeted by ‘Kim’. She has worked here for three years, ...
After the Christchurch earthquake, the then-national civil defence boss compared his experience to “putting a team on the rugby field who have never ever played together before”. Now, eight years later – and following a damning inquiry into the emergency response of cyclones Gabrielle, Hale and the Auckland anniversary weekend floods – ...
“I had just come off the end of a major robbery case which I had been working on for six months when I got a call on the afternoon of September 1, 1992, that some remains had been found at a building site in Devonport, so I drove over with ...
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Asia Pacific Report A Pacific civil society alliance has condemned French neocolonial policies in Kanaky New Caledonia, saying Paris is set on “maintaining the status quo” and denying the indigenous Kanak people their inalienable right to self-determination. The Pacific Regional Non-Governmental Organisations (PRNGOs) Alliance, representing some 15 groups, said in ...
Koi Tū New Zealand cannot sit back and see the collapse of its Fourth Estate, the director of Koi Tū: The Centre for Informed Futures, Sir Peter Gluckman, says in the foreword of a paper published today. The paper, “If not journalists, then who?” paints a picture of an industry ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Foreign investment proposals with implications for Australia’s strategic or economic security will face tougher scrutiny, under a policy overhaul to be announced by Treasurer Jim Chalmers on Wednesday. At the same time, the government ...
A Waitangi Tribunal inquiry report has warned government that a repeal of Section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act could cause harm to children in care. ...
The Treasury has published today three new papers covering government consumption multipliers, automatic stabilisers and the impacts of global shocks on New Zealand’s economy. ...
Asia Pacific Report The Pacific state of Hawai’i’s House of Representatives has joined the state’s Senate in calling for a ceasefire in Israel’s war on Gaza, becoming the first state to pass such a resolution, reports Hawaii News Now. In March, the Senate passed a ceasefire resolution with a 24–1 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christopher Ferrie, A/Prof, UTS Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Research and ARC DECRA Fellow, University of Technology Sydney PsiQuantum The Australian government has announced a pledge of approximately A$940 million (US$617 million) to PsiQuantum, a quantum computing start-up company based in Silicon Valley. Half ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hunter Bennett, Lecturer in Exercise Science, University of South Australia Cameron Prins/Shutterstock If you spend a lot of time exploring fitness content online, you might have come across the concept of heart rate zones. Heart rate zone training has become more ...
SPECIAL REPORT:By Eugene Doyle He is the most popular Palestinian leader alive today — and yet few people in the West even know his name. Absolutely no one in Gaza or the West Bank does not know him. That difference speaks volumes about who dominates the media narrative that ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Will McCallum, PhD Candidate – School of Communication and Creative Arts, Deakin University Earlier this year, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton accused Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of not supporting Operation Sovereign Borders – the military-led border security operation that has “closed Australia’s borders ...
By Melyne Baroi in Port Moresby A Papua New Guinea MP, Peter Isoaimo, who had been ousted by the National Court in an alleged bribery case, has been reinstated by the Supreme Court on appeal. A three-member Supreme Court bench found that the National Court had erred in finding that ...
Publisher Chris Holdaway reflects on the unique project of collecting the work of the late, terrific poet Schaeffer Lemalu. One of the nice things you can do as a truly independent publisher is to make the books that writers want to make, whatever they happen to be. That’s how I’ve ...
Those profiled in the stamp series served on overseas deployments from 1995 onwards, and all have been awarded theNew Zealand Operational Service Medal. ...
Last night’s dismal poll result for the coalition government shows the limits of trying to govern as an opposition, argues Joel MacManus. There’s a quote from the American political activist Barbara Deming: “Vengeance is not the point; change is. But the trouble is that in most people’s minds, the thought ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Shireen Morris, Associate Professor and Director of the Radical Centre Reform Lab at Macquarie University Law School, Macquarie University Leonid Andronov/Shutterstock Foreign interference in Australian democracy poses a growing risk to our national sovereignty. It refers to coercive, corrupt or ...
A defendant charged by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has pleaded guilty to four charges of obtaining by deception in relation to a mortgage fraud scheme. Sentencing has been scheduled for 14 August 2024. ...
What to say when pesky journalists ask gotcha questions like ‘can you name a single book you’ve ever read?’ and ‘did you read it, or did you just see the movie?’This week, Act Party arts spokesperson Todd Stephenson foolishly agreed to an interview with Newsroom’s Steve Braunias regarding his ...
Explainer - What will a ban on cellphones in schools achieve? Can students use them during lunch breaks? And what happens if you need to contact your child? ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jodi Rowley, Curator, Amphibian & Reptile Conservation Biology, Australian Museum, UNSW Sydney Jodi Rowley, CC BY-NC-ND In winter 2021, Australia’s frogs started dropping dead. People began posting images of dead frogs on social media. Unable to travel to investigate the deaths ...
In the year ended March 2024, 0.4 percent of home transfers were to people who didn’t hold New Zealand citizenship or a resident visa, according to figures released by Stats NZ today. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Wasay Majid, Research Assistant , University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau New Zealand’s accommodation supplement scheme is facing scrutiny, with Social Development Minister Louise Upston recently saying “there is merit in considering whether the current settings are fair and sustainable long-term”. The ...
By Koroi Hawkins, RNZ Pacific editor The first prime ministerial candidate has been announced in Solomon Islands and it is not Manasseh Sogavare. The man of the hour is Jeremiah Manele, the MP for Hograno/Kia/Havulei constituency in Isabel Province, who served as minister of foreign affairs in the last government. ...
Protesting the removal of bins by leaving piles of your dog’s shit for others to deal with doesn’t make you a hero – it’s precious and entitled behaviour. You haven’t truly lived until you’ve stood on the shoreline of Auckland’s Cheltenham beach, desperately trying to scoop increasingly liquid dog shit ...
Analysis - Christopher Luxon will be alert to the factors driving the dire polling, but won't be waving the white flag just yet, RNZ political editor Jo Moir writes. ...
Writer, teacher and academic Vincent O’Sullivan died on Sunday 28 April. Here we gather tributes from friends, colleagues, and students who remember his extraordinary contributions. I went down to the garage tonight. There was a bird shrieking out in the bush, in the dark, maybe a kākā. Miraculously, through the ...
As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a burnt-out corporate escapee explains how she gets by ‘working as little as possible’. Want to be part of The Cost of Being? Fill out the questionnaire here.Gender: Female Age: 31 Ethnicity: Pākehā Role: Contractor in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Timothy Schmidt, Professor of Chemistry, UNSW Sydney Albert Russ / Shutterstock The icebreaker of many a barbeque conversation is something like “what do you do for a crust?” “I teach chemistry at university,” is what we usually reply. Then silence. Our ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Asher Flynn, Associate Professor of Criminology, Monash University Shutterstock Sexual harassment is often considered to be a person-to-person act, but new research shows Australians are also experiencing and perpetrating workplace harassment in large numbers through technology. Our latest study shows one ...
A petition signed by more than 16,500 people, demanding the government take stronger action to halt the genocide of Palestinians by the State of Israel, is being presented to the House of Representatives today by Hon Phil Twyford. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Burnett, Honorary Associate Professor, ANU College of Law, Australian National University jenmartin/Shutterstock April has been a bad month for the Australian environment. The Great Barrier Reef was hit, yet again, by intense coral bleaching. And Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek delayed ...
Winston Peters might not give a ‘rat’s derriere’ about last night’s poll, but it revealed the unusual absence of a honeymoon period and little payoff for the government’s action plan approach, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Marco de Jong, Lecturer, Law School, Auckland University of Technology Getty Images Details released by the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet under the Official Information Act reveal New Zealand officials have been considering involvement in AUKUS from the outset. ...
The government's treatment of Māori raised eyebrows, with countries saying New Zealand needed to do more to reduce health, education and justice inequities. ...
The age of criminal responsibility was one of numerous human rights issues raised during Aotearoa New Zealand’s UPR. Other key themes were racism and discrimination, the disproportionate representation of Māori in prison, and to uphold the UN Declaration ...
In a sitdown interview ahead of his final day at Parliament this week, the former Green Party co-leader tells RNZ about his lowest point during 2017's rough election campaign. ...
Is the fringe radio station really in a financial crisis, or is it just running a hyped-up donation drive? Fringe internet radio station Reality Check Radio was launched by the anti-vaccine mandates group Voices for Freedom in March 2023. For the next year, it undertook probably the most aggressive promotional ...
Above the Fold: On Monday, the biggest Māori screen production company faced down the biggest funder of Māori content at the High Court. It was an incredibly tense moment – then, just as quickly, it resolved. Duncan Greive breaks down a strange day in the screen sector.Yesterday morning, Māori ...
I had to leave a rather long note about when and how we moderate on legal issues and public interest because Bob (at least) clearly doesn’t understand it.
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-19092012/#comment-523421
You’d think that after all of these years since Lange vs Atkinson that people will have caught up with the arguments that the court of appeal and privy council ruled on.
Hi Lyn. I sent through e-mail address.
Hi Lyn. Loaded Chrome, set up an e-mail addr. and forwarded to you.
Kind Regards
Try clapping your hands 110 times within 13 secs. That’s how fast the floors were pulverized. It went so fast, they couldn’t even hit eachother. The floors were pulverized to dust in mid-air.
The Toronto hearings condensed for those of you interested to hear what scientists, Architects and engineers have to say about the events of 9/11
Fuck man, give it up. No one believes your stupid conspiracy theories.
No. All your comment means is that YOU don’t.
So, Mary Mary quite contrary can you explain why 9/11 truth groups are showing ever increasing numbers of members ?
Without commenting on the merits of this particular instance, it seems fairly logical that the further away we get from an event, the more plausible different theories about it are. Fewer people have direct knowledge, primary sources start to fade … see also: Nazca Plateau, Jack the Ripper, the moon landings.
That’s a bit harsh contrarian.
Do you believe that Lee Harvey Oswald shot JFK?
“can you explain why 9/11 truth groups are showing ever increasing numbers of members?”
Argumentum ad populum. It is irrelevant how many people believe it.
“Do you believe that Lee Harvey Oswald shot JFK?”
Of course
I thought you were smarter than that but it’s probably just an age thing.
Maybe you’re right though and human’s don’t ever conspire
Really? JFK conspiracy theories?
Hmmm, don’t recall saying that human’s don’t ever conspire
I am healthily skeptical about 9/11 particularly building 7 and the Pentagon that do not appear to have been hit by planes and the suspicious lack of publicly available photos of wreckage from flight 93.
This stuff should be pursued to the end, just as one Augusto Pinochet was, because it is about how “civilized” societies function. The WWII Polish Katyn forest executions by Soviet forces were known about by the allies from the start but they only ’fessed up this year! Do those in charge do horrible things to the people? I can sense a few nods from readers here… yes they bloody do, so why not sections of the US spook/corporate brigade.
At one stage Lprent suggested if interest in this topic was going to continue then maybe a dedicated thread could be set up. This could be worth looking at, so the disinterested or general reader could avoid. But that is easy for me to say as I do not run the blog!
Perhaps instead a simple links hub could be facilitated.
Somewhere that links only are posted into either a Truther/Denier ‘twin tables’ set up that people can freely investigate without the judgement and the vitriol that usually accompanies them.
Just a thought.
try entering “flight 93 wreckage” in google. It’s not hard. You’ll be amazed – pictures of plane bits in a deep hole in a field!
Good on ya, TC. However, the best response is probably the rolling eyes or taking this ever useful advice: DNFTT. Still, you managed to get one fool to throw in a bizarro world link to the JFK shooting, so well done for that!
ps. Freedom, I’m not saying the GFC and 9/11 fantasies are definitely linked, but the answer to your question might be found here.
TC, Fuck man should be Fuck woman.
TRP, i am not going to get into a 911 debate here as face to face communication is the only successful method of helping someone break through the cognitive dissonance that is strangling the world. If you choose to continue ignoring the laws of physics and the mind-buggeringly huge amount of data that obliterates every aspect of the official story there is little that a hundred hours of online bickering will achieve.
People either wake up or they don’t. I stopped wasting my time fighting it online last year. instead i take every opportunity that arises in the real world to engage, assist and educate anyone who shows the telltale signs of 911 ignorance. I can honestly say i have personally witnessed the ‘awakening’ of over a hundred people in that time and it is getting easier every single time.
So either people have a growing awareness of the issue or i am just an incredibly persuasive individual who gets rational adults to believe in what you call fantasies.
have a pleasant day
Cheers to you, too, freedom. I’m pretty much at the same level of frustration as yourself and most of the time I ignore the madness of the 9/11 truth deniers. But, this is a left wing site and occasionally I rise to the bait that the righties throw. I know I should really take my own advice and stop feeding the trolls, but occasionally its worthwhile anyway, just for conversations such as this.
Ultimately, the best defence against the mis-named truthers is the truth. And the complete lack of any factual comfirmation of an alternative conspiracy to the successful AQ led attack on the WTC speaks volumes.
11 years, 8 days. Still no evidence. Occam’s razor remains as sharp as ever.
I like to remind truthers that the Bush government was so freaking inept at everything else it tried but somehow has pulled of the most masterful of conspiracies without there ever being a whistle blower?
which is a good point.
Ok – normally i dont join in this argument, because it has no end – ever.
however – im still of the opinion that…
“there are many conspiracies about 9/11 – the US govt’s is one of them”. Theres just too much stuff that doesnt add up in ANY given explanation.
I know that puts me in a bit of a stasis/fence sitting position – but i can live with that
I don’t have an opinion either way, but I do like to watch the argument sometimes and how illogic pops up on both sides.
For instance, the idea that the Bush administration is so inept they couldn’t have pulled this off, plus the argument that no-one has ever spoken out about the conspiracy, remind me of the commentary in the days following 11/9 where people couldn’t believe that Arabs were capable of planning and carrying out such an attack.
Not Arabs, torture trained maniacs, they exist everywhere in case anyone was wondering
pointers for a better round of golf (or shall i find another course)?
My heart is beating slow @ the mo, L8r maybe.
I need a golf club that can take it , not an easy ask.
Sure Berny, but in the days after 11/9 that’s not what people were talking about. They struggled to get their head around how the lowly Arabs could pull that off against the mighty USians.
true, fear mongering, Nut Jobs do it every day
“lowly Arabs could pull that off against the mighty USians”
Because it was an extremely simple plan that anyone could pull of?
“lowly Arabs could pull that off against the mighty USians”
Because it was an extremely simple plan that anyone could pull off?
So you’re a life supporter weka, we are not alone in this world.
Easy in that ‘lowly Arabs’ are just as adept as anyone else
Just another prohibitive culture trying to survive the modern day human condition.
= Every country on the planet.
They struggled to get their head around how the lowly Arabs could pull that off against the mighty USians.
Yes. That’s how propaganda works.
They struggled to get their head around how the lowly Arabs could pull that off against the mighty USians.
“Yes. That’s how propaganda works.”
True, but I think it was also the US people just not being that aware of the rest of the world and having a retarded view of Middle Eastern countries.
Anyway, my original point, somewhere, such as it was, was that saying that there is no conspiracy because Bush is an idiot is akin to saying Al Qaeda weren’t smart enough to pull off the attacks. Neither argument makes logical sense. (and yes, I know, logic in this debate, a vain hope).
but the logic falls down because it’s a flse equivalence.
The controlled demolition theory calls for an extremely complicated plan that hasn’t been put forward. ie, we know that it must have been extremely complicated, and we have had no suggestion of how they might have carried it out. We also know that the alleged planners have a track record of fucking much simpler things up.
The terrorist attack theory is highly detailed; there are loads of very good analytical and investigative books, including interviews with the planners, timelines, historical threads, the whole gambit. It’s also a much simpler explanation of events, needing much less planning, and the alleged planners had the experience to do it.
So not really buying the equivalence angle.
you have captivating technique your self
How many options do I have?
I’ve lived in pain my whole life, captivating?Engineered?UNPaidFor?
I should change my handle to BloodyOrphan, maybe that’d help
Maybe they just pretend to agree so they can escape your explanations, freedom.
I’ve got some doubts about what happened with building 7, but haven’t seen anything yet which comes close to making me think about why the other two towers collapsed. As for the wreckage in the forest – when planes hit vertically or near vertically, they tend to excavate deep holes for themselves. Bf 109s going into English soil sometimes managed to get surprisingly deep.
As for the Pentagon – the plane flew over the top of a friend’s car just before it hit. His wife was driving and he is an American scientist, so we’re probably trying to suppress something. Yawn.
Trav yeah trav60,000 tons of material coming down 14ft gaining momentum then gathering in another 70 floors at 2,000 tons each I think your brains have been pulverized by blinkered thinking.
As for your thermite theory its just a theory thermite could easily be made from the aluminium joinery and the aluminium lining of the gibboard (Dry wall )rubbing together under huge forces 500,000 tons with the momentum building gathering up as the building crashes down the amount of energy and destruction would be in the 100,s of millions of tons equivalent in energy dissipated which could quite easily produce pockets of nano thermite.
For those of you wanting to learn more about what Mike E is talking about here is an excellent analysis of the collapse of the South tower and why there is no pile driver (Which would be against the laws of physics as the top of the building would find the path of least resistance) from Greame McQueen. called waiting for the Wham!
And Mike E you might take your blinkers off for about an hour and watch the presentation too and the same goes for McFlock
Sorry both towers. I saw it in 2008 and listening to it again I remember better.
Without seeing the presentation cause it’s been removed, there could’ve been a number of factors affecting the actual collapse ….
Initial Impact ?
Wind
Interior weight redistribution
Pure random office weight distribution
And those poor people of course.
From the footage I’ve seen, admittedly vague these days, it looked pretty natural to me, if an airplane colliding with a building can be described as natural.
Airplane fuel burns hot enough to melt Steel.
There’s another possible “Moving Mass”
http://www.911blogger.com/news/2008-05-26/graeme-macqueen-3192008-university-waterloo I just watched the entire presentation here
So does it cover the above? , I should add water weighs 1kg per litre, alot of pipe up there.
A paranoid obsessive accusing others of wearing blinkers is like bigots complaining that other people should tolerate their beliefs.
i have to respond to that mike, and i will do so with a quick question
Care to explain how a steel I-beam that was identified as coming from above the point of impact was found embedded in a building 400+ m away from where it was originally riveted and welded into place?
The nonsensical statements that have no basis in science (or even bother with logic) such as that delivered from mike e above, are why i prefer to keep my 911 work on a face to face platform these days. People are far less willing to throw out bs when they have to sit there defending and or explaining their assertions that always end up contradicting or defeating their own statements.
I think you mean 400 feet not metres. A very different thing.
Its funny these conspiracy theorists seem to believe aliens have already landed and just about everything is a conspiracy just about all the theorists I know are unemployed or in low wage jobs I suppose its a form of escapism.
But these conspiracy theorists Don’t believe in Vaccinating their children either!
Another one was that the swine flu vaccination was going to wipe out your immune system.
My family has all got the swine flu jab and you couldn’t meet a healthier bunch of people.
I see their kids ( the ones who haven’t immunised their children )and most of them are anaemic
and physically small Always off school sick with something wrong!
Funny, most people I know who are donating their intelligence and time in search for 911 truth are university professors,scientists, successful architects, Engineers, fire fighters, lawyers, military personnel and Pilots.
Well Mike, I know some pretty high level business people, intelligent, educated and the like, and guess what, they ask questions too, because they are not stupid, and they don;t believe what is rolled out by TPTB , on all manor of subjects. Only a complete fool believes that corporations, war machines, intelligence industries, big oil, pharma, war on drugs, war on terror etc are there for your well being. Only a FOOL would not want to at least try to see if there is more going on, and a coward would deny it!
Questioning the party line, and looking for understadings is a responsibility we all should take on, sure that does not mean we will all agree etc, which is fine, but hey the conversations become much more interesting than rugby, beer and other house extensions, or isn’t so and so a bitch, and other irrelevant topics. making up so called conversation in NZ.
Which person makes the world a potentially worse place for everyone to live, now and in future, including for your kids, nieces, nephews or gandkids etc?
1: The person who seeks understandings and answers, and questions events which shape this world?
or
2: The person who accepts what they are told and never questions the version of what they are told is happening around them?
Simple question innit!
Comparing a building collapse to clapping your hands is idiotic.
no mcFlock it is simply an instructive and basic visualization tool that forces your consciousness to realize that one hundred and ten floors of steel and concrete can not fail and collapse to the ground faster than you can clap one hundred and ten times. It is the niggling reality of the situation that you are fighting and which causes you to react so predictably.
“one hundred and ten floors of steel and concrete can not fail and collapse to the ground faster than you can clap one hundred and ten times”
really? link please. i believe it is you that doesn’t understand physics then.
Fuckit, envelope physics time:
At 3 metres / floor, 110 floors = 330 metres in 13 seconds.
Average speed = 25 Metres per second. (about 90KpH).
G = 9.8M/s/s
After 13 seconds free-fall acceleration that = 147.4M/s (530KpH). It would have travelled 891.8 Metres. At 3M/floor that’s 297 times.
Average speed 68.6M/s or 247KpH.
Obviously this doesn’t include wind or concrete resistance, but in order to replicate the theoretical average frequency of floor destruction at freefall speeds, you would need to clap nearly 300 times in 13 seconds.
Obviously the law of gravity breaks the laws of physics.
Hahahah,
Let’s calculate something and exclude one of the most prominent qualities: that of concrete resistance.
The law of gravity obeys the three laws of Physics. If the law of gravity had been obeyed as well as the laws of physics the top which you claim acted as a sledge hammer would have found the path of least resistance.
You should really watch Greame McQueen’s presentation linked to above.
The laws of physics were obeyed.
There there C, calm down. Of course the laws of physics were obeyed. Nothing can break the laws of Physics. It is just that the official story can’t have happened unless 19 young Muslims could break them. In order to pulverise the buildings and allow them to come down into their own footprint someone had to have access to all three buildings and place explosives in them, s’all.
Only with a huge amount of extra energy could those buildings come down. Office fires and kerosene could not have done that.
Jet fuel =/= kerosene.
You realise that the plane itself is made of many elements with different melting points (like aluminium and magnesium) which would melt and burn before steel, adding to the ferocity of the fire, and that steel is significantly weakened in high temperatures
Secondly you have never explained when and how the explosives got into a building with 24 hour surveillance and bomb sniffing dogs and without alerting security or anyone else that worked there.
You also failed to address the fact that the it wasn’t the top few floors vs the rest of the building but the top few floors vs. the floor immediately below.
I watched it this morning and personally believe it’s complete bollocks.
Trav, read this next bit very slowly …. the top of the building DID follow the path of least resistance. All laws, including Newton’s, which you claim weren’t, were followed to the letter.
Either you are right in which case there was no resistance all the way to the ground where just seconds before there had been a huge solid and undamaged building indicating the destruction of the building by something other than the Sledgehammer Mike e is talking about or you’re wrong and the top bit rammed the bottom bit to smithereens breaking the laws of physics.
You can’t have it both ways. Your turn.
Well if what they say is true, then I’d be guessing building practices in the name of weight reduction for the primary cause then.
no-one has ever said there was “no resistance”, or course there was. But just not as much as you think there was. Your use of the words: “just seconds before there had been a huge solid and undamaged building” are clearly incorrect. The top clearly fell through at least 1 floor with little to no resistance.
The floor trusses in those 2 buildings were clearly the weak point. With the top 12 floors tipping and leaning to one side, all of the resulting force was being transferred through a smaller footprint, clearly more than was able to be withheld, leading to the structural failure. The floors were made of only 4 inch thick “lightweight” concrete.
To quote wikipedia: “While the buildings were designed to support enormous static loads, they provided little resistance to the moving mass of the sections above the floors where the collapses initiated. Structural systems respond very differently to static and dynamic loads, and since the motion of the falling portion began as a free fall through the height of at least one story (roughly three meters or 10 feet), the structure beneath them was unable to stop the collapses once they began. Indeed, a fall of only half a meter (about 20 inches) would have been enough to release the necessary energy to begin an unstoppable collapse”
and … “Once the collapse initiated, the mass of failing floors overwhelmed the floors below, causing a progressive series of floor failures which accelerated as the sequence progressed. Soon large portions of the perimeter columns and possibly the cores were left without any lateral support, causing them to fall laterally towards the outside pushed by the increasing pile of rubble. The result was the walls peeling off and separating away from the buildings by a large distance (about 500 feet in some cases), hitting other neighboring buildings. Some connections broke as the bolts snapped, leaving many panels randomly scattered. Significant parts of the naked cores (about 60 stories for the North Tower and 40 for the South Tower) remained standing for some seconds before they also collapsed themselves”
Anyway, you and i have had countless arguments about this topic and neither one of us is going to budge. I don’t even know why i bothered commenting on the topic again. The weight of evidence is on my side, not yours. so, as you most eloquently put it …. your turn.
I’d love to see a truther account one tenth as detailed as the various and numerous accounts that are to be found of the mainstream theory.
For example, I’d like to know how much ‘nano thermite’ would have been needed and where it was placed. Then we’d need a discussion that takes account of the nature of thermite, that it burns rather than explodes, so it usually requires aditional explosives to shift the cut steel.
Factor that into the images we have of the collapse and explain how it all happened, and whether it makes sens to do it that way.
The plan would have had to take account of the fact that several floors were severely damaged by the plane crashes and fires. How was this built into the pla? How did the wiring plans for the thermite and explosives build redundancy in to deal with this?
Is the controlled demolition theory explaining what we see, or is the controlled demolition account trying to force itself on to what is being observed?
But we never get offered any detail. After a decade, there is still no explanation of their account.
I want to know “How did the thermite get in there without anyone noticing”
agree! i’m especially interested in how all the tons and tons of explosives and thermite were wired into the building with kilometers of demolition cord, under the noses of tens of thousands of employees ….. without ANYONE noticing.
All the while being placed in exactly the correct place for a plain to hit the buildings and not damage said explosives rig. Then requiring someone to press the button to initiate the collapse while knowing 300 odd innocent firefighters were still inside the building with no change of escape.
to quote the Tui adds, yea right.
“e noses of tens of thousands of employees ….. without ANYONE noticing.”
and 24 hour surveillance, security guards…plus fucking bomb sniffing dogs to boot.
But don’t push the button right away, let it burn for while, having full confidence that when you push the button it will go. 🙄
The thermite? It was all added by Buzz Aldrin at the time of construction – just don’t say it to his face…
You are doing it again:
“where just seconds before there had been a huge solid and undamaged building ”
No, it wasn’t the top few floors vs a huge solid and undamaged building but the top few floors vs. the floor immediately below.
Why do you never address this?
Benny D is right but trav you are just repeating con job.
You don’t understand laws of physics tell me why it takes 1.2km to stop a1200tonne train going along tracks !
then tell me how you would stop 60,000 tonnes which is gaining momentum also fighting the effects of gravity stops .
The train isn’t gaining momentum and has only a mild gravitational drag!
Those buildings were built quickly cheaply using formally illegal methods until they conned NY City to go back to old methods using clip in prefabricated floor trusses !
Now you will find that the flooring systems in use today has to be bolted in with very expensive non sheer temp proof bolts!
They’ve learned from the mistakes!
I was pointing out that the speed of the towers was within the bounds highest possible speed with no resistance, i.e. freefall speed, and that therefore your “hands clapping” argument is batshit-stupid idiocy.
We might have some agreement, though – the towers fell at slower than freefall speed due to concrete being in the way.
What exactly are the three laws of physics?
Just for the record, this bloke can clap 12-13 times a second. So, clearly, it is possible to clap 110 times in 13 seconds, which probably negates whatever vague point Trav was trying to make. But no matter, it just makes the comparison entirely consistent with the rest of the truther claims, which are equally bogus.
I threw a burning piece of metal in the shape of a plane at a piece of concrete once and NOTHING HAPPENED!
9/11 WAS A LIE!
The loss must be phenomonal, conspiracy theories rob u of the ground you stand on, they do not answer loss.
What isn’t a conspiracy theory is that it has been found that GW Bush has been found to have lied to the American public in saying he wasn’t warned of an impending attack he was warned but didn’t take it seriously as he thought that no one would dare attack the US!
Those cats were talking about it in 99, problem was no one could fathom it.
and I’m just a cat off the street.
They created a lot of fear with that “engineered” approach.
You can see it in Afghanistan and other places right now
Bernie,
The first speaker is a lady by the name of Laurie van Auken. She was one of the people who fought for an investigation into what happened. She lost her husband on 9/11. As long as people like her want to fight for a new and independent investigation I’m with her
Fair enuf, in a civilised world that’s a good thing, power too them, but I think in this case the inuendo I speek of is all there is behind it, truely sorry for their loss, heartbreaking.
It was street level info from NZ.
Regardless of whether you thought the WTC was deliberately demolished or not, you have to admit, that it is rather strange for the all 4 airliners’ black boxes to vanish.
Given that black boxes have been recovered in dense jungles, shark infested oceans and icy rivers, it would be pretty straightforward for them to be recovered in the rubble of a destroyed building or in the Pennsylvania countryside.
“strange for the all 4 airliners’ black boxes to vanish.”
They weren’t all destroyed.
http://www.911myths.com/index.php/The_Black_Boxes ->
“The Flight 93 flight data recorders were recovered. The Flight 77 black boxes were also removed from the Pentagon, but one of them (the cockpit voice recorder) was too badly damaged to be used. The only boxes not to be recovered were from the World Trade Centre impacts ”
The World Trade Centre ones were destroyed – is that surprising given the extreme forces involved there?
Black boxes aren’t indestructible. They aren’t always recovered.
And these crashes were not normal – crazies at the steering wheel with the accelerator to the floor.
It’s like the old moon landing conspiracy nonsense:
“There are no stars in the background!” – because the sun light fades them out, the sky is black because there is no atmosphere on the moon otherwise it is just like we don’t see stars in the blue daytime sky.
And seriously, would someone go to all that trouble to fake a mooning landing and forget to paint the stars on the background? 🙄
The moon is a completely alien environment, what is experienced on Earth and taken for granted is turned upside down.
Stupid conspiracy nonsense.
That type of issue is why I remain a 9/11 skeptic Millsy, not a ‘Truther’, follow the evidence.
No plane appears to have hit the Pentagon or building seven so what did happen?
A govt., or sections of it, would not harm it’s own people? C’mon Pol Pot, Indonesia, Chile, Syria.
Building 7 was hit by a large chunk of one of the falling towers, TM. And while you’ll get no argument from me on America’s historical propensity to use its power extra-judicially, to do so against its own citizens on a mass scale has no modern precedent.
The wikipedia site has pretty common sense descriptions of the main theories, including the video of the Pentagon crash. The guts of it is, for me, that there is no credible alternative to the established facts. And the complete absence of human corroboration of the inside job is the clincher. No whistleblower, no stray email, no oh so human cock up.
It is what it is. A relatively simple plot, using a classic guerilla technique, modernised; multiple hits to maximise the chance of success. They succeeded because a highjacking with the intention of destroying the aircraft and all aboard was inconceivable. Security, till then, had been premised on the idea that political hijackers wanted publicity and a safe haven; that they intended to survive.
The USA was mugged, pure and simple.
edit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/9/11_conspiracy_theories
There were a whole load of plane bits lying around the pentagon. Bits of engine, wheels, parts with the American airlines logo. It can only be deliberate ignorance that prevents you Doing the simplest of google searches to see them.
There were a whole load of plane bits lying around the pentagon. Bits of engine, wheels, parts with the American airlines logo. It can only be deliberate ignorance that prevents you Doing the simplest of google searches to see them.,
That comment I just had to laugh at, especially when you used the words ignorant, google search, bits of engine, wheels, parts , logos etc.
Its like Voice saying that Wiki is a reliable source., and no prescedent etc…
Ignorant indeed!
Yeah, yeah, yeah … you moan, but you have no evidence to support your position, muzza. And that’s your fundamental problem. 11 years, two weeks, no evidence.
ps, I’ve come to the comclusion that there is a false flag aspect to 9/11. And you are part of it, my friend. Yep, CIA/Haliburton ‘truthers’ are running a false flag op to muddy the waters around a straightforward terrorist attack in order to keep the need for Homeland security at the forefront of the American people’s minds.
It’s probably the greatest conspiracy ever conceived in the history of the world, but I can’t say any more because there is a black helicopter over my house recording everything I do ….. aaaaaargh, noooooo, gravy for the mind …. tell the world my story, tell them muzzaaaaaaaaaargh!!!
Its all BS on every angle, it so obvious, no need to spend time dwelling on it. No need to waste time on what stinks from top to bottom!
Now you’re catching on, slow, but better you got there….I don’t even mind that its you who finally caught on to my position on such matters around deliberate confusion on every angle. Next you just have to develop the inate ability to be able to tell the shite in the lies….You dont have it though, your words tell me that for sure. Worse you have no interest in even trying, which is why you will remain confused on so many issues!
Idiocy beyond belief!
Your postion of deliberate confusion on almost every angle is entirely obvious to most observers. Although I’m prepared to drop the deliberate.
I’m assuming it was the laugh of the insane
On the Pentagon
Funny how she never once mentions the airliner debris on the lawn.
You’d think amongst all the other things she’s assessed she’d have a damn good theory about how the parts were stored inside the building to be found after the event or conveniently dropped in full view in the moments before people arrived on the scene to lend help.
Odd this is never addressed given that she has worked out everything else. Did she forget?
It seems that the only crime in the universe where the people pointing out that there is a problem with the story of the people who have most to gain by the crime, namely the military industrial complex who had earned trillions with the wars started in the aftermath, have to prove their allegations before a police investigation is started is the crime of 911.
This compares to a case were bystanders, who after a bloody body has been found, have to prove the guy who inherited all the dosh is guilty, after they point out the story he is telling is scientifically impossible, before a proper police investigation is started.
If you find a bloody body and call the police they come and investigate. They interrogate, question and use science to prove or disprove who has done the deed.
It is not our job to find out every detail and every facet of the story. We have done our job in that we have pointed out that scientifically the official story is a load of BS.
Even the members of the 9/11 commission declared they were set up to fail and are denouncing their own results.
We want a new and independent investigation into what happened on that day and we are not alone in this.
End of story!
I want a new and independent inquiry into why she completely ignores the most telling pieces of evidence, something you just spent a lot of words dancing around but never actually addressed either. Alternatives are fine, but they lack credibility when they just pretend counters don’t exist.
Even NIST denies the damage was cause for the collapse. In fact after seven years they said that they could not explain the collapse of building 7. Could have something to do with the fact that they refused to investigate the possibility of controlled demolition perhaps?
Purgatory?
Now your just making things up. NIST said no such thing.
http://www.nist.gov/public_affairs/factsheet/wtc_qa_082108.cfm
Assymetric building damage with fire weakening of structural steel in one corner of the building.
Yet the whole thing fell straight down vertically and symmetrically on to its own foot print. Magic.
TM building seven how many tonnes of debris fell on building 7
Do they have cameras pointing at the pentagon all the time maybe now but not then the black box was recovered innocent passengers were killed!
The right wing will be laughing their heads of off over these conspiracy theorists !
At the time of the attack on the Pentagon some 83 camera’s were pointed at the Pentagon at all times. Every footage of those cameras has been confiscated. We know this because the FBI The FBI acknowledges Having 83 video’s in their possession which they refuse to release. Only 6 frames have been released to date which do not show clear footage.
Here’s one of the classic situations where something mundane gets built upon and reimagined until the ‘facts’ shift to give the veneer of something suspicious.
“83 camera’s ..pointed at the Pentagon at all times” were nothing of the sort. There were 83 films taken by or given as evidence to the FBI. Most showed no images of the crash site (some were of the WTC events, some were from Florida and one from Wisconsin!) or were by people who attended the site after the event. Some were tourist videos, so pretty bored tourists if they have their cameras pointed at the Pentagon ‘all the time’
Why were they not released? Because the FOIA request only asked for videos showing the impact. The one that showed it was released after the completion of the Massoui trial.
Most, if not all, of the others have also been released since. http://penttbom.com/
So Eve presents a whole lot of not even half truths she has muddled together into a half baked blob of nothing, then adds some fairy dust and hey presto it’s a scandal.
.
Christchurch, I have realised, is experiencing one of those good old cliches / sayings that your granny always used to say. One of them ones which ring true and you get to see in action from time to time…
And that is “Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.”
This government, with no plan to do anything anywhere in the economy or elsewhere, sees in Christchurch an opportunity to show it does stuff. You know, “right, lets get on with it. No point is sitting around, just get stuck in”. But they are bozos blowing it with their bluster and big man bullshit.
Two example. Firstly, the blueprint is such a massive undertaking that it is almost certainly going to struggle. Getting into the detail and action it becomes apparent that there are major issues not thought through sufficiently. The sorts of issues that cause things to stall, then re-think, then try again and by that time everyone has realised that the government actually had no idea in the first place.
Secondly, the school closures. The people and protests on te news are 100% right. The schools have been a beacon of normality for people, especially children. So why the rush? Why not start the conversation now and tell the communities that some time in the next couple of years some schools are going to have to close? Then the communities would have time to adjust, discuss, etc. That would seem to be the obvious and caring way. But no…
… fools rush in where angels fear to tread
Especially when the rushing in is based on inaccurate information.
Some Christchurch principals say that the government’s plans for Christchurch schools are based on inaccurate information.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/7704386/Principals-question-Education-Ministrys-data
I think you’ll find that the plans are based in ideology and that reality didn’t get a look in.
sounds good to me vto.
and by that time a decent Labour government that understands the concept of fair play for all will be back in power and the job can be done properly instead of the Jerry built way they are doing things now.
Not sure that they do?
Just been reviewing the slow queries log after seeing nasty slowdowns over the last few days. Added a few indexes into comments that hopefully will improve things. Apologies to anyone caught while the scripts were running.
Oh well off to the paid employment and what looks like a bug deep deep inside of webkit.
Ffox 15.0.1 still acting up wickedly, cleared the cache, sits there going round in circles after reading one article.
I’m using FF 15.01 and am not, nor have I recently been having, that problem.
I’ll try a re install then, thanks
Complete re install fixed it, thanks again
Great. I have seen that a few times myself. FF has this script engine that runs a lot of the internals and sometimes it seems to get itself quite screwed up. I suspect plugins myself.
I’m migrated pretty much to Chrome for normal use these days because it is on all my platforms :- linux, ios, android, virtual microsoft machines, microsoft server 2003 R2 (legacy systems), osx (to use xcode for ios grrr…), and even in the once a month boot of a dual partition vista (for bloody itunes grrr). It also seems to be pretty damn robust and quite fast for every platform I’ve used it on. Whereas firefox keeps feeling heavier and slower with each release
Yeah suspect it’s flash player myself, re installed it to no avail tho.
(Had a strange error / crash after visiting the standard this time)
Haven’t used chrome much, it’s installed but not used.
Transformational Leadership?
( google on another tab but slows this old pc)
Revenge of the Fallen?
Faster memory
The Standard ílluminati taught me how to be Helpful.
He teaches me how to care
Sounds like your walking on ice bud
‘skating away, skating away….on the Thin Ice of a New Day”
Well-grounded actually. (just have to manage the emotional cycles of the day)
We all have our crosses to bear, i imagine
i also imagine the Diversity of people who may read or reference The Standard
came across Cam Sl bleat about anonymity of TS post-ers. Clearly, anonymity is not universal
It’s a weak response to the context of the views expressed, not even worth reading, so i didn’t.
Context is everything on the Net.
It’s just a Blog M8!
came across Cam Sl bleat about anonymity of TS post-ers. Clearly, anonymity is not universal
He is a somewhat selective and always has been. For some strange reason he never seems to get the lesson that it makes very little difference if authors here are using their real names (like Ben Clark), or a psuedonym like myself when I’ve been using the same one for 30 years – it was my first login name, or where it is a psuedonym.
But you can’t get a sense of a person until you actually know them in person. Knowing someone on the net is an exercise in knowing one of their personas, the same as it is knowing them where they work, or whatever. It is a spurious argument that knowing who they are offers any particular value to their opinion unless they are an expert in their field like Mike is (which of course neither Whale or the other great whiners about real names – journos – never are).
However opinion is opinion and it makes bugger all difference who writes it – it is what it says that is important. You can always tell someone who writes something useful even if you disagree with it. It forces you to think
I suspect that what really gets him is the latter point. If you have nothing meaningful to say, then poor opinion like his invariably is gets treated as being crap regardless if it is a psuedo or “real name”. So he clings to the “outing” he was so irritated about 5 years ago just as he clings to his pseudonymous persona….
Yeah, I scanned it when looking for a blog to read, but landed on the Standard.
It was the articles originally.
Could be at that. Just checked memory use and it’s using close to 300MB and I thought it was bad when it was using ~100MB. The reason why I didn’t keep using Chrome, even though I liked it, was because Google won’t allow it to block ads from Google (Using AdBlock) but is quite happy for it to block everyone else’s.
*grin* Now that is a funny…
I don’t block ads* apart from malware so that isn’t an issue.
* Actually there are a few ad site that I block by IP – but that is because their ads irriate the hell out of me. I see that we picked one of those up this morning – the jiggling dialog style. I’ll have to tell scoop that the company making it is not to use our site again.
Evidently I still haven’t gotten whatever it is. It just happened again.
Damn. I’ll turn on the full query logging so I can find out what it is doing when I next see the database going ape.
Something happened when I just posted my comment to Return to Planet Key – I got an error message . Eventually I refreshed and the comment was posted, but I couldn’t edit (minor capitalisation typo).
Probably traffic surges, nothing to worry about, let it burp and continue
Anyone notice the slip of the tongue currently happening in statements from National MP’s.
Apparently they are now our governors, not our representatives.
Maybe an admission of the real situation?
Probably more the way they actually think of themselves. They certainly act as if they’re our overlords rather than our representatives.
That’s because they think they are our overlords. They’re to damm dumb to know they’re not…
In Parliament, Grant Robertson has just asked the “Dotcom” questions to the Police Minister that were suggested on this very blog, on Tuesday and Wednesday.
But she wasn’t there (Brownlee stood in) and nor was Key. They were there on Tuesday and Wednesday. Too late now.
That’s Labour’s incompetence in a nutshell. If there’s nobody there who can think of this stuff for themselves, why don’t they just have somebody standing by at lunchtime, and we’ll tell them the questions to ask, before 2 pm. No charge for the first ones used – after that, 10% of the MPs’ salary. It’s not like they’re earning it.
Hear ye!Hear ye! Apparently Commanderkey is announcing,possibly to the world, of his intention to send four SAS personnell to Afghanistan to obtain information on who is responsible for the recent attacks on NZ soldiers. What does SAS stand for? Will not someone see them coming now? Apparently, they will do nothing themselves,but share their info with somebody else. Who?Possibly an infiltrator in the Afghanistan Force. But, that’s alright,apparently this is not a revenge mission.Maybe he just wants an apology and then everything will be ok buddy.
Hope said personnell are good at their jobs and can stay safe, or stupidkey could have some blood on his hands.
ps key is an idiot!
Key could get Whalespew and three other gungho volunteers from that vile blog to go and give the “ragheads” what they deserve. I’d contribute a month’s salary on successful completion of the mission.
Oh dear, poor NACt are having a hard time justifying this private prisons business.
Oops, it seems that the government hiring the private sector just results in the private sector getting government guaranteed profits while not actually saving us money.
And it seems the London Stock exchange has been told more about the contract than the NZ public:
http://www.voxy.co.nz/politics/tolley-needs-come-clean-regarding-wiri-prison/5/135340
Conspiracy theories…. do we have some good examples of ones that have been proven true after being written off?
(we don’t need the WTC as an example thanks, see up thread).
Yip, Hillsborough Disaster, 23 year cover-up just been exposed in the UK http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-19543964 after 3 seperate enquiries finding the fans at fault, the truth has finally been exposed.
Loads.
Cover ups:
Erebus
Bloody Sunday Massacre
Dreyfus Affair
Other:
Gunpowder Plot
Iran-Contra
Anything ever done by an intelligence service.
All the GWBush wars – e.g. yellowcake, “smoking gun”, yadda yadda
Gulf of Tonkin.
I think that, to be labelled a conspiracy, it has to be more than just a coverup after the event. I’d label Hillsborough, Erebus, and Bloody Sunday as coverups, for example.
The Gulf of Tonkin incident and the Burning of the Reichstag are more deserving of being called conspiracies, as they were both planned in advance. The destruction of the USS Maine in Havana was possibly a false flag operation, which maybe qualifies.
I think the biggest conspiracy theory of all is the spreading of theories about Bilderberg, the Illuminati, Zionist one world government etc. All these have the effect of causing despair in people because if something is done behind the scenes by almost omnipotent forces, what can be done about it? On the other hand, anyone who analyses capitalism knows broadly what our ruling class will do and what needs to be done to stop it. Of course, this requires a lot more than watching youtube. You have to get off your ass and mobilise for a start. It’s not easy.
Yeah, there is an instinctive distinction between a plain “coverup” and a full conspiracy. But then the coverup can be an extensive and systemic conspiracy, e.g. Dreyfus.
The trouble is that a lot of the stuff that happens in the world isn’t anyone’s master plan, most of the time it’s an improvised response to a changing situation which folk then quietly work around. ISTR that the Nazis mounted a real “false flag” operation in 1939, staging an attack on their own border posts by pretend-Polish soldiers.
Watergate definitely counted as a conspiracy, but then it was another programme that evolved into illegal activities beyond par.
As an aside, the most reasonable explanation I read for the USS Maine was that it was a coal bunker fire that had heat conducted through the metal structure to an ammunition bunker. But then it was certainly perverted and transformed into a casus belli.
God bless the NZ SAS and their Friends in combat and those they are protecting.
It’s possible, they are trying.
In the name of peacefull coexistence and life I bless them.
Are you suppose to be a priest or something?
Agnostic, and no.
Your “blessing” is worth about sweet FA then.
lol
Only if you’re an atheist.
I was just having a go at him because of his unctuous drivel.
Woody Allen put the dilemma well:
You don’t believe in a god then the universe is an indifferent, cold, meaningless place.
If you do believe in a god you got a BIG problem proving it – you just got to have “faith”.
God is thought, life tells us to grow and think
evolved over billions of years.
That’s an old idea.
It was super ceded by Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit. The world and human civilization were the material expression of Spirit/Idea.
Then Marx came along and took the next logical step removing the Spirit/Idea part for an efficiency gain. All that there is, is material, and man is God.
Indeed … their gods were/are Gods Personified and most likely a twisted version of themselves.
Two points:
If the universe is a cold meaningless place, then the warmth and meaning of people is much more important.
And asserting that anyone’s blessing is worth sweet FA is a much stronger religious assertion than a quick blessing by someone who’s not entirely sure it will have an effect.
“the warmth and meaning of people”
The problem is they stop existing.
So we find the warmth where we can, and we provide warmth for others.
Then you drop dead.
See? Absurd.
If a light is turned off, does that mean it never shone?
The act of extinguishing it requires that it have been bright in the first place.
Shit changes. The word turns. If we lived forever Hitler would still be farting and ranting.
You don’t believe in a god then the universe is an indifferent, cold, meaningless place.
Er, nope. That doesn’t follow at all.
That only makes sense if a god is the only thing that could prevent a universe being ‘indifferent, cold, and meaningless’; and I can’t think of any reason why that might be, or any reason why an atheist would believe it. It’s pants pretty much.
So where is the meaning? Seems like countless philosophers, poets, artists have struggled with it.
So what makes you think you’ve bagged it?
Please share.
A pretty silly demand to make k-p.
You are the one who has suggested that god is a necessary condition for ‘meaning’ (and so on), in the universe. I said that has not been shown to be the case. You haven’t established that.
How does it follow from from what I said, that I should have ‘bagged’ whatever it is you think that theologians have over philosphers?
Short answer, it doesn’t. Typical slippery question begging from the theologician camp.
Explain to me why god is necessary for the things you claim.
You’ll need to define those things first, (the opposites of ‘indifferent, cold, meaningless’) and as you do so, be careful that that what you are describing are not subjective experiences of the universe by sentient beings. Because if that’s the case, then what’s needed for those things to exist is sentient beings, not necessarily gods.
I dont believe in the existence of a God.
So my dilemma is finding meaning.
Whereas God believers are stuck with “faith” and questions like “If God is so freaking loving and all powerful why are there little children who have had their feet and hands blown off by mines disguised as children’s toys?”
Meaning is a subjective thing k-p. In the western way of looking at it at least.
Sticking with that angle, meaning is what people find. It’s how they perceive, explain, experience.
You are not going to find it on the outside, it must be active, and provided by yourself. And it won’t be universal. One person’s experience of the universe will, of necessity, be different to everyone else’s, so it’s cray cray to expect their meanings to be the same, and that’s ok.
Or to take a more eastern angle, we are ourselves just ‘expressions of the universe’.
I’m the universe being me, just as my chair is the universe being a chair.
Why? To what end?
Ends in themselves, strip away the ego, and just let the universe be the things it is. Relish that and savour it. Be the universe observing itself.
Both those angles are saying the same thing by the way.
Ah, no. It doesn’t require a god to make the universe a place of wonder and adventure.
“You don’t believe in a god then the universe is an indifferent, cold, meaningless place.”
Not at all. A universe without God makes it a mysterious, wondrous place with a new discovery found in every corner.
Someones a Star Trek fan. 🙄
Your point?
Oh, wait, you don’t have one.
I hate Star Trek with a passion.
But I am a Carl Sagan fan.
And talking about state capture of a process:
http://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/govt-confirms-earthquake-commission-review.
Only selected stakeholders are getting a say in this while the general public will get a couple of weeks to comment at the end. The private insurers must be drooling in anticipation. Lean on your MP to open up the submissions?
“Gay marriage” has taken a hammering over in Aussie. Voted down big time twice!
Hopefully it falls on its face here too.
On this one you have a point. NZ Labour and Greens focussed largely on it, but they neglecte other “issues”. Something to think aboout perhaps.
The right wingers took a big hit though. One of their top players had to quit after saying if gay marriage is permissible why not bestiality?
I think he has got a good point – its the Slippery Slope argument. But he went down in a hail of bullets from the media and opponents, his argument dismissed as “ridiculous” or “homophobic” whatever the fuck that is suppose to mean. 🙄
How does the concept “any two consenting adults can marry” slide into “people will marry their pets”?
Marriage is between consenting parties. Animals (and for that matter children) cannot consent to anything.
“Marriage is between consenting parties.”
A father and his son?
“How does the concept “any two consenting adults can marry” slide into “people will marry their pets”? ”
It doesn’t but “Let me marry who I love!” does and that is the central argument given by pro gay marriage advocates.
You mean where both are old enough to consent?
Wouldn’t that conflict with the familial relationship, though? I’ll give you that, then – make it “consenting parties who aren’t closely related”.
See there you go – now YOU are deny rights to people.
So obviously you dont think individual rights are absolute.
And neither do I.
Basically you’re pushing rational contract theory – the same one that is the foundation for neo classical economics actually – rational individual free agents entering contracts with each other. And look where that has got us, haha.
So back to marriage. Consent is NECESSARY, but it is not SUFFICIENT. Is love necessary let alone sufficient? No, after all it can be faked.
But it is necessary but not sufficient that the two agents be of the opposite sex, there are physical, psychological and functional elements unique to that arrangement that is and must be acknowledged in the idea of marriage.
No, you presented a counter example and I said okay, that would involve a conflict of interests, I’ll give you that one. But there is no conflict of interests between two unrelated men marrying, any mor that between an unrelated man and woman.
Any union between two people involves “physical, psychological and functional elements unique to that arrangement”. Why does gender need to be singled out?
“Why does gender need to be singled out?”
If your relationship does not have those unique elements of one based on consent, you don’t qualify for marriage.
If your relationship does not have those unique elements of a heterosexual one, you don’t qualify for marriage. Why? Because the differentiation of the sexes is such a significant central characteristic of the human species. That must be recognised, and that is what the institution of marriage does.
Pretending that “gender doesnt matter” will destroy the meaning of marriage.
Gays have got their civil unions. They were suppose to be happy with that, but of course once they got it, they then wanted more.
Wow! Have you ever considered ringing a talkback station?
“Because the differentiation of the sexes is such a significant central characteristic of the human species. That must be recognised, and that is what the institution of marriage does.”
Why must it?
No.
Marriage is a legal recognition of a relationship between people that, in many instances, is more intimate than most familial bonds.
Nothing about ‘nads in it at all.
Gays have got their civil unions. They were suppose to be happy with that
Did you support that legislation, or oppose it?
lolz.
Poor little k_p still hasn’t figured out where babies come from.
his is idiot stuff. let us focus on what is important!
the rights of very roughly 10-30% of the population count, too.
Love is a mutual emotion. As far as I can see, nobody’s said “I want to be able to marry someone against their will”. That would be against the entire concept of marriage. Both parties at the ceremony say “I do”, not one party saying “I’ll take that one”. But genital allocation among the parties being intrinsic to the ceremony and concept? Not so much.
“Love is a mutual emotion.”
No way! Come on, its the core of a million love stories, you know the quote “When the object of ones affection…”
“But genital allocation among the parties being intrinsic to the ceremony and concept? Not so much.”
Very much, see above ^.
“nobody’s said “I want to be able to marry someone against their will”.”
See above ^.
Dude, unrequited “love” is obsession, infatuation, affection, a crush… but not “love”.
If you want soppy love quotes, love is when you’re prepared to share the deepest, darkest, worst thing about yourself to another person, and it doesn’t matter to them.
“Dude, unrequited “love” is obsession, infatuation, affection, a crush… but not “love”.”
Poets and novelists have been writing about love for thousands of years.
You really think you know what its all about? Then you should write the book, and make your fortune.
Some people find Twilight romantic. Others see an abusive and emotionally controlling relationship. Meh.
Depends upon which culture you’re looking at. Several cultures had/have arranged marriages where people are married against their will.
maybe so.
But not in NZ law.
But it happens here.
The marriage act is very clear that both parties need to say the words. Sec31(3).
It doesn’t but “Let me marry who I love!” does and that is the central argument given by pro gay marriage advocates.
I’ve never seen that expressed as anything other than ‘let us marry each other’, or ‘let me marry someone I am in love with’.
But sure, if you have an example of anyone suggesting non-consensual gay marriage, I’ll be against that. But I bet you can’t.
What do you mean? It was on a protester’s sign in a pic on a thread here.
Come on KP – you can’t be serious.
If that sign was at a gay marriage protest, then ‘who I love’ is referring to their partner…not their Grandma.
If a pub has a sign outside saying ‘smoking section’…that does not mean you can pull out a glass pipe and start smoking crack – it is referring to cigarettes/tobacco.
Gosh. A sign at a protest you say. Certainly put me in my place.
Do you want homosexuality recriminalised?
Kiwi_prometheus
If you wish to have sex with animals, or even confine this to one animal, go for it. I really don’t care either way. I just hope it’s a carnivore with large teeth.
The only essential difference I see among people is that some want a better world for themselves and others want a better world for society as a whole. This has nothing to do with gender.
Crisis or Breakdown?
Emphasis mine:
The drive for profit and accumulation must result in advancement in technology being curtailed as capitalism cannot afford to solve the climate crisis and other environmental nightmares. To prop up profit essential services are being cut.
Conflating capitalism and democracy is what right wingers do.
Capitalism and democracy chaff. But capitalism moderated by democracy does allow everyones boat to lift with the rising tide of living standards = political stability of course because everyone feels they are getting a reasonable slice of the pie with future expectations of more!
“capitalism cannot afford to solve the climate crisis and other environmental nightmares”
Its not about Capitalism doing this. It’s democracy which can – re ozone depletion and solution.
Really? Did you not notice the increasing poverty over the last 30 years? The quarter of a million children in hardship? The majority of the people aren’t getting a good deal. In fact, they’re being shafted so as to prop up the 1% profits.
No, it’s about capitalism preventing it. That’s why NACT keep saying that we need to balance between the economy and the environment means.
As an addendum to that one have this one:
Of Flying Cars
And that most definitely applies to NZ as well. Contrary to what most people seem to believe about the free-market the bureaucrats have taken over.
There’s no reply link on the gay marriage strand!
“Did you support that legislation, or oppose it?”
I supported it.