Open Mike 25/11/2018

Written By: - Date published: 5:59 am, November 25th, 2018 - 223 comments
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223 comments on “Open Mike 25/11/2018 ”

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  1. cleangreen 1
    25 November 2018 at 6:12 am

    RNZ at 7am news said that the ‘All blacks beat Italy with 10 tries today’

    Yawn.

    Glad I didn’t pay to watch it.

    Just a walk in the park as Italy is not a rugby country but a rabid soccer loving country stacked full of fans.

    We can’t feel good about beating Italy in rugby here. Hollow victory we got only.

    • gsays 1.1
      25 November 2018 at 6:26 am

      disagree there cleangreen.
      it was a fairly scrappy affair in the first half but the team settled into a rhythm in second half.
      this was a chance for a lot of second string players to make a mark.
      jordie barrett scored 4 tries and had a good all round game.

      we had hookers putting good kicks through to set up tries.

      ok, the result was never in doubt but the nature of the all blacks performance in the final test of a long season was heartening for this fan.

      of more concern is the lopsided score england vs australia. 37-18 to england.
      we need australian rugby to be stronger than it is at the moment.

      ps, i don’t pay for any sport nowadays, its such an old fashioned habit.

      • Ad 1.1.1
        25 November 2018 at 7:05 am

        We’re a country the size of Melbourne, generating sports teams that continue to conquer the world.

        In Italy we just beat a country with the economic capacity to buy all of our top Rugby players multiple times over if it wanted.

        Currently we’re battling it out with Pakistan, a country with 202 million people and over 10 million cricket players. We would be lucky to scrape together 2,000 top players.

        Sport is one of New Zealand’s top industries.
        It’s also one of the fastest upward routes out of deprivation for many of our citizens.

        It’s good for us, celebrate the wins.

        • marty mars 1.1.1.1
          25 November 2018 at 7:37 am

          yeah – the wee battler yarp, yarp, yarp,

          Change your mythology imo – because you seem to filter everything through that money-lens of yours.

          • Ad 1.1.1.1.1
            25 November 2018 at 7:38 am

            You need to calm down and pull back from your keyboard.

            You’re not adding anything except hate.

            • marty mars 1.1.1.1.1.1
              25 November 2018 at 7:53 am

              Well I certainly dislike the kiwi battler meme – bit of a cliche now – I dislike the financial/money angle for sure but hate? Bit OTT there – go and dig the garden you seem a bit worked up old chap.

              Anyway I cannot be bothered getting hassled by the likes of you and james so I’ll fuck off and leave you to it.

              • James …
                25 November 2018 at 8:20 am

                “I cannot be bothered getting hassled by the likes of you and james so I’ll fuck off and leave you to it.”

                Which is ironic since you replied to both of us with stupid and rude comments.

                We hadn’t even engaged with you. But you try to make it all about you and we are hassling you. /facepalm

                • marty mars …
                  25 November 2018 at 8:54 am

                  You got reciprocated twerp. And ad, well the little battler bullshit stuck in my throat esp after the non acceptance from him imo last night that iwi organisations are more than corporates.

                  But being given shade from a rwnj like you is actually a badge of honour in leftie circles so thanks for the cred LOL

              • Anne …
                25 November 2018 at 9:14 am

                I’m with you mm on this subject. I’m sure that makes you feel heaps better. 😉

                Sick and tired of the ABs. Sometimes wish they would take a running jump over the nearest cliff.

                As for the “we’re the little kiwi battlers” theme… get over all your insecurities I say and get on with your lives.

                • Ed …
                  25 November 2018 at 9:18 am

                  We have issues like climate change confronting the world, yet our puppet media and desperate people dribble on about a sports victory against a minnow team .

                  Pathetic.

                  • James …
                    25 November 2018 at 9:27 am

                    You know Eddie that people like to read a wide range of topics – not everyone loves to wallow in misery and doom.

                  • gsays …
                    25 November 2018 at 10:48 am

                    Ed, life ain’t binary.

                    Yes I accept bread and circuses aspect to sport.

                    Rugby in Aotearoa is more than just a sport.
                    Rugby clubs have unified communities for generations.
                    Professional and labourer, town and country, Maori and Pakeha.

                    It is also how we grew up a little, and got out from the mother country yoke.

                    That doesn’t mean I can’t be concerned by inequality and CC.

                    Anyhoo, back to the grindstone.

                • James …
                  25 November 2018 at 9:26 am

                  You wish they would jump off a cliff because you are sick and tired of other people being entertained by them.

                  Classy.

                  • Anne …
                    25 November 2018 at 9:40 am

                    What about consideration for those of us who have spent years having the ABs rammed down our throats.

                    Selfish.

                    • James …
                      25 November 2018 at 1:05 pm

                      Easier to just scroll past or change channel than wishing they jump off a cliff.

                      But hey wishing harm on others because you don’t like sports says a lot about you.

                    • Muttonbird …
                      25 November 2018 at 1:21 pm

                      In addition to James not being able to spel good, it appears he doesn’t know what a figure of speech is.

                  • garibaldi …
                    25 November 2018 at 9:42 am

                    Sport is simply bread and circuses for the masses. Our inane obsession with it says a lot about the mental immaturity of our Country. There are far more important pursuits in life. Sure, keep fit by doing some sport, but professionalism has turned it into something as bad as fundamentalist religion.

                  • cleangreen …
                    25 November 2018 at 11:39 am

                    James,

                    I also am sick and tired of sports bullshit.

                    Get real; – and give constructive input into the ‘real issues’ climate change flooding and polluting of our environment for instance.

                    These things are far more serious than you will ever know if you ignore the signs that are impacting our lives.

                    try this firstly; -https://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/afternoons/audio/2018670839/mike-joy-solving-nz-s-freshwater-crisis

                    Will you lower the tone on the sports banter as it is boring and so over-rated!!!!!!!.

                • Ed …
                  25 November 2018 at 10:06 am

                  Colin Peacock nails it on Mediawatch, displaying the idiocy of media rugby reporters in New Zealand.

                  https://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/player?audio_id=2018672555

          • greywarshark 1.1.1.1.2
            25 November 2018 at 9:46 am

            Ad isn’t always wrong marty mars. Don’t be prejudiced against him because he sees most things through a money lens. It is true that sport generates money, gives us an international profile, gives opportunities to see the world for low income men and women, gives jobs now to many low income families in a job–poor society (despite rock star rah rah statistics (finely made to match international specifications).

            Ad can be relied on to take a certain pragmatic approach, and is pretty consistent, so we know what to expect and respect in his opinions.

        • Matiri 1.1.1.2
          25 November 2018 at 7:41 am

          Bryan Gould on why New Zealand is so good at Rugby across the genders and age-grades.

          http://www.bryangould.com/what-makes-the-all-blacks-so-good/

          • Ad 1.1.1.2.1
            25 November 2018 at 7:45 am

            I cannot tell you how much I am looking forward to the World Women’s 7’s in Hamilton next year. We’ve already booked tickets. There are a couple of our greats who are close to retirement.

            Gould might have also mentioned how blessed New Zealand has been to have waves of Pasifika migration to draw talent from across so many sporting fields including Rugby.

            In some respects also we are good at enabling female participation as a matter of public policy – but only in the last two years. That’s unusual in global terms still, even if slowly improving.

        • patricia bremner 1.1.1.3
          25 November 2018 at 8:40 am

          Professional Sport Ad. The rest is recreation. Cheers.

          • Ad 1.1.1.3.1
            25 November 2018 at 8:59 am

            Recreational sport is a massive direct and indirect social and economic benefit to this country as well.

            We all started as amateurs, and most continue to give back long after their professional paying years are done.

            Makes for a great country to be in sport.

        • SaveNZ 1.1.1.4
          25 November 2018 at 8:54 am

          Don’t you mean sport is one of NZ’s top corporate welfare recipients.

          Actually certain sports such as Rugby and Yacht racing are NZ’s top corporate welfare recipients.

          Crumbs for other sports and for participation in sports, judging from our growing obesity rates.

          • Ad 1.1.1.4.1
            25 November 2018 at 9:00 am

            Plenty of fat people into sport, and good on them. I was one.

            All industry gets welfare in this country. It’s our thing.

            • SaveNZ 1.1.1.4.1.1
              25 November 2018 at 9:29 am

              Yes forgot you can be fat and fit now, with the PC culture.

              Being fat is just woke healthy.

              I better go off and try and start a twitter account to change the word ‘trivial’.

              • greywarshark …
                25 November 2018 at 9:51 am

                Don’t get stuck on critique savenz. Bad for mental health. You are so good at taking a country-wide and global view so we know our problems, and also seeing what we could do. Perhaps each separate critical para you state how a change could improve or turn all negative into partly positive I think making a small positive input all the time may make a great change to the mood of the readers.

              • Dennis Frank …
                25 November 2018 at 12:03 pm

                David Slack’s comment: “You can’t rely on the weather but there are two things you can set your clock by in November: NCEA exams and NCEA exam controversy. This year the level three history exam provided the popcorn. A question used the world ‘trivial’ and students complained this was not a word they knew. There was much rolling of eyes by people of a greater age.”

                ” There are more than 170,000 words in the Oxford dictionary, and it’s not easy staying on top of them all. John Key, an Auckland businessman and retired politician, left school with a B Bursary and prospered in the world of buying and selling money. He was once a luncheon guest of the Queen. They shared a glass of champagne, hollandaise eggs, beef, a panna cotta dessert and some cheese. “It was quite a fulsome lunch,” he told reporters afterwards, “I’m fairly full.” Over the past eight centuries the word fulsome has been used to mean copious, and it has also been used to mean foul, odious and rotten. Which meaning did he intend? What a conundrum of syzygy.”

                Which meaning of syzygy did Slack mean? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syzygy – bright students would ponder the selection and come up with a simile not present: conjoined. Explain that to the class & the other students would be wondering `what does conjoined mean?’

                • OnceWasTim …
                  25 November 2018 at 1:54 pm

                  OK Google. What did John Key mean when he said he had a fulsome lunch?

                  (In summary – I’m a complete dickhead)

                • DJ Ward …
                  25 November 2018 at 4:20 pm

                  The students have the right to ask the meaning of the word during a test. A trivial point, but an important one.

                  • mac1 …
                    25 November 2018 at 9:15 pm

                    Not in NCEA they can’t. A student asked me whether the word ‘differ’ was the same derivation as ‘different’. I couldn’t answer as an exam supervisor. All I could do was tell him I was not allowed and to do his best.

                    • DJ Ward …
                      25 November 2018 at 10:38 pm

                      I’ve been misinformed. It was a right wing person that did that too me as well.

                      It reminded me of a movie scene. A chain of monkeys sending a message up to a penguin.

              • McFlock …
                25 November 2018 at 4:03 pm

                Some lucky bastards can be as fat as santa and have every other measurement within normal parameters – blod pressure, heart rate, uric acid, liver function, all of that shit. And live to a ripe old age.

                Utter bastards.

                So fat & fit is a thing.

    • James 1.2
      25 November 2018 at 7:10 am

      It was always going to be an easy game.

      I assume that you didn’t pay for England or Ireland either.

      The Ireland game was particularly good.

    • Incognito 1.3
      25 November 2018 at 11:44 am

      In a nutshell: an AB win acts like mass medication to make Kiwis feel good about themselves (Big People) and their country. An AB loss OTOH makes Kiwis feel like Small People in a small country at the bottom of the World (AKA trivial).

  2. Patricia 2
    25 November 2018 at 6:58 am

    Watched in horror on Friday as an elderly male bus driver jumped out of the blue Metro bus he was driving and ran to the vehicle in front. Karate chopped the front windscreen and then punched the young woman driver in the head 2 or 3 times. All happened in peak hour traffic and very quickly. Where do I lodge a report about this ? Police and Auckland Transport ? I have the bus number / time / place etc. And another witness who was with me.

    • Ad 2.1
      25 November 2018 at 7:05 am

      Call Auckland Transport 09 301 0101

      • Patricia 2.1.1
        25 November 2018 at 8:09 am

        Thank you, Ad. By the time I got out of my car the traffic was moving and the car driver behind me was blowing his horn. The passengers on the bus were not impressed but not sure they could see the violence.

        • greywarshark 2.1.1.1
          25 November 2018 at 10:09 am

          Hard for anyone else to do something in that short space and time. And that fact of crush of traffic and impatience is probably behind the violence, and what might happen at home to an offending female explodes in public.
          They are under so much stress, bus and truck drivers. Very sad it comes to that.

          I feel that this could tie into something I noticed the other day. The driver of the local recycling truck came along on his busy round. They have a specially built cabin with the wheel on the left side, near the kerb, and space to stand behind it. They draw in, empty the bins into the moving auger? system carefully, make sure they stop that before they reach in to clear anything etc. and quickly move on to the next place. A busy and lonely job,.

          I happened to be on the pavement nearby and said Good morning, no response. I spoke again about the weather, but no appearance of being heard or seen. I wondered if he was deaf, and watched how he went about it. He was concentrating on the job, finished dealing with a number of bins, and didn’t look up at all, head down all the time. It seemed, he didn’t want to have any interaction with others around, he seemed sullen, internally angry and unhappy.

          It looked to me as if he had a major negative attitude brewing in his brain, was isolating himself from the general public, and it seemed as if a huge resentment and hate might be simmering which left me feeling very uneasy.

      • SaveNZ 2.1.2
        25 November 2018 at 9:00 am

        That’s what you get when you pay $20 p/h in a stressful job. You mention he was elderly, and male, anything else you want to add in there Patricia? I’m guessing he was not white, thus not fitting the white male privilege… that people love to blame on everything these days… but happy to be proved wrong.

        • greywarshark 2.1.2.1
          25 November 2018 at 10:13 am

          savenz
          You are sounding like the way that China is thinking about reporting facts and truth, that they should be filtered in a way so that the results match their requirements for the ‘right’ appearance to be presented that matches the desired approach and image.

          • SaveNZ 2.1.2.1.1
            25 November 2018 at 10:59 am

            Yep, if you want to give a description do it properly, not subjectively, revealing your own bias or these days it seems more a concern about woke identity politics as a sort of brain washing, if you don’t want to reveal a person’s physical appearance, then just use the word, bus driver. The police will want to know anyway.

            Actually I first thought is was not a big thing, but actually thinking about a bus driver that has actually left the vehicle to attack a women, actually sounds like a crime that is a police matter, especially as there is a growing issue in Auckland of fake drivers driving commercial vehicles and I have a friend who was hospitalised by one .

            If he is that out of control he is assaulting people in public who knows what other things might be revealed.

            Also maybe the guy goes home and beats up his wife, who knows?

            Assault is a crime for police, not for AT, which is more for bad driving.

        • DJ Ward 2.1.2.2
          25 November 2018 at 1:55 pm

          If you remove indentity politics, and it’s resulting gender, racial prejudice you get this.

          I witnessed a bus driver hop out of the bus, go up to a car, smash the window and assault the driver.

          Identity is irrelevant to the event, or the reality of a crime being committed.

          Identity politics effect on Law results in a doubled sentence, due to the victims identity, for the male bus driver if the act or harm is identicle if a woman was the bus driver.

      • SaveNZ 2.1.3
        25 November 2018 at 10:00 am

        Don’t call Auckland Transport, they will do nothing. Call the police and lodge a report, if the driver is that bad they might run someone over next time they have a road rage attack and at least with the police there will be more chance of them catching who did it and working out whether the driver should be working with the public or not.

        Also the police can check whether he has a fake bus license or not, which is a growing problem of both fake licenses and also identity swaps where the person driving does not match the whoever was supposed to be driving the vehicle.

        Know someone who was hospitalised by that scam. Police are investigating and I think did bring charges, but the person who caused the accident looked nothing like the drivers license photo and tried to flee the scene in his delivery van. Meanwhile our hospitals are filling up and people’s lives being destroyed by injury by these fakes.

        AT employ so many people doing processes it will never get anywhere, let alone they understand the seriousness of what is going on with drivers attacking people and all the fakes out there.

    • James 2.2
      25 November 2018 at 7:06 am

      Gee you see a woman punched in the head two or three times and two days later ask on a forum where do you lodge a report?

      It’s amazes me that people can’t work shit like this out and are happy to drive on and do nothing like call the police when they see a young woman assaulted.

      Stupidity or laziness is enabling the attacker.

      • marty mars 2.2.1
        25 November 2018 at 7:30 am

        Gee a little inadequate twerp makes all sorts of ill informed and ignorant judgments about another based on a question on this forum and shows, once again, why he is a waste of space and a loser.

        It amazes me that people like that, so puffed up with their own privilege, just mouth off without engaging their brains.

        Not stupidness but boredom – the boredom of a right wing nut job when pretending is even too much.

        • James 2.2.1.1
          25 November 2018 at 7:54 am

          You are a bitter wee thing today aren’t you.

          I mean more than you normally are.

          Try doing something fun today – it might put you in a better disposition.

          • marty mars 2.2.1.1.1
            25 November 2018 at 7:59 am

            Yes you and ad are onto me lol

            I just think you were mean and I replyed in the same vein. Probably a mistake but there you go.

            Anyway you are correct I’ve had a hard night with the people I work with so i’ll leave you and ad to it.

            • patricia bremner 2.2.1.1.1.1
              25 November 2018 at 8:59 am

              Cheer up Marty Mars. There is a fine line between bitterness and pithy.

              You often ‘put your finger on ‘ popular concerns.

              Sorry you are going through a ‘hard time with people you work with’.

              That can change the way a person views everything else.

              Been there done the hard yards. Kia mau kaha toku hoa.

            • greywarshark 2.2.1.1.1.2
              25 November 2018 at 10:14 am

              DFTT and your internal rage and depression.

            • Bewildered 2.2.1.1.1.3
              25 November 2018 at 5:04 pm

              You keep saying your going Marty and leaving james et al to it; only to bounce back in a couple of threads, take a break for every ones benefit

        • Draco T Bastard 2.2.1.2
          25 November 2018 at 4:35 pm

          No, James has a point there. The incident should have been reported on Friday. As it was assault it probably should have been a 111 call but a *555 probably would have worked as well.

          That said, this speaks of what I said the other day. People seeing an action that they don’t know how to handle because it’s outside of their experience.

    • Cinny 2.3
      25 November 2018 at 9:01 am

      Woah that would have been scary to see.

      Good on you for having the sense to note the details and doing something about it.

  3. cleangreen 3
    25 November 2018 at 7:13 am

    I heard this on RNZ truckies want rules to stop pressures on truck drivers

    https://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/player?audio_id=2018672721

    And BBC news; – Truckies and farmers in France want diesel tax dropped!!!!!

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDO8SDIlxNk

    So it appears that they want to keep using ‘dirty diesel to pollute planet’ eh?

    Mmmmmm!

    • Ad 3.1
      25 November 2018 at 7:37 am

      The New Zealand truckies are workers seeking to stop being required to work over 70 hours a week. That’s 6 days a week 12 hours a day.

      Those workers are controlling machinery weighing 1-2 tonnes traveling at 90 kilometers an hour often mere centimeters from the public which includes you and your family.

      They don’t want to be worked so hard that they cause deaths.

      Seems pretty reasonable.

      • SaveNZ 3.1.1
        25 November 2018 at 9:02 am

        I’ll agree with you on that, AD.

        Another option is to get trains running and a more workable way to transit from them (aka don’t put a port in the middle of downtown Auckland) so that we don’t need all these polluting, road damaging, and dangerous trucks on the road.

        • Ed 3.1.1.1
          25 November 2018 at 9:10 am

          Yes totally agree.

          “Trucking companies are competing for big contracts at the expense of their staff, a truck driver’s union has warned.
          It says the companies are competing for tenders by forcing drivers to accept low pay rates and long work hours.
          First Union secretary for transport Jared Abbott said a lot of drivers were working at least 70 hours, the maximum hours allowed per week.
          “We see it a lot where people are pushed to break the logbook rules or to breach health and safety in some way.
          “Their scared – rightfully so – for their livelihoods to test it and we see it a lot with quite reputable companies where people do test it, they get shafted.”

          https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/376670/trucking-contracts-putting-staff-at-risk

          • Bewildered 3.1.1.1.1
            25 November 2018 at 5:14 pm

            Part of problem is most truckers are contractors in corporate colours ( mainfreifgt freight Courier post etc) They own the issue as well as many on wages now and in the pass have taken the piss on hours and looking after company vehicals; etc not to mention over the top Union action They in essence shafted themselves Saying that contractor drivers are way more incentivised to align business and individual interest; albeit agree it is a race to the bottom to a degree at the moment driven by procurement division of buyers of freight services not the freight companies themselves

        • Draco T Bastard 3.1.1.2
          25 November 2018 at 5:08 pm

          You do know that the rail used to go to the port right?

      • bwaghorn 3.1.2
        25 November 2018 at 12:13 pm

        The big trucks are more like 30 tonne

      • Draco T Bastard 3.1.3
        25 November 2018 at 4:57 pm

        Those workers are controlling machinery weighing 1-2 tonnes

        ???

        That’s up to 50+ tonnes.

    • patricia bremner 3.2
      25 November 2018 at 9:05 am

      ‘Truckies; Slow to learn, resistant to change, another type of nimby.

      Or workers trying to change their conditions in a threatened industry.

      • cleangreen 3.2.1
        25 November 2018 at 11:52 am

        Yes Patricia, SaveNZ, and Ad.

        At our NGO committee meeting with ‘Port of Napier’ executives in November 2016 we were advised of this; –

        “The truckies have warned the Port of Napier that they will fight rail to retaining their 90% of moving logs to the port”.

        So we are fighting a war against truckies who don’t want to use public owned rail period.

        As to road safety;

        So the Government needs urgently now to sort the truckies out here, as we will loose many lives on our narrow windy roads as the “wall of wood arrives”.

    • Molly 3.3
      25 November 2018 at 10:58 am

      Australia have already made moves to address this with the CoR – Chain of Responsibility legislation.

      Your key responsibilities as an executive officer
      Some key responsibilities may include ensuring that:
      • your business practices do not require or encourage
      drivers to:
      ― exceed the speed limits
      ― exceed regulated driving hours
      ― fail to meet the minimum rest requirements
      ― drive while impaired by fatigue.
      • heavy vehicles and their loads comply with relevant mass
      and dimension requirements
      • you remain informed of business performance in regards
      to CoR responsibilities
      • you lead other parties in the supply chain with effective
      guidance with regards to complying with the HVNL
      • your decisions do not influence the conduct of the
      corporation to breach the law
      • systems to manage safety and all requirements and
      obligations of the HVNL are in place.”

      As I understand it, if an incident occurs the driver’s logs etc are examined to ensure that the workload expected and time taken to deliver was reasonable. If not, the responsibility for the incident is shifted to management.

    • Gabby 3.4
      25 November 2018 at 12:37 pm

      You no doubt noticed that programme didn’t mention choochoos once that I recall cleany?

      • greywarshark 3.4.1
        25 November 2018 at 12:47 pm

        That was disappointing Gabby. For a second I saw the ch and thought you were talking about chocolate! Choochoos, Thomas the tank engine and all, aren’t they stories that you read to children about long ago ways to get around and go to see at old technology parks? /sarc cleangreen don’t blow a foofoo valve.

    • Draco T Bastard 3.5
      25 November 2018 at 4:40 pm

      Wonder if the truckies would be supportive of a law that prevented them from working more than 8 hours a day and no more than five days a week. They are, after all, correct in that long hours behind driving is dangerous and it’s not just to them but to the rest of the population as well.

      • greywarshark 3.5.1
        25 November 2018 at 8:35 pm

        I bet they\ truckies would not want to limit themselves to short hours like that and would rather work longer hours, but not to the extent they are pushed now. It wouldn’t be so bad if truckies got extra payment for working unsocial hours, and over the 8 hour limit, which would be justified. They would have been paid properly for their time and effort like that once. And of course there has to be an upper limit otherwise it is too hard on the drivers.

        But they are being pressured to go too far for too long, and the roads are not coping. Nine years National had to work out a better transport plan, but no. And their stooge Ken Shirley happily on the one hand talks about how busy the transport industry is and then wants more money spent on roads. He used to be in the Labour Party I think. He knew which side has the best butter and most bread.

  4. marty mars 4
    25 November 2018 at 7:46 am

    A good follow up article on self harm.

    David is purposely starting fights in bars so someone will beat him up.

    Jo is knowingly getting into positions that cause injury on the rugby field. Jo then aggravates the injury.

    Daniel hides his self-harming and tells a counsellor years later after stopping.

    Females aren’t the only ones that self-harm. David and Daniel are male. Jo is agender…

    … there is an emphasis on seeing self-harm as largely a female issue – see for example a recent Stuff article, “Why are our girls hurting themselves?”

    Some research suggests self-harm is more common in females. Other research suggests the number of males and females self-harming is about the same. And don’t forget there are more than two genders.

    But even if self-harm is more common in females, it is still an issue for other genders…

    … Stuff obtained figures from the Ministry of Health to show there was a significant number – 4,328 – of females aged between 10 and 29 hospitalised due to self-injury last year. Self-injury probably means suicidal behaviour and non-suicidal self-harm.

    The figures also show there was a significant number of males hospitalised – 1,630…

    … I worry anyone who isn’t female might hesitate to be open about self-harming. They may even fail to recognise that what they are doing is self-harm. This might hinder them asking for help, if it is needed.

    https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/108797977/females-arent-the-only-ones-that-selfharm

    • SaveNZ 4.1
      25 November 2018 at 9:07 am

      Maybe that was Patricia’s bus driver. Desperate to leave AT.

    • patricia bremner 4.2
      25 November 2018 at 9:24 am

      A thought provoking post marty. Would this come under mental health?

      Perhaps it shows expression of deeply felt pain. More funding for trained help could assist.

      How do we create connections to provide community support? Self harm can be so hard to see sometimes. Some harm behaviours need a trigger, some are repeated responses to stress.

      This is apparently a growing problem. A symptom of larger social ills?

      Perhaps we are ‘connected by the internet’ but are ‘touch deprived’ so have constant grief.

    • DJ Ward 4.3
      25 November 2018 at 12:15 pm

      Self harm for males can be exactly the same as females, in being a cry for help. It’s just not addressed, identified, diagnosed as well as females.

      One issue for males is risk taking self harm. So the young male who isn’t intentionaly suiciding engages in high risk acts. Driving extremely dangerously combines with “look at me” male behavours. An episode of suicidle thoughts may combine with dangerous driving, as a release.

      So the self harm is never identified because they don’t cut themselves etc.

      Suicide for men often involves “cry for help” with nobody giving a shit.

      Parliaments self immolation victim is a perfect example.

      • Incognito 4.3.1
        25 November 2018 at 2:29 pm

        Male teens engage in risk-taking activities and behaviour because they think they’re indestructible, which is fuelled by testosterone spikes and the fact that their brains haven’t fully developed and matured.

        • DJ Ward 4.3.1.1
          25 November 2018 at 4:05 pm

          That was feminist propaganda.

          It’s mating behavour of look at me, I’m the best, strongest, healthiest driven by sexual chemistry far more complex than just testosterone. You said they think but then said they don’t think.

          It’s a direct counter to young females biologically being attracted older men, in that older men have proven to have successful genes. There is no thinking involved in the females mating preference.

          Just as there is no thinking involved in females being sexually attracted to males or a male being sexually attracted to other men.

          Replicated throughout the animal kingdom.

          That is completely different from depression based suicide behavours and self harming.
          Your comment is why recognising males with problems is ignored as it just gets attributed to feminist ideology that males are inherently flawed. A male acting out can be a cry for help but is put down as you expressed as just the actions of a stupid male.

          • McFlock 4.3.1.1.1
            25 November 2018 at 5:06 pm

            It was true for some risk-taking males, just as your initial comment was true for others.

            The difficulty with the self harm identified in the article is how an observer is supposed to identify the intention. Does someone get into bar fights because they are insecure and drunk, or because they are intentionally self-destructive? Is a fight a good time for them, reasserting macho dominance? A sportsman playing through an injury: intentional self harm, or foolish machismo “toughing out” the injury? A guy jumping off a wall: poor decision making, or intentional self harm?

            Cuts with a razor and (sometimes) prescription overdoses leave little ambiguity.

            But yes, just as heart attacks in women are often underdiagnosed because the publicised symptoms tend to be in males, and just as males can be late-diagnosed with eating disorders or breast cancer, self harm in males can be underdiagnosed.

            • DJ Ward 4.3.1.1.1.1
              25 November 2018 at 6:22 pm

              Good comment Mc Flock

              Difficult as very few can deconstruct what they witness from family and freinds. Resulting in family saying they never saw any signs of there loved ones having issues prior to suicide. But they were present.

              • McFlock …
                25 November 2018 at 8:08 pm

                In the case of ambiguous injuries, there is a shortcoming where if we can’t see it, we can’t count it, and if we can’t count it, we can’t assess it as a need of the population.

                And everything is a balance of resources until utopia comes: if a DHB has X$ to spend on public health and wellness campaigns and a greater number of potential compaigns looking for funding, It comes down to which selection of programs will do the greatest good for X$ spent. Which is how qualitative stuff sometimes gets ignored.

            • Incognito 4.3.1.1.1.2
              25 November 2018 at 7:56 pm

              Very well said. Acting out often is just what it is: acting out, establishing boundaries, developing identity (and persona). Where warning signs can become tell-tale signs is when a negative repetitive pattern develops, for example.

          • Incognito 4.3.1.1.2
            25 November 2018 at 8:54 pm

            That was feminist propaganda.

            The scientific literature must be awash with feminist propaganda but I stick with the literature nevertheless if you don’t mind – indeed, there are competing (or rather complementing) scientific hypotheses. But feel free to put up a credible link that supports your statement.

            It’s mating behavour [sic] of look at me, I’m the best, strongest, healthiest driven by sexual chemistry far more complex than just testosterone.

            Just as well that I didn’t argue that it was all down to “just testosterone”.

            You said they think but then said they don’t think.

            Please read it again; that isn’t at all what I said.

            Your comment is why recognising males with problems is ignored as it just gets attributed to feminist ideology that males are inherently flawed.

            This makes no sense whatsoever!? Males are flawed and therefore we ignore their problems or we assume that they don’t have a problems!? You seem to have hang ups about this “feminist ideology” you keep referring to.

            A male acting out can be a cry for help but is put down as you expressed as just the actions of a stupid male.

            This is exactly the point I was trying to make, which is that correct interpretation of a male acting out is very difficult. You grabbed the wrong end of the stick and went off on your rant.

        • Gabby 4.3.1.2
          25 November 2018 at 5:26 pm

          Teenage males aren’t alone in that coggy.

          • Incognito 4.3.1.2.1
            25 November 2018 at 6:01 pm

            True that, many males are still stuck in their teenage years. After all, it’s an important market segment for gyms. And don’t get me started on roid rage.

            • DJ Ward 4.3.1.2.1.1
              25 November 2018 at 6:39 pm

              A apposed to females with I’m a princess syndrome manifesting in things like bridezillas who reject males for only offering $1,000 rings vs $5,000 dollar ones. An important market for pointless bits of rock.

              • Incognito …
                25 November 2018 at 7:41 pm

                All part of the mating behaviour. To you it’s a pointless bit of rock but to her it’s clear sign how much the potential mate ‘values’ her and how far he can and will go to woe her. Many women want their wedding day to be very special and the best day of their lives (AKA the dream wedding) but that doesn’t make them princesses or bridezillas. Reality TV is a misnomer, you know?

                • DJ Ward …
                  25 November 2018 at 9:27 pm

                  What does the man get in turn for this “woman want”. It is clearly not necessary then. It should be “special, best day”. Like out of a fantasy movie. Everything else is equal isn’t it?

                  So what do men get? Equality speaking. For a fantasy to come true for them?

                  • Incognito …
                    25 November 2018 at 9:51 pm

                    We’re still talking about the mating ritual, are we? Almost 8 billion people on this planet all chasing fantasies? About half of them are bridezillas and the other half are hapless creatures that cannot and must not get fulfilment (or, as more directly verbalised by the Rolling Stones: satisfaction)? Do you and/or your partner/spouse wear a ring? A pointless bit of metal?

                    You’re all over the place; does your left hand know what your right hand is doing? You seem to have too much time on your hands …

                    • DJ Ward …
                      25 November 2018 at 10:27 pm

                      I’m trying to use my time wisely. It’s not easy living a a mind that doesn’t have a pause button. This just good therapy and positive thoughts.

                  • Incognito …
                    25 November 2018 at 10:47 pm

                    Well, it seems we do have something in common: an overactive brain that doesn’t know when to stop. For this reason I landed on TS a few years back and I’ve found it very therapeutic as well as educational and informative. Some Standardistas just blow me away. And there’s humour, not quite enough IMO, but at times it is enough to dissipate the worries and stresses of a long day at work and life in general.

                  • McFlock …
                    25 November 2018 at 10:53 pm

                    I’m not sure romantic love is a transaction.

                    You think of something, think “X would like that”, and do it, because you love them. And X does the same, not as a transaction but because they love you.

                    And sometimes people need reassurance that they are loved, and sometimes all this other crap is going on and future inlaws might be judging and the seating plan can’t have exes close to each other etc etc etc.

                    If I proposed to someone and they turned me down because the ring wasn’t expensive enough, I’d know it wasn’t reciprocal love and I’d be well out of that. But if someone’s cool with a transactional arrangement, fair enough.

                  • Cinny …
                    25 November 2018 at 11:36 pm

                    “So what do men get? Equality speaking. For a fantasy to come true for them?”

                    Depends on the man/fantasy and the arrangement between the couple. Tis their business and nobody else’s, as long as it harms none.

                    Everyone has different ideas, dreams. Relationships are about compromise, nothing like a wedding to start that ball rolling.

                    Exhusband and I both agreed that buying our first home was way more important than a fancy wedding. So we did it that way.

                    Wedding was awesome, honeymoon was epic. Buying that house, worked out well for all.

                    Everyone has different priorities re a wedding, depends on the volume of brainwashing and visual media one has been exposed to.

                    Also depends on the communication channels and honesty between a couple.

              • mpledger …
                26 November 2018 at 1:49 pm

                If you want to reject someone then it’s easier to say “you’re ring is not worth enough” rather than “you’re the last man on earth I’d ever want to marry”. Rejected males are not the safest people to be around so it’s best to do it as impersonally as possible.

                • DJ Ward …
                  26 November 2018 at 2:02 pm

                  Yep. I was scared a partner would stab me to death in my sleep once. I had already had to flee through the house shuting myself in a room because my partner used a knife to explain my bank account was empty for good reasons. Getting out of relationships with crazy individuals isn’t easy. Honesty and self preservation conflict.

  5. Sam A 5
    25 November 2018 at 7:47 am

    On a post last week, somebody mentioned a new article by public finance expert Don Gilling on AUT’s Briefing Papers website had disappeared. It is now back online:

    http://briefingpapers.co.nz/follow-the-money/

    It raises questions about the stewardship of the National Library and Archives NZ by the Department of Internal Affairs since these agencies were merged into DIA in 2010. Gilling notes the decline in NLNZ budget under DIA, even while the Department’s overall budget has risen, as well as the increasing proportion of NLNZ budget going to DIA for centrally managed costs. The implication is that DIA is milking NLNZ and Archives to cover other departmental functions.

    One might also ask why the DIA is managing the current review of the Library, Archives and Nga Taonga, when there is such an apparent conflict of interest. Brian Easton alluded to this on his Pundit blog some months back:

    https://www.pundit.co.nz/content/whither-archives-new-zealand-and-the-national-library

  6. James 6
    25 November 2018 at 8:23 am

    https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2018/11/auckland-pride-parade-organisers-consider-ditching-sponsors-completely.html

    Im guessing that this might be the last pride festival (if this one happens at all).

    I do not believe that the board understands how off side they are with public opinion on this one.

  7. Ed 7
    25 November 2018 at 8:31 am

    John Wight exposes the West’s war crimes in Yemen.

    ‘’As crimes pile up, they become invisible’: Western complicity in Saudi Arabia’s dirty war in Yemen.

    The complicity of Western governments in the ocean of suffering being wrought in Yemen exposes them as agents of Saudi brutality.
    After three years of relentless conflict, it has been estimated that out of a population of 27.4 million, 22.2 million people in Yemen are in need of humanitarian assistance, 17 million are food insecure, 14.8 million lack basic healthcare, 4.5 million children are suffering malnourishment, while 2.9 million people are internally displaced. As for dead and injured, the toll stands at almost 10,000 and 50,000 respectively.

    …..Returning to Western complicity in the carnage and suffering being meted out to the Yemeni people, never has there been a more naked example of hypocrisy masquerading as democracy. Indeed, the longstanding alliance between the US, UK and Saudi Arabia takes a scalpel to the oft-repeated boasts of Washington and London when it comes to their self-appointed role as champions and guardians of human rights and democracy.

    Beginning with the Obama administration, and ramped up under Trump, US involvement in this brutal conflict has consisted of direct military airstrikes (carried out against Al-Qaeda and Islamic State targets, according to Washington), along with logistical, intelligence, and other non-combat support provided to the anti-Houthi Saudi-led coalition. This, of course, is not forgetting US arms sales to the Kingdom, consisting of over 50 percent of all US arms exports.

    ….The war in Yemen is a dirty war, being waged by a Western-supported Saudi kleptocracy in the name of clerical fascism. Bertolt Brecht was right: “As crimes pile up, they become invisible”

    https://t.co/PMfkXdrCW3?amp=1

  8. joe90 8
    25 November 2018 at 8:35 am

    For the spaceflight tragics.

    (Tuesday 27 at 9.00am)

    On Monday, November 26, 2018, NASA’s Mars Insight is scheduled to land on Mars. The spacecraft will touch down at approximately 20:00 UTC (3 p.m. EST). Watch coverage of the event on NASA TV. Live landing commentary runs from 19:00-20:30 UTC (2-3:30 p.m. EST). Translate UTC to your time.

    https://earthsky.org/space/how-to-watch-insight-mars-landing-nov26-2018

    • ianmac 8.1
      25 November 2018 at 9:07 am

      Wonder if the ion energy that you linked to will be a feature in the space travel? Powered by solar energy I expect.

        • ianmac 8.1.1.1
          25 November 2018 at 9:33 am

          Great thanks Joe. The new age of hope perhaps turning into reality?
          And this more of the same:
          “…Instead of using propellers or turbines, the researchers used electroaerodynamics. The technology works by sending a current through an electrode which electrically charges the molecules in the surrounding air. These charged molecules are then attracted towards a separate electrode on the aircraft – this movement of ions and neutral air particles generates an effect known as ionic or electric wind. By positioning an aerofoil in this air flow, lift can be generated, potentially allowing powered flight.”
          https://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=12164473

      • DJ Ward 8.1.2
        25 November 2018 at 12:56 pm

        Ion engines are already well established as the best in space, propulsion engine.
        Essentially the rocket engine ejects matter at low speed, requiring scale to lift the rocket. The ion engine ejects very little mass but it is at extremely high speed.

        The efficiency of rockets to create momentum is small. The efficiency of ion engines to create momentum is very high.

        The energy for an ion energy is electricity from, nuclear heat/Stirling engines, or Solar. Solar is effective in the inner solar system but not in the outer solar system so most projects have nuclear heat/Stirling engines. Not to be confused by Nuclear power plants as they are not a controlled fission. They are simply concentrated radioactive elements giving off heat designed to match power needs, with the Stirling engine designed to match.

        In theory ion engines (today’s tech) could accelerate a starship into the 5% to 10% of speed of light range. This results in interstellar travel below the 200 year mark for already identified colonisation viable solar systems.

        • Draco T Bastard 8.1.2.1
          25 November 2018 at 5:55 pm

          The energy for an ion energy is electricity from, nuclear heat/Stirling engines, or Solar.

          Nope. Radioisotope thermoelectric generator just use standard thermocouples. No Stirling engines involved. I suspect the added mass and complexity makes Stirling engines impractical.

          • David Mac 8.1.2.1.1
            25 November 2018 at 6:13 pm

            I think this sort of tech is interesting because it highlights energy sources that are green and as yet have limited practical applications. I think it’s wrong to bypass it because it is yet to raise a Cessna.

            Another that interests me is the way air rushes out of a tube that stretches from sea level up to mountain top.

            • Draco T Bastard 8.1.2.1.1.1
              25 November 2018 at 8:03 pm

              I’m pretty sure that radioisotopes aren’t all that green.

              Another that interests me is the way air rushes out of a tube that stretches from sea level up to mountain top.

              ???

                • greywarshark …
                  25 November 2018 at 8:23 pm

                  It would be great if there was a natural geological tube that coastal air shot up and would carry positioned parcels up to a certain height and platform, then they could be directed down slides or something to a collection point below using gravity.

                  Probably not viable but the idea of a tube effect of fast moving air upwards is appealing.

                  • Andre …
                    26 November 2018 at 7:00 am

                    That fast moving air upwards has to get its energy from somewhere. If we’re looking at then using that fast moving air to do work, chances are it’ll work out to be more efficient, convenient, and flexible to turn that energy into electricity. Either by using the fast moving air to drive a generator, or going a step further back and harvesting whatever energy source that made the air move fast to make electricity instead.

          • DJ Ward 8.1.2.1.2
            26 November 2018 at 2:32 pm

            You will be interested in this then.

            https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stirling_radioisotope_generator

            So 4 times as energy efficient as an RTG system.

            Reliability of the Stirling is an issue but I have seen figures of 100,000 hours reliable for inline magnetic and air bearing versions. They are not that big for the advantages, anything from cup size to fridge size, but much bigger than thermocouples. More expensive too.

            A good example is adoption in sun following dish/mirrors in that they are by far the best performing heat to usable energy system.

            If the basis of the system is to give grunt to an engine then the power you can put in matters.

            Imagine a spacecraft supporting lots of people. The power requirements will be huge without solar being effective. The small spacecraft with 100W needs is perfect for RTG but large ships will go in the Stirling direction.

            • Draco T Bastard 8.1.2.1.2.1
              26 November 2018 at 3:04 pm

              From your link.

              The Stirling generators were extensively tested on Earth by NASA, but their development was cancelled in 2013 before they could be deployed on actual spacecraft missions.

              Reliability of the Stirling is an issue but I have seen figures of 100,000 hours reliable for inline magnetic and air bearing versions.

              Voyager has been running continuously for 40+ years so for ~400,000 hours.

              Imagine a spacecraft supporting lots of people. The power requirements will be huge without solar being effective. The small spacecraft with 100W needs is perfect for RTG but large ships will go in the Stirling direction.

              More than likely at some point but it hasn’t happened yet.

              • DJ Ward …
                26 November 2018 at 5:27 pm

                Yes, they canceled that project along with many others, but it is still being developed for other projects in space. The lifecycle of the engine isn’t an issue if a person is there to do repairs. Voyager is a good example of what the design requirements are. No maintenance possible and thermocouples are the only option.

        • Dennis Frank 8.1.2.2
          25 November 2018 at 8:35 pm

          I was reading about spaceships powered by ion drives half a century ago, in scifi books, when I was a teenager. I knew enough college physics to get that it was plausible in theory, but haven’t heard of any building of such in practice since, so I routinely dismiss all such stuff nowadays a mere speculation.

          In fact, although Kim Stanley Robinson did an excellent trilogy about the terraforming of Mars and atmospheric production could make it habitable if the rate exceeded gravitational loss at the upper margin, I’ve long since given up on the notion that it’ll happen. Those dozens of breakdowns & malfunctions in the DEW system, Chernobyl, Murphy’s Law, the tendency of computers to head into dysfunction just like people, nah, I got no faith in technology left…

          • Draco T Bastard 8.1.2.2.1
            26 November 2018 at 12:17 am

            I was reading about spaceships powered by ion drives half a century ago, in scifi books, when I was a teenager. I knew enough college physics to get that it was plausible in theory, but haven’t heard of any building of such in practice since, so I routinely dismiss all such stuff nowadays a mere speculation.

            The first successful test of one was in 1964. There have been quite a few since then.

            General info

            Ion Thruster Prototype Breaks Records in Tests, Could Send Humans to Mars

            “We have shown that X3 can operate at over 100 kW of power,” said Alec Gallimore, who is leading the project, in an interview with Space.com. “It operated at a huge range of power from 5 kW to 102 kW, with electrical current of up to 260 amperes. It generated 5.4 Newtons of thrust, which is the highest level of thrust achieved by any plasma thruster to date,” added Gallimore, who is dean of engineering at the University of Michigan. The previous record was 3.3 Newtons, according to the school.

  9. Ed 9
    25 November 2018 at 8:45 am

    NOW EXPOSED: A UK-led, ‘New Cold War’ int’l intelligence propaganda & disinformation operation, using top Mainstream Media ‘journalists’, govt staff, #AtlanticCouncil, in partnership w/#NATO designed to increase fear and tension between West & Russia:.

    Anonymous has published documents which it claims have unearthed a massive UK-led psyop to create a “large-scale information secret service” in Europe.

    https://t.co/mwgjKrxpvv?amp=1

    • Bill 9.1
      25 November 2018 at 9:52 am

      I wouldn’t view that stuff as anything much beyond an example of how stupidly paranoid some people are. This made me laugh – (From the “Integrity Initiative” handbook)

      …the Integrity Initiative is funded by the Institute for Statecraft. The IfS gets its funding from multiple sources to ensure its independence. These include: private individuals; charitable foundations; international organisations (EU, NATO); UK Govt (FCO, MOD)

      Kind of lacking in basic integrity I’d have thought. Oh, and the “independence”? Yeah well… probably best not to comment on the narrow focus embodied by such a ‘broad’ sweep of ‘diverse’ funding bodies, eh? 😉

    • cleangreen 9.2
      25 November 2018 at 2:05 pm

      Hi Ed,

      Yes Germany has long wanted to even the score with Russia for the loss of the war in 1945 so the underside of Germany is alive still and want to see another ‘action’ against Russia.

      Germany cant change their spots like others cant either.

      That is human nature unfortunately and Britain knows that all to well.

  10. joe90 10
    25 November 2018 at 8:49 am

    Thread.

    There was a throwaway sentence in a textbook I was reading: "In 1793, the French actress Olympe de Gouges was guillotined by the Jacobins, after daring to demand political rights for women as well as men." Of course I had to find out who she was, and why I'd never heard of her. pic.twitter.com/59HaeekhtR— Hanna Nina Jameson (@Hanna_Jameson) October 27, 2018

    https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1056198831086452737.html

    • greywarshark 10.1
      25 November 2018 at 10:18 am

      Thanks joe 90 and we thought we were trail blazers back in the mid 1900’s.
      We live in interesting times, centuries, millenia! (I hope.)

    • DJ Ward 10.2
      25 November 2018 at 4:52 pm

      Probably because a person who fights for the political rights for women as well as men is an actual Feminist. Completely different from those who stand in parliament spouting the magnificent Ministry for Women, claiming to be feminists, then vehemently attacking attempts to create a Ministry for Men.

      Plus the patriarchy narrative requires ignoring the reality of our past so many brave women and mens actions are ignored. Kate Sheppards advocacy for women is made godlike, while the decades long voting rights battle behind both male suffrage and its resulting female voting rights becomes a footnote. Very few would know the names of the men who put forward male sufferage laws in NZ or who put forward female sufferage laws in NZ.

      • Draco T Bastard 10.2.1
        25 November 2018 at 6:51 pm

        then vehemently attacking attempts to create a Ministry for Men.

        [citation needed]

        Very few would know the names of the men who put forward male sufferage laws in NZ

        Males have always been able to vote in NZ. It was non-owners that were prevented.

  11. joe90 11
    25 November 2018 at 9:30 am

    Who has dibs on Jules?

    The Ecuadorian government has removed its ambassador to the UK, sparking speculation over Julian Assange’s future at the diplomatic mission there.
    The 47-year-old founder of WikiLeaks moved into the Ecuadorian Embassy in central London in 2012 while wanted for questioning over sexual assault allegations in Sweden. Assange maintained his innocence and claimed the charges were nothing more than an attempt to extradite him to the United States.

    https://edition.cnn.com/2018/11/23/uk/julian-assange-ecuador-diplomacy-gbr-intl/index.html

    • greywarshark 11.1
      25 November 2018 at 10:19 am

      Gosh you just can’t evict some wily tenants.

      • Sabine 11.1.1
        25 November 2018 at 12:48 pm

        stop feeding them and watch them squirrel away into the darkness to find some other ‘benefactor’ that will keep the housed and fed.

        • greywarshark 11.1.1.1
          25 November 2018 at 1:10 pm

          Yes but where will they go. And perhaps there should be hermitage, sanctuary for whistleblowers who need protecting so they don’t get shot, damaged by acid, sawn up and other grisly outcomes.

          • Sabine 11.1.1.1.1
            25 November 2018 at 1:46 pm

            he is a grown up, he can get a job, rent a flat, find a supermarket and buy some groceries. And next time he has sex with a women and the deal/agreement/consent is only with a condom, i suggest he wears a condom.

            Can’t give a flying poo about this guy, he can go in the wilderness and stay there. The sooner he gets out of the media, real of fake the better. He has spammed the world long enough.

  12. Observer Tokoroa 12
    25 November 2018 at 9:47 am

    Hey – Look At my wonderful body

    It is a pity that you “Pride Parade” guys and girls, slander the police. You clearly don’t understand the constant Bravery and Service the Police give to the Citizens of New Zealand.

    No wonder the significant Businesses of Auckland have withdrawn their support from you – because of your childish attitudes.

    Show off and Dance on our streets. Yes. But don’t pretend you are anything like as important as our Police Women and Men. They Lay their Bodies on the line. – Day and Night.

  13. ScottGN 13
    25 November 2018 at 9:55 am

    A couple of takeouts from Daniel Andrews’ crushing landslide win for Labor in Victoria.

    Voters will overlook any number of missteps in a government if they see that government getting on doing stuff to make their lives better – so knock yourself out National, bang on about Sroubek, Clare Curran, Meka Whaitiri and all the rest of it as much as you like. So long voters think the Coalition is working for them it won’t make any difference.

    It’s totally game over for the old Tory trick of promising tax cuts and small government without compromising essential services. Voters have wised up to that bullshit, they know they can’t have both tax cuts and well maintained hospitals, schools and transport and all the other government services. Middlemore Hospital, the WOF debacle, schools maintenance, you name it National is going to get whacked with this.

    Infrastructure spending wins votes. Voters in Melbourne, a city bursting at the seams (its population topped 5 milllion earlier this year according to Stats Australia) flocked to Labor on the back of Andrews’ pledge to spend 50 billion dollars on infrastructure and they didn’t much care that some of that money will need to be borrowed.

    With crime falling in most western democracies, banging the law and order drum doesn’t work like it used to. Earlier this year Peter Dutton claimed that Victorians were too scared to go out for dinner at night because of gang violence in Melbourne. A ridiculous statement that just seems to have pissed off Melburnians, not least because he’s a Queensland federal MP.

    • tc 13.1
      25 November 2018 at 1:58 pm

      Nathan Guy was pretty unelectable after being sprung doing dodgy deals with developers in his role as the responsible minister when last in power.

      Like here they’re getting on with it on an almost gridlocked Melbourne that’s done nowhere near enough on public transport as it zoomed past 5mill a few months ago.

  14. joe90 14
    25 November 2018 at 9:59 am

    ‘Murica – raise $10k, or die.

    Hell World pic.twitter.com/8CtY3WuuKO— luke oneil (@lukeoneil47) November 24, 2018

    https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dsxs93cU8AEkm0J.jpg

  15. SaveNZ 15
    25 November 2018 at 10:41 am

    In the days before mass immigration the middle classes of Russian, China, Middle East and India would rise up and overthrow their dictators and demand further rights, nowadays, the middle class support them, get a plane ticket out of those countries to places like NZ and the west and leave the tin pot dictators alone, who then use their money to reduce the welfare and rights of small countries like NZ, influence big countries, whose governments are only too keen to take the cash, the loans, and the cheap labour, decrease then educational standards, and pocket the money for their assets to be bought. Sometimes they are so frightened of being ‘racist’ they give them away for free, aka water rights because the laws have been written for that very purpose. Anyone who doesn’t agree is ‘racist’ apparently.

    Likewise the mass displacement of the Middle East and Africa of refugees and economic migrants. Guess what, nobody says stop bombing the shit out of those countries and start spending money on making sure that those countries are habitable with enough food and water and resources to support themselves, that is where the debate should be…

    nope straight too, where should these people go and making other countries forces secure the oil lines etc?

    The people of earth themselves are between rock and a hard place with so many stupid politicians and political strategists and the world’s media owned by the world’s wealthy and sending the same messages of distraction and neoliberalism to further a short term gain and environmental destruction, massive migration for the privileged or desperate.

    None of this will turn out well in the end for any of the countries and most of the people and the flora and fauna, but great if your individual goal in life is to own a super yacht, a sports team, gold curtains and more money and houses and assets than you can live in or even manage, and earn that by legal and illegal theft or manipulation of former public assets and resources.

    • joe90 15.1
      25 November 2018 at 10:47 am

      When did the middle classes of Russian, China, Middle East and India rise up?.

      • greywarshark 15.1.1
        25 November 2018 at 11:41 am

        I was looking at Karl Marx and petite bourgeoisie yesterday and go the quote below. It seems that the middle classes are not action-oriented for better things for all, rather re-action to protect their standard of living and growing privilege.
        When i worked in a solicitor’s office dealing with accident claims before ACC, I didn’t notice them trying to get better law that was helpful and kinder to those who had workplace injuries. He wasn’t into changing anything for that reason.

        An interesting piece of theory –
        He [Wilhelm Reich] claimed that the middle classes were a hotbed for political reaction due to their reliance on the patriarchal family (according to Reich, small businesses are often self-exploiting enterprises of families headed by the father, whose morality binds the family together in their somewhat precarious economic position) and the sexual repression that underlies it.[5]‘
        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petite_bourgeoisie

        It seems to me that feminists were majorly middle class and were agitating for better conditions. But they were thinking of themselves and when the
        changes happened that suited them with a with some trickle-down to the poorer, disadvantaged, the pressure for change dropped. Things improved and then change slowed, and the ones who needed most, only got a toe-in I think, not a shoe-in.

        • joe90 15.1.1.1
          25 November 2018 at 12:09 pm

          Point being that the middle classes have never risen up against squat.

          They are who they are because of their obeisance to their betters, their contemptible disregard for their lessors, and their continued prosperity relies entirely on maintaining the status quo.

          OTOH, peasants…

          https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peasant_revolts

          • greywarshark 15.1.1.1.1
            25 November 2018 at 1:16 pm

            Oooh you are so hard joe 90. I think I prefer living in the middle classes and perhaps I am not so good about caring and sharing. Thinks – uncomfortable.

          • DJ Ward 15.1.1.1.2
            25 November 2018 at 1:18 pm

            Wrong. The middle class are the swing voters in democracy. (Steriotyping) The poor will vote left no matter what’s happening. The rich will vote right no matter what’s happening. The middle class will react to incompetence buy voting for the opposite, or react to voting bribes. The middle class in self preservation reacts to propaganda.

            They rise up at every election. They just don’t march in the streets.

            Hence democracy fails in that it never addresses the poor or reigns in the rich. The minority becomes oppressed by the majority.

          • Gabby 15.1.1.1.3
            25 November 2018 at 5:19 pm

            It never ends well joey, not even in France.

    • Bill 16.1
      25 November 2018 at 12:01 pm

      S’cuse the ignorance, but since I don’t follow the machinations of Australian politics, I have to ask, – assuming that the Liberal Party is of the full on soggy shit smeared variety, is the Australian Labor Party much more worth or use than slightly and suspiciously soiled toilet paper ?

    • OnceWasTim 16.2
      25 November 2018 at 2:09 pm

      You should have seen Peta Credlin spinning like a top. You could almost see the wrinkles developing around her mouth

  17. Observer Tokoroa 17
    25 November 2018 at 10:46 am

    Hi Greywarshark

    The bloke Julian Assange threw into the Washington military dungeon turned out to be a sweet young lady. Chelsea.

    I hope Assange controls himself and keeps well away from her, – now that she is a respected USA Citizen.

    What with Jules going a bit far with his two Swedish female staff – and Trump famous for his ever ready Pussygrope, Chelsea should take lots of care. Always board the right Boeing – Chelsea

    in the meantime, Assange is pulling faces at the Ecuador Embassy and generally being the objectionable upstart that he always is.

    Hit and Hide – is Jules motto.

    • greywarshark 17.1
      25 November 2018 at 11:25 am

      Fascinating stuff Observer. This is why i generally keep away from discussing the USA-involved political stuff. It’s a sideshow to keep us from thinking about the serious development stuff we need to concentrate on – the world is a stage, and we need to be actors in our part of it is my certainty. Climate change is changing the scenery.

      This is an example of how we can be easily distracted from politics. Start replacing interest in what is happening with entertainment – Punch and Judy anyone?
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcE7ppOT_0c

      Then on the other hand, can what is being shown in the longer show after the first short excerpt, is from Brighton Beach, UK. indicate an approach that would be right for now for New Brighton beach and pier in Christchurch NZ.

      If Brighton, Christchurch could throw a regular event between 1 and 3pm on Saturday afternoons with traditional things like donkey rides, balloons, music, dancing to a youth band, and do it with good publicity for a season, they could boost their economic life.

  18. lprent 18
    25 November 2018 at 11:44 am

    Nasty power blip. Both UPS blipped. Screen went off for 20 seconds.

    Normally my systems don’t blip. It usually means a nasty power outage somewhere in Auckland. Anyone on batteries?

    • cleangreen 18.2
      25 November 2018 at 12:06 pm

      Shit Iprent,

      We need to put a fund raiser up to buy you a backup battery solar power system?

      • lprent 18.2.1
        25 November 2018 at 1:47 pm

        It has a pretty good UPS system with the server and the network endpoints on it. I check it every 4 months and battery replace every year. It will last about 6-8 hours on fresh batteries. 4-6 when I replace them.

        I’m in central Auckland which has been somewhat refurbished power-wise after they blacked or browned me and everyone else out periodically for 3 months in 1998 in a stunning display of the efficiency of greed and deregulation 🙂

        Wouldn’t mind some largeish Li-ion or Li-iron. But they need very good control systems – especially in my living room 🙂 I work with large Li-ion in large quantities, so I can tell you that I don’t to see that kind of failure here.

        Currently the prices are formidable, but coming down. But in the meantime sealed lead-acid is good enough and cheap enough to keep the site running.

        • cleangreen 18.2.1.1
          25 November 2018 at 7:32 pm

          Iprent,

          My son has been installing backup solar systems all around HB to Waitako and several lodges and motels with Tesla battery backup systems.

          He is buggering off to Germany for a year but has all the data on them.

          I am considering one to, but i would like to see the government give some grants for solar like Germany does.

          We will wait their move to solar.

  19. bwaghorn 19
    25 November 2018 at 12:22 pm

    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12165591

    We need to start seriously imposing big fines on these filthy councils ruining our beaches.

    • greywarshark 19.1
      25 November 2018 at 12:39 pm

      From a farm pov this is a notable problem that shows up the city as polluter.
      But we are talking here about people pollution, not farm animals. It is obvious that many NZ dairy farms are overstocked and ignoring good husbandry of their animals and their effluent. First step is to control runoff, limit irrigation, and destock numbers.

      Similarly with people. The farm-business big-export, big-profit phalanx want to overstock NZ with people who either bring in investment money or are charged for working here at minimal wages. We now have too many people in pockets of concentration, for the modern facilities provided to keep the place healthy and attractive. If you want to reduce city pollution complain to the decision-making people suffering from the hungry tapeworm called super-wealth.

      (There appears to be a serious outbreak of some disease which may be parasitic tapeworms – Ingesting the eggs leads to tapeworm larvae growing in many different human tissues, particularly brain and muscle.
      https://www.verywellhealth.com/parasitic-infections-of-the-central-nervous-system-2488670)
      This would explain why we see such little brain power indicated in poor planning and decision making in the country, and the lack of physical activity driving many of these debilitated people to sit all day playing around with computer models which are supposed to mirror real life, but actually are pale imitations.

      You started me off bwaghorn – the above guff is your fault!

  20. joe90 20
    25 November 2018 at 12:22 pm

    So, chemtrails it is.

    Scientists are proposing an ingenious but as-yet-unproven way to tackle climate change: spraying sun-dimming chemicals into the Earth’s atmosphere.
    The research by scientists at Harvard and Yale universities, published in the journal Environmental Research Letters, proposes using a technique known as stratospheric aerosol injection, which they say could cut the rate of global warming in half.
    The technique would involve spraying large amounts of sulfate particles into the Earth’s lower stratosphere at altitudes as high as 12 miles. The scientists propose delivering the sulfates with specially designed high-altitude aircraft, balloons or large naval-style guns.

    https://edition.cnn.com/2018/11/23/health/sun-dimming-aerosols-global-warming-intl-scli/index.html

    • Poission 20.1
      25 November 2018 at 12:32 pm

      From the Exec summary of this months O3/wmo report.

      Intentional long-term geoengineering applications that substantially increase stratospheric aerosols to mitigate global warming by reflecting sunlight would alter the stratospheric ozone layer. The estimated magnitude and even the sign of ozone changes in some regions are uncertain because of the high sensitivity
      to variables such as the amount, altitude, geographic location, type of injection and the halogen loading. An increase of the stratospheric sulfate aerosol burden in amounts sufficient to substantially reduce global radiative forcing would delay the recovery of the Antarctic ozone hole. Much less is known about the effects on
      ozone from geoengineering solutions using non-sulfate aerosols.

      Dont need it for the SH.

      • Dennis Frank 20.1.1
        25 November 2018 at 1:02 pm

        Science proceeds via experiment. Trial & error. Atmosphere experimentation: if it doesn’t work, just throw it away & get another one. Normal scientific method, as performed by normal scientists.

        The Archdruid is usually good on the big picture, and the past year or two he’s been on about faustian culture. Google it gets you this:

        “Faustian culture is driven to reach as far as it can in all directions, almost as a virtue in itself. It sees itself as built atop all previous cultures. It dreams of global dominance, and has many senses achieved that but it is unsatisfied. The climb of perpetual progress is an important story to the Faustian man.”

        “Faustian Culture began in Western Europe around the 10th century and according to Spengler such has been its expansionary power that by the 20th century it was covering the entire earth, with only a few regions where Islam provides an alternative world view.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Decline_of_the_West

        Alerts us to why China’s dictator is in rebel mode, eh? Too negligible to even rate a mention. “The use of the word ‘Faustian’ when describing the Western culture Spengler explained by pointing out a parallel between the tragic figure of Faust and the Western world. Just as Faust sold his soul to the devil to gain greater power, the Western man sold his soul to technics.” https://faustianeurope.wordpress.com/2007/07/…/oswald-spengler-and-faustian-cultur…

        So there you have it. Techne – modern equivalent of magic – driven toward global transformation by the Promethean power drive in our collective unconscious. Don’t assume atmosphere experiments are merely scientific hubris!

    • Gabby 20.2
      25 November 2018 at 1:15 pm

      See, SirPonyboy was right all along.That’ll be why he’s positioned himself on the Air NZ board.

    • One Two 20.3
      25 November 2018 at 1:53 pm

      Old ‘news’ J90.

      Another years old rehashed article…signalling what has already been deployed…

      Global Dimming…BBC ran articles about that ‘phenomena’…years ago also..

      • joe90 20.3.1
        25 November 2018 at 2:03 pm

        Global Dimming…BBC

        Which was about the declining amount of solar energy reaching the Earth’s surface, and has zip to do with the article posted.

        • One Two 20.3.1.1
          25 November 2018 at 2:21 pm

          ‘Dimming The Sun’

          Article title, that you linked Joe…

          The ‘clue’ is in the title of the respective articles which are the ‘same subject’…

          If you can’t ‘see’ the relationship…well…I would not be surprised if you’re not reading or understanding what you post about…

          Edit: wiki is acceptable for such a reference

          https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_dimming

          • joe90 20.3.1.1.1
            25 November 2018 at 2:24 pm

            Oh do fuck off with your arcane claptrap.

            • greywarshark 20.3.1.1.1.1
              25 November 2018 at 4:37 pm

              One. Two
              You know it all you smart arse. Well get off your bottom and go and fix it, whatever, instead of hanging round here trying to prevent us getting to know about some of the things your great mind has already absorbed. I am just so sick of you lazy geniuses, all talk and no commitment to useful action for the good of humankind.

              • One Two …
                25 November 2018 at 6:25 pm

                You have no idea what I do or who I am, GW…so dial it a little bit eh…

                If you think my pointing out that J90 was posting rehashed articles, which he has admitted to not actually reading before linking 20.4…then you’re barking up the wrong tree…

                On you can be in your own way..same applies to every one of us…

                • greywarshark …
                  25 November 2018 at 7:50 pm

                  I have every idea what you do on this blog One Two. And what line you take usually – negative.

                  Seeing that the world is in crisis perhaps you could start lookinhg for ways to aid your fellow humans instead of slagging us off.

                • joe90 …
                  25 November 2018 at 7:51 pm

                  which he has admitted to not actually reading before linking 20.4

                  Arse. After reading the abstract of the paper referred to in the CNN article I posted, I noted that the CNN article erroneously inferred that the paper was an actual proposal.

                  So again, do fuck off you supercilious sack of shit, and take your disingenuous drivel with you.

                • greywarshark …
                  25 November 2018 at 7:55 pm

                  I have every idea what you do on this blog One Two. And what line you take usually – negative. Seeing that the world is in crisis perhaps you could start looking for better ways to aid your fellow humans instead of slagging us off.

                  By the way this site doesn’t profess to have the latest scientific things, and if you find there is something better, put up the link. Say this might be more up to date don’t criticise us as your first move.
                  Refer to what is important yourself instead.

                  Your style as here is not acceptable to me as a serious person worrying about the known problems not being tackled and the unknown ones that are looming.

                  ‘Dimming The Sun’

                  Article title, that you linked Joe…

                  The ‘clue’ is in the title of the respective articles which are the ‘same subject’…

                  If you can’t ‘see’ the relationship…well…I would not be surprised if you’re not reading or understanding what you post about…

                  Edit: wiki is acceptable for such a reference

                  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_dimming

                  • One Two …
                    26 November 2018 at 8:47 am

                    Your style here is not acceptable to me…

                    So instead of dialing it back you’ve doubled down…

                    GW, if my comments and the syle of them go past you…well..so be it…I don’t write for you…

                    That you ‘believe’ I see the world as a crisis indicates you don’t comprehend my comments…you’re a long way off the mark…

                    Your comments read like you have a grudge of some sort…

                    Move on from it…leave the personal insults to others here…you’re probably better than that…

    • joe90 20.4
      25 November 2018 at 3:52 pm

      And after a quick squiz at the abstract, and despite my own flippancy, it looks like CNN clickbait.

      The author’s read it as an actual proposal rather than what it is, a pie in the sky assessment.

      Abstract

      We review the capabilities and costs of various lofting methods intended to deliver sulfates into the lower stratosphere. We lay out a future solar geoengineering deployment scenario of halving the increase in anthropogenic radiative forcing beginning 15 years hence, by deploying material to altitudes as high as ~20 km. After surveying an exhaustive list of potential deployment techniques, we settle upon an aircraft-based delivery system. Unlike the one prior comprehensive study on the topic (McClellan et al 2012 Environ. Res. Lett. 7 034019), we conclude that no existing aircraft design—even with extensive modifications—can reasonably fulfill this mission. However, we also conclude that developing a new, purpose-built high-altitude tanker with substantial payload capabilities would neither be technologically difficult nor prohibitively expensive. We calculate early-year costs of ~$1500 ton−1 of material deployed, resulting in average costs of ~$2.25 billion yr−1 over the first 15 years of deployment. We further calculate the number of flights at ~4000 in year one, linearly increasing by ~4000 yr−1. We conclude by arguing that, while cheap, such an aircraft-based program would unlikely be a secret, given the need for thousands of flights annually by airliner-sized aircraft operating from an international array of bases.

      http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/aae98d/meta

      • David Mac 20.4.1
        25 November 2018 at 5:17 pm

        I find your post fascinating Joe. It leads me to wonder what other ways we could turn the sun’s energy back on itself.

        We all know how something painted black sucks up heat and something white has a greater tendency to reflect the heat and light.

        One of the problems with diminishing snow and ice is that we’re not bouncing as much light and heat back up.

        What if every sun struck man made item was white or mirrored? Cars, building roofs, supermarket carparks. Could pasture be genetically modified to be white?

        Could we float a bio product on oceans that reflects more light than salt water?

        • Andre 20.4.1.1
          25 November 2018 at 6:51 pm

          The subject of albedo (reflectivity) is certainly a complex aspect of global warming.

          In short, making the artificial surfaces you have control over white (or light green) actually does do quite a bit to reduce warming. To the point I was absolutely astonished when I found out Auckland Council required dark roofs on new construction in at least one semi-rural area.

          Grassland is also quite a lot more reflective than forest. Most deserts are more reflective than grassland. In total, the increase in the earth’s reflectivity from land-use changes from human activity counteracts maybe 5% of the global warming from the greenhouse gases we’ve dumped into the atmosphere.

          But the big albedo variable that’s still poorly understood is clouds. It’s for sure that a warmer world means more moisture in the atmosphere, which means more clouds, which you would think would reflect more sunlight. But it turns out to be a lot more complicated than that, since they also reflect heat radiated from the earth back down to ground (think how much warmer mornings are after a cloudy night than a clear night). The net effect apparently depends on how high and how thick the clouds are (among other variables).

          https://skepticalscience.com/earth-albedo-effect-intermediate.htm

          • Anne 20.4.1.1.1
            25 November 2018 at 7:29 pm

            Latent heat is the energy absorbed by or released from a substance during a phase change from a gas to a liquid or a solid or vice versa. … When these gas molecules condense into liquid drops, latent heat is released into the atmosphere which warms the air surrounding the molecule.

            https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latent_heat

            • Andre 20.4.1.1.1.1
              25 November 2018 at 7:42 pm

              Yeah, that’s part of the complexity of clouds’ net effect on warming. I vaguely recall reading something that came to the conclusion that the height at which the latent heat was released or absorbed was fairly significant from a warming perspective, and that the water-ice transition was still quite important even though the latent heat of fusion is around 1/6 that of evaporation for water.

          • WeTheBleeple 20.4.1.1.2
            26 November 2018 at 4:54 am

            This is useful information to householders and landscapers too. Different plants have different levels of reflection. Part of reflection is heat energy.

            Dark trees absorb more light and heat. Lighter trees reflect more light and heat. Nature does ambient lighting, you just need to be aware what you’re looking at.

        • greywarshark 20.4.1.2
          25 November 2018 at 8:52 pm

          Could we float rafts that create shadows and havens for fish and bird life on seas near coastlines. Perhaps over the Australian reefs, and where fisher people live so they can continue their ‘peasant’ fishing culture and diet.

          • WeTheBleeple 20.4.1.2.1
            26 November 2018 at 5:01 am

            We could float rafts that provide habitat, shelter, and double as phosphate collectors and even oceanic monitoring stations.

            In freshwater we could float rafts that grow rampant plants as stock food, meanwhile stripping excess nutrients from water, providing habitat and shade, and with some cunning design, aeration to the surrounding water.

            I was knocking up these designs for some NZ lakes when they were deemed to be complete shit holes decades ago. But the policy then was to pretend they weren’t shit holes.

            • Robert Guyton 20.4.1.2.1.1
              26 November 2018 at 7:40 am

              Some such rafts are already in operation here in NZ. They work successfully, but many of our degraded lakes are big. Estuaries are the focus now – the penultimate receiving bodies of all that goes on and in further up the catchment. Silt and nutrient are the big issues, eutrophication the symptom of human carelessness. Unless big tides clear clogged estuaries, there’s not a lot else that can be done; all ideas gratefully received. (Rafts of plants are challenged by brackish waters). Giant sludge-sucking pumps are great science fiction.

    • greywarshark 21.1
      25 November 2018 at 12:42 pm

      Diesel has gone up 23% in the last year. Bound to upset the economic system.IIRR

      • Sabine 21.1.1
        25 November 2018 at 1:52 pm

        it will go up further.

        I think really people need to realize that changes are coming and it does not matter what they burn down in anger.

        France has a good public transport system at least in the larger areas and conecting to rural areas of importance.

        But there are things to be done, i .e. community cars. Rather then have two / three cars per family, have community cars that are owned by a trust, that are maintained by membership contribution and that people can book in for when they need a car. Take me, i don’t actually need a car, – the little car that i got from my partner when his company gave him a car has served my inlaws when they lost their cars in the big floods a few years ago, then it was driven by the son in law when his car died and he could not afford one, then it was driven by a young lady with three kids who needed a car but could not afford one outright, so she the little old one until she had enough saved up to buy one herself. I haven not missed this car in a year and a half.

        We – the people – need to come of our sofas and realise that the gravy years are over. We either want this planet to sustain us, or we can drive in an SUV to hell without a return ticket.

        As for the conomic system being upset, it already is.

  22. Observer Tokoroa 22
    25 November 2018 at 12:34 pm

    ” the world is a stage” all the world

    Greywarshark

    I like it when Shakespeare peers over our shoulders – thanks for reminding me!

    I am a dullard compared to you writers … but yes – Iwanka taking her laptop home tof fiddle with Trumpian Profundities is very Innocent. Says Daddy.

    How Lprent rides the WiFI Surf day in day out- I shall never know. But I admire his alertness and patience.

    The Brighton Wharf is long – if i remember correctly. It could be Colourful if we allowed Judith Collins to invite her and her Beijing Comrades to bring the dragons and Balloons down there of a weekend.

    China V Canterbury – attacking each other with high diving Kites.

  23. joe90 23
    25 November 2018 at 1:48 pm

    Looks like someone has the stones to reel in the data crims.

    The UK Parliament invoked a rarely used legal power to compel a US software company to hand over internal Facebook documents that could contain revelations on the run-up to the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

    Damian Collins, MP and chair of the culture, media and sport select committee used a rare parliamentary mechanism to compel the founder of Six4Three to hand over the documents while on a business trip, local media reported on Saturday.

    A serjeant was sent to his hotel to issue a final call and communicate a two-hour deadline to comply with the order. British daily The Guardian reported that when the firm founder failed to comply, he was escorted to parliament. Not complying with the request could have led to fines and even imprisonment.

    The cache of documents is alleged to include email exchange between senior executives, including Facebook founder Mark Zuckenberg.

    “We are in uncharted territory,” Mr Collins, who also chairs an inquiry into fake news, told local media. “This is an unprecedented move but it’s an unprecedented situation. We’ve failed to get answers from Facebook and we believe the documents contain information of very high public interest.”

    https://www.thenational.ae/world/europe/uk-parliament-seizes-internal-facebook-documents-1.795495

  24. Dennis Frank 24
    25 November 2018 at 2:08 pm

    Peter Calder went to check it out: “the Islamic Republic of Iran – is a hypermoralist theocracy in which pornography, prostitution, alcohol, drugs, YouTube, Facebook, and much else besides, is banned, on pain of imprisonment, and corporal or even capital punishment. Yet the population accesses all of them with a quietly exuberant abandon. Defiance, indeed, is the currency of daily life.”

    “As the PBS show Frontline reported, Iran is the only state in which the executive branch does not control the armed forces.” “The hijab – a head-covering scarf – remains obligatory, even for tourist women. Meanwhile, the basij, a volunteer auxiliary corps of young men recognisable by their neatly trimmed beards and black clothing, enforce internal security, police morals (they question couples walking together to establish the legitimacy of their relationship) and suppress dissidents and protest gatherings.”

    So you can see why some leftists onsite here support Iran in its opposition to Saudi Arabia, eh? That’d be because Trump doesn’t like the Iranian regime. Having to choose between a conservative narcissist and a totalitarian regime, they understandably prefer the latter.

    “The exchange rate of the Iranian rial is soaring: the US dollar, worth IRR43,000 in international markets, was fetching 120,000 in early September and 140,000 by the end of the month. A grim joke doing the rounds asked what the dollar is worth. “Do you mean now, now or now?” was the punchline answer. Not since I was in Argentina in the 1970s have I experienced an exchange rate so grotesquely advantaging the visitor as it hammered the locals.”

    “Islam is more than a religion; it is a tool of state control. Most Iranians (particularly in urban areas) are not devout, or even practising, Muslims, but admitting as much is fatal to employment prospects.” https://www.noted.co.nz/currently/world/iran-us-sanctions-corrupt-ideologues-defiance/

    • Ad 24.1
      25 November 2018 at 4:39 pm

      Iran and Saudi Arabia drive their people to hate each other, and they are about as oppressive as each other. They aren’t the only two choices available.

  25. cleangreen 25
    25 November 2018 at 3:51 pm

    Brexit looks to be a goer today.

    https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-46330380

    European Council President Donald Tusk has recommended that the EU approve the Brexit deal at a summit on Sunday.

    It comes after Spanish PM Pedro Sanchez received assurances from the UK government over Gibraltar, and dropped his threat to boycott the summit.

    He said he had received the written guarantees he needed over Spain’s role in the future of the British territory.

    UK Prime Minister Theresa May has arrived in Brussels and held talks with top EU officials, ahead of the summit.

    The terms of the UK’s withdrawal have been under negotiation since June 2016 following a referendum in which 51.9% voted to leave the EU.

    Even if the EU approves the deal, it still has to be passed by the UK Parliament, with many MPs having stated their opposition.

    Spain had raised last-minute objections ahead of the summit about how the issue of Gibraltar had been handled in the Brexit talks so far.

    But EU leaders secured a compromise with the Spanish prime minister, who said that Europe and the UK “had accepted the conditions set down by Spain” and so would “vote in favour of Brexit”.

    Mr Tusk, who represents EU leaders on the world stage, said he recommended “that we approve on Sunday the outcome of the Brexit negotiations” in a letter to members of the European Council.

    He added: “No-one has reasons to be happy. But at least at this critical time, the EU 27 has passed the test of unity and solidarity.”

    The political declaration, which sets out what the UK and EU’s relationship may be like after Brexit – outlining how things like UK-EU trade and security will work.
    The EU withdrawal agreement: a 585-page, legally binding document setting out the terms of the UK’s exit from the EU. It covers the UK’s £39bn “divorce bill”, citizens’ rights and the Northern Ireland “backstop” – a way to keep the border with the Republic of Ireland open, if trade talks stall.
    There is no formal vote on Sunday but the EU expects to proceed after reaching a consensus.

  26. Observer Tokoroa 26
    25 November 2018 at 5:14 pm

    Hi Cleangreen

    Dumb as I am, may I ask what good Merry England is going to do by snubbing its snotty nose at the accomplished EU. ?

    We all know that Brits think themselves the bees knees and have the answer to everything under the Sun. But I have a feeling that the Boris Johnsons – and the Farrages will do well and the glory tories- but the rest of the UK will be living off sweet nothing.

    Scotland and Ireland will do well. Because they are not stupid like the grumbling Brits. Hopefully the Welsh will ditch the mad Poms too.

  27. cleangreen 27
    25 November 2018 at 7:24 pm

    Observer Tokoroa; – Ouch! – I married a pom 42 years ago and she’s been o/k.

    I good mate I reckon, am I lucky?

    I find that the EU was to hard on Greece and they are dictatorial after they allowed Greece borrow so much private funding to develop there infrastructure and went bust on foreign capital .

    we are similarly exposed like Greece too.

    Actually we still don’t know who we have borrowed $60 Billion from do we?

    Goldman Sachs was the agent that Greece used and they are a shifty lot too.

    I worry when the next GFC comes around what will happen to all those ‘cling-ons” new smaller states to the EU.

    Some are very shaky, especially the eastern side of Europe, like Hungary and Romania and some others.

    Time will tell.

    • Nic the NZer 27.1
      25 November 2018 at 9:38 pm

      Actually, in NZ we are in a much more secure situation than Greece. The problem for Greece is that it uses a ‘foreign’ currency in the Euro and must therefore stay on good terms with the ECB and other European institutions. Unfortunately for Greece good terms means agreeing to aggressive Austerity demands and other economic ‘reforms’. Despite IMF forecasts for a quick recovery these reforms caused a 25% shrinkage in the Greek economy and 20% unemployment rate and will negatively influence the Greek economy for more than a decade.

      In return for this (and probably against the letter of the ECB legislation) the ECB has been supporting the Greek government by maintaining a lowish interest rate on Greek government debt and allowing them not to default. The ECB is also doing this for other Euro countries.

      In NZ however our parliament ultimately controls our central bank (which can do the same kinds of things as the ECB does) and so if push comes to shove NZ will never experience such problems of being bullied economically by higher level institutions. The UK is similar to NZ in that it also controls its Bank of England meaning the exchequer ultimately calls the shots for the UK. Not that this prevents self inflicted economic pain, as George Osborne caused when he (predictably, it was predicted) turned a single dip recession into a triple dip recession through mindless austerity policies. However I think the conservatives soon realized that running the economy into the ground with ideologically driven Austerity policies was going to be bad for their chances of re-election. At that point they kept talking up all the austerity they were doing, but basically stopped doing it.

      Ultimately the important question seems to be if this stuff is controlled by elected representatives or if the elected representatives have to answer to un-elected institutions.

  28. joe90 28
    25 November 2018 at 8:38 pm

    Telescreens, anyone?

    "We are now all living with little smart spies in our houses," says Andrew Guthrie Ferguson. https://t.co/DZk9GcH7K2 @CBCDay6— CBC News (@CBCNews) November 25, 2018

    Amazon’s Alexa probably won’t admit there was a murder in her home, but the data she stores on the company’s servers might tell a different story.

    An Amazon Echo, the device that houses the company’s Alexa AI, in the kitchen of a Farmington, N.H., home is at the heart of a double murder trial. Earlier this month, a judge ordered partial records of that device be released.

    Prosecutors believe there may be recordings of the stabbings of two women from January 2017. Amazon has not yet said if it would release the information.

    “I think this is the beginning of the ‘internet of evidence’ where lots of pieces of smart devices are going to show up in criminal prosecutions,” Andrew Guthrie Ferguson, author of The Rise of Big Data Policing: Surveillance, Race, and the Future of Law Enforcement, told Day 6.

    https://t.co/DZk9GcH7K2

  29. greywarshark 29
    25 November 2018 at 8:55 pm

    Scoop needs us. It is ready to go further as a community NZ owned news service.

    https://www.pledgeme.co.nz/projects/5837-scoop-3-0-crowdsale-and-crowdfunding-campaign

  30. Muttonbird 30
    25 November 2018 at 9:49 pm

    What’s with the lack of produce in the supermarket lately?

  31. Observer Tokoroa 31
    25 November 2018 at 11:35 pm

    Thanks Cleangreen

    I am glad you are pleased with your lovely Girl. She is a Treasure.

    Although I am of British stock I do not trust the Parliament of the Uk.
    It exists for the very Wealthy. Not for the Many.

    Perhaps one day the Brits may realise that Equality and Fraternity are better than a sham toy Parliament.

    Again thanks Cleangreen

  32. eco maori 32
    26 November 2018 at 8:02 am

    Kia ora The Am Show the jail term for dairy dack is just a political stunt by national there is no thought about what is good for people just what floats there toilet polls.
    Last year all the retailers were advertising chrismas a the start of October this year they have not even started. Just like the work being done on the inter Island power cables being carried out at the start of summer instead of a few months earlier when the Hydro lakes are full. ?????????.
    My Huawei phone got the signal fine I was not going to com on this subject till I heard Azzes make his statement .
    simon your m8 has moved to Bali .
    So long as the new Australian Governments combat climate change that’s the big picture Jason I will be doing a post on what the dozens of ex judges are calling for in Australia anti white collar corruption force nearly all the carbon lobbyist are ex mps a big conflicted of interest there hence all the problem in the Australian governments lobbyist should be banned all around the world .
    The santa issue is just some man grandstanding the topic of Equality and everyone has fallen for the neo anti Equality mens tricks.
    Who wrote those word for you Mark Communism is just a word nowadays used to trash socialism whats so wrong with the wealthy shearing there billions of lollies with common poor people so they get a house and not a bridge he tangata he tangata.
    Yes we need a cabon tax and use the tax to of set the price of clean energy like Norway . Its cool that we have a lot of people buying electric cars in Aotearoa now.
    I agree its stupid not rolling out a electric Car subsidy when we import most of our oil come on . Ka kite ano

  33. eco maori 33
    26 November 2018 at 8:35 am

    This is a Wahine whos actions speak as loud as her word and a Mana Wahine I will tau toko her ka pai
    Sweden’s then deputy prime minister remained enigmatic as the picture went viral and she was asked whether she had been “trolling” the US president. “It is up to the observer to interpret the photo,” she was quoted as saying. “We are a feminist government, which shows in this photo.”
    Lövin is one of the leading figures in what she says is a resurgence in environmentally conscious politics across the continent. “There is a green wave going on in Europe, in Germany, Luxembourg and Belgium, and in Finland as well,” she says. “I’m convinced that green parties offer a positive vision, and also the willingness to take on the huge challenges that we see in the world right now.” Ka kite ano link below.

    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/nov/24/isabella-lovin-trolled-trump-swedish-minister-climate-change-mission-fishing-ban

  34. eco maori 34
    26 November 2018 at 9:03 am

    Dozens of former judges urge Scott Morrison to set up anti-corruption watchdog
    Arguing that existing federal integrity agencies “lack the necessary jurisdiction, powers and know-how to investigate properly the impartiality and bona fides of decisions made by, and conduct of, the federal government and public sector” .
    Greed drive the carbon barons to propagandize lie and cheat so they can keep poisoning our Grandchildren’s future with carbon. link below.

    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/nov/25/dozens-of-former-judges-urge-scott-morrison-to-set-up-anti-corruption-watchdog

    The Nationals’ WA branch similarly failed to respond when asked why it failed to declare the $20,000 donation from Mineral Resources.

    The iron ore miner confirmed it had given a $20,000 bank cheque to the Nationals in March last year, around the time of the state election. But a spokesman said the company made donations to all sides, not just the Nationals. Its donations to Labor and the Liberals were declared properly.

    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/nov/26/major-parties-failed-to-declare-corporate-donations-electoral-commission-finds

    More than half of all Australian lobbyists previously worked inside government or for the major political parties, with one in four staffing the offices of ministers, parliamentary secretaries or backbenchers.

    Guardian Australia has investigated the backgrounds of all 483 individuals listed on July’s federal lobbyist register, checking each for a history in federal or state government, either as politicians, political staffers, party officials or public servants.
    Australia’s lax lobbying regime the domain of party powerbrokers
    Read more

    The analysis, believed to be the first of its kind, reveals 255 lobbyists, or 52.8%, have a previous history within government or political party hierarchies.

    It also revealed one in four lobbyists have worked as staffers – policy advisers, chiefs of staff, or electorate or media officers – to Australian politicians. Ka kite ano link below.

    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/sep/16/in-the-family-majority-of-australias-lobbyists-are-former-political-insiders

  35. eco maori 35
    26 November 2018 at 6:47 pm

    Kia ora Newshub Its cool that the District Health is upping the wages of there low paid workers .
    Lloyd nice scarf .
    Changing the WOF to 12 months was a fool of a move we don’t have nice flat straight 2 lane roads like they do overseas hence 6 monthly WOF .
    Well thats shocking all these surgical devices being sold to Kiwis and they have not been tested wtf the people who make these thing are playing Russian roulette with Kiwi lives .
    trump will be a bigger fool if he lets the ICE shoot those refugees at there Mexico boarder .
    Ollie Ka pai to Scott for his win on the Super Car .
    Ka kite ano

  36. eco maori 36
    26 November 2018 at 7:21 pm

    Kia ora The Crowd Goes Wild congrats to Mikayla and Brodie for there prizes .
    Storm that was a good win for Scott.
    Yes you cant do that to the Ranfurly Shield .
    I liked his acting as Muhammad Ali Will that is that’s a cool movie they don’t make em like they use to.
    Jen Hackman is a cool actor.
    I say a golf game between Barak and trump would be cool
    Good win King .
    Ka kite ano Some countrys don’t no how to be good host guys