Open mike 27/01/2010

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, January 27th, 2010 - 29 comments
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Topics of interest, announcements, general discussion. The usual rules apply (see the link to Policy in the banner).

Step right up to the mike…

29 comments on “Open mike 27/01/2010 ”

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  1. mummybot 1
    27 January 2010 at 6:19 am

    I think it might be time for The Standard to have a design change in the near future…

  2. PT 2
    27 January 2010 at 7:26 am

    looks like jones is torpedoing labours chance to form a government in the next twenty years http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz-government/news/article.cfm?c_id=144&objectid=10622464

    • The Voice of Reason 2.1
      27 January 2010 at 8:01 am

      Far from it, PT.

      I’m chuffed to see Jones giving the maori right some stick because they are well deserving of his and our scorn. The sooner the Maori Party implode, the better for Maori and the better for the rest of us. And nothing will help Labour rebuild than getting the maori seats it has lost to the right back and that won’t happen without directly pointing out the failings of Turiana and the other sell outs to the voters in those electorates.

      Well done, that man!

      • PT 2.1.1
        27 January 2010 at 8:06 am

        “soon as MP implode” yeah right. marae digipoll anyone.

        • Tigger 2.1.1.1
          27 January 2010 at 9:52 am

          Actually I think this is a making of the Labour Party. The MP is getting the overflow from Key’s honeymoon and from being part of government. It will end. Labour’s Maori MPs needed to come out and distinguish themselves from the MP. They’ve done that. Good on them.

          There is an assumption that the MP represent ‘Maori’. They don’t. They represent their members, and their vision of what you need to be ‘Maori’. It’s limited. The cracks are forming and it will splinter at some point. It just takes time…

  3. Jenny 3
    27 January 2010 at 8:39 am

    Looks like the Labour Party is choosing sectarianism over unity as a strategy to beat the right.

    Only time will tell which strategy is right.

    My fear is, that this strategy will be a continuing disaster for the Labour Party.

    And will just turn voters off.

    In my opinion inclusiveness and consultation rather than exclusion and hectoring, would be a much better strategy.

    My gut feeling, is that the electorate favour the former behaviour over the latter.

    • Morgan 3.1
      27 January 2010 at 9:53 am

      Hmmm i’m not convinced that inclusiveness and consultation would be a better strategy. Across the world the left has always favoured this approach or the approach that policy will win over populism whereas the right has done the opposite with far greater results. We all know the right are selfish and immoral and only stand for power – perhaps it is time for the left to play their game?

  4. prism 4
    27 January 2010 at 8:49 am

    Lord Monckton (see The potty peer) has been let out and got as far as Australia. He says he hasn’t time in his busy schedule to visit us. There’s money in them there raindrops, every cloud has a silver lining etc!

    I’m reading one of PG Wodehouse’s books and Monckton fits right in to the tone of the stories. A lot of PGW’s characters are men so full of hubris there isn’t room for any contemplative and analytical thinking. I recommend to those of you that read other things than blogs, to amuse your brain with some PGW. He makes fun of the old boy aristocratic scene, its campaigns to keep privileges and the amusing aspects of the class system.

  5. Tigger 5
    27 January 2010 at 9:43 am

    Yet another ‘opinion’ piece from a government minister.
    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=10622403

    The government doesn’t get to do ‘opinion’ pieces. They’re ‘the man’. They’re in power. They get their say through policy and laws. Their soapbox comes through their office. ‘Opinion’ pieces are people who aren’t in power giving their thoughts. Or at least they used to be. Now clearly they’re just another spin service for the government.

  6. The Voice of Reason 6
    27 January 2010 at 9:52 am

    “soon as MP implode’ yeah right. marae digipoll anyone. (PT, above)

    Have you been out of the country, PT? The lead up to Xmas in politics here in NZ was dominated by the Maori Party’s internal contradictions spilling over into the public domain. Their days, happilly, are numbered.

    • PT 6.1
      27 January 2010 at 10:28 am

      jones has never stood in a maori seat because he doesn’t want an ass whoopin from the maori party, his mouth is writing checks labour cant cash

  7. pollywog 7
    27 January 2010 at 10:11 am

    i’m wondering if there isn’t a ‘dealbreaker’ issue that will lose Key his confidence and supply vote from the maori party.

    things seem awful quiet on the foreshore and seabed but maybe a tax reform package with GST increase might do it cos i’d say there would have to be some mighty big concessions to be made there, more so than the carbon trading scheme, before Sharples and co green light that one.

  8. Pascal's bookie 8
    27 January 2010 at 11:50 am

    ACORN Obsessed GOPtivist Pimp Busted in WatergateRepeatgate Farce.

    Here

    Also

  9. Hine Te Po 9
    27 January 2010 at 12:56 pm

    Teenaa koutou,

    Neither Labour nor National are deserving of the Maaori vote. The Maaori voice represents those things that uplift and uphold the Maaori worldview – an ideology that is very much polar opposing to the Western tradition.

    We are not brown Pakeha but for those that wish to be then kei te pai – vote either Labour or National – they both offer thin lipped and scant regard to Maaori perspectives but will ensure that every home will have consumerist tendencies.

  10. prism 10
    27 January 2010 at 1:02 pm

    I think the Maori voice is about to separate in troublesome ways for the avowed purpose of Maori advancement and cultural leadership, all loudly identifying themselves as following The Right WAY.

  11. Tigger 11
    27 January 2010 at 3:02 pm

    Minto nailing Tolley for being a hypocrite…I’m with him on this one.
    http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/blogs/frontline/3266491/Stomach-stapling-school-lunches-and-hypocrisy

  12. BLiP 12
    27 January 2010 at 5:32 pm

    With respect, could I please have the indulgence of someone knowledgeable in the area of Climate Warming (denialists need not respond).

    My elderly neighbour has two questions: has Earth, in the last 100 years or so, changed its axis and, if so, can such a change explain the warming – and, although this sounds a bit batty I did say I would ask, what are the chances that underground nuclear tests in the south pacific have affected the weather in these parts.

    I know I can Google all this but, given the level of intellectual firepower amongst the regulars, I’m sure someone can spare five minutes and provide a simple, easy to unerstand answer . . . perhaps you could consider it your random act of kindness for the day?

    • lprent 12.1
      27 January 2010 at 6:10 pm

      Changes in the Earths axis and orbit are really slow.

      The precession in the Earths axis takes about 26,000 years for a complete cycle. Similarly the 23,000 year cycle between the Earths orbit and the seasons. Similarly the 41,000 year cycle between the Earths rotational axis against normal plane of the Earths orbit.

      Each of these has a climatic effect. However 100 years in half of each of these cycles has an effect that is probably too small to register in measurements.

      If you assumed that the measured global climate change in the last 100 years was normal. Then the glacials would be a hell of a lot colder than they get, and the interglacials a hell of a lot warmer. At the peaks, all life (as we know it) would be impossible.

      Read about the Milankovitch cycle.

      Above ground nuclear tests have much the same direct effect as a small volcano in terms of effect. Not much, regional, and only lasting a short period. They simply don’t toss dust up high enough into the atmosphere. Large volcanoes like Pinatubo are a lot worse. Similarly volcanoes (especially basaltic ones) are pretty good at spewing out higher levels of radiation as well when you look at them over their whole eruption cycle.

      There may be an issue in terms of long-term low-level increase in background radiation affecting plants (which affect climate) – but no-one has ever been able to measure it. Humans on the other hand clear fell forests…

      • BLiP 12.1.1
        27 January 2010 at 10:30 pm

        Much appreciated, thank you.

        This neighbour of mine is a great character; a WWII vet and teller of wonderful tales, some of which, I’m sure, are taller than others but none the less interesting for that. While listening to him explain to me why we Greenies are “as barmy as wombats” I heard his personal theory of global warming. He was, he says, a witness to a nuclear test and that even on the water miles away from the explosion, the ship’s company felt “the whole Earth move”. He says he’s happy to be proved wrong but he did feel that it might have been possible, over the years and many explosions, for the axis to have been shifted. I said I would ask someone who knows about these things. Although I doubt he’s going to change his mind about the Greens, he says he’s willing to have another look at the climate situation if I can prove him wrong by using sentences with words containing less syllables than “wheelbarrow”. “Milankovitch” might be a problem but I can write that down for him before he refers to his complete Brittanica Encyclopaedia set.

        Chur bro’.

        • lprent 12.1.1.1
          27 January 2010 at 10:51 pm

          There simply isn’t enough power in current atomic weapons to change the axis. They’d have to provide enough momentum to push some significant mass away from earth. To date they don’t even get significant effects in the stratosphere when they let them off.

          A asteroid 10 kilometres square hitting at orbital velocities may possibly register a micro change (and it wouldn’t matter anyway to us afterwards). Can’t think that anything else has a chance. There is a lot of mass and inertia to move in the earth.

          Use the numbers…. And show him wikipedia

          • BLiP 12.1.1.1.1
            27 January 2010 at 11:19 pm

            Believe me, I’ve tried to show him wikipedia but, as he tells me, the internet makes people insular, lazier and more stupid than they already are. Computers are just something else we don’t really need, part of the reason communities are failing, and why young people are so violent. Didn’t you know? 🙂

            • lprent 12.1.1.1.1.1
              27 January 2010 at 11:48 pm

              Computers make people violent? I play games so I don’t…

              Mind you moderating seems to have released a bit of the tension…

              • Zorr …
                28 January 2010 at 12:33 am

                Got to love the “clueless old guy” stuff. x_x

                urg…

                And to think that in future years there will be more and more of them that people like me will have to educate to even keep them up with current events. Not something I am particularly looking forward to.

                I think part of the reason for this kind of attitude (and sadly I feel I will probably fall prey to it as well) is that after you have lived 30-40 years and have a lot of your opinions set already it becomes very difficult to shift them when, another 20-30 years down the track, society goes through a revolution such as the computer age.

                Hopefully the critical thinking and analysis skills that are required in this age will stand me in good stead for future changes though.

              • lprent …
                28 January 2010 at 1:32 am

                It ain’t that bad. I’m over 50 and don’t think I’ve ossified yet

                Mind you rocky has been having a go at me about social media like facebook..

              • Zorr …
                28 January 2010 at 2:32 am

                urg…. Facebook…

                The pinnacle of granfalloons… how I yearn to be a part of thee…

                –dies–

          • Armchair Critic 12.1.1.1.2
            28 January 2010 at 12:29 am

            Wikipedia says the largest yield from a nuclear test was about 210PJ, compared to the average amount of solar energy arriving in the upper atmosphere at 174PW, i.e. the energy released by the nuclear test was about the same as what arrives from the sun every second and a bit of every day.
            The short version would be that while nuclear weapons and testing aren’t that much of a good thing, it is pretty unlikely they contribute much to AGW.
            Perhaps Monckton could be sent to investigate. I hear North Korea still test nukes.

            • BLiP 12.1.1.1.2.1
              28 January 2010 at 1:05 am

              hehehe – classic! Thanks for the hard data, too.

              I knew The Standard would come through – youse rock!