That’s pretty embarrassing for them professionally, Hammer, but no doubt they will have figured that they will always be able to get work as paid shills for the oil industry. Monckton can’t live forever, after all.
Regards, TVoR, Founder and CEO of The Institute for Denial In Our Time (IDIOT) and former micronaut, weather forecaster ( Mmmm, gonna rain today… or … maybe not.) and associate fellow at the University of Burgerology, Shitkicker, Missouri.
Richard Lindzen http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Lindzen
A real climate scientist Lindzen’s graduate students describe him as “fiercely intelligent, with a deep contrarian streak.”
The rebuttal from the Wall Street Journal that the increasing occurance of extreme weather events witnessed around world is a result of climate change is extremely weak:
…those promoting alarm have shifted their drumbeat from warming to weather extremes, to enable anything unusual that happens in our chaotic climate to be ascribed to CO2.
Compare this insipid bleating to the results in this study published in Reuters and covered by Scientific American.
the idiotes at the wall street journal blew it some years back when they lost focus and started betting on power futures and it ended up falling into the hands of rupert and now its just another rag.
It’s a biased op-ed from a right-wing newspaper. To quote Forbes:
But the most amazing and telling evidence of the bias of the Wall Street Journal in this field is the fact that 255 members of the United States National Academy of Sciences wrote a comparable (but scientifically accurate) essay on the realities of climate change and on the need for improved and serious public debate around the issue, offered it to the Wall Street Journal, and were turned down. The National Academy of Sciences is the nation’s pre-eminent independent scientific organizations. Its members are among the most respected in the world in their fields. Yet the Journal wouldn’t publish this letter, from more than 15 times as many top scientists. Instead they chose to publish an error-filled and misleading piece on climate because some so-called experts aligned with their bias signed it. This may be good politics for them, but it is bad science and it is bad for the nation.
Also
Claude Allegre is the first scientist cited. This is from his Wikipedia entry
Claude Allègre
In 1996, Allègre opposed the removal of carcinogenic asbestos from the Jussieu university campus in Paris, describing it as harmless and dismissing concerns about it as a form of “psychosis created by leftists”.[6] The campus’ asbestos is deemed to have killed 22 people and caused serious health problems in 130 others.[7]
A soldier trying out for the elite SAS is in a coma after suffering extreme heat stroke while taking part in a gruelling selection course.
Lieutenant Alexander Teira Cowan, 25, collapsed while running in the Hunua Ranges near the SAS base in South Auckland.
The incident has sparked an inquiry into selection processes for the New Zealand Special Air Service, which has the motto “Who Dares Wins”.
Medics on the scene could not revive Cowan and called St John Ambulance to take him to Middlemore Hospital on Wednesday, where he remains in a coma with possible brain damage.
Speaking from the family home in Bridge Pa, Cowan’s father Monty said he had doubts his son would survive. “He’s pretty crook. I don’t know if he’s going to pull through.
Watching the Australian version of this on tele recently I was struck at how abusive some of these courses can become. Now I fully accept the need and right for the SAS to select the best candidates… and that will inevitably involve putting them through stress testing to ‘weed out the dreamers’. And while that is necessary to a degree; at some point it seems to be stepping over the line and degenerates into some kind of mad macho battle of wills to ‘break’ them.
As some of you here may have noticed, I’m a keen tramper. In my experience requiring a human being to complete battle efficiency training which involved running 8km in under one hour and 12 minutes carrying 35kg. presumably while wearing full battle fatigues over rough terrain in the Hunuas… in the middle of summer is plain nuts.
As the article pointed out the real challenge is mostly mental. There are plenty of smart ways of achieving that rather than risking their lives by physically breaking them.
That’s does not necessarily have to imply a lowering of standards.
The physical side is as important if not more so then the mental. Its one thing to think or believe you can do something and quite another to know or experience it.
As I stated above… I’ve done plenty of the physical stuff. It means I’ve got some idea of what happens when you drive a human body into thermal overload.
On Boxing Day … just a few weeks ago… I did an 6hr tramp up a local peak. In that period I drank 4litres of water and came home 2kg lighter than when I left. That’s a total loss of 6 litres of sweat. The temperature was at least 26 degC and humid.
The last 2 hrs I was dehydrated, overheated and struggling. Badly. The one person I happened to meet on the way down enquired as to my well-being.
Fortunately I was carrying less than 8kg, stripped down to my shorts and I could rest when I needed to. This was nothing to do with how fit I am. I’ve done the exact same tramp in cooler temps and while it’s still a physical challenge (over 16km of steep bush track/sub-alpine tops, and almost 2000m of total elevation gain).. I wasn’t experiencing physiological stress the way I did this last trip.
So you go hard well whoop-de-do and good for you, were you training for selection? Training because you might have to push yourself in a war zone? Training because it may well mean the difference between life and death?
An incident happens and thats regretable but how many incidents happen in training?
Not many but as I’m sure you’re aware things can and will happen in the outdoors so instead of letting some week-end warriors decide what these guys do in thier training I think its best the people that know what they’re doing figure it out
You want to help then go lobby your MP to sort out the rules regarding outdoor pursuits centers
And given that they’ve put one guy near death in hospital it’s fair enough to ask if they really do know what they are doing.
– So how long has selections been run for and only one report of an incident happening, thats pretty good when you consider how many people get hurt or killed in the outdoors.
“at some point it seems to be stepping over the line and degenerates into some kind of mad macho battle of wills to ‘break’ them.”
– Typical of a leftie, don’t understand something so label it “negative”, maybe you think they could use some sensitivity training as well?
Try reading what I said.. Now I fully accept the need and right for the SAS to select the best candidates… and that will inevitably involve putting them through stress testing to ‘weed out the dreamers’.
Where does that say “sensitivity training”?
If there is one thing I’ve learnt from more than 40 years of banging about our mountains it is that the difference between success and failure is mostly mental. When faced with any challenge the crucial thing is NOT how strong or fit you are.. it is how well you use the resources available to you.
I’ve seen slim women out-perform strong men because they had their head screwed on. Equally I recall being rather shocked at discovering one day that technically I was a far better climber than one of this country’s most well-known mountaineers.. but he’s the most remarkably tough minded person I’ve ever met. And that took him places I only ever dreamed about.
And I’ve seen perfectly fit and well people completely lose it because they’ve panicked. Above a certain fitness threshold it’s almost all mental.
And while some real fitness and strength is unquestionably necessary to serve in the SAS… that is always something that can be developed through simple basic training.
But mental toughness, calmness in the face of stress, focus and the ability to be an effective part of a team is much harder to teach. And that is what they should be really selecting for. Pushing candidates to physiological breaking point is just dumbarse.
Pushing candidates to physiological breaking point is just dumbarse.
-and theres your ignorance coming out, these guys need to be pushed to breaking point and beyond because in the course of their duties thats exactly what will happen to them so you find out if they can take it in the selection process rather then out in the field
Its not just running around hills. mountains etc etc its about seeing how they cope, the decisions they make because if they go into live operations then they’ll have to cope with more then terrain and weather
You have experience in the outdoors then put it to good use and lobby your local MP for rules. codes etc for outdoor pursuits centers because they kill and injure more then selection does
There is absolutely nothing intelligent about breaking people physiologically. It’s easy, you just make them cold, or hot, or withdraw water and or food. Or any combination thereof. Any fool can do it.
All you are doing is just doing a simple experiment that has been done before and adds no useful information that we don’t already know. Make a person cold enough and they get hypothermia. A simple predictable set of consequences result.
And if you are operationally relying on men who are physiologically broken .. you have failed already. They simply will not and cannot function effectively.
Its not just running around hills. mountains etc etc its about seeing how they cope, the decisions they make because if they go into live operations then they’ll have to cope with more then terrain and weather
Like the risk of getting killed? You can sneer all you like at ‘runing around the hills’ Mr Medals… but in 15 yrs of serious alpine climbing I almost certainly came closer to dying far more often than any serving soldier ever does in their entire career. Your macho oneupmanship is completely lost on me.
And at the same time I fully respect anyone serving in harms way in our armed services. And I fully understand exactly the level of skill and capability our best SAS soldiers have. But they are human beings, not supermen… and they obey exactly the same physiological limits as any other human being.
And that is what baffles me about these SAS selection courses; I’ve had considerable experience in pushing myself to limits I doubt you have ever thought about…. and I know that everytime you break the body’s limits you fail . In my world there’s nothing clever about that; it’s dumbarse.
And why are you so defensive about this? Are military matters all so very special that us ordinary civilians aren’t allowed to ask questions?
With reference to afewknowthetruth and R. Atack here is another musing about the end days of our oil driven hence Industrial Age. Goodchild reminds us that World production in 2030, only 18 years away will be half what it was in 2005. This fact along with Climate Change are the macro defining realities of this time.
“Most estimates indicate that by 2030, more or less, annual global oil production will be about half of the peak rate. “Half” the oil with occur at the same time as “half” of everything else (water, metals, electricity, etc.) and the general collapse of both a functional economy (with debts already beyond comprehension) and honest government (if we consider, for example, how casually the US dumped its Constitution and replaced it with the Patriot Act). All of these events will be occurring as a synergistic tangle — or, rather, an “anti-synergistic” tangle, centrifugal rather than centripetal. A little pocket calculator will tell you that, for most practical purposes, industrial civilization will be over by that same date of 2030.”
Of course “The Normalcy Bias” which I have too finds this assertion ridiculous though logic tells us otherwise. How can the World we grew up in change like this? Well short answer: It can’t ! the above must be just another doomer hypothesis surely!?
The world didn’t change. The limits were always there but we’ve either never looked for them (Farming in NZ and the resultant polluted rivers and lakes is a good example of this) or ignored them (Peak Oil, Climate Change) when told about them exclaiming that science and “progress” will get us past those limits.
mayor bob parker says the christchurch city council is dysfunctional.
rod oram in the sst says the chch city council is dysfunctional.
so what is the dysfunction?
why are they keeping it to themselves?
is it too esoteric for mere mortals to understand?
I just found this interview from William Rodrigues and Rosie O’Donnell from November 2009 back.
Who is William Rodrigues?
William Rodrigues is a hero. He saved hundreds of people on 911 with his master key and was celebrated as a hero and even invited to the White House. He “became known as “the last man out” as he really was the last man out of the North tower and could only safe his life by diving under a fire engine as the building collapsed in free fall speed.
All that changed when it became evident that what he had to say did not support the official CT. Here is his story
I listened to the interview Trav and tried hard to keep an open mind. William certainly sounded credible and his story has been authenticated by many. The essential truth about the preliminary explosions is the central issue. Prove or disprove and the case becomes credible or not credible. If there were darker forces at work the question about “Why” would need to be answered too. Definitely uneasy about official version versus other stories.
Thanks for making the effort. Here is a link to a study published only this month. Seismic measuring equipment used to study earthquakes measured the seismic activity in New York on 911. It turns out that the seismographs recorded seismic activity not related to the impact of the planes. In fact it turns out the planes had very little seismic impact at all. So where came that energy from?
This is the conclusion the author draws: CONCLUSION
At the times of the planes’ impacts into the Twin Towers and during their collapses, as well as during the collapse of WTC7, seismic waves were generated. To the degree that (1) seismic waves are only created by brief impulses and (2) that low frequencies are associated with an energy (magnitude) that is comparable to a seismic event, the waves recorded at Palisades and analyzed by LDEO undeniably have an explosive origin. Even if the planes’ impacts and the fall of the debris from the Towers onto the ground could have generated seismic waves, their magnitude would have been insufficient to be recorded 34 km away and should have been very similar to one another. As we have shown, they were not.
The types and magnitudes of the seismic signals show significant differences. The greatest differences occur in their propagation speeds, even though their paths were essentially identical under identical conditions. This difference is physically unexplained in the interpretation of the events offered by the LDEO researchers, the 9/11 Commission and NIST. Therefore, we must question their calculations of wave propagation speeds based on their assumption that the wave origins are shown on the video images of impacts and collapses. We can only conclude that the wave sources were independently detonated explosives at other times, thus accounting for the variable discrepancies for each wave origin in relation to the videos.
The composition of the waves is revealing both in terms of the location of the source and the magnitude of the energy transmitted to the ground. The subterranean origin of the waves emitted when WTC1 collapsed is attested by the presence of the P and S body waves along with the Rayleigh surface waves, which are present in all five explosions. The placement of the source locations of the four other explosions is subaerial, attested by the unique presence of Rayleigh waves. The aerial explosions visible on the videos of the upper floors of the Twin Towers do not produce seismic waves 34 km from the source.
There is a factor of ten between the power of the explosions at the time of the plane impacts on the Twin Towers (as well as at the time of the collapse of WTC7) and the strength of those more powerful explosions at the times of their collapses, the subterranean explosion under WTC1 being the one that transmitted the most energy to the ground.
Note as well the degree to which the surface waves are dispersive (i.e., their speed depends upon their frequency). The duration of the recorded signal is not representative of the duration of the signal at the source.
Finally, controlled demolition of the three towers, suggested by the visual and audio witness testimony as well as by observations of video recordings of their collapses, is thus confirmed and demonstrated by analysis of the seismic waves emitted at the moments of the plane impacts and at the moments of the collapses.
Yes. I recall looking at that seismic evidence very early on within the first few days after the event. Intriguing.
I’ve always said that the 9/11 “Truth” movement has struggled because often as not it got side-tracked (deliberately or naively) into chasing lines of enquiry that while superficially appealing, were ultimately less telling than the many more rather prosaic facts around the whole affair.
Some 76 officers, six times as many as took out Osama bin Laden, swooped – a lot more than are deployed against allegedly desperate homegrown criminals, except perhaps for terrorists in Te Urewera.
In an editorial on the Kim Dotcom arrest, the Herald dispenses with the niceties. Referring to Tuhoe awaiting trial over the Urewera raids, as “terrorists in Te Urewera”.
I notice the Herald are not as convinced of the guilt of those charged with white collar crime referring to “alleged internet pirate Kim Dotcom.”
The same for those at South Canterbury charged with “allegedly” defrauding the taxpayer to the tune of $1.7 billion.
Inferring guilt by association, the Herald include “terrorists in Te Urewera”, “desperate home grown criminals”, “Osama bin Laden”, all in the same breathless sentence.
“Some 76 officers, six times as many as took out Osama bin Laden, swooped”
Which is a completely irrelevant comparison to make, because those that took our Osama bin Laden weren’t just your ‘average’ police or even army folk, but the US’ navy seals squad (the best of the best of the best).
Also they had to fly in using stealth helicopters into a foreign country that had no idea they were coming, so they couldn’t exactly bring as many people as they wanted.
Making such ridiculously out of place comparisons really overshadows any message you were trying to convey (as in my case, because I literally haven’t read any more of your post than this).
Ha! I bet that’s the first time a Herald editorial was ever mistaken for the ramblings of a left wing rabble rouser, Lanth. Believe it or not, the ’76 officers’ line is actually from the editorial. Amazing, huh?
Jenny is absolutely tight to highlight this thoroughly racist, ignorant and confused editorial.
because those that took our Osama bin Laden weren’t just your ‘average’ police or even army folk, but the US’ navy seals squad (the best of the best of the best).
All in order to commit a murder! And turn on the patriotic bullsh*t as much as you like, that’s what it comes down to.
There is absolutely nothing intelligent about breaking people physiologically. It’s easy, you just make them cold, or hot, or withdraw water and or food. Or any combination thereof. Any fool can do it.
– No one said it was clever
All you are doing is just doing a simple experiment that has been done before and adds no useful information that we don’t already know. Make a person cold enough and they get hypothermia. A simple predictable set of consequences result.
-Its not an experiment to find out what happens
And if you are operationally relying on men who are physiologically broken .. you have failed already. They simply will not and cannot function effectively.
-The idea is to see how they cope when placed in those situations and how to deal with them so can make decisions without panicking, like the pararescue guys who practice drowning training
I’m not saying it always works of course but it works more then if they didn’t do what they do
Its not just running around hills. mountains etc etc its about seeing how they cope, the decisions they make because if they go into live operations then they’ll have to cope with more then terrain and weather
Like the risk of getting killed? You can sneer all you like at ‘runing around the hills’ Mr Medals… but in 15 yrs of serious alpine climbing I almost certainly came closer to dying far more often than any serving soldier ever does in their entire career. Your macho oneupmanship is completely lost on me.
-What I meant was sunshine I’m guessing you didn’t also have to deal with people trying to shoot you or having to complete a mission,k set up; an observation post, radio in info etc etc
And at the same time I fully respect anyone serving in harms way in our armed services. And I fully understand exactly the level of skill and capability our best SAS soldiers have. But they are human beings, not supermen… and they obey exactly the same physiological limits as any other human being.
-This is true however they can and do get trained to withstand what others can’t
And that is what baffles me about these SAS selection courses; I’ve had considerable experience in pushing myself to limits I doubt you have ever thought about…. and I know that everytime you break the body’s limits you fail . In my world there’s nothing clever about that; it’s dumbarse.
-You spend time in the outdoors for fun, recreation whatever, for these guys its their job, their career, what they’re trained to do but you seem to think that what you do is similar to what the SAS do, it isn’t, what you do is a small part of what they do
And why are you so defensive about this? Are military matters all so very special that us ordinary civilians aren’t allowed to ask questions?
– The problem is with people assuming (like you) they know whats going on and (in a worst case situation) if they ever got into a postion to influence ideas then it could be very bad
The problem is that you go tramping and do various outdoor stuff (and thats all good) but then you read of what they do and think that because it sounds similar to what you do you can then pass judgement
But the reality is that what you do and what you do is very, very different but thats ok I hope I’ve explained why you’re wrong and why you should stick to politics
You haven’t explained why you think SAS soldiers are immune to hyper/hypothermia. Or how their livers have an extra store of glycogen ordinary human beings don’t have so that their brains function when the rest of us have shut down.
Or why you think they can stand naked in a blizzard for hours on end while still happily solving Rubik cubes in 30 sec flat. Or run for an hour in full uniform, over tough ground without generating the excess heat that kills us ordinary ‘weekend warriors’.
Of course not. Soldiers are human beings. And what they do physically in the field is very similar to the demands of an extended alpine journey. Now I do understand that there are a whole bunch of specific skills and tasks that mean from a mental perspective there are many other things going on in an live military operation that are quite different to what I am accustomed to. I get that.
But that is my point; the real requirements of an effective soldier is to be able to perform these many specialised mental tasks.. while under some degree of stress. And stress can be any combination of physical and mental challenges.. I get that too.
But just physically pushing someone until their body breaks tells you nothing and is operational failure. Why go there?
All you have done is hand wave and tell me as an ignorant civilian I cannot possibly understand…
As the article states there were other candidates that didn’t collapse so, hopefully, the inquiry will tell us what happened.
What were the factors that determined why this guy collapsed and the others didn’t.
Was he tired from the night before? (quite possibly)
Was he on (legal) stimulents that could contribute to his collapse? (creatine, caffiene etc etc)
Was he simply not fit enough for the selection process? (unlikely)
Did he have an undiagnosed pre-existing condidtion?
Did he suffer an injury and not tell anyone about it?
What they don’t need is knee-jerk reactions based on opinion.
But frankly it’s my considered, and not uninformed opinion, that someone has misjudged the conditions and pushed too hard.
And I’d strongly suggest unnecessarily so. I still maintain from observation that there has developed in the last few decades or so this very strong hard-man macho mystique around the SAS. A lot of it is rooted in the totally false idea that these guys are some kind of physical supermen. Now while I accept the need for them to be very fit, strong and tough guys, the emphasis on that pure physicality seems to me to have tipped too far.
Take for instance the relatively new sport of chessboxing. Consists of a round of boxing, followed immediately by a set number of chess moves against the same opponent. From what I’ve read it’s an incredibly tough mental challenge. Lots of guys can box, lots do well at chess.. but combining both in quick succession is exceedingly challenging. That’s just an example of the kind of thing I’m thinking of… although I’m certain it’s nothing like a whole answer either.
My final point is this. As we saw with Pike River management; before the explosion they would have told anyone who questioned what was going on, that they were ignorant outsiders who couldn’t possibly comprehend what clever things they were doing and to… butt out.
No chance the SAS have developed a tiny bit of this syndrome too?
Crikey Red. I’m in awe of your outdoor pursuits – no wonder you enjoy the natural world: the tory quicksand and whack-a-mole shifting rubble that you relentlessly boot to touch here must make a 2000m climb seem a doddle….. keep it up but, delilcious and appreciated entertainment – like an informed and knowledgeable lion-tamer herding starving cats. RL for PM!
Feck I’m embarrased.. really. Last weekend I helped a bunch from the local tramping club replace all the windows in one of our older heritage huts. (DOC handed many of these older huts over to various clubs to maintain some years ago.)
Blue Range hut was actually built the year I was born, 1955. It’s good 2 hr grind up about 700m climb of bush track… most people find it’s about right for a full day walk in and out.
Here’s the rub… one of the guys with us helped build the original hut. Yes he’s in his mid-70’s…and he wasn’t any slower than the rest of us. If I can manage as well as him I’ll be delighted. (And he’s still full of stories…even if only half of them are true..)
But you have touched on something important to me ak. My deep love for this country was shaped in those experiences. Not just the fabulous places, but more importantly the extraordinary people. And those people shared a special ethos; if I can put it in a nutshell… we took pride in taking responsibility for ourselves and pushing our limits, but equally we were ALWAYS there for the other person…regardless.
The greatest bushmen this country ever saw were the hunters and Forest Service workers in the post-War era. They created the network of huts and tracks we treasure today. They taught us to replace the firewood you used, to keep the hut spotless and leave it better for the next party than when you found it. They taught us that the party is only as strong as it’s weakest member, that you stuck together regardless of what happened and looked after each other.
Looking back I guess I was hugely privileged to share in that legacy; it saddens me to see how it was stolen from our younger generations. All I can do know is not give up trying to show them what it meant.
Thank you RedLogix, what a wonderful thing you and ‘the tramping club bunch’ are doing. Thank God for people who still have consideration for others- especially our future generations-and the perspicacity (and energy) to put their visions and well thought out actions into practice.
PS I too thought a rethink about “tough” exercises was needed when I read about the unfortunate young man in a coma. I also marvelled at your patient explanations to Chri73 who seemed particularly obtuse and lacking in perspicacity today. However he obviously needed to get some deep seated hang up off his chest and I really think you may have helped. Thus, another thank you for caring for others.
A lovely story that, but yeah, those values might be diminished, but they aren’t dead. I’m relatively young, and my younger friends all practice those values in the hills, so somehow, these are being transferred and taught still. Organisations like the Federated Mountain Clubs and the New Zealand Deerstalkers are pretty consistent as well, which helps.
With DOC cutbacks for backcountry huts looming (something which needs to be challenged) in favour of frontcountry tourism facilities, it will be largely up to the community to maintain older facilities. If we lose them, we lose a massive amount of our heritage.
My biggest is worry is that, on the whole, people in conservation and recreation are white and aging. How we get younger, urban, and other cultures into the outdoors is probably the biggest challenge out there.
The thing about special forces is that they are triathletes as well as soldiers. This incident seems to be an extreme sports training accident, rather than an “experiment” or an attempt to “break” those who can’t perform. It’s exactly like a marathon runner overextending themselves – and they’ve acknowledged the problem, and are investigating what went wrong and how they can prevent it happening again, which is all you can really ask.
and they’ve acknowledged the problem, and are investigating what went wrong and how they can prevent it happening again, which is all you can really ask.
– To be fair thats probably what I should have said
And I’d agree. If it was just bad luck or something specific with that individual then that’s acceptable. Accidents do happen and can be learnt from.
But I would also hope that any internal enquiry had the balls to call it if they found evidence of a systemic screwup as well. Because on the face of it what they were asking these guys to do was in the conditions more than a little risky.
Bernard Hickey isn’t impressed with Jonkey’s ability with numbers and in predicting NZ’s economic and financial future. He isn’t impressed by Key’s attempt to reassure us that selling farmland to foreigners is not a problem in the current global financial context.:
Don’t worry so much, said Key this week, as he justified the sale of our largest privately owned group of dairy farms and foreshadowed heavier foreign borrowing over the next couple of years.
Relax. We can always borrow more and sell some assets. After all, we’ve only sold 1 per cent of our land so far.
Chill. Our foreign creditors will keep lending to us because we are the friendly, smiling borrowers who have everything under control, he crooned.
Hickey puts some of the blame onto the last Labour government, saying foreign debt, selling assets, falling productivity, and limited benefits from exports have all made things worth, but that Key is not the PM to provide the necessary intervention. I tend to agree with Hickey here, though I don’t always agree with all he says. He concludes:
He has presided over a Government that has financed a blowout in its deficits funded by foreign creditors, including the Chinese Sovereign Wealth Fund that has bought our bonds, along with Kim Dotcom.
Key campaigned to extend a programme of state asset sales that would lead to significant portions ending up in foreign hands.
The only way to end our addiction to overspending is to throw out the enablers of foreign borrowing and selling assets to foreign interests.
The proportion of our national income that has to be siphoned off to foreign creditors and asset-owners has risen from 2 per cent of GDP in the early 1970s to about 8 per cent now.
Eventually we will not be allowed to borrow more and will not have anything left to sell. Who will reassure us and enable us then?
I’m not sure why Kimdortom gets a mention here though?
Thanks ropata. You are so right, this link about a culture of impunity in NZ is an absolute Must Read. Have been trying to express much of what Pablo says for a long time.
“The Best Oylmpic cheat of them all was Marion Jones. She had it all: five medals from Sydney, the believability of an actress, the confidence to stare out her doubters, and this extraordinary helpful facility at the right moment to generate tears.”
Hmmmm
How about a joker who won 6 gold medals across glamour track and field events, who was an American icon, who cashed in with widespread endorsements through his achievements, who carefully groomed a ‘mom and apple pie’ image, who condemned a rival runner when that person was found to have used banned steriods in 1988, but who himself 3 times (apparently) tested positive for banned stimulants but was never banned from competition.
I’ve put together a feed site for some leftwing blogs… probably not recommended for dialup. Let me know if there’s any other websites that should be added.
The EU bans Iranian oil imports, to take effect from July 1 giving member states time to sort out alternative oil sources in an orderly fashion.
Pretty obvious what Iran is going to do in response, right? Yep, move to end oil exports to the EU right now. In a move which places even more economic pressure on the likes of Greece, Italy and Spain.
A new season of White Lotus is nearly upon us: more murder mystery, more sumptuous surroundings, more rich people behaving badly.Once more we get to identify with the experience of the pampered tourist or perhaps the poorly paid help; there's something in White Lotus for all New Zealanders.And unlike the ...
In 2016, Aotearoa shockingly plunged to fourth place in the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index. Nine years later, and we're back there again: New Zealand has seen a further slip in its global ranking in the latest Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI). [...] In the latest CPI New Zealand's score ...
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Transforming New Zealand: Brian EastonBrian Easton will discuss the above topic at 2/57 Willis Street, Wellington at 5:30pm on Tuesday 26 February at 2/57 Willis Street, WellingtonThe sub-title to the above is "Why is the Left failing?" Brian Easton's analysis is based on his view that while the ...
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Mountain Tui is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Correction: On the article The Condundrum of David Seymour, Luke Malpass conducted joint reviews with Bryce Wilkinson, the architect of the Regulatory Standards Bill - not Bryce Edwards. The article ...
Tomorrow the council’s Transport, Resilience and Infrastructure Committee meet and agenda has a few interesting papers. Council’s Letter of Expectation to Auckland Transport Every year the council provide a Letter of Expectation to Auckland Transport which is part of the process for informing AT of the council’s priorities and ...
All around in my home townThey're trying to track me down, yeahThey say they want to bring me in guiltyFor the killing of a deputyFor the life of a deputySongwriter: Robert Nesta Marley.Support Nick’s Kōrero today with a 20% discount on a paid subscription to receive all my newsletters directly ...
Hi,I think all of us have probably experienced the power of music — that strange, transformative thing that gets under our skin and helps us experience this whole life thing with some kind of sanity.Listening and experiencing music has always been such a huge part of my life, and has ...
Business frustration over the stalled economy is growing, and only 34% of voters are confidentNicola Willis can deliver. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Wednesday, February 12 are:Business frustration is growing about a ...
I have now lived long enough to see a cabinet minister go both barrels on their Prime Minister and not get sacked.It used to be that the PM would have a drawer full of resignations signed by ministers on the day of their appointment, ready for such an occasion. But ...
This session will feature Simon McCallum, Senior Lecturer in Engineering and Computer Science (VUW) and recent Labour Party candidate in the Southland Electorate talking about some of the issues around AI and how this should inform Labour Party policy. Simon is an excellent speaker with a comprehensive command of AI ...
The proposed Waimate garbage incinerator is dead: The company behind a highly-controversial proposal to build a waste-to-energy plant in the Waimate District no longer has the land. [...] However, SIRRL director Paul Taylor said the sales and purchase agreement to purchase land from Murphy Farms, near Glenavy, lapsed at ...
The US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act has been a vital tool in combatting international corruption. It forbids US companies and citizens from bribing foreign public officials anywhere in the world. And its actually enforced: some of the world's biggest companies - Siemens, Hewlett Packard, and Bristol Myers Squibb - have ...
December 2024 photo - with UK Tory Boris Johnson (Source: Facebook)Those PollsFor hours, political poll results have resounded across political hallways and commentary.According to the 1News Verizon poll, 50% of the country believe we are heading in the “wrong direction”, while 39% believe we are “on the right track”.The left ...
A Tai Rāwhiti mill that ran for 30 years before it was shut down in late 2023 is set to re-open in the coming months, which will eventually see nearly 300 new jobs in the region. A new report from Massey University shows that pensioners are struggling with rising costs. ...
As support continues to fall, Luxon also now faces his biggest internal ructions within the coalition since the election, with David Seymour reacting badly to being criticised by the PM. File photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate ...
Not since 1988 when Richard Prebble openly criticised David Lange have we seen such a challenge to a Prime Minister as that of David Seymour to Christopher Luxon last night. Prebble suggested Lange had mental health issues during a TV interview and was almost immediately fired. Seymour hasn’t gone quite ...
Three weeks in, and the 24/7 news cycle is not helping anyone feel calm and informed about the second Trump presidency. One day, the US is threatening 25% trade tariffs on its friends and neighbours. The reasons offered by the White House are absurd, such as stopping fentanyl coming in ...
This video includes personal musings and conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Adam Levy. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). Wherever you look, you'll hear headlines claiming we've passed 1.5 degrees of global warming. And while 2024 saw ...
Photo by Heather M. Edwards on UnsplashHere’s the key news, commentary, reports and debate around Aotearoa’s politics and economy in the week to Feb 10 below. That’s ahead of live chats on the Substack App and The Kākā’s front page on Substack at 5pm with: on his column in The ...
Is there anyone in the world the National Party loves more than a campaign donor? Why yes, there is! They will always have the warmest hello and would you like to slip into something more comfortable for that great god of our age, the High Net Worth Individual.The words the ...
Waste and fraud certainly exist in foreign aid programs, but rightwing celebration of USAID’s dismantling shows profound ignorance of the value of soft power (as opposed to hard power) in projecting US influence and interests abroad by non-military/coercive means (think of “hearts and minds,” “hugs, not bullets,” “honey versus vinegar,” ...
Health New Zealand is proposing to cut almost half of its data and digital positions – more than 1000 of them. The PSA has called on the Privacy Commissioner to urgently investigate the cuts due to the potential for serious consequences for patients. NZNO is calling for an urgent increase ...
We may see a few more luxury cars on Queen Street, but a loosening of rules to entice rich foreigners to invest more here is unlikely to “turbocharge our economic growth”. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate ...
Let us not dance daintily around the elephant in the room. Our politicians who serve us in the present are not honest, certainly not as honest as they should be, and while the right are taking out most of the trophies for warping narratives and literally redefining “facts”, the kiwi ...
A few weeks ago I took a look at public transport ridership in 2024. In today’s post I’m going to be looking a bit deeper at bus ridership. Buses make up the vast majority of ridership in Auckland with 70 million boardings last year out of a total of 89.4 ...
Oh, you know I did itIt's over and I feel fineNothing you could say is gonna change my mindWaited and I waited the longest nightNothing like the taste of sweet declineSongwriters: Chris Shiflett / David Eric Grohl / Nate Mendel / Taylor Hawkins.Hindsight is good, eh?The clarity when the pieces ...
Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on UnsplashHere’s what we’re watching in the week to February 16 and beyond in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty:Monday, February 10The Kākā’s weekly wrap-up of news about politics and the economy is due at midday, followed by webinar for paying subscribers in Substack’s ...
A listing of 23 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, February 2, 2025 thru Sat, February 8, 2025. This week's roundup is again published soleley by category. We are still interested in feedback to hone the categorization, so if ...
Today, I stumbled across a Twitter Meme: the ending of The Lord of the Rings as a Chess scenario: https://x.com/mellon_heads/status/1887983845917564991 It gets across the basic gist. Aragorn and Gandalf offering up ‘material’ at the Morannon allows Frodo and Samwise to catch Sauron unawares – fair enough. But there are a ...
Last week, Kieran McAnulty called out Chris Bishop and Nicola Willis for their claims that Kāinga Ora’s costs were too high.They had claimed Kāinga Ora’s cost were 12% higher than market i.e. private devlopersBut Kāinga Ora’s Chair had already explained why last year:"We're not building to sell, so we'll be ...
Stuff’s Political Editor Luke Malpass - A Fellow at New Zealand IniativeLast week I half-joked that Stuff / The Post’s Luke Malpass1 always sounded like he was auditioning for a job at the New Zealand Initiative.Mountain Tui is a reader-supported publication. For a limited time, subscriptions are 20% off. Thanks ...
At a funeral on Friday, there were A4-sized photos covering every wall of the Dil’s reception lounge. There must have been 200 of them, telling the story in the usual way of the video reel but also, by enlargement, making it more possible to linger and step in.Our friend Nicky ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. This fact brief was written by Sue Bin Park from the Gigafact team in collaboration with members from our team. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is methane the ...
The Government’s idea is that the private sector and Community Housing Providers will fund, build and operate new affordable housing to address our housing crisis. Meanwhile, the Government does not know where almost half of the 1,700 children who left emergency housing actually went. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong ...
Oh, home, let me come homeHome is wherever I'm with youOh, home, let me come homeHome is wherever I'm with youSongwriters: Alexander Ebert / Jade Allyson CastrinosMorena,I’m on a tight time frame this morning. In about an hour and a half, I’ll need to pack up and hit the road ...
This is a post about the Mountain Tui substack, and small tweaks - further to the poll and request post the other day. Please don’t read if you aren’t interested in my personal matters. Thank you all.After oohing-and-aahing about how to structure the Substack model since November, including obtaining ...
This transcript of a recent conversation between the Prime Minister and his chief economic adviser has not been verified.We’ve announced we are the ‘Yes Government’. Do you like it?Yes, Prime Minister.Dreamed up by the PR team. It’s about being committed to growth. Not that the PR team know anything about ...
The other day, Australian Senator Nick McKim issued a warning in the Australian Parliement about the US’s descent into fascim.And of course it’s true, but I lament - that was true as soon as Trump won.What we see is now simply the reification of the intention, planning, and forces behind ...
Among the many other problems associated with Musk/DOGE sending a fleet of teenage and twenty-something cultists to remove, copy and appropriate federal records like social security, medicaid and other supposedly protected data is the fact that the youngsters doing the data-removal, copying and security protocol and filter code over-writing have ...
Jokerman dance to the nightingale tuneBird fly high by the light of the moonOh, oh, oh, JokermanSong by Bob Dylan.Morena folks, I hope this fine morning of the 7th of February finds you well. We're still close to Paihia, just a short drive out of town. Below is the view ...
It’s been an eventful week as always, so here’s a few things that we have found interesting. We also hope everyone had a happy and relaxing Waitangi Day! This week in Greater Auckland We’re still running on summer time, but provided two chewy posts: On Tuesday, a guest ...
Queuing on Queen St: the Government is set to announce another apparently splashy growth policy on Sunday of offering residence visas to wealthy migrants. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Friday, February 7:PM Christopher ...
The fact that Waitangi ended up being such a low-key affair may mark it out as one of the most significant Waitangi Days in recent years. A group of women draped in “Toitu Te Tiriti” banners who turned their backs on the politicians’ powhiri was about as rough as it ...
Hi,This week’s Flightless Bird episode was about “fake seizure guy” — a Melbourne man who fakes seizures in order to get members of the public to sit on him.The audio documentary (which I have included in this newsletter in case you don’t listen to Flightless Bird) built on reporting first ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Karin Kirk The 119th Congress comes with a price tag. The oil and gas industry gave about $24 million in campaign contributions to the members of the U.S. House and Senate expected to be sworn in January 3, 2025, according to a ...
Early morning, the shadows still long, but you can already feel the warmth building. Our motel was across the road from the historic homestead where Henry Williams' family lived. The evening before, we wandered around the gardens, reading the plaques and enjoying the close proximity to the history of the ...
Thanks folks for your feedback, votes and comments this week. I’ll be making the changes soon. Appreciate all your emails, comments and subscriptions too. I know your time is valuable - muchas gracias.A lot is happening both here and around the world - so I want to provide a snippets ...
Data released today by Statistics NZ shows that unemployment rose to 5.1%, with 33,000 more people out of work than last year said NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi Economist Craig Renney. “The latest data shows that employment fell in Aotearoa at its fastest rate since the GFC. Unemployment rose in 8 ...
The December labour market statistics have been released, showing yet another increase in unemployment. There are now 156,000 unemployed - 34,000 more than when National took office. And having thrown all these people out of work, National is doubling down on cruelty. Because being vicious will somehow magically create the ...
Boarded up homes in Kilbirnie, where work on a planned development was halted. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Wednesday, February 5 are;Housing Minister Chris Bishop yesterday announcedKāinga Ora would be stripped of ...
This week Kiwirail and Auckland Transport were celebrating the completion of the summer rail works that had the network shut or for over a month and the start of electric trains to Pukekohe. First up, here’s parts of the press release about the shutdown works. Passengers boarding trains in Auckland ...
Through its austerity measures, the coalition government has engineered a rise in unemployment in order to reduce inflation while – simultaneously – cracking down harder and harder on the people thrown out of work by its own policies. To that end, Social Development Minister Louise Upston this week added two ...
This year, we've seen a radical, white supremacist government ignoring its Tiriti obligations, refusing to consult with Māori, and even trying to legislatively abrogate te Tiriti o Waitangi. When it was criticised by the Waitangi Tribunal, the government sabotaged that body, replacing its legal and historical experts with corporate shills, ...
Poor old democracy, it really is in a sorry state. It would be easy to put all the blame on the vandals and tyrants presently trashing the White House, but this has been years in the making. It begins with Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan and the spirit of Gordon ...
The new school lunches came in this week, and they were absolutely scrumptious.I had some, and even though Connor said his tasted like “stodge” and gave him a sore tummy, I myself loved it!Look at the photos - I knew Mr Seymour wouldn’t lie when he told us last year:"It ...
The tighter sanctions are modelled on ones used in Britain, which did push people off ‘the dole’, but didn’t increase the number of workers, and which evidence has repeatedly shown don’t work. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, ...
Catching you up on the morning’s global news and a quick look at the parallels -GLOBALTariffs are backSharemarkets in the US, UK and Europe have “plunged” in response to Trump’s tariffs. And while Mexico has won a one month reprieve, Canada and China will see their respective 25% and 10% ...
This post by Nicolas Reid was originally published on Linked in. It is republished here with permission. Gondolas are often in the news, with manufacturers of ropeway systems proposing them as a modern option for mass transit systems in New Zealand. However, like every next big thing in transport, it’s hard ...
This is a re-post from The Climate BrinkBoth 2023 and 2024 were exceptionally warm years, at just below and above 1.5C relative to preindustrial in the WMO composite of surface temperature records, respectively. While we are still working to assess the full set of drivers of this warmth, it is clear that ...
Hi,I woke up feeling nervous this morning, realising that this weekend Flightless Bird is going to do it’s first ever live show. We’re heading to a sold out (!) show in Seattle to test the format out in front of an audience. If it works, we’ll do more. I want ...
From the United-For-Now States of America comes the thrilling news that a New Zealander may be at the very heart of the current coup. Punching above our weight on the world stage once more! Wait, you may be asking, what New Zealander? I speak of Peter Thiel, made street legal ...
Even Stevens: Over the 33 years between 1990 and 2023 (and allowing for the aberrant 2020 result) the average level of support enjoyed by the Left and Right blocs, at roughly 44.5 percent each, turns out to be, as near as dammit, identical.WORLDWIDE, THE PARTIES of the Left are presented ...
Back in 2023, a "prominent political figure" went on trial for historic sex offences. But we weren't allowed to know who they were or what political party they were "prominent" in, because it might affect the way we voted. At the time, I said that this was untenable; it was ...
I'm going, I'm goingWhere the water tastes like wineI'm going where the water tastes like wineWe can jump in the waterStay drunk all the timeI'm gonna leave this city, got to get awayI'm gonna leave this city, got to get awayAll this fussing and fighting, man, you know I sure ...
Waitangi Day is a time to honour Te Tiriti o Waitangi and stand together for a just and fair Aotearoa. Across the motu, communities are gathering to reflect, kōrero, and take action for a future built on equity and tino rangatiratanga. From dawn ceremonies to whānau-friendly events, there are ...
Subscribe to Mountain Tūī ! Where you too can learn about exciting things from a flying bird! Tweet.Yes - I absolutely suck at marketing. It’s a fact.But first -My question to all readers is:How should I set up the Substack model?It’s been something I’ve been meaning to ask since November ...
Here’s the key news, commentary, reports and debate around Aotearoa’s political economy on politics and in the week to Feb 3:PM Christopher Luxon began 2025’s first day of Parliament last Tuesday by carrying on where left off in 2024, letting National’s junior coalition partner set the political agenda and dragging ...
Half of Pacific children sometimes going without food is just one of many heartbreaking lowlights in the Salvation Army’s annual State of the Nation report. ...
The Salvation Army’s State of the Nation report is a bleak indictment on the failure of Government to take steps to end poverty, with those on benefits, including their children, hit hardest. ...
New Zealand First has today introduced a Member’s Bill which would restore decision-making power to local communities regarding the fluoridation of drinking water. The ‘Fluoridation (Referendum) Legislation Bill’ seeks to repeal the Health (Fluoridation of Drinking Water) Amendment Act 2021 that granted centralised authority to the Direct General of Health ...
New Zealand First has introduced a Member’s Bill aimed at preventing banks from refusing their services to businesses because of the current “Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Framework”. “This Bill ensures fairness and prevents ESG standards from perpetuating woke ideology in the banking sector being driven by unelected, globalist, climate ...
Erica Stanford has reached peak shortsightedness if today’s announcement is anything to go by, picking apart immigration settings piece by piece to the detriment of the New Zealand economy. ...
Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. The intention was to establish a colony with the cession of sovereignty to the Crown, ...
Te Whatu Ora Chief Executive Margie Apa leaving her job four months early is another symptom of this government’s failure to deliver healthcare for New Zealanders. ...
The Green Party is calling for the Prime Minister to show leadership and be unequivocal about Aotearoa New Zealand’s opposition to a proposal by the US President to remove Palestinians from Gaza. ...
The latest unemployment figures reveal that job losses are hitting Māori and Pacific people especially hard, with Māori unemployment reaching a staggering 9.7% for the December 2024 quarter and Pasifika unemployment reaching 10.5%. ...
Waitangi 2025: Waitangi Day must be community and not politically driven - Shane Jones Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. ...
Despite being confronted every day with people in genuine need being stopped from accessing emergency housing – National still won’t commit to building more public houses. ...
The Green Party says the Government is giving up on growing the country’s public housing stock, despite overwhelming evidence that we need more affordable houses to solve the housing crisis. ...
Before any thoughts of the New Year and what lies ahead could even be contemplated, New Zealand reeled with the tragedy of Senior Sergeant Lyn Fleming losing her life. For over 38 years she had faithfully served as a front-line Police officer. Working alongside her was Senior Sergeant Adam Ramsay ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson will return to politics at Waitangi on Monday the 3rd of February where she will hold a stand up with fellow co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick. ...
Te Pāti Māori is appalled by the government's blatant mishandling of the school lunch programme. David Seymour’s ‘cost-saving’ measures have left tamariki across Aotearoa with unidentifiable meals, causing distress and outrage among parents and communities alike. “What’s the difference between providing inedible food, and providing no food at all?” Said ...
The Government is doubling down on outdated and volatile fossil fuels, showing how shortsighted and destructive their policies are for working New Zealanders. ...
Green Party MP Steve Abel this morning joined Coromandel locals in Waihi to condemn new mining plans announced by Shane Jones in the pit of the town’s Australian-owned Gold mine. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to strengthen its just-announced 2030-2035 Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement and address its woeful lack of commitment to climate security. ...
Today marks a historic moment for Taranaki iwi with the passing of the Te Pire Whakatupua mō Te Kāhui Tupua/Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill in Parliament. "Today, we stand together as descendants of Taranaki, and our tūpuna, Taranaki Maunga, is now formally acknowledged by the law as a living tūpuna. ...
Labour is relieved to see Children’s Minister Karen Chhour has woken up to reality and reversed her government’s terrible decisions to cut funding from frontline service providers – temporarily. ...
It is the first week of David Seymour’s school lunch programme and already social media reports are circulating of revolting meals, late deliveries, and mislabelled packaging. ...
The Green Party says that with no-cause evictions returning from today, the move to allow landlords to end tenancies without reason plunges renters, and particularly families who rent, into insecurity and stress. ...
The Government’s move to increase speed limits substantially on dozens of stretches of rural and often undivided highways will result in more serious harm. ...
In her first announcement as Economic Growth Minister, Nicola Willis chose to loosen restrictions for digital nomads from other countries, rather than focus on everyday Kiwis. ...
The Government’s commitment to get New Zealand’s roads back on track is delivering strong results, with around 98 per cent of potholes on state highways repaired within 24 hours of identification every month since targets were introduced, Transport Minister Chris Bishop says. “Increasing productivity to help rebuild our economy is ...
The former Cadbury factory will be the site of the Inpatient Building for the new Dunedin Hospital and Health Minister Simeon Brown says actions have been taken to get the cost overruns under control. “Today I am giving the people of Dunedin certainty that we will build the new Dunedin ...
From today, Plunket in Whāngarei will be offering childhood immunisations – the first of up to 27 sites nationwide, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. The investment of $1 million into the pilot, announced in October 2024, was made possible due to the Government’s record $16.68 billion investment in health. It ...
New Zealand’s strong commitment to the rights of disabled people has continued with the response to an important United Nations report, Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston has announced. Of the 63 concluding observations of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), 47 will be progressed ...
Resources Minister Shane Jones has launched New Zealand’s national Minerals Strategy and Critical Minerals List, documents that lay a strategic and enduring path for the mineral sector, with the aim of doubling exports to $3 billion by 2035. Mr Jones released the documents, which present the Coalition Government’s transformative vision ...
Firstly I want to thank OceanaGold for hosting our event today. Your operation at Waihi is impressive. I want to acknowledge local MP Scott Simpson, local government dignitaries, community stakeholders and all of you who have gathered here today. It’s a privilege to welcome you to the launch of the ...
Racing Minister, Winston Peters has announced the Government is preparing public consultation on GST policy proposals which would make the New Zealand racing industry more competitive. “The racing industry makes an important economic contribution. New Zealand thoroughbreds are in demand overseas as racehorses and for breeding. The domestic thoroughbred industry ...
Business confidence remains very high and shows the economy is on track to improve, Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis says. “The latest ANZ Business Outlook survey, released yesterday, shows business confidence and expected own activity are ‘still both very high’.” The survey reports business confidence fell eight points to +54 ...
Enabling works have begun this week on an expanded radiology unit at Hawke’s Bay Fallen Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital which will double CT scanning capacity in Hawke’s Bay to ensure more locals can benefit from access to timely, quality healthcare, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. This investment of $29.3m in the ...
The Government has today announced New Zealand’s second international climate target under the Paris Agreement, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand will reduce emissions by 51 to 55 per cent compared to 2005 levels, by 2035. “We have worked hard to set a target that is both ambitious ...
Nine years of negotiations between the Crown and iwi of Taranaki have concluded following Te Pire Whakatupua mō Te Kāhui Tupua/the Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill passing its third reading in Parliament today, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “This Bill addresses the historical grievances endured by the eight iwi ...
As schools start back for 2025, there will be a relentless focus on teaching the basics brilliantly so all Kiwi kids grow up with the knowledge, skills and competencies needed to grow the New Zealand of the future, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “A world-leading education system is a key ...
Housing Minister Chris Bishop and Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson have welcomed Kāinga Ora’s decision to re-open its tender for carpets to allow wool carpet suppliers to bid. “In 2024 Kāinga Ora issued requests for tender (RFTs) seeking bids from suppliers to carpet their properties,” Mr Bishop says. “As part ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour has today visited Otahuhu College where the new school lunch programme has served up healthy lunches to students in the first days of the school year. “As schools open in 2025, the programme will deliver nutritious meals to around 242,000 students, every school day. On ...
Minister for Children Karen Chhour has intervened in Oranga Tamariki’s review of social service provider contracts to ensure Barnardos can continue to deliver its 0800 What’s Up hotline. “When I found out about the potential impact to this service, I asked Oranga Tamariki for an explanation. Based on the information ...
A bill to make revenue collection on imported and exported goods fairer and more effective had its first reading in Parliament, Customs Minister Casey Costello said today. “The Customs (Levies and Other Matters) Amendment Bill modernises the way in which Customs can recover the costs of services that are needed ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Department of Internal Affairs [the Department] has achieved significant progress in completing applications for New Zealand citizenship. “December 2024 saw the Department complete 5,661 citizenship applications, the most for any month in 2024. This is a 54 per cent increase compared ...
Reversals to Labour’s blanket speed limit reductions begin tonight and will be in place by 1 July, says Minister of Transport Chris Bishop. “The previous government was obsessed with slowing New Zealanders down by imposing illogical and untargeted speed limit reductions on state highways and local roads. “National campaigned on ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis has announced Budget 2025 – the Growth Budget - will be delivered on Thursday 22 May. “This year’s Budget will drive forward the Government’s plan to grow our economy to improve the incomes of New Zealanders now and in the years ahead. “Budget 2025 will build ...
For the Government, 2025 will bring a relentless focus on unleashing the growth we need to lift incomes, strengthen local businesses and create opportunity. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon today laid out the Government’s growth agenda in his Statement to Parliament. “Just over a year ago this Government was elected by ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour welcomes students back to school with a call to raise attendance from last year. “The Government encourages all students to attend school every day because there is a clear connection between being present at school and setting yourself up for a bright future,” says Mr ...
The Government is relaxing visitor visa requirements to allow tourists to work remotely while visiting New Zealand, Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis, Immigration Minister Erica Stanford and Tourism Minister Louise Upston say. “The change is part of the Government’s plan to unlock New Zealand’s potential by shifting the country onto ...
The opening of Kāinga Ora’s development of 134 homes in Epuni, Lower Hutt will provide much-needed social housing for Hutt families, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I’ve been a strong advocate for social housing on Kāinga Ora’s Epuni site ever since the old earthquake-prone housing was demolished in 2015. I ...
Trade and Investment Minister Todd McClay will travel to Australia today for meetings with Australian Trade Minister, Senator Don Farrell, and the Australia New Zealand Leadership Forum (ANZLF). Mr McClay recently hosted Minister Farrell in Rotorua for the annual Closer Economic Relations (CER) Trade Ministers’ meeting, where ANZLF presented on ...
A new monthly podiatry clinic has been launched today in Wairoa and will bring a much-needed service closer to home for the Wairoa community, Health Minister Simeon Brown says.“Health New Zealand has been successful in securing a podiatrist until the end of June this year to meet the needs of ...
The Judicial Conduct Commissioner has recommended a Judicial Conduct Panel be established to inquire into and report on the alleged conduct of acting District Court Judge Ema Aitken in an incident last November, Attorney-General Judith Collins said today. “I referred the matter of Judge Aitken’s alleged conduct during an incident ...
Students who need extra help with maths are set to benefit from a targeted acceleration programme that will give them more confidence in the classroom, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Last year, significant numbers of students did not meet the foundational literacy and numeracy level required to gain NCEA. To ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters has announced three new diplomatic appointments. “Our diplomats play an important role in ensuring New Zealand’s interests are maintained and enhanced across the world,” Mr Peters says. “It is a pleasure to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and ...
Ki te kahore he whakakitenga, ka ngaro te Iwi – without a vision, the people will perish. The Government has achieved its target to reduce the number of households in emergency housing motels by 75 per cent five years early, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. The number of households ...
The opening of Palmerston North’s biggest social housing development will have a significant impact for whānau in need of safe, warm, dry housing, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. The minister visited the development today at North Street where a total of 50 two, three, and four-bedroom homes plus a ...
Report by Dr David Robie – Café Pacific. – The United States shares the pathologies of all dying empires with their mixture of buffoonery, rampant corruption, military fiascos, economic collapse and savage state repression.ANALYSIS: By Chris Hedges The billionaires, Christian fascists, grifters, psychopaths, imbeciles, narcissists and deviants who ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The Albanese government has secured bipartisan support for a major new regime covering political donations and spending, after making significant concessions. The government agreed to increase the proposed threshold above which donations must be disclosed ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra With the election only months away, the Labor government finds itself suddenly battling with the Trump administration for an exemption from new US tariffs on steel and aluminium. The opposition has supported the effort, but ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Julee McDonagh, Senior Research Fellow of Frailty Research, University of Wollongong PeopleImages.com – Yuri A/Shutterstock Ageing is a normal part of the life course. It doesn’t matter how many green smoothies you drink, or how many “anti-ageing” skin care products you ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bronwyn Carlson, Professor, Critical Indigenous Studies and Director of The Centre for Global Indigenous Futures, Macquarie University The Conversation, CC BY-SAAboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised this article contains names and images of deceased people. Colonial commemorations ...
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Good morning:
The “Anthropogenic Global Warming” story takes a hit – this time from the Wall Street Journal.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204301404577171531838421366.html
Good to see Dr Chris de Freitas get an honourable mention too.
[Pull another ‘dump and run’ like this and you will be put into moderation…RL]
That’s pretty embarrassing for them professionally, Hammer, but no doubt they will have figured that they will always be able to get work as paid shills for the oil industry. Monckton can’t live forever, after all.
Regards, TVoR, Founder and CEO of The Institute for Denial In Our Time (IDIOT) and former micronaut, weather forecaster ( Mmmm, gonna rain today… or … maybe not.) and associate fellow at the University of Burgerology, Shitkicker, Missouri.
16 concerned scientists debunk global warming. These scientists include:
http://floppingaces.net/most_wanted/16-concerned-scientists-no-need-to-panic-about-global-warming/#comment-357641
How well did the Wall Street Journal do at predicting the GFC, and that is in the area of their expertise.
(From the link supplied by Hammer above)
The rebuttal from the Wall Street Journal that the increasing occurance of extreme weather events witnessed around world is a result of climate change is extremely weak:
Compare this insipid bleating to the results in this study published in Reuters and covered by Scientific American.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=refile-flooding-is-biggest-climate
Click to EditDelete
the idiotes at the wall street journal blew it some years back when they lost focus and started betting on power futures and it ended up falling into the hands of rupert and now its just another rag.
Slashdot geeks take apart the WSJ quite effectively …
Also
Herald
Watching the Australian version of this on tele recently I was struck at how abusive some of these courses can become. Now I fully accept the need and right for the SAS to select the best candidates… and that will inevitably involve putting them through stress testing to ‘weed out the dreamers’. And while that is necessary to a degree; at some point it seems to be stepping over the line and degenerates into some kind of mad macho battle of wills to ‘break’ them.
As some of you here may have noticed, I’m a keen tramper. In my experience requiring a human being to complete battle efficiency training which involved running 8km in under one hour and 12 minutes carrying 35kg. presumably while wearing full battle fatigues over rough terrain in the Hunuas… in the middle of summer is plain nuts.
Who the hell approved this nonsense?
Its only nonsense to you, to me its selecting the best the NZ armed forces has to offer and training them to be even better.
You lower the standard (insert whatever pun you feel appropriate here) and testing then you lower the caliber of the soldier.
Once thats lowered then you put those soldiers at greater risk when they’re called on to do the hard tasks they’re expected to carry out.
As the article pointed out the real challenge is mostly mental. There are plenty of smart ways of achieving that rather than risking their lives by physically breaking them.
That’s does not necessarily have to imply a lowering of standards.
Crap
The physical side is as important if not more so then the mental. Its one thing to think or believe you can do something and quite another to know or experience it.
Stick to politics.
As I stated above… I’ve done plenty of the physical stuff. It means I’ve got some idea of what happens when you drive a human body into thermal overload.
On Boxing Day … just a few weeks ago… I did an 6hr tramp up a local peak. In that period I drank 4litres of water and came home 2kg lighter than when I left. That’s a total loss of 6 litres of sweat. The temperature was at least 26 degC and humid.
The last 2 hrs I was dehydrated, overheated and struggling. Badly. The one person I happened to meet on the way down enquired as to my well-being.
Fortunately I was carrying less than 8kg, stripped down to my shorts and I could rest when I needed to. This was nothing to do with how fit I am. I’ve done the exact same tramp in cooler temps and while it’s still a physical challenge (over 16km of steep bush track/sub-alpine tops, and almost 2000m of total elevation gain).. I wasn’t experiencing physiological stress the way I did this last trip.
When did you last push yourself that hard chris?
Do you want a medal? I have three.
So you go hard well whoop-de-do and good for you, were you training for selection? Training because you might have to push yourself in a war zone? Training because it may well mean the difference between life and death?
An incident happens and thats regretable but how many incidents happen in training?
Not many but as I’m sure you’re aware things can and will happen in the outdoors so instead of letting some week-end warriors decide what these guys do in thier training I think its best the people that know what they’re doing figure it out
You want to help then go lobby your MP to sort out the rules regarding outdoor pursuits centers
I think its best the people that know what they’re doing figure it out
And given that they’ve got one guy near death in hospital it’s fair enough to ask if they really do know what they are doing.
As for your sarcasm… you asked if I knew what hyperthermia was and if I had experienced it. I gave you a factual response.
I really do believe you have three medals….Arsehatery and Double Bar I dare say.
And given that they’ve put one guy near death in hospital it’s fair enough to ask if they really do know what they are doing.
– So how long has selections been run for and only one report of an incident happening, thats pretty good when you consider how many people get hurt or killed in the outdoors.
“at some point it seems to be stepping over the line and degenerates into some kind of mad macho battle of wills to ‘break’ them.”
– Typical of a leftie, don’t understand something so label it “negative”, maybe you think they could use some sensitivity training as well?
Try reading what I said.. Now I fully accept the need and right for the SAS to select the best candidates… and that will inevitably involve putting them through stress testing to ‘weed out the dreamers’.
Where does that say “sensitivity training”?
If there is one thing I’ve learnt from more than 40 years of banging about our mountains it is that the difference between success and failure is mostly mental. When faced with any challenge the crucial thing is NOT how strong or fit you are.. it is how well you use the resources available to you.
I’ve seen slim women out-perform strong men because they had their head screwed on. Equally I recall being rather shocked at discovering one day that technically I was a far better climber than one of this country’s most well-known mountaineers.. but he’s the most remarkably tough minded person I’ve ever met. And that took him places I only ever dreamed about.
And I’ve seen perfectly fit and well people completely lose it because they’ve panicked. Above a certain fitness threshold it’s almost all mental.
And while some real fitness and strength is unquestionably necessary to serve in the SAS… that is always something that can be developed through simple basic training.
But mental toughness, calmness in the face of stress, focus and the ability to be an effective part of a team is much harder to teach. And that is what they should be really selecting for. Pushing candidates to physiological breaking point is just dumbarse.
Pushing candidates to physiological breaking point is just dumbarse.
-and theres your ignorance coming out, these guys need to be pushed to breaking point and beyond because in the course of their duties thats exactly what will happen to them so you find out if they can take it in the selection process rather then out in the field
Its not just running around hills. mountains etc etc its about seeing how they cope, the decisions they make because if they go into live operations then they’ll have to cope with more then terrain and weather
You have experience in the outdoors then put it to good use and lobby your local MP for rules. codes etc for outdoor pursuits centers because they kill and injure more then selection does
There is absolutely nothing intelligent about breaking people physiologically. It’s easy, you just make them cold, or hot, or withdraw water and or food. Or any combination thereof. Any fool can do it.
All you are doing is just doing a simple experiment that has been done before and adds no useful information that we don’t already know. Make a person cold enough and they get hypothermia. A simple predictable set of consequences result.
And if you are operationally relying on men who are physiologically broken .. you have failed already. They simply will not and cannot function effectively.
Its not just running around hills. mountains etc etc its about seeing how they cope, the decisions they make because if they go into live operations then they’ll have to cope with more then terrain and weather
Like the risk of getting killed? You can sneer all you like at ‘runing around the hills’ Mr Medals… but in 15 yrs of serious alpine climbing I almost certainly came closer to dying far more often than any serving soldier ever does in their entire career. Your macho oneupmanship is completely lost on me.
And at the same time I fully respect anyone serving in harms way in our armed services. And I fully understand exactly the level of skill and capability our best SAS soldiers have. But they are human beings, not supermen… and they obey exactly the same physiological limits as any other human being.
And that is what baffles me about these SAS selection courses; I’ve had considerable experience in pushing myself to limits I doubt you have ever thought about…. and I know that everytime you break the body’s limits you fail . In my world there’s nothing clever about that; it’s dumbarse.
And why are you so defensive about this? Are military matters all so very special that us ordinary civilians aren’t allowed to ask questions?
Purple hearts, Chris? Given the discussion it would be ironic if they were for shedding blood.
Um no I never served in the US armed forces.
My mistake. Your spelling (center, caliber) made me think you were a seppo.
Fair call, spelling is not my strong point
Terrible old jokes revisited:
When I quit my job as a human cannonball, they said I’d be hard to replace … because you don’t often meet men of my calibre.
Is it going to be another…round of bad jokes
Some jokes are explosive.
And some I just can’t get fired up about.
With reference to afewknowthetruth and R. Atack here is another musing about the end days of our oil driven hence Industrial Age. Goodchild reminds us that World production in 2030, only 18 years away will be half what it was in 2005. This fact along with Climate Change are the macro defining realities of this time.
“Waking In The Half World”
refer link: http://www.countercurrents.org/goodchild280112.htm
“Most estimates indicate that by 2030, more or less, annual global oil production will be about half of the peak rate. “Half” the oil with occur at the same time as “half” of everything else (water, metals, electricity, etc.) and the general collapse of both a functional economy (with debts already beyond comprehension) and honest government (if we consider, for example, how casually the US dumped its Constitution and replaced it with the Patriot Act). All of these events will be occurring as a synergistic tangle — or, rather, an “anti-synergistic” tangle, centrifugal rather than centripetal. A little pocket calculator will tell you that, for most practical purposes, industrial civilization will be over by that same date of 2030.”
Of course “The Normalcy Bias” which I have too finds this assertion ridiculous though logic tells us otherwise. How can the World we grew up in change like this? Well short answer: It can’t ! the above must be just another doomer hypothesis surely!?
The world didn’t change. The limits were always there but we’ve either never looked for them (Farming in NZ and the resultant polluted rivers and lakes is a good example of this) or ignored them (Peak Oil, Climate Change) when told about them exclaiming that science and “progress” will get us past those limits.
mayor bob parker says the christchurch city council is dysfunctional.
rod oram in the sst says the chch city council is dysfunctional.
so what is the dysfunction?
why are they keeping it to themselves?
is it too esoteric for mere mortals to understand?
I just found this interview from William Rodrigues and Rosie O’Donnell from November 2009 back.
Who is William Rodrigues?
William Rodrigues is a hero. He saved hundreds of people on 911 with his master key and was celebrated as a hero and even invited to the White House. He “became known as “the last man out” as he really was the last man out of the North tower and could only safe his life by diving under a fire engine as the building collapsed in free fall speed.
All that changed when it became evident that what he had to say did not support the official CT. Here is his story
I just don’t know. I went in to work that morning and when asked about the events my first response was, “who burnt the Reichstag?”
Yep!
I listened to the interview Trav and tried hard to keep an open mind. William certainly sounded credible and his story has been authenticated by many. The essential truth about the preliminary explosions is the central issue. Prove or disprove and the case becomes credible or not credible. If there were darker forces at work the question about “Why” would need to be answered too. Definitely uneasy about official version versus other stories.
Hi Ianmac,
Thanks for making the effort. Here is a link to a study published only this month. Seismic measuring equipment used to study earthquakes measured the seismic activity in New York on 911. It turns out that the seismographs recorded seismic activity not related to the impact of the planes. In fact it turns out the planes had very little seismic impact at all. So where came that energy from?
This is the conclusion the author draws:
CONCLUSION
At the times of the planes’ impacts into the Twin Towers and during their collapses, as well as during the collapse of WTC7, seismic waves were generated. To the degree that (1) seismic waves are only created by brief impulses and (2) that low frequencies are associated with an energy (magnitude) that is comparable to a seismic event, the waves recorded at Palisades and analyzed by LDEO undeniably have an explosive origin. Even if the planes’ impacts and the fall of the debris from the Towers onto the ground could have generated seismic waves, their magnitude would have been insufficient to be recorded 34 km away and should have been very similar to one another. As we have shown, they were not.
The types and magnitudes of the seismic signals show significant differences. The greatest differences occur in their propagation speeds, even though their paths were essentially identical under identical conditions. This difference is physically unexplained in the interpretation of the events offered by the LDEO researchers, the 9/11 Commission and NIST. Therefore, we must question their calculations of wave propagation speeds based on their assumption that the wave origins are shown on the video images of impacts and collapses. We can only conclude that the wave sources were independently detonated explosives at other times, thus accounting for the variable discrepancies for each wave origin in relation to the videos.
The composition of the waves is revealing both in terms of the location of the source and the magnitude of the energy transmitted to the ground. The subterranean origin of the waves emitted when WTC1 collapsed is attested by the presence of the P and S body waves along with the Rayleigh surface waves, which are present in all five explosions. The placement of the source locations of the four other explosions is subaerial, attested by the unique presence of Rayleigh waves. The aerial explosions visible on the videos of the upper floors of the Twin Towers do not produce seismic waves 34 km from the source.
There is a factor of ten between the power of the explosions at the time of the plane impacts on the Twin Towers (as well as at the time of the collapse of WTC7) and the strength of those more powerful explosions at the times of their collapses, the subterranean explosion under WTC1 being the one that transmitted the most energy to the ground.
Note as well the degree to which the surface waves are dispersive (i.e., their speed depends upon their frequency). The duration of the recorded signal is not representative of the duration of the signal at the source.
Finally, controlled demolition of the three towers, suggested by the visual and audio witness testimony as well as by observations of video recordings of their collapses, is thus confirmed and demonstrated by analysis of the seismic waves emitted at the moments of the plane impacts and at the moments of the collapses.
Yes. I recall looking at that seismic evidence very early on within the first few days after the event. Intriguing.
I’ve always said that the 9/11 “Truth” movement has struggled because often as not it got side-tracked (deliberately or naively) into chasing lines of enquiry that while superficially appealing, were ultimately less telling than the many more rather prosaic facts around the whole affair.
Like they finally got Al Capone on tax evasion …
Innocent until proven Maori.
In an editorial on the Kim Dotcom arrest, the Herald dispenses with the niceties. Referring to Tuhoe awaiting trial over the Urewera raids, as “terrorists in Te Urewera”.
I notice the Herald are not as convinced of the guilt of those charged with white collar crime referring to “alleged internet pirate Kim Dotcom.”
The same for those at South Canterbury charged with “allegedly” defrauding the taxpayer to the tune of $1.7 billion.
Inferring guilt by association, the Herald include “terrorists in Te Urewera”, “desperate home grown criminals”, “Osama bin Laden”, all in the same breathless sentence.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/technology/news/article.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10781891
“Some 76 officers, six times as many as took out Osama bin Laden, swooped”
Which is a completely irrelevant comparison to make, because those that took our Osama bin Laden weren’t just your ‘average’ police or even army folk, but the US’ navy seals squad (the best of the best of the best).
Also they had to fly in using stealth helicopters into a foreign country that had no idea they were coming, so they couldn’t exactly bring as many people as they wanted.
Making such ridiculously out of place comparisons really overshadows any message you were trying to convey (as in my case, because I literally haven’t read any more of your post than this).
Ha! I bet that’s the first time a Herald editorial was ever mistaken for the ramblings of a left wing rabble rouser, Lanth. Believe it or not, the ’76 officers’ line is actually from the editorial. Amazing, huh?
Jenny is absolutely tight to highlight this thoroughly racist, ignorant and confused editorial.
All in order to commit a murder! And turn on the patriotic bullsh*t as much as you like, that’s what it comes down to.
There is absolutely nothing intelligent about breaking people physiologically. It’s easy, you just make them cold, or hot, or withdraw water and or food. Or any combination thereof. Any fool can do it.
– No one said it was clever
All you are doing is just doing a simple experiment that has been done before and adds no useful information that we don’t already know. Make a person cold enough and they get hypothermia. A simple predictable set of consequences result.
-Its not an experiment to find out what happens
And if you are operationally relying on men who are physiologically broken .. you have failed already. They simply will not and cannot function effectively.
-The idea is to see how they cope when placed in those situations and how to deal with them so can make decisions without panicking, like the pararescue guys who practice drowning training
I’m not saying it always works of course but it works more then if they didn’t do what they do
Its not just running around hills. mountains etc etc its about seeing how they cope, the decisions they make because if they go into live operations then they’ll have to cope with more then terrain and weather
Like the risk of getting killed? You can sneer all you like at ‘runing around the hills’ Mr Medals… but in 15 yrs of serious alpine climbing I almost certainly came closer to dying far more often than any serving soldier ever does in their entire career. Your macho oneupmanship is completely lost on me.
-What I meant was sunshine I’m guessing you didn’t also have to deal with people trying to shoot you or having to complete a mission,k set up; an observation post, radio in info etc etc
And at the same time I fully respect anyone serving in harms way in our armed services. And I fully understand exactly the level of skill and capability our best SAS soldiers have. But they are human beings, not supermen… and they obey exactly the same physiological limits as any other human being.
-This is true however they can and do get trained to withstand what others can’t
And that is what baffles me about these SAS selection courses; I’ve had considerable experience in pushing myself to limits I doubt you have ever thought about…. and I know that everytime you break the body’s limits you fail . In my world there’s nothing clever about that; it’s dumbarse.
-You spend time in the outdoors for fun, recreation whatever, for these guys its their job, their career, what they’re trained to do but you seem to think that what you do is similar to what the SAS do, it isn’t, what you do is a small part of what they do
And why are you so defensive about this? Are military matters all so very special that us ordinary civilians aren’t allowed to ask questions?
– The problem is with people assuming (like you) they know whats going on and (in a worst case situation) if they ever got into a postion to influence ideas then it could be very bad
The problem is that you go tramping and do various outdoor stuff (and thats all good) but then you read of what they do and think that because it sounds similar to what you do you can then pass judgement
But the reality is that what you do and what you do is very, very different but thats ok I hope I’ve explained why you’re wrong and why you should stick to politics
I apoligise for the errors in my typing, the edit function doesn’t seem to be working (but it might just be at my end)
It didn’t work for me either.
You haven’t explained why you think SAS soldiers are immune to hyper/hypothermia. Or how their livers have an extra store of glycogen ordinary human beings don’t have so that their brains function when the rest of us have shut down.
Or why you think they can stand naked in a blizzard for hours on end while still happily solving Rubik cubes in 30 sec flat. Or run for an hour in full uniform, over tough ground without generating the excess heat that kills us ordinary ‘weekend warriors’.
Of course not. Soldiers are human beings. And what they do physically in the field is very similar to the demands of an extended alpine journey. Now I do understand that there are a whole bunch of specific skills and tasks that mean from a mental perspective there are many other things going on in an live military operation that are quite different to what I am accustomed to. I get that.
But that is my point; the real requirements of an effective soldier is to be able to perform these many specialised mental tasks.. while under some degree of stress. And stress can be any combination of physical and mental challenges.. I get that too.
But just physically pushing someone until their body breaks tells you nothing and is operational failure. Why go there?
All you have done is hand wave and tell me as an ignorant civilian I cannot possibly understand…
As the article states there were other candidates that didn’t collapse so, hopefully, the inquiry will tell us what happened.
What were the factors that determined why this guy collapsed and the others didn’t.
Was he tired from the night before? (quite possibly)
Was he on (legal) stimulents that could contribute to his collapse? (creatine, caffiene etc etc)
Was he simply not fit enough for the selection process? (unlikely)
Did he have an undiagnosed pre-existing condidtion?
Did he suffer an injury and not tell anyone about it?
What they don’t need is knee-jerk reactions based on opinion.
Fair enough. Those would be my thoughts too.
But frankly it’s my considered, and not uninformed opinion, that someone has misjudged the conditions and pushed too hard.
And I’d strongly suggest unnecessarily so. I still maintain from observation that there has developed in the last few decades or so this very strong hard-man macho mystique around the SAS. A lot of it is rooted in the totally false idea that these guys are some kind of physical supermen. Now while I accept the need for them to be very fit, strong and tough guys, the emphasis on that pure physicality seems to me to have tipped too far.
Take for instance the relatively new sport of chessboxing. Consists of a round of boxing, followed immediately by a set number of chess moves against the same opponent. From what I’ve read it’s an incredibly tough mental challenge. Lots of guys can box, lots do well at chess.. but combining both in quick succession is exceedingly challenging. That’s just an example of the kind of thing I’m thinking of… although I’m certain it’s nothing like a whole answer either.
My final point is this. As we saw with Pike River management; before the explosion they would have told anyone who questioned what was going on, that they were ignorant outsiders who couldn’t possibly comprehend what clever things they were doing and to… butt out.
No chance the SAS have developed a tiny bit of this syndrome too?
Crikey Red. I’m in awe of your outdoor pursuits – no wonder you enjoy the natural world: the tory quicksand and whack-a-mole shifting rubble that you relentlessly boot to touch here must make a 2000m climb seem a doddle….. keep it up but, delilcious and appreciated entertainment – like an informed and knowledgeable lion-tamer herding starving cats. RL for PM!
Feck I’m embarrased.. really. Last weekend I helped a bunch from the local tramping club replace all the windows in one of our older heritage huts. (DOC handed many of these older huts over to various clubs to maintain some years ago.)
Blue Range hut was actually built the year I was born, 1955. It’s good 2 hr grind up about 700m climb of bush track… most people find it’s about right for a full day walk in and out.
Here’s the rub… one of the guys with us helped build the original hut. Yes he’s in his mid-70’s…and he wasn’t any slower than the rest of us. If I can manage as well as him I’ll be delighted. (And he’s still full of stories…even if only half of them are true..)
But you have touched on something important to me ak. My deep love for this country was shaped in those experiences. Not just the fabulous places, but more importantly the extraordinary people. And those people shared a special ethos; if I can put it in a nutshell… we took pride in taking responsibility for ourselves and pushing our limits, but equally we were ALWAYS there for the other person…regardless.
The greatest bushmen this country ever saw were the hunters and Forest Service workers in the post-War era. They created the network of huts and tracks we treasure today. They taught us to replace the firewood you used, to keep the hut spotless and leave it better for the next party than when you found it. They taught us that the party is only as strong as it’s weakest member, that you stuck together regardless of what happened and looked after each other.
Looking back I guess I was hugely privileged to share in that legacy; it saddens me to see how it was stolen from our younger generations. All I can do know is not give up trying to show them what it meant.
Thank you RedLogix, what a wonderful thing you and ‘the tramping club bunch’ are doing. Thank God for people who still have consideration for others- especially our future generations-and the perspicacity (and energy) to put their visions and well thought out actions into practice.
PS I too thought a rethink about “tough” exercises was needed when I read about the unfortunate young man in a coma. I also marvelled at your patient explanations to Chri73 who seemed particularly obtuse and lacking in perspicacity today. However he obviously needed to get some deep seated hang up off his chest and I really think you may have helped. Thus, another thank you for caring for others.
A lovely story that, but yeah, those values might be diminished, but they aren’t dead. I’m relatively young, and my younger friends all practice those values in the hills, so somehow, these are being transferred and taught still. Organisations like the Federated Mountain Clubs and the New Zealand Deerstalkers are pretty consistent as well, which helps.
With DOC cutbacks for backcountry huts looming (something which needs to be challenged) in favour of frontcountry tourism facilities, it will be largely up to the community to maintain older facilities. If we lose them, we lose a massive amount of our heritage.
My biggest is worry is that, on the whole, people in conservation and recreation are white and aging. How we get younger, urban, and other cultures into the outdoors is probably the biggest challenge out there.
That made my day Peter. It might even do for a couple of weeks….
The thing about special forces is that they are triathletes as well as soldiers. This incident seems to be an extreme sports training accident, rather than an “experiment” or an attempt to “break” those who can’t perform. It’s exactly like a marathon runner overextending themselves – and they’ve acknowledged the problem, and are investigating what went wrong and how they can prevent it happening again, which is all you can really ask.
and they’ve acknowledged the problem, and are investigating what went wrong and how they can prevent it happening again, which is all you can really ask.
– To be fair thats probably what I should have said
And I’d agree. If it was just bad luck or something specific with that individual then that’s acceptable. Accidents do happen and can be learnt from.
But I would also hope that any internal enquiry had the balls to call it if they found evidence of a systemic screwup as well. Because on the face of it what they were asking these guys to do was in the conditions more than a little risky.
Well no I disagree (surprise) because for the amount of guys that go through selection there doesn’t seem to be many incidents
However if something is found that makes selection safer without compromising their standards then I’m all for it
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surviving_the_Cut
(not that I’m suggesting anyone look this up and then download the programs if interested because that would be bad)
Well said Chris 73 🙂
Perhaps NZ should disband the SAS. We are too small a country to need a band of unaccountable assassins roaming the hills on secret missions.
… that civilians couldn’t “possbily” comprehend.
NB: Edit problems here too (FF9,W7)
We definitely need the SAS. And a beefed up defensively oriented military force.
Bernard Hickey isn’t impressed with Jonkey’s ability with numbers and in predicting NZ’s economic and financial future. He isn’t impressed by Key’s attempt to reassure us that selling farmland to foreigners is not a problem in the current global financial context.:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10781864
Hickey puts some of the blame onto the last Labour government, saying foreign debt, selling assets, falling productivity, and limited benefits from exports have all made things worth, but that Key is not the PM to provide the necessary intervention. I tend to agree with Hickey here, though I don’t always agree with all he says. He concludes:
I’m not sure why Kimdortom gets a mention here though?
Dotcom got preferential treatment from Immigration because he bought $10 mill of govt bonds.
Uh, so he got preferential treatment and we got to pay him interest on the loan he gave NZ? Why does that not sound right.
Kiwipolitico (Pablo) exposes the levels of corruption and cronyism in the elite of NZ society.. MUST READ
http://www.kiwipolitico.com/2012/01/a-culture-of-impunity/
Thanks ropata. You are so right, this link about a culture of impunity in NZ is an absolute Must Read. Have been trying to express much of what Pablo says for a long time.
dont forget stephen joyce who said before the lection that broadband internet would allow for faster (nudge nudge wink wink ) downloads.
Great to hear John Key announce on TV1 News just now that we have a ‘”trans-Tasman employment market”.
Finally we get the Australian wages….no?
Piece in the SST today, B11, states:
“The Best Oylmpic cheat of them all was Marion Jones. She had it all: five medals from Sydney, the believability of an actress, the confidence to stare out her doubters, and this extraordinary helpful facility at the right moment to generate tears.”
Hmmmm
How about a joker who won 6 gold medals across glamour track and field events, who was an American icon, who cashed in with widespread endorsements through his achievements, who carefully groomed a ‘mom and apple pie’ image, who condemned a rival runner when that person was found to have used banned steriods in 1988, but who himself 3 times (apparently) tested positive for banned stimulants but was never banned from competition.
Someone to rival Marion Jones?
Leftwing blog
I’ve put together a feed site for some leftwing blogs… probably not recommended for dialup. Let me know if there’s any other websites that should be added.
Thanks Jackal. Oxygen for real human beings and social justice.
The EU bans Iranian oil imports, to take effect from July 1 giving member states time to sort out alternative oil sources in an orderly fashion.
Pretty obvious what Iran is going to do in response, right? Yep, move to end oil exports to the EU right now. In a move which places even more economic pressure on the likes of Greece, Italy and Spain.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/27/us-iran-sanctions-oil-idUSTRE80Q0GW20120127