Monthly Archives: October 2011

Oct 26 2011

Testing Teeenager Times


Daughter is 17. And she’s growing up into the world. So much that socialising is becoming more and more prevalent. Mostly we’re ok with it, we think we have a handle on here friends and what they are like, know of their parents etc. Not smotheringly, but just in passing. “We know of”

So she comes home and gives us this tale. Her friend MS.X. has asked her if 3 of her friends, who are boys, are all 19 and working, and are from a different part of town, can crash at our place after the party as they can’t get home. MS.X. says that here mother won’t allow them to stay at her place.

So we said no. This didn’t seem appropriate and that it was a bit odd that MS.X. would ask, and had asked because my daughter is a friend who would help.

Daughter is a bit miffed and feels like she’s letting her friend down “she’ll be so upset with me”, to which we pointed out that if that was the case then MS.X. wasn’t so much of a friend.

I think we’ve won this time but it is going to get harder to keep saying no. There is a line between prevention and obstruction.

 

Oct 25 2011

It’s Electioneering time…..


That time every 3 years in New Zealand when we get to cast our collective say on what bunch of hypocrites governs us for 3 years, which is more like 2 years when all is said and done.

NZ National Party , having acquired a set of books from the outgoing NZ Labour Party of 9 years they’ve managed to walk into a couple of unexpected items, such as the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) and an Earthquake, and a bit of a boat wreck. They’ve dropped the tax rate for the higher income earners – much to the disgust of the socialist left and greens, and raised the GST rate, again much to the disgust of the Labour and Green party. That’s about all they’ve done though it’s not really been a time of forward thinking but one of introspection.

The Labour Party have campaigned hard on how badly the National Party are doing, that’s their whole mantra. Look what National did isn’t it bad. Dropping the tax rate – bad – because it’s only “rich pricks” who benefit – bad bad bad, and raising GST, that’s bad because it only punished the lower-income earners, double plus bad. The only policy shambles they’ve come up with is a Capital Gains Tax system, A tax on the rich, and at the end of a property bubble, which makes no sense. it might be an income generator in a few years, but it isn’t a fix for anything.

The Green Party are content to bag everyone about everything and clearly only want to target “rich pricks” with various incremental taxes, you earn more you pay more – for a Christchurch recovery fund- that makes no sense at all- it isn’t “fair” as they’d like you to belive, it’s targeted at the rich – who allegedly can afford more, somehow.

I don’t have any time for the Māori party – a separatist movement  – along with the Mana party, they’re not really sure what they are for or against, as long as it bags whitey and “the crown”

Couple of other things come to mind, the Labour party want to have a raise in the minimum wage, and an even more complex comparative wage standard in certain industries – yet they don’t want minimum standards of education for our children. That seems like madness.

So with only a few weeks ago it’ll be sling some mud time, see what sticks, then credit the voters with enough sense to pick and choose.

Oct 23 2011

A Commercial venture and the public purse. #4 Bridge sentries cost $80,000


Sentries guarding the Auckland Harbour Bridge on match days of the Rugby World Cup have cost taxpayers more than $80,000.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10761065
On watch on the bridge. Photo / Jason Dorday

They are there to foil any attempts at pranks, protests or even terrorism.

Transport Authority spokesman Tommy Parker described the bridge as an iconic structure and said the security was a precautionary measure to ensure no one tried to gain access.

Six security guards have complemented the closed-circuit television on the motorway network and have cost $81,000 for more than 300 hours on duty.

So that’s $45 per hour per person for 300 hours to sit and do nothing “just in case”. and it’s cost the taxpayer $81,000 for the privilege.

This is just a vile use of mitigate and safety planning in a grand  cover-your-arse gesture for some jobsworth in an office. We didn’t have this when we had the America’s cup in town for instance, and that really was a global event.

And it’s already illegal to climb the bridge without authorisation, no corporate in their right mind is going to buy into a guerilla marketing act unless they really do want two reactions (1) legal and (2) loss of market – who’s going to think that Corporate X changing the flag for theirs is nothing but a cheap publicity stunt, and the fallout would be horrible for them, and expensive.

The farce that is our bending over and taking one for the #IRB and the #RWC will unfold over the next months, when some of the out-of-pocket expenses that we the country have had to find, without recompense and without any fear of breaking even become apparent. We all know we’re in the hole for millions, but it’s a lot more millions than they said it would be – wasn’t it something like $32millions, give or take.

There is no way that there have been millions of tourista dollars into the economy, most of the attendance is local people using local money that they now won’t spend on local things for local people, we’ve given it all the to the IRB in our wisdom.

At least we’re left with not the white elephant Eden Park stadium that will be partially dismantled and under used for the next couple of decades.

via Bridge sentries cost $80,000 – National – NZ Herald News.

Oct 22 2011

A Commercial venture and the public purse. #3


Downstage Theatre in Wellington – this is like déjà vu all over again!

Cash-strapped Downstage Theatre wants Wellington ratepayers to provide a $90,000
bailout so it can continue to operate

Downstage’s chief executive and director, Hilary Beaton, said it was “disrespectful” to term the funding request a bailout.

The theatre had trained generations of actors and had “greatly contributed to the cultural fabric of the city” which added weight to calls for extra council funding, she said.

“I don’t see it as a bailout. I see it as an investment in the future and a recognition of the past.”….  But chasing audiences with tacky populist shows was not on the agenda. “We are not suddenly going to do topless lap dancing or commercial British comedy. We are committed to our programme of presenting local crafted work.”

Riiiiight, as is the obstinate refusal to put on any commercially viable event preferring locally crafted works of dubious merit and popularity. And a call to titillation, aren’t you glad we already have suffrage because this frump would like to have performance as art, which appeals to about 4 people, if you count Gordon the dog as a person.

Mrs Beaton says ” Trouble started this year when theatre attendance took a triple hammering
because of the Christchurch earthquake, the global financial crisis, and the  Rugby World Cup”

How’s that again? talk about clutching at straws, everything except nothing you did or didn’t do then. People would go to the theatre regardless, if the pricing was right and the event was worthy. What a nonsense.

Having such a vexatious chief executive and director in Hilary Beaton you have to wonder (a) what it is she does for real work (b) what she considers worthy (refer to Gordon the dog) and (c) just how much money is enough.

Having lofty ideals and ideas is fantastic, but if you find that what you’re doing is giving you the same result over and over then perhaps what you’re doing is what the problem is, not the other way around –  what’s happening isn’t the problem you have – the problem is what’s happening is you’ve managed to art yourself into a corner.

If you can’t run a commercial venture at a profit then you shouldn’t be running it. If you’re lucky to have a benefactor or a patron then by all means go ahead, it isn’t fair to expect joe public to stump up the cash for something they have little or no interest in when they have greater interest in something else.

I refer you to this blog piece and info graphic where is shows that 57% of Wellingtonians consider it a “special interest” option rather than an “amenity”

Oh and I took my quotes from here via Downstage Theatre Seeking Bailout Of $90,000 | Stuff.co.nz.

Oct 22 2011
Aside

Professor Ian Plimer is a well-known Australian geologist and is also Emeritus Professor of Earth Science at the University of Melbourne.

He’s done a bit on Climate Change and has this quote for our consumption  “If we humans, in a fit of ego, think we can change normal planetary processes that control our climate, then we need stronger medication.”

And that’s all I have to say about that

 

Global warming?

Oct 22 2011

I did a couple of things


I made this blog http://pdubyha.com bit of frippery and vanity. But it suits me.

I also brought a pizza stone, then I went back and brought another, so now I have two. Why? So I can cook pizza in my BBQ is why, and when that’s not an option then I’ll have two for the ordinary oven. See – upstairs for thinking.

Secondly I watched a documentary on the Aberfan Disaster from 1966 which I remember as a child, don’t ask me how or why but I would have been 5, so either it’s a later memory from another time, or I really do remember it. Who knows the memory is a strange thing.

Anyway from the end of the documentary there is a quote and simple it’s “The past is a different country” which makes a lot of sense, and is something that people ought to remember.

Oct 20 2011

A Commercial venture and the public purse. #2


Here’s a thing.  We’re all familiar with a user pays model. You want something, a goods or service, then you should be expected to pay.

Seems the Police are considering charging the organisers of future big commercial
events, such as the Rugby World Cup, large concerts and the Wellington sevens, for policing.

These Events soak up significant police resources, which leave other areas short-staffed.

And it’s free!!. So you can organise the biggest commercial money spinner, and the police will show up, en masse, gratis. Courtesy the tax payer.

That’s not at all right by any definition of right.

*Crying ensues* The cost of recovery would therefore be included in the cost of the ticket. Which will add-on a dollar or two to the ticket price, depending of course on the number of people and the amount of police you had turning up.

Of course being how we’re all super scared and all about mitigating problems the real issue is the over-enforcement and the over-policing of events where heavy-handed appears to be the approach, why not use a sledge-hammer to crack a nut.

Oct 20 2011

I’d do most things #2


Tattoo’s. Who knew that they arouse such passion and intensity, and debate.

http://stripstripstrip.tumblr.com/post/5619043555/who-says-we-will-all-regret-our-tattoos-when-weI know of two women who have had “experiences” with tattoo removals. One has had laser treatment to rid herself of a tattoo on her arm.

You all know how a tattoo works, the molecule of ink is too big to pass through the pores and sits in the skin forever. The treatment by laser blasts essentially blasts the ink into smaller pieces that allows it to absorb. Coloured inks requires coloured lasers. Takes ages and can be painful and can burn, dur it’s a laser.

The other story I have of tattoo removal involves a slightly weird story of a gecko tatoo and a  breast reduction. The gecko now does not have a significant part of its body. I leave it at that. It’s at the same time funny, sad and a bit humiliating.

Tattoo’s – I can’t help thinking, still, that this is a recent thing, that more younger people are inking themselves for whatever reason. I’m not sure why, and I’m not sure they are sure why either, I’m picking that they didn’t really think it through as a long-term thing.

You don’t see many older people with neck tattoo’s for instance, certainly not with tramp stamps.  I wonder what the older generation knew that the younger generation are not listening to?