General Debate 22 January 2013

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Lance

Oh dear
Gareth Morgan has lost the plot……

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10860618
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January 22, 2013 8:04am
Keeping Stock

Quite so Lance; it’s bad enough him trying to coach the Wellington Phoenix, but this one takes the biscuit. Perhaps it’s time for him to head off on another of his motorcycle trips…

http://keepingstock.blogspot.co.nz/2013/01/enough-is-enough-gareth.html
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January 22, 2013 8:08am
The only red for me is that of Manchester United

Gareth Morgan really is bonkers isn’t he? Wouldn’t his fuel guzzling motorbikes do more harm the enviroment than Tibbles the cat. The man has become an embarrassment to himself.
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January 22, 2013 8:14am
Pete George

Someone somwehere said today “Name-calling is not reasoned debate”.

He’s right.
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January 22, 2013 8:15am
Colville

This is in addition to Gareth pushing for Stewart Island to be blanket aerial bombed with Brodifacoum to get rid of all exotic life. Course the locals get huge money out of the hunters that come for the Whitetail deer so they were not at all happy… someone (in jest 🙂 ) said Gareth would end up in a cray pot if he ever ventured onto the island ….

http://www.fishnhunt.co.nz/forum/YaBB.cgi?num=1351651285/0
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January 22, 2013 8:19am
graham

My cats bring home a fair number of birds, it is true. But they also bring home a lot of mice, and their fair share of rats. As long as they continue to wipe out the rodents, they’re staying.
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January 22, 2013 8:19am
MT_Tinman

Morgan, for once, has got it right.

I note the SPCA fellow has resorted to telling lies (or the slime have “misquoted” him) to counter Morgan’s facts.

Cats, if kept, should be confined to the owner’s property at all times with seriously large fines for those owners who do not do so.
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January 22, 2013 8:25am
Lance

Wow Tinman
What a head trip you are on.
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January 22, 2013 8:28am
CHFR

Agreed Graham.

As I see it my cats remove the lower grade breeding stock from the bird populations thus allowing the stronger birds to breed and ensuring the survival of the species.
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January 22, 2013 8:29am
Paulus

I thought that Emmmerson the Herald cartoonist had lost his marbles yesterday when he held the media as a pawn to Dotcon. Very good.

But he is back to normal daily self, continuing to trying to influence readers against John Key and/or the Government.

Should get a good placing in the Labour list for 2014.

Silly “Man”?
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January 22, 2013 8:35am
Manolo

Greenpeace must be extremely happy the return of Greenie and fifth-columnist Nick Smith to cabinet.
Is Labour lite so bereft of talent that they need to bring back the incompetent nutter father of the ETS?
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January 22, 2013 8:35am
Paulus

I hear that Winston has called the return of Nick Smith as “Unethical”.

Yes, that is from Winston, but must assume that he was drunk anyway, – the most hypocritical member we have seen in recent history.
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January 22, 2013 8:42am
Manolo

And the demented Luddites join the chorus: http://www.3news.co.nz/Nick-Smith-shouldnt-return-to-Cabinet–Greens/tabid/1607/articleID/283859/Default.aspx
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January 22, 2013 8:44am
Pete George

Killing all the cats sounds as sparrow brained as Mao, as graham says, cats contain a lot of pests – including sparrows.

We have a cat and there are others in the neighbourhood, and they co-exist with a native bird population – bellbirds, wood pigeons, tui are increasing in number. Our cat catches mostly sparrows, starlings, mice and rats.
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January 22, 2013 8:47am
Pete George

Some environmental groups are at odds with Turei and would welcome Nick Smith back to an environmental portfolio (as reported on Radio NZ).
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January 22, 2013 8:49am
eszett

Poor Manolo, must be really confusing for you
Greenpeace happy, the Greens not and you being on the same page as the Greens on this one.
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January 22, 2013 8:49am
hmmokrightitis

Funny old world: I have three friends stuck in London thanks to global warming, erm, climate change, um, cold white stuff.

I note the blared headline from the herald this morning, that 72,000 people have signed the petition against gay marriage. OMG – what about the fact that thats around 1.5% of the population – so 98.5% of people couldnt be arsed?

And whilst I think Morgan is right, WTF is he thinking? Yeah, its fun hunting feral cats. Yeah, they used to shit on our lawn because our neighbours couldnt control them, so much so that we couldnt let our kids play outside. But going public like this? Hell, just buy some anti freeze like the rest of us 🙂
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January 22, 2013 8:54am
Weihana

A few days old…

http://mashable.com/2013/01/18/i-have-a-dream-internet-freedom/

As Friday is one year since the Internet blackout against the Stop Online Piracy Act, some Internet activists are marking the date by declaring “Internet Freedom Day.”

How does one celebrate Internet Freedom Day? Fight for the Future, an advocacy group that played a key role in SOPA’s defeat, is commemorating the date by uploading and sharing footage of Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech.

Why is that a radical move? Footage of the speech is copyrighted by EMI, which has issued takedown notices several times after the speech has been uploaded to services such as YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIshI_qxxew&feature=youtu.be

Today we celebrate the 1 year anniversary of the defeat of SOPA. On Monday we celebrate the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. We’re asking everyone to engage in a small act of civil disobedience and share this video of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s historic “I Have a Dream” speech.

Dr. King’s call for racial justice is as relevant today as it was in 1963. But the video can’t be watched online by a new generation, because it’s copyrighted until 2038. Had SOPA and PIPA passed last year, you could have gone to jail for sharing this video, and entire websites could have been shut down just for linking to it. This speech is too important to be censored by a broken copyright system.

As Dr. King once said, “…one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.”
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January 22, 2013 8:57am
graham

The neighbour’s dogs come and poo on my land, dirty buggers. They also terrify the sheep, and although I haven’t had any killed several people around my way HAVE had livestock attacked by dogs roaming free and uncontrolled. They have had to put sheep and horses down, thanks to these murdering dogs.

Add to that the fact that the bl**dy dogs bark incessantly and annoy the sh!t out of me, and I think Morgan has set his sights on the wrong animal …
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January 22, 2013 9:04am
MT_Tinman

We have a cat and there are others in the neighbourhood, and they co-exist with a native bird population

Balls!

All cats are indiscriminate killers. The only reason they are leaving some birds alone (if they are) is because currently there is an easier supply of small animals and birds they can torture and kill.

Cats are one of the few animals that torture and kill for pleasure, attacking only from ambush and from behind their victims.

Disgusting, cowardly vermin at best.
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January 22, 2013 9:07am
Ryan Sproull

I assume that this link has already been posted today? Cats are serial murderers.
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January 22, 2013 9:16am
graham

Ryan Sproull:

“According to the study, 49% are left to rot.”

Not in my house. My cats eat the vast majority of the birds, and all the mice they catch and bring home. They’ve attempted a couple of the rats too.

I would estimate that maybe 5% or less of their kill is left uneaten.

*Edit: As long as people are so keen to attribute human values to animals, is it better or worse if they don’t eat them? If a person murders someone, does it make it better if they don’t let them go to waste, but eat them? Is a cannibal better than a murderer?
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January 22, 2013 9:19am
RF

Cry me a river. Poor wee Zac appears to believe his ongoing alcohol problem is not too serious as he is still having a few social beers.

Drop him from all teams to keep him out of the public eye and send him away to rehab. Its his problem so let him sort it out himself with some background support.

There will be repeat performances until he accepts he is unable consume alcohol.
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January 22, 2013 9:20am
Manolo

The sorry state of a once-proud democracy: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2261872/We-need-bloodbath-tame-arrogant-officials.html
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January 22, 2013 9:29am
Lance

@Tinman
Getting rid of the cats during the middle ages worked out well… no wait.
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January 22, 2013 9:31am
Pete George

Popcorn eaters – Chris Trotter is the next to stir abour’s leadership pot, with a big dollop of Grant Robertson.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/opinion/columnists/chris-trotter/8205614/Strategy-vital-for-hopefuls-before-leadership-vote
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January 22, 2013 9:32am
Longknives

I see New Zealand’s resident ‘Expert on Everything’ Gareth Morgan has been running his mouth off again. It astounds me that the media run to this idiot for comment on everything from sports to the economy to environmental issues.

If he was really concerned about the environment he would advocate the extermination of the human race- Far,far worse for our native flora and fauna than poor old Mr Frisky the family pussy cat ever was….
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January 22, 2013 9:34am
Bill

Great fun over at the Standard today. They are ridiculing their former President, Mike Williams.
Williams was on RNZ yesterday with Matthew Hooton and called bloggers Nutters. He was attacking TS and by implication all bloggers. No wonder Labour lost on his watch and ended up in 4 years of rudderless wandering.he had not updated the structures or the constitution.
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January 22, 2013 9:40am
Lance

One of the biggest myths on the decline of native species is the destruction by cats.
This is crap.

The real reason is loss of habitat. Simple as that.
If you are desperately trying to have a species to cling on as it teeters on extinction then maybe a few cats are a problem but it’s not what did 99.999% of the damage.

As longknives pointed out, it’s human activity that has caused the decline in native birds.

But I understand the Greenies want to reduce human population so I guess Gareth and Tinman is right at home with them.
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January 22, 2013 9:42am
MT_Tinman

Lance (1,647) Says:
January 22nd, 2013 at 9:42 am
As longknives pointed out, it’s human activity that has caused the decline in native birds.

You are correct Lance – must be a first for you eh?

Humans, of course, introduced the bloody cats.
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January 22, 2013 9:55am
Lance

@Tinman
If it is humans or native birds … I vote humans
You obviously think otherwise.
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January 22, 2013 10:15am
Lance

BTW cats are bloody good at killing rats and mice, a major threat to humans and native birds.
Indeed that is why they have been taken to most corners of the earth by humans.

(I hate having to state the bleeding obvious)
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January 22, 2013 10:21am
Scott Chris

Oh dear
Gareth Morgan has lost the plot……

Not so sure about that, though I think banning new cat ownership from certain areas would be a more realistic goal with compulsory sterilization of existing moggies in those areas.
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January 22, 2013 10:26am
david

Both Morgan and all commenters here have missed the bleeding obvious regarding native birds. One of the biggest causes of decline is displacement by introduced species in their particular eco niches and also by predation. From pigeons to starlings, sparrows to Indian mynahs (labeled by Bryce Courtney as “flying shit factories”) these are the species that need to be eliminated.
Having said that feral cats need to be controlled.
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January 22, 2013 10:30am
Lance

@david
Absolutely.
I don’t even particularly like cats but I object to BS like banning all cats as some sort of easy fix answer. Like kill all the cast and threatened native species will spring back to abundance… yea right.

And unless there is a huge trapping, poisoning program the bloody rat and mice population will explode.
Ill thought out drivel.
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January 22, 2013 10:35am
Scott Chris

The demise of the Stephens Island Wren:

The Stephens Island Wren was long remembered in local mythos as the only known species to be entirely wiped out by a single living being: the local lighthouse keeper’s cat, named Tibbles. However, this belief was erroneous; while this cat did kill one of the last birds seen, a few more specimens were obtained in the following years, by which time the island also hosted numerous feral cats.
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January 22, 2013 10:37am
cha

We have a bird fancier living nearby whose activities regarding the local cats, including our own Burmese, have done wonders for the resident Tui population.

This bloke has the right idea though.
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January 22, 2013 10:38am
Lance

@Scott
A small closed ecosystem does not an environment make.

And if rats had got onto the island would the outcome have been any different?
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January 22, 2013 10:39am
Scott Chris

The real reason is loss of habitat. Simple as that.

Sure, but but that doesn’t mean we should give up on what’s remaining does it?
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January 22, 2013 10:50am
magsta

The trouble with born-again environmentalists like Gareth Morgan is that they have a simplistic view of how ecosystems function. They also have a tendency to talk with folk who have a fixation on NZ’s birdlife but little understanding of the other components of natural habitats. Yes, cats kill native birds… but in suburban locations, they mainly take the small species that breed up pretty quickly (silver eyes and fantails).
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03014220709510087

However, cats kill mice, rats, weasels, stoats and are therefore removing or controlling populations of other bird predators.
I’m not against rules for suburban cat owners and would be happy to see domestic cats chipped, but how realistic is it to ask all farmers to remove cats from their lands….. it would be a field day for the rodents (palm kernel smorgasbord) and bunnies.

maggy wassilieff
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January 22, 2013 10:54am
Scott Chris

And if rats had got onto the island would the outcome have been any different?

No doubt there were rats and mice on the island too which one would assume were controlled to a certain extent in numbers by the feral cats – especially once they’d run out of wrens to kill. But a very blunt instrument indeed.
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January 22, 2013 10:57am
Azeraph

It’s human activity as other posters have pointed out.
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January 22, 2013 10:57am
Azeraph

Scott Chris (4,717) Says:
January 22nd, 2013 at 10:50 am

One only has to look at our pollinators and their decline from the varoa as well as other factors involved. We all know pretty garden flowers don’t help one jot as these creatures needs are similar to us with food, a wide range of wild flowers but there’s this silly idea that mowed ground is preferable.
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January 22, 2013 11:08am
Pete George

I didn’t watch Seven Sharp last night, but according to executive producer Raewyn Rasch the priorities are Audience, Audience, Audience, although I suspect Advertiser figures in there somewhere too.

http://yournz.org/2013/01/22/seven-sharps-three-priorities-audience-audience-audience/
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January 22, 2013 11:09am
Scott Chris

It’s human activity as other posters have pointed out.

Sure. However it may turn out that human activity of a different kind will be salvation to what remains. Morgan’s just playing the activist’s game. Gets people talking.
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January 22, 2013 11:09am
Azeraph

Chickens are great for cockroaches, unbelievable how fast they can clean up a place.
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January 22, 2013 11:11am
Kea

Global Warming Strikes the UK (AGAIN)

Freezing weather is continuing to paralyse the UK as snow storms start spreading west into Europe.

British commuters fought to get to work as airlines and train operators struggled to deal with a blanket of snow and ice, while thousands of schools were closed, forcing parents to stay at home to look after children.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/europe/8206634/Travel-chaos-as-snow-freezes-Europe

Climate predictions in the year 2000

According to Dr David Viner, a senior research scientist at the climatic research unit (CRU) of the University of East Anglia,within a few years winter snowfall will become “a very rare and exciting event”.

David Parker, at the Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research in Berkshire, says ultimately, British children could have only virtual experience of snow. Via the internet, they might wonder at polar scenes – or eventually “feel” virtual cold.

http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/snowfalls-are-now-just-a-thing-of-the-past-724017.html
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January 22, 2013 11:18am
southtop

The bird Morgan needs to save is a Phoenix, maybe too many pussies in the mix?
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January 22, 2013 11:31am
Manolo

Proof that money cannot buy you class:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=oGcbXiuCM0o
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January 22, 2013 1:09pm
krazykiwi

Hardly rocket science –

Degrees ranked by earning potential

Five years after leaving university, a medicine graduate is earning about three times the average $35,500 salary of a performing arts graduate, according to the report. An engineer earns $58,287.

Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment Minister Steven Joyce said the new report and website offered important, real information about New Zealand’s industries.

“The data highlights the large variation in earning potential for different types of graduates, with those studying in in-demand areas earning the most.

I’ve lost count of the number of young people who’ve been encouraged to “study what they love” only to emerge from years of fun, easy study with a debt and no job prospect. We seem to lack a basic understanding of the distinction between a hobby, and a vocation.
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January 22, 2013 1:22pm
Weihana

Manolo (8,804) Says:
January 22nd, 2013 at 1:09 pm

Proof that money cannot buy you class:

Or proof that some people have too much time on their hands. Do you know what was being said? Have you considered maybe one can’t implement communist rule on an empty stomach?
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January 22, 2013 1:42pm
Weihana

krazykiwi (8,608) Says:
January 22nd, 2013 at 1:22 pm

I’ve lost count of the number of young people who’ve been encouraged to “study what they love” only to emerge from years of fun, easy study with a debt and no job prospect. We seem to lack a basic understanding of the distinction between a hobby, and a vocation.

Although while their average salary may be three times less, so is their debt. Your reference doesn’t seem to indicate that there are “no job prospect[s]”, simply that their earning potential is less on average. For many people a higher salary doesn’t necessarily correspond to a happier life.
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January 22, 2013 1:52pm
Scott Chris

Proof that money cannot buy you class:

You’re a racist asshole Manolo.
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January 22, 2013 1:58pm
Lance

Seriously Manolo
You need help.
Your pure hatred of the Obama’s is kinda disturbing.
Hell I don’t remember Redbaiter being that twisted, and that’s saying something.
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January 22, 2013 2:02pm
cha

Classic eye roll at whatever Boehner said.
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January 22, 2013 2:07pm
Pete George

An interesting tweet:

Mihingarangi Forbes ‏@Mihi_Forbes
Is there a Mana-Maori Party merger in the wind? Both Harawira and Sharples say it’s a possibility
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January 22, 2013 2:17pm
Pete George

A re-unification of Harawira and the Maori Party makes some sense, but it would complicate the leadership situation with a decidedly male look – and competing ambitions of Harawira and Flavell.

http://yournz.org/2013/01/22/maori-mana-merge/
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January 22, 2013 2:29pm
dime

“Scott Chris (4,722) Says:
January 22nd, 2013 at 1:58 pm

Proof that money cannot buy you class:

You’re a racist asshole Manolo.”

huh? commenting on her lack of manners is racist? wtf?
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January 22, 2013 2:58pm
Weihana

Mars Curiosity Descent 1080p x264 AAC
http://torrent.zoink.it/Mars.Curiosity.Descent.1080p.x264.AAC.%5BMVGroup.org%5D.torrent

Cool. 🙂
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January 22, 2013 2:58pm
dime

Dime is in the market for a new coffee machine.

Any recommendations? budget is a max of $2,500.
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January 22, 2013 2:59pm
Pete George

How often do you want her to make it dime?
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January 22, 2013 3:01pm
meh

Dime – have used the Jura F50 at friends places seemed ok and about within budget. I’ve got an Ascaso Dream italian thing which is a bit cheaper but makes good coffee – all manual though no simple button press (but has the option to use pods.. simple no mess..)
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January 22, 2013 3:08pm
dime

Pete made a funny 😛

meh – cheers ill have a look. but yeah, Dime is a one button type lazy ass. fully automatic.

I did look at a POD system. Philips do one that does a one touch flat white. trade off being pods are 80cents a throw.
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January 22, 2013 3:31pm
meh

That’s the benefits of drinking long blacks – i put a pod in, flick switch on then off, coffee is made 😀
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January 22, 2013 3:34pm
RRM

Stove top espresso makers are about $50… They don’t put frothy milk on top, but will still make a decent coffee that kicks your arse in the morning.

I just got a stainless one to replace my old aluminium Bialetti, as I have been hearing bad things about long-term ingestion of aluminium, links to alzheimers & dementia, that “need more research” etc…
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January 22, 2013 3:52pm
dime

yeah i like the frothy milk heh
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January 22, 2013 4:13pm
Manolo

How these thieves got here? http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/hawkes-bay/8208456/Police-hunt-charity-box-thieves

Scum of the worst kind.
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January 22, 2013 4:14pm
Viking2

RRM (6,143) Says:
January 22nd, 2013 at 3:52 pm

Stove top espresso makers are about $50… They don’t put frothy milk on top, but will still make a decent coffee that kicks your arse in the morning.

I just got a stainless one to replace my old aluminium Bialetti, as I have been hearing bad things about long-term ingestion of aluminium, links to alzheimers & dementia,

OOOOPs TOO LATE. 😆 😆
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January 22, 2013 4:26pm
Weihana

http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/capital-life/8198309/Efficient-solar-cells-coming-soon

Revolutionary nanotechnology allowing householders to harness enough energy from the sun’s rays to free them from mounting electricity bills is just around the corner.

Wellington scientist Justin Hodgkiss is at the forefront of the global race to develop commercially viable printable energy- generating solar cells. The cells could transform life in the Third World and free the First World from the costly shackles of the electricity grid.

Good news. The predictions of certain futurists might be right.

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/need-to-know/environment/futurist-ray-kurzweil-isnt-worried-about-climate-change/7389/

Author, inventor and futurist Ray Kurzweil famously and accurately predicted that a computer would beat a man at chess by 1998, that technologies that help spread information would accelerate the collapse of the Soviet Union, and that a worldwide communications network would emerge in the mid 1990s (i.e. the Internet).

Most of Kurzweil’s prognostications are derived from his law of accelerating returns — the idea that information technologies progress exponentially, in part because each iteration is used to help build the next, better, faster, cheaper one. In the case of computers, this is not just a theory but an observable trend — computer processing power has doubled every two years for nearly half a century.

Kurzweil also believes this theory can be applied to solar energy. As part of a panel convened by the National Association of Engineers, Kurzweil, together with Google co-founder Larry Page, concluded that solar energy technology is improving at such a rate that it will soon be able to compete with fossil fuels.

…

Ray Kurzweil: One of my primary theses is that information technologies grow exponentially in capability and power and bandwidth and so on. If you buy an iPhone today, it’s twice as good as two years ago for half that cost. That is happening with solar energy — it is doubling every two years. And it didn’t start two years ago, it started 20 years ago. Every two years we have twice as much solar energy in the world.

Today, solar is still more expensive than fossil fuels, and in most situations it still needs subsidies or special circumstances, but the costs are coming down rapidly — we are only a few years away from parity. And then it’s going to keep coming down, and people will be gravitating towards solar, even if they don’t care at all about the environment, because of the economics.

So right now it’s at half a percent of the world’s energy. People tend to dismiss technologies when they are half a percent of the solution. But doubling every two years means it’s only eight more doublings before it meets a hundred percent of the world’s energy needs. So that’s 16 years. We will increase our use of electricity during that period, so add another couple of doublings: In 20 years we’ll be meeting all of our energy needs with solar, based on this trend which has already been under way for 20 years.

People say we’re running out of energy. That’s only true if we stick with these old 19th century technologies. We are awash in energy from the sunlight.

On a more important note I presume this would mean an end to the global warming arguments that often consume this blog. 🙂
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January 22, 2013 4:45pm
Fletch

I dunno. I bought an iPhone in 2008 and updated it just this year with the latest model and it cost almost exactly the same.
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January 22, 2013 6:12pm
Pete George

A crackup on TV3 news, John Key said something like:

“If I had a dollar for every rumour I’d, ah, um, be richer than I am.”
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January 22, 2013 6:16pm
Manolo

According to the emasculated wimp Scott Chris this site should be labelled “racist”:
http://www.news.com.au/top-stories/the-top-five-moments-from-obamas-inauguration/story-e6frfkp9-1226559035082
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January 22, 2013 6:19pm
SPC

Today the Family First leader presented a petition in parliament and said that marriage being based on a man and a woman, is nature, not bigotry.

He is wrong, in fact, as procreative fornication is nature, organising couple commitment prior to this is sociological/cultural nurture. Choosing to exclude some from marriage – because they were of a different race or religion, or had a prior divorce or were the same gender as their partner, is not natural, it is an act of sociological/cultural nurture.

We allow religious groups to have their own test for church marriage – they have not been forced to marry people of a different religion/denominaton or those divorced. So there is no threat to church marriage from the ability of those they would not marry being able to make civil marriages.
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January 22, 2013 6:29pm
Reid

Quite a good article on Barclays Bank and the culture in one of its divisions.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2265253/Andrew-Tinney-The-regime-fear-inside-Barclays–boss-lied-shredded-evidence.html
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January 22, 2013 6:30pm
Pete George

Contraception has a huge impact on procreation, far greater then the about zero impact of whether already gay couples can get married like other couples or not.

No one is suggesting that a legal condition of getting married is not to use any form of contraception.
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January 22, 2013 6:35pm
chiz

Leonardo Dicaprio is going to take a break from acting and concentrate on his environmental campaigning:

“I would like to improve the world a bit. I will fly around the world doing good for the environment,” added DiCaprio

Perhaps the plane is battery-powered?
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January 22, 2013 6:36pm
SPC

Weihana, the problem is then storage of solar energy for household use – maybe hooking up the solar energy into the grid for credits.
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January 22, 2013 6:36pm
SPC

Pete George, the irony is that in some countries in Europe (such as Italy, that country of strong family life tradition now breeding little emperors like the Chinese) are having one child families on average. That many same sex couples in other countries will have more children on average seems to have escaped the attention of some.

There is no greater testimony to the fact that these man and woman marriages are not based on procreating children.

The natural world procreative sex act is now only procreative if people want it to be. Citing it to justify continued sociological/cultural discrimination is becoming increasingly farcial.
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January 22, 2013 6:45pm
Weihana

Fletch (3,772) Says:
January 22nd, 2013 at 6:12 pm

I dunno. I bought an iPhone in 2008 and updated it just this year with the latest model and it cost almost exactly the same.

If you bought an iPhone 3G in 2008, with an ARM11 processor, it can perform about 515 million instructions per second (Dhrystone). 2 years later the iPhone 4, using an ARM Cortex-A8, could perform 2000 million instructions per second. So that’s four times the performance, and I presume roughly the same cost at release date. So Kurzweil is just saying the same thing in a more complicated way probably to make the point about price performance. Thus he is effectively saying that you could buy a top of the line model and two years later you could buy a model that isn’t top of the line, which is twice as good as your previous iPhone and half the price.

In 2011 the iPhone 4S could do 4000 million instructions per second. Not sure about the iPhone 5 but I presume it would perform about 8000 Dhrystone million instructions per second.
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January 22, 2013 6:58pm
Pete George

I now have a 4000 million instructions per second phone and still have a one word per second mouth.
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January 22, 2013 7:00pm
Kea

That many same sex couples in other countries will have more children on average seems to have escaped the attention of some.

It also “escaped the attention” of evolution and reality.

Can you please explain (for my benefit) exactly how these “same sex couples” will create these children. Please include as much detail as you can…

Thanks SPC 🙂
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January 22, 2013 7:13pm
Azeraph

Fletch (3,772) Says:
January 22nd, 2013 at 6:12 pm

You’ve done well fletch, I’ve only updated to those cheap samsung smart phones and found them a bit daunting.
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January 22, 2013 7:16pm
Weihana

Pete George,

…and yet while your brain considers the meaning of those words, chooses what words to say, commands your mouth to move etc., it is processing up to approximately 36.8 quadrillion operations every second.
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January 22, 2013 7:17pm
Azeraph

Kea (1,807) Says:
January 22nd, 2013 at 7:13 pm

They will soon have the option to combine their germ plasm except I don’t know which of the males will have to be remodeled to be able to successfully carry and deliver the new being. Lol
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January 22, 2013 7:21pm
SPC

kea, it is simple. For the women.

1. As part of his marriage, the married man naturally being a cheat, sleeps with some woman posing as available by being drunk. She is of course in a committed relationship to her lesbian partner who wants children.

2. The next week the same man, who did not like the look of disgust the last women he slept with gave him, visited a brothel. There he slept with the lesbian partner of the women he slept with last week. She collected the seed in a condom and brought it home to her girlfriend.

This is how same sex women partners have children by the sexual activity of a married man.

3. Others simply seek a willing sperm donor. There are clinics where this can occu (in some countries people are paid to donate both blood and sperm), there are Catholics who like to wank but are not allowed to waste their seed, and there are men who as an act of faith want to have children by a virgin mother. Possibly it makes them feel closer to God because the church does not want them, if they want another man in ther bed.
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January 22, 2013 7:23pm
Andrei

Kea, mate, you are pissing in the wind, the “gay marriage” crowd live in a world of their own where any correaltion between their burblings and reality are co-incidental.

They haven’t yet grasped , that like most of the Western world their nation is in debt, that the population is getting older and that anyone with nous is leaving to make their future and raise their families elsewhere

It will all be fine while we can still borrow money and import people to keep the vital infrastructure going.

But they are in for a shock when the debts get called in and they find that they are living in a spiritually, morally, and financalily bankrupt nation and that the only people who could get them out of the shit, the young hold them in the contempt they deserve and leave them to stew in their own sordid sewerage
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January 22, 2013 7:26pm
Kea

SPC, Now I know why that cute little lezzy girl stuck her tongue down my throat and came home with me that night ! Now I know .
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January 22, 2013 7:34pm
SPC

Kea, you could not tell them apart. I suppose married men would be preferred and they don’t take someone home (to meet their wife). Married men would be the least likely to want a parent role afterward.
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January 22, 2013 7:42pm
Kea

SPC, you can tell when they have girlfriends, pick up girls, and are openly gay. This one was pretty handy at picking up women, she would probably have done the wife the week before, in your example 🙂
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January 22, 2013 7:46pm
Weihana

SPC (2,025) Says:
January 22nd, 2013 at 6:36 pm

Weihana, the problem is then storage of solar energy for household use – maybe hooking up the solar energy into the grid for credits.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121109083731.htm

Engineering researchers at the University of Arkansas have developed a thermal energy storage system that will work as a viable alternative to current methods used for storing energy collected from solar panels. Incorporating the researchers’ design into the operation of a concentrated solar power plant will dramatically increase annual energy production while significantly decreasing production costs.

Sounds like progress is being made… hope so anyway.
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January 22, 2013 7:51pm
SPC

Andrei, a prophecy of doom on the West, if it does not do as it is told on same sex marriages?

How exactly are baby boomers, a developing global market (economic migrants moving to where wages are higher) and rising public debt related to something that has yet to occur?

More young people support same sex marriages than older people.

Is this all to converge the conservative paranoia about all and every change as personally threatening (to old and aging people)? So that baby boomers (48-67 year olds) join those older than them and also oppose same sex marriage? In a show of oppostion to what young people want for those of their own generation – the right to choose for themselves?

I fail to see the link between existing public debt, and where people choose to work and live, with who can marry someone else. It does not exist in the real world.
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January 22, 2013 7:55pm
nasska

No one said it was easy.

Ref: https://www.dropbox.com/s/700vlmg7g9js1oi/understanding-women-women-understanding-volume-one-demotivational-posters-1305609488.jpg
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January 22, 2013 7:56pm
nasska

Paddy rang Murphy last night.

“Listen, me and Susan are virgins and I really want our first time to be special” Paddy said.

“So you want some advice?” Murphy asked.

“No, not really, more of a favour” he replied.

“Could you babysit her two kids while she comes to my place?”
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January 22, 2013 8:00pm
Fletch

Someone posted this on facebook today.
Not exactly sure what I’m taking away from it..

Discus…

http://www.bubblews.com/assets/images/news/931137531_1357109912.jpg
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January 22, 2013 8:57pm
Pete George

…and yet while your brain considers the meaning of those words, chooses what words to say, commands your mouth to move etc., it is processing up to approximately 36.8 quadrillion operations every second.

Yeah, like fifty years ago. The phone was a lot different then, a wooden box attached to the wall, but the speed of speech was the same.
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January 22, 2013 8:57pm
Pete George

Fletch – most stadiums are all seating now, so do they need height adjustable seating? No, the tiering means most sizes get a reasonable view from equal seats. Unless you take your own cushion.
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January 22, 2013 9:01pm
Reid

Great news, Utah sheriffs tell Obama to go to hell.

http://theintelhub.com/2013/01/21/utah-sheriffs-to-protect-the-2nd-amendment-with-their-life/

And a bit on the TPP:

http://www.wakingtimes.com/2013/01/21/the-trans-pacific-slam-job/
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January 22, 2013 9:07pm
krazykiwi

Fletch – It’s a picture of socialist wealth re-distribution. The state has decided that everyone must watch baseball, and it’s their job to shuffle people’s private property. The little chap is left in a way that he’s completely dependent on the support of others, and long after the game has finished is trapped where he is.
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January 22, 2013 9:14pm
Rodders

I didn’t watch Seven Sharp last night

Neither did I. It premieres In February.
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January 22, 2013 9:19pm
Pauleastbay

my machine can’t even load the Bain thread now, jesus
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January 22, 2013 9:20pm

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