General Debate 14 April 2017

Email
Facebook
Twitter
Comment273

Uncategorized
General Debate

Comments (273)

Login to comment or vote

William of Ockham

Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
https://phys.org/news/2017-01-antidote-partisanship-science-curiosity.html
Antidote for partisanship? In science, curiosity seems to work. January 26, 2017

[summary] Disputes over science-related policy issues such as climate change or fracking often seem as intractable as other politically charged debates. But in science, at least, simple curiosity might help bridge that partisan divide, according to new research. In a study slated for publication in the journal Advances in Political Psychology, a Yale-led research team found that people who are curious about science are less polarized in their views on contentious issues than less-curious peers.

In an experiment, they found out why: Science-curious individuals are more willing to engage with surprising information that runs counter to their political predispositions. “It’s a well-established finding that most people prefer to read or otherwise be exposed to information that fits rather than challenges their political preconceptions,” said research team leader Dan Kahan, Elizabeth K. Dollard Professor of Law and professor of psychology at Yale Law School. “This is called the echo-chamber effect.” [Confirmation bias and motivated reasoning]

Science-curious individuals are more likely to venture out of that chamber, he said.

Knowledge of science, and curiosity about science, are not the same thing, the study shows. [continues]

[download pre-paper here]
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2816803
Science Curiosity and Political Information Processing
7 57
Log in to Reply
Report
April 14, 2017 8:01am
- PhilBest
  
  That explains why lefties who accidentally or deliberately chose science as a career, are so willing to pervert it.
  
  26 4
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  April 14, 2017 8:08am
- holysheet
  
  Hey you idiot, get back to building that ark. Just because we may have missed a bullet this time doesn’t mean you can give up. Your crew mate Stoooopidboy will be very upset.
  
  31 5
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  April 14, 2017 8:31am
- cmm
  
  http://www.stuff.co.nz/science/91575059/video-nasa-oceans-beyond-earth-news-conference
  
  Nasa announces discovery of CO2-rich environment on one of Saturn’s moons.
  
  Damn SUV driver!
  
  13 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  April 14, 2017 8:31am
  - holysheet
    
    Like liabore missing million voters, that is where our missing co2 has gone. Those pesky saturnites came here eons ago and sucked up all the co2 that was here on earth during the times of previous global warming. They are keeping a watchful eye on us and will be back to save us when the levels get too high again.
    
    14 2
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    April 14, 2017 8:47am
    - cmm
      
      Time to declare war on Saturn! Our plants need the CO2 for food.
      
      9 1
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      April 14, 2017 8:54am
- cmm
  
  I am a scientist. I am curious.
  
  One of the things I am curious about is watching how people change their behaviour to match government (taxpayer funded) incentives.
  
  If you’ve studied any Darwin (ie. read his actual writings rather than just quote someone who has read what someone else has written) then you will understand that these incentives are setting up a “fitness function” for what behaviours will thrive.
  
  If we fund single mothers, we get more single mothers. If Sweden funds illegal immigrants they get more illegal immigrants. If governments fund global warming research scientists they get more global warming research scientists.
  
  And none of those want their through to go away.
  
  I am also curious why we haven’t all drowned and there is still Arctic ice even though Al Gore and all his “scientist” mates promised us that would have happened by not.
  
  43 3
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  April 14, 2017 8:40am
  - mikenmild
    
    Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
    Who, exactly, promised that all of humanity would have perished by now? Was their research published in a peer-reviewed journal?
    
    5 41
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    April 14, 2017 8:45am
    - krazykiwi
      
      Seriously milky, do your own research. For almost two decades now our media has been awash with calamitous predictions from alarmist ‘scientists’, politicians, celebrities, activists. Did you miss all the fuss?
      
      30 3
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      April 14, 2017 9:04am
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      Who reads peer-reviewed journals?
      Much easier to shove all this crap out to the masses in their daily rags and google boxes….
      
      Here’s 107 climate-change predictions that haven’t eventuated…..
      https://wattsupwiththat.com/2014/04/02/the-big-list-of-failed-climate-predictions/
      (there are more)….
      
      31 2
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      April 14, 2017 9:04am
      - mikenmild
        
        I was just wondering whether cmm could tell us who had predicted the extinction of humanity by 2017. I wasn’t asking for a list of bullshit claims from a failed TV weatherman.
        
        4 31
        Report
        April 14, 2017 9:09am
      - holysheet
        
        When you read shit like this
        13. “Although the magnitude of the trends shows large variation among different models, Miller et al. (2006) find that none of the 14 models exhibits a trend towards a lower NAM index and higher arctic SLP.”
        IPCC 2007 4AR, (quoted by Georg Hoffmann)
        
        Is it any wonder the average joe public saw through all this crap. We can see that you would need to be a scientist with a degree to understand what the fuck that meant.
        
        16 2
        Report
        April 14, 2017 9:11am
      - mikenmild
        
        Perhaps we can help you to find something simpler, holysheet. Please advise your reading age and highest educational qualification.
        
        4 32
        Report
        April 14, 2017 9:17am
      - holysheet
        
        Since when did you become a scientist Milky.
        
        17 2
        Report
        April 14, 2017 9:23am
      - mikenmild
        
        I make no claim to be a scientist. So far as I know, no one on this blog has asserted anything on the basis of their qualifications. That should suit the climate ‘skeptics’, as none of their idols are climatologists.
        
        3 26
        Report
        April 14, 2017 9:28am
      - krazykiwi
        
        I wasn’t asking for a list of bullshit claims from a failed TV weatherman
        
        No. You weren’t asking, you were trolling. And what Maggy provided wasn’t a bullshit list of claims from a failed TV weatherman, it was a list of failed climate predictions from organisations including the IPCC, The UK Met office, WWF, Greenpeace, NASA and others.
        
        Do try and keep up milky. You’ll be disappointing your alarmist paymasters.
        
        20 2
        Report
        April 14, 2017 10:10am
    - MrTips
      
      Try Paul Ehrlich for a start. Quite simple really.
      
      9 1
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      April 14, 2017 9:29am
      - mikenmild
        
        Thought he was the population guy. Did he say something about climate change?
        http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Science_was_wrong_before
        
        3 18
        Report
        April 14, 2017 9:31am
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        @mikenmild
        
        Did he say something about climate change?
        
        Oh dear!… Is this all new stuff for you?
        In the 1970s Erlich was quite the proponent of global cooling…… He along with John Holdren wrote “Global Ecology” in which they proclaim global cooling is upon us
        http://www.wnd.com/2009/10/112073/
        
        Holdren went on to become Obama’s science advisor..
        He & Erlich were well on the global warming bandwagon by that time.
        
        9 0
        Report
        April 14, 2017 12:03pm
      - mikenmild
        
        Got a source other than Wingnut Daily?
        
        0 10
        Report
        April 14, 2017 12:07pm
      - PhilBest
        
        Mikenmild:
        
        “…the climate ‘skeptics’, as none of their idols are climatologists…”
        
        Most scientists engaged with “climate” are not climatologists per se; this term is a relatively recent invention. Meterologists and geologists and geophysicists are all qualified in “climatology”.
        
        It is one of the big fat lies of the alarmist brigade, that there is “no-one” who is a CAGW skeptic who is “qualified”. The underlying principle is that people can be more easily made to swallow a big lie than a small one. In fact there are at least HUNDREDS and it is starting to look like there are more than a THOUSAND qualified scientists who are skeptical of CAGW alarmism.
        
        The alarmist fraudsters in the media jump from “scientists who assent to the basics”, to “scientists who assent to the full human-caused catastrophe” thesis. It is true that only a handful of fringe cranks deny that climate changes, or that there is a greenhouse effect, or that CO2 is a greenhouse gas. But when it comes to “humans are causing catastrophic climate change” it is only a cabal of fraudsters who are responsible for this being perpetuated, and it is only the hijacking of science institutions that forces the vast majority of scientists to assent, for the sake of their own careers.
        
        9 1
        Report
        April 14, 2017 12:24pm
      - mikenmild
        
        Care to list these thousand? Not the ‘Oregon Petition’ again? Too many? How about ten of them with references to their peer-reviewed papers which comprehensively debunk the consensus?
        
        0 11
        Report
        April 14, 2017 12:54pm
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        I gave you the title of their book.
        
        Here’s it’s details
        
        Global Ecology: Readings Towards a Rational Strategy for Man
        
        Ehrlich, Paul R., Holdren, John P.
        
        Published by Harcourt Publishers Group (Australia) Pty.Ltd (1971)
        ISBN 10: 0155296221 ISBN 13: 9780155296220
        
        9 0
        Report
        April 14, 2017 1:41pm
      - mikenmild
        
        And what did you read in that book that demonstrated that today’s scientific consensus on climate change is false?
        
        1 9
        Report
        April 14, 2017 1:55pm
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        Playing tag are you, MM.?
        
        You were unaware of the fact that Paul Erlich had published work on climate change.
        
        I have provided you with enough information for you to check any details yourself.
        
        I cannot do your thinking for you.
        
        6 1
        Report
        April 14, 2017 2:06pm
      - mikenmild
        
        Paul Ehrlich is priimarily know for The Population Bomb, which prediction widespread starvation in the 1970s and 1980s. I really have no idea why you think any of his work is relevant to your present-day rejection of the overwhelming scientific consensus on climate change.
        Actually, I do have any idea – ‘science was wrong before’ is at least as intellectually credible as the rest of the bullshit you post.
        
        2 9
        Report
        April 14, 2017 2:09pm
      - cmm
        
        Some of these people just keep updating their alarmism to follow the trends:
        
        In the 1970s there was supposed to be peak oil, global cooling and we were all supposed to starve to death due to overpopulation.
        
        Since then we’ve had:
        – SARS,
        – AIDS,
        – Ebola,
        – more peak oil,
        – death due to the demise of honey bees
        – global warming
        – desertification
        – global water shortage
        – …
        
        And some of the best alarmists keep updating their books and fear mongering.
        
        And the same people get suckered again and again.
        
        4 2
        Report
        April 14, 2017 3:22pm
  - MrTips
    
    I am a scientist. And I too am curious. Curious as to why Darwin never anticipated natural selection required positive forces for movement. That is chaffinch beaks are one thing, behaviour is quite different (in human terms at least) in that physical motives are often absent e.g.. compassion for a complete stranger. And he also didn’t seem to anticipate whirlynswirly anthropomorphic Bullshit on a cancer curing scale from pyschologically stunted anthropologists, sociologists and geneticists.
    
    9 2
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    April 14, 2017 9:35am
    - Kimbo
      
      I am a scientist. And I too am curious….
      
      And the specialist subjects within your vast scope of knowledge, and an attitudinal disposition that makes you the no. 1 draft pick for a Pub Quiz team continue to accumulate, MrTips! Just remember your commitment to our glorious cause and our promise of…beer! 😉
      
      4 2
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      April 14, 2017 9:53am
    - stephieboy
      
      Mr Tps , these 36 Nobel Lauretes” stunted anthropologists, sociologists and geneticists.” ?
      
      https://qz.com/444787/a-group-of-nobel-laureates-have-signed-a-declaration-calling-for-urgent-action-on-climate-change/
      
      2 17
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      April 14, 2017 9:56am
      - PhilBest
        
        http://www.climatedepot.com/2010/12/08/special-report-more-than-1000-international-scientists-dissent-over-manmade-global-warming-claims-challenge-un-ipcc-gore-2/
        
        Somewhere online someone is adding to this out of date list, but I can’t find it now.
        
        5 0
        Report
        April 14, 2017 12:26pm
  - jims_whare
    
    A good test of this theory would be as follows:
    
    The government announces grants of up to 5 million being available into research in regards to the risk of a new ice age.
    
    They also announce at the end of 2 years if the research shows a risk of a new ice age then another 5 million would be available.
    
    I suspect at the end of the first 2 years many ‘peer reviewed’ scientific papers would show a high risk of a new ice age approaching and more urgent research is required.
    
    21 2
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    April 14, 2017 9:46am
    - mikenmild
      
      That’s great. Not how science, or science funding works, but you get bonus points for a nice-looking straw man.
      
      1 22
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      April 14, 2017 10:20am
      - 4077th
        
        @mikenmild
        Actually, that is exactly how science funding works. My company has had several “science grants” over the years. These grants come with a covenant; we MUST provide results or the funding stops. This was reviewed monthly by MBIE representatives.
        
        A pice of advice for you mikenmild, a closed mouth attracts no feet.
        
        14 2
        Report
        April 14, 2017 11:44am
      - mikenmild
        
        That’s not relevant to what jim claimed. Unless you believe that your firm is defrauding the taxpayer by making up results.
        
        1 16
        Report
        April 14, 2017 12:09pm
      - PhilBest
        
        I for one DO believe that “scientists” are defrauding the taxpayers who fund their research, by making stuff up, tampering with data, cherry-picking data, “hiding the decline”, etc etc.
        
        10 2
        Report
        April 14, 2017 12:28pm
      - stephieboy
        
        PhilBest , or is it more to do what is not in keeping with your own particular prejudices , biases and asuumptions.
        
        2 12
        Report
        April 14, 2017 12:39pm
      - mikenmild
        
        It’s a pity phil has no evidence to support his weird beliefs.
        
        1 11
        Report
        April 14, 2017 12:56pm
      - cmm
        
        “Not how science, or science funding work”
        
        So, MM you tell us you are not a scientist, but you are adamant you know how science funding works??
        
        Pray tell how you have this inside track?
        
        It is common knowledge that the easiest way to get any funding is to somehow try link it to Global Warming.
        
        eg, you’re a biologist with a keen interest in glow worms. Not much call fro glow worm research, but if you can put together a proposal linking your reasearch to AGW you have a good chance of securing funding.
        
        4 2
        Report
        April 14, 2017 3:27pm
      - mikenmild
        
        Ah, ‘common knowledge’:
        http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/PIDOOMA
        
        1 3
        Report
        April 14, 2017 5:40pm
      - Kimbo
        
        @ mikenmild
        
        from your link: (or argumentum ex culo) (“argument from the asshole”)
        
        Thanks. I must quote that some time! 😉
        
        3 0
        Report
        April 14, 2017 5:44pm
    - krazykiwi
      
      Exactly jim. It’s the reward mechanism (plus confirmation bias) that all humans, including intelligent well-qualified scientists seem susceptible too.
      
      5 2
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      April 14, 2017 12:22pm
- oldpark
  
  “Fake News” on the so called Cyclone Cook. Best late April fool hoax or joke. Just saying!.
  
  14 4
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  April 14, 2017 9:13am
  - stephieboy
    
    oldpark, not Fake News . Just an overstated forecast to the potentil damage of two Cyclones based on past performance .
    
    However let it not stop you going out to the airport closed based on forecast fog or on a long stroll without a brollie and rain.
    
    Weather forecasts as a general rule are usully accurate .
    
    3 16
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    April 14, 2017 10:06am
    - VicParking
      
      No matter what they predicted the MSM would have run them down. Either for “crying wolf” or worse still if they had said no problem camp by the river.
      Better to be safe than sorry.
      Storms, this had stopped being a cyclone, are unpredictable especially fast moving ones like this.
      
      5 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      April 14, 2017 10:33am
  - Shaun the Sheep
    
    Exactly, big storm in a tea cup, Oldpark
    
    The fake people in our area who were using a fake chainsaws at midnight in pelting rain were just inconsiderate.
    Who needs to gather fake firewood from the fake roofs of their houses, garages and cars at that hour!
    I obviously should have phoned fake noise control.
    And the fake carpet will be cleaned by insurance, so no fake fuss there either.
    
    Fake-wit (just saying)
    
    2 3
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    April 14, 2017 11:37am
- Viking2
  
  Not surprised by this at all.
  Curiosity about how things work leads us to exciting new idea’s. Unlike all these Nat, sycophants who think they know it all.
  
  0 5
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  April 14, 2017 1:12pm
- Jack5
  
  Small mercy.
  
  While Ockham is here on Kiwiblog patients aren’t being subjected to a lecture on global warming while their teeth are drilled.
  
  6 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  April 14, 2017 1:22pm
duggledog

OK if you want irrefutable proof that at least one of RNZ’s most high profile shows is ‘politically compromised’ –

Get a load of this little slip from a panelist on Jim Mora’s show – after the announcement of Andrew Little’s verdict at about 4.50 pm on Monday 10th April.

JIM MORA (Host) ‘What-what are your thoughts?’

MIKE REHU (panelist) ‘Well, ha, you can feel the relief, here in this small studio in Auckland!’

Listen for yourself. It’s in the last few minutes of the programme:

http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/thepanel/audio/201839881/the-panel-with-james-elliott-and-mike-rehu-part-2

In my opinion, Rehu is saying that he noticed the in house producers / functionaries / maybe the presenter – displaying relief at Little’s verdict.

Meanwhile, over at Labour HQ, TVNZ, John Campbell teams up with Nigel Latta to produce ‘What Next?’

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=11837579

Key points from the article:

‘A live TVNZ show that will examine a potential future apocalypse.’
‘A group of forward-thinking Kiwis’
‘How we could look in 20 years’ time, and what role we should take now in shaping 2037’

And most tellingly –

‘Where we’re headed versus where we want to be’

Are we headed somewhere bad then? Let’s not kid ourselves. This is going to be a vehicle for examining all New Zealand’s ills, total immersion, using hand-picked SJWs and right-on luvvies.

It’s a brilliant way to attack the current administration by stealth in the lead-up to the General Election.

Apologies for the William-length post but you won’t get journalists picking up on this stuff.
53 4
Log in to Reply
Report
April 14, 2017 8:01am
- mikenmild
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  Where we’re headed versus where we want to be
  
  I dunno, maybe they will explore why John Key dumped the idea of ‘catching up with Australia’ as soon as he realised it might require actual policies.
  
  4 50
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  April 14, 2017 8:11am
  - srylands
    
    Yes that aspiration did require actual policies. What did you do to promote them?
    
    As I recall the Opposition was badgering the Government to rule out implementing any of them. Well they got their wish.
    
    http://www.treasury.govt.nz/publications/reviews-consultation/2025taskforce
    
    16 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    April 14, 2017 8:32am
    - mikenmild
      
      Um, it was the opposition’s fault that the government refused to implement the policies it campaigned on? What a strange world you inhabit.
      
      3 28
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      April 14, 2017 8:56am
  - James Stephenson
    
    Maybe the disappearance of that idea is more related to the fact that we seem, evidenced by the relative migration between the two countries, to have overtaken them.
    
    21 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    April 14, 2017 8:39am
    - mikenmild
      
      Overtaken them? By what measure?
      
      0 28
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      April 14, 2017 8:46am
      - GazzaW
        
        Political stability for starters. Two PMs since 2008 in NZ and that only as a result of a very recent democratic change. The Australian procession of PMs is akin to a combination of the Italian government and and the NZ Labour Party (leader number six in nine years coming up).
        
        25 0
        Report
        April 14, 2017 9:02am
      - srylands
        
        Weather porn.
        
        17 0
        Report
        April 14, 2017 9:02am
      - Viking2
        
        Lets have the facts about what we have beaten them.
        Forget rugby it doesn’t count.
        You could probably start here
        https://croakingcassandra.com/2017/04/13/still-going-nowhere-the-governments-exports-target/
        
        and go back thru lots of Micheal’s posts where he analyzes the Nats. bullshit for you.
        
        0 3
        Report
        April 14, 2017 1:15pm
- mandk
  
  Thanks dd, no need to apologise.
  Much better to construct an argument, than to regurgitate someone else’s work whole and then piss off.
  
  Re journalists, I don’t think you will get them to pick up on what you pointed out. Their environment has changed so much that they don’t seem to have time for trenchant thought any more.
  
  21 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  April 14, 2017 8:19am
- RF
  
  duggledog.
  
  Thanks for the heads up. More evidence that the Media are well and truely biased towards the left.
  
  Those on the far left are pure evil and if we are not careful they will bring this country down.
  
  9 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  April 14, 2017 11:04am
  - Paulus
    
    That pre supposes that we are all stupid as the clever media like to think !
    
    1 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    April 14, 2017 1:58pm
nasska

It seems that the weather wankfest as promoted by the clowns in the MSM wasn’t much more than a band of rain & strong winds.

One day a real disaster will strike our country. People will be careless & die after being bored blasé from previous weather porn pushed by the “journalists” who cry wolf at every opportunity to promote their pathetic news outlets.

Then, I hope blame for the subsequent deaths of citizens will be laid where it belongs.
40 4
Log in to Reply
Report
April 14, 2017 8:03am
- Tauhei Notts
  
  I believe a close study of Aesop’s fable about the little boy who cried wolf should be mandatory for Meteorological Service staff.
  
  31 3
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  April 14, 2017 8:10am
  - srylands
    
    Don’t blame the met service. In mid afternoon yesterday I read all the updated regional forecasts. The wind and rain forecasts were already being downgraded. They proved accurate.
    
    Yet on the way home I listened to that idiot Campbell talking up apocalypse.
    
    The media are just fuckwitted. But weather events can be deadly. Best advice is ignore the media and read the metservice forecasts carefully. Especially useful are their 48 hours wind and rain projections.
    
    47 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    April 14, 2017 8:20am
    - Southern Raider
      
      Don’t agree.
      
      Metservice site was constantly unavailable. At noon their severe storm warning update page had been updated over three hours ago. There was no useable summary as to what impact, or not, of the storm on Auckland.
      
      Surely in this day and age you should be able to subscribe to a twitter feed for your actual city and get updates every 15mins. This would have clearly shown that by 11am there was no need to close down half the city.
      
      19 1
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      April 14, 2017 8:29am
    - GazzaW
      
      It was very obvious by noon yesterday that the cyclone was tracking well east of Auckland. People were calling in to ZB from Whangarei and further north with reports of only light rain and moderate winds. However, ZB’s newsdesk and their compatriots at the Herald persisted with their apocalyptic announcements of a pending closure of the harbour bridge, reduced bus and train services and precipitated an exodus from the CBD and much unnecessary anxiety. The media really wanted a disaster yesterday and were happy to create one with their wildly inaccurate ‘Wahine’ storm & Cyclone Bola comparisons.
      
      That Civil Defence and the armed forces were ready in all respects was fantastic – the ‘panic’ beat up by the media wasn’t.
      
      22 1
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      April 14, 2017 9:14am
    - Twinkletoes
      
      My place to go for pretty accurate info – especially love the rainfall time/amount prediction for daily planning.
      
      4 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      April 14, 2017 9:31am
    - Captain Mainwaring
      
      Weather forecasting is still only a ‘best estimate’ science.
      If the story about the 209km/h winds on White Island were true, what would have happened if that wind had struck only 50kms to the south, ie Papamoa?
      That was a scary storm and it was better to have people aware of it.
      50kms to the west and it would have whacked Auckland.
      
      9 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      April 14, 2017 9:40am
    - VicParking
      
      On wednesday the met office said it was fast moving and would swing west. They predicted a sunny with showers weekend over the NI.
      
      3 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      April 14, 2017 10:38am
- mikenmild
  
  You think the media were irresponsible to publicise the extreme weather warnings, the evacuations ordered by councils, the operation of the national crisis centre, and the the placing of military personnel on standby?
  
  3 29
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  April 14, 2017 8:13am
  - srylands
    
    Fuck we did this yesterday. By lunchtime Thursday it was clear from reading all of the metservice warnings that the media reaction was disproportionate. And I read every regional forecast and every warning in detail.
    
    So yes the media, especially the Herald were totally irresponsible.
    
    44 2
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    April 14, 2017 8:24am
    - sooty
      
      Were civil defence only watching and listerning to the MSM?
      
      18 1
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      April 14, 2017 8:31am
      - mikenmild
        
        Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
        Must have been, according to Kiwibloggers….
        
        4 35
        Report
        April 14, 2017 8:37am
    - PhilBest
      
      I find my own barometer is a very useful “check” of what has been forecasted. It dropped like a stone yesterday afternoon, but hasn’t moved again overnight. This means potential at least, for “things getting no worse than now” – a bit of rainy, windy weather.
      
      4 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      April 14, 2017 9:08am
- Steve (North Shore)
  
  I tend to ignore the weather forecast. On the Shore we just look at Rangitoto – if you can see Rangitoto it is going to rain, if you can’t see Rangitoto it is raining
  
  19 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  April 14, 2017 9:18am
  - VicParking
    
    If you can see car window washers its fine, if you cant its raining or dole day.
    
    9 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    April 14, 2017 10:41am
- Shaun the Sheep
  
  Completely agree with your criticism of the media. Again they were over-excited by the opportunity to predict what might happen.
  But as for Cook being a non-event: clearly you don’t live in BoP or HB. There’s more to the country than a bunch of self -absorbed wankers in Auckland.
  
  28 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  April 14, 2017 9:26am
  - srylands
    
    I certainly never said it was a non event. BoP was always where the danger was. From noon yesterday that was clear.
    
    However in Wellington there were never going to be problems. Yet I encountered in Wellington employers closing their business and sending people home so they would be safe. That was totally mad and all the fault of the media, not metservice.
    
    14 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    April 14, 2017 10:19am
    - Viking2
      
      Nah. It was last day of term and Easter to boot so it was a great opportunity to go home early.
      And had it turned to shit then you would all be here praising them.
      
      Of course there was an element of emotion but that was generated around authorities being prudent.
      In the bay 2 of our main roads, being state highways have been closed with slips and trees and power lines across the roads. Not caused by high winds but the huge amount of rain we have had. Late yesterday it was torrential and on top of what we have had in recent weeks the ground is saturated and liable to slip.
      
      you can see more here.
      http://www.sunlive.co.nz/news/151933-kaimai-road-open-one-lane.html
      
      http://www.sunlive.co.nz/news/151915-coromandel-roads-under-pressure.html
      
      And other links.
      
      There was a wave high of over 7 meters at A buoy which caused the authorities to worry about the surge at high tide especially with the low being close but that came to nothing and the weather moved very quickly. We had less than 2 hours of moderate wind but all day rain.
      
      No one hurt, no one killed by falling trees etc so all is happy.
      
      2 2
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      April 14, 2017 1:30pm
- SGA
  
  Then, I hope blame for the subsequent deaths of citizens will be laid where it belongs.
  
  On the other hand, if people err in the other direction (be it the Met service, MSM, Civil defence, whatever) and underestimate the threat of this sort of thing, then we’d be all over them as well. When it’s difficult to make a precise judgment, which error should they make?
  
  14 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  April 14, 2017 9:31am
- howitis
  
  ‘One day a real disaster will strike our country’
  
  This did happen in April 2014.
  We had two rain/storm events that were overstated in close succession similar to the last month. For an earlier one Aucklanders battened the hatches and nothing much happened.
  Then cyclone Ita came knocking (third event) and the forecast was understated.
  This was when the Rimu trees were knocked down on the S. I. West Coast.
  The Gweens naturally wanted the fallen tweees , sorry trees, to be left to rot and release their CO2. Rational people (ie. non Commie-Gweens) wanted the trees harvested for nice furniture and sequester the Carbon.
  Shoulda asked Clint.
  
  The 1992 Canterbury snow storm just on lambing was not well predicted.
  Following that Govt sources tend to ‘over-predict’ or CMA- Cover my ar..
  
  The funds for weather forecasting in this low population country (and even less net taxpayers) are split between two organisations. Met Service and NIWA.
  NIWA weather is complete bollocks as I have said here before. It is non-real world computer modelling using percentages not actual weather events Duh… such a waste of taxpayer money.
  NIWA weather funding should be stopped and either allocated to one organisation with KPIs to meet or funding reduced – like top sportspeople with SPARC funding.
  Under -perform and we reduce funding.
  
  I am not sure who ‘weatherwatch’ are and just looked it up to see the ‘About us’ section.
  Virtually no information esp their sources of data but they associate with Campbell Live, NZME, and Stuff so I would treat as a leper. A source for hysterical self-worshiping media types, no doubt.
  
  I use metvuw (international sources); and
  http://www.marineweather.co.nz/forecasts
  
  This is excellent and uses NOAA sources.
  Similar is surf-forecast.com which uses international weather sources.
  nullschool is good for following cyclonic weather events.
  
  3 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  April 14, 2017 12:00pm
  - Viking2
    
    Use weather watch all the time and find Philip much more accurate than any of the others. He did change his forecasts early yesterday to predict what happened.
    
    You might find him better than the state paid employees.
    He has been around for a number of years.
    
    3 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    April 14, 2017 1:34pm
- Shaun the Sheep
  
  https://www.facebook.com/UnisonNetworks/photos/a.350186778394791.87611.343807859032683/1345844538829005/?type=3
  
  Strong wind and rain did this, not a wolf.
  
  2 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  April 14, 2017 12:14pm
oldpark

It was interesting and ironical that the rugby player called S.B .Williams,chose a new type of shirt logo promotion. The new one is for a little childrens charity. It ties in well with his boss’s likes,a guy called Mohammed. He also promoted small children,in fact he took aboard one at age six ,and marriede her at age nine. So says the quran.
32 5
Log in to Reply
Report
April 14, 2017 8:06am
- mikenmild
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  Read much of the Koran, have you?
  
  2 40
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  April 14, 2017 8:15am
  - G152
    
    http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/index.htm
    and you can read the crap for yourself
    
    12 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    April 14, 2017 8:50am
  - EAD
    
    Read much of the Talmud, have you?
    
    4 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    April 14, 2017 9:53am
    - mikenmild
      
      No, why?
      
      0 10
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      April 14, 2017 10:22am
- G152
  
  If he cant play as or be part of the TEAM sack him.
  Past his use by date anyway
  
  23 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  April 14, 2017 8:48am
- Twinkletoes
  
  Muslims usually only give to their own – any idea what the children’s charity is?
  
  9 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  April 14, 2017 9:34am
  - SGA
    
    Plunket, I think. Hadn’t thought of them as a nascent ISIS cell, but the world’s a strange place.
    
    15 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    April 14, 2017 9:42am
    - oldpark
      
      Plunket is sponsored by? wait for it,BNZ. Go figure.
      
      12 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      April 14, 2017 10:14am
      - SGA
        
        I don’t see a real problem with that. I’d be interested whether that was a coincidence, or a mutually reached compromise.
        
        5 0
        Report
        April 14, 2017 10:17am
  - stephieboy
    
    Twinkletoes , do you run one and therefore in the know ?
    
    Took seconds to find this ,
    
    http://community.scoop.co.nz/2017/03/walk-for-humanity-raises-thousands-for-charity/
    
    1 15
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    April 14, 2017 10:10am
- sam green
  
  That’s some fucked up thinking oldpark.
  
  0 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  April 15, 2017 2:08am
Maggy Wassilieff

Brilliant day in Gizzy, not a breath of wind, trees in their autumnal colours…
21 0
Log in to Reply
Report
April 14, 2017 8:06am
Paulus

May we remember why we are having a Holy(i)day.
It is the basis of our freedom and tolerance; we will try and preserve it in New Zealand and many other countries against overwhelming odds to still celebrate the feast of Easter.
Long may it remain.
Have a happy Easter to everybody.
32 2
Log in to Reply
Report
April 14, 2017 8:07am
- PhilBest
  
  Don’t forget Popper’s thesis about “tolerating the intolerant”…
  
  9 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  April 14, 2017 8:10am
- mikenmild
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  It’s quite touching that you feel a need to believe in fairy tales as a basis for accepting ideas of freedom and tolerance. Of course, those ideals have been routinely ignored by Christians when convenient over the centuries. Almost as if there’s nothing particularly special about their beliefs, isn’t it?
  
  9 41
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  April 14, 2017 8:17am
  - PhilBest
    
    Except that what other culture has had a Reformation and an Enlightenment? What other culture has given the world the insights of John Locke, the US Founding Fathers, Adam Smith, J S Mill and William Wilberforce? It’s almost as if there is something special about Christianity.
    
    10 6
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    April 14, 2017 9:14am
    - mikenmild
      
      You seem to have forgotten Plato, Aristotle, Socrates and the other founders of modern thought.
      LOL that you included John Stuart Mill, a noted agnostic.
      
      7 16
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      April 14, 2017 9:21am
      - PhilBest
        
        What’s the connection between Plato and, say, William Wilberforce?
        
        Versus the connection between the Gospels and William Wilberforce?
        
        8 2
        Report
        April 14, 2017 12:55pm
    - SGA
      
      It’s almost as if there is something special about Christianity.
      
      Civilisations have come and gone over the last few millennia, each often more sophisticated than its predecessors. As they climbed to their apex, I wonder how many thought there was something special about their gods.
      
      2 4
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      April 14, 2017 11:47am
  - MrTips
    
    No nothing special except that Christianity’s founder claimed to be God and was crucified for it, on today of all days.
    
    You really must be bored.
    
    8 4
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    April 14, 2017 9:38am
  - GazzaW
    
    Why don’t you fuck off along with your own brand of intolerance MM. I’m not a practising Christian but do recognise that today is a very special day for many. And yes there is something special for them in their beliefs at Easter.
    
    Far be it from you to denigrate Easter or ‘fairy tales’ as you so arrogantly describe it at this time.
    
    6 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    April 14, 2017 2:20pm
- Peter
  
  Easter is a pagan festival
  
  Hence the bunnies and eggs
  
  It’s about sex, essentially
  
  12 12
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  April 14, 2017 8:38am
  - mikenmild
    
    Spring, rejuventation, and sex.
    
    7 13
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    April 14, 2017 8:47am
  - holysheet
    
    Oh yummy, can I have some please.
    
    8 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    April 14, 2017 8:48am
  - PhilBest
    
    That’s true, that’s why early church fathers like Augustine wanted these festivals abolished, not merely given a convenient name change.
    
    5 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    April 14, 2017 9:16am
    - stephieboy
      
      PhilBest , why did it never happen?
      
      0 10
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      April 14, 2017 10:15am
      - PhilBest
        
        Here’s my theory about Christianity and its benefits. It’s like free markets and their benefits. If you have a monopoly, all sorts of things that are convenient to “someone” but inimical to the greater good, happen.
        
        For true Christianity to emerge, it required a “free market in faith”. Every worldly “establishment” was corrupted and perverse. This is why Christianity is strongest in the USA, the first country in Christendom to deliberately not have an “established” church. It is a nonsense to claim that the Founding Fathers motivations were “secularisation”; what they wanted was a free market in Christianity. The Apostle Paul says somewhere in his writings that he doesn’t mind “sects” because “then the approved can become manifest”.
        
        4 0
        Report
        April 14, 2017 1:02pm
      - mikenmild
        
        You don’t think that every time you get more than a dozen Christians in one place talking about Jesus you get a new schism:
        Adoptionism
        Apolinnarism
        Arabici
        Arianism
        Docetism
        Luciferians
        Penumatomchians
        Melchisidechians
        Monarchianism
        Monophysitism
        Monothelitism
        Nestorianism
        Partripassianism
        Psilanthropism
        Sabellianism
        
        2 8
        Report
        April 14, 2017 1:10pm
      - Jack5
        
        Happy Easter, Milky.
        
        It’s a time for atheists to show their teeth.
        
        I find that most agnostics don’t really give a toss, but atheists like to go head to head with the religious. Some do this to a point that they’re almost like another religion or schism competing to attract and convert the mob.
        
        7 0
        Report
        April 14, 2017 1:37pm
      - stephieboy
        
        PhilBest , there is every evidence that most founding fathers were deists and owed more to the inspiration from ,
        
        1 Classical Greece and Rome
        
        2 The enightenment and especially the ideas and thinking of John Locke , Jean Rousseau , Montesquieu and Thomas Hobbes .
        
        There is not evidence they wanted a democracy based on Christian dogma and doctrine
        
        0 10
        Report
        April 14, 2017 1:48pm
      - Jack5
        
        Stephie X tries to “un-Christianise” the United States.
        
        Can the Stephie team succeed?
        
        When Sonny Bill plays for the Dallas Cowboys.
        
        8 0
        Report
        April 14, 2017 2:11pm
      - PhilBest
        
        Stephieboy, there is hardly a more “adventurous” revision of history, than the one that the US Founding Fathers were “deists” rather than dissenting Protestants. There is an embarrassment of riches of quotes and writings from them indicating their Christian motivations.
        
        John Quincy Adams:
        
        “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”
        
        Thomas Jefferson:
        
        “…Can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are the gifts of God..?”
        
        “…No nation has ever yet existed or been governed without religion. Nor can be. The Christian religion is the best religion that has ever been given to man and I as chief magistrate of this nation am bound to give it the sanction of my example…”
        
        “…I have always said that a studious perusal of the sacred volume will make better citizens, better fathers, and better husbands…”.
        
        George Washington:
        
        “…Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and moralty are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of Patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of Men and Citizens. … [R]eason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.”
        
        “Let it simply be asked, where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice?”
        
        Edmund Burke: (defending the American revolutionaries in the British Parliament in 1770)
        
        “…The people are Protestants, and of that kind which is the most adverse to all implicit submission of mind and opinion….a persuasion not only favourable to liberty, but built upon it…”
        
        You reference John Locke, who in fact I reference myself routinely, whose writings were saturated with references to scripture and appeals to Divine authority. Some of his writings were straight-out Christian exegesis. Indeed “the father of the enlightenment” and a good exhibit for my argument, not yours. Montesquieu likewise was a Christian who argued from his beliefs, to justify his political theories.
        
        I strongly recommend the book “The Theme is Freedom” by M. Stanton Evans.
        
        4 0
        Report
        April 14, 2017 10:32pm
  - Kimbo
    
    Easter is was a pagan festival
    
    There, fixed that for ya! Christian takeover and re-booted with Christian theology, 312AD. Same with Saturnalia/winter solstice which became a celebration of the Incarnation/Christmas.
    
    11 2
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    April 14, 2017 9:37am
    - Peter
      
      Is
      
      I’d say most people celebrate the Pagan (eggs, bunnies) and very few go to Church to see a dead guy on a stick.
      
      0 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      April 15, 2017 10:45am
  - MrTips
    
    That’s funny. It occurs around the same time as Passover, our Jewish forebears remembrance of delivery from Egypt. Nice try though.
    
    7 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    April 14, 2017 9:39am
    - Kimbo
      
      Well, sort of. By papal decree Easter made a lunar festival so that it never occurs on the same day as Passover. Brand differentiation once the split between Judaism and Christianity was cemented. Although the Last Supper and Crucifixion did occur on Passover, which is the point as far as the New Testament is concerned.
      
      And as you say, the Jewish festival has ideas of freedom from bondage, and the redemption and restoration of humanity.
      
      14 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      April 14, 2017 9:45am
  - mara
    
    And confused little kiddies thinking that bunnies lay eggs. I once asked a gaggle of teenagers from a private school how many legs does a chicken have. They guessed two but when I suggested they might actually have four I sowed great confusion and left them wondering the truth of it. Oh dear. True story.
    
    3 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    April 14, 2017 10:15am
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      Reminds me of Abraham Lincoln’s 5-legged dog:
      
      Abraham Lincoln was fond of asking, “If you call a dog’s tail a leg, how many legs does a dog have?” “Five,” his audience would invariably answer.
      “No,” he would politely respond,” the correct answer is four. Calling a tail a leg does not make it a leg.”
      
      2 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      April 14, 2017 1:59pm
  - Viking2
    
    ha, the bunnies and the eggs have all gone Halal these days. Ask Cadbury and they don’t even say Happy Easter anymore.
    
    2 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    April 14, 2017 1:39pm
- niggly
  
  It may be a Holy(i)day today but I’m listening to Radio NZ National this morning and not a peep out of those “culturally diverse and progressive” people running the station as to why this day is significant to at least half the nation’s population (who identify themselves as Christians in the census etc). And according to their online schedule for the day, maybe perhaps later in the afternoon? Nope!
  
  Purged or erased would be the terms that come to mind!
  
  Welcome to the new age greenie influenced Radio NZ …. an insight into the nations future should their political green coloured idols get to wield power?
  
  15 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  April 14, 2017 10:44am
  - mikenmild
    
    Maybe you should listen to Radio Rhema or one of the fundie nutcase TV channels.
    
    2 14
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    April 14, 2017 10:51am
    - niggly
      
      No thanks, I’ll keep listening to Radio NZ National, it’s a national treasure after all!
      
      Hey, someone has leaked their pre-planned programme schedule for April 2020!
      
      0805: ISLAMOPHOBIA in the NZ, temporary or here to stay?
      
      0835: The life of Uthman (R.A)
      
      0905: Spirituality in Islam
      
      0935: The Hakim will be discussing different aspects of alternative health therapy.
      
      1005: How to make the most of Ramadan?
      
      1035: Things you didn’t know about Islam, Muslims and New Zealand.
      
      (With apologies to the good folk at http://www.ramadanradio.org.uk/scheduleMonth.php)!
      
      10 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      April 14, 2017 11:06am
      - mikenmild
        
        Nice. I did see they will broadcast an Easter service on Sunday morning, in case you can’t get down to Church to respect our Judeo-Christian heritage.
        
        1 7
        Report
        April 14, 2017 11:14am
      - niggly
        
        Well spotted, I missed that one hour of programming Radio NZ have put aside from their hours and hours of regular, self-interest features! (All funded courtesy of the ever suffering taxpayer of course)!
        
        But did they not think of Wallace Chapman losing an hour of his show? My goodness the poor fellow loses an hour to pimp another of his favourite progressive watermelon aligned guests!
        
        10 0
        Report
        April 14, 2017 11:56am
- VicParking
  
  Also its the Birthday of ‘Alī ibn Abī Ṭāliba.
  He married Muhammad’s daughter Fatimah when she was 9.
  
  15 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  April 14, 2017 10:50am
Southern Raider

How much did yesterday’s media wank fest and incompetence by our supposed expert scientists cost the Auckland economy?

“Worst storm in a generation”, “Harbour Bridge to be closed in unprecedented move”, “major commuter chaos forecast with public transport calculations”etc

Universities closed, companies sent staff home at mid day.

What was the outcome of the storm? No wind at all and at most 1mm of rain.

Someone should be held to account.
37 2
Log in to Reply
Report
April 14, 2017 8:24am
- sooty
  
  The MSM!
  
  22 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  April 14, 2017 8:33am
- marleybob
  
  Those friggin experts cost me my annual trip up the Coromandel, 80 knt winds and heavy rain they said, wake this morning to sun shinning and no wind, might as well go to work now, arseholes.
  I’m going to push my son into studying meteorology or Volcanology or seismology.
  Evidently you can be an expert on these subjects yet mother nature can make sure you look like a total pecker heads.
  
  21 3
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  April 14, 2017 8:53am
- Shaun the Sheep
  
  You had one job – put the outdoor furniture in the garage and you’re whining like a bitch because you still have a roof on your house? Unbelievable.
  
  14 3
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  April 14, 2017 9:55am
- MCos
  
  “Someone should be held to account.”
  SBW
  If he hadn’t mucked around with his jersey that tempest would have smote Auckland just like it was supposed to!
  
  4 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  April 14, 2017 1:05pm
- Viking2
  
  Well we had more like 50 -60 mm in a couple of hours so count your blessings.
  
  1 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  April 14, 2017 2:18pm
- sam green
  
  Those fucking gays caused all this nonsense.
  
  0 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  April 15, 2017 2:24am
Huevon

Credit where credit is due – Radio NZ’s series on past prime ministers is outstanding. More like this please. Less leftist fake news and blubbing by John Campbell.

The Mike Moore interview was just as interesting as Palmer. How Labour has changed! That a man who left school at 15 and worked in freezing works could become leader. Balanced view on trade and race relations. Damn shame he got knifed by the She Beast, how different NZ might have been (he also said he’s never spoken to here since….25 years…).
37 1
Log in to Reply
Report
April 14, 2017 8:31am
- dad4justice
  
  “Damn shame he got knifed by the She Beast ”
  Absolutely correct.
  
  35 3
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  April 14, 2017 9:01am
  - sam green
    
    Bloody women – aye dad?
    
    0 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    April 15, 2017 2:26am
- PhilBest
  
  Even Labour Prime Ministers relative to NATIONAL Prime Ministers of recent times…..
  
  David LANGE said this in 2000:
  
  “…the Treaty cannot be any kind of founding document, as it is sometimes said to be. It does not resolve the question of sovereignty, if only because one version of it claims one form of sovereignty and the other version claims the opposite. The Court of Appeal once, absurdly, described it as a partnership between races, but it obviously is not….(there are) dangers posed by the increasing entrenchment of the Treaty…its implications are profoundly undemocratic.”
  
  17 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  April 14, 2017 9:24am
- howitis
  
  Kiwi Keith Holyoake left school at 12 and WON 4 elections to be PM.
  
  Mike Moore stepped in weeks before an election annihilation to reduce the bloodshed after Smarmy Palmer proved he was completely out of his depth in connecting with, let alone understanding, people.
  I was surprised that Moore took this dubious backline pass but he parleyed a couple of weeks as PM into serious international roles.
  
  In contrast Lange cried like a baby for years that he was treated badly. Lange never took advantage of his relative youth to step up on the international stage. I guess the pull of the refrigerator was too much to leave home.
  
  Moore does play up the ‘poor me’ side of things. He had a scholarship to Dilworth School so it was not like he had to leave school at 15. He tried to strongarm Warren Freer out of the safe Mt Albert seat (Moore was by then an active unionist).
  
  He never really sold his idea of the lambburger properly. Perhaps he did not understand it well enough. The idea is to value add. We were sending frozen carcasses of sheep overseas instead of value add chilled cuts. Fonterra still exports milk powder in brown paper bags today so things have not advanced much just as whole logs are exported en mass.
  
  Moore matured but he was quite a whinger in his early years.
  
  8 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  April 14, 2017 1:00pm
duggledog

Southern Raider

Us country types take Metservice with a large pinch of salt. We used to have actual humans manning weather stations up in the Kermadecs or was it Raoul… and down in Fiordland and I believe in those days you could get a much more accurate forecast with ‘boots on the ground’.

Philip Duncan from Weatherwatch is, in my experience, more reliable.

But in Metservice’s defence, Auckland is one of the most difficult places to predict weather, let alone New Zealand. It was better NZTA proposed closing the Harbour Bridge than close it at the last minute.

For the record I didn’t think they would.
14 2
Log in to Reply
Report
April 14, 2017 8:34am
- Ross12
  
  About midday yesterday I heard Philip Duncan being interviewed on ZB on the situation. He was very good. He said forecasting what was going to happen as it got close to land was always difficult but agreed it was better to err on the side of caution.
  He did go out of his way (ie. wasn’t asked a direct question about it) to say all the talk the previous day of comparing to the Wahine storm and saying “it will the biggest in …” was not helpful at all.
  
  10 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  April 14, 2017 10:04am
lastmanstanding

As usual I have a good laugh at those wet behind the ears little female reporter all breathlessly telling me Armegedon was about to descend on Auckland.

I waited and watched.
Wind levels such that leaves on trees didnt move. No rain in our area.

As others have posted when the BIG ONE comes it will be a disaster as most take no action shrugging their shoulders and saying here we go yet again.
18 4
Log in to Reply
Report
April 14, 2017 8:37am
- Southern Raider
  
  Yep this must the 6th Armageddon event in the last 12 months for Auckland that hasn’t ended up being more than a standard winter day.
  
  They do get to trump out their climate change stories though
  
  13 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  April 14, 2017 8:53am
  - VicParking
    
    If you want Armageddon wait till the Lions arrive.
    
    2 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    April 14, 2017 10:54am
    - Viking2
      
      Odds are closing on something happening and then we will have to put up with Jaffa’s whining forever.
      
      0 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      April 14, 2017 2:25pm
Monique Watson

I tell you. It’s the same everywhere. Must be trending. I live in a beautiful part of Northern California. Someone’s left hand gets cold and they bitch a little. And then it makes National News and the journos get their panties in a bunch. Slightly overcast here so everyone’s mooching around semi depressed. Couldn’t cope with actual rain.
Should clear by Sunday for the annual Easter Egg hunt. I’m going as a Bunny.
17 1
Log in to Reply
Report
April 14, 2017 8:44am
- holysheet
  
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pyC7WnvLT4
  
  4 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  April 14, 2017 8:51am
EAD

Russia could have done more to prevent Beslan school siege, court finds

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/apr/13/russia-could-have-done-more-to-prevent-beslan-school-siege-court-finds

European court of human rights says security at school was not increased despite prior warning of attack

I heard this one on the news this morning and it was rather early to be triggered by yet more snide dealings. Beslan was one of the most horrific atrocities I have ever known and yet they even use such a tragedy as a tool to undermine Russia to insinuate that Russia was complicit in such an attack by some vague notion of “not doing more”.

Obviously Western governments are not at all complicit in the scores of “ISIS” atrocities in recent years killing Europeans despite endless third world immigration, the same playbook and ever more surveillance, yet the Russians are bad because they didnt stop Chechen Islamic militia killing hundreds of children.

We are ruled and fed our news by maniacs.
12 4
Log in to Reply
Report
April 14, 2017 8:46am
- mikenmild
  
  Funnily enough, although our resident conspiracist nutters never seem to have anything bad to say about the Russkies, there is some evidence that the Russians allowed the Beslan massacre to proceed.
  
  5 13
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  April 14, 2017 8:51am
  - Jack5
    
    Blaming the Russians for Islamic nutters massacring their children at school. That’s crazy, Milky.
    
    The Russians included tanks, an attack helicopter, rockets, snipers, infantry, special forces, police and even armed locals when they stormed the school. It appears to have been chaos, but let’s keep the blame where it deserves to lie – on the Chechen Islamic extremists who seized the school.
    
    1 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    April 14, 2017 1:53pm
    - mikenmild
      
      I didn’t say I believed it, Jack, but the evidence is stronger for any of the nutty conspiracy theories that EAD or Reid regularly bring up on this blog.
      
      1 2
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      April 14, 2017 1:59pm
  - EAD
    
    @ MM
    
    You calling dissedents like Reid & I who ask awkward questions “conspiracy theorists” reminds me of a quote of Dr. William Peirce:
    
    The people are being kept in line at the moment, because there are still lots of shiny new things for them to buy. But more and more Americans are beginning to look beyond their immediate material comfort and to worry about the long-term moral slide of their country. If the economy slips badly, there will be hell to pay. More and more people will listen to the dissidents.
    
    A big problem for the Jews is how to silence the dissidents now, how to stifle the people who are asking inconvenient questions and thinking dangerous thoughts, before these thoughts spread to other people. They’ve tried to do it with legislation, but the country isn’t yet in a mood to be told what it can think. What the Jews need is a nice, big war. Then they can crack down on the dissidents. Then they can call us “subversives.” Then they can call us “unpatriotic,” because we will be against their war…
    
    That’s why I am convinced that there will be a strong effort to involve America in another major war during the next four years. This effort will be disguised, of course. It will be cloaked in deceit, as such efforts always are. While the warmongers are scheming for war, they will tell us how much they want peace. They’re good at that sort of thing. They’ve had a lot of practice. But they will be scheming for war, believe me, no matter what they say. And when that war comes, remember what you have read today
    
    https://en.m.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_Luther_Pierce
    
    0 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    April 14, 2017 3:37pm
- Rodney Randall
  
  https://youtu.be/nY3Uz4ELwM0
  
  Doco on Putin.
  
  I watched this last night.
  
  Bit of a shady character to put it mildly.
  
  I was surprised by the amount of business people now living in exile post their imprisonment.
  
  There is the funny scene if all the Hollyweirdos lapping up his singing perfomance?
  
  Perhaps this is just propaganda?
  
  7 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  April 14, 2017 10:03am
  - Rodney Randall
    
    34:07sec above doco for the Blueberry Hill “Charm Offensive”?
    
    1 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    April 14, 2017 10:13am
    - Rodney Randall
      
      https://youtu.be/ekeq4szDmJo
      
      Played the Hollyweirdos like a champ.
      
      1 1
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      April 14, 2017 10:17am
  - stephieboy
    
    Rodney Randell, a pity that Trump and his team were not up to speed on this prior and during the election campaign .
    
    A spectacular D fail .
    
    2 14
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    April 14, 2017 10:20am
    - Rodney Randall
      
      Maybe Trump, Clinton, Putin, and Barry can put out a greatest ‘hits’ album for xmas 2017? (with Sharon Stone doing the peace sign half pissed on the cover)
      
      2 2
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      April 14, 2017 10:29am
lastmanstanding

I see US dropped largest non uke weapon 10ton bomb for first time on IS in Afghanistan.

An estimated 1500 rag heads are each now copulating with the 72 former virgin goats.
35 2
Log in to Reply
Report
April 14, 2017 8:50am
- mikenmild
  
  Amazingly, after 15 years of war, the Taliban are still not defeated, are increasing the territory they control, and ISIS now has a large presence in Afghanistan.
  Bigger bombs please!
  
  13 13
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  April 14, 2017 8:53am
  - Jack5
    
    The Afghans aren’t worth the cost in blood.
    
    As Bismarck might have put it if the Germans were in the place of the Americans – Afghanistan’s not worth bones of a single Pomeranian grenadier.
    
    America’s use of the big bomb on the Taleban, though, shows Trumpist America is a tougher country than Obamaland was. What number three will likely be the North Korean hobbit.
    
    2 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    April 14, 2017 1:58pm
    - Jack5
      
      Whoops! Missile storm on Syrian air base, then this bomb.~~What~~ Strike number three will likely be the North Korean hobbit.
      
      1 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      April 14, 2017 2:04pm
    - stephieboy
      
      Jack5 , the BLU 82 the predecsssor to MOAB was used a number of times in Afghanistan.
      
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BLU-82
      
      I think you operate under the deluded assumption that the bigger the bang the more likely it will work as witnessed in Vietnam.
      
      But it all figures . You appear to care little for”wogs “or ‘ Gooks” ( the derogatory reference to Vietnamese )
      
      0 7
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      April 14, 2017 3:03pm
- holysheet
  
  Yay
  When did they run out of human virgins then?
  
  10 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  April 14, 2017 8:55am
- cmm
  
  Let’s just clean up the 72 virgins thing….
  
  It isn’t really 72 virgins it is much, much more alarming than that!
  
  The actual wording (depending on the translation) is 2 virgins + 70 wives taken from the defeated enemy.
  
  In the current context, the 70 wives basically mean 70 Western women. So rapes and taharosh (or whatever it is called) of Western women is just getting an advance on the payment or checking the merchandise.
  
  27 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  April 14, 2017 9:01am
  - holysheet
    
    Under the consumer guarantee act can they return the merchandise if its not fit for purpose?
    I am sure a complaint to the MSM would receive the highest priority reporting.
    
    12 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    April 14, 2017 9:18am
  - kowtow
    
    Damaged goods.
    
    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/apr/13/michigan-doctor-charged-female-genital-mutilation-fgm
    
    Very wrong of those Islamophobic Americans to be charging her though. It’s a cultural practice so should be celebrated , so enriching.
    
    15 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    April 14, 2017 9:19am
    - cha
      
      Damaged goods.
      
      Indeed.
      /
      
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sb_YPFrWty0&feature=youtu.be
      
      3 3
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      April 14, 2017 9:26am
    - GoVege
      
      You noticed the sweet smile on the face of the mutilator?
      And to think that it was their own mothers who took them to this female Dr Mengele.
      
      7 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      April 14, 2017 11:57am
  - sooty
    
    YAH. 72 mother in laws! That will be fun.
    
    8 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    April 14, 2017 10:03am
  - Jack5
    
    CMM – you left out the “renewable” part.
    
    1 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    April 14, 2017 1:59pm
    - Jack5
      
      Stephies, you can please explain to us Kaffirs the Muslim obsession with surgery on female genitalia.
      
      If they’re not cutting the bits up, they are thinking about Muslim Heaven perpetually putting them back together.
      
      6 1
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      April 14, 2017 2:18pm
      - sam green
        
        Obsessed much – hmmm.
        
        0 1
        Report
        April 15, 2017 2:28am
- stephieboy
  
  lastmanstanding, very deep in throughtful reflection on this day of holy obligation .
  
  0 15
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  April 14, 2017 10:22am
Happychappy

Does anyone know whether MM got free membership in Labour’s Presidents Club for his outstanding service of defending Andrew Little on Kiwiblog over the past few months, surely that is gold for Labour.
27 1
Log in to Reply
Report
April 14, 2017 9:12am
- nasska
  
  I understand that Darren Hughes has offered to reward Mike for his services next time he’s in town. 🙂
  
  27 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  April 14, 2017 9:24am
  - stigie
    
    Please take photos Milky so we can defend you on Kiwiblog..?
    
    17 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    April 14, 2017 9:35am
  - GazzaW
    
    The Order of the Swiss Ball?
    
    19 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    April 14, 2017 9:41am
- stephieboy
  
  Happycahppy , to be fair MM was attempting to make an objective appriasel of the true nature of the Jurys decsion .
  
  A Jury that was there and whom heard all the evidence including the Judge’s trial summary.
  
  Unlike most of us here on KB and elsewhere .
  
  2 18
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  April 14, 2017 10:27am
BeeSting

News from AUSTRASTAN
The defecation on what
Australian stands for progresses according to schedule.

Australian Greek Orthodox Christian
who have always worn their crosses
Worked Hard Assimilated raised their Families
Consider themselves rightly Australian

ARE BEING ASSAULTED BY GANGS OF SCUM

http://www.breitbart.com/london/2017/04/10/australian-beaten-cross-beaten-muslim-gang-shouting/

“This is not an isolated incident,” said Rev Capsis, who explained that Mike was the fourth Christian to have come to him about a religiously-motivated attack in just the last six months.

Christians in Sydney, Australia, are being advised to hide their crosses after an Arabic-speaking gang shouting “F*** Jesus!” attacked a couple on a train while transport officers looked on from a “safe space” and did nothing.

HAPPY EASTER
24 4
Log in to Reply
Report
April 14, 2017 9:17am
- Southern Raider
  
  Just like an average day for a Jew living in Paris, except quite often they end up murdered
  
  24 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  April 14, 2017 9:42am
- BeeSting
  
  Just so you know
  I have reports they are insulting jews in Australia
  I had a chat with a store holder at a market
  which I will not name to protect her
  
  Jews in Aus are a bit more organised with security
  when they openly start doing this to them
  it will hit the fan.
  
  The M o s l e m Manager spat beside her to insult her and they spit outside one of the jewish run store to insult them as well
  
  Kumbaya
  
  I talk to moslem taxis drivers frequently some are ok – 40 minutes drives FFS
  
  I interrogate them
  
  one told me that they believe in christ? (yeah right)
  
  When he returns they join with the christians
  and wipe out the anti christ jews
  
  That aint gonna Happen but anyway
  that is what some of them believe?
  
  Forken Sad little Fruit Cakes
  
  I did tell him read the new testament I dare you
  get pdf and go find Syria
  compare what Jesus did
  to what your “Mates are Doing in..Syria
  
  If you have not done that already do not tell me
  you believe in christ.
  
  Christ Healed the sick and helped the blind see.
  Look it up. Some still follow his example there.
  
  I also told them NZ and Aus had a trade of preserved heads and cannibalism / beheading was practiced in the Pacific War WW2 why not many
  prisoners were taken.
  
  None of this Barbarism is nothing new in the South Pacific nor should it scare or phase anyone.
  
  Pass that onto you buddies mate if push comes
  to shuv there will be no prisoners.
  
  I told him christianity allows you to exist
  with out the civilised reserve of christian society
  how are you going to hold people back?
  Doing what you do?
  
  When they go – so will you
  
  I think he was really glad to let me out of the Car
  
  And was a bit pale in the face
  
  5 13
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  April 14, 2017 10:06am
  - Dave Mann
    
    What on earth are you talking about? That was one of the worst, least coherent pieces of writing I have read in ages. Get it together.
    
    14 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    April 14, 2017 11:19am
    - mikenmild
      
      Gee, you try to read his rants?
      
      8 1
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      April 14, 2017 11:23am
    - GoVege
      
      It’s not meant to be coherent. ..Beesting is writing poetry.
      Go with the flow, Dave.
      
      8 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      April 14, 2017 11:51am
      - PhilBest
        
        It beats a lot of what passes for the art of modern poetry…if he’s parodying it, he’s actually quite good.
        
        6 0
        Report
        April 14, 2017 1:10pm
  - Shaun the Sheep
    
    By the end of that tirade I was starting to hate “us” too.
    Poor taxi driver has my sympathy.
    
    8 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    April 14, 2017 11:51am
cha

IOW – Trump/GOP leaks on their way.

Breaking: CIA Dir. Pompeo: "It's time to call out @Wikileaks for what it is: a non-state hostile intelligence service" abetted by #Russia"— Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) April 13, 2017
5 4
Log in to Reply
Report
April 14, 2017 9:19am
- mikenmild
  
  I see the Guardian is reporting that
  
  One source suggested the official investigation was making progress. “They now have specific concrete and corroborative evidence of collusion,” the source said. “This is between people in the Trump campaign and agents of [Russian] influence relating to the use of hacked material.”
  
  https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/apr/13/british-spies-first-to-spot-trump-team-links-russia
  
  4 8
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  April 14, 2017 10:40am
  - cha
    
    Somethings afoot.
    
    Mike Pompeo Verified account 
    ‏@RepMikePompeo
    Need further proof that the fix was in from Pres. Obama on down? BUSTED: 19,252 Emails from DNC Leaked by Wikileaks
    
    9:36 AM – 24 Jul 2016
    
    http://archive.is/p0ij6#selection-3995.0-3995.21
    
    4 4
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    April 14, 2017 11:31am
  - PhilBest
    
    And it wasn’t leaked months ago? I am not holding my breath.
    
    5 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    April 14, 2017 1:11pm
holysheet

When will it end

https://www.engadget.com/2017/04/13/kim-dotcom-supreme-court-75-million-megaupload/
12 0
Log in to Reply
Report
April 14, 2017 9:29am
mikenmild

Easter news from Jesusland: fundie nutjobs try to reverse marriage equality.
http://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/north-carolina-lawmakers-introduce-bill-ban-same-sex-marriage-n745606
7 11
Log in to Reply
Report
April 14, 2017 10:37am
- Fletch
  
  Good for them. No such thing as “marriage equality”. Equal to what?
  
  6 6
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  April 14, 2017 1:29pm
  - mikenmild
    
    Fruitcakes who don’t understand the US Constitution or the role of the Supreme Court.
    
    4 9
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    April 14, 2017 1:32pm
  - Scott
    
    Well put fletch. I must say Mikey seems incredibly grumpy in his fundamentalist atheism this Good Friday? Perhaps he is having doubts about his doubts?
    
    3 2
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    April 14, 2017 4:35pm
    - mikenmild
      
      No Scott. Are you sure you should be using the internet on Good Friday?
      
      3 2
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      April 14, 2017 4:44pm
      - nasska
        
        Shame on him! For the holy amongst us Good Fridays are supposed to be spent head down & arse up in church.
        
        Not posting crap on Kiwiblog!
        
        4 0
        Report
        April 14, 2017 5:15pm
      - mikenmild
        
        The god-addled should really be working on a law to shut down the internet at Easter and Xmas.
        
        4 4
        Report
        April 14, 2017 5:24pm
    - Scott
      
      Been to church thanks my atheist fellows. By I’ve noticed your vitriol against God manifests more on Sundays and religious holidays. Something about Good Friday obviously upsets you at a deep spiritual level methinks.
      
      2 4
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      April 14, 2017 6:28pm
      - mikenmild
        
        Just pissed off that the shops are closed for no good reason.
        
        4 3
        Report
        April 14, 2017 6:31pm
      - GoVege
        
        Yes Scott, compulsory Christianity does tend to upset the godless.
        
        3 1
        Report
        April 14, 2017 7:09pm
Hugh Pavletich

Hardly surprising …

Soaring house prices reduce number of babies born in England … UK Telegraph

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2017/04/12/soaring-house-prices-reduce-number-babies-born-england/

By Sarah Knapton, Science Editor

Soaring house prices are reducing the number of babies born in England because fewer people can afford their own home and so delay starting a family, a new study suggests.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development found that for every 10 per cent increases in house prices, the birth rate falls by 1.3 per cent.

The trend is reversed for people who own their own home, with a 10 per cent house price rise sparking a rise in the number of births by 2.8 per cent. However among renters, the same increase causes a birth rate decline of 4.9 per cent. … read more via hyperlink above …
7 12
Log in to Reply
Report
April 14, 2017 10:51am
- Notsofast
  
  Hugh:
  I am glad you continue to post. There is no rational objection to studying this subject and reporting findings. Why your post would attract any votes let alone down votes is an enduring mystery.
  There has been a fast and unnecessary dividing of the social landscape in New Zealand in 8 years, replacing the aspirations of local offspring with an opportunity for international capital to seek and find a legally safe repository.
  History will see this as in a real sense, catastrophic.
  
  4 6
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  April 14, 2017 2:05pm
sbk

If Auckland traffic isn’t bad enough…without idiots on their smartphones!!!…is those braindead who enter an intersection without total and clear passage through.No excuse.They are either morons who have trouble judging safe distancing/traffic conditions or a self obsessed individual with little regard for others…both should not hold a license.

Rant over.
11 0
Log in to Reply
Report
April 14, 2017 11:25am
BeeSting

Planned Korean Barbecue

We have gone from an islamic terrorist controlling
america to a mental retard with a Toupea

If that makes you feel safe IN NZ

YOU ARE WRONG

WHEN IT GOES WRONG

THEY ARE COMING FOR YOUR PRODUCTIVE LAND AS SOON AS IT GOES WRONG

As it always does.
2 14
Log in to Reply
Report
April 14, 2017 11:36am
GoVege

A video has emerged (love that line ) showing two good Australian Muslim women demonstrating how a Muslim husband is supposed to beat his wife.
Pathetic brainwashed idiots.
The ozzie’s are posses off.
15 0
Log in to Reply
Report
April 14, 2017 12:09pm
- GoVege
  
  Pissed off. ..damn spell check.
  
  4 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  April 14, 2017 12:11pm
cha

If she had a gun……

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tLxyMK64W4&feature=youtu.be
1 2
Log in to Reply
Report
April 14, 2017 1:23pm
Notsofast

Science has been butchered by a judicial system in New Zealand in a few outstanding cases.
There is imminent disclosure of this method, that allows a score of international scientists to come to court with a false conclusion about preserved tissue on a shirt.
Interestingly, if it was what this score of experts claim it is, it would have no recognisable filamental features. It would be unrecognisable, as is brain on a telephone at the crime scene.

Indeed it would contain no preservative such as that used in manufactured meat products designed to last for extended periods in a safe for human consumption form.

You are hearing it and reading it here.
1 8
Log in to Reply
Report
April 14, 2017 2:11pm
- Longknives
  
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flogging_a_dead_horse
  
  5 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  April 14, 2017 5:37pm
  - Notsofast
    
    I am taking bets Longknives.
    With great pleasure and anticipation.
    Even money any amount that the horse rises again.
    
    1 2
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    April 14, 2017 5:42pm
    - mikenmild
      
      You just need to flog it a bit harder, that’s all.
      
      3 2
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      April 14, 2017 5:50pm
Viking2

Holiday traffic chaos has hit Auckland and Wellington, turning motorways into carparks with “extreme delays” as motorists flee the city for the long weekend.

New Zealand Transport Agency live cameras show heavy traffic southbound on State Highway 1 from Goodwood Heights, Manukau.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11838398
2 0
Log in to Reply
Report
April 14, 2017 2:58pm
Chuck Bird

I heard on the radio news that a couple of businesses in Auckland have banned burkas. I think one was a jewellery shop and the other was coffee bar. I wonder what Susan Devoy will have to say. I remember last winter I had my hood up because of the weather and as soon as I went in a shop I was told to take my hood off.
9 2
Log in to Reply
Report
April 14, 2017 3:06pm
- simpleton1
  
  No problem, take it off !
  But then it is all woman staff so that is ok.
  
  Dame Susan Devoy faced criticism after expressing the view burqas were “disconcerting”.
  “Muslim women need to respect the need to sometimes de-robe in order to allow identification while New Zealanders should respect the personal choice made by these women without being ignorant and abusive,”
  
  http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2017/04/auckland-jewellery-shop-criticised-for-no-burkas-sign.html
  Would seem to be fair as people considered to be ‘kkk’ would also have to “de-robe” but only for identification purposes.
  Perhaps she also means that ‘all’ ” NZ’ers should respect the [shop keeper’s] personal choice” too?
  
  Just what is identification?
  
  6 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  April 14, 2017 3:38pm
- Nostradamus
  
  Chuck Bird:
  
  I was told to take my hood off.
  
  Are you sure that wasn’t a euphemism for a bit of man-on-man action somewhere private? 🙂
  
  9 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  April 14, 2017 3:38pm
  - Chuck Bird
    
    You are a bit sick. I had not considered that Mr Anonymous bottom feeder.
    
    1 7
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    April 14, 2017 4:53pm
    - Awww C-mon
      
      You hadn’t considered it the first time but I bet your back there at opening time tomorrow aye Chucky
      
      Not one to miss an opportunity are ya
      
      4 2
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      April 14, 2017 5:58pm
    - Nostradamus
      
      Chuck:
      
      FFS – lighten up. It was a joke!
      
      I’ve sent you a sense of humour in the post. Hopefully you receive it in time for Easter.
      
      8 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      April 14, 2017 6:47pm
- GoVege
  
  Glad to hear some businesses are taking a stand against medieval clothing designed to oppress women.
  Once these neanderthals realise they can’t practise their backward customs here, they might think twice about coming here.
  (Or even choose to join the 21st century. …or at least the 19th.)
  
  4 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  April 14, 2017 7:05pm
  - nasska
    
    Any advance on the 8th century would be an improvement.
    
    5 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    April 14, 2017 7:10pm
- sam green
  
  Chuck dude – did you flash them your gang sign?
  
  1 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  April 15, 2017 2:44am
Nostradamus

Pete George has blogged: US federal judge rules on breast equality

A federal judge on Wednesday granted a preliminary injunction that will prevent Fort Collins from enforcing a city ordinance that bans women from exposing their breasts in public, other than for breastfeeding purposes.
…
The statute in question, which said that “[n]o person shall knowingly appear in any public place in a nude state or state of undress such that the genitals or buttocks of either sex or the breast or breasts of a female are exposed,” was revised in November 2015.

The judge said:

“After much thought, I have concluded that going out on this lonely limb is the right thing to do. I have no more right to fall back on ‘the way we have always done it’ than those who have reassessed their thinking.”

Stephieboy: it’s time for you to book a flight to the city of Fort Collins!
4 0
Log in to Reply
Report
April 14, 2017 3:45pm
- mikenmild
  
  A few weeks ago I was on a bus and saw a topless young woman walking along by Pigeon Park. There was some tittering (ahem!) from some of the viewers on the bus.
  Perhaps stephieboy could take up residence there in hopes of a repeat performance.
  
  7 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  April 14, 2017 3:55pm
  - RalphT
    
    I think he’s fine where he is; which is not in Wellington.
    
    7 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    April 14, 2017 5:12pm
Viking2

Hillary Clinton’s Former State Department Employee Facing Treason Charges

http://defiantamerica.com/hillary-clinton-former-state-department-employee-facing-treason-charges/
5 0
Log in to Reply
Report
April 14, 2017 4:12pm
- mikenmild
  
  What was the link to Hilary Clinton?
  
  3 5
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  April 14, 2017 4:17pm
Viking2

North Korean ships are reportedly heading back home from China still full of one of the few products the country has that other countries want — coal.

According to Reuters, sanctions China implemented in February have gone into effect, stopping North Korea from selling its most precious export to its biggest trading partner.

This is a proverbial walk of shame for North Korea.
http://defiantamerica.com/north-korean-coal-fleet-heading-back-home-shocking-chinese-rejection/
6 0
Log in to Reply
Report
April 14, 2017 4:14pm
Viking2

Asia has a staggering “male surplus” — roughly 100 million more men than women. The biggest gender imbalances are found in China and India. In the latest issue of the Nikkei Asian Review, we weigh the social consequences of the lopsided numbers.

http://asia.nikkei.com/magazine/20170413
1 0
Log in to Reply
Report
April 14, 2017 4:26pm
- krazykiwi
  
  Yes, the shrieking liberals who call for absolute, unfettered abortion really tie themselves in knots explaining why a parent shouldn’t be allowed to selectively abort based on gender preference
  
  1 3
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  April 14, 2017 5:21pm
  - mikenmild
    
    Why shouldn’t they be allowed to do so?
    
    2 5
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    April 14, 2017 5:26pm
    - dad4justice
      
      Abortion is murder mikeymould. Just ask your mum Norma.
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLvnYwvJMKE
      
      2 7
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      April 14, 2017 5:32pm
      - mikenmild
        
        Pity you mother shared that belief…
        
        5 4
        Report
        April 14, 2017 5:45pm
      - starboard
        
        When mm was born, the Doctor slapped the mother.
        
        2 1
        Report
        April 14, 2017 9:36pm
      - sam green
        
        And when starboard was hatched ………?
        
        1 0
        Report
        April 15, 2017 2:47am
Fletch

U.S drops the “mother of all bombs” on Afghanistan –

The U.S. military on Thursday dropped a massive 21,600-pound bomb in Afghanistan targeting Islamic State in Iraq and Syria fighters in a series of cave complexes.
At 7:32 p.m., a U.S. MC-130 aircraft dropped the bomb – the U.S.’s largest non-nuclear bomb ever used in combat – in Achin district in the eastern province of Nangarhar, Afghanistan.

It was the first time the bomb, known as the GBU-43, or “Massive Ordnance Air Blast,” was used in combat. It has a yield of 11 tons of TNT, and is nicknamed the “Mother of All Bombs.”

The bomb targeted ISIS’s Afghan affiliate, ISIS-Khorasan, “as part of ongoing efforts” to defeat the group in 2017, according to a statement from U.S. Forces – Afghanistan.

“The strike was designed to minimize the risk to Afghan and U.S. Forces conducting clearing operations in the area while maximizing the destruction of ISIS-K fighters and facilities,” the statement said.

http://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2017/04/13/us-military-drops-massive-bomb-on-islamic-state-in-afghanistan/
4 0
Log in to Reply
Report
April 14, 2017 5:18pm
- mikenmild
  
  “ongoing efforts” to defeat the group in 2017
  
  Victory just around the corner, after 15 years?
  
  2 7
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  April 14, 2017 5:32pm
  - dad4justice
    
    In 15 years time mikey you would have received 10 trillion down ticks on kiwiblog
    
    3 5
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    April 14, 2017 5:42pm
    - stigie
      
      Shit, you won’t be too far behind Dad..?
      
      4 1
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      April 14, 2017 7:04pm
  - rangitoto
    
    Daesh haven’t been around for 15 years.
    
    2 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    April 14, 2017 6:18pm
Viking2

Kayakers on Huka Falls
Adventures With Rosy

Today we were at Huka Falls, Taupo, NZ and were lucky enough to be filming when some Kayakers went over the falls!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fm7pta7OdZE
2 0
Log in to Reply
Report
April 14, 2017 5:27pm
Jack5

Whoops! Posted this on yesterday’s (13 April) General Debate by mistake, so am repeating:

The Hooerald has discovered the World War 2 Long Range Desert Group, one of the predecessors of the SAS.

Many NZ soldiers served in this, and I met two old veterans of it. The New Zealanders distinguished themselves. I think the LRDG among other things raided German airfields, using trucks mounted with twin Vickers machineguns that had an extremely rapid firing rate. These were designed for use in aircraft.

The Hooerald says:

The reason New Zealanders were specifically hand-picked for the dangerous missions was their toughness and ability to repair trucks on their farms.

This is a great NZ Story. For a wet Easter Friday, here are a couple of sources with more information about the NZ’ers in the LRDG.

1. How General Freyberg wanted the men back:
http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-WH2-1Doc-c15.html

2. The story of one of the men:

http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/5t14/tinker-ronald-arthur/print

South Island followers of Kiwiblog may recall the obituary in the Christchurch Press a few years ago of a farmer, one of the local LRDG veterans. He was left behind in one raid, and was taken prisoner by local Arabs, who kept him chained outside, and starving, like a dog, until taken over by an Italian patrol. He contracted some disease, but survived captivity as a p.o.w.
7 0
Log in to Reply
Report
April 14, 2017 6:15pm
- Kimbo
  
  Former All Black, then 1945-46 Kiwis captain, renowned rugby coach and later life member of the NZ Rugby Union Charlie Saxton was a member of the LRDG.
  
  He was going to captain 1940 All Blacks on their scheduled tour of South Africa but a more serious contest intervened.
  
  When this piece of corporate fluff ran before the 1999 Rugby World Cup New Zealanders re-discovered Charlie Saxton as a dear old grand father. Yeah, he was, but killing members of Rommel’s Afrika Korp and creating bloody havoc behind enemy lines was in his CV!
  
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gAiOkMGx4g
  
  5 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  April 14, 2017 6:18pm
- mikenmild
  
  There are a couple of books about the NZers in the LRDG, too.
  Kiwi Scorpions and Bearded Brigands, I think. Also one about the Barce Raid.
  
  3 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  April 14, 2017 6:23pm
nasska

….”The reason New Zealanders were specifically hand-picked for the dangerous missions was their toughness and ability to repair trucks on their farms. “…..

Farmers are the salt of the earth. What would we do without them?
7 0
Log in to Reply
Report
April 14, 2017 6:20pm
- mikenmild
  
  Have swimmable rivers?
  
  3 4
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  April 14, 2017 6:24pm
  - nasska
    
    Who wants to swim in a river…..fish mate in them. 🙂
    
    5 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    April 14, 2017 6:27pm
  - rangitoto
    
    ~~Have swimmable rivers?~~ Starve?
    
    Fixed.
    
    2 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    April 14, 2017 10:00pm
- Kimbo
  
  Turn to the stock brokers, property managers and insurance salesmen? 😉
  
  2 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  April 14, 2017 6:25pm
- mikenmild
  
  Salt of the Earth:
  ‘You are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his flavor, with which shall it be salted? it is thereafter good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.’
  
  6 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  April 14, 2017 6:30pm
  - Kimbo
    
    Scott having an effect on you, mikenmild?! Next nasska will become an itinerant evangelist 😉
    
    7 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    April 14, 2017 6:35pm
  - nasska
    
    Bloody Bible basher! 🙂
    
    5 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    April 14, 2017 6:35pm
    - mikenmild
      
      Surely no one will tell me off for quoting scripture at Easter. Or Shakespeare.
      
      7 1
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      April 14, 2017 6:47pm
      - stigie
        
        The world is your oyster Milky, i can see you amongst the priesthood sharing scripture and altar boys !~
        
        4 1
        Report
        April 14, 2017 7:11pm
      - Kimbo
        
        Yeah, ok. But I wouldn’t press your luck with this crowd by referencing the Koran 😉
        
        6 0
        Report
        April 14, 2017 7:15pm
      - Nostradamus
        
        Stigie:
        
        i can see you amongst the priesthood sharing scripture and altar boys !~
        
        I understand that Mikenmild has received a better offer from Starboard: first-class return tickets to Thailand and lots of good times and happy endings!
        
        6 0
        Report
        April 14, 2017 7:16pm
Nostradamus

Man breaks penis while having ‘passionate’ sex

A man from southern China was in agony after breaking his penis during sex with his wife.
…
Mr Dai, from Guangxi’s Nanming city, had his penis snapped after hearing a cracking sound while having sex with his partner on the night of April 8. He was rushed to hospital for emergency treatment before being transferred to Guangxi Minzu Hospital at 4am.

Doctors found that Dai’s penis was at an odd angle and was so swollen it looked like an eggplant.
…
Dai is now recovering in hospital.

Well goodness me…
5 0
Log in to Reply
Report
April 14, 2017 7:22pm
- stigie
  
  Enough to make your eyes water Nostra, in a splint and permanently hard !~
  
  3 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  April 14, 2017 7:28pm
- UrbanNeocolonialist
  
  I expect he will be behind a lot of crooked elections in future.
  
  1 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  April 15, 2017 12:00am
nasska

A young girl from down south wrote to an agony aunt in her local paper:

Dear Deidre,
I’m a 13 year old girl from Christchurch and I’m still a virgin. Do you think my brothers are gay?
9 0
Log in to Reply
Report
April 14, 2017 7:33pm
- Nostradamus
  
  Dear Deidre
  
  Have you been to Starbucks in St Lukes? I hear the coffee is nice.
  
  Best wishes
  Agony Stephanie
  
  8 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  April 14, 2017 7:50pm
  - nasska
    
    He doesn’t rise to the bait how he used to Nostra. Don’t worry though.
    
    We’ll get a strike yet! 🙂
    
    5 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    April 14, 2017 7:57pm
    - stigie
      
      He rises to the bait when Dad gives him heaps, what has Dad got that we haven’t i wonder..??
      
      5 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      April 14, 2017 8:04pm
      - nasska
        
        Probably they share the same pharmacist. 🙂
        
        4 0
        Report
        April 14, 2017 8:10pm
      - dad4justice
        
        A backbone unlike yourself you timid coward. A disgrace to mankind.
        
        2 6
        Report
        April 14, 2017 8:54pm
      - sam green
        
        http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-3434808/Pete-Burns-facial-appearance-shocks-CBBBOTS-viewers.html
        
        1 0
        Report
        April 15, 2017 2:53am
Rodney Randall

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/panmankey/2013/03/eostre-easter-ostara-eggs-and-bunnies/
0 0
Log in to Reply
Report
April 14, 2017 7:35pm
dad4justice

Just imagine a kiwiblog get together I would only be one there, as all the keyboard cowards would be swimming with the jellyfish. P J Burns!
2 7
Log in to Reply
Report
April 14, 2017 9:07pm
BeeSting

Tomorrow the next day and the next

YOU WILL ALL BE STUMBLING IN THE DARK

Fumbling and Fiddling

Talking in Circles
0 4
Log in to Reply
Report
April 14, 2017 9:45pm
Nostradamus

I’d have a drink with you Dad – first round on me. I’m sure we’d have a good chat!

It’d be interesting if Gabby, Griff and Ztev turned up.
2 0
Log in to Reply
Report
April 14, 2017 9:46pm
Manolo

And yet another Muslim lonewolf:
http://m.jpost.com/#/app/article/487011
1 0
Log in to Reply
Report
April 15, 2017 2:17am
Manolo

The little we know about the universe:
http://www.wired.co.uk/article/dark-matter-bridge

Researchers at the University of Waterloo used a technique known as weak gravitational lensing to create a composite image of the bridge.

Gravitational lensing is an effect that causes the images of distant galaxies to warp slightly under the influence of an unseen mass, such as a planet, a black hole, or in this case, dark matter.
0 0
Log in to Reply
Report
April 15, 2017 2:32am

Add a Comment Cancel reply

Login to comment or vote

« Taurima standing for Maori Party

Moore on Labour »

Donations

You can now donate to Kiwiblog

Exclusive content from DPF on Patreon

Become a Patron!

Highlights

The Kiwis are fleeing
Inflation by term
Houston we have a problem
Our immunisation disaster

Never miss a post

Email Address

Links

Geoff Parker: Corey Hebberd’s humbug taken to task
Breaking Views
A crisis of ambition
Point of Order
What happened to academic freedom?
Hompaddock
Who is a bigger coward? Te Papa Board or TVNZ Board?
The Daily Blog
Silence is Golden
No Minister
Response from Devin Pope, on religious attendance
Utopia
Open mike 20/04/2024
The Standard
A who's who of New Zealand's dodgiest companies
No Right Turn
"Under a better Resource Management system [sic], there would be no need for fast-track approval processes."
Not PC
Despair - construction consenting edition
Offsetting Behaviour
RACIST ADVERTISING
No Punches Pulled (Bob Jones)
Is the state coming for churches?
Bob McCoskrie's McBlog
Super Rugby Predictions for Week 9
Stats Chat
Coalition Promises
NZCPR
Tougher than that
Croaking Cassandra
ABs stripped of 2011 title after try disallowed
Imperator Fish
Legal Beagle: Election '23: The Special Votes
Public Address
Making this movie might have been a mistake
Liam Hehir
Why I am retiring from political blogging
Kiwi FireWalker
Angie Warren-Clark: Meet the Newbies
Dan Moskovitz