Posts by slarty
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I think the Rio Tinto (tiwai) thing is really quite simple.
1. They import bauxite (basically aluminium oxide) from Queensland.
2. They add cheap (by global standards) renewable electricity to separate off the Oxygen, leaving Aluminium.
3. They export the refined product.
4. They charge a premium due to the renewable aspect, and the fact that they make very, very good Aluminium (purity of the product is a function of how much electricity is used, so because it is relatively cheap they can add lots)
5. They return the profits made to the overseas owner.The only balance of payments impact is the value of the electricity - everything else is on-shore or 'realised" (profit) off-shore.
So basically we export electricity - that is the main resource added to the bauxite as it passes through NZ. Not that I wish to denigrate the skill of the people involved - they are very good at what they do. but it's marginal in comparison with the electricity.
[I've been using the term electricity, because that is what it is - aluminium production is mainly electrolytic - no smelting furnaces like you see for steel etc.]
Against this we have to balance the impact of shutting down the plant.
If we were really smart we'd find a way to only let them run it using "surplus" power - maybe a pumped storage system like in Wales to store excess Hydro / Wind.
BTW, that's our main energy problem - it's like my water tank at home. Most of the year I have a surplus of water, but for 3 months each year I get little rain and have to scrimp and save... if we didn't mask consumers from the supply and demand impact (through retail contracts) we'd probably find we had plenty for the moment!
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Just the normal shallow interpretation of the evidence: I think this response from a couple of months ago sums it up - you should always follow the money. If drugs were decriminalised and regulated (as advocated by this Chief of Police ) then the two big financial losers would be the criminals and the Police...
"... we’ll just keep plugging away out here, delivering you a country with one of the lowest crime rates and and a social system that is the envy of much of the world, judging by how much of it turns up every year to see how we do things. Of course you’ll never hear about it, because it doesn’t sell newspapers or win elections.
Comment by Slarty — 27 February 2008 @ 8:56 am
#Slarty, there is no organisation in New Zealand including the Government that has such overwhelming access to and influence over the media as the police. Police stories fill newspapers and radio and TV bulletins every single day. Furthermore the police are represented on all kinds of local body and community liaison groups and organisations.
If with all this coverage Police are failing to distribute real information about what works I suggest it is well overdue for a big shake out at Police HQ.
I think you'd find that Police would be told to stay out of policy, and leave that to the Politicians...
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principled conservatives
military intelligenceDon't forget: http://www.lawcom.govt.nz/ProjectGeneral.aspx?ProjectID=96
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Thanks Keith, you always help to nudge my despair with journalism in a more positive direction.
A fact-checking web site would be a massive drain: as an alternative, what about a Bullshitometer for key (!) politicians, agencies and... journalists?
We could have a ballot to pick 8 important mouths or mouthpieces, then look for volunteers to fact check their blathering.
I nominate the leaders of each party plus Police as a starting point (only because I'm becoming increasingly disillusioned with the transparency of plod over the last year or so).
I'd be happy to help build a system for calculating a bullshit%. We could then just run a series of gauges on a site. It might even be valid in a qualitative sense!
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I just went and did the maths on Orcons new plans - I just can't make it add up. The premium they seem to be pitching is 20 - 40 bucks over and above their current plans. And that is with no connection speed increase.
We really need the wholesale naked DSL cost to be low - like $35 for this to have any significant impact.
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I'm really struggling with this AIA thing.
NZ's rules were out of step:
1. Under the stapled security approach, NZ would have lost serious dollars overseas: it's designed as a "tax efficient" structure. That was the only value these guys were bringing to the table, and that's why it was worth more to them than someone operating locally.
2. AIA is a strategic asset and effective monopoly (go and look at the British / US / Oz / EU definition and see how liberal NZ is) and under the circumstances a strong local interest is the only balance. Maybe shareholders would have preferred a Commissioner to regulate it?
Cullen handled it the right way: these things have to be secret until the moment you do it - blithering around with consultation etc. would have simply made a number of other businesses face a period of uncertainty, and give a bunch of other people an unfair loophole to exploit. With all these type of things its best to change the rules swiftly and decisively to prevent damage.
The only thing Cullen has done is to signal to business that NZ is not a country full of weak ditherers who can be pushed around by business, but a nation of people prepared to act on the basis that business is a servant of society, not the other way around.
Just like the Air NZ / Ansett / BIL thing really...
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... the most I've ever learned about the US "system" since I watched the last episode of WW last year...
And thank you for confirming my recollection... I kept thinking it was familiar!
Interesting philosophical issue is raised here around the role of delegates, whether super of NZ Members of Parliament. Every time I see a call for a referendum to re-litigate an issue, I'm reminded of the fact we don't elect these people to do what we want, we ask them to make decisions on our behalf.
It's a bit like a jury - we don't see everything presented in court, so shouldn't second guess their decision.
Except the Scott Watson case of course. Sheesh... if ever there was an example of why emotive trials should be held away from the area!
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I got so misty eyed at this I went and fired up my Macintosh (note that it has no letters after the name), plugged in the widget I acquired in 1992 and loaded the IP stack, put in the floppy with the browser on it (having ejected the one with the O/S)... and had a look at PA - might be interesting what that shows up as :)
And then I shut it down, and using the special long torx and cracker tool they gave me along with my Mac service passport in 1987 opened the back, gently touched the three signatures on the inside of the case, put it back together and placed it back in the wool lined storage box until next year.
<sigh>
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No point in getting interested in the internal politics of a nation clearly in its sunset years. A nation where 70%+ of the population still believe in ghosts just can't be taken seriously.
So just accept the fact all those Democrats watched The West Wing and think that Obama is Jimmy Smits.
Now, will it be China, or will India slip up the rear to be the next superpower, or will we realise the only way out is a world government and a reach for the stars...
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Got rid of my TV aerial several years ago because of exactly what you have described. Sounds like I'm not the only one. So how do advertisers get at ABC1's now?
Good on ya.
Fancy quietly sitting at home writing legible, coherent business reports?