Posts by Stephen Hill
Last ←Newer Page 1 2 3 4 5 Older→ First
-
John Key: "speeds which are quantum faster"
dictionary.com for "quantum":
–adjective
6. sudden and significant: a quantum increase in productivity.Quantum as an adjective?! I've always preferred it as a noun ... especially because it renders John Key's phrase unintelligible.
* S: (n) quantum (a discrete amount of something that is analogous to the quantities in quantum theory)
"speeds which are a discrete amount of something faster"
-
As far as I could tell, his position is that the globe isn’t warming. Or at least not warming significantly.
I don't get Rodney at all. He has a science background (a degree in zoology and botany from Canterbury) and has penned the following ...
Insect pest resistance : technological, biological and economic. dimensions (his masters thesis)
Azinphos-methyl resistance in lightbrown apple moth : economic implications of management options.
Why the brain explosion when it comes to something like climate change?
-
A measly 49.94% of the voters didn't vote for National/ACT/United Future. It gets even worse if you add the Maori Party in ... a staggeringly low 47.7%. No wonder I feel so lonely.
-
Still, there is one upside: grad students will still be able to write theses about the failure of NZ climate change policy, with exactly the same conclusions as the last such exercise.
Now the new government is providing fertile ground for plagiarism ... when will it all end?!
-
I let out a muffled 'yahoo' on Sunday morning (as my family were asleep) as I read that National was reviewing the ETS. At last some sense and impartiality into this debate. I don't think we should be at all afraid of the terms of reference for the review. Assessing the quality and impartiality of sources is a great idea. But I guess that depends on who is assessing it.
I am totally prepared to accept the possibility of anthropomorhic climate change if it can be proved.
Andrew - it has already been done in four huge Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports. The change is real and it is happening now. If we really want to bankrupt the country the government could try and go through the whole IPCC process again I suppose. Seems a bit silly when the reports are downloadable for nothing from here.
I recommend Gareth Renowden's website (and book) Hot Topic for an approachable and New Zealand focused examination of the issues. The site contains links to the really heavy duty stuff for those who are interested in learning more ... and a nice Nov 16th blog piece on the Agreement on Climate Policy which ends ...
It looks very much like the current framework of policy on climate change is about to be dismantled, and that John Key has failed his first test as prime minister - before he’s been sworn in
-
The incoming National government will completely review the emissions trading scheme (ETS) - possibly including the science that says humans are to blame for climate change
I hope that there'll also be a review of the whole 'Earth is not flat' malarky. I'm tired of having science rammed down my throat when it is patently obvious to anyone with functioning eyes that the planet isn't even a bit curvy. Seriously, this is simply scary and a 'review' will be a colossal waste of time and money. The scientific evidence for anthropogenic climate change is overwhelming. I'm all in favour of inclusive government but you gotta draw a line somewhere - letting people with willfully ignorant ideas about stuff like this dictate policy is just stupid.
-
I don't know if it's cognitive dissonance or something, but after I'd got over the initial disappointment I feel like this election was probably the best way to ensure more centre-left government over the long-term. 50.1% voted for National-ACT-UF and that will probably drop below 50 with specials and overseas votes. If that's the best the three 'major' right parties can do at this point in time (major economic crisis, 9 years of a Labour government, etc.) then I can't see that it'll be easy for them to get back in in 2011 ... unless John Key can really transform National into a truly central, inclusive party ... but then who would all the conservative right voters go for?
-
By my calculation (well the Stuff virtual election calculator) the Roy Morgan poll gives Labour, Progressives, Greens 57 seats and Act, National, United Future 59. If we assume the Maori Party gets 5 seats then they will determine who leads the next government.
-
Yeah - a great writeup Russell. My biggest worry about a Nat-led government is that, despite being pragmatic, they'll simply miss the boat policy-wise and the country will slowly slide backward. It won't be a malicious or ideologically-driven thing, it'll be the fact that conservativism will stop us from adapting quickly enough to deal with the challenges ahead. These are extraordinary times economically and, more importantly, environmentally. We're buggering up the world, we know we are, and Rodney doesn't believe that humans are responsible for climate change. Sigh.
-
Margin of error is a statistical concept that describes the statistical uncertainty associated with generalising the outcome of poll to a population. As Wikipedia notes "it does not represent other potential sources of error or bias such as a non-representative sample-design, poorly phrased questions, people lying or refusing to respond, the exclusion of people who could not be contacted, or miscounts and miscalculations." So problems caused by undecideds aren't effectively 'controlled for' in the reported statistics.
The other thing about margins of error is that they relate to generalising the results of the poll to the population (i.e., having an educated guess about how the whole of NZ would answer the poll) not generalising the poll to how the population will vote in an election. That requires us to also know about the statistical relationship that holds between poll results and voting.