Posts by Bart Janssen
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Hard News: Up with the Pacer: embracing…, in reply to Worik,
I don't think it read as advertising, Russell was pretty clear about pros and cons. And it was pretty clearly Russell's "voice" not some marketing wonk. But I think it was also mentioned in Russell's twitter that he'd been sponsored to try the bike out so it was less of a surprise if you'd been following twitter.
That said, this site and these posts take time and effort and resources. We benefit from all that effort and somehow Russell has to live a decent life so I'm not in the least concerned that the article was sponsored.
I have a high level of trust that Russell wouldn't say something that he didn't firmly believe was true and that applies to his opinion of an e-bike with or without sponsorship.
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We bought my wife one of these Avanti incE. Like your pacer, it's not cheap, but it has definitely made it much easier for us to go riding together and meant the car has sat in the driveway more often.
We really like the whole no messy chain and the mat black finish is pretty nice. The mid drive cuts out at 25 kph and there is no throttle.
But as you said the price of the bike changes things like insurance and security considerations. Note it seems that some insurance companies consider market value to be about half purchase price because there is no real market yet for used e-bikes.
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Hard News: Up with the Pacer: embracing…, in reply to Russell Brown,
Ah. Maybe that's an option. But it's too heavy to take out on the road?
Definitely too heavy. The idea is that you leave the chain locked where you lock up your bike - you occasionally see such chains locked to bike parks around town for that reason.
For mobile locking everyone recommends a strong U-lock, moderately heavy but proof against all but the most determined, we went with this.
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Hard News: The next four years, in reply to andin,
the first week has got off to a bad start in all respects
The first week is simply paying off the debts to those who made him president - essentially he is an indentured servant to those who funded him and this week is the biggest part of his service to them.
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Hard News: Taking the stage in Mount Albert, in reply to kiwicmc,
Hey Bart, could you explain a little of what you mean when you say "the Greens anti-science arm"?
Is 12 your beef?
It would be a massive derail. Short answer is yes. Longer and derailing answer below which most can ignore. Even longer discussion requires coffee and doughnuts :).
Basically all their policies with respect to fake medicines, organics, and in particular their anti GMO policies. While the documents look reasonable on the face of it the actual application (and intent) is to prevent GMOs being developed by New Zealand scientists. I've been around this argument multiple times, the arguments almost always go off track but it simply is clear that the intent is to prevent GMO products and research and not enable this science.
Contrast that with their attitudes to clean energy, which is positive and embracing of science and you quickly see that The Green approach to biology is hostile and fearful of the science and the scientists doing the work.
Even weirder is the contrast with The Greens policies around alternative medicines and organics where they are happy to embrace extremely dodgy data in support of alternative medicines and herbal supplements etc and ignore issues around organic production.
While I LOVE many of The Greens' policies; transport; energy; environment; inclusion; and others, I really struggle with their approach around biology. It is deeply frustrating to me and many of my colleagues because frankly most of us scientists are rabid lefty geenies ourselves. But as I said above even though they aren't perfect - on balance they are better than the alternative National ACT policies.
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Hard News: Taking the stage in Mount Albert, in reply to nzlemming,
Me
It's not about protest voting. It's about deciding that for all their faults ... they are still better than the alternative. ... Those aren't protests, those are positive decisions.
You
Which is what I said but not what you said. That was:
Me
It's not about voting Little into power - it's all about voting National and ACT out of power.
I don't like Labour's power structure or their lack of genuine policy. I can't support The Greens anti science arm. But I can see quite clearly that another 3 years of National ACT will damage NZ, perhaps beyond repair.
It hasn't been possible to get the Labour and Green supporters out to vote FOR Labour or The Greens, their vote has steadily declined leaving the steady National ACT to take control.
You argue that a protest vote has failed I'd argue the opposite, Labour and The Greens have lost vote steadily. The only thing Labour and The Greens can really say is they are NOT National/ACT.
But here's the thing neither of us need to be right. So long as National ACT lose power and we can get back to a government that actually cares about the people they govern I don't care how it happens.
I think Labour has been wishy washy on all its policy - I'm guessing because it doesn't want National to steal it and present it better than Labour can. I think The Greens have way too much woo left in their ranks to be able to provide compelling policy (with some notable exceptions). But I also know damn well that continuing the National ACT policies is even worse - so by voting against National ACT (a protest vote) I am also voting for better policies (a positive vote).
As I said I don't care which way you sell it, just so long as you vote Labour or The Greens.
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Hard News: Taking the stage in Mount Albert, in reply to Sacha,
OWGs
Old White Guys?
Yup. Sorry too used to the acronym being used in science.
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I'm kind of curious to see how Mt Albert votes. It is no longer a working class suburb by any stretch of the imagination. The families in the suburb are a very wide range now. Somehow Labour and The Greens have to capture the imagination of the people in the remaining state houses, the people with monster mortgages and the very rich on the slopes of Mt Albert.
It really will take some sophisticated messaging to gather all those families into a solid party vote for the election later this year. Not just door knocking but listening and feeding back what is heard into policies.
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Hard News: Taking the stage in Mount Albert, in reply to nzlemming,
Wrong. Protest voting has proved to be ineffective.
Uh huh. So all those people who couldn't be bothered protest voting against Trump have been vindicated??
It's not about protest voting. It's about deciding that for all their faults (Greens believing in fake medicine, Labour believing in OWGs) they are still better than the alternative. Because things like our education system and health system and welfare system and environment really can't cope with another 3 years of degradation. Because cutting the resources of government is not what we want. Those aren't protests, those are positive decisions. Between Green and Labour, those values will be restored so damn well vote for them - even if you don't like some of their failings.
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Hard News: Taking the stage in Mount Albert, in reply to Raymond A Francis,
just short of a year to convince 35% of the voting population that he really has the goods
I rather think that we (the left) have just under a year to convince all those people who hate the kind of shit that just went down in the USA to actually suck it up and vote even if their party of choice isn't perfect.
Because the alternative is more of this current lot who really do not care about the people of New Zealand.
It's not about voting Little into power - it's all about voting National and ACT out of power.