Posts by Steve Barnes
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Borrowing money for infrastucture You can trust these guys eh?
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Spending on infrastructure does not create growth, especially when a great deal of our infrastructure is privately owned and borrowing for it will only slow up future growth. Infrastructure spending is only positive in cases of, either, massive recession to create employment or to alleviate bottlenecks in growth. Otherwise it is merely the icing on the cake of an already buoyant economy. We need more roads? Am I the only one that has noticed the reduction of private vehicles on the roads? High fuel prices and tightening budgets reduce the number of unnecessary journeys for most people.
Saying we will borrow for infrastucture but not for tax cuts? oh, of course, he's talking about that "other" money, just like a trader would. -
Ok kiddies, stand back in awe of the mighty Barnzy as he enthralls you with his , almost prehistoric, recollections of coffee.
My first experience with the magic bean was back in 1956 whilst walking with my Mother down Tottenham Court Road, Lundun.. My tiny toddlers nostrils were assaulted by the most wondrous smell that has captivated Man since 9th century Ethiopia. We were walking past a Lyons Corner House and in those days they roasted the coffee in a wonderful red cast iron and brass contraption that sat in the window and the heady, pungent, almost chocolaty aroma wafted out onto the street. As it turned and tinkled I could feel the heat through the glass and I pressed my nose against that window in an attempt to get closer to that complex olfactory sensation. Mum couldn't help herself, she dragged me spellbound into a palace of light and petite fours, of fruits and flowers and that ever present coffee soaked air. Mum had a cappuccino, a drink, that some say, was named after the Capuchin order of monks who's garments were of a creamy white around the hood of a dark caramely colour habit reminiscent of a perfect coffee, I took a sip, I was hooked.
Over the many years that have passed since that fateful day I have tried, with varying levels of success and failure, to recapture that miraculous moment.
It took me years to discover that there are two main types of bean, Robusta and Arabica. The Robusta, Coffea canephora, although higher in it's caffene content is, in my humble opinion, the poor relation of the Arabica, Coffea arabica, which is the grandfather of coffees originating from Ethiopia and usually more expensive than it's poor relation.
To make a truly superior cup you should use only Arabica beans, otherwise your coffee will taste like poo (this can be improve by adding more poo from the bum of a feline coffee eating mammal) The roast is important also, too dark will give you a bitterness that will overwhelm the subtlety of the underlying flavours, too light will give you an almost bland mixture of indeterminable hints of undesirable chemical mustiness. The grind is almost as important as the roast, too course and the result will be watery and lacking in depth, too fine will cause all kinds of problems both mechanical and chemical. If the grind is too fine it can block your machine and create pressure problems. As the pressure rises then so does the temperature and with that the chemical process that will extract the brew, it will become bitter with a long lasting aftertaste that will make you regret the whole experience.
The Machine. This is the really hard bit. You can buy a machine that will do it all for you but in my experience they are big clumsy expensive and unreliable. A good stove-top model, like the Atomic mentioned by sofie, or the traditional two part Italian espresso pot so often found in sally Army shops (unfortunately not so often these days)
Then it's all practice and once you get that right, then there is no going back. :-) -
Totally off topic but I had to
A drunk driver who killed a woman has been spared prison after a judge said her agoraphobia would cause her "difficulties" if she was locked up.
What? So as a punishment are they going to make her stand in a shopping mall?
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On the big black ad hording thing;
I'm sorry, our customer service representative is busy right now. However, your call is important to him and you are 6,602,224,175th in line as at July 2007. Thank you for your continued faith in our business.
God. inc. -
If Key was to become PM, he'd have marginally more or less experience than David Lange
You're not alone
"John Key really has charisma, doesn't he? He's like the young David Lange, only thinner, richer and more out of touch with the needs of his constituents. And he's the leader of the National Party, and he doesn't actually have any actual policy of his own except a vague, reactionary plan to send taggers to boot-camp. Oh, and he has none of Lange's famous oratory flair, and he's not really respected all over the world. But apart from those things, they're virtually identical."
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"Dog doesn't bite man, but it might - perhaps" isn't news.
But it is law. You have to keep it on a lead because.....er...........well, it might.
It's Investigate and Ian Wishart's more fantastical vapourings.
vapourings, are they like smokerings?
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the key, if you will, is whether it teaches you how to think and analyse information.
And out of Key, English or Cullen, who learned the most? On top of that you have the experience gained as an MP since 1981 as opposed to English's 1990 or Key's 2002.
National's leadership lacks depth and maturity. That makes me wonder whether we are seeing the real leaders or a pair of sock puppets. If they are the real leaders then God help this country if they get the Treasury benches, if not, then God help this country when their secret backers get their filthy hands in our till. -
Gossamer Albatross
I allways visualised that as a seagull caught in a condom or maybe a bird in Lycra. :-0
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A Ph.D. in Social and Economic History from the University of Edinburgh. seems to be a "Better" qualification for running a country than,
gained degrees in commerce and English literature at the University of Otago and Victoria University of Wellington, respectively. After completing his studies, he returned to Dipton to work as a farmer. In 1987,
Bill English
Or,attended Burnside High School, and earned a Bachelor of Commerce degree in accounting from the University of Canterbury in 1981. He has attended management studies courses at Harvard University, although he did not receive a degree from this institution.