Posts by Kyle Matthews
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Who the hell has a Xmas parade in November a'how?
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My pick for tomorrow:
National to get about 59 or 60 MPs. NZ First to get moderately close but miss out - 4.6% or something. ACT gone, Dunne in, Mana to get 2. Conservatives to miss out but I could see them getting in in the future if they stick at it and pick up NZ First/Christian Coalition/United Future/Act votes from a religious/socially conservative/crime and punishment angle.
National-Maori Party govt in a couple of weeks, asset sales and a child poverty initiative to be the big two things traded away, greens to again pick up some environmental stuff - insulation and sustainable energy in a MOU.
I'm going to go with Greens for my party vote - like some of their MPs that are in the teens on their list and feel they're easing away from their anti-science stances. Victor Billot from Alliance (he's great value at debates, rips a new hole into some of the other candidates) will get my electorate vote, the Dunedin North Labour candidate and campaign has been really disappointing this election.
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Truly virulent infections are spread by the living - infections that kill you, and require you to be dead before you can spread them, can't infiltrate populations.
True, but the influenza virus doesn't chase you around the city on two legs, so it's swings and roundabouts.
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Anti zombie combat is also quite easy. Only with massive weight of numbers are they any threat at all, and even then, finding a simple defensive line will enable even the most lightly armed defense to inflict 100% casualties. Climb to a vantage point, somewhere narrow if you have few numbers, and keep braining them until there's none left. There's no trick too simple to slaughter zombies, they just don't defend themselves.
I'm a fan of 2004's Dawn of the Dead.
Some of their zombies run, sneak around, jump on you from hidden places. But the zombies are still deterred by solid doors and walls.
Much better than George Romero's early efforts (though I still bow down to him as the master).
PS: Walking Dead Season 2 is well underway, for those who wish to go looking for it. A bit inward looking 5 episodes in, but shows good promise.
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And then you go and spoil it all by saying something like "and have two or three private ones for competition." thus repeating the failed mantra that the private sector and the magic beans of "competition" will make power companies "efficient".
I never said it made them more efficient, just that I'm happy with such a large market as electricity in NZ, for there to be some competition. I don't believe that unfettered market capitalism is a good model, but nor would I be in favour of a government monopoly where you could only get your electricity from one supplier. Hence if there was a govt owned option and a private option, that would be a good mix for me. I like to be able to choose between a few options as to where I get my services from - I just switched to powershop from meridian electricity just last week.
My only proviso is that the market be sufficiently regulated to ensure that we move to sustainable generation, that supply be sufficiently guaranteed, and that the companies not be assholes to us.
If private companies can't invest sufficiently to provide sufficient service and make a reasonable profit, tough bikkies for them, but I doubt very much that capitalism can't find a good middle ground to deliver electricity to us and make money.
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I forget which one of my camera manuals cautions that the user should be careful to keep a firm grip of lenses when changing them as if dropped they could break, and the broken glass could be hazardous. Srsly!
I'm not normally one to bitch about the silly warnings that come with products these days.
But I purchased a bottle of dog shampoo several years ago for my smelly mutts, and prominently on the back it claims "NOT TESTED ON ANIMALS". Which is of course a lie, it's just tested post-consumer purchase.
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A shareholder, or group of shareholders, can sue the controlling shareholder for not maximising profits, thus putting more pressure on homes and business.
I believe that's not true - I asked that previously on here and Graeme said that wasn't the case.
I wouldn't mind some selling of our energy assets if there was some sort of national interest or business sense behind it. I find it strange that we own several energy companies - surely we should own one larger one, and have two or three private ones for competition. A bit of selling and buying to ensure that what we owe covers the whole country and allows competition across the whole country would make sense to me.
Selling energy assets to cover deferred maintenance on schools? The list of people that makes sense to is very short.
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Russell: Idle curiousity, but is there any particular reason the PAS main banner ad is currently a ‘Vote for change/give MMP the boot’ ad?
Money :) I'm not sure if PAS is good value for their advertising buck though. I hope Russell is screwing them anyway.
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That said, I don’t see why predominantly european countries should ever voluntarily agree to become minorities... Europeans should also look to protect their culture by managing immigration carefully to ensure integration rather than displacement of the host culture(s).
Replace all the 'European' words with 'Maori'. Man did the tangata whenua miss that boat.
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Hard News: A week being a long time in politics, in reply to HenryB,
I honestly think that the asset sales policy has been such a clunker that National would happily water it down if they had an excuse - coalition partner would provide that.
Personally I'm happy with the government selling assets - we should be flexible and be willing to sell something that we don't need to buy something that we want. But this policy is truly awful.