Posts by JonathanM
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The last U2 gig at Mt Smart was also in the round - the No Line on the Horizon tour I guess that would be. They had a big claw thing holding everything up, and had the same cylindrical screen - not sure if Adele's could spread apart or not. Same round catwalks as well. Works pretty well for a screen and lights-heavy production at Mt Smart.
By all accounts it was a great gig - and the transit to and from seemed very smooth for the most part as well, given the numbers.
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Thoroughly enjoyed reading that David! Having been to Trondheim for Christmas while my brother was studying at NTNU I could definitely see how the long winter ahead could make autumn bittersweet. Would love to go back and see more of Norway. The babies in buggies outside cafes, and transporting a (rather grand) Christmas tree on the tram, cheese that smelt like diesel, and seeing the northern lights while crossing the (quite slippery) bridge across the river were highlights.
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Really enjoyed reading the post, David. And loved the previous building one as well. I look forward to a new video from Bob (or Polly!) showing up at youtube. Always entertaining and informative - really an inspiration.
Regarding machineryhouse, I've had some good and some bad. They are cheap, though! I can't recommend the 6" planer at all - maybe the larger units are better. It goes fine once the blades and fence are set, but setting them is an awful process (no springs under the blades to resist pushing down to align, and the fence 'clamping' system is abysmal and can't be relied on to stay square if you move it across the bed). Still, for around $600...
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It would be useful if the problems that the UBI is meant to address were recognised as a starting point so that the UBI 'hammer' can be compared with other approaches.
e.g. Getting rid of the marginal tax rate insanity for those receiving government support (WFF, a benefit etc). Surely you can improve that situation without such a big hammer, and perhaps that's one way to move towards a UBI (or make it politically palatable) in the longer term?
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Yes, you can vote for just one. Though it should be noted that it is usually better to vote for any that you prefer over and above others. i.e. your second vote doesn't undermine in any way your first, but it is useful to have your say if your preferred option isn't chosen.
One thing to be careful of is that if you do vote for more than one, they need to be consecutive and unique, starting at 1. You can't vote two of the flags 2nd equal. Similarly, you can't miss out a number in your preference sequence.
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OnPoint: My last name sounds Chinese, in reply to BenWilson,
Yeah - agreed, we need to collect data on who is buying/selling in order to better get a handle on it. Fortunately the Govt is finally doing that come October. Ideally the 'public' info on sales would also be available to the public, rather than available to the public but only for lots of $$.
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OnPoint: My last name sounds Chinese, in reply to Sacha,
Sure, but pretty much the only way to move investment from housing to productive businesses is to make the latter comparatively more profitable. Use the current imbalance to increase supply thus decreasing profitability in housing.
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OnPoint: My last name sounds Chinese, in reply to Sacha,
Hmm, why is adding residential investment a problem? Surely if we encouraged/forced all property investors to only invest in new housing supply it would help solve the housing problem? (Reduce demand for existing stock, increase supply and quality as houses are new).
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OnPoint: Beyond 'a bad look', in reply to Rich of Observationz,
Driver behaviour is a lot less predictable. Will people obey the law? Will drivers slow down where they expect enforcement and drive badly elsewhere? Or take less care generally?
Then there are other, unintended, effects. How much does resentment at social control measures like zealous road traffic enforcement lead to a general lack of societal compliance?
And finally, there's the question of what the populace wants. How much benefit do people see in being safer versus being allowed to drive faster? That's an entirely subjective question.
John Key is not an expert on any of this though, yet he was asked for comment. Continuing to ask the PM for comment, regardless of which political stripe they may be, is ludicrous. There are plenty of experts they could have used instead. Even just asking a statistician to comment on how rare the event was would have provided more useful context.
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Regarding the polling:
http://news.sky.com/story/1480319/inquiry-to-be-held-into-election-poll-accuracy
Suggestions of herding effect - not publishing polls that disagree. This seemed to be the case, with variation around the polls reducing significantly in the last few days.
Also interesting is the FPTP nature of things. If it had been PR then Conservatives+UKIP would have less of a majority than the Conservatives alone have under FPTP, even with UKIP picking up a further 81 seats.