We don't have consistent temperatures, we have rapid heating. Any rapid change is not good for food production, because it means your crops and animals are in the wrong place.
Right now Aussie meat prices are going to start dropping because the farmers there are going to flood the market by de-stocking in a hurry because of El Nino. It's going to be warmer and drier. That's not necessarily climate change related, but it illustrates the point that 'warmer is better' is bullshit. Some cheap meat right now, lower output for the next few years.

@Victor-Meldrew Dog probably trained as well as Joe raised Hunter.

@dogmeat said in NZ Politics:

@nostrildamus

You were limited on how much NZ currency you could take with you on an overseas trip. Very little choice of car food entertainment etc. The disposable income stuff. I guess the uber rich could splash around but not the middle classes.

It did make for a more egalatarian society. My old man drank (in the public bar) with his mates - a ditchdigger in his clay encrusted boots, the local barber, the GM of Watties, Sir Woolf Fischer and the local layabout.

I didn't realise there was a film industry in NZ for Muldoon to destroy.

you know what, you are right! We were probably too poor back then for me remembering/being affected by how much money one could take overseas.
The egalitarian spirit has definitely been eroded, and I don't recall 3 or 4 or more decades ago overwhelming snobbery with where people lived or went to school.
I have recently brushed with VIPs/the very rich and from what they say (if it can be believed) yes the rules and regulations during COVID etc didn't seem to apply to them...

I know Judith and I would label her an economic rationalist, which historically lends to more centre right, but she is a straight shooter and doesn’t really matter who it is she won’t pull any punches.

But it tends to be from big spending, big taxing, big public sector governments that she will lay the boots into because from her economic perspective, those things tend to be inefficient means to running an economy.

@Tim said in Ukraine:

@antipodean

These are fancy, but how long will they last?

Biden to supply Kyiv with long-range ATACMS missiles after months of lobbying

Not long enough I'd wager. Also turned up too late to be of any use in Ukraine's Spring offensive which has predictably been less successful than we'd been led to believe it would be.

Meanwhile back in the propaganda stakes:

@antipodean

HS2 was originally intended to link with HS1 (Channel Tunnel) and Heathrow - all included in the £21Bn when it was sold to the government by the rail and construction lobby. They were deemed uneconomic and chopped once the project got the go-ahead

I was heavily involved in HS2 for 3-4 years liaising with them on local issues and the level of gouging was astonishing. One example: they said it would cost £10-15m for a 500m noise barrier for our village. We received quotes from French, Belgium and Spanish companies of between £150-220k based on the same data HS2 was using....

500m of tunnelling? Not enough opportunity to rip-off the taxpayer

F37B02F1-E6CD-4315-BFBE-8476D3F9E55E.jpeg

Joyce's final shenanigans reminded me of the other name for Qantas. Google tells me there's even related merchandise. I'm far too easily amused...

All my other bags have been lost by the airline

FabbvZ8VEAApKr8.jpg

@Higgins said in Transgender debate, in sport, in general:

@Donsteppa Aren't the bats and pads the same size and strength though?

Yes. Though Tayla Vlaeminck is about the only quick I can think of top of mind who is consistently close in speed to international men's cricket.

Setting aside transgender for a mo, one of the challenges in Junior and Youth cricket can be finding fair matchups in situations where there may be enough players for perhaps one or two girls teams, but not enough for a whole grade of them. So games against boys teams become a given. Mismatches happen (but do work both ways, especially if older girls teams end up in younger boys grades).

My take would be that in an even contest, bowling speed matters less than say skill, variation etc does. But in an uneven contest...

Back to transgender, I have wondered whether or not that becomes more complicated for fairness & inclusion if the proverbial tearaway fast bowler is permanently in one of the teams at a lower grade.

Glorious way to deal with these clowns giving real climate-change arguments a bad press. Some of the replies are gold.

https://archive.li/b60ks

Classic.

Aug 5  /  Entertainment 'Tense' Prince Harry 'relegated to entourage' in snaps on Meghan's night out 'Tense' Prince Harry 'relegated to entourage' in snaps on Meghan's night out

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex were snapped going to dinner for her 42nd birthday in 'tense' images.

@MiketheSnow said in America ... Fark Yeahhhhhhishhhhh:

@Victor-Meldrew said in America ... Fark Yeahhhhhhishhhhh:

This link is to quite a good piece which sets out the issues in SF. Some staggering stats

Five years and an investment of 3.5 billion dollars later, the number of homeless people has not only failed to drop, but it is increasing uncontrollably. When Farha visited (in 2018), the figure was estimated to stand at around 7,800, in 2022 this figure has increased to more than 20,000.

Got this for Christmas - yet to read it....

59c4ba3d-5b96-44c4-8e42-5e04c4dc0bb4-image.png

Great title

The sequel, investigating crime, is also a good read

San
Fran-
frisko

Oh I see we recommended the same book. Top Man Mike 👍

@Tim said in Jeffrey Epstein:

Opening sentence in the Miami Herald

Billionaire hedge fund founder Leon Black has been accused of beating and raping a 16-year-old girl with a rare genetic disorder

I've heard of beating the gay out of you, but beating the autism into you?

Does anyone check what goes to print these says?

Read more at: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/crime/article277647763.html#storylink=cpy

@Crazy-Horse said in Shooting in Auckland CBD:

@antipodean said in Shooting in Auckland CBD:

@Bones said in Shooting in Auckland CBD:

@MN5 said in Shooting in Auckland CBD:

@Bones said in Shooting in Auckland CBD:

@Donsteppa said in Shooting in Auckland CBD:

@Bones said in Shooting in Auckland CBD:

@Hooroo said in Shooting in Auckland CBD:

@Bones said in Shooting in Auckland CBD:

@MN5 said in Shooting in Auckland CBD:

All Police have firearms in their vehicles.

I've got a bottle of oil in my boot, doesn't mean I'm a mechanic.

Yeah because they just put the guns in there with no training….

If I may borrow some of that sarcasm - I see there's an armed offenders squad, what's the need for that if every cop has the training?

Presumably there's a middle ground, as there's little need for access to firearms if the only option is to wait until the specialists.

I'm sure there is, but a police firearms response to someone with a knife is different to a response to someone with a gun I imagine. Or are NZ cops only allowed to use a firearm in response to someone with a firearm?

I’m fairly confident they’re allowed to shoot someone if they’re not complying and advancing at them armed with……well pretty much anything.

But ( possibly off topic ) fuck having to be in that situation and having to make that call knowing you’re in a lose/lose situation like that.

I remember when that bloke was shot in Waitara 20 odd years and his feral family were interviewed and whinged that he was “only armed with a golf club”

I believe you're missing the point. Call comes in about someone armed with a golf club - on the face of it, that's a fuckload different than someone armed with a gun and first responders may be able to contain the situation, even if not trained in tactical firearms response. If there's a firearm involved, they're probably not going to go rushing in and likely have to wait until trained units are available.

I've never been a cop, let alone one in New Zealand. But common sense dictates to me that being made aware you have a potentially armed offender, the first GD cops to arrive would be trying to secure the scene, ensure public safety, rendering aid where possible and gaining intel.

Having said that, 11 minutes is a long time in the CBD.

Traditionally that has been the case and still largely is. Things used to be 100% isolate and contain but they are now training cops to 'go in' when it's an active shooter scenario. Training changed following an active shooter incident in the US where the local cops isolated and contained while the shooter was still going around shooting people.

The problem we face in Australia, and probably NZ, is cops are only likely to be carrying sidearms. They are no good when up against a rifle.

Yes and they don’t ‘carry’ them here. They still need to go to the car to get them.

That issue is still obviously a massive can of worms too

That old 'there was a female pope' story

Pope Joan | Legend & History Pope Joan | Legend & History

Pope Joan, legendary female pontiff who supposedly reigned for more than 25 months, from 855 to 858, under the title of John VIII. It has subsequently been proved that a gap of only a few weeks fell between Pope Leo IV and Pope Benedict III and that the story is entirely apocryphal.

I'm going to say 'apocryphal' on a lot of 'players moving to... ' posts here on in...

@Tim cos mental health...I reckon it'd be easy to game the system after reading that.

As to him being rehabilitated and low risk of re-offending, right, am sure that kind of depravity doesnt just go away.

@Tim

it's a truism that inflation gives more opportunity for increasing margin.