General Debate 16 February 2014

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Pete George

Greens again promoting dodgy data analysis with a Hey Clint chart of manufacturing job trends. It was criticised by charting purists – “Starting the axis at 160k for an area-based representation. GRRR.”

There’s other problems with it too, like cherry picking data, questionable claims about trends, and environmentalism blowing in the wind – Clint’s trendy job chart criticised
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February 16, 2014 8:14am
Nostradamus

Long-time Kiwiblog readers (and long-suffering taxpayers who pay for him to stay at home) will recall that Philu made the following claims on 30 July 2009:

– Philu’s blog was “ranked in the top 1% of global blogs by technorati” [as many pointed out at the time, this was factually incorrect].
– He’d been approached by “some americans putting together a big commercial model news/opinion site in America”.
– He expected to make “a reasonable shit-load of money” from that project.
– He was in a “strong position to leave the benefit” through this “sweat equity/brainpower”.

So Philu expected to achieve financial freedom through global blog domination. Everyone held their breath (not). But it seems reasonably clear that things didn’t turn out as expected.

Things looked slightly more promising on 13 June 2012, when Philu claimed:

– He’d “just been emailed” by an unnamed “international hotel chain” asking if they could advertise on whoar.
– A few days earlier an unnamed “international travel agency chain” had also emailed asking the same thing.
– His promise to long-suffering taxpayers: (‘soon we fly my precious..soon..!’..)

I mention all of this history because yesterday, over at The Standard, the hard-leftist “Karol” criticised Fran O’Sullivan for *gasp* wanting to be paid for her published articles. The obvious point – that payment is a contractual matter between O’Sullivan and the publisher (NZ Herald) – was apparently lost on Karol. She sniffily claimed that “plenty of bloggers put in more effort, write more, and are (usually) fine with not being paid for it”.

Which brings us back to Philu. He waded into the debate and said he considered himself “one of the above” (by which he presumably meant that he puts in more effort and writes more than O’Sullivan). Philu was keen to go on the record as “being not fine with not being paid for it”.

Another commenter asked Philu who he thought should “pay for it”.

Philu’s response was mind-boggling:

phillip ure
15 February 2014 at 8:46 am
@ bad..
..well..i have over 21,000 subscribers (on r.s.s…)..
..(taking 40-50 stories/links from me..every day..)
..and over 20,000 other websites point at me..
(source:..zeald website-audit..)
(and if those subscribers didn’t like what i have on offer..they would unsubscribe..
..’cos..like i said..i am feeding them 40-50 rss feeds..each/every day..
..and if they didn’t want it..it would be like a major spam-attack for them each/every day..)
..and if you multiply all that..
..that is a hell of a lot of faces..each/every day..
..(and quite a bit of work each/every day..)
..and seeing as you asked..
..i’m open to ideas/offers to somehow monetise that traffic..
..(of course any ads (if going that route..)..have ethical-hoops to jump thru..
..(as a rough-guide..no macdonalds/planet-fuckers etc..eh..?..)
..(and as a footnote:..it was cheering the other day to get a message of appreciation of my news-curating efforts..with a promise of koha in appreciation of those efforts..
..the person said:..’it’s cool to have all the good stuff in one place’
..now..that..and the issues i am fighting for..
..is what gets me up very early in the morning..)

Unfortunately for long-suffering taxpayers, the idea of doing an honest day’s work (instead of profiting from republishing other people’s published articles – not that Philu is even capable of doing that) apparently isn’t what gets Philu up very early in the morning.

For everyone else, enjoy your Sunday off work 🙂
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February 16, 2014 8:15am
Sidey

Nostradamus, it’s akin to someone putting something into my letterbox each morning that I might flick through if I could be bothered, otherwise it just goes straight into the yellow bin. I could try and stop the stuff coming, but can’t really be bothered and if they want to spend their time sending it to me, that’s not my problem.

But try asking me to pay for something you’ve been providing for free and suddenly my “need” to have that information evaporates fairly quickly. And that goes for online news sites that might consider going behind a paywall. I look through several a day, some like SMH seem to give you a few free views a month before closing access and asking for a subscription. I find when I stop looking, I’m not any the worse off for not knowing something.

Only reason to pay for news would be if employment related, but then it needs to be vital, relevant and not available for free elsewhere.

Unless that illiterate plonker Philu is accessing stuff most of us can’t, what’s his point of difference that has a value? I don’t know anything about RSS feeds but I’d imagine it wouldn’t be all that hard to just set one up yourself.

It looks like we’ll be assisting Mr U with his living arrangements for some time yet.
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February 16, 2014 8:18am
duggledog

Nostradamus, don’t be too harsh on old Philu

Legend has it that he did have a job back in the day at a student radio station, it was either Auckland one or Christchurch, anyway he got fired. Maybe that’s where it all started
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February 16, 2014 8:19am
Nostradamus

Oops – slight formatting issue with my first two links, and my third link should have been to here.
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February 16, 2014 8:25am
Bovver

A good investigative article on Stuff by Adam Dunning about supermarkets stand-over tactics when dealing with suppliers, well done.
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February 16, 2014 8:25am
Manolo

The lonely Messiah: http://www.breitbart.com/InstaBlog/2014/02/14/President-Obama-Spending-Valentine-s-Day-Alone
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February 16, 2014 8:28am
Manolo

Do not waste any time on the parasitical Ure.
Gladly for the rest of us, the former crim and life-time bludger is gone and forgotten.
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February 16, 2014 8:31am
Nostradamus

Pete George:

I enjoyed your blog post “Clint’s trendy job chart criticised” – excellent work!

It’s good to see you and others applying the blowtorch to the green jobs myth (advocates of green jobs never quite seem to explain how these jobs would be created without cross-subsidisation or some other form of wealth redistribution).
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February 16, 2014 8:36am
Pete George

Phil is doing well internationally, he’s ranked 2,778,772 on Alexa, but oddly he has no NZ data.

His top keyword searches are:

Keyword Percent of Search Traffic
1. lightbeam mozilla 15.66%
2. bevan chuang 15.27%
3. lightbeam firefox 10.48%
4. hongmi smartphone 7.85%
5. jodie louise kitto 5.14%

If he keeps that up Dotcom will be seeking his expert advice.
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February 16, 2014 8:38am
Reid

Interesting…

http://io9.com/why-do-trolls-annoy-you-online-because-theyre-sadists-1522842115
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February 16, 2014 8:43am
Nostradamus

Do you have any particular person in mind, Reid?
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February 16, 2014 8:45am
igm

Has anyone done anything about Lecher Len and the obese German criminal yet?
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February 16, 2014 8:45am
bhudson

“We’re not earning enough money to live, with the price of food and mortgages and everything like petrol, running a car, running three children to and from school and not earning enough per week,” she said.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/9727434/Economy-rockstars-or-roadies

It’s going to come as an unpleasant shock to Michelle when someone points out to her that the Labreens plan to intervene to reduce the value of the NZ dollar would make all of those things more expensive.

Their plan is for her, her husband and workers like them to pay extra to live so that exporters can move more stock.

I would have said that would increase profits for the business owners, but the reality is that each of the extra NZ dollars they receipt would be worth less than they had been prior to the Labreens intervention. Plus (and this particularly applies to the manufacturing industries the Labreens claim they are trying to help) the cost of their plant and maintenance will increase for any production assets bought from offshore, thus raising the cost of expanding production and constraining investment.

Plus, of course, the unions will be hard on the case seeking an increase in wages to offset, at least in part, the higher cost of living. That will place downward pressure on employment – in the face of an increasing wage bill, and with their profit dollars actually being worth less than before, employers will have to reduce staff to control costs.

So we end up discounting our goods to sell more volume, with the real value decreased through the discounting of the dollar, with rising costs of living, unemployment increasing and reduced investment. That is not a virtuous circle.

And if any of our larger trading partners get a little concerned with our success at their expense, they have the wherewithal to deal to our dollar by taking the same actions with their own – a currency war that we could simply not have any hope of coming out on top of. It would be like taking a Dairy taking on a Supermarket – it’s only going to end in tears. And not for the Supermarket.

It’s fool’s gold.
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February 16, 2014 8:49am
Paulus

Understand that nobody can understand PhilU on the Standard – they just scroll past anything with his name on it.
By some he considered a “gentle nutter”.
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February 16, 2014 8:50am
Nostradamus

Beer pong – because politics is thirsty work

When Labour leader David Cunliffe said last week he could drink the Prime Minister “under the table”, he probably didn’t have any particular table in mind.

He and John Key later dismissed the banter as hot air but an Auckland company has called their bluff.

Managing director of Kiwipong Tim Kerr has set the table for a contest of epic proportions and he hopes the politicians will oblige.
…
Kerr has called them both out and come up with a custom-made beer pong table bearing party logos and the leaders’ smiling faces.
…
If the pair faced off and signed the special table, Kerr was confident they could make a tidy sum for charity if they auctioned it off.

The Kiwipong boss can afford to be generous as business has boomed since its launch in 2011.

So who thinks this event will happen? Can anyone imagine Russel Norman and Winston Peters getting in on the act?
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February 16, 2014 8:51am
thedavincimode

So let’s just get this straight Sancho. The bludging bullshitting magpie’s drone zone is ranked higher than redtweeter’s hate fest?

Oh dear.
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February 16, 2014 8:53am
Nostradamus

thedavincimode:

You’ll enjoy this smackdown (but, for the sake of your keyboard, be sure to put any beverage down first).
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February 16, 2014 9:00am
wat dabney

Unbridled fascism from Britain’s Green Party:

“Senior government advisers in any position who do not believe in climate change should be removed from their posts, said the Green Party leader.”

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-26191047
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February 16, 2014 9:00am
calendar girl

Bovver@8.25am: Dudding’s article was rather lightweight in my view. Full of “Tales of …” and other non-ascribed claims without corroboration. It’s a decent enough bit of follow-up entertainment to Jones’ claims during the week, and colourfully-written, but if that’s our accepted standard of ‘investigative’ journalism then our expectations have sunk lower than I thought.

The Countdown story will only get legs when someone has the wit to follow Cam Slater’s excellent lead. Get a solid bunch of complainants to sign affidavits first, promise them anonymity (not possible in the case of Bevan Chang, of course), and then expose the alleged tactics for readers to judge for themselves.

The Commerce Commission is probably wasting its time if it doesn’t take a similar approach (affidavits and anonymity) in its own enquiry.
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February 16, 2014 9:06am
wat dabney

Re: Flooding in southern England. No, it’s not “global warming.” It’s the result of government environmental policy, largely dicated by the EU. This is what happens when the Greens get their hands on power.

“Flooding: a synergy between “green” ideologues and Brussels”

http://www.eureferendum.com/blogview.aspx?blogno=84705

“Floods on the Somerset Levels: a sad tale of ignorance and neglect”

http://www.waterpowermagazine.com/features/featurefloods-on-the-somerset-levels-a-sad-tale-of-ignorance-and-neglect-4172602/
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February 16, 2014 9:22am
Paw Prick

So who thinks this event will happen? Can anyone imagine Russel Norman and Winston Peters getting in on the act?

Smart money is on peters in any drinking contest!
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February 16, 2014 9:35am
stephieboy

Reid, if your out there.? One of the more extraordinary claims of Co founder of Reganomics and assistant to secretary to President Ronald Regan,

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/co-founder-reagonomics-paul-craig-roberts-there-probably-more-democracy-china-there-west
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February 16, 2014 9:37am
duggledog

I’d say after a few Leon Rouges old Cunliffe will be down the back of his expensive property spewing through his nose.

Still, it’ll be good practice come November!
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February 16, 2014 9:49am
thedavincimode

Nostradamus

It doesn’t appear that the bludging little prick has made any new friends.

He’s running out of options – perhaps he should go over to redtweeter’s to keep him company. I imagine it would be bit like The Odd Couple – but with slightly more “robust” language.
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February 16, 2014 10:04am
hj

Getting harder to refute (mitigation like dredging aside):

The devastating floods and storms sweeping Britain are clear indications of the dangers of climate change, according to Lord Stern, the author of a 2006 report on the economics of climate change.

Writing in the Guardian, the crossbench peer said the flooding and storm damage demonstrate the need for Britain and the rest of the world to continue to implement low-carbon policies to reduce the probability of greater tragedies in the future.

He said the five wettest years and the seven warmest years in the UK have happened since 2000, which is explained by a clear body of evidence showing that a warmer atmosphere contains more water and causes more intense rainfall. When this is combined with higher sea levels in the English Channel, the risk of flooding increases.

Recent UK weather is part of an international pattern of extreme weather which proves the dangers of climate change and the need to cut carbon emissions, Stern said

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/feb/13/flooding-storms-uk-climate-change-lord-stern
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February 16, 2014 10:22am
Pete George

Gregor Paul in NZ Herald Doubts over Marshall a failing of Auckland:

That’s reason for Aucklanders to be proud rather than embarrassed. This idea that New Zealand is defined by square-jawed sheep farmers, cold beer, tractors and loyalty to the Empire may be alive in the provinces. But that is old New Zealand.

Auckland represents the new face of the country: multi-cultural Auckland and its obsession with coffee, schools, celebrities and property prices is New Zealand’s window to the rest of the world.

Correction – the Auckland as Paul as describes it represents a new part-of-Auckland. The city is far more diverse than that. And the country is far more than Auckland.

Paul may like to think that Auckland is “New Zealand’s window to the rest of the world” but that’s typical flawed Auckland arrogance.
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February 16, 2014 10:28am
hj

what this shows [climate change -flooding] is that business as usual isn’t working. We should be living in low energy cities where people can walk or bike, (that is built in welfare) and we should be looking at the lunacy of (seeking) population growth since modern manufacturing requires fewer and fewer people. We need to grow the pie per capita not just GDP. The influence of the left on the Greens has deflected focus away from any intelligent realistic response.
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February 16, 2014 10:29am
wat dabney

hj,

What, exactly, is “getting harder to refute”?

If you read the second of the links I posted, you’ll find that there is nothing unprecedented about recent rainfall levels in England.

The difference this time is that flooding is now deliberate government policy; largely thanks to the Greens and the EU policies which caused a drasic curtailment of dredging.

So, again, what, exactly is “getting harder to refute”?
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February 16, 2014 10:34am
wat dabney

“we should be looking at the lunacy of (seeking) population growth since modern manufacturing requires fewer and fewer people”

That’s brilliant.

The phrase “not even wrong” could have been invented for you, hj.
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February 16, 2014 10:37am
stephieboy

Climate change is seen as bringing a new Bonaza for the production of sparkling wines in England,

http://www.nytimes.com/cwire/2010/02/18/18climatewire-climate-change-seen-bringing-bonanza-for-engl-6578.html?pagewanted=all
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February 16, 2014 10:43am
hj

Victoria Ponzi Leads to Fall in Standard of Living
http://www.macrobusiness.com.au/2013/11/vic-population-ponzi-leads-falls-in-standard-of-living/

same applies to Auckland. Blame immigration and the political consensus(Lab/Green National) to silence critics.
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February 16, 2014 10:45am
hj

That’s brilliant.

The phrase “not even wrong” could have been invented for you, hj.
…
you would say we require more and more people to create demand. You would also say that resources don’t exist until someone makes them?
What of Haiti?
You would say they don’t have good governance (a free market) and strong property rights?
You think that humans do their thing but can’t damage tthe environment in a way that affects everyone.
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February 16, 2014 10:48am
stephieboy

More evidence of climate change in the UK,

http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/154551/First-British-olives-taste-success

The proof of the pudding is in the eating ( olives ) so to speak.
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February 16, 2014 10:55am
wat dabney

hj,

“you would say we require more and more people to create demand.”

No, I wouldn’t.

Which rather means you have entirely misunderstood the debate.

And we’re still waiting for you to explain how your Guardian quotation means that something (what?) is ‘getting harder to refute.’
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February 16, 2014 10:59am
Pauleastbay

Lovin’ the NRL9s

The city was buzzing yesterday and just come back from the supermarket and there’s plenty heading off for the second day.
Whether you’re a rugby or league follower this shouldn’t make a difference , its already a class event and great for the city.

Whys it seems to have worked so well so far:
1. Good product, its got the stars who will be playing in the NRL week in and week out.
2. The promotion was absolutely outstanding, Duco just nailed it, Lonergan fronting it did a marvellous job.
3. The weather was great yesterday better today.
4. No big gaps between games the action was constant so no time for people to get too bored and start trouble.
5. The promoters planning has been top notch.
6. The fans have really got into it as have the teams with a couple of exceptions ( that’s you Melbourne obviously with a few sets of books you don’t need the cash!!!!!)

What could bugger the NRL 9’s up
1. Talk already of a 9’s summer circuit, piss off without the stars there is nothing.
2. The NRL trying to take it over, the NRL have been a fuck up for years, its only good luck and not good management that the game has thrived like it has. leave it alone to professional promoters
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February 16, 2014 11:04am
wat dabney

Stephie,

Sceptics have long argued that natural climate variation is real. It is the alarmists who have attempted to deny it and to whitewash it from history (witness the notorious, debunked Hockeystick which at a stroke deleted the Medieval Warm Period and the Little Ice Age from history.)

Grapes, for examples, were grown in England in the Middle Ages.

So your telling us about recent climate change tells us nothing.

The argument is about whether any change is due principally to natural or anthropogenic causes.

Since there has been no warming for over 17 years, in complete contradiction of the promised runaway increase, I suggest the alarmists’ computer models are wrong.

And since there is no enhanced warming at the poles or in the tropsophere – the fingerprints of anthropogenic change – I suggest the alarmist case is disproved.
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February 16, 2014 11:07am
Pete George

A report of boorish behaviour at Eden Park:

@RachelGlucinaNZ

Poor Len Brown. Even I felt for him when the whole stadium BOOED as he was speaking. League crowd is his crowd. Or was. How demoralising.
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February 16, 2014 11:10am
Pete George

More from Gregor Paul:

No team has won a Super Rugby title without a test-class first-five: Carlos Spencer, Andrew Mehrtens, Stephen Larkham, Daniel Carter, Morne Steyn, Quade Cooper and Aaron Cruden are the title-winning 10s. Gregor Paul assesses the current crop of New Zealand hopefuls.

It’s time now, less than a week from the Blues’ first game, for Aucklanders tomake up their minds about Benji Marshall.

No, it’s nearing the time that Marshall has to prove himself.

Marshall is a huge risk – how many major professional teams would bet on someone who is untried at arguably the most important position on the field?

There’s no doubting Marshall’s general abilities, but one of the key attributes of a standout first five is their ability to read the game and direct the game. At this Marshall has virtually no experience at club-class let alone test-class.
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February 16, 2014 11:17am
CrazyIvan

Pauleastbay, agree about the NRL 9s – it has been a great event and the crowds have been fantastic. Another factor is that the teams are all well known, and there will be people in the crowd supporting each of them, unlike the Wellington 7s where most of the crowd are there to support NZ and the other teams are there as background entertainment during the drinking.

The NRL 9s will work if it is a one-off pre-season event, not a circuit, because as you say if it does then the clubs will just put out a reserve side with no stars at all – and it was good to see Freddy Fittler have a run out.

Now, the only thing that would make it perfect would be if they expanded the comp to include the mighty North Sydney Bears!
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February 16, 2014 11:25am
Pauleastbay

Peter george

Did you not read the entire article or have you deliberately left out the important bits ?

Marshall isn’t a huge risk, Jamie Joseph staying on for another season is a huge risk. Marshall can play football the jury is out on whether Joseph can coach
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February 16, 2014 11:27am
johnwellingtonwells

With reference to yesterday’s “Latest Polls”, I made a reference to Louis Harris’s attitude to polling. I have now found it
“All sample surveys and polls, whether or not they use probability sampling, are subject to multiple sources of error which are most often not possible to quantify or estimate, including sampling error, coverage error, error associated with nonresponse, error associated with question wording and response options, and post-survey weighting and adjustments. Therefore, Harris Interactive avoids the words “margin of error” as they are misleading. All that can be calculated are different possible sampling errors with different probabilities for pure, unweighted, random samples with 100% response rates. These are only theoretical because no published polls come close to this ideal.

A full reference is at
http://www.harrisinteractive.com/NewsRoom/HarrisPolls/tabid/447/ctl/ReadCustom%20Default/mid/1508/ArticleId/221/Default.aspx
Definitely worth a read for those interested in polling
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February 16, 2014 11:29am
Pauleastbay

CrazyIvan
Go the Bears, its coming up a century since they last won a title ( 1922, seems like yesterday) time they got back in. It was just those untrustworthy lying pricks at Manly did for them last time.
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February 16, 2014 11:31am
Scott Chris

Re: Flooding in southern England. No, it’s not “global warming.”

Only a person in deep denial would discount the possibility that the wettest January on record in Britain isn’t directly caused by AGW. Sure the flooding disaster may have been exacerbated by EU policy, but EU policy doesn’t make it rain at record levels.
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February 16, 2014 11:31am
kowtow

It’s hardly boorish behaviour for a crowd to boo an unpopular politician at a public event.

In many ways it’s actually grass roots democracy in action.

Our elitist permanent political class don’t actively engage with us plebs and this was an opportunity for the great unwashed and ignored to have a say.

Reminds me of Nicolae Ceausescus’ last speech.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3lTw0WMhpg
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February 16, 2014 11:45am
Nostalgia-NZ

I haven’t read the article PEB, but I have been concerned about the expectation that Marshall can adapt and excel as an older player – Carlos was also a cross field runner, but robust and able to go forward with years of rugby behind him. It reminds me a little of JK going to the Warriors and making no lasting impression, I hope to be wrong of course however ‘fading’ stars seldom burn bright ever again, particularly in alternative sports.
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February 16, 2014 11:45am
MT_Tinman

Perhaps some kind Wellington person could do me a favour.

Down the inland end of Kent or Cambridge Terrace there will be five hastily erected looking structures. Four will be occupied.

Alongside should be a lower, sturdier and probably better constructed platform.

This will be occupied – by the Basin Reserve (oops, sorry, Hawkins Basin Reserve) groundsman. There will be a supply of rotten fruit and stones near the base of this, this of course being stocks for the public humiliation of said groundsman.

At some point in the not too distant future the groundsman will join the three cricket selectors and NZC idiot who allowed the groundsman to prepare a green seamer for NZ’s swing-bowler strong team on the until then empty gibbet.

I’d like before and after photographs please.
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February 16, 2014 11:47am
Pete George

Kirwan has wider coaching experience than Joseph and he’s still not been successful at Super level. Joseph has a much tougher job with far less resources and local player base. But he’s also not top level yet. Most good coaches take time.

Weepu is looking very trim for this time of year .
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February 16, 2014 11:48am
publicwatchdog

Good moaning Kiwibloggers 🙂

Seen this?

The lion, the witch and Len Brown’s wardrobe | The National Business Review
http://www.nbr.co.nz

“Penny Bright and Graham McCready make an unlikely crime-fighting duo”

Kind regards,

Penny Bright
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February 16, 2014 11:49am
Scott Chris

AGW? Nah, must be EU policy:

Four of the five wettest years recorded in the UK have occurred from the year 2000 onwards. Over that same period, they have also had the seven warmest years.
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February 16, 2014 11:50am
dime

dean lonergan is a dead set legend. he takes no shit. he gets the job done.

i cant believe anyone can get an event like the 9’s up and running in this country and do it so well.

stoked they have the contract for 5 years. i suspect it will be the sydney 9’s after that.. or the brisbane 9’s. the aussies are assholes.

i didnt go this year but ill be going next year. had friends who went yesterday, different groups, all loved it.

well done to dean & co!

oh yeah – 9’s is light years ahead of garbage 7’s. how the fuck did that get into the olympics. it doesnt even look like rugby. just a weird game of touch
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February 16, 2014 11:51am
Pete George

MT_Tinman – I hope they weren’t betting on McCullum finally winning a toss.

The problem with that approach is that even if McCullum had one the last hundred tosses there was still a fifty-fifty chance of losing it for this test.
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February 16, 2014 11:53am
MT_Tinman

Pete, the NZ bowling attack is based on swing. The groundsman produced a green seamer.

That is incompetence, not gambling.

The NZ selectors chose two out-of-form, never-really-up-to-it openers.

I chose not to go to Wellington this year but I’d still like the photo of the five I mentioned strung up on their own individual gibbets outside the ground.
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February 16, 2014 12:04pm
hj

Herman Daly pioneered the concept of environmental macroeconomics. He famously argued that we have moved from an “empty world” of resource abundance to a “full world” of energy and resource limits. His insights,however, have generally been rejected or ignored by most mainstream economic analysts, who argue that resource shortages are remediable through market flexibility and substitution, posing no threat to long-term exponential economic growth.
In the absence of immediate crisis, standard economics has been able to maintain this “optimistic” stance, dismissing population, resource, and energy limits. But developments during the first decade of the twenty-first century indicate that it will be Daly’s view, rather than that of the mainstream, that will be most important in shaping economic development in the coming century.
As Daly foresaw, an energy economy based on high efficiency and renewable fuels cannot pursuethe exponential growth path characteristic of the fossil-fuel dependent economy of the twentieth century. The issues involved go well beyond the energy sector of the economy.
Population growth and food supply also become critical. There are many interactions between the agricultural and energy systems; in addition to energy intensification in agriculture, demands for biofuels put pressure on the limited supply of agricultural land. Recent price spikes in food, fuels, and minerals indicate the tremendous stresses placed on the global ecosystem by the
combination of population and economic growth in China, India, and elsewhere. They also raise major issues of equity, as high prices for energy and food impact the poor disproportionately.
Similar problems affect ecological systems such as forests and fisheries on a global scale.

http://ase.tufts.edu/gdae/Pubs/wp/13-03HarrisDaly.pdf
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February 16, 2014 12:53pm
OneTrack

wat – “So, again, what, exactly is “getting harder to refute”?”

Umm, that Global Warming ™ is just a socialist crock, designed to redistribute money from the rich countries to poorer countries, and facilitate the emergence of a One World Government? Or how the whole concept of “science” and how it is supposed to work, has been corrupted in the quest for government funding and political power?
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February 16, 2014 1:00pm
RightNow

Scotty, why are you calling it AGW? It’s more natural than A, more regional than G, and only a fraction of the predicted W. You were smart not to include the C at the front though, because at the observed rate it’s more beneficial than C.
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February 16, 2014 1:10pm
Sofia

“Penny Bright and Graham McCready make an unlikely crime-fighting duo”

Much as it would be good to see Brown convicted of something that forces him to stand down, since he won’t of his own volition, has it not been established by explanation already that the rooms in question were booked by Len Brown’s wife and as such it was her bookings that were upgraded?
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February 16, 2014 1:13pm
hj

wat – “So, again, what, exactly is “getting harder to refute”?”
…
Helloooo?! Anybody home???
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February 16, 2014 1:16pm
wat dabney

Scott,

“Only a person in deep denial would discount the possibility that the wettest January on record in Britain isn’t directly caused by AGW”

Ah, the old canard that evidence of climate change is necessarily evidence for anthropogenic global warming. This piece of opportunistic illogic has been a mainstay of clueless alarmists for twenty years of course, but it was nice to see it wheeled-out with such earnestness once again.

And no, it isn’t record rainfall. It’s only by dishonestly restricting the “record” back to just 1910 that such fabricated claims can be made. As the second of my two previous links says: “An analysis of the highest consecutive three monthly rainfall since 1766 shows that this is the fifth highest, giving it a return period of about 1 in 50 years.”

“So why wasn’t Thames dredged? In case a rare mollusc was disturbed – despite the region being described as one of the most ‘undefended flood plains in England'”
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2558087/So-wasnt-Thames-dredged-In-case-rare-mollusc-disturbed-despite-region-described-one-undefended-flood-plains-England.html
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February 16, 2014 1:42pm
Ross12

The UK Met office predicted in December 2013 there was a 15% chance of heavy rain in the next few months. If that is how good they can be with forecasts why would anyone believe what comes out of their glorified super computers??
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February 16, 2014 2:18pm
Manolo

An American warning: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/feb/14/rand-paul-gop-will-not-win-again-my-lifetime-presi/
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February 16, 2014 3:11pm
Manolo

Another hare-brained Luddite scheme. As we all know money grows in trees:
http://news.msn.co.nz/nationalnews/8800311/greens-propose-cheap-solar-power-loans

You can bet your head Silent T (and socialist Labour) will bend over.
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February 16, 2014 3:48pm
big bruv

Is it just me or does anybody else find Mark Richardson to be a complete cock?
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February 16, 2014 4:10pm
nickb

Bruv – yes. The entire Sky commentary team is appalling in my opinion and a big reason I don’t have Sky (would mainly be for watching cricket). Richardson, Craig “my career ended headbutting a Steyn bouncer” Cumming, Styris, then McMillan who prattles on about this “Wooyumson” chap, whoever he is. Then Smithy is extremely biased and Grant Nisbett should have been banned from ever venturing outside Super Rugby.

Ian Bishop was quite good for the WI series, so was Michael Holding the last time WI visited.

It was far better when Martin Crowe and Jeremy Coney were there. Channel 9 has gone downhill with Slater and that awful self-important prat Mark Nicholas. I like UK Sky the best actually with Gower, Botham, Atherton, Lloyd and Warne making cameos. There is a lot of great analysis with them, compared to the endless inane and annoying prattling of the Kiwis (not to mention the terrible accents).
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February 16, 2014 4:17pm
big bruv

nickb

I agree with most of what you say. Although I cannot let you get away with having a crack at Ian Smith. Smith is our best by far and as a commentator he is right up there with the worlds best. As for Crowe, he is appalling.
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February 16, 2014 4:32pm
nickb

I like Crowe because at least he brings some good analysis in the downtime. He is obviously a batting technical guru, even if the other side of him is a lot of emotion and a huge list of grievances with most people in NZ cricket.

Cumming, Richardson and McMillan seem to be from the Danny Morrison school of overexcited verbal diarrhea
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February 16, 2014 4:47pm
dime

Dime cant stand richardson. The guy smiles as he speaks, i just want to slap him like the bitch he is. he also loves it when NZ fails.

i like styris.

the gladiator can get fucked. he loves having a crack at kiwis who get out playing bad shots – something his career was built on.

cumming – what a joke. the dude hit two half centuries in his career but theres nothing he doesnt know. he makes himself sound like he was ricky ponting.

the radio guys can be good. crowe rocks. the last couple of days though ive just heard old men complaining about over rates etc on radio sport. painful. brian waddle just seems to hate life.

smith – can be very good. can be a grumpy old prick too.
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February 16, 2014 4:54pm
Rowan

Pete George

The Blues have nothing to lose with Marshall at no 10, they will sink or swim based on how well he performs there. There other alternatives Noakes and Kerr! enough said, can’t understand why Kirwan let go of Anscombe.
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February 16, 2014 5:02pm
igm

Are Lecher and Slobcom still polluting the views in Auckland?
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February 16, 2014 5:27pm
deadrightkev

To me Benji Marshall reminds me of Carlos Spencer. I hope he is not as hit and miss. It will take time to get Marshall firing but you still need a platform upfront to make 9 & 10 work the magic. Time will tell.
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February 16, 2014 5:31pm
RichardX

igm (438 comments) says:
February 16th, 2014 at 5:27 pm
Are Lecher and Slobcom still polluting the views in Auckland?

400+ comments of whiny name calling yet you stated on Friday that another posters comments were infantile and objectionable
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February 16, 2014 5:44pm
James Stephenson

No League covert has ever made it in a playmaking position in proper Rugby. Iestyn Harris got closest, and Marshall isn’t as good as he was.
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February 16, 2014 5:50pm
cha

Squawk to to T.

http://www.motherjones.com/blue-marble/2014/02/internet-trolls-sadists-psychopaths-lulz
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February 16, 2014 6:00pm
nasska

“You see,” the English Lord told his guest, “everything in this
castle was built the hard way. Life is not worth living
without challenge! The land on which it was raised? A swamp.
I had it drained and filled with rocks and timber.

These beams,” he gestured grandly, “came from trees cut in
a woods in Spain. The stone was quarried in Africa under the
very eyes of cannibals.”

Just then a beautiful young woman walked over. The English
Lord announced, “This is my daughter Elizabeth.”

Returning the guest’s curious stare, the English Lord
confided, “Yes…..standing up in a canoe.”
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February 16, 2014 8:00pm
ZenTiger

A documentary on Dinosaurs was playing on TV in the background today. The comment that jumped out at me was “the Dinosaurs perished because of catastrophic climate change”

Nice to see them weaving such phrases into the literature.

It used to be AGW. Now it’s just Climate Change (but man-induced), and pretty soon we’ll be thinking we even managed to kill the dinosaurs, using an unmodified Toyota Corolla ’78 with excess fuel emissions.

Sic ’em Rex.
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February 16, 2014 8:57pm
mandk

I’m not sure what was more of a shambles at the CakeTin today: the performance of the Phoenix, or the performance of the ticketing system.
I arrived at 4.30 and joined a queue behind five other people. It to 12 minutes to reach the front of the queue, only to be told that I had to go to another kiosk to exchange my voucher for a ticket. I then joined another queue behind about ten other people and finally received my ticket at 5.00. However, by that time there were queues about 30 deep at each window in every kiosk. I wonder how many people gave up and left without a ticket. Just how difficult can it be to issue tickets to a crowd of fewer than 10,000?
As to the game itself, suffice it to say that 0-5 flattered the Phoenix.
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February 16, 2014 9:13pm
ShawnLH

From The Last Ditch…

‘So this is what the liberals mean by “choice” and “tolerance.” The Obama contraception tyranny’

By ANDY NOWICKI

“The Obama contraception edict via Health and Human Services is, quite simply, an act of naked aggression; it constitutes a vicious, malevolent, all-out assault by the government against faithful Catholics within the borders of the United States.”

http://www.thornwalker.com/ditch1/nowicki_contracept.htm
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February 16, 2014 11:16pm
Left Right and Centre

KB graveyard shift dribbling….

One of my gazillion pet hates is….

(1) Countdown stocking Easter eggs in February. When’s Easter ? April ? Far out. When all of these holidays and celebratory days are added up – they cover more days than blank days. Know what I mean ? I’ll tell you what I mean. Take xmas / Easter – all the made up shit – mother’s / father’s day – xmas lasts about ten weeks. Then you’ve got Boxing Day Week. Then it’s New Year’s Week. Then it’s Waitangi Week. If you add up all of the times that you see something promoting the up-coming day – mate – that’s half the year. It’s not special if it’s all the time, yeah ?

(2) When yoghurt turns to custard: I started buying Fresh n Fruity Lite yoghurt 1kg. I’ve tried the Lite 6 pack too. Classic example of the difference between the three supermarkets. Classic example. (Meadowfresh and Yoplait Lite products are not very ‘Lite’ at 350kj /100g compared to about 400kj / 100g for standard yoghurt. So up theirs).

First you have my comrades at Out ‘f Stock. They sell one flavour FnF Lite berry trio 6 pack $3.88 / 1 flavour FnF Lite Wildly Berry 1kg $4.58. Out of stock. Their motto should be ‘do you feel lucky’. But I’m used to that and I don’t blink. I’m lying. I’m used to it and I still get fucking angry.

So – having checked out the Countdown yoghurt range on a recent reccy – I know they sell two of a possible four 1kg Lite flavours. It’s going to cost $5.99 but at least I can try the other one. Nope – just the Wildly Berry lite 1kg in stock. Useless. And I had to deal with a stupid bitch Maori checkout supervisor for my trouble. Long story – forget it.

And finally the happy ending – went to the shop for the posh knobs the next day – glory be – three out of four flavours *and* on ‘special’ at $4.70 !! Well chief I grinned and grabbed 1kg of FnF Lite Simply Strawberry and skipped a merry jig through the vast emptiness of shopperless floorspace. Next day was the turn of Vanilla Dream Lite 1kg. Both not bad but Wildly Berry is the winner. I look forward to hunting down the as yet elusive Mango Passion Lite flavour. There’s nothing like a challenge. I’m being bloody sarcastic if you need to be hit over the head with the obvious stick. The NW workers I find are a class above the mostly miserable bastards at the other two (although I’ve met some shining delightful beacons of humanity at pak ur shit). They really really are in real life as seen on TV in adverts smiling away blissfully like the world is made out of sweets and gingerbread with a fresh gentle breeze of cinnamon scent. I thanked them quite a few times for saving me from setting foot inside Countdown that day. Now there’s a reason to win millions – shopping at a nice place. With none of the braindead ugly noisy riff-raff jarring the senses.

Yoghurt is a nicety. Luxury item. I don’t need it. Waste of money. Oh well.

Just remember – it doesn’t matter how much you weigh – big or small – 1kg of standard yoghurt = 2kg of FnF Lite. Whatever size you are it still works. It’s my thing having turned into Mr Freaky Dieter (ie I’m not some faggot FnF crony – I’m all about energy values and nutrition as well as enjoyment). It feels like you’re eating heaps – and yet – hey, it’s easier on the flab – that’s a neat trick. Yes, yes it is.
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February 17, 2014 2:22am
Manolo

It is the same over here: the NZ MSM has forgotten the corrupt lecherous Len is a staunch Labourite:
http://video.foxnews.com/v/3203093830001/bias-bash-networks-wont-call-convicted-mayor-a-democrat/#sp=show-clips
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February 17, 2014 6:12am
Manolo

Another spineless politician rants on AGW: http://news.msn.co.nz/worldnews/8800199/kerry-to-urge-climate-action-in-indonesia

US Secretary of State John Kerry has issued a clarion call for nations to do to more to combat climate change, calling it “the world’s largest weapon of mass destruction”.
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February 17, 2014 6:45am

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