Only class war on public schools can rid us of this unhinged ruling class

Perhaps I am a bit naive, wanting in historical knowledge, but this I found both currently and historically interesting. In NZ, too, these institutionally cultivated, family dispossessed products are readily identifiable by their sense of 'public proper,' private naive excess, dispassionate pursuit of goals, amorality and unquestionable support and 'carmerarderie' from those similarly detached and institutionally moulded ... and almost all attain positions in society equivalent to what could be described as 'an unhinged ruling class.'
'Emotional cripples,' some say.

Threat of major blackout due to degraded cable

A third of the power supply to the North Island is under threat after Transpower shut down an important section of the Cook Strait cable because it was so degraded it could not be insured against "catastrophic failure".

Nine out of 15 major pieces of equipment used to transfer power across one of two sections of the Cook Strait cable have serious faults which could lead to catastrophic disaster.

Now one would have thought this situation could have been averted by implementing a realistic R & M programme and programming for replacement ... sort of basic really.

Free Education.

In 2006, $508 million of school funding came from parents and communities through donations, costs of "extras" and fundraising activities. It included $58 million in donations.



Chris Carter (minister of education): "We know the spin is that somehow it (education) hasn't become free. Actually, it is free and parents choose to pay it or choose not to. That's their call."





Ms Rich, National's education spokeswoman, said Mr Carter's casual attitude and telling parents it was "their call" on donations was irresponsible and would put some off paying.

(http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=35&objectid=10487265).



Secondary Principals' Association head Arthur Graves, says he would never use a debt collector to chase school fees, but knows of others doing so ...
"It really does reflect the desperation that schools are facing in terms of funding. [They are] having to find ways to scramble together money just to hold the basics together.
"The whole story now, about it being a free education, is not quite correct I would be surprised now if there were any schools that weren't charging fees around curriculum subjects."


The "most-spun" government ever? (http://www.stuff.co.nz/4365415a10.html).
The biggest spender on communication contractors and staff was the Ministry of Education, with 70% of the $6.6m it spent going on contractors.
Canterbury University journalism school head Jim Tully said government and corporate public relations staff were growing as newsrooms were shrinking.
"The growth is indicative of a much greater determination to put the best possible spin and to influence the media generally."

Dang!

US schools continue to lag behind internationally in science and math education.

On the other hand, the US is the largest, single, R&D-performing nation in the world pumping some $340 billion into future-related technologies. The US also leads the world in patent development.
Of the $340 billion R&D total, basic research accounted for 18 % or $62 billion; applied research accounted for 22 % or $75 billion; and development accounted for the other 60 % or $203 billion. In 2006, the federal government supplied about 60 % of all basic research funds, industry about 17 %, with private foundations, academic institutions and other governmental entities supplying the rest.

This is indeed substantial investment, but as one commentator on slashdot (http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?no_d2=1&sid=08/01/18/1636232) says,
...we spending the most money, on the dumbest researchers?

Write me an essay

judge tells wife-beater
one of Reid's three children ... telephoned police when violence erupted ...
Reid's wife did not want him convicted.
Judge Davidson said it would be "ground-breaking" for Reid to receive a fourth discharge without conviction for domestic violence, but agreed to delay sentencing for nine months ... and 'write me an essay.'

Now where does this sit with Sue Bradford's 'anti-slapping' beliefs ... perhaps, just perhaps, she will make a statement concerning the absolute unacceptability of both the repeated behaviour and the sanctions?

And mitigation due to the negative effect on the family ... it was a child that reported the incident, otherwise one would have to imagine that there would have been no consequences, a completely private event.

So we have: name suppression and a non custodial sentence due to the potential impact on the family, there have been many incidences of this; similar outcomes have occurred due to the potential impact on schools and businesses ... it really is at a point where logically the next progression will be name suppression and orders to suppress identification of institutions that have prisoners escape and commit heinous crimes lest it possibly reflect or impact on the institution and other inmates in a manner greater than what is 'considered proper under the circumstances.'

There was a time when there existed an attempt to ensure that 'justice was not only done, but it was seen to be done.'
There is something just not quite right about a private court (justice) system.

A ReBate On Funding?

Derek Ackroyd has lived in Rotorua on and off since 1980 ... the 75-year-old blames the hydrogen sulphide in the city for the aches he has in his elbows and knees, and for his breathing difficulties.Mr Ackroyd is convinced even low levels have an adverse effect on human health, saying the gas has a hugely corrosive effect on appliances and vehicles. "We've been there [by the geothermal area] five years and we're on our third fridge. Eighteen months for a fridge in our area and you're doing well." ... it does that. It's also phytotoxic to many broadleaf plants in low concentrations.

Professor Crane (one of the researchers), of the University of Otago's Wellington School of Medicine, expected that if any effect was found, it would be subtle ... and this was stated at a public meeting. However, (perhaps he realised his faux pas) he was quick to point out that others disagreed and said that earlier research had shown increased risk of nerve, respiratory and eye disorders among people exposed to low-level hydrogen sulphide.

Now I would have thought someone from the Otago Medical School would have known just a tad about demand characteristics, about the use of 'double blind' procedures in drug evaluation ... but obviously not.

New Zealander Michael Bates, now at the University of California, Berkeley, is the principal researcher ... presumably he employs Julian Crane ... he has done previous work in to the effects of hydrogen sulfide, sulfur dioxide and sulphuric(ous) acid in Rotorua ... it is very corrosive.

In a retrospective epidemiologic study using cancer registry data from 1981 to 1990, Bates et al. (1998) evaluated the risk of cancer to known target organ systems of hydrogen sulfide toxicity in residents of Rotorua, a New Zealand city that uses geothermal energy for industrial and domestic heating purposes. No information on hydrogen sulfide levels was presented in this report, but the authors indicate concerns that exposures to hydrogen sulfide and/or mercury from geothermal sources could have health impacts.
In their previous work, it was indicated that the most reliable monitoring information for hydrogen sulfide in the area came from a monitoring exercise in 1978 that found a median concentration of hydrogen sulfide of 20 μg/m3, with 35% of the measurements over 70 μg/m3 and 10% over 400 μg/m3 (Bates et al. 1997). Based on the cancer registry information, these workers found a significantly increased risk of nasal cancers (SIR=3.17; p=0.01) among Rotorua residents as compared to the rest of the population of New Zealand. However, since this is a rare cancer, this finding is based on only four cancers. Because the population of Rotorua has a higher percentage of Maoris than the rest of New Zealand, these researchers also examined their data stratified by ethnicity and sex and found a significantly increased risk of cancers of the trachea, bronchus, and lung (SIR=1.48; p=0.02) among female Maoris in Rotorua as compared to female Maoris in the rest of New Zealand. Differences in smoking history between these two populations were not sufficient to explain the observed differences in risk. The authors concluded that the lack of adequate exposure information did not permit findings of causal relationships between hydrogen sulfide and cancer incidence. The potential co-exposure to mercury also confounds the interpretation of these results.

This is a subject that requires robust investigation, not only in respect to Rotorua, but also certain industries, and organic pip fruit orcharding where acid rain is seen as the preferred alternative to pesticide residue on fruit ... so what if 10% of the population develop a hypersensitivity to it.

Kiwis weather severe events and extremes in 2007

Dr Salinger said the year saw a swing from an El Nino to La Nina climate pattern and overall more anticyclones, or "highs", occurred.

... and these severe events and extremes are not once attributed to that 'contrived beast' anthropogrenic global warming.

Does this mean that Dr Salinger is beginning to distance himself from this created phenomenon???
Perhaps, finally, he too is acknowledging that the United Nations and crusading celebrities are simply wrong??? (http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/1272).

Uncertain science dogs climate debate.

This 'uncertain science' doesn't 'dog' the blindly impassioned 'clean, green, sustainability' desecrators of the clean green skyline ... mind you. This is in Palmerston North, and well it has always been sort of dank, windswept, at times so bitterly cold and uninviting ... so perhaps, huge 35m long blades as they whoosh majestically whilst harnessing wind power (http://www.manawatunz.co.nz/) add a sort of something, perhaps interest, to the place.
Additionally, there seems something perseverative and proper about acting upon uncertain science on climate predictions resulting in uncertainty of power supply ... "Energy strategy risks power shortages" (http://www.stuff.co.nz/4342184a13.html) and "Power prices will rise, simply because new sources of supply, of all kinds, are more expensive than the old sources" (former Electricity Commission chairman Roy Hemmingway).
But none of this in this little refuge in the Coromandel though, clean green and uncluttered natural skyline.
To me these generated generating blots on the landscape will always be a tribute to Jeanette and her green cohorts - unfortunately though green will not represent notions of conservation, environmental protection or sustainability but naive, simplistic, poorly founded, albeit well -intentioned, desecration of what many hold or held to be precious ... even apparently some of them ... but I guess it is just Palmerston North and other windswept inclement parts of New Zealand after all, those parts that give a feeling of beauty, of expanse, of contrast with urban clutter ... and it is all, in all probability, unnecessary.

Food, Sleep and Obesity.

A study of New Zealand seven-year-olds has found that sleeping fewer than nine hours a night is associated with being overweight or obese, even after accounting for time spent watching television, and physical exercise.
"The study is important from the perspective of providing another means of preventing obesity," said Ed Mitchell, the senior author and a professor of child health research at Auckland University... Sleeping more than nine hours and 45 minutes lowered the risk significantly.

... and no mention of food intake??

Strikes me that if you stay up later you are more likely to have a snack before going to bed.
Now when I was a young fella, and it was important to put on weight to get in to that higher grade rugby team, a decent feed before bed was a 'fail safe' procedure.

Correlation studies do not show causal relationships ... unfortunately such studies will probably result in unnecessary 'parental forcings' ... "Go to bed now and go to sleep." ... with the resultant objections, refusals and tantrums ... and I always believed that most lost their 'puppy fat' in their mid to late teens - probably something to do with rapid growth, activity levels and eating less as a means of enhancing marketability.