wine enhanced metacognitions

Pathology

2011-02-06T21:14:00.000-08:00

The Maori Party demises the son

whilst our Prime minister comforts the mum ...

A union begat in Carrington?
It will be interesting to see, if the sea bed & forshore thingamy progresses, whether or not the olde cronies, given title transfer, are indeed able to access our natural treasures for muskets & blankets ... the well entrenched & valued 'indigenous' nepotism would ensure a 'trickle down' that would ultimately be to the benefit of all ... I am sure.
A union made in heaven.

Pike River Mine.

2010-11-23T21:38:00.000-08:00

I have so much difficulty with what has occurred here.

There has been sufficient spake of such contradictory nature that has not been addressed, for example: you cannot enter immediately after an explosion for 'fear of a further one,' when the impression is that pockets of gas are discrete of reservoir, and that oxygen depletion would negate such possibility for a certain time ... perhaps six days in this instance? ... albeit, reports indicated that there was heat, burning, and one would assume that a gas 'build up,' particularly an extremely volatile gas build up, could not possibly occur in the face of an ongoing ignition source.
Why do independent breathing apparatus and clothing not protect the wearers from toxic and volatile gases? ... Oh, they do.

And again, they will not enter. It will again be a CEO/police 'we know better (although we had to wait 6 days for it)' standoff, retrieval overruled.
And an army robot incapable of surviving water??
One cannot help but think that there will be no 'recoveries,' the site will be sealed and closed as 'too dangerous to enter' ... well aside from the retrieval of the army robot of course, which due to its robust construction ....

This all smacks too much of a convenient conclusion.

There are many unanswered questions here ... perhaps the first of such is why a 'west coast policeman,' an almost, perchance 'sent to Coventry' appointment, should be calling the shots?

Why was so much equipment needed to be called in?

Why were rescue teams not put in to action straight away, and why not immediately after the second explosion(?)?

What was with the safety plan within the mine?
Where was OSH in all this?? Obviously this situation smacks of so many 'blind eyes'it would seem they were unlikely to occur without being overridden by greater powers ... why? ... so many casualties.

Where is Jeanette Fitzimonds? Not so naive as to remain hidden.

How much of this has to do with the Greens anti-coal pro-greenery folly and a company's perhaps arrogant belief they can vent volatile gases sufficiently to pursue a viable venture?

Don't they all just run when their ideologies become so exposed concomitant with such sad, tangible consequences.

One would hope the mine will not be sealed such that we will not learn what has actually occurred, however this 'may
play out.'

At the very least, it must become mandatory that the person in charge of any (search and) rescue programme must be someone well versed or expert in the operation/terrain/activity in hand.

Plods may be 'handy,' but they certainly are not a bright broadly experienced bunch, and have at times shown themselves to be so PC/safety constrained as to constitute a significant hazzard, in and of themselves, to the containment and maximal remediation of dangerous situations. It is to be hoped this is not reflected in this situation.

This is a sad, sad occasion, it is to be hoped that there is nothing at all that is orchestrated about it ... but we don't know, do we?

Update: The ventilation shaft has been sealed and the intent is to set up a nitrogen generator to both cool and make a safer environment. Should not this be top fed, i.e. through the ventilation shaft, especially given it is of lesser mass than air and the shaft is inclined, such that air would then be forced away from the reputedly 'hot' face?
One can but fear another 'big bang.'

Yep, Being First is Good!

2010-04-05T23:15:00.000-07:00

For whom though??

The "carbon footprint" for New Zealand lamb eaten in Britain has been estimated as equivalent to 1.9kg of carbon dioxide, for each 100gm serving of lamb - 80 percent of that generated by farmers and their livestock on-farm.

The New Zealand study by AgResearch and released today by meat companies, is the first published carbon footprint to cover the entire life cycle from farm, through to cooking and eating the meat, and the disposal of waste and sewage.
& are AgResearch to be lauded, or to be damned?
Are they intellectual sayers or self-righteous savagers of our export markets?
& who pays for such expertise??

When Targeting Policy Becomes Discrimination.

2010-03-23T22:16:00.000-07:00

'In a report just tabled in Parliament, Attorney-General Chris Finlayson says the (proposed welfare) reforms breach the Bill of Rights Act on three grounds by discriminating on the basis of sex and family and marital status.

He finds the breaches cannot be justified under the Act.'

Oh dear.
So we really have reached a point where, 'if you say it you can't address it because in identifying those particular aspects, it discriminates (with all those awful connotations) against them,' ... 'and if you can't say it, you can't address it.'

I guess this is symptomatic of our new found accommodating consciousness, of rainbow clubs, and ... of being truly buggered.

Thank you Attorney-General Chris Finlayson for clarifying this matter.

Reducing Disparity.

2010-01-23T12:56:00.000-08:00

"The Greens will not support any package that includes cuts to the top levels of income tax or any increase in GST because these changes would exacerbate the differences between the rich and poor in our society."

Again we have fewer demands/expectations placed on those whose ethic, for whatever reason, is not work/achievement based - indeed we have systems arranged such that their life-styles can be maintained ... so they needn't feel bad about it, and the motivations of those who 'try' will be accordingly reduced.

The application of this 'reducing disparity' adage can be seen as having had considerable impact on our overall educational achievement - where an increasingly 'long tail' of non performance has been created, and quite sucessfully,for these 'non performers' do not feel bad about it.

Where Are We Heading Here?

2010-01-23T12:05:00.000-08:00

The Greens offer our support for a comprehensive capital gains tax, provided the family home is exempt.

"We offer this support because a capital gains tax is a progressive tax that leads to a better investment balance and broadens the tax base by nearly $4 billion.

"A land tax is not Green Party policy, but we support an open debate on how a comprehensive package, including a land tax, could help us to access the affordable housing we urgently need."

But she warned there could not be a land tax without proper consideration of Maori land issues or land that is "ecologically sensitive".

And ... About 2000 professional and amateur photographers have staged a protest in Trafalgar Square in London against stop and search powers in Section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000.

They say police are intimidating people with cameras in their tactics to target possible terrorists.

Last week, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the entire law was illegal because it was indiscriminate, rather than properly targeted.

Now, one would assume that equity would demand in both instances that the intended rules/laws apply to all and in similar extent.

NIWA

2009-11-26T21:28:00.000-08:00

Jim Salinger and David Wratt ... not much difference between the two ... so was this issue (Salinger's release) really a matter of 'you can't have two cooks in the kitchen?'

More Opportunistic Scaremongering?

2009-10-16T19:49:00.000-07:00

Wellington may just have dodged a devastating earthquake.

Scientists estimate that an average of one magnitude-7 quake will strike New Zealand every 10 years and a magnitude 8 once a century. A 7.8 magnitude quake hit Fiordland in July.
If the same quake had struck in a more populated area such as Wellington, its impact could well have resulted in thousands of deaths.

Interestingly, even though instrumental records have been kept in New Zealand only since 1903, Richter ratings have been given to earthquakes prior to that time.

New Zealand has had a "dream run" for the past five decades, with "a remarkably low number of large damaging quakes for a country that has similar earthquake activity to California".

Characteristically it would appear that earthquakes in California are considerably more shallow than in New Zealand (30 cf. 60 Km depth), consequently are considerably more likely to result in damage ... the parallel drawn has to be somewhat specious.

There seems little basis for magnitude 7 and 8 earthquakes being equitably distributed, nor that 'probabilities' deduced from active areas resulting in damage need relate to the local setting .... certainly there is insufficient New Zealand data to deduce a magnitude 8 earthquake will occur here once a century.

Alcohol Consumption In Nz.

2009-09-08T23:57:00.000-07:00

Now, I would not have believed that the current discussion of the alcohol 'problem' in NZ was simply a replication of the contrived 'obesity epidemic' wherein the scale used to indicate obesity was changed, and this to the extent that those subsequently categorised as within the healthy range were having more health problems than those within the slightly obese range. But then I saw this ...

“… our nation’s appalling drinking statistics” would appear to be almost totally derived from surveys and anecdotal evidence, and from this a rather tenuous leap made to attribute cause.

The survey statistics themselves,(http://www.aphru.ac.nz/projects/alcohol%202000%20results1.htm#_ftn1and http://www.moh.govt.nz/moh.nsf/pagesmh/5855/File/alcohol-use-in-new-zealand-2004.doc), could very well reflect changed attitudes towards drinking rather than be indicative of increased consumption, let alone ‘bing drinking’ - there does not appear to be available absolute quantities of alcohol sold juxtaposed with reputed consumption. This would proffer some validity to the consumption figures presented as most alcohol purchased is reputedly consumed within 24 hours of purchase. An increase of 2 litres per annum may well be a 21% increase in consumption (1995-2000) but it is not a great deal - two and a half bottles of wine over a year. It may also reflect a change in the definition of a standard drink, from 15 gm absolute alcohol to 10 (2004).I would have thought the postulated relationships with disease entities are simply that, ‘postulated.’Alcohol is an hypnosedative that has both predicable (tiredness, slowness of response) and unpredictable effects (disinhibition or reduced impulse control). Alcohol being associated with an event does not make it causative of that event. Intent is more often than not pre existing, and alcohol or other consumption occurs to expedite that event e.g. burglaries, violence, suicide, etc.I guess with no or minimal corresponding reduction in cancers resulting from the anti tobacco lobby it is easy to attribute their occurrence to anything else that can be seen as a ‘commodity of potential abuse.’ ‘Have you had more than six standard drinks at one sitting? Has this happened more than x times? Have you ever been unable to recall everything that occurred the day after?’ Poorly quantified correlation studies can be overly inclusive and quite specious.The charge of Sir Geoffrey and cohorts I see as quite populist and simplistic … the impact of unemployment, DPB., pretended high numbers in tertiary education and other ‘hidden’ means of taking structure or routine and meaning and value out of peoples lives is more the essence of this issue than what is being addressed.This is simply ‘well-intentioned’ wowserism, fortified by applying different criteria as to what constitutes ‘excess.’

And indeed ... a

Standard drink
In New Zealand, a standard drink is defined as the amount of beverage that contains 10 grams (or 12.67 millilitres) of absolute (pure) alcohol (ALAC 2004).

This definition of a standard drink differs from the definition used in the previous national surveys on alcohol use in New Zealand (Habgood et al 2001; Wyllie et al 1996), where a standard drink referred to 15 grams of absolute alcohol.

So now, drinking the same, we are drinking one third more!

Perhaps it is time that our political scientists returned to their core business, to endeavour to regain considerable of their lost integrity ... for this is simply appears more mirepresentation of information in pursuance of an agenda.

I Thought Salinger Was Toast.

2009-09-01T00:20:00.000-07:00

last month was the warmest August New Zealand has seen since temperatures were first recorded 155 years ago.
New Zealanders could thank strong westerly winds coming off Australia for an average temperature almost 2degC warmer than usual, said Auckland climate scientist Jim Salinger.

... and juxtaposed with ...

Niwa's outlook for spring said New Zealanders c ould continue to expect warmer weather than usual throughout September, although there was likely to be a change mid-spring.

So is this scaremongerer, this gorebuller, back with NIWA, or is this simply the Herald misrepresenting the situation?
Incidentally, the amount of snowfall in August and -2 degree temperatures on the way to work would suggest just a little tinkering ... why there is still snow on the surrounding hills.

Update: A scientist sacked by the National Insitute of Water and Atmospheric Research has used its data to show New Zealand had the warmest August on record - two hours before the agency could make public the information.
Auckland climate scientist Jim Salinger issued the figures yesterday ahead of Niwa's official August report.

and, update:Winter is expected to have one last hurrah with snow forecast over much of the country until the weekend.

Now There's A Thought.

2009-08-29T00:24:00.000-07:00

A big increase in the number of primary school children suspended for violent acts is being blamed on the removal of corporal punishment in schools.
Figures from the Ministry of Education show a 88 per cent increase in suspensions of eight-year-olds from 2000 to 2008 for assaults on classmates, a 73 per cent rise for seven-year-olds, a 70 per cent increase for six–year-olds while the suspensions over the same period had increased by 33 per cent for five-year-olds.
"It is significant that as schools have removed corporal punishment, schools have become more violent," Family First national director Bob McCoskrie said today.

Now there may just be something to that ... it was certainly a more time-limited approach than reasoning them in to good behaviour and almost always was effective ... not so reason or reasoning which requires a reasonable and reasonably skilled person for it to work - not many adults can achieve this let alone an indisciplined out of control kid.

Sponsoring Events.

2009-08-25T23:23:00.000-07:00

There probably is a good reason why companies that sponsor 'travelling science road shows' to schools should view the shows before they are toured.
A more comprehensively Green agenda would be hard to imagine ... global warming, new Kyoto Protocol, CO2, methane ... & featuring cows as environmental destroyers.

Such receptive audiences, such an exciting fast-paced presentation, such credibility, such 'buy in' by teachers and hence perpetuation ensured .... such self-inflicted, sponsored, 'shooting of oneself in the foot' ... absolutely, irresponsibly, incredible!

Now Who Really Is Redefining 'Family' In NZ?

2009-08-18T18:29:00.000-07:00

The acting principal Family Court judge wants the law changed so de facto and same-sex couples can adopt children.
Paul von Dadelszen says the 2004 Civil Union Act and changes to property legislation have put people in de facto relationships and same-sex couples on the same footing as married couples.
But Judge von Dadelszen says the 1955 Adoption Act was left out of that raft of legislation, and at the moment the only people allowed to adopt a child are married, heterosexual couples.
He says the Adoption Act was drafted according to the norms of 1950s society, but is outdated and has become unjustly discriminatory.

Demographics or the 'experts?'

Personal Reflection.

2009-07-21T22:10:00.000-07:00

Now I wonder what Judith Ablett-Kerr, QC, will see when she looks in the mirror in the morning?

Will she be able to rationalise it (the 'anything goes visage' and corresponding behaviour) on the basis of, "everybody deserves the best defence possible?"

Or will she see it as 'one step, (nay, several km's) too far?'

Or perhaps she will be in awe/dread/disgust at what she has become?

& will she be able to rebuild her credibility?
Should she be able to rebuild her credibility?
Or will she, with her infinite knowledge of human behaviour, become an errrr ... expert on deviance ... a judge?
... time will tell.

No assault conviction for Sam Kelt

2009-06-23T22:31:00.000-07:00

Judge Bernard Kendall said the evidence of bar staff had been clear about the grabbing of Mr Spiers' T-shirt, which constituted an assault.
But there was no injury or physical effect on the victim and he discharged Kelt without conviction.

Aha ... so now 'assault' or conviction for this breach of the law, requires that there be an enduring physical effect.
I wonder where Section 59, Sue Bradford's legacy, sits with respect to this finding.

'Tis A Hard Road Being The Perfect Model, Son.

2009-06-13T14:45:00.000-07:00

All Blacks trained in risky business of a social life ... to avoid potentially embarrassing headlines and has hired risk management company Core Dynamics to educate players about the pitfalls of public life.
Sessions include role-plays and practical help, such as being shown what drug utensils look like.

Obviously Rugby Management, buoyed by their success at toilet training, at reducing that onfield pandemic of explosive nasal & other orificial clearance ... a pandemic more infectious and potentially dangerous than that 'scare-mongered up' swine flu ... are taking a further, brave step forward. Of course, as new players are included in the squad, this basic skills training will have to be an ongoing annual phenomenon.

... but really, as if many would not have known about drug paraphenalia.

... and then there are the rugby skills ... Oh dear ... so many well developed muscles and so few connected neuronal pathways. How, when under pressure, could they be expected to remember those sixty plus planned and rote learned moves?

Is the characteristic of immediate self-gratification really synonymous with being a good sports person? I would have thought it made a person more subject to performing emotionally, as evidenced by that 'dead, defeated look' in so many eyes when they were behind 17 to 3 ... sort of 'once were warriors.'

It would appear that Graham Henry is making considerable in roads into improving those basic social skills, those skills basic to social functioning, but....

A Duty Of Care .. A response to MacDoctor's Egotism.

2009-04-18T23:45:00.000-07:00

MacDoctor struck a nerve.

... until such time as medical practitioners are trained in research methodology and statistics and have the ability to critically assay research ... and read the stuff prior to 'selling' it as a 'treatment of choice' ... and enable and demand independent (not drug company) research with control groups prior to the widespread implementation of treatments - rather than claim that such research cannot occur because it involves with holding a 'treatment of choice' and as such is unethical, then the moral high ground you purport to inhabit is simply 'puffery.'

Perhaps, 'spare the rod and medicate the child' (the 'educational drugs'), are a good example of this.

There are so many medical treatments for which the underlying research does not stand up to rigorous scrutiny, cost benefit analyses (i.e. benefit versus harm) are more often than not lacking.

How would most medical practitioners know whether they were causing harm or not?
Certainly studies looking at reliability of diagnoses have not revealed figures worthy of celebration, and this without considering validity.

Is this situation of greater concern than that which you describe?
I would have thought so.

Maori crime rate down to early childhood maltreatment

2009-04-03T01:02:00.000-07:00

Maori crime rate down to early childhood maltreatment!

Really?

The Irony Of It All.

2009-03-30T23:34:00.000-07:00

When David Lange was 'rogered' by that Rogernomics ... when egotism faded and he became aware he was but a facade hiding their manoeuverings ... where industry employing the 'unemployables' was deemed subsidising industry and they were 'turned out to pasture' to be supported by benefits, when the idealogues imposed their will and deemed a full-employment economy an artifice, when local industry was undermined and simultaneously the base production for export destroyed - one week Morrison Mowers received an export award and the next they did not exist - and the notion of such a deregulated economy, interest rate balanced/controlled, and a notion of 'trickle-down' to the less fortunate/educated. This had to work and work quickly, before the negative consequences of it became entrenched... it did not do so.

The irony is that this failed, deregulated, global economy, 'one world (global warming, single currency) claptrap,' has seen production go to the 'least cost third world minions' at immense social cost to our economy, and the cost is increasing ... that our own prime minister should receive accolades for this national demise and social desecration, and be placed on the world stage for her 'expertise' is indicative of the pathological nature of such an ideological malaise.

It was this ideology that destroyed the Apple and Pear Board because it was a monopoly and yet lauded the successes of Fonterra ... and Don Brash ... bless his simplistic self-serving little soul, 'can't keep his pants on' economic wizzardry, gets involved in a company trying to scoop some of the cream off a success story (Fonterra).

The true irony though is that those who talk authoritatively on this matter, treasury economists ('it doesn't matter as long as we can live in the manner to which we have become accustomed') and the social commentators like Lindsay Mitchell whose limited knowledge of history further 'deal' to the generational flotsam created by Roger Douglas and cohorts ... the increases in child abuse, sexual assaults, violent assaults, and murders, the sundry psychiatric disorders, that are the legacy of these idealogues ... those in society that were least able to cope, had least skills, least resources were thrown in to the wilderness - put in to a position where basic routines were meaningless ... 'up at eight, you can't be late for Mathew and Son and they wont wait ....' was a thing of the past as were the routines, motivation, self-respect, honesty, moderation of excess, implicit in this. Every one knows that time without direction 'is a killer,' metaphorically and increasingly, literally. Solo mums know that the most difficult time is when the kids are asleep ... when all you are left with is that which is in your head. Forced into a life in which dishonesty is advantageous, the unemployed nuclear family financially disadvantageous, the rewards from drugs manifold.

When I was but a young fella, I had the privelege of watching what occurred in a psychogeriatric ward. I saw nurses treating 'olde neuronally loose' people in a manner which they themselves felt they would like to be treated if in that condition/position .... they killed them, some within three weeks! They took away their 'meaning for life,' they took their routines, their self-respect, the ability to do for themselves ... they killed them ... and we do it today ... this Douglasian 'trickle down theory' has certainly resulted in a generationally transmitted or imposed social malaise that has mushroomed and now the victims are further persecuted.

Twenty seven teacher training providers relying on EFT points for maintaining funding have destroyed the education system ... thank you Roger, competition works ... you have to pass them to retain the funding. The real irony of this is when NZCER claim that 60% of the effect of student performance is attributable to famillies ... why do we need teachers, why should we send our kids to school?? How can parents be prosecuted for truancy under such circumstances?

The answer to all of the above is simple.

Govt considers denying bail for murder accused

2009-03-30T22:51:00.000-07:00

Justice Minister Simon Power says he is seriously considering denying bail to prisoners facing murder charges.

This should also apply to those arraigned on sexual offences, particularly, rape ... as stress/ anxiety are often a precursor for such behaviour, and stress/anxiety are what are experienced given almost certain incarceration... and violent offending ... or indeed on any offending in which a lengthy prison sentence is inevitable ... for with concurrent sentencing, what happens in the interim is of little consequence.

Law review looks hard at culture of drinking

2009-03-01T10:39:00.000-08:00

But why?

Why is it that we have a culture that places so much focus on excess, on that small percentage of folk that have so little self-regulation or regard for rules that any 'abusable' behaviour or substance will be 'abused,' and regulate all as a means of trying to contain it?

A Call to Action on Global Warming from Dr. James Hansen

2009-02-23T01:16:00.000-08:00

It's time to take a stand on global warming. Dr. James Hansen, an internationally-recognized climate scientist, calls for Americans to take part in the Capitol Climate Action on March 2 at the Capitol power plant in Washington DC -- expected to be the largest display of civil disobedience against global warming in US history. Dr. Hansen warns that unless we stop burning coal, the country's largest source of global warming pollution, young people will inherit a dramatically different world than the one we know.

Make history March 2, 2009 in Washington, D.C.
Be part of the largest mass civil disobedience for the climate in U.S. history.
You know there is a climate crisis. You know we have to solve it. It’s time to take our action to the next level.
With a new administration and a new Congress, we have a window of opportunity. But we have to open it — together.
On March 2, join thousands of people in a multi-generational act of civil disobedience at the Capitol Power Plant — a plant that powers Congress with dirty energy and symbolizes a past that cannot be our future. Let’s use this as a rallying cry for a clean energy economy that will protect the health of our families, our climate, and our future.
This will be a peaceful demonstration, carried out in a spirit of hope and not rancor. We will be there in our dress clothes, and ask the same of you.
It’s time to take a stand on global warming. We can’t wait any longer for the changes we KNOW we can, and must, make today.

BUT ... 94% of the carbon in the atmosphere has the same isotopic signature as the natural background.6% is of an organic origin, fossil fuels included.Half of that organic source, 3% is what the IPCC itself says man is contributing.

So will we see Jim Salinger at Huntly?

Firefighters beat chemical blaze

2009-02-22T21:49:00.000-08:00

Firefighters have extinguished a chemical fire outside a packhouse and orchard in Hastings.

The hazardous substances unit was called after 20kg of copper based fungicide was found near the pallets.
The chemical, believed to be used as a fertiliser, was extinguished and was put into barrels and taken away, Mr Dalton said.

Aha, I can just see orchardists using a fungicide as a fertiliser ... really sensible.

Awatere Huata is back in education

2009-02-19T21:24:00.000-08:00

One would have imagined that this appointment may have raised a few eyebrows and demanded a few questions - particularly as a substantial portion of the funding must come from the 'public purse.' .... apparently not.

Former Act MP Donna Awatere Huata is running Albany-based correspondence school The Learning Post.
She is general manager of education for west Auckland’s Te Whanau O Waipareira Trust, which has acquired the centre.
The job marks Mrs Awatere Huata’s return to the education sector.

In 2005 she was convicted of misusing public funds donated to education trust The Pipi Foundation.
She served almost nine months in jail and three months’ home detention before being paroled.

And as for remorse ....

Speaking from her office in Albany, she dismisses the past few years as a "break".
" I’m no different from any other Kiwi faced with adversity – you move on.

Responsibility?

2009-02-19T20:57:00.000-08:00

What responsibility?

Corrections boss: I have nothing to fear ... from a State Services Commission (SSC) inquiry.

Mr Matthews told NZPA that as head of the department, he was accountable for its performance and how it delivered government goals.

"I don't have any problem with that and equally everybody in the organisation is accountable for the job they do given the resources they've got and the task ahead of them there," he said.

"That authority was delegated to the general manager of probation (Katrina Casey) to in fact deliver on that."

So obviously a person who wants the responsibility , wants the power and the rewards for that ($375,000) without the associated accountability.
This attitude has become extremely pervasive throughout the private and public sectors such that one has to wonder how so many of these people warrant the remuneration they get.

Quangos Are Like That.

2009-02-16T20:41:00.000-08:00

Auditor-General Kevin Brady looked at 100 cases of offenders released on parole, including 52 serious cases.
He said this afternoon: "In most of those 100 case files, the department had not followed one or more of its own sentence management requirements. Five of the requirements that my staff checked are the most important, in my view, for keeping the public safe, and one or more of these five requirements had not been followed in most of the 100 cases."ditor-General: Parole failings a concern for public safety.

He said he was concerned at the department's ability to ensure public safety.

The five recommendations he was most concerned about were that:
* the proposed accommodation of offenders was not problematic for victims
* probation officers regularly visited offenders in their homes
* senior staff oversaw how probation officers manage high-risk offenders
* enforcement action was consistent and prompt
* victims were notified promptly about certain enforcement actions relating to an offender's parole.

And there is of course 'the probability of reoffending,' which, due to the nature of some forms of offending, are heightened by incarceration ... and this should be taken in to account quite independent of whether or not the person has a finite sentence.

'Human/Criminal Rights'

2009-02-15T22:33:00.000-08:00

Maori want to run private prisons ??
Maori Party co-leader Tariana Turia said Maori would see great opportunities and she would not be surprised to see some groups or iwi putting in tenders.
"Many Maori have considerable experience in prison work, not only in this country but also in Australia," she said.

Aha ... many prison officers have been and are maori ... some superintendants of prisons have been too and many of them ex-sevicemen... and all appeared good until Mangaroa (Hawkes Bay Prison) where the 'cousies' of the inmates were employed to 'watch over them.' ... and then Carrington Hospital was Titiwhai-ed for a while too ... so all sides 'covered?'

Sooo ... 'recidivism, what is that?'

We await in anticipation of the Work(ing)man's commentary ... Kim?

Windfarm deal no secret, says DOC

2009-02-15T22:09:00.000-08:00

DOC is standing by the confidential 2007 deal, which involved a payment of $175,000 by Meridian to the department in return for DOC not opposing the Project Hayes windfarm near Ranfurly in Central Otago.

So 'confidential' doesn't mean 'secret,' aha.

"In this case an agreement was reached which resulted in $175,000 being set aside to improve public access to nearby conservation land and for a series of plant and birdlife issues to be addressed," Mr Morrison (DOC) said.

Ms Fitzsimons said, "While there were many options in terms of mitigating conservation damage, money changing hands in secrecy for silence was unacceptable ... But that should not have been a secret deal and it should not have been at the price of buying DOC's silence."

And she is so right!

Any Ole Pic Will Do.

2009-02-01T00:12:00.000-08:00

The CAA is investigating a crash at the North Shore Airfield. The pilot was unhurt in the crash. Photo / Glenn Jeffrey

A vintage military light plane that crashed at North Shore Airfield in Auckland this evening has been removed from the crash site.
The two-seater, Russian-made L29 jet had gone off the runway because of brake failure ...

But ..... It was an L29 jet

Quite a different machine altogether.

You Can't Fool All Of The People All Of The Time.

2009-01-27T22:07:00.000-08:00

James Hansen’s Former NASA Supervisor Declares Himself a Skeptic
Says Hansen ‘Embarrassed NASA’ & ‘Was Never Muzzled’
Gore Faces Scientific Blowback

NASA warming scientist James Hansen, one of former Vice-President Al Gore’s closest allies in the promotion of man-made global warming fears, is being publicly rebuked by his former supervisor at NASA.

You've Already Had Your Turn Kim ...

2009-01-09T16:55:00.000-08:00

and what we have in 'corrections' is essentially your legacy, Kim. Quite simply what has evolved has not worked and cannot.

'Punishment' has been confused with rehabilitation to the extent that prison can only questionably be seen as a 'punishment.' If punishment is defined as an event that reduces the occurrence of a behaviour, then it is most definitely not a punishment .... if an incarcerated one is to 'keep one's nose clean ("yes boss," and do it),' then there is access to so much: education; sports; weight training; exercise programmes; painting; carving; 'therapy' groups; life-skills training; social skills training; anger management; alcohol counselling; religous instruction; individual counselling; films; personal tv, radio, music; the ability to make a drink pretty much when wanted; often recreational drugs and pornography (or approximations to); pretty much unfettered use of the telephone; regular visits; regular and nutritious meals and the ability to make complaint about anything and mostly have it addressed very seriously.
So once in prison a new lifestyle is quickly established - an emotional reaction to incarceration is increasingly a rarity. A more likely scenario is, " Ah bro', good to see you ... what you in for this time bro'." So no contrast between what was and what is now (e.g. Millionaire prisoner involved in drug ring), hence ... "What we do know is that sending them to prison rather than home detention will increase the likelihood of reoffending."

Mr Workman said at present, 31 per cent of people on home detention were reconvicted within two years of completing their sentence, compared with 57 per cent of people released from prison.
This may of course indicate that selection of those for home detention does,to an extent, comprise those less likely to reoffend.

"The latest research indicates that residential alcohol and drug treatment in the community reduces reoffending by up to 43 per cent, while treatment in prison reduces reoffending by between 13 per cent and 30 per cent," he said.
Again this says nothing more than that the selection process is marginally effective. The difference is not what is involved in the 'residential alcohol and drug treatment' packages.

But Kim Workman, director of the Rethinking Crime and Punishment project, said today that criminal justice professionals were becoming increasingly concerned that justice policy was being pushed through the legislative process in the absence of evidence-based research, good information, and adequate consultation.

'Evidence-based,' the new catch phrase.

NZ study challenges world on teaching

2009-01-03T14:45:00.000-08:00

A major new Kiwi study into what makes students succeed casts serious doubt on the importance of homework, small class sizes and even which school a child attends.

With characteristic flamboyant, ebullient extravagance ...
The huge study, based on research into 83 million students from around the world (is based on his international study of up to 200 million children .. Radio NZ), instead shows that the key to effective teaching is the quality of the feedback students get and their interaction with teachers.
Hattie's 15-year study, recently published as a book, is thought to be the largest-ever overview of student achievement. It merges results from 50,000 previous studies and a total of 83 million students.

So Hattie advises parents to fret less about which school their child attends, and worry much more about the quality of individual teachers, especially their ability to give useful feedback.

Now the stated findings have been well-reported for a considerable number of years (Ken Rowe, ACER), so perhaps what the study will show is that the results are relevant across time.

Unfortunately, in NZ a study conducted by Adrian Alton-Lee (NZCER) showed that the effect size (in student achievement) attributable to teachers was in the order of 30% - not really such that you would want a teacher teaching your toddler to safely cross the road - and some 60% attribuable to parents/famillies. What was not, and has not been considered in her study was that all that was gained was a 'snapshot at a specific point in time,' a time at which in excess of twenty teacher training providers were churning out variably trained numbers (funding according to EFT points which requires 'success' to maintain) and a corresponding deterioration in student achievement. Arguably, what she was describing was education in NZ reaching that 'tipping point' at which information acquired from parents has greater impact than that acquired from teachers ... that point at which the question,"why would you send your kids to school?" has substance. This study has had a substantial effect on educational policy.

So to put the onus for academic achievement back on to the teaching process, the 'quality of teaching' is long overdue ... aside from it being simply fundamental.

But John is not totally correct either, for one has to wonder where the 'better' teachers end up, and it is in all probability in those schools that have a tradition of academic success, that have fewer management problems, that largely source their pupils from those 'pockets' of higher socio-economic folk. The passion and intensity with which entry in to Auckland Grammar is pursued by parents wanting the best for their children attests to this ... traditional teaching practices (i.e. practice) too.

ACER - australian council for educational research.
NZCER - new zealand council for educational research.
EFT - equivalent full-time students.

Circumventing Judicial Process?

2009-01-01T12:21:00.000-08:00

Circumventing consequences for criminal behaviour ... I 'kidd' you not (Michelle Kidd works for Lifewise assisting people through the court process) ... a counsellor consequent upon offending, additional medications, why even perhaps methadone??

"The court needs a medical detoxification unit that is dual-diagnosis, so when police pick up people who are drunk they can be monitored closely. Some people might have mental health issues or they might be self-medicating, so it's not just a case of throwing them in a cell.
"Within that time of detox, connections can be made back to family, as there is no point putting someone in a cell at three or four o'clock in the morning and then presenting them in court that same day when they are still drunk or high on methamphetamine."

"There's got to be a better way than just building more prisons. That is not addressing the other issues of mental health, drug and alcohol addiction. It is just covering it up."

"The police station is not the best place to manage an intoxicated person because police officers simply aren't qualified to do that. It appears there is a gap in the management of these people."

It seems entirely appropriate that those requiring constraint for offending are removed to a minimalist setting in which their drug or alcohol induced over sensitivity can have 'full rein,' where there exist no distraction from the meditative, reflective, self-deprecatory thoughts, regret and contrition that such position should embody ... but trying to wrap the errant in cotton wool?
... and what qualifications do you really need to manage a sot or a druggie other than to lock them up and wait until they are sufficiently composed to relate to the outside world in a reasonable manner?

There is no doubting the notion that 'so much harm is done by the well-intentioned.'

Now, How Silly Can You Get?

2008-12-22T21:51:00.000-08:00

Schools call police over violence

Police officers have been called to schools in England more than 7,000 times in the past year to deal with violence, according to figures obtained by the Tories.
Shadow children's secretary Michael Gove said the statistics were "very worrying". The figures were obtained by the Tories under a Freedom of Information request, to which 25 out of 39 police forces responded.
Each force was asked how many times they were called on to school premises for an attempted or actual violent crime in 2007/08. The figures revealed that there were 7,311 violent incidents in schools during this time. The Metropolitan Police were summoned the most, with 2,698 calls, while Thames Valley had 697 calls and Kent had 425. City of London police had just one incident.

Now if, like in South Auckland, police were placed in schools such figures would be fudged some what. But as New Zealand tends to follow what occurs in UK schools, what have we to look forward to?

What It Is To Be Green.

2008-12-21T02:59:00.000-08:00

WHY an interview?

2008-12-16T10:28:00.000-08:00

Chris Kahui: Exclusive interview.

Why would they do it?

... this could only ever have been to present a position of self-righteousness, an image incompatible with any involvement in such a heinous crime and associated 'stone walling.'

Sometimes Just Sometimes, The Norm Is Frightening.

2008-12-15T00:58:00.000-08:00

The New Zealand Defence Force is using former All Black Norm Hewitt to educate soldiers about drinking responsibly.

Celia Lashlie and Norm Hewitt ... Norm was firmly established in the hearts of New Zealanders through his honest and public account of the harmful effects of alcohol on his life and his time on ‘Dancing with the Stars.’

Oh yes ... when 'hitching one's banner' to behaviour that only excessive alcohol ingestion can mitgate against ... indeed a good role model and educator ... a product of Hawkes Bay, truly a flag for the furtherance of responsible drinking, an ambassador for the Hawkes Bay Vintners ...

Prison plans could trigger 'mental health timebomb'

2008-12-02T22:36:00.000-08:00

National's plans to increase the prison muster will compound existing mental health issues in prisons ...

Chief Ombudsman Beverley Wakem yesterday sounded a warning about large numbers of inmates with untreated mental illnesses, which she said posed dangers staff, other prisoners and the afflicted inmates themselves.

Ms Wakem's background is in broadcasting, public relations and consulting, much of the latter to the state sector. Aha ...

An increase in prisoners being held in crammed conditions would exacerbate mental illness, making treatment more difficult, ultimately putting the whole community at risk, Ms Turei said.
"Mental illness and lack of medical care contributes to crime," she said.

A career spanning resource management law, anarcho-feminist performance, political internship with the ALCP and the McGillicuddies and unemployed rights activism ... and the youngest of the Green MPs ... Aha ...

Unfortunately the only way to effectively impact on criminal behaviour is to ensure consequences have a high probability of succeeding the behaviour and that those conseqences effectively stop the behaviour ... this is somewhat difficult to achieve given the rantings of such apparently sensible, humanitarian propagandists, with such minimal experience in that of which they believe they can talk so authortatively.

Interesting.

2008-11-19T00:52:00.000-08:00

Man appears in court over violent assault
A 21 year-old man has appeared in court in relation to a violent assault in which a woman was left for dead ...
Police hoped to be able to speak to the victim later today.

When Misbehaviour Becomes A Disease.

2008-11-17T20:59:00.000-08:00

So, if you see childrens' behaviour and personalities as self actualising phenomena, what do you get? Words like `animal', `feral' and `vermin' are used daily in reference to children ... The Barnardos survey found 54 percent of adults thought children behaved like animals, while just under half (49 percent) felt children were increasingly a danger to each other and adults.
But wait.. don't you also get aspergers, autistic spectrum disorder (ASD, ADD, ADHD) and conduct disorder - those 'life-long deviant pathways' that can only be moderated by stimulants, anti psychotic medications and anticonvulsants, those oft deemed educational drugs which come a very poor second to teaching consideration, compromise, respect, patience, turn-taking ... rule-governed behaviour??

And this offers an almost total abrogation of responsibilty for parents for parenting.

And then when just a tad older ... kids die ... but Most disturbing was that they saw this abusive behaviour as normal," Dr Kiro, Children's Commissioner, said. Yeh, right ... that is why all the children associated with these folk were treated in a similar manner ... and ultimately died! Selective, deliberate and unrelenting abuse with full awareness as to the nature and quality of the acts it would seem.

How can a 'childrens commissioner' attribute blame for such despicable behaviour to something supposedly systemic when it was so selectively delivered ... where really do her responsibilities of office rest?
She really has no conception.

NZ's eco footprint sixth largest

2008-10-28T22:01:00.000-07:00

It is a wonder that this self important little chappy can sleep at night!
Like all of those who make pronouncements on such subjects, I am sure he is well qualified to do so ... it would be good to see the credentials rather than the title, as well as the research base that both underlies the statement and supports it.

WWF-New Zealand's executive director Chris Howe.

FROM FARMS TO FORESTS
Prior to human arrival in Aotearoa/New Zealand it is estimated that forest covered 78% of the land area. These days 51% of the land is in pasture and arable land.

Vee vill reverse this.

Compulsory Sex Education.

2008-10-23T15:30:00.000-07:00

Now, if one is to believe that sexual precocity is an artefact of exposure to sexual stimuli at an early age, then compulsory sex education at an early age can be largely seen as ensuring 'no child is left behind.'
But, to help reduce Britain's high rate of teenage pregnancies, I'm not so sure. That is probably something to do with access to contraceptives at the time, and this, for a behaviour that is probably executed with surreptitious over excited haste.
I am not sure the same education in NZ schools has had any obvious effect on reducing teenage pregnancies, it probably has more to do with heightening sexual awareness, arousal and experimentation.

The True Calling Of The Greens.

2008-10-18T01:22:00.000-07:00

PM: Peters gets his say tonight, then all bets are off

2008-09-09T22:14:00.000-07:00

Now iff. Winstone can claim the 'high ground' tonight, then what of those that have allied really really closely with those 'big self-serving business boys' endeavouring to crucify him ... namely John Keys and Rodney 'our now slimma, swimma boy, I wannabe like Winstone (despite my lack of wit).'
If nothing else, Winstone has become reknowned for 'taking on' those who would 'violate the spirit of the law' at extreme personal cost and is now being 'rolled' by those who 'bankrolled' his survival and by those who enabled this. It is probably this phenomenon alone that has seen the 'closing up' in the opinion polls.

It seems improbable that Helen can execute him (Winstone) without substantially being 'taken out' by the ricochet herself ... after all it would appear that she enabled Winstone's survival.

A Duty Of Care?

2008-08-17T22:47:00.000-07:00

Now if it transpires that this - "Accused sent back to school of alleged rape victim" and that "he was advised by the judge that should he see her at school he should turn and walk the other way." - is an accurate depiction of events, then there is certainly something so morally bankrupt, so bereft of the 'duty of care' owed to our children, so irresponsible and so naive about this court decision that it must be questioned as to the appropriateness of this person to preside over such matters ... and indeed it further questions the process by which such people are appointed and the criteria employed in the first instance.

Nats may call in police over secret tapes

2008-08-06T00:06:00.000-07:00

National leader John Key says the party may go to the police over secret recordings of MPs at a cocktail function.

This behaviour is entirely mischievous and National should go to the police ... more than that, such deceitful behaviour enables the solicitation of comments for entirely mercenary, destructive purposes. How those that publish and distribute such commentary can do so with any sense of self-righteousness, integrity or dignity, defies belief.

How Labour can express detachment from such behaviour, further defies belief.

Character Test, definitely worth the read.

2008-07-28T00:58:00.000-07:00

This test only has one question, but it's a very important one. By giving an honest answer, you will discover where you stand morally.The test features an unlikely, completely fictional situation in which you will have to make a decision. Remember that your answer needs to be honest, yet spontaneous. Please scroll down slowly ~ line by line and give due consideration to each line.

THE SITUATION:
You are in New Zealand, Auckland to be specific.
There is chaos all around you caused by a hurricane with severe flooding.This is a flood of biblical proportions.
You are a photo-journalist working for a major newspaper, and you're caught in the middle of this epic disaster.
The situation is nearly hopeless.

You're trying to shoot career-making photos. There are houses and people swirling around you, some disappearing into the water. Nature is unleashing all of its destructive fury.

THE TEST:
Suddenly, you see a woman in the water. She is fighting for her life, trying not to be taken down with the debris. You move closer... Somehow, the woman looks familiar...You suddenly realize who it is... It's Helen Clark! You notice that the raging waters are about to take her under forever.
You have two options:
1) You can save the life of Helen Clark or
2) You can shoot a dramatic Pulitzer Prize winning photo, documenting the death of the country's most powerful woman!

THE QUESTION:
Here's the question, and please give an honest answer ... Would you select high contrast colour film, or would you go with the classic simplicity of black and white?

The Ayes Have It.

2008-07-14T23:26:00.000-07:00

Somewhere In There ...

2008-07-14T22:58:00.001-07:00

lurks a predator.

So This Is What Autism Looks Like??

2008-07-14T22:54:00.000-07:00

Yeh, right.

Veitch admits assault on former partner.

2008-07-08T22:01:00.000-07:00

He said he wasn't making any excuses for his actions ... but ... his relationship had just ended and he'd been working seven days a week at two jobs and was on medication for emotional and physical exhaustion.
"I was at the lowest ebb of my life and I needed help."

Veitch's assault on his former partner was so vicious that he broke her back in four places.

Pressure is still mounting on TVNZ to disclose how long management knew about the assault ... and indeed this would be interesting to know, for knowledge without doing anything about it is akin to condoning the behaviour ... and at a stretch, making one a party to the offence.
It is to be hoped they knew nought.

Demand Versus Schedule 'Feeding' Revisited.

2008-07-08T11:39:00.000-07:00

a study published recently in the Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, and based on a Chicago University study tracking nearly 2000 children from birth to age 13.
The study's authors argue that children's behaviour as moody, difficult children followed them through to their teens.
Fussy babies were more likely to grow into tiny tyrants who ruled the roost at home and were often in trouble at school, the study said.
The study defined fussy babies as those who refused, or took a long time to feed, were hungry or tired at different times each day, were constantly demanding attention or would not sleep in the evenings and through the night.

So, what this means is that if you raise them such that they define 'what, where, how much and for how long,' this sort of self-serving hedonistic belief will persist over time and result in protest and petulance when the world doesn't revolve around them ... surprise... and this despite what
a former Karitane nurse of more than 20 years experience may think.

Unfortunately, this La Leche ethic has permeated so much of child rearing practice, so much of our education system ... indeed so much of our life and is evidenced in the behaviour of our parliamentarians, television broadcasters, rugby players, professionals ... indeed, in so much of our life.

Oh Dear.

2008-07-06T22:59:00.000-07:00

Police may charge pregnant woman over drinking and .... driving ... no, drinking with reckless disregard, so charged with 'drinking and carrying.'
Tauranga police are investigating whether they can charge woman who was found to be drinking heavily just days before she was due to give birth.

Now this is probably one step too far. Supposedly 'robust' studies indicate drinking alcohol can harm the health of your baby, such that many couples are now too frightened to have 'a conception-celebrating drink.'
But this is more ... this is our police force looking at enforcing rather tenuous relationships between one event and another and endeavouring to 'spin it' such that it comes under what is already legislated as an offence .. after all this is all they are mandated to have authority over.

But, obviously they want more .. the health police as well.

Victim doesn't blame dog

2008-07-02T23:00:00.000-07:00

What an idiot!

Ambulance officer Justin Lowcay feared he had lost his eye after he was bitten by a pitbull as he went to assist at a car crash ... now if he had been equally dealt to by a shocked, anxiety driven mongrel (i.e. a patched one), I am sure he would have had plenty to say.

But sometimes it is appropriate that 'old dogs' should bite.

What a Hyde.

Peters bites after 'tired old drunk' taunt ...

& if hirsuitism is indicative of testosterone levels, (& if you look closely you may espy the fluff, lanugo)Hide bows out ... what an Act.

Cindy Strikes Again.

2008-07-02T22:49:00.000-07:00

Scheme to stamp out playground violence ...
An escalation of physical violence and emotional bullying in schools has sparked a major investigation by the children's commissioner amid increasing concerns about pupil safety.

The package will include resources written by pupils to encourage in-class discussions about bullying and changes to the way the Education Review Office assesses schools' anti-bullying programmes ... bbbutttt, the recourse to violence is something that happens when the words 'run out,' i.e. it is more likely to manifest in those with poor verbal skills. So by targetting the issue with a verbal programme, those that can discuss it will be those that can already moderate their behaviour, those that can already respond emotionally to the ramifications of such raw physical standover tactics ... hence will these 'socialised' kids simply become more vulnerable as a consequence?? The increase in contrast, if the programme is effective with some would suggest this.

What's In A Word?

2008-06-29T22:55:00.000-07:00

Gay runs fastest 100m of all time.

Now you just can't knock a happy chappy.

File on high-risk offenders found in street

2008-06-18T23:17:00.000-07:00

Presumably a majority of the information found would have been a matter of public record, although if you have ever tried to search such public record, information is hard to come by.
What wasn't in the public domain arguably should have been.
The greatest risk from such a discovery is potentially on those who release such offenders back in to the community, not the offender themselves ... after all depending on the crime, they will be well aware of feeling toward their offending from within prison.

Quite simply there should be provision for greater public scrutiny on these matters than is currently the case.

The BEE-ALL And End-All Of It All.

2008-06-11T01:24:00.000-07:00

Are GM Crops Killing Bees?

A mysterious decimation of bee populations has German beekeepers worried, while a similar phenomenon in the United States is gradually assuming catastrophic proportions. The consequences for agriculture and the economy could be enormous.

As far back as 2005, Haefeker ended an article he contributed to the journal Der Kritischer Agrarbericht (Critical Agricultural Report) with an Albert Einstein quote: "If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe then man would only have four years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man."

So perhaps if our very own Dr Barry O'Neil (previous post) were to have his way he may just realise the very opposite result he has stated ... not feeding the world at all.

Farmers need GE crops - MAF official

2008-06-06T19:11:00.000-07:00

Oh yes ... here we go. These closeted scientists certainly avail themselves of every available opportunity to try and feed off the roller coaster that is Al Gore ... 'tis a veritable algorithm.

Livestock farmers need access to genetically engineered crops if they are to help feed the burgeoning world population, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF) deputy director-general says - Barry O'Neil ascriber to Malthusian thinking in furtherance of an agenda.

'Pack' girls in school bullying

2008-06-06T12:21:00.000-07:00

Violent assaults among secondary school students appear to be increasing, and girls are adopting a similar "pack mentality" to boy bullies, says the Children's Commissioner.
Cindy Kiro said yesterday that her office was seeing an escalating pattern of bullying, intimidation and peer harassment in schools, much of which went unreported.

Now one really has to wonder why ... couldn't have anything to do with the systematic disempowerment of those traditional institutions charged with the care of children, namely parents and teachers?

No, it will prove to be something intrinsic to those children ... and I am sure it already has a name enshrined in that tome 'The DSM4.' There will be one or two pills, perhaps more, available to moderate this disordered conduct.

But really one should attribute cause where it so clearly belongs ...

Now Here's An Idea.

2008-06-06T12:08:00.000-07:00

Scorpions.

Petrol-hydrogen hybridRather than using fuel-cells to power an electric motor, the Scorpion from Ronn Motor Company would have an internal combustion engine burning both petrol and hydrogen, achieving 40 miles per gallon (about 5.9L/100km) on the highway. The hydrogen-gasoline hybrid technology comes from Hydrorunner.
Unlike a hydrogen fuel-cell car, the Scorpion's "hydrogen on demand" system wouldn't require a high-pressure hydrogen storage tank. Nor would a driver need to find and fill up at a hydrogen filling station.
Instead, electricity from the Scorpion's alternator sends an electric charge through the water in a storage tank, fracturing molecules and releasing hydrogen, which is injected into the motor, explained Ronn Maxwell, CEO of Ronn Motors in Horseshoe Bay, Texas.
"This means that as we're driving down the road, we're producing hydrogen in real time, and blending it with gasoline at a ratio of 30 to 40 per cent," he said.

The hydrogen internal combustion engine can achieve between 30 to 50 per cent greater efficiency over standard gasoline cars, Maxwell added. Under the hood is a 3.5-litre V6 engine from Honda with 208kW stock in stock trim, or 335kW with the twin-turbo option. The car has a 6-speed manual transmission.

So, not only pretty, but pretty quick too.

So Duff didn't Duff it After All.

2008-06-05T23:49:00.000-07:00

Duff's driving charges dismissed.

I should have contested the integrity of these Taupo & north 'enforcers' further myself ... & should have taken photos of 'red' and his female consort & posted them.

A View On Modern Day Scaremongering.

2008-06-05T23:24:00.000-07:00

From the Congressional Record, this speech was given on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives. It is worth reading and posting elsewhere.
Lieberman-Warner Debate: Congressman Rohrabacher’s Floor Speech on Global Warming
http://rohrabacher.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=91424
MAN-MADE GLOBAL WARMING
House of Representatives - May 14, 2008
—
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Space). Under the Speaker’s announced policy of January 18, 2007, the gentleman from California (Mr. Rohrabacher) is recognized for 60 minutes.
Mr. ROHRABACHER. Mr. Speaker, I preface my remarks with a personal statement that, while I am opposed to the advocates of man-made global warming theories, I am committed to a clean and healthy environment, to purifying our air, our water, and our soil; all of this for the sake of the people of this planet, including my three children, Anika, Tristan and Christian. I do this not because of some paranoid theory that humans are changing the climate of the world, but instead, I am very concerned about the health of the people of the world and, thus, committed to clean air, clean soil, and clean water.
Thus, we have, today, to take a look at the issues of global warming and pollution that confront our society because there are enormous implications to this whole discussion of what has been called “man-made global warming.”
Only 18 months ago the refrain “Case closed: Global warming is real,” was repeated as if the mantra from some religious zealots. It was pounded into the public consciousness over the airwaves, in print, and even at congressional hearings, “Case closed.” Well, this was obviously a brazen attempt to end open discussion and to silence differing views by dismissing the need for seriously contrary arguments and seriously listening to both sides of an argument. And rather than hearing both sides of the argument, this was an attempt to dismiss arguments even though the person making the arguments might have a very impressive credential or might be a very educated scientist or someone else who should be listened to.
And yes, there are dozens, if not hundreds, of prominent scientists and meteorologists, the heads of science departments at major universities, and others, who are highly critical of the man-made global warming theory. There is Dr. Richard Lindzen of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He has been adamant in his opposition, as has a Bjarne Andresen of the University of Copenhagen, Adreas Prokoph, a professor of earth sciences at the University of Ottawa, Dr. William Gray, a famous hurricane expert and former President of the American Meteorological Association, and Dr. Kevin Trenberth, the head of the Climate Analysis Section at the National Center of Atmospheric Research. All of these are respected scholars, all skeptical of the unwarranted alarmism that we are being pressured to accept.
But their views and those of so many more prominent scholars and scientists don’t matter. The debate is over. Al Gore has his Nobel Prize, and the film, “An Inconvenient Truth,” its Academy Award. So shut up and get your mind in lockstep with the politically correct prevailing wisdom, or at least what the media tells us is the prevailing wisdom. And no questions, please, the case is closed. We heard that dozens and dozens of times.

Don't move a muscle - just think green

2008-06-04T22:55:00.000-07:00

One would imagine that this was a commercial disaster.

But then perhaps nature will no longer nurture the contrivance ... Severe gales, snow in store for weekend ... and the cold in Wellington is usually driven.

Not surprising that NZers are searching for that inner warmth.

More Contrivance.

2008-06-04T22:48:00.000-07:00

The United Nations warned on Thursday that New Zealanders will have to change their lifestyles to reduce their carbon emissions.
Dr Pachauri told the programme that the lifestyle of those who frequently drive a private car would have to change. But if people have good access to low-emission forms of public transport, then reducing their carbon emissions would be only a minor burden.

Now really, how can anyone countenance such utter nonsense.

Contrivance and Creation.

2008-06-04T22:34:00.000-07:00

And the next global crisis created, presumably out of bio fuels production, is the starvation of millions. Contrivance, now the AGW momentum is floundering, to reignite the 'world economy,' business principle without boundary ... without social conscience ... a world in which 'return to shareholders' is paramount.
Some people just don't know when to stop.
Unfortunately the 'small town nondescripts' like Mike Moore are staunch advocates ... not and rarely have been advocates for the people, but self aggrandisement and the maintenance of that pedestal ...sooo important.

'Pressure'

2008-06-04T12:18:00.000-07:00

So now the pressure comes on to 'weak kneed' New Zealand, because they know our elected representatives are a 'push over,' particularly if there exists a degree of emotional momentum on the topic ... and perhaps there does. Mind you there are many precedents for adopting those devisive and destructive policies, but perhaps this year, not without consequence. Climate policies not only will, but already have had, a huge cost.

Dr David Wratt

2008-06-03T23:16:00.000-07:00

What is vested interest? Is it when your whole sense of self, your sense of professional 'esteem,' your continued remuneration is bound by belief more than science? "I am a scientist," said Dr Wratt the manager of NIWA, who it would appear has been largely in management positions since 1982.
So then, why was Dr Jim Salinger not the prime person from NIWA on the Prime TV Climate Debate?
Dr David Wratt is a Principal Scientist with NIWA in Wellington. He is Leader of the National Climate Centre, Chair of the New Zealand Climate Committee (Royal Society of New Zealand), and a Bureau member (on the steering committee) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. David's interests include helping those involved in climate sensitive activities identify the effects of climatic extremes and change and adapt to them. He was a Convening Lead Author for the Australia and New Zealand Chapter of the Working Group II volume (impacts,vulnerability and adaptation) of the IPCC's Third Assessment Report. He has helped the New Zealand Climate Change Office develop material to assist Local Government staff with identifying climate change impacts and adaptation options.

Anyway let this person, in all his scientific objectivity, rest on his laurels ... time will show how accurate his predictions will be ....

What’s happening already
NIWA says evidence that New Zealand is already experiencing climate change includes:
Increasing temperatures: about 0.9 ºC over the past 100 years.
Reduced frost frequency over most of the country: Canterbury and Marlborough experience about 20 fewer frosts per year now than in the early 1970s.

One has to wonder if the grape growers in Malborough, Martinborough and Hawkes Bay would agree with this? Like, quite simply, it is nonsense.

Retreat of major South Island glaciers: volume of ice in the Southern Alps reduced by almost 11% in the past 30 years. Twelve of the largest glaciers are unlikely to return to their earlier lengths without extraordinary cooling of the climate.

So let's just omit the Fox and Franz Joseph glaciers from this.

The projections: overall picture
Future climate changes will be affected, amongst other things, by how much extra greenhouse gas goes into the atmosphere. For this reason, NIWA looked at likely changes in New Zealand across six greenhouse gas emission scenarios, but focusing on the mid-range.
Temperature:
Temperature is projected to increase by about 2 ºC by 2090 for a mid-range scenario. This is about the difference in the annual median temperature between Wellington and Auckland.
An unusually warm year now could be the norm in 30–50 years, and could be a very cold year by the end of the century.
Extreme temperature:
NIWA is projecting fewer frosts and more hot days.
Initial simulations from the regional climate model for New Zealand suggest large decreases in the number of frost days in the central North Island and in the South Island. For example, in the central plateau of the North Island, away from the actual alpine areas such as Ruapehu, the number of air frosts is projected to decrease from around 30–40 frost days per year currently to 5–15 days or so per year under a low-medium emission scenario, and to a few less days with a medium-high emission scenario, by the end of the 21st century.
The initial regional climate model runs also suggest substantial increases in the number of days above 25 °C, particularly at already warm northern sites. For example, depending on the scenario, the number of hot days in Auckland could more than treble. Currently, the city experiences about 21 days per year above 25 °C. By the end of the century, Aucklanders could face an extra 40 days or more of high temperatures under a low-medium scenario, and more than 60 extra hot days under a medium-high scenario.
Rainfall:
NIWA says the overall picture continues to be for a drier climate in most of the east coast and north of the North Island, coastal Canterbury & coastal Marlborough, and for a wetter climate in the west and south of South Island.
In addition, NIWA has produced rainfall projections for each season:
winter & spring: all the models point to increased westerly winds, especially over the South Island. This means drier in the east & north, but more rain in the west of both islands.
summer & autumn: different models point in different directions, but the average pattern is that westerlies decrease slightly over almost all of New Zealand. NIWA scientists have less confidence in this result than in the annual, winter, and spring projections. If borne out, less frequent westerlies would mean drier summers and autumns in the west of North Island, and possibly wetter in Gisborne & Hawkes Bay for those seasons.
Extreme rainfall:
NIWA says heavy rainfall is likely to get heavier and/or more frequent. For a mid-range scenario, a 1-in-100 year event now could become a 1-in-50 year event by the end of the century.
It advises planners to assume that extreme rainfall could be about 8% heavier for every 1 °C of warming. But it says there will be considerable geographical variation, related to such factors as where and how often storms cross the country and the intensity of ex-tropical cyclones in future. Further research is required.
Snow:
Based on air temperature and precipitation projections, it is likely that average snowlines would rise as the temperature increases, but snowfall is influenced by complicated atmospheric processes. NIWA intends to use a specialised snow model to quantify likely changes at the small scale required for management purposes (eg, effects on skifields or the amount of water in a catchment).
Strong winds:
A simulation using the regional climate model suggests an increase in the strongest winter winds over much of the country by 2100. The changes are fairly small for the most part (averaging out at a 2.3% increase over all land points in the model), but reach about 10% in some eastern locations.
Regional breakdowns
The following section summarises the annual average changes projected by the end of the century for a mid-range scenario for each regional council area. There are often systematic variations in rainfall within a region (eg, Canterbury is wetter in the west and drier in the east), so the table shows projected rainfall changes for particular places as examples.
Projected Annual Average Temperature Increase by 2090
Projected Annual Average Rainfall Change by 2090(+ = increase; – = decrease)
Northland
2.1 ºC
Kaitaia –6%
Whangarei –7%
Auckland
2.1 ºC
Warkworth –5%
Mangere –3%
Waikato
2.1 ºC
Ruakura –1%
Taupo +1%
Bay of Plenty
2.1 ºC
Tauranga –2%
Taranaki
2.1 ºC
New Plymouth +1%
Manawatu-Wanganu
2.1 ºC
Wanganui +1%
Taumarunui +3%
Hawkes Bay
2.1 ºC
Napier –4%
Gisborne
2.1 ºC
Gisborne –5%
Wellington
2.1 ºC
Masterton –2%
Paraparaumu +3%
Tasman-Nelson
2.0 ºC
Nelson +4%
Marlborough
2.0 ºC
Blenheim +2%
West Coast
2.0 ºC
Hokitika +8%
Canterbury
2.0 ºC
Christchurch –2%
Hanmer –2%
Tekapo +8%
Otago
2.0 ºC
Dunedin +4%
Queenstown +1%
Southland
1.9 ºC
Invercargill +7%
Chatham Islands
2.0 ºC
Chatham Is +4%
The term ‘2090’ here refers to the period at the end of the century covering 2080–2099. Information on projected seasonal variation and changes to mid-century is available in tables attached to this media release.

Indeed, we will see, wont we David and Jim?
At the moment the predictions just are not looking that good ... I just wonder how much Montana spent on frost protection this year relative to last??

Let us not forget these predictions, and let there be accountability from this on these recently, difficult to employ out of the closet 'scientists,' ... eh Jim and David??

Oh John!

2008-05-21T23:42:00.000-07:00

Harawira says sorry for calling judge a 'dickhead.'

Mr Harawira said Judge Adeane's comments about defacing public property had reminded him of an incident from his past.

Aha, so not only that judicially applauded remorse, an apology, but also poor impulse control mitigated by post traumatic stress syndrome. One can't help but think that that 'Dear John' letter was on its way ...

and that perhaps 'shank's pony' was an imminent consequence ... but then again 91 octane is over $2 a litre, so walking when possible is perhaps a good idea.

Update: But no, the matriarchy survives ... it would seem the 'Dear John' letter came from none other than his mum, Titiwhai: Harawira heeds mum and says sorry to judge

Deja Vu

2008-05-21T22:47:00.001-07:00

If not him,

then who??

Two babies have been killed ... it would appear that no one is responsible?
It is to be hoped that the smile on Kahui's lawyer's face does not simply reflect the personal aggrandisement and enhanced marketability achieved from employing judicial process to defeat justice ... perhaps time will tell? Realistically though, it appears it will not.

The probabilities are that she will know though.

The sex divide

2008-04-19T21:31:00.000-07:00

Now the only trouble with this is that localisation of brain function has not been absolutely established i.e. stimulate one part of the brain and get one sensation, stimulate the same part again and get a different sensation ... and then there are those with hardly any brain at all that function pretty well, like university degrees ... and brain imaging can only ever be correlated with behaviour. I don't know of anyone who has managed such imaging in real (in vivo) life, 'on the hoof,' so to speak.

Sooo, reduce distractions and kids learn better ... and it probably also removes biases - I can recollect a study that showed female teachers evidenced a generalised bias against male students and that this was evident throughout their education - male teachers did not show a similar bias against female students but were seen as equally inclusive.

I have always been impressed by the contrast between advice given on how to swat for exams and what occurs in classrooms ... 'remove distractions,' only 'white noise,' prescribed study times (when and for how long) compared with a visual cocophony of form and colour and variable and brief demands for application to work ... the latter all deemed to represent 'a learning environment of excellence.'

So there is much spurious correlation to be found between nebulous ideas and academic achievement given that those ideas incorporate a reduction in distraction from learning.

Raising The Ante In Concert.

2008-04-07T01:50:00.000-07:00

James Hansen, one of the world's leading climate scientists (the predominant one) warns today that the EU and its international partners must urgently rethink targets for cutting carbon dioxide in the atmosphere because of fears they have grossly underestimated the scale of the problem ... Climate target is not radical enough ... if "humanity wishes to preserve a planet similar to that on which civilisation developed".

So as Gore intensifies his efforts to breathe life in to the ENRON carbon credits dream scheme, new research findings are released ( by Hansen, the principal driver of the perception of anthropogenic global warming) that defy recent indications as to the minimal, if any, effect of carbon dioxide on global temperature ... this simply begs belief.

"It's not an alternative thing, it's a mainstream thing."

2008-04-06T22:31:00.000-07:00

The Green's Pinup Boy?

Possum on menu for cheap living ...

He lives off $1000 a year by eating possum, milking goats, growing his own fruit and vegetables and cycling across Taranaki .... and cuts his own hair ... this "rugged looking" man.

the idea of sustainability was something everybody should be thinking about as oil reserves peaked, and climate change started to show its effect.
"We need to find alternatives," said Ms (not a consort of Hugh Hefner) May.

There were almost 40 stalls on the day and more than 30 speakers and workshops, including a talk by Green Party co-leader Jeanette (living the 'dream') Fitzsimons.

"It's not an alternative thing, it's a mainstream thing."

If You're Interested.

2008-04-02T01:25:00.000-07:00

Solar Cycle 24: Implications for the United States

David Archibald
International Conference on Climate Change
March, 2008

In this presentation, I will demonstrate that the Sun drives climate, and use that demonstrated relationship to predict the Earth’s climate to 2030. It is a prediction that differs from most in the public domain. It is a prediction of imminent cooling.

This is an interesting and readily understood read.

Interesting.

2008-04-01T10:54:00.000-07:00

Boys missing out in 'feminised' schools - headmaster.

Bubble-wrapped boys are missing out on crucial rough and tumble in a "feminised" school system that doesn't allow them to let off steam, a headmaster (Hereworth School) says.

& there is a lot of merit to this, but it is not a recent phenomenon .... arguably the number of our members of parliament who are confused or unsure of their sexuality, of their sexual orientation, reflect this 'feminising phenomenon.'

'& girls will be boys and boys will be girls, it's a mixed up ....'

The Traffic Police.

2008-03-31T22:05:00.000-07:00

Alan Duff accused of manhandling policewoman ... now having observed from afar Mr Duff's demeanour, I would have tended to rework the headline to reflect his need for attention viz. 'Alan Duff accused of womanhandling policewoman.'
But having occasion to experience the north of Taupo 'speed control cowboys,' I can only sympathise with him ... they are 'beyond the pale' and I actually wrote some time ago to the Ministry of Transport to warn them of their arrogance, the intransigent nature of this and the absolute 'cowboy nature' with which they use their vehicles ... and that this behaviour would result in excess from their victims.
Now, in my case it was a ... well you could only describe him as, 'an arrogant red haired prick' who was 'showboating' in front of a female trainee ... and showboating he was indeed, doing, a 'u' turn in the face of following traffic, all but loss of control as he pulled on to the loose metal on the shoulder of the road .... this has been the only time in 45 years of driving that I have abused a traffic officer.
'Tis to be hoped that it was not this trainee that took a 'liking' to Mr Duff ... if it was, she deserves a jolly good flailing.

'& They Wonder Why?' ... A continuation.

2008-03-30T23:14:00.000-07:00

A Human Rights Commissioner says women are being "locked out" of corporate boardrooms ...

However, the chief executive of the Institute of Directors, Dr Nicky Crauford, says boards do not have open selection processes for new members, and well-qualified men are also being overlooked.
Dr Crauford says there are not enough women with senior management experience who have the necessary skills for company directorships.

Oh, so it really isn't 'sexism' in operation.

'Fickleness, Thy Name is Woman.'

2008-03-30T22:17:00.000-07:00

Born Tracy Lagondino, in Hawaii, he underwent a sex change about 10 years ago and became legally male, although he chose to keep his female reproductive organs. He lost his breasts and developed facial hair, which he trimmed into a neat beard.
He and Nancy, who have been together for as long as he has been a man, moved to Oregon two years ago and decided to start a family. Nancy had had a hysterectomy and was unable to conceive, so the task of getting pregnant fell to him.

Stands To Reason

2008-03-30T21:14:00.000-07:00

You've got to invest a dollar ...

to make a trillion.

Al Gore, elevated to almost prophetic status for his campaign against global warming, on Sunday night unveiled a new $300m advertising blitz intended to force a debate on climate change during the presidential elections.

Obviously he thinks a combination of subtleness combined with outright denigration will achieve this end.
I am absolutely astounded that someone who refuses to publicly debate anyone on this matter and has no training in the field narrated a movie where frames of nuclear explosions were interspersed in a subliminal way in scenes of droughts and flood, among other major gaffes, can say these things and then have them accepted by anyone ... Joe Bastardi

So he wants it to be an election issue .... but does not want the conclusions or the basis on which these conclusions are reached, nor the failure of the climate models to predict current global cooling debated ... nor in fact recent findings published.

Here is a plot of actual monthly temperatures and the trends from the Hadley global data set (HADCRUT3v) and University of Alabama satellite derived lower tropospheric temperatures covering the same period as the robots measured ocean heat content. Like the robots they show a downtrend (cooling).

Will Hutton: America's greedy are the real danger.

Unfortunately, Gore has much to lose from the last ten years of non global warming and as British environmental analyst Christopher Monckton says Al Gore's latest attack on global warming skeptics shows the former vice president and other climate alarmists are "panicking."
Gore's group The Alliance for Climate Protection is currently launching a new $300 million ad campaign that demands reforms in environmental law to help reduce the supposed "climate crisis." But Monckton points out that in the U.K., Gore is not allowed to speak in public about his "green investment company" because to do so would violate racketeering laws by "peddling a false prospectus." He says that fact came about after a British high court found Gore's movie, An Inconvenient Truth, riddled with errors.

Bailey Kurariki to remain behind bars ... despite ...

2008-03-09T23:38:00.000-07:00

Kim Workman heads a group that visits Kurariki and says, "He has presented the board as an articulate and intelligent young man. He appears genuine in his desire to live an offence free life and those responsible for him in prison have noted a developing maturity."

This however contrasts starkly with the parole board's feelings about Kurariki in January last year.
"His conduct in the prison demonstrates clearly a willingness to offend against others and in a violent way, either when he is under stress, or seeking to establish that position in the group he believes is his.”

Now Kim was in charge of Corrections for a period, so undoubtedly would be a 'good judge of character' ... indeed he could be said to be the 'father of our new age senstive, don't punish but rehabilitate' failing prison system ... one of his proteges could be said to be one Donna Huata ... he certainly lauded her merits voraciously at one point, despite rumour having it that she had become persona non grata at our principal maximum security institution prior to this.

Yes we should both applaud and trust in Kim's judgement ... after all managing staff gives an insight in to the minds of the criminals in their custody ... no it wasn't custody was it? It was 'care.'

Police: 'Bloody animal' has attacked before

2008-03-09T22:22:00.000-07:00

"This is a callous, vicious attack by a bloody animal ... We're lucky there was no serious injury," said Detective Sergeant Jason McIntosh of the Auckland crime squad."

Really this is probably an artefact of alienation and dispossession, the result of colonisation ... and simply represents a simplistic endeavour to reclaim identity.

Yep, white, old, female and vulnerable are probably the cues and the risk factors.

Now it would appear that Dover may think that Pita has something to do with such eventualities ... and there may just be something to this ... and with the rise in the frequency of the 'body snatchers' (one of the more crass, indefensible activities associated with this 'cultural entrenchment and domination') ... Labour Cabinet minister Shane Jones says Maori leaders need to establish a set of protocols for tangi to prevent body-snatchers bringing the culture into disrepute.
But 'culture' is a 'way of life, a way of living.' To say that such activity is bringing a 'culture' in to disrepute is a nonsense ... although the greater nonsense is endeavouring to defend such indefensible behaviour under the umbrella of culture ... mind you George Bush probably agrees that 'water boarding' can in fact bring out a few demons.

and what next?
Perhaps, futures trading in cadavers? Trademe.co.nz??
Following on from the notion of 'you are what you eat' .... then Cindy Kiro must endow one with inumerable powers of presence and contrived 'socially imposed conscience,' and of course a balanced diet demands, despite how unsavoury, that you eat your greens.

The Ayes Have It.

2008-03-05T20:53:00.000-08:00

His 'hand was an evil hand which made drugs so Antonie Dixon cut it off..'

.. and so, in full agreement with this person, he put out his hand so it could be cut off?

Or was he trying to defend himself with his hand and it was cut off?

Now with this sort of irrational testimony one has to wonder who and what is rational or irrational ... the protagonist, for the irrational statements made to explain or mitigate (against) his irrational behaviour; the psychiatrist for not only accepting the irrational explanation but presenting it as evidence of a disordered (or irrational) state of mind at the time of the act, thus circumventing responsibility ... and it would seem without contesting the veracity of this; the lawyer for endeavouring to sell this irratonal notion to twelve people not endowed with reason or understanding about such matters.

'Tis a fine line indeed.

'Place-dough.' (deriv. placebo)

2008-02-27T23:30:00.000-08:00

'Know me before you judge me' Vincent, no longer depressed, joins rebel league... you can tell by the length and the breadth of that smile.

You see, those capsules filled with sugar really do work.

Cronyism and Chicanery.

2008-02-27T21:33:00.000-08:00

Whilst there is much indeed that could be considered 'shady' concerning the Hawkes Bay Health Board, political 'connections' and 'manouverings', there is an irony concerning at least one who decries recent happenings ... the dismissal of the board (punishment for the Board’s refusal to endorse what was seen as political cronyism and chicanery and then to accept less than proper processes) ... one Lawrence Yule, the mayor of Hastings, that decrier of any (?) process that is undemocratic who can concomitantly tell those of us who want no further development of Ocean Beach that we are children.
He implies that we’re too simple-minded to comprehend all the complex “evidence” as to why the Council must compromise core principles and signal to independent commissioners that Council is prepared to accommodate Andy Lowe (failed meat man come pillager or developer of those iconic spots).
His view — condescending at best — is that “the children” need to be educated. Leave it to Papa. The Mayor’s job, as he noted to the press last week, is to manage our expectations. (and the community has spoken loud and clear in the past several weeks, saying very emphatically: Ocean Beach is special … don’t spoil it … leave it alone)

Optimism.

2008-02-27T20:52:00.000-08:00

Will these 'doomsdayers,' Clark and Rudd who are , in accord on climate,
have a relationship that is as close as you can get ... and involves, working seamlessly together (which is of course what you would expect from such 'closeness'), and of course results in enormous strength (derived of course from the crass common diction), benefit from the SSRI's ('shiver me timbers') or perhaps a sugar filled capsule would do the trick.

Mr Rudd said that while the two countries had worked well in dealing with the challenges of today, he and Helen Clark had resolved to ensure that they now worked together to meet the challenges of tomorrow.
Key among the discussions was climate change and the prospect of closer international co-operation after Canberra's ratification of the Kyoto Protocol.
Mr Rudd said that ratification of Kyoto by both countries presented an unprecedented opportunity to work together in what would be difficult and complex international negotiations.
"I think there is enormous strength to be had by our working seamlessly together in these important negotiations," he said.
Helen Clark welcomed Canberra's ratification of Kyoto. "It's made a huge difference in getting the kinds of interests which Australia and New Zealand have up high on the international climate change agenda."
The two expressed the hope of also developing common or harmonised carbon emissions trading schemes, although Helen Clark said New Zealand was well ahead of Australia - a point accepted by Mr Rudd in an indirect endorsement of Labour.

Rough Stuff.

2008-02-22T16:43:00.000-08:00

Now many a time I have sat in a court room and observed those 'wet behind the ear' reporters doing their 'time:' bored with court process; neurons atrophying; intellectually wanting and dreaming of that day when they can cover that 'almost important' sports game or perchance just happen upon some breaking news event - an own, alone, 'scoop.' A wistful, longing look....full of yearning and desire tinged with melancholy - a dissociative reaction ( a psychological reaction characterized by such behavior as amnesia, fugues, sleepwalking, and dream states) the protracted nature of which is associated with a primary disorder in thinking - irrational thinking, the establishing of tenuous links and an absolute belief in the correctness of these.

Some people say you can see it in their eyes, in the way they hold their head, their demeanour ... but really it becomes unquestioningly apparent as soon as they 'open their mouths' or in their written word.

An example of this affliction is a recent article in which quite probably false conclusions are drawn from one situation and applied to another, in this case to describe the behaviour and thinking of another as that of a 'nutter.' When said 'nutter' is many times more successful at life and has had to function effectively in many more complex situations than his critic/diagnostician could ever conceive of.

Paranoia almost always has a basis in reality and this to a greater or lesser extent ... because a part of what is stated is questionable does not mean the whole should be rejected as specious ... and to reject all on the basis of a diagnosis, my goodness ... and to generalise to others on the basis of this is simply beyond comprehension.

Now I would have thought that a person who refers to wisdom gained whilst in this 'raw, green, naive, short and sandal' phase of their profession would have moderated this view on latter experience - on the knowledge that the outcome of so many court cases is an artefact of 'sleight of hand' (in the case cited very effectively so) or depends on the 'roll of the die.'

As he went on to explain the symptoms in more detail, it occurred to everyone ... that he was describing our dear reporter. And the saddest thing was, the reporter himself was the only one unaware of it ...

Carbon Emissions Success Stories.

2008-02-16T01:01:00.000-08:00

A selectively poached post ...

What countries have a per capita emissions level consistent with an 80 percent reduction from the world's current total emissions?

The answer, as can be seen above in an image that I (Pielke, Jr., R.) use in lectures (data from US EIA), is Haiti and Somalia. If everyone in the world lived as they do in these two countries, we'd have the emissions challenge licked.

Bottom line? No country, save Haiti and Somalia, is currently producing emissions at a level even remotely consistent with levels consistent with an 80% reduction in the world's totals.

Global warming blamed for unusual cold spell

2008-02-16T00:44:00.000-08:00

We are seeing extremely unusual weather across the world," said polar researcher Rebecca Lee Lok-sze. "This is due to human activities and our style of living. Carbon dioxide emissions are heavy, which is changing the weather rapidly. We could see colder winters and hotter summers in the future in Hong Kong."
Greenpeace echoed the view, saying mainland scientists had also concluded that the extreme cold weather in China was triggered by climate change. "This does not only cause an increase in global warming but also causes extreme weather patterns," said campaigner Edward Chan.

As Roger Pielke Snr. says, 'You've Got To Be Kiddng ... This news article provides further confirmation that the issue of climate change, as communicated by much of the media, is about political advocacy and is not about a scientific investigation of how and the extent to which humans are altering the climate system.'

Oh Yes.

2008-02-15T17:24:00.000-08:00

The man Steven Kazmierczak,who gunned down five people at Northern Illinois University before killing himself had become erratic after failing to take his medication and carried a shotgun to campus inside a guitar case ...
but, Kazmierczak had no criminal record and no history of mental illness.

Accountability.

2008-02-15T16:54:00.000-08:00

Iatrogenic effects to become public. A frightening array of serious medical mishaps and preventable deaths in hospitals is due to be revealed next week.

And this is long overdue.
It will, unfortunately, just be the 'tip of the ice berg' (If you enter a public hospital you have a 15 per cent chance of suffering an adverse event.) Many 'adverse events' would self remit, would not be recorded as such, rather as complications to normal procedure. It will also, as has been stated by a Wellington doctor, push hospitals "back into the dark ages". "People will be less likely to own up when something goes wrong."

Now one would hope they would become more methodical, more careful ... that the standard of health care would improve as a result ...

And really one should be able to expect a little more than an 'all care no responsibility' adage from perhaps the most well paid professionals in society due to the trust a majority of people (mis)place in them.

Inevitable Really.

2008-02-15T15:46:00.000-08:00

So, Police are moving onto south Auckland secondary schools in a move to cut youth crime and gang activities ... Police said the system was to build up trust with youngsters and gather intelligence about youth gangs, drug dealing and to tackle crime before it happened.

Now I would have thought that those kids getting in to significant criminal activity at a young age would have significant others in their lives modelling these activities, condoning these activities and 'doing quite well, thankyou' out of these activities. Further, these activities encompass such characteristics as force, fraud, intimidation and ostracism to maintain 'ethical standards:' such as an overwhelming sense of loyalty ('thou shalt not nark'); carmerarderie in the face of adversity (practice in dealing with the social services), and the delegation of culpability ... so ultimately these police placements will only be able to act on what they see, and that wont be much because their presence will also result in more intensely meted out sanctions for violating those 'ethical standards.'
... And the police know that young people can do 'things' these days largely with impunity, they know their elders allow them to 'take the rap' (nay, they demand it) for their law breaking and, if they thought about it, they would know that being in schools will publicly show them to be inconsequential and this will generalise to their wider activities.

But they will claim it is a successful intervention, and it will probably be instituted in other schools.

Sooo ... we have plummeting teaching standards and this impacting largely on those schools servicing low socio ecconomic areas; an increase in poorly disciplined and poorly socialised kids again largely (although by no means exclusively) deriving from these lower socio economic areas ... and the latter was of course 'successfully' addressed by having social workers in schools. Or was it? Is that not the role the police are considering?

The next move will of course be to have those police present in the classroom, restraining and withdrawing the 'wild ones' and this up to the mandatory age of 18.

Now some time ago, I believed teachers should have begun a programme 'tazers for teachers' the deteriorated situation was certainly warranting this. That is, the ongoing disempowerment of both parents and teachers in the management of their children. Unbeknown to me they were discreetly doing this all the time, in fact more sensibly than I had considered ... having a third party to 'pull the trigger.'

An additional bonus, is of course, that this move will help redress the female/male imbalance amongst adults in schools.

So parents and teachers can no longer use force for correction ... but policemen can.

One has to wonder where Helen Clarke, Sue Bradford and Cindy Kiro 'sit' with respect to all of this ... this is after all their legacy to society.

Update: Auckland Post Primary Principals' Association regional chair Gerald van Waardenberg teaches at Otahuhu college, one of the schools which will have a police officer.
He says there has been no consultation and was surprised at the news. "It's in no way clear what kind of a role the police will have within the school, whether they'll be approaching students directly, what the police will actually be doing." ... the idea follows a pilot scheme about eight years ago, and is supported by the Minister of Police, Annette King.

So again, those that a policy will directly impact on have not been consulted.

NIWA Unfilled Vacancy.

2008-02-09T02:58:00.000-08:00

The Southern Alps' 12 biggest glaciers had crossed a "tipping point" into faster melting as they respond to regional warming, said National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research principal scientist Jim Salinger.

Smaller glaciers, having rapidly adjusted to regional warming earlier, had not receded much in the past 20 years or in a few cases have slightly advanced. They include two well-known West Coast glaciers, the Fox and the Franz Josef

Smaller glaciers, having rapidly adjusted to regional warming earlier, had not receded much in the past 20 years or in a few cases have slightly advanced. They include two well-known West Coast glaciers, the Fox and the Franz Josef

Smaller glaciers, having rapidly adjusted to regional warming earlier, had not receded much in the past 20 years or in a few cases have slightly advanced. They include two well-known West Coast glaciers, the Fox and the Franz Josef

(this is repeated because it needs repeating).

Salinger says, "it is already clear that they will not return to their earlier lengths without extraordinary cooling of the climate because the large lakes now block their advance"... so it is the lakes, the obstruction that is stopping the progress of these glaciers .. if indeed they are reducing as obviously the most visited and visible (Fox and Franz Joseph) are increasing.

New Zealand's glaciers are shrinking. Startling pictures taken from space 17 years apart show the extent of the retreat of the Tasman, Hooker and Mueller Glaciers in the Southern Alps.
The first picture was taken by a Nasa satellite on December 30, 1990, and the second picture was taken on December 6, 2007.

Indeed, bigger lake, retreated glacier ... but greater snow cover. Global warming? "Tipping point?"

To emphatically state these changes have occurred and stating causal relationships is somewhat surprising when ...

New Zealand Climate Science Coalition (2007). World climate predictors right only half the time. Media release 7 June. Available at http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/SC0706/S00026.htm

Taylor (2007) compared seasonal forecasts by New Zealand’s National Institute of
Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) with outcomes for the period May 2002 to
April 2007. He found NIWA’s forecasts of average regional temperatures for the
season ahead were 48% correct, which was no more accurate than chance. That this is a general result was confirmed by New Zealand climatologist Jim Renwick, who
observed that NIWA’s low success rate was comparable to that of other forecasting
groups worldwide. He added that “Climate prediction is hard, half of the variability in the climate system is not predictable, and so we don’t expect to do terrifically well.”
Renwick is a co-author with Working Group I of the IPCC 4th Assessment Report, and
also serves on the World Meteorological Organization Commission for Climatology
Expert Team on Seasonal Forecasting. His expert view is that current GCM climate
models are unable to predict future climate any better than chance (New Zealand
Climate Science Coalition 2007).

None the less we find ...

Warm winters may be rousing hibernating pet tortoises early and endangering their lives but there is a solution, experts say – keep them through the winter in the fridge ... Tortoises hibernate through the winter but need to keep their body temperature between 3 and 5 degrees Celsius.

But ...
There have been a number of indications that January 2008 has been an exceptional month for winter weather in not only North America, but the entire Northern Hemisphere. We’ve had anecdotal evidence of odd weather in the form of wire reports from Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and China where record setting cold and snow has been felt with intensity not seen for 30-100 years, depending on the region.

From our remote sensing groups, we have reports of significant negative anomalies in both the RSS and UAH global satellite data for the lower troposphere. Then there’s NOAA’s announcement that January 2008, was below 20th century averages, plus news that Arctic sea ice has quickly recovered from the record low extent of Summer 2007. Finally, there’s the massive La Nina said to be the driver of all this but may be a harbinger of a more permanent phase shift according to veteran forecaster Joe Bastardi.

So perhaps the fridge is a good idea ... maintaining that narrow optimal temperature range for the turtles ... and of course this would be good beit the ambient temperatures are too high or too low ... and it would appear they are indeed low.

GLOBAL WARMING: FORECASTS BY SCIENTISTS
VERSUS SCIENTIFIC FORECASTS

The forecasts in the (IPCC) Report were not the outcome of scientific procedures. In
effect, they were the opinions of scientists transformed by mathematics and
obscured by complex writing. Research on forecasting has shown that experts’
predictions are not useful in situations involving uncertainly and complexity. We
have been unable to identify any scientific forecasts of global warming. Claims that
the Earth will get warmer have no more credence than saying that it will get colder.

Now this is certainly consistent with Taylor's (2007) results.

Taylor, M. (2007). An evaluation of NIWA’s climate predictions for May 2002 to April 2007.
Climate Science Coalition. Available at
http://www.climatescience.org.nz/assets/2007691051580.ClimateUpdateEvaluationText.pdf
Data available at
http://www.climatescience.org.nz/assets/2007691059100.ClimateUpdateEvaluationCalc.xls.pdf

And ...

Back in 1991, before Al Gore first shouted that the Earth was in the balance, the Danish Meteorological Institute released a study using data that went back centuries that showed that global temperatures closely tracked solar cycles.
To many, those data were convincing. Now, Canadian scientists are seeking additional funding for more and better "eyes" with which to observe our sun, which has a bigger impact on Earth's climate than all the tailpipes and smokestacks on our planet combined.
And they're worried about global cooling, not warming.

And regarding the unfilled vacancy ... NIWA has a strong programme of measurement and modelling of atmospheric trace gases, including greenhouse gases. A particular strength is the long-term measurement of carbon isotopes in carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and methane in both contemporary air and air extracted from polar ice, and their interpretation. This is linked to a wider effort to improve knowledge of human impacts on the atmosphere that will help mitigate changes in atmospheric constituents and the wider climate system. Research effort is also targeted at mitigation measures to reduce agricultural emissions and improve the accuracy of reported national emissions.

... so again the the stated 'causal relationship' is a given ... what point science?

Some Places Are Cooler ... Much Cooler.

2008-02-07T18:17:00.000-08:00

Brrrrr. Near-record cold chills Interior Alaska ... 70 degrees below zero

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

2008-01-21T23:58:00.000-08:00

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

2008-01-19T13:52:00.000-08:00

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.

2008-01-19T11:43:00.000-08:00

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!

2008-01-18T11:59:00.000-08:00

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

2008-01-18T11:24:00.000-08:00

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?

2008-01-17T21:36:00.000-08:00

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.

wine enhanced metacognitions

Pathology

Pike River Mine.

Yep, Being First is Good!

When Targeting Policy Becomes Discrimination.

Reducing Disparity.

Where Are We Heading Here?

NIWA

More Opportunistic Scaremongering?

Alcohol Consumption In Nz.

I Thought Salinger Was Toast.

Now There's A Thought.

Sponsoring Events.

Now Who Really Is Redefining 'Family' In NZ?

more police may not solve problems

Personal Reflection.

No assault conviction for Sam Kelt

'Tis A Hard Road Being The Perfect Model, Son.

A Duty Of Care .. A response to MacDoctor's Egotism.

Maori crime rate down to early childhood maltreatment

The Irony Of It All.

Govt considers denying bail for murder accused

Law review looks hard at culture of drinking

A Call to Action on Global Warming from Dr. James Hansen

Firefighters beat chemical blaze

Awatere Huata is back in education

Responsibility?

Quangos Are Like That.

'Human/Criminal Rights'

Windfarm deal no secret, says DOC

Any Ole Pic Will Do.

You Can't Fool All Of The People All Of The Time.

You've Already Had Your Turn Kim ...

NZ study challenges world on teaching

Circumventing Judicial Process?

Now, How Silly Can You Get?

What It Is To Be Green.

WHY an interview?

Sometimes Just Sometimes, The Norm Is Frightening.

Prison plans could trigger 'mental health timebomb'

Interesting.

When Misbehaviour Becomes A Disease.

NZ's eco footprint sixth largest

Compulsory Sex Education.

The True Calling Of The Greens.

PM: Peters gets his say tonight, then all bets are off

A Duty Of Care?

Nats may call in police over secret tapes

Character Test, definitely worth the read.

The Ayes Have It.

Somewhere In There ...

So This Is What Autism Looks Like??

Veitch admits assault on former partner.

Demand Versus Schedule 'Feeding' Revisited.

Oh Dear.

Victim doesn't blame dog

Cindy Strikes Again.

What's In A Word?

File on high-risk offenders found in street

The BEE-ALL And End-All Of It All.

Farmers need GE crops - MAF official

'Pack' girls in school bullying

Now Here's An Idea.

So Duff didn't Duff it After All.

A View On Modern Day Scaremongering.

Don't move a muscle - just think green

More Contrivance.

Contrivance and Creation.

'Pressure'

Dr David Wratt

Oh John!

Deja Vu

The sex divide

Raising The Ante In Concert.

"It's not an alternative thing, it's a mainstream thing."

If You're Interested.

Interesting.

The Traffic Police.

'& They Wonder Why?' ... A continuation.

'Fickleness, Thy Name is Woman.'