Posts by Stephanie
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Only 10 years! PA is such a critical part of my opinion reading that it feels like it has been part of my life for longer (of course various forms of Russell’s writing have been, for considerably longer than that). Happy birthday, dear us.
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Edited my post to remove my claim that NS do indeed have 'major fail' written all over them. I'm so exercised by this topic that I get all twitchy and shouty with very little provocation...
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Hard News: Who'd have thought?, in reply to Scott Chris,
And it is really a work in progress – or a trial if you like.
Most would agree with you here – what bugs many is that the National Standards were half-baked (if one is generous), then implemented all at once across all schools across all New Zealand. If this was an IT project, it would have ‘major fail’ written all over it.
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Hard News: Who'd have thought?, in reply to Lilith __,
And I would say it's more than that - I don't simply trust my children's teachers (though just let me be clear - I do trust them). I visit the school, I talk to my children's teachers from time to time, I read the ERO reports, I read the material and newsletters that are sent home, I talk to my kids about what is going on at school (admittedly it is increasing difficult to squeeze information out of my eldest as he heads for his teen years), I am involved. Can everyone do this? I'm not sure, others may have greater time constraints, less confidence, less willingness or ability to front up and be involved. I don't need some crappy meaningless appallingly-badly implemented piece of tripe (with apologies to the teachers at my kids' school who are doing their best with the sow's ear that is national standards) to feel confident my children are doing ok with their reading, riting and rithmetic. And I definitely don't want any reduction in emphasis on the other things in the curriculum that are just as important but are reflected nowhere in the national standards.
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And just to add to the excitement, the Dom Post is indeed seeking data from Wellington schools on their national standards results. My sons' school received an OIA request during the last week of term for "all data sent by your school this year to the MOE relating to student performance against National Standards". My DomPost subscription is quivering in its boots, knowing it's about to have its life brought to an abrupt end.
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Also the riverside market has sausages rolled up in a roti. Yum.
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Urban Harvest is a Wellington-based on-line retailer of good quality local and slightly-less-local produce, meat, bakery items and pantry stuff - for Hutties like me it's a whole lot more convenient than trekking into town to Moore Wilsons. It might not have the range of MW, but it has products from lots of well-known local growers and producers. In my experience the quality is great, the prices are reasonable and the customer service pretty damn fabulous. You need to pay a delivery fee, but it's well worth it imho. Of course nothing beats strolling into MW Fresh and having your senses overwhelmed by the sheer gorgeous foodiness of it all - but life is busy and unpacking a set of chiller bags from Urban Harvest, in the comfort of your own kitchen, brings its own kind of joy...
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Hard News: Staying Alive, in reply to BenWilson,
But a flipside to watch out for, get in the habit of checking the brakes
Good tip, will watch.
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Hard News: Staying Alive, in reply to BenWilson,
I'm not convinced you could commute in work clothes easily on any bike with less than a 300 watt motor. Which is more than is legal, I understand.
You are probably right about the clothes - but motors up to 300W are legal in NZ. We haven't had a chance to test how many times we can get up and down the hill before a recharge is needed - stated range for my bike (an Ezee Sprint with a 300W motor) is 50-80km with pedalling but the hills will reduce that and we don't yet know by how much. I plan to cycle some days into Wellington for work and am looking forward to thumbing my nose at the prevailing northerly as I head for the Hutt Valley, and then sail up the hill with said nose in the air. That's the plan, long may it live.
But yes, they are expensive - we swallowed hard before buying one. OTOH, less expensive than almost any car...
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Hard News: Staying Alive, in reply to BenWilson,
It has been and it will. But the irony is that also means that lead acid batteries are improving and being driven down in cost, and they’re still the battery of choice in electric bikes, for the vast majority that are actually being used. ie in China.
Not sure how long ago your EV ventures were Ben but I've just bought an electric bike and spent a fair bit of time looking at the various brands available here - all had lithium ion batteries, all were made in China. Maybe they are still too expensive for many Chinese, but seem to be what importers are providing here in NZ. One advantage is the power output profile - reasonably steady until the battery is nearly empty then a sudden drop in power, rather than a steadily decreasing output as the battery is used. This means I (ok, husband) can bike from work at sea level to our house at 180m-ish with plenty of charge to make getting up the hill a breeze even with pre-schooler on the kid seat. I reckon this makes commuting Wellington/Hutt distances completely acheivable, though the acid test (so to speak) on whether it's a good option long term will be how long a useful life the battery has. Heh, and I'm just plain loving the rush.