Posts by jb
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sheer slacktivism; an easy way for people feel they’re doing something material by retweeting a hashtag
Now, *that's* not v. nice. And I always thought that you and David got along rather well....
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A contributor to driving behaviour could be the low financial threshold of access to a motor vehicle in the first place.
I just did some numbers for an 18 year old with a new license, insuring a 10 year old Japanese import with 150hp in Germany
Insurance - 3rd party (compulsory as a minimum) - ranges from €2600 to over €5000 a year, car tax is €120 and it will have cost the driver €2000 to get his license.
You can't get away with not insuring - if you stop paying your premium, the insurance company informs the licensing authority who inform the police who come to your house - compulsory residence registration - and take your plates. Which you can only get issued via the licensing authority.
A bit different to buying a $2000 import and just letting rip.... -
Speaker: Sponsored post: Speed and Safety, in reply to Russell Brown,
And rather different roads, too.
Here's a breakdown for 2012 fatalities from Statistics Germany by transport mode (car, 2 wheeled motorised, bike, pedestrian) and road type (open road, motorway, town.
Anything comparable from Stats NZ? -
Speaker: Sponsored post: Speed and Safety, in reply to Greg Wood,
And still travelling in excess of 30 km/h. It's not a light tap...
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The Germans – as ever – have a word for this: Tal Total – “All of the valley”.
An annual event (29 June this year), it closes the federal highways on BOTH sides of the Rhine valley between Koblenz-Bingen and Lahnstein-Rüdesheim between 9am and 5pm and hands over 120km to cyclists and skaters.
They also have Fahrradstraßen – bikes only, motorised vehicles only for access (and not always).
And heaps of cycle lanes, of course. I live in a village 10km distant from a state capital and I can get into town with total separation from cars via sealed farm tracks and then cycle lanes.
And no helmet laws, either… -
Hard News: Crashing the party before it starts, in reply to Craig Young,
Dangerous to extrapolate local/state election results to a national level. The Pirate Party achieved 2% in the 2012 Federal election and has slipped to those numbers in 2 recent state elections from 13% in May 2012. It's currently not registering AT ALL, having been bunched together with the fringe parties under "Miscellaneous"
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Her company (and industry) definitely seems to consider that a way to partially compensate people for having to do that much travel
I should have said “ many major companies”, but the same principle applies: if the company’s paying, the benefits revert to the company (and shareholders) unless – as in your wife’s case – it’s deemed as part of the package.
In LB’s case, there’s a clear need to differentiate between taxpayer-paid and privately-paid accommodation and the accrued benefits. -
Free upgrades
If you’re a member of an airline/hotel/car rental group’s loyalty plan and your spend with them reaches a defined level, you’ll get free upgrades. (I get them with the Marriott group)
Free nights
Same as above. I’ve currently got 3 waiting to be used.The key issue is whether these were gained in a private capacity or in his capacity as mayor.
If the former, it’s none of anyone’s business.
If his spend with the hotel group was paid from public funds, then the accrued benefits should revert to those funds. Most major companies have ethical guidelines that require this.If the free nights weren’t formally associated with a loyalty plan and were simply gifts (with the assumed intent of keeping him onside), then surely this borders on corruption or – at the very least- gaining pecuniary advantage from his position as a public servant.
Christian Wulff, Germany’s former President, is currently in court facing charges of exactly that: allegedly accepting hotel accommodation to the value of under €1000 in exchange for pushing some business in the vague direction of his benefactor.
Seriously – doesn’t New Zealand’s justice system have a law that addresses this issue?
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closely chaperoned
1982. Imagine how close the chaperoning was back then....
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Mountain biking (on/off-road) in Central Europe. A combination of Icebreaker t-shirt (always), LL Bean running shorts (or thermal longjohns and rainpants,) hi-vis Goretex jacket, sneakers and fingerless gloves.
