Posts by Jason Dykes
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like everything in the botanical gardens if you are visiting on days when they are digging up beds a nice hello and a smile will get you whatever they are digging up, or pruning.
For a couple of years in the 90s employees in the Bot Gardens cultivated mushrooms. I observed them having considerably more effect than nutmeg.
...and whilst we are on the pleasures of the garden..the feijoas have started dropping
Same here. Anyone want some? Gave away bags and bags last year.
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I think I've got to the point where I can't buy any product without using the Internet for research (if not purchase). Given the Obama example maybe that should apply to political candidates as well as TVs!
Most consumer products are sold on low margins. There isn't much budget left for service, let alone support. I once spoke to a product manager at a computer company who worked out if they got two service calls (simply phone calls) after selling a PC, they'd lose money on the sale. If NL takes two hours to do paperwork I expect that will be showing up in their bottom line and if not fixed will sink them.
Even if I do strike a good sales person in a shop, I generally want the best deal I can get for my dollars. I feel guilty using up their time to educate me on features when I'm likely to go and buy the product elsewhere.
If you don't have the Internet and want a hassle-free purchase, I don't there's much choice but to rely on the Goodsonnet (or equivalent).
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I worked for the public sector in the early to mid 90s when a number of cuts were being made to public spending. I worked 60 hours a week on a 40 hour/week salary (partly for the work experience, partly because I felt I was doing a public service). We had cuts to our budget. I asked the department's finance manager why. We got on quite well and he probably shouldn't have, but he showed me a memo telling him the Dept had to cut its total budget by 5% that year. The Govt at the time when questioned by news media denied they had told Govt Depts to cut their budgets. I wish I had been able to copy the memo. There was no Web then. Would probably be different now.
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I am biased on this issue after a stint as the comms manager for the global FMCG bit of Fonterra a few years ago. I don't want to go into detail ... but to me it's obvious the co-op's owners aren't going to invest in R&D to the level other global companies can. If NZ's biggest company is in this position, why should we expect our smaller organisations to have the resources to consistently out-manoeuver the R&D budgets of giants such as Unilever? Foolishness (and you'd have to be a fool of a Took to cancel the initiative). The $700m is well overdue.
Expect disagreement from those in the pockets of foreign multinationals.
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The best bit is he has no problem with cycling on the inside lane of the motorway at 40km/ph. He's not the only one either, I've seen at least three different people on similar machines on the motorway. Given the state of the cycle lane around the harbour quite fair enough too. A taste of things to come?
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It may be a superficial feature, but having a shower at work is a major fringe benefit as far as I'm concerned.
I agree. Another option is joining a gym, but given the smell and awful music, an unpleasant compromise.
If you work for a govt dept it's worth getting in touch with whoever is responsible for the dept's implementation of the Govt3 programme. A few independent comments in one dept I worked for was enough to get them to increase the number of available cycle parks vs car parks in the building's basement. It probably helped that we timed the request just ahead of implementation of a management restructuring. Bye bye one SUV & room for a bike rack.
Auckland might be a bit harder, but if those who cycle make it clear the demand is there & give the property manager enough advance notice, it's cost neutral for the org & makes it a better place to work for some people.
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DH:
The rain-fall in Auckland is admittedly about six times that of CHCH, but for some years breathable rainwear has eliminated almost all the problems associated with cycling in the rain
As a kid I used to cycle to school in Auckland. Given the showery nature of the rain and the warmer climate I could get drenched part way through the ride and be dry when I got to school!
From Kilbirnie in Wellington I sometimes walk to work (40mins), sometimes cycle (15m) & sometimes bus (20-40min plus waiting time). The wet weather isn't a problem because I'm moving (therefore warm) and take a shower at work anyway (may require lobbying your employer). Over time I have decided the Mt Vic hill makes the ride/walk interesting rather than painful (although I expect if I was coming from Karori it would be hellish with the cars). I agree it's the unpredictability of the public transport system that makes cycling or walking a much better proposition.
Fewer cars is good in any city. Particularly for the drivers.
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Just had a thought - that last comment could be taken the wrong way. I don't mean photos of anyone here! Just that photos and KAOS go together like swandris and guns.
While in my first year at Canterbury Uni I too considered joining the club, but due to a not-quite-yet thrown off religious background, had a vague nervousness that KAOS members might genuinely be the devil's playthings. I also played cards in the LCR (probably on my way to see a lunchtime JPS session in the UCR).
I recall a Canta "expose" on KAOS by AC that included a number of photos involving toe sucking. There were virgins, mock virgin sacrifices and about seven people who'd had sex. There were tangled relationships, drugs, mock drugs and conspiracies within conspiracies. Foucault's Pendulum came out around the time. I lost count of the number of KAOS members individually conspiring to gather photographic evidence to someday (20, 30, 40 years) embarrass others, whenever their victims obtained a respectable public profile. There was just enough of a chance some genuinely interesting photos were being held as cards to be played at the right time.
I don't think I lost consciousness while in the company of KAOS members so I think I'm safe.
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JC:
Are you talking about the six degrees of separation thing, Jason?
Yeah, but amused, not concerned. I don't think many photos were taken.
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Ah, yes doomed. And of course you had no control over which Great Old One answered that prayer.