Posts by dc_red
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In an eerie coincidence of two hitherto unrelated stories, the new Owen G Glen building at the University of Auckland was tagged over the weekend. Two large and very prominent, though facile, tags on the Grafton St side. At least one of them is still visible.
I believe the structure is being officially opened today by the Prime Minister, with Mr Big himself in attendance. I bet they'll have a great old chat.
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Thanks Leggie - both Yamis and I did break 60% with our tips last season, which is respectable enough ... I guess.
In the US, I can only imagine that the wall-to-wall (and largely superficial) Obama v Clinton coverage is starting to grate.
At least here we lead with plane crashes, sea rescues, car crashes, weather (our own or someone else's), and sports.
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daleaway said:
have known a few enterprising people find their own unconventional solutions to combining careers and family life. One professional couple who alternated two years on, two years off each; they sustained that for 30 years. Another two couples I know worked 2.5 days per week each - the first were finance industry high flyers and the second an electrician/sales assistant combo. None of them sacrificed home ownership, but they certainly eschewed fashion and recreational shopping, because their values did not prioritise it.
Option 2 (two adults each working half-time) is likely much more sensible than Option 1 (one adult working full-time) under the current income tax regime, where couples can't split incomes for tax purposes.
e.g., the tax burden on 2 x $35k is much lower than the tax burden on 1 x $70k.
Of course, when determining eligibility for a benefit or entitlement from the state, couples' income is split. A friend of mine was recently unemployed for 6 months but ineligible for a benefit because his partner had a reasonable job.
Nice double standard there!
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Further to that ... if ChCh dude had been overseas for 6 years (say, 2001-07) he would have been:
a) required to make repayments on his student loan. Can't remember the exact details but the IRD do "insist" you make certain minimum repayments if living abroad.
b) incurring interest on the loan the whole time
c) had no idea student loans would be made interest free (this was announced in about July 05?).
d) probably paid most, or all, of it off before mid-05 anyway.
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Could "Mr ChCh man" perhaps, umm, "give" his $40k to, say, his parents, who of course informally loaned him this exact amount some years ago, and thereby improve his lot?
I think the formula for bank lending on homes is about 4x the annual income of the primary applicant + 1.5x the annual income of any secondary applicant? I remember those figures from a while back ... I'm sure someone out there could update us though.
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Re: homework.
A while back I was listening to public radio in Canada and they had an educationalist on who had researched homework and reached the conclusion it didn't improve outcomes, detracted from leisure/sports time, etc.
The interesting part came when she talked about how she dealt with this for her own children: she simply informed their teachers at the start of each year (in elementary school) that "my child won't be doing homework."
Pretty brave I thought. And ideas on whether this would fly in NZ? Can you do the same with uniforms if you think, e.g., it's too cold for boys to wear shorts in winter, so my lad will wear long pants?
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Cheers, I/O.
Can't say I'd given much thought to a possible solution to the issue until this morning (although I have certainly thought of it as a problem for a long time).
It seems pretty intractable. I guess option "c" (both of the above - some increase in annual leave and some increase in the school year) would be the most balanced approach.
In a two-parent family, where both parents work full-time, they would need a minimum of about 7 weeks' annual leave each (to be taken at their discretion) to cover current school holidays. Assuming they don't holiday together except for a few days here and there.
Off the top of my head I don't see 7 weeks of annual leave (as of right) as politically realistic. Maybe in time we'll move to 5 though.
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Apologies: a ~9 week difference.
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I/O - what are you on about? There is a ~13-week difference between the amount of holidays in a typical school year, and the minimum amount of holidays received by an individual worker.
If society deems fit to close that difference, we either increase the school year, or increase worker holidays, or both.
I was pointing out that in the current environment, where a minimum 4 weeks annual leave has only just been secured, amid considerable complaint from some employer groups, that a further increase in annual leave (as of right) seemed unlikely.
Which leaves increasing the length of the school year ... not that that would necessarily be easy either (as I suggested).
If there is some flaw in this logic please feel free to point it out. If not, save the outrage.
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Plenty of food for thought there, and I've often wondered about this in particular:
Just for starters, there is the tyranny of simple arithmetic. There are thirteen-odd weeks of school holidays a year, and, typically four weeks of annual leave.
Solutions to this 9-week incongruity? (Reduced to 5 weeks if both parents don't mind taking holidays completely separately from each other).
How about the more routine incongruity of schools operating for 2-3 hours per day less than a typical workplace, even when they are open? i.e., pupils attend from 9-3, or thereabouts, while adults generally work something like 8-5.
Through in travel time, and the parent might only have about 5 hours available for conventional work in the middle of the school day.
And that happy window of opportunity only opens after the little blighters turn 5.
Should schools be open for longer - both daily, and yearly? What would they do during all those extra hours? And how would we stop teachers from revolting?
I take it as granted that 13 weeks of annual leave is out of the question, since the usual suspects fought tooth and nail against 4 weeks.