Posts by BenWilson
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Rickai, so you were the one catching all the fish!! My haul was pitiful. Just as well I like fishing more for it's own sake than the fish.
I was a little disappointed to miss the Orcas who apparently came into the bay my parents have their beach house in. Perhaps if I'd been fishing at the time I might have had the big-one-that-got-away story to crush all others.
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Perhaps other people have the courage to tell you to slow down? Me, I just assumed it was my fault.
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Might be one or two (million) Melbournians arguing the toss after the weekend, and whoever wins the Victoria state election is going to have to bite the bullet and spend some serious cash on the city's rail infrastructure.
Given that the entire Auckland rail system has less stops and junctions than the Frankston Line (one of the 16 lines in Melbourne), they don't know how good they've got it.
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It seemed like a good plan, especially for the disabled.
The bit that really put my heart into overdrive was when you inquired into the nature of my work, appeared to grasp it totally (I don't usually even try to go beyond the basic idea, even with people in the same business), and then (the scary bit), began incorporating what you had gleaned into your plan, in a fairly convincing way. I had never realized spam blocking had such wide application.
But it was good. A lot of fun, even if both of us were probably talking total bs.
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I don't know about that last claim. Some termites live in colonies of several million individuals and build mounds up to 9 metres high.
Yeah ok then, I'll change that "Humans are the only species capable of novel massive scale coordinated action". Which would probably help us a lot during a catastrophe.
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Summer this year in Auckland has been superb, blighted only in my case by too much bloody work keeping me indoors. I made a special point of getting Marcus out of doors as much as possible, playing in the garden or taking him to the beach. Usually Pt Chev, it being the closest sandy beach, a decent ride on the bike with him on the back. His overall confidence took an enormous stride forward during the week I managed to snatch at Waiheke too, so many challenges there, things to see, and every day the weather begged us into the water, or onto the deck for cool drinks and light meals.
Didn't get to very many public events, but dozens of private parties lingered on into the small hours, outdoors in the balmy nights.
The garden has put out fantastically this year - one especially neglected patch decided of it's own accord to become an astonishingly productive tomato garden (I only planted one, but about 20 plants came up). I also managed to convert my indoor cat into an outdoor cat. As far as I can tell, she's much happier now, after the week or so it took to get over the hardship of not being able to destroy furniture, drink from the toilet and vomit everywhere.
I may be imagining it, but Aucklanders seem especially mellow this year. The roads seem to lack aggro, and faces that pass by are relaxed and smiling. Even at Christmas.
Only problem is, when it's just lovely like this continually, the days seem to blur. I hope I don't end up like the old jaded lady in White Mischief "Oh God! Not another fucking beautiful day".
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Not entirely sure how far I trust anyone's scientific opinion about exactly what will happen after a nuclear war. I'd be pretty amazed if humans couldn't pull through. We're pretty resourceful, and still the only species capable of massive scale coordinated action.
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Don't forget that everyone gets the 0% bracket, if there is one, including rich people.
It would mean a huge drop in the tax take, which would need to be made up somehow. There are plenty of options, and the basic idea of not taxing people who have next to nothing seems good. It was like that in Oz when I was there. Also, I was paying 47% tax (and 1.5% medicare levy) as a top bracket earner, so I had to just scratch my head when NZers whined about being overtaxed. AND they're still holding all that money I earned in superannuation, which is extremely embittering, considering that the value of it halved a couple of years ago. If I had it, it would have been on the mortgage, and I've have been able to buy a property about 5 years earlier too (which would have saved me a shitload).
But I never grudged their taxation because it was plain that Australia has fantastic infrastructure compared to ours, and that, I'm sure, has contributed enormously to the ever widening wealth gap.
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Oh, so you pull the entire bottom tier out of the cake shave most of it off, and that's OK because even though you can't pay for shit at least you're still screwing over the rich pricks?
It's called Progressive taxation. <click/> So that's where the name came from.
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Yeah I'd be a bit more concerned about the organisms in dirty water than the chemicals in the plastic bottle. Given the realistic alternatives to plastic are metal or glass, you'll be able to carry a lot more water if it's in plastic.
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