We got the project 2025 test run when a three party far right coalition got elected in 2023. Most regressive, cruel and mean sprited government in a generation.

USA, NZ, Australia, Canada, UK and beyond. They all coordinate, they use the same consultants, the same messages, their AstroTurf political advocacy groups all share info and coordinate policy to make our lives worse and the rich richer. Tailored slightly for local conditions but the same overall goal.

Yes we’ve been through multiple housing crises although it’s gotten truly ridiculous in the last couple decades.

The crowning achievement of the first labour government when they were elected in 1935 was to create a massive state house building programme due to the huge shortages and miserable state of the stock at the time. This continued until the 1980s when we went full neoliberal, privatised everything and sold off most of the state houses and private landlords and speculation now dominate.

Anything built between early 1990s and 2004ish is prone to leaks due to the deregulated building code at the time and is basically trash.

Wellington is a particularly bad case, and has always had a worse housing situation than the rest of the country (although Auckland is more expensive). Hilly topography has meant lack of space to build and lots of damp hovels that get little sun. Add in character/heritage protection that made it effectively illegal to alter or demolish the draughty and falling apart 1920s wooden villas that make up most of inner Wellington and there you go.

This place is fucked, and now we know Australia won’t shoot themselves in the head for another three years at least people will continue to leave in droves.

When the bloodbath government budget here hits in two weeks time it will turn into a torrent.

They’re not punching people though

They’re not trying to be popular, they’re trying to get attention

As a civil disobedience tactic I can see why you’d do this. Its pretty straightforward to pull off and hard to prevent, which if disruption and attention is your goal is kind of ideal.

By comparison, any political party event of note will have security and therell be only a few key points to disrupt. Roads are everywhere and way harder for the police/security to anticipate and prevent ahead of time.

Hey. Nah, the ship carrying it is due in the country tomorrow so still a couple of weeks away. I’ll let you know how I get on when I’ve got it though

But people are not “seeing this happen all around them”, that’s the point of the article you linked.

People are largely seeing it blasted to their eyeballs via the media that makes it feel like its everywhere, even when crime rates are in a decades long decline.

Personally I find these cyclical crime panics unhelpful and insensitive because theyre used by cynical politicians to whip up fear, and push ‘tough on crime’ that don’t make us safer.

Still better than trying to do the weekly pak n save shop on a Saturday afternoon

I just moved to 2 degrees. I’d give it an 8.3 because it works fine and speeds are good. However, customer service is horrible, I had to wait an hour on hold to ask for a static ip (because cgnat) they were like “yep all good, you’ll get an email with the details” and… Nothing. Now I’ll have to go through that gauntlet again (emails appear to go unanswered)

Generally I look for a deal on broadband compare every year and switch to whatevers cheapest. It’s all the same fibre anyway. The only one I’ve heard about being iffy on speed was Myrepublic and I think they’ve since gone kaput.

Population size does not give you the right to pollute more

Exactly. The fact that there are only five million people within our national boundaries doesn’t mean we should just be able to pollute more.

If that’s the case, any group of 5 million people can say they’re only zero point whatever percent of emissions so they shouldn’t have to do anything.

All that achieves is everyone pointing at everyone else being the problem and nothing gets done. The planet burns and the oceans boil

It’s amazing this argument still gets trotted out, but in a way kinda not because it serves a purpose. It’s an excuse to do nothing, or if we’re being charitable a coping mechanism, to avoid confronting the reality of a very bleak future if we don’t act.

I think Rod’s point lands particulary well because it balances the urgency of the crisis with a bit of hope that small countries can act and can make a difference.

To be clear, my working assumption is that there is a nefarious reason, it’s just not immediately obvious to me what it is.

As someone else mentioned though, you could be a bit fucked if your eyeball data is used to identity fraud you, so perhaps not the best idea for a security standpoint

So why do they want people’s iris scans? Like they say it’s an easy way to verify someone signing up is a real person but is there some other nefarious reason I’m missing here?

Hey, so an update. I’ve put a deposit on a leaf - I took yours (and others) advice and looked further afield. I ended up going up to a ze1 as they seem like really good value. I’m looking forward to getting it.

Dombroski said e-bike and e-scooter users should charge them outside or in a garage, far from any flammable materials.

I mean yes, I guess this message was for the general reader but this was in an apartment where neither of these places are likely to be an option.

Charge them in a metal box maybe? I wonder if body corps will try to ban them

-2 spooky -4 me

Cheers, well I have to say you got me interested. I test drove a couple of leafs over the weekend, doing the numbers on it and talking to my bank about finance. I’m still on the fence but more so on working out how much makes the best sense to spend for me right now.

Anyway, I wanted to let you know cause your post was what’s got me thinking hard about it.

Interesting, thanks. Yeah I’d heard that they were pretty stable with limited quick charging. The main thing holding me back was a lot leafs on trademe are close to or below that 100km mark would be my very maximum daily range.

True about the depreciation and options for second life as home backup batteries though so maybe something with enough range would be alright for a few years then pass it on. Perhaps I’ll take another look.

The thing putting me off with the leafs is the battery degradation. 130km range would do me nicely but as that reduces (especially with fast charging) it gets less viable once it goes under about 100km.

Other EVs that don’t have this problem cost way more at the moment, and I don’t drive enough to justify dropping 30-40k on a car.

I guess you can potentially sell when it’s no longer usable for your needs and you still save compared to an ICE vehicle?