CO2 Capture Tackling GCC

This is the sort of thing I've been talking about, engineer solutions to Global Climate Change. Don't listen to the Greens, they want to destroy civilisation, returning us to the Middle Ages and transferring our wealth to others.

Shane Jones Bank

I laughed when the New Zealand ACT party leader David Seymour called the Regional Development fund, Shane Jones Bank. NZ doesn't have a good record with this kind of thing. Money is always diverted and any gains often remain illusory. The latest round of funding for the West Coast of the South island is a drop in the ocean compared to what the West Coast mining sector could generate in earnings on its own, and they wouldn't need government funding at all. But then most of the minerals that the West Coast is rich in, the NZ government is allergic to.

Rachel Stewart on TERF's

Rachel Stewart provides some interesting perspectives on the term TERF. One point is that Big Pharma stands to make a fortune out of changing basic biology. I'm not knowledgeable enough on the subject but would suggest this is one to watch, pharmaceutical companies may come into their own down the road.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12166957

Alternatives to Household Recycling

Thought of this the other day; instead of sending a large truck past every house in the country which then use a mechanical arm to lift half-empty recycling wheelie bins (it's the emptiness of the bins being put out that really kills any scheme like this), why not require all houses to install a home trash compactor? Then have a smaller general waste truck come around and pick everything up in the one pass, and take the load straight to landfill.

This would offer several savings; the first being it takes the large recycling trucks off the road. And the smaller rubbish truck is cheaper to run. That's because the waste stream is an issue of volume not weight. Then when at the transfer station, the waste brought in is already compacted and requires less compacting for final transfer to landfill.

Alternatively, do not send the rubbish truck past each house at all. Set up collection points and accept trash compacted at home first. Each day a very small truck then clears this collection point. This is a kind of surge pile and far more efficient.

What my idea does is save on the amount of energy being used disposing of waste. The flash recycling schemes and their wheelie bins are not energy efficient at all, they're damaging to the environment and expensive for ratepayers.

Now before someone says, 'Hang on, how do you get trash compactors in every home?' What could be done is require all home construction obtaining a building consent, to install a trash compactor as a condition of that consent. This would cover all houses being modified and new house construction. For the rest, take the first year's savings from running the large trucks and subsidise the installation. They'd sit in the garage, and can be free standing, you just plug the thing in at the wall.

EV's: Hypocritical Norway

New Zealand is being urged to embrace the example of Norway when it comes to electric vehicles or EV's. Norway has a fast growing EV fleet and it's claimed that's because they tax dirty forms of transport. Maybe they do, I don't care, they have a growing EV fleet, good for them.

But what gets my goat is that the money to live their comfortable lifestyles comes care of North Sea oil revenues. They dirtied the planet and did their part in contributing to Global Climate Change but now they're pontificating worldwide about how great their environmental credentials are. What Norway and their boosters are saying, in effect, is don't do what they did; stay in your mud huts and live off renewables.

It's the new form of European colonialism. Having plundered the planet, everyone else with similar ideas has to stop that immediately and learn to live in the Third World as noble savages. Well I don't buy it and they can shove their ideas.

Here's what should happen to EV's. They should be taxed heavily. Don't tax the liquid fuels transport markets. Why? Surely the user should pay for everything. In this case the user should pay a charge to add to the generation capacity required to power the fleet. EV's were never envisaged when generation capacity was installed in the first place, and so EV users must add to that.

The EV user is also leaving the existing infrastructure which has been invested in for over a hundred years. They leave behind jobs and the capital invested in oil by moving to a parallel electrical infrastructure never planned for their arrival. They need to pay for that as well, call it an exit charge if you like. These two charges would amount to a ban on EV's as the cost would dissuade any potential user. That's as it should be, EV's are a total waste of time apart from the rather obvious example of novelty items like Lime scooters or bicycles.

NZ Football U-17 Women at Montevideo

New Zealand U-17 Women at the World Cup 2018 in Montevideo have made it through to the semi-finals after defeating Japan 5-4 on penalty kicks. The teams were locked at 1-1 at the end of the match.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLR7f7ftXO4

Ariana Grande vs Piers Morgan

A Twitter feud blew up the other day between pop singer Ariana Grande and television presenter Piers Morgan. The row kicked off when Morgan criticised pop all-girl group Little Mix for posing naked, accusing them of using sex to sell records. Grande came to their defence and then all hell broke loose.

I can see Morgan's point. He's saying that idols to young girls should set a better example. Impressionable young minds may think the only way to get ahead is to use sex. And normally I'd agree but I was convinced to check out Ariane Grande and Little Mix videos to see for myself. What I found wasn't so bad.

Yes, they use overt sexual imagery. But the videos always show these women in control, independent and in charge. When they are in a relationship it's on equal terms. What they don't show is women as victim, needing rescuing, or somehow submissive. Piers Morgan has got this one wrong.

Link thingie for more on this: https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-46297345

New Zealand U-17 FIFA Women's World Cup 2018

New Zealand U-17 women's football team have beaten Uruguay at the 2018 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup currently being held in Montevideo. They've qualified for the quarter-finals, it's now just a matter of who they play in the knock-out stage. They've done well and remember, the Rio de la Plata is the site if NZ's greatest ever military victory (Battle of the River Plate). The gods must know this as they play their games on its shores.

All Blacks Rebuild

All Blacks 9 - Ireland 16

The All Blacks failed to score a try. They've now lost 2 of the last 3 against Ireland. New Zealand rugby has to be honest about this and face it, by their own high standards the All Blacks are now weak and have to rebuild.

What is going wrong? Three things stand out as far as I can see:

1. Fitness - once one of the fittest teams in world rugby the All Blacks now seem to run out of puff as early as half way through the first half. That's too early, they need to train to go the full 80 minutes. Size has taken over from lean and mean, and size alone doesn't cut it I'm afraid. NZ teams are looking to steamroll their opponents, instead of being elusive and using the ball to beat their opponents.

2. They're selecting teams based on past record and popularity with the management. They need to get back to selecting teams based on current form, and dropping players that are not performing to expectations, including decision-making, yes that includes the captain Kieran Read.

3. Leadership on the field is not there. Things stay the same until the All Blacks ring the changes and replacements come on with a new set of instructions. This was starkly obvious in the latest Ireland game, when it was obvious they needed to keep the ball low at foot. They started doing this and getting somewhere well into the second half when replacements came on, but it should have been their tactic from the beginning. Why at foot and low? It keeps the team going forward, and gains field position. The opposition has to get down to pick up the ball, thus taking longer to return the kick. It keeps the defender turning around to defend as well.  Instead the All Blacks were putting in high kicks which Ireland could swiftly return, or the All Blacks would fumble trying to pick up their own kick (in many such cases the ball in this position really needed to be nudged ahead with the foot, putting further pressure on Ireland).

These three factors reflect poorly on management; they're not preparing the players, are being hidebound when they select and they're not making it clear how they expect the team to be led.

Compare the All Blacks with their women counterparts, the Black Ferns. They lost to France admittedly, but in every respect they surpass the men in my three areas of the game. They're fit, they select based on form and they're well led on the field.

Carmelo Anthony Moving On?

The rumour is Carmelo Anthony is going to be waived by the Houston Rockets. It would make sense as he hasn't clicked with the Rockets roster. My pick is he'll head to the Lakers, teaming up with Lebron James. The two get along and Anthony is desperate for an NBA title.

But let's dispel something shall we, Anthony is not that bad a player. After all I've said, I now find myself defending him. Why? It's due to some of the nonsense I hear from analysts that's why. It has been said that Anthony will be waived because he's no good coming off the dribble and can't hit threes. Well boohoo, if that's how the Rockets intend playing no wonder they've not had a title since the mid 1990's. And I'm a Rockets fan!

Anthony is a good shooter and defends capably. What he's not good at doing is sharing. The ball goes to him and he shoots. Often he does this well, particularly when he's one on one against his opponent. But he doesn't have excellent vision and tends to stay put after he receives the ball. I think a combination with James would work well as James can take it to the hoop and get the rotation going, with Anthony able to isolate opponents and score when that rotation stalls or taking it to the hoop doesn't work and the ball needs to be kicked back out.

The Lakers are going to be around come playoffs time, but they need one or two heavy scoring bigs. Carmelo Anthony is one such player.

Brexit Deal

We're waiting to examine the fine print, but for now this appears to be what has been agreed...

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-46188790

Rocket Lab First Commercial Payload

Rocket Lab has launched its first commercial payload into space, with plans to soon make it one launch a week.

https://www.space.com/42411-rocket-lab-launches-first-commercial-mission.html

Gmail Continues to be Rubbish

I'm still looking for a reliable email account. Gmail is still slow, sometimes emails won't load at all. I've tried using different browsers, all with the same or similar result. It's hard to believe Google put out such a flawed upgrade, I've tried different browsers too, all with the same or similar result.

Jim Acosta Incident

A journalist by the name of Jim Acosta has had his White House press pass suspended indefinitely for manhandling a White House staff member at a recent Press Conference.

The point at which Acosta touches the young woman can be seen here: https://cdn.theatlantic.com/assets/media/img/mt/2018/11/RTS254S6/lead_720_405.jpg?mod=1541706554

Reviewing the lead up to this incident, it is clear the President had had enough of Acosta's questions, and had gone on to accept other questions from those present. Who does Acosta think he is? He doesn't get to decide when and if he surrenders the mic.

No two ways about it in my view; Acosta must apologise to the woman concerned, then apologise for his conduct to the President and lastly to all those present as well as the TV audience.

Oil and Gas Exploration Ban

Well New Zealand has gone and shot itself in the foot. The current government has passed into law, a future ban on oil and gas exploration.

Name the parties that did this harm to the Taranaki region and New Zealand as a whole; Labour, NZ First, and Green.

Energy security is very important, NZ is now badly exposed. NZ is not well governed, we had National fiddling the books and moving the deck chairs around on the Titanic, now we have a party called Labour, hating the workers and doing whatever they can to put highly skilled workers out of jobs. NZ First talks regional development but hurts the regions. And finally the Greens, a bunch of former communists pretending to be environmental.

Is there a solution? Avoid voting for either Green or NZ First, they're both minor parties with far too much say. Drive these parties below the 5% threshold and get them out of parliament. Beyond that I don't have an immediate solution as there are no viable alternatives to National and Labour, but they're both utterly incompetent.

US Sanctions on Iran

It's not easy to find a simple description of what the sanctions are exactly and what they mean, but I've found the following at Deutsche Welle. It's an earlier article but includes what the latest sanctions are as well.

 https://www.dw.com/en/us-reimposes-sanctions-on-iran-what-does-that-mean/a-44967074

I'm not expert in how this sort of thing works, but wouldn't Iran now just move to deal in crypto-currency? That would seem to be a fairly obvious approach.

It is also likely to hand a considerable market to both China and Russia. Not a bright move this then, such sanctions will hurt the average Iranian but are unlikely to work as intended.

New Zealand Cricket Collapse

I rarely comment on Cricket, but come on NZ, all out for 119 runs against Pakistan? Why do people support this useless team?

KiwiBuild: Doing Something

A lot of criticism coming Labour's way over Kiwibuild and their allowing people on somewhat higher incomes to qualify for one of the government's affordable homes.

This kind of criticism is quite unfair and forgets New Zealand history. Since the mid 1930's, NZ governments have always built houses to sell or to rent out. This has been done to mix up neighbourhoods so you don't end up with ghettos. On one side of the street State houses for rent, on the other, State houses for sale. It has worked well, NZ has led the world in providing housing for its people.

Those opposed either aren't that clever, or they're greedy. Under the last National government things drifted badly. National didn't do the construction and that lack of supply forced up house prices as the population increased. More people were chasing the same number of houses.

The winners in this scenario were existing home-owners. They did well and many National voters want to continue pocketing those capital gains. But that isn't good for society so they'll just have to suck it up. NZ needs house construction and it needs it yesterday.