Can Stuff produce a tally of how many new houses Kiwibuild have produced? It seems that all the current houses were ones that would already have been built and thus dont add to the stock of houses,
The problem is quakes. Transmission Gully helps quake-proof central Wtgn. However the Hutt valley would be cut off for months. The Granada road was meant to help roads be reopened in a few weeks, not the current 12 months. My advise to Hutt residents is to practice walking to Porirua.
If pot is legal then the govt can impose quality control. These issues occurred alcohol in the US when it was banned - many died from bad brews. Once it was re-legalized the deaths dropped sharply as quality improved and potency dropped. Its still an issue but far better than during prohibition.
When we were protesting in the 1970s for the Treaty of Waitangi to be embodied into NZ law, we were very unpopular and there were disturbances from the majority who hated us. We just kept on talking anyway. We never imagined that in the future our unpopular view would be used as a feeble excuse to shut down newly unpopular views! This is just a newly conservative establishment which needs to be ignored.We certainly never asked permission from the university to allow us to talk! What is it with todays students who dont just hold meetings anyway?
Anything you do in public is public, and can be filmed or photographed by anyone. Get over it. Anything you do online is potentially public, and that can be far more sensitive than street behavior.
I was heavily involved in the campaign to remove the laws banning gay relationships and we were regarded at that time by most of the population as making offensive statements, and subject to a lot of abuse and suggestions that we should be punished.Yet we held to the principle that we had a right to free speech even if we went against what the majority believed.To my surprise and delight the situation has reversed and expressing anti-gay views is regarded as offensive. The free speech principle still holds, and should be combated with debate, not punishment.We would have been angry if our pro-gay views outside work had lead to punishment by our employers. Israel Folau has not harmed rugby so needs to be left alone by his employer. Yes, he is a role model but being a role model does not mean spouting whatever social policy is currently accepted by society.
The missing question is are you a better parent than your wife?. On average 50% of women should be better than their husbands so 32% is potentially low. Personally I do more housework than my wife and know more about the kids lives. Many of my male friends are like this. In many cases its the reverse. In some cases the husband wants to be more involved but their parenting style is different so their wife is always interfering to impose her way, which discourages them.
My kids cycled to primary school, and things happen on the way home, like flat tires or, in one case, a broken arm. We gave them basic phones (no game apps) so they had someone to rescue them.At school these were handed into the office. How is that bad parenting?The primary school itself uses ipads for working, research, etc. This is modern teaching. The high school puts all homework online, and all work is submitted via google docs. Yes, there is an addiction issue, but when I was young people were addicted to TV. My kids dont watch TV, its too boring. Modern world.
We learnt the hard way that the main objective of a good delivery is a live baby. Everything else, including the birthing process, is secondary. There is unfortunately a growing culture that something is wrong unless the process fits your dreamed of approach. We need to stop putting any pressure on to be mothers that things will go as planned, things sometimes dont.
There is NO link between shopping bags and ocean plastic, as nearly all bags end up in landfills. Exactly how does adding to landfills create ocean plastic? The problem is plastic which is allowed to escape the collection system and ends up in drains etc. This is more to do with inadequate rubbish bins than excess shopping bags. The ban also ignores the use to plastic in packaging etc which is about 90% of use. The ban looks good politically and makes consumers feel good but doesnt reduce ocean plastic runs the risk of consumers thinking Ive done my part, the world is saved, so I can ignore things I do which actually cause damage.
In the 1990s and 2000s it was common practice nationwide to send mothers home within 12 to 18 hours. 6 hours wasnt uncommon. When my wife tried to stay in hospital for more than 2 days, the midwife refused to look after her, despite the specialist forbidding her to leave as she couldnt walk and was run down from having no solid food for 5 months. So she had to borrow a bed in the neonatal ICU where our baby was. Has NZ practice officially changed? I hope so.
Most younger people dont watch normal TV, they use web services like Netflicks or TV-on-Demand or other sources. Only the old watch TVNZ. Why pay $$$ for Sky when there is a lot more choice for a lot less?
Good points made but you cant rewrite history. If 95% of renaissance artists were men, then how to have an equal exhibition? If only woman were prepared to be nude models? (they were often prostitutes, and there were very few males ones then). There are some famous male nudes, like Michael.
The bigger issue is how we manage the tsunami of tourists in the future. People fail to recognize that with income growth in Asia and India NZ could easily face 5x as many tourists as at the moment, or even 10x. To do that we have to radically change how we handle tourists - do we want 10x as many tourists in Queenstown? We need to ultimately restrict the number of tourist visas and go for those who spend the most money in the least amount of time. This is happening world-wide as popular spots are swamped by tourists - can you image Venice with 10x as many tourists as now?? The destruction of Bali shows what happens things are left unrestricted.
Worst in the world? Obviously hasnt traveled. I can remember 1,000 public loos in Africa which make this one look like luxury. Not even the worst in NZ - Many public loos in NZ national parks are terrible.
Having used both cloth and disposable with different babies, Id strongly advice disposable. Theyre far more robust and better for the babys skin. Once you work out the total environmental cost of disposables, including power involved in cleaning, there is not a great deal of difference.
Any extension over Cobham Drive which can used as a runway extends the noise envelope and would need expensive resource consent. An extension which is only ever used as an emergency doesnt extend the noise envelope and is easily consented. It does make sense to use the bit of land at the north. That does not remove the need for an extension to the south so there is a proper runway.
Its about time we dropped the party bag idea. Where did that come from? I had an arrangement with my kids friends parents to stop the bag nonsense and no kid ever complained. Arranging a party is hard enough as it is.Any extra kids who wanted to stay were their parents responsibility, with no guarantee of inclusion in party games.
In most countries, esp Asia, customers go to Starbucks for prestige reasons - look, I can afford this over-priced stuff. Doesnt apply that much in NZ. I suppose theirs demand from tourists?There was one in Palmerston North - it closed within 12 months as no-one went there - the normal coffee was awful, with only demand for the flavored coffee milkshakes.
The policy also ignores that problem that the NZ tertiary funding is unusually weighted towards students and leaves the universities themselves underfunded. No other country does this, as it is leaving NZ with institutions which are dropping down international rankings, with staff being fired. So small number of happy Labour-voting students going to over-crowded unis - a sure route to success!
The author is twisting terms by trying to warp republicanism into meaning socialism. The two are separate ideas. Republicanism is all to do with freedom from foreign domination and freedom from a self-imposed royalty. The author is right that most NZers care little that a foreign family hold a place as notional royalty - we are confident that we run ourselves. Some NZers (less than half) think that more control by government will solve some social issues, while others cant understand why the ideas of a bunch of public servants in Wgtn are regarded as more important than their own ideas. Freedom is freedom from control by others, whether Nobles or Public Servants or a Rich Elite. This article hopelessly confuses those concepts.
Absolutely agree. NZers do not understand the rate of growth in the world-wide number of people who can afford to visit NZ. We could easily have 5 or 10 or 15 times as many tourists by 2030. How many more people do we want on the Tongariro Crossing - 5,000 per day, 10,000?NZ needs to transition to a high value tourist route - set a cap on numbers for any week, impose bookings on all high demand areas, and charge $$$$ - extract the max value per tourist and make it well-run.
Its not the use of plastic which is the issue but its non-disposal into a rubbish system. 99.99% of plastic is disposed of correctly so is not a pollution issue. Most of the collected litter is not plastic bags. So a renewed focus on non-littering the way forward.
These still run mainly on the petrol engines so are a technological dead-end. As soon as proper lower cost battery cars arrive in NZ, these will be unwanted. Thus their resale value may fall. Being old tech they also have a battery decay issue, so have a limited life bought second hand.
This is what is happening - ownership is being transferred. However the other house owner is having their house confiscated, so they are probably not cooperating!
Coca-cola started as an cocaine based health drink for mild pain relief. So producing a CBD based health drink is really nothing new. Why not a Coke version with CBD? Back to the original blend? A key issue here is that NZ is starting to miss on a developing major industry choosing to not legalize cannabis based products.
So - England, Ireland, South Africa and France all have a decent chance of beating the All Blacks and winning the World Cup. Its going to be nerve wrecking and exciting.
The obvious answer is to have the building code specify twice as much loo space for females as for males. In this case equality is not equity. A journo should ask MBIE why this is not changed. In Sweden they have many uni-sex loos and thus men have to wait with the women - would that push the issue up the political agenda? That would solve the gender fluidity issues - though women might object to the water men seem to drip all over the floor. And seeing how badly most men wash their hands, might make them very reluctant to hold a mans hand!
The opposite is 1. To qualify for Super you have to live in NZ for a decade, at 5 years of which are over age 50. So if they stay in Dubai a long time, they wont qualify until theyre 75. However, they should have enough wealth to not need Super, and once back, should be paying a lot of taxes on their spending/wealth.
Have you done much travel within NZ lately? Many areas of NZ are full at certain times of the year. And as you say - theres millions more potential tourists out there, so we could easily get 10x as many tourists in the future. We have to ask ourselves - do we want 10x as many tourists in Queenstown, doing the Ruapehu Crossing, trying to take a photo of the Tekapo church? Or do we want to restrict numbers and take more of those who pay a lot more money? Have a restricted ballot for pack-backer tourists?
The issue is that people are far less forgiving of an accident involving a software driven car than a human driven car. Very few fully autonomous cars have crashed and thousands of human driven cars crash in the US every year, yet people are more concerned about the former. The US Highway Authority has calculated from extensive data that Tesla-style Level 3 semi-autonomous cars have a 40% lower crash rate than Human driven cars, yet youd never know it from reading the media.People have to accept that auto-cars will crash and be less hysterical. Note that the same response occurred when cars took over from horses.
Precisely. Gayford will raise the baby full-time and things will be OK. Ardern will get to see the baby on weekends or evenings. At age 2 the Toddler will be firmly attached to Gayford and regard Ardern as the treat parent. Parents have done this for generations.
As a non-Wgtn who often drives down to Wgtn CBD to shop in the weekends, this would be a deterrent to CBD shopping. In our case, buses are not an option. Is the council really that keen to discourage us?
People have died walking along the street - so walking should be banned.People have died from swimming in a pool - so swimming should be bannedPeople have died while sitting in cars - so all cars should be banned People have died while watching TV - so watching TV should be bannedPeople have died while lying in bed - so all beds should be bannedPeople have died while smiling - so smiling should be bannedPeople have died while breathing - so all breathing should be bannedThat will fix things.
Singapore Airlines has shown that these very long flights only work if they are business class only, due to the huge amount of fuel required per passenger. So there is extra space available for these extra activities.
There is rarely a problem with parking space in the weekends in the CBD, so arguments about parking space turnover are irrelevant. The current 2-hour restriction just forces me to re-park the car or to cut the familys spending short. Charging for it, would discourage just us from any shopercize.
Tunnelling machines are custom built so cant just be switched to another project. Elon Musks Boring company is trying to solve this and drastically reduce cost so boring tech hasnt changed in decades.
The reason is that all the money spent on hydrogen research has produced nearly nothing, whereas battery efficiency is rising by 15-20% p/a. EV cars are now price-competitive at the BMW level, with China soon to produce price-competitive Toyota-level cars. The car makers who bet on hydrogen are now regreting it.A recent report indicates that NZ could easily power all the cars from current or already consented power sources, mainly renewable, using currently wasted night-time supply. Meanwhile rooftop solar costs are falling by about 12% p/a, so most owners will, in the longer term, recharge at home off-grid.
Actually, these white girls do live there! They do love it. However, a basic rule is that it is far easier to be married, as sex outside of marriage is illegal. So, understanding that Dubai is a Muslim country and therefore you need to be discreet is vital.
The use of Tesla battery substations (huge battery packs) solves most issues with solar, wind, and hydro generation as it allows allows (i) allows use of daytime solar power at night, (2) covers windless days, (3) smooths out the ups and downs in supply/demand. These are currently being used to South Australia to great effect and Mercury Energy is installed these in NZ. A recent report showed that NZ has enough already consented but unbuilt, wind stations to supply potential car use.Overall demand for electric power from other uses is static.The rapidly falling cost of solar roofs (20% p/a) should mean that by 2020 most houses will be able to generate most of their power off-grid.
The ban was not because Masseys staff disagreed with him . The VC stated that she supposed that some staff might be. Actually many Massey staff are appalled by this decision.
Power companies are installing massive battery packs at wind farms etc so nights or windless days cam be covered. This solves a lot of issues with renewables so that backup generation stations are not needed, so lower cost.
Teslas have large battery packs, great battery chemistry, and very good control software, so the decay issue is gone. A Swedish Tesla has done 1,000,000 km on the original battery - try doing that on a petrol engine! Charging time for an Alkd-Wgtn trip is about 30 mins at a Super charger - barely time for lunch. Non-Teslas however ... The old-style Leafs etc have over-worked small batteries etc so there is major issue esp with high mileage imports, so battery replacement needs to be priced in.
A Tesla model 3 is better than any hybrid. The issue is that its a mid-range luxury price. With 4 or 5 years the Chinese will be making BEV vehicles at a normal persons price, then your hybrid will be unwanted. Modern BEV have a long battery (up to 1,000,000km for Tesla) as they have improved the chemistry and software management of recharging. By 2020 range will exceed 600km. Maintenance is very cheap as a BEV engine has very few moving parts. Tesla can solve 80% of car issues via remote software. Running costs are minimal. So yes, until BEVs arrive cheaply, hybrids are better. This will not last, so accept the fact that the resale value of your car will be low. This is evidenced by the fact that no car maker is upgrading the technology of hybrids, just recycling whats there now. Everyone is focusing on BEV to handle the transformative disruption of Tesla.
A feature which future customers will but on is user-friendly software, provided via an intuitively useful large screen. Toyota doesnt seem to be provide anything as simple as a satnav system which doesnt make you want to scream. They are in trouble unless they employ a team of good programmers.
There has been a lot of controversy about the impact of the uptrend in tourist volunteering on poor communities. A lot of volunteering has been useful but a lot has been destructive, with cases of projects like orphans homes being created just to gather volunteer fees. So check things out. You should be staying a while (months), as foreigners popping in and out is bad for poor kids, and funding cannot be the key element. Remember that youre as weird to a slum kid as a Martian would be to us. You can have a deep impact on local culture, bad as well as good.
What has this guy lost? He thought he owned a house, and after the correction he will actually own the house. No financial loss. Compensation for the stress may be.
One of the main problems for retired Kiwis is that they have to spend at least 6 months in NZ every year to qualify for NZ Super. Given the choice Id travel continually for three or four years, living in cheap countries in basic accommodation. See the entire world. But no, I need to return after five months, so I need to own a NZ home and pay expensive living costs.What does NZ gain by forcing me to do this?
The rapidly dropping cost of solar cells mean that by 2022 or so it will be viable for NZ households to install solar panels and, together with battery packs, run their EV car off the sun. At that stage the only need for car electricity will be when they take long trips. So I can see the current 1,000 petrol stations reducing to 200 or so electric stations by 2030, with maybe 1 petrol station pump per station for the few who still drive petrol cars as a hobby. Hence Z energy is correct that it is in a terminal business.
Elon Musk is running 5 companies and is transforming the world. He is choosing to do this because he believes in the mission. History will record that he was the key person who both created the age of space and saved the world from global warming. Is his lifestyle sane? - no, is he heroic?- yes! Was Ed Hillarys life of climbing sane? - no. We still admire him, even if few choose to copy him.This is not the same as a culture that forces people to be at work or the pub for 12/14 hour days even if they are doing nothing. This is not the same as your boss forcing you to do excessive over-time. Id never work for Musk, just admire him from a safe distance.
Dubai has very little oil left, so they have already made the transition from oil wealth to trading wealth. Abu Dhabi is the one with oil wealth. Dubais lack of much oil is precisely why they decided to be liberal and invite a lot of expats (western and others) in to build a city based on free trade. So it is running oil-free and showing little sign of slowing down. But yes, principles need to be left at the door, but, hey, piles of money can be a good substitute.
General Motors is a long, long, way behind in the tech game which car makers are now playing, and one of the most likely to go bankrupt. Its good to see that at least the Aussi side is making a desperate effort to catch up.
Eden Park residents have a choice of a noisy stadium with traffic issue or nice, high-density, neighbors. Theres no park choice. So, yeah, there are deluded NIMBYS so council needs to be aggressive about this - which I suspect they wont, so Eden Park will stay there until it falls down through old age.
Additional news is that very few Teslas has ever been successfully stolen. Some have been driven away but the GPS chip link to the owners mobile phone means that the owner knows exactly were the car is and can direct police to it. So of the 124 stolen, 121 have been recovered, a 97.6% recovery rate vs a 58% rate. (US figures)
Most of the EVs available in NZ are low-quality second hand vehicles with short ranges. The remainder are quite expensive. Until normal price EVs ($25k new?) are sold most people will not buy. That day is probably 2 or 3 years away. So the govt will have a hard job pushing EVs until then. There is likely to be far faster movement in the around-town truck market as the cost of the battery is a smaller % of the total, shorter range is not an issue, and vehicle turnover is fast. Already a range of truck makers are trying to beat Tesla to market and sell city-trucks. These will be widely available by 2019, well before EV consumer cars are, so its not one day, its soon. Woods and Shaw should be focusing on this area, not cars.
NZs main focus has to be agricultural emissions. It is possible to substantially reduce these by use of genetic modification of the digestion system of NZ cows and sheep. Yet the govt has banned research into these areas due to fear of GM products. We have a clear choice - accepting a bit more GM or accepting climate change.
The battery packs for a Tesla costs about $18,000 so the total car cost is still high. Hopefully the Tesla gigafactory will use scale to bring the cost down.
The Erye highway from Adelaide to Perth is far more boring, far less to see apart from the occasional Kangaroo. As for a 10 day trip on the Hume, its possible to do in 9 or 10 hours. I once did the round trip in 22 hours. The two problems with that the Hume starts and ends in the low-cost-industrial suburbs of Sydney and Melbourne, and that the road is full of trucks. There are small towns and farm scenery in the middle. Its far more scenic to take the coast road, though thats a two day trip.
90% of the EV battery can be recycled endlessly so you need to remove that. Yes, car manufacture does create CO2 but driving creates a lot more. Did you factor in that Teslas battery factory will be 100% powered by wind and solar? And that trucking will eventually be by battery powered trucks? Mining by battery-powered diggers?The main factor in a proper life-cycle analysis is the source of the electricity - coal or solar. NZ produces 85% of our electricity by renewables so it makes a big difference.
This is why I dont watch TV apart from the news. There are very good programs available online, so that TVNZ cant compete to buy them. So - TV is left with only reality TV fans, and therefore only shows reality TV.
Proper EVs do 350km on charge.So it would easily handle day & night. A supercharger tops up in 20mins, and work places are starting to add car park charging stations.Remember that your EV power would cost about 30c/L so driving an ICE car will cost you a lot more per week.
Matariki is a made-up celebration, there is no proof that more than a few Maori tribes celebrated it. However - so what? - most celebrations made-up, Christmas replaced a Roman festival, and the timing of Marariki is better GuyFawkes for fireworks. We need to do this!
Newlands. The FMA report is not about replacement cover as such. I agree that replacement policies can often improve cover, esp if it uses newer medical tests. The FMA looked at the process of policy replacement by corporations, and found that very few follow a good process and ensure that the client understands changes and agrees to it. Very few did a pros/cons comparison. These are basic financial adviser practices, which the corporates are ignoring. Moral - see a quality adviser for insurance, not a corporate.
Its not stereotypes or dislike of children which keep men out of childcare - its fear. After the bizarre Christchurch case men refuse to put themselves at that level of risk. Its going to be just about impossible to change. Im even afraid when I take my children to playgrounds in case some parent thinks Im looking at their kids strange.
If you read the history of the Soviet Union then it is clear that information can be restricted, that an external threat is very effective at controlling choices, that you can rule by terror alone, and that very smart people can overthrow a regime but be too dumb to foresee that they will then be overthrown by the most brutal amongst them.
Who does still watch normal TV? Its the old or the poor. Very few young do. Many student apartments dont even have a TV plug. This is shown by the movement of any thing but reality shows to TV on Demand. Interesting shows are cancelled mid-session, the movies are re-runs of classics. Its a dying media.
Im looking forward to the Tesla Roadstar 2. Then I can look at all the rest in my rear-view mirror. Seriously - is there someone with a lot of $$$ who can befriend me?
Povetkin is a very good, very tough, fighter. As AJ says - he would have won a few years ago. Parker may not be in AJs league but who is? It puts Parkers fight in perspective - as the only opponent who AJ couldnt knock out. The person standing between AJ and long-lasting fame is Deontay Wilder, who will be tough.
Yes but the old fuddle duds used a lot of cannabis back in their youth in the 1960s. The lesson from the high rates of old using pot in the US is that the elderly are not what they used to be!
Exactly how does this save cost? Its all digital so weightless. Just use AI to select and download. Why annoy 10% of your customers? - ohh wait its Qantas and thats what they specialize in.
Why not build a light-weight MRT system which runs on over-head poles? Very common in Asia and runs above the traffic so a lot faster. Cheaper as well. All solutions need to be assessed
Is this company the SolarCity which is owned by Tesla? Then why are they inventing software and battery packs when Tesla already has all that? I do agree that the govt targets are credulously conservative as the cost of solar systems are dropping by about 15-20% p/a. They are currently too expensive for an average NZ house but wont be by 2023 or so. So these types of trials are very useful.
KiwiBuild adds 25 apartments from private developer to its total
Can Stuff produce a tally of how many new houses Kiwibuild have produced? It seems that all the current houses were ones that would already have been built and thus dont add to the stock of houses,
Wellington highways snubbed as Government announces transport spend
The problem is quakes. Transmission Gully helps quake-proof central Wtgn. However the Hutt valley would be cut off for months. The Granada road was meant to help roads be reopened in a few weeks, not the current 12 months. My advise to Hutt residents is to practice walking to Porirua.
Syn city: NZ's deadly designer drugs crisis
If pot is legal then the govt can impose quality control. These issues occurred alcohol in the US when it was banned - many died from bad brews. Once it was re-legalized the deaths dropped sharply as quality improved and potency dropped. Its still an issue but far better than during prohibition.
Massey University bans Don Brash from speaking
When we were protesting in the 1970s for the Treaty of Waitangi to be embodied into NZ law, we were very unpopular and there were disturbances from the majority who hated us. We just kept on talking anyway. We never imagined that in the future our unpopular view would be used as a feeble excuse to shut down newly unpopular views! This is just a newly conservative establishment which needs to be ignored.We certainly never asked permission from the university to allow us to talk! What is it with todays students who dont just hold meetings anyway?
Mum mad at other woman for videoing her child's tantrum
Anything you do in public is public, and can be filmed or photographed by anyone. Get over it. Anything you do online is potentially public, and that can be far more sensitive than street behavior.
Should Israel Folau have been fired?
I was heavily involved in the campaign to remove the laws banning gay relationships and we were regarded at that time by most of the population as making offensive statements, and subject to a lot of abuse and suggestions that we should be punished.Yet we held to the principle that we had a right to free speech even if we went against what the majority believed.To my surprise and delight the situation has reversed and expressing anti-gay views is regarded as offensive. The free speech principle still holds, and should be combated with debate, not punishment.We would have been angry if our pro-gay views outside work had lead to punishment by our employers. Israel Folau has not harmed rugby so needs to be left alone by his employer. Yes, he is a role model but being a role model does not mean spouting whatever social policy is currently accepted by society.
A third of women think they're better parents than their partners
The missing question is are you a better parent than your wife?. On average 50% of women should be better than their husbands so 32% is potentially low. Personally I do more housework than my wife and know more about the kids lives. Many of my male friends are like this. In many cases its the reverse. In some cases the husband wants to be more involved but their parenting style is different so their wife is always interfering to impose her way, which discourages them.
Kids don't need to take their phones to school
My kids cycled to primary school, and things happen on the way home, like flat tires or, in one case, a broken arm. We gave them basic phones (no game apps) so they had someone to rescue them.At school these were handed into the office. How is that bad parenting?The primary school itself uses ipads for working, research, etc. This is modern teaching. The high school puts all homework online, and all work is submitted via google docs. Yes, there is an addiction issue, but when I was young people were addicted to TV. My kids dont watch TV, its too boring. Modern world.
Everyday I feel guilty for having an epidural
We learnt the hard way that the main objective of a good delivery is a live baby. Everything else, including the birthing process, is secondary. There is unfortunately a growing culture that something is wrong unless the process fits your dreamed of approach. We need to stop putting any pressure on to be mothers that things will go as planned, things sometimes dont.
New Zealand to ban single-use plastic bags
There is NO link between shopping bags and ocean plastic, as nearly all bags end up in landfills. Exactly how does adding to landfills create ocean plastic? The problem is plastic which is allowed to escape the collection system and ends up in drains etc. This is more to do with inadequate rubbish bins than excess shopping bags. The ban also ignores the use to plastic in packaging etc which is about 90% of use. The ban looks good politically and makes consumers feel good but doesnt reduce ocean plastic runs the risk of consumers thinking Ive done my part, the world is saved, so I can ignore things I do which actually cause damage.
PM Jacinda Ardern's first night as a mum
In the 1990s and 2000s it was common practice nationwide to send mothers home within 12 to 18 hours. 6 hours wasnt uncommon. When my wife tried to stay in hospital for more than 2 days, the midwife refused to look after her, despite the specialist forbidding her to leave as she couldnt walk and was run down from having no solid food for 5 months. So she had to borrow a bed in the neonatal ICU where our baby was. Has NZ practice officially changed? I hope so.
Want to ditch that old Sky TV dish?
Most younger people dont watch normal TV, they use web services like Netflicks or TV-on-Demand or other sources. Only the old watch TVNZ. Why pay $$$ for Sky when there is a lot more choice for a lot less?
Equal gender nudes at Royal Academy art exhibit in UK
Good points made but you cant rewrite history. If 95% of renaissance artists were men, then how to have an equal exhibition? If only woman were prepared to be nude models? (they were often prostitutes, and there were very few males ones then). There are some famous male nudes, like Michael.
Starbucks still has chance to become Kiwis' cup of tea
In the US away from a few cities, the coffee is usually so bad, that Starbucks does seem good.
"Dog euthanised after suspected 1080 poisoning from walk in Auckland's Hunua Ranges",
So youd rather have all the birds die instead?
David Seymour vows to dance on despite criticism
Why? Its not about who can dance the best, its about who can drag in enough votes and therefore money for the producers. This was always made clear.
Tourists could be taxed to enter New Zealand under new proposal
The bigger issue is how we manage the tsunami of tourists in the future. People fail to recognize that with income growth in Asia and India NZ could easily face 5x as many tourists as at the moment, or even 10x. To do that we have to radically change how we handle tourists - do we want 10x as many tourists in Queenstown? We need to ultimately restrict the number of tourist visas and go for those who spend the most money in the least amount of time. This is happening world-wide as popular spots are swamped by tourists - can you image Venice with 10x as many tourists as now?? The destruction of Bali shows what happens things are left unrestricted.
Traveller disgusted by state of Wellsford's public toilets
Worst in the world? Obviously hasnt traveled. I can remember 1,000 public loos in Africa which make this one look like luxury. Not even the worst in NZ - Many public loos in NZ national parks are terrible.
Wellington, it's bikes or cars, but not both
Would you agree to more EV car use?
UK rugby critic Stephen Jones belittles Crusaders and Super Rugby
Why not arrange an best of world club sides competition? European soccer does with great success.
Beef sausages with no meat on the ingredients list
Going to the media can change things. I bet Mad Butcher now changes their practices. Though their sausages are generally awful.
Manufacturer accused of spilling thousands of plastic 'nurdles' into Wellington Harbour
How hard is it to arrange to unload bags within a confined system? It shouldnt need traps in waste water. Sounds like bad management.
Solar power systems take decades to pay for themselves, Consumer NZ says
Adding a battery is expensive but solves the time-of-day issues. Once electric cars are used, then the petrol savings make solar cells worth while.
PM Jacinda Ardern's first night as a mum
Having used both cloth and disposable with different babies, Id strongly advice disposable. Theyre far more robust and better for the babys skin. Once you work out the total environmental cost of disposables, including power involved in cleaning, there is not a great deal of difference.
Wellington Airport could build wall at end of runway to extend safety area
Any extension over Cobham Drive which can used as a runway extends the noise envelope and would need expensive resource consent. An extension which is only ever used as an emergency doesnt extend the noise envelope and is easily consented. It does make sense to use the bit of land at the north. That does not remove the need for an extension to the south so there is a proper runway.
Is it OK to bring siblings to a birthday party?
Its about time we dropped the party bag idea. Where did that come from? I had an arrangement with my kids friends parents to stop the bag nonsense and no kid ever complained. Arranging a party is hard enough as it is.Any extra kids who wanted to stay were their parents responsibility, with no guarantee of inclusion in party games.
Starbucks still has chance to become Kiwis' cup of tea
In most countries, esp Asia, customers go to Starbucks for prestige reasons - look, I can afford this over-priced stuff. Doesnt apply that much in NZ. I suppose theirs demand from tourists?There was one in Palmerston North - it closed within 12 months as no-one went there - the normal coffee was awful, with only demand for the flavored coffee milkshakes.
Glenn McConnell: Fees free is ill-thought-through craft cider socialism
The policy also ignores that problem that the NZ tertiary funding is unusually weighted towards students and leaves the universities themselves underfunded. No other country does this, as it is leaving NZ with institutions which are dropping down international rankings, with staff being fired. So small number of happy Labour-voting students going to over-crowded unis - a sure route to success!
David Hall: How Jacinda Ardern embodies the spirit of republicanism
The author is twisting terms by trying to warp republicanism into meaning socialism. The two are separate ideas. Republicanism is all to do with freedom from foreign domination and freedom from a self-imposed royalty. The author is right that most NZers care little that a foreign family hold a place as notional royalty - we are confident that we run ourselves. Some NZers (less than half) think that more control by government will solve some social issues, while others cant understand why the ideas of a bunch of public servants in Wgtn are regarded as more important than their own ideas. Freedom is freedom from control by others, whether Nobles or Public Servants or a Rich Elite. This article hopelessly confuses those concepts.
Lucid Motors - the Tesla rival that's wooing the Saudis
Lots of promise and no results for many years. But there is room for more top-end EV car makers.
What could New Zealand learn from Bhutan?
Absolutely agree. NZers do not understand the rate of growth in the world-wide number of people who can afford to visit NZ. We could easily have 5 or 10 or 15 times as many tourists by 2030. How many more people do we want on the Tongariro Crossing - 5,000 per day, 10,000?NZ needs to transition to a high value tourist route - set a cap on numbers for any week, impose bookings on all high demand areas, and charge $$$$ - extract the max value per tourist and make it well-run.
Litter by little: New Zealand's 'unhealthy culture' for plastic is increasing - and so is litter
Its not the use of plastic which is the issue but its non-disposal into a rubbish system. 99.99% of plastic is disposed of correctly so is not a pollution issue. Most of the collected litter is not plastic bags. So a renewed focus on non-littering the way forward.
The five cheapest hybrids you can buy new in NZ
These still run mainly on the petrol engines so are a technological dead-end. As soon as proper lower cost battery cars arrive in NZ, these will be unwanted. Thus their resale value may fall. Being old tech they also have a battery decay issue, so have a limited life bought second hand.
Masterton man buys house only to find out five years later he doesnt own it
This is what is happening - ownership is being transferred. However the other house owner is having their house confiscated, so they are probably not cooperating!
Coca-Cannabis? Coke analysing cannabis in wellness drinks
Coca-cola started as an cocaine based health drink for mild pain relief. So producing a CBD based health drink is really nothing new. Why not a Coke version with CBD? Back to the original blend? A key issue here is that NZ is starting to miss on a developing major industry choosing to not legalize cannabis based products.
World Rugby backs no-try decision as England moans continue over All Blacks win
So - England, Ireland, South Africa and France all have a decent chance of beating the All Blacks and winning the World Cup. Its going to be nerve wrecking and exciting.
Why queues for women's toilets are longer than men's
The obvious answer is to have the building code specify twice as much loo space for females as for males. In this case equality is not equity. A journo should ask MBIE why this is not changed. In Sweden they have many uni-sex loos and thus men have to wait with the women - would that push the issue up the political agenda? That would solve the gender fluidity issues - though women might object to the water men seem to drip all over the floor. And seeing how badly most men wash their hands, might make them very reluctant to hold a mans hand!
Zero Energy House in the suburbs takes another big step forward
The quote Ive had for NZ is about 15k to 20k for solar cells and battery. Wiring about $1k.
Want to ditch that old Sky TV dish?
Last month I phoned Sky to remove an old rusty dish, and they were very efficient - came within one week. Great service.
Beef sausages with no meat on the ingredients list
There are still some very nice brands if you experiment. Not cheap though. There are also genuine butchers in most places.
The truth about living in Dubai according to Kiwis who live there
The opposite is 1. To qualify for Super you have to live in NZ for a decade, at 5 years of which are over age 50. So if they stay in Dubai a long time, they wont qualify until theyre 75. However, they should have enough wealth to not need Super, and once back, should be paying a lot of taxes on their spending/wealth.
Lets keep New Zealand backpacker friendly
Have you done much travel within NZ lately? Many areas of NZ are full at certain times of the year. And as you say - theres millions more potential tourists out there, so we could easily get 10x as many tourists in the future. We have to ask ourselves - do we want 10x as many tourists in Queenstown, doing the Ruapehu Crossing, trying to take a photo of the Tekapo church? Or do we want to restrict numbers and take more of those who pay a lot more money? Have a restricted ballot for pack-backer tourists?
The 20-hour flight is coming. And it may have a gym and bunks.
I love Auckland-Dubai then onto the final city. Because you can fly from Dubai to most European cities it reduces transit stops from three to one.
As driverless car crashes mount, fear of riding in them rises, too
The issue is that people are far less forgiving of an accident involving a software driven car than a human driven car. Very few fully autonomous cars have crashed and thousands of human driven cars crash in the US every year, yet people are more concerned about the former. The US Highway Authority has calculated from extensive data that Tesla-style Level 3 semi-autonomous cars have a 40% lower crash rate than Human driven cars, yet youd never know it from reading the media.People have to accept that auto-cars will crash and be less hysterical. Note that the same response occurred when cars took over from horses.
Stacey Kirk: Why Jacinda's days off will be few and far between
Precisely. Gayford will raise the baby full-time and things will be OK. Ardern will get to see the baby on weekends or evenings. At age 2 the Toddler will be firmly attached to Gayford and regard Ardern as the treat parent. Parents have done this for generations.
Mum mad at other woman for videoing her child's tantrum
Your strong reaction could well ensure you end up in trouble - as you are disrupting a legal activity.Good luck with that.
Starbucks still has chance to become Kiwis' cup of tea
Restaurant Brands normally manages its franchisees so badly that it is a wonder that any store owners agree to deal with them.
Wellington City Councillors to vote on axing free weekend parking
As a non-Wgtn who often drives down to Wgtn CBD to shop in the weekends, this would be a deterrent to CBD shopping. In our case, buses are not an option. Is the council really that keen to discourage us?
Community fights to save Kiwi tradition of wharf jumping
People have died walking along the street - so walking should be banned.People have died from swimming in a pool - so swimming should be bannedPeople have died while sitting in cars - so all cars should be banned People have died while watching TV - so watching TV should be bannedPeople have died while lying in bed - so all beds should be bannedPeople have died while smiling - so smiling should be bannedPeople have died while breathing - so all breathing should be bannedThat will fix things.
The 20-hour flight is coming. And it may have a gym and bunks.
Singapore Airlines has shown that these very long flights only work if they are business class only, due to the huge amount of fuel required per passenger. So there is extra space available for these extra activities.
Wellington City Councillors to vote on axing free weekend parking
There is rarely a problem with parking space in the weekends in the CBD, so arguments about parking space turnover are irrelevant. The current 2-hour restriction just forces me to re-park the car or to cut the familys spending short. Charging for it, would discourage just us from any shopercize.
Roading delays a 'lost opportunity', says Road Transport Forum boss Ken Shirley
Tunnelling machines are custom built so cant just be switched to another project. Elon Musks Boring company is trying to solve this and drastically reduce cost so boring tech hasnt changed in decades.
Holden bets on an autonomous future
The reason is that all the money spent on hydrogen research has produced nearly nothing, whereas battery efficiency is rising by 15-20% p/a. EV cars are now price-competitive at the BMW level, with China soon to produce price-competitive Toyota-level cars. The car makers who bet on hydrogen are now regreting it.A recent report indicates that NZ could easily power all the cars from current or already consented power sources, mainly renewable, using currently wasted night-time supply. Meanwhile rooftop solar costs are falling by about 12% p/a, so most owners will, in the longer term, recharge at home off-grid.
The truth about living in Dubai according to Kiwis who live there
Actually, these white girls do live there! They do love it. However, a basic rule is that it is far easier to be married, as sex outside of marriage is illegal. So, understanding that Dubai is a Muslim country and therefore you need to be discreet is vital.
No need to recharge our electric vehicle today, we'll just get a fresh one
The use of Tesla battery substations (huge battery packs) solves most issues with solar, wind, and hydro generation as it allows allows (i) allows use of daytime solar power at night, (2) covers windless days, (3) smooths out the ups and downs in supply/demand. These are currently being used to South Australia to great effect and Mercury Energy is installed these in NZ. A recent report showed that NZ has enough already consented but unbuilt, wind stations to supply potential car use.Overall demand for electric power from other uses is static.The rapidly falling cost of solar roofs (20% p/a) should mean that by 2020 most houses will be able to generate most of their power off-grid.
Editorial: Massey wrong on Brash ban
The ban was not because Masseys staff disagreed with him . The VC stated that she supposed that some staff might be. Actually many Massey staff are appalled by this decision.
Zero Energy House in the suburbs takes another big step forward
Power companies are installing massive battery packs at wind farms etc so nights or windless days cam be covered. This solves a lot of issues with renewables so that backup generation stations are not needed, so lower cost.
Suddenly, we're all talking about electric vehicles
Teslas have large battery packs, great battery chemistry, and very good control software, so the decay issue is gone. A Swedish Tesla has done 1,000,000 km on the original battery - try doing that on a petrol engine! Charging time for an Alkd-Wgtn trip is about 30 mins at a Super charger - barely time for lunch. Non-Teslas however ... The old-style Leafs etc have over-worked small batteries etc so there is major issue esp with high mileage imports, so battery replacement needs to be priced in.
The five cheapest hybrids you can buy new in NZ
A Tesla model 3 is better than any hybrid. The issue is that its a mid-range luxury price. With 4 or 5 years the Chinese will be making BEV vehicles at a normal persons price, then your hybrid will be unwanted. Modern BEV have a long battery (up to 1,000,000km for Tesla) as they have improved the chemistry and software management of recharging. By 2020 range will exceed 600km. Maintenance is very cheap as a BEV engine has very few moving parts. Tesla can solve 80% of car issues via remote software. Running costs are minimal. So yes, until BEVs arrive cheaply, hybrids are better. This will not last, so accept the fact that the resale value of your car will be low. This is evidenced by the fact that no car maker is upgrading the technology of hybrids, just recycling whats there now. Everyone is focusing on BEV to handle the transformative disruption of Tesla.
Fatal flaw found in Tesla, McLaren keys
Its a media beat-up. Tesla solved the issue in a quick download to their cars.
PM Jacinda Ardern's first night as a mum
Its good to know that mothers now stay 2 or 3 days in hospital. A decade ago it was common to expel mothers within 12 hours.
Dancing with the Stars NZ: Why we'll never dump David Seymour
Rodney Hydes poll ratings soared after his DTS stint. Anyway at below 1% in the polls ACT needs to do something!
No driving appy for Toyota New Zealand
A feature which future customers will but on is user-friendly software, provided via an intuitively useful large screen. Toyota doesnt seem to be provide anything as simple as a satnav system which doesnt make you want to scream. They are in trouble unless they employ a team of good programmers.
7 myths about volunteering abroad debunked
There has been a lot of controversy about the impact of the uptrend in tourist volunteering on poor communities. A lot of volunteering has been useful but a lot has been destructive, with cases of projects like orphans homes being created just to gather volunteer fees. So check things out. You should be staying a while (months), as foreigners popping in and out is bad for poor kids, and funding cannot be the key element. Remember that youre as weird to a slum kid as a Martian would be to us. You can have a deep impact on local culture, bad as well as good.
Masterton man buys house only to find out five years later he doesnt own it
What has this guy lost? He thought he owned a house, and after the correction he will actually own the house. No financial loss. Compensation for the stress may be.
Baby boomer backpackers: Why mature Kiwi travellers are seeing the world on a shoestring budget
One of the main problems for retired Kiwis is that they have to spend at least 6 months in NZ every year to qualify for NZ Super. Given the choice Id travel continually for three or four years, living in cheap countries in basic accommodation. See the entire world. But no, I need to return after five months, so I need to own a NZ home and pay expensive living costs.What does NZ gain by forcing me to do this?
Flick deal shows Z knows it's running out of time
The rapidly dropping cost of solar cells mean that by 2022 or so it will be viable for NZ households to install solar panels and, together with battery packs, run their EV car off the sun. At that stage the only need for car electricity will be when they take long trips. So I can see the current 1,000 petrol stations reducing to 200 or so electric stations by 2030, with maybe 1 petrol station pump per station for the few who still drive petrol cars as a hobby. Hence Z energy is correct that it is in a terminal business.
Elon Musk sets a terrible example of overwork
Elon Musk is running 5 companies and is transforming the world. He is choosing to do this because he believes in the mission. History will record that he was the key person who both created the age of space and saved the world from global warming. Is his lifestyle sane? - no, is he heroic?- yes! Was Ed Hillarys life of climbing sane? - no. We still admire him, even if few choose to copy him.This is not the same as a culture that forces people to be at work or the pub for 12/14 hour days even if they are doing nothing. This is not the same as your boss forcing you to do excessive over-time. Id never work for Musk, just admire him from a safe distance.
The truth about living in Dubai according to Kiwis who live there
Dubai has very little oil left, so they have already made the transition from oil wealth to trading wealth. Abu Dhabi is the one with oil wealth. Dubais lack of much oil is precisely why they decided to be liberal and invite a lot of expats (western and others) in to build a city based on free trade. So it is running oil-free and showing little sign of slowing down. But yes, principles need to be left at the door, but, hey, piles of money can be a good substitute.
Holden bets on an autonomous future
General Motors is a long, long, way behind in the tech game which car makers are now playing, and one of the most likely to go bankrupt. Its good to see that at least the Aussi side is making a desperate effort to catch up.
"Plans for $1.8 billion Auckland waterfront stadium unveiled",
Eden Park residents have a choice of a noisy stadium with traffic issue or nice, high-density, neighbors. Theres no park choice. So, yeah, there are deluded NIMBYS so council needs to be aggressive about this - which I suspect they wont, so Eden Park will stay there until it falls down through old age.
Five EVs we are looking forward to driving
EVs are more sensible to those who have garages. Eventually councils will install road-side chargers, but itll take a while.
Fatal flaw found in Tesla, McLaren keys
Additional news is that very few Teslas has ever been successfully stolen. Some have been driven away but the GPS chip link to the owners mobile phone means that the owner knows exactly were the car is and can direct police to it. So of the 124 stolen, 121 have been recovered, a 97.6% recovery rate vs a 58% rate. (US figures)
New Zealand now has 10,000 electric cars
Most of the EVs available in NZ are low-quality second hand vehicles with short ranges. The remainder are quite expensive. Until normal price EVs ($25k new?) are sold most people will not buy. That day is probably 2 or 3 years away. So the govt will have a hard job pushing EVs until then. There is likely to be far faster movement in the around-town truck market as the cost of the battery is a smaller % of the total, shorter range is not an issue, and vehicle turnover is fast. Already a range of truck makers are trying to beat Tesla to market and sell city-trucks. These will be widely available by 2019, well before EV consumer cars are, so its not one day, its soon. Woods and Shaw should be focusing on this area, not cars.
Productivity Commission suggests 'feebate' for all cars and even more trees to fight climate change
NZs main focus has to be agricultural emissions. It is possible to substantially reduce these by use of genetic modification of the digestion system of NZ cows and sheep. Yet the govt has banned research into these areas due to fear of GM products. We have a clear choice - accepting a bit more GM or accepting climate change.
All Blacks 'almost unbeatable' for next year's World Cup, writes top UK critic
The All Blacks have a tendency to lose when they get arrogant. Maybe this is a hidden move to increase our arrogance?
Suddenly, we're all talking about electric vehicles
The battery packs for a Tesla costs about $18,000 so the total car cost is still high. Hopefully the Tesla gigafactory will use scale to bring the cost down.
The Hume Highway: Surviving 'the most boring drive on Earth'
The Erye highway from Adelaide to Perth is far more boring, far less to see apart from the occasional Kangaroo. As for a 10 day trip on the Hume, its possible to do in 9 or 10 hours. I once did the round trip in 22 hours. The two problems with that the Hume starts and ends in the low-cost-industrial suburbs of Sydney and Melbourne, and that the road is full of trucks. There are small towns and farm scenery in the middle. Its far more scenic to take the coast road, though thats a two day trip.
Zero Energy House in the suburbs takes another big step forward
If these solar roofs were installed on govt homes then the poor would have very low power bills - why is that bad?
New rabbit virus strain kill rates 'in line with expectations'
The survivors are immune so doesnt this disease become ineffective within 12 months?
Five EVs we are looking forward to driving
90% of the EV battery can be recycled endlessly so you need to remove that. Yes, car manufacture does create CO2 but driving creates a lot more. Did you factor in that Teslas battery factory will be 100% powered by wind and solar? And that trucking will eventually be by battery powered trucks? Mining by battery-powered diggers?The main factor in a proper life-cycle analysis is the source of the electricity - coal or solar. NZ produces 85% of our electricity by renewables so it makes a big difference.
How to game the Waterview Tunnel – use the outside lanes
Not possible - it would break the NZ law saying that exit road signs are only allowed after the exit.
Reality TV: If you believe it has reached its peak - think again
This is why I dont watch TV apart from the news. There are very good programs available online, so that TVNZ cant compete to buy them. So - TV is left with only reality TV fans, and therefore only shows reality TV.
Van driver didn't see pond he drove into at Massey University
That area is really a walkway not a road. Just put a barrier.
Five EVs we are looking forward to driving
Proper EVs do 350km on charge.So it would easily handle day & night. A supercharger tops up in 20mins, and work places are starting to add car park charging stations.Remember that your EV power would cost about 30c/L so driving an ICE car will cost you a lot more per week.
Matariki should be made a national public holiday for New Zealanders to celebrate
Matariki is a made-up celebration, there is no proof that more than a few Maori tribes celebrated it. However - so what? - most celebrations made-up, Christmas replaced a Roman festival, and the timing of Marariki is better GuyFawkes for fireworks. We need to do this!
Transport Minister Phil Twyford says light rail not primarily for tourists
Mono-rails have very restricted capacity. However over-head MRT systems could cope and be a lot faster than light rail
Life insurers' profits before people attitude exposed in FMA report
Newlands. The FMA report is not about replacement cover as such. I agree that replacement policies can often improve cover, esp if it uses newer medical tests. The FMA looked at the process of policy replacement by corporations, and found that very few follow a good process and ensure that the client understands changes and agrees to it. Very few did a pros/cons comparison. These are basic financial adviser practices, which the corporates are ignoring. Moral - see a quality adviser for insurance, not a corporate.
Men the answer to lack of early childcare staff, educators say
Its not stereotypes or dislike of children which keep men out of childcare - its fear. After the bizarre Christchurch case men refuse to put themselves at that level of risk. Its going to be just about impossible to change. Im even afraid when I take my children to playgrounds in case some parent thinks Im looking at their kids strange.
All the ways The Handmaid's Tale S2 finale got it so horribly wrong
If you read the history of the Soviet Union then it is clear that information can be restricted, that an external threat is very effective at controlling choices, that you can rule by terror alone, and that very smart people can overthrow a regime but be too dumb to foresee that they will then be overthrown by the most brutal amongst them.
Silverdale couple claims $7.2 million Powerball prize after 11 days
Yet you read the story and commented. Stuffs job is done.
Spinoff TV: Socially engaged young people aren't watching TV
Who does still watch normal TV? Its the old or the poor. Very few young do. Many student apartments dont even have a TV plug. This is shown by the movement of any thing but reality shows to TV on Demand. Interesting shows are cancelled mid-session, the movies are re-runs of classics. Its a dying media.
Silverdale couple claims $7.2 million Powerball prize after 11 days
Yes, Im sure that they wanted to be named so we can all call around to their house asking for help
Five EVs we are looking forward to driving
Im looking forward to the Tesla Roadstar 2. Then I can look at all the rest in my rear-view mirror. Seriously - is there someone with a lot of $$$ who can befriend me?
Anthony Joshua defends heavyweight titles in knocking out Alexander Povetkin
Povetkin is a very good, very tough, fighter. As AJ says - he would have won a few years ago. Parker may not be in AJs league but who is? It puts Parkers fight in perspective - as the only opponent who AJ couldnt knock out. The person standing between AJ and long-lasting fame is Deontay Wilder, who will be tough.
Coca-Cannabis? Coke analysing cannabis in wellness drinks
Yes but the old fuddle duds used a lot of cannabis back in their youth in the 1960s. The lesson from the high rates of old using pot in the US is that the elderly are not what they used to be!
Qantas scraps music from in-flight entertainment on domestic flights
Exactly how does this save cost? Its all digital so weightless. Just use AI to select and download. Why annoy 10% of your customers? - ohh wait its Qantas and thats what they specialize in.
Transport Minister Phil Twyford says light rail not primarily for tourists
Why not build a light-weight MRT system which runs on over-head poles? Very common in Asia and runs above the traffic so a lot faster. Cheaper as well. All solutions need to be assessed
Tesla's Elon Musk says he has no time to sleep after Arianna Huffington plea
Thats were the Huff comes from! Shes famous.
Zero Energy House in the suburbs takes another big step forward
Is this company the SolarCity which is owned by Tesla? Then why are they inventing software and battery packs when Tesla already has all that? I do agree that the govt targets are credulously conservative as the cost of solar systems are dropping by about 15-20% p/a. They are currently too expensive for an average NZ house but wont be by 2023 or so. So these types of trials are very useful.