OnPoint by Keith Ng

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OnPoint: Budget 2011: Radioactive Space Donut

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  • Steve Barnes, in reply to Joshua Arbury,

    Reinforces my feeling that we certainly spend enough money on transport, we just tend to spend it on stupid stuff.

    The Highway to Hell is paved with our gold.
    ;-)

    Peria • Since Dec 2006 • 5521 posts Report Reply

  • Rex Widerstrom, in reply to Sacha,

    black on olive green not that readable

    Yes, breathtakingly breathtaking aside from the fact I have to squint like an old man at a salad bar (in IE9).

    Perth, Western Australia • Since Nov 2006 • 157 posts Report Reply

  • Graeme Edgeler, in reply to Joshua Arbury,

    Interesting that transport is now the 6th biggest area of expenditure.

    I think the point is that, given this is just a combining of two departments, it was probably already the 6th biggest area of expenditure (or close) and we just didn't know it.

    Wellington, New Zealand • Since Nov 2006 • 3215 posts Report Reply

  • Steve Barnes,

    Herald

    Rail was another big infrastructure winner, with $250m to go towards the KiwiRail turn-around plan, which aims to turn it into a self-sustaining freight business within 10 years.

    Well, that came as a surprise, is Steven Joyce in a coma or something?.

    Peria • Since Dec 2006 • 5521 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia, in reply to Mark Hansen,

    What's the deal with transport in 2009? It shoots up by over 10x 2008's budget.

    Yeah, I'm pretty all the rail infrastructure work and new rolling stock could have been put on layby and/or constructed by slave labour...

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha, in reply to Craig Ranapia,

    layby

    Heh. Did David put you up to that one?

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Joshua Arbury, in reply to Steve Barnes,

    Rail was another big infrastructure winner, with $250m to go towards the KiwiRail turn-around plan, which aims to turn it into a self-sustaining freight business within 10 years.

    Nothing new there though, it's just the second tranche of the KiwiRail turnaround plan that was agreed upon a couple of years ago.

    The Wellington $88 million was a bit of a surprise. Rumour is that the new Matangi trains draw too much power from the system, which made the extra $88m essential to avoid the quarter billion spend on those trains from becoming money flushed down the toilet as they can't run.

    Auckland • Since May 2009 • 237 posts Report Reply

  • Steve Barnes, in reply to Joshua Arbury,

    Rumour is that the new Matangi trains draw too much power from the system,

    I suppose the reason nobody figured that one out was because eMail has replaced envelopes so they find it hard to calculate these things.
    ;-)

    Peria • Since Dec 2006 • 5521 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha, in reply to Steve Barnes,

    Nah, they made the mistake of asking Treasury, eh

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Steve Barnes, in reply to Sacha,

    they made the mistake of asking Treasury, eh

    Fnahh.
    ;-)

    Peria • Since Dec 2006 • 5521 posts Report Reply

  • CatherineP, in reply to Stephen Judd,

    Firefox and Chrome are free. Sounds like your organisation is wasting money on software that costs money to buy (yes I know all software has costs to support and run).

    Yes indeed. I am advised by our Chief Information Officer that a pilot of Firefox is underway and will presumably be rolled out if it can be shown that it won't break any of our

    arcane grandfathered obscure apps used by two people

    of which we have many.

    Since May 2011 • 2 posts Report Reply

  • Alan P, in reply to James Butler,

    I've always used ctrl-click to open in new tab.

    Auckland • Since Jun 2009 • 35 posts Report Reply

  • Rich of Observationz,

    arcane grandfathered obscure apps used by two people

    It's when the arcane grandfathered app is SAP or something, is used by everyone, was bought in 2003 and will cost tens of millions to upgrade that problems occur.

    (Before AJAX was really practical, a lot of technologies replaced their fat clients with pseudo-thin clients based on ActiveX and the like. These are the reason much of the world is stuck in IE6. Of course, they could support dual browsers, but that would cost money purely to provide an employee benefit).

    Back in Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 5550 posts Report Reply

  • Jonty,

    OK -- I've taken the drugs in a darkened room -- the figures don't look any better?!!

    Katikati • Since Mar 2007 • 102 posts Report Reply

  • Greg Dawson, in reply to Rich of Observationz,

    It’s when the arcane grandfathered app is SAP or something

    ffffff Don't speak its name. I have some lovely analysis showing the increase in our debtor days as customers moved to using SAP.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 294 posts Report Reply

  • Matthew Poole, in reply to Steve Barnes,

    Rail was another big infrastructure winner, with $250m to go towards the KiwiRail turn-around plan, which aims to turn it into a self-sustaining freight business within 10 years.

    Well, that came as a surprise, is Steven Joyce in a coma or something?.

    What Josh said. KR isn't now getting $1b of taxpayer money towards its turnaround plan. Rather, this is instalment two, of three, of the taxpayers' $750m towards said plan.
    The way it's being reported is highly misleading.

    Auckland • Since Mar 2007 • 4097 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    But wait, there's more. Te Budget visualised as treemaps. And no, my non-Chrome browser didn't "struggle" as Chris warns.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Kumara Republic, in reply to Sacha,

    And no, my non-Chrome browser didn't "struggle" as Chris warns.

    Firefox drew a blank.

    The southernmost capital … • Since Nov 2006 • 5446 posts Report Reply

  • Keith Ng, in reply to Jonty,

    OK -- I've taken the drugs in a darkened room -- the figures don't look any better?!

    Clearly, wrong drugs.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 543 posts Report Reply

  • Steve Barnes,

    No drugs needed with Opera here's the new specs for the one with all the ones Opera 11.11 And that's before we talk about the integrated Mail app M2 which makes outlook express look like shite.
    Yeah, I know I bang on about it but it is really quite cool and no, I don't work for them.
    :-)

    Peria • Since Dec 2006 • 5521 posts Report Reply

  • bmk, in reply to Steve Barnes,

    I have given it a go and it's very fast (even faster than Chrome) but I can't find an ad-blocker for it. Do you know of one that exists? Because if I can't block ads then I will be sticking with Chrome.

    Since Jun 2010 • 327 posts Report Reply

  • Steve Barnes, in reply to bmk,

    The Ad blocker is built in, right click / Block content, done ;-)

    Peria • Since Dec 2006 • 5521 posts Report Reply

  • bmk, in reply to Steve Barnes,

    I discovered that but then you have to do it on every single webpage which is a real pain. I prefer something you can install and it will block the ads on every page without thinking about it.

    Since Jun 2010 • 327 posts Report Reply

  • Steve Barnes, in reply to bmk,

    prefer something you can install and it will block the ads on every page without thinking about it.

    Some would say that ad blocking is theft. The owner of the site, that you want to visit, may get some recompense for you seeing that ad. I only block ads when they become annoying as I enjoy most of the site that I visit and feel that, If I am being entertained or informed, looking at a few ads is a very small price to pay to look at something that I am interested in.
    If searching the world wide web is so annoying just don’t do it, simple.
    ;-)

    Peria • Since Dec 2006 • 5521 posts Report Reply

  • bmk, in reply to Steve Barnes,

    I find web browsing an unannoying activity when using Chrome so guess I will stick with that, which is a pity because Opera is fast. Ads just really bug me if I have to block them individually it becomes too much of a pain when I have become used to having them blocked for me.

    Since Jun 2010 • 327 posts Report Reply

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