Posts by st ephen

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  • Hard News: On Ideas,

    They have always had ample mineral resources, but only in the last couple of decades have they pulled away from us in terms of per capita income.

    ...possibly coincides with increased investment in the mining industry, which has seen its export returns creep up to 40% of total returns? But also ticket-clipping in the financial sector in Melbourne and Sydney - they don't work harder, longer or smarter; they just take their cut from a bigger pie.

    And many wealthier countries than us have fewer natural resources.

    Sure, but they're not asking "why aren't we like Singapore or Switzerland". That would be interesting too though. It's obvious that some countries have been prepared to make sacrifices to get ahead - imagine South Korea's development constrained by OSH regulations and an RMA...

    dunedin • Since Jul 2008 • 254 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: On Ideas,

    I'm with Sacha on this.

    Give a kiwi a spade, and he'll return 10 hours later bathed in sweat with a few sacks of spuds worth US$200.

    Give an Aussie a spade , and he'll spend the morning reading the paper and arguing about the footy over smoko, then after a leisurely pub lunch and a punt on the 2:15 at Randwick, he'll dig a hole and pull out a $2000 gold nugget before knocking off for the day.

    Hence Aussie workers are ten times more productive than NZers.

    dunedin • Since Jul 2008 • 254 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: Chocolate elitism,

    Thanks for the lecture.

    Yeah, sorry. Not sure what brought that on – maybe a combination of reading too much Ralston in the Listener, plus the mental picture of all those PAS readers sitting around with their single malts and Fair Trade chocolates... Sometimes it’s like Tze Ming never happened*… ;-)

    Are you really sure of what you're saying?

    More like "rarely".


    (* Definitely not equating TMM with humourless econazis here).

    dunedin • Since Jul 2008 • 254 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: Chocolate elitism,

    ...the guy from Cadbury's was claiming their Palm Oil is "sustainably sourced". Is that possible ?

    Well, it's about as sustainable as the glass-and-a-half of full cream milk. Production of both has involved the mass clearance of rainforest (with resultant extinctions), additions of artificial fertilisers (mined or petrochemicals), further degradation of the environment etc.

    I'm afraid if you're eating any kind of chocolate more than at Christmas and on your birthday, then you're the problem, not the solution. Teh Evil Multinationals are just meeting the demand of rampant over-consumers for luxury goods at below their true (triple bottom line) cost. But hey. Those orang-utans have been on borrowed time since their distance rellies stood up to admire the view in the Rift Valley...

    dunedin • Since Jul 2008 • 254 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: Footnotes,

    There's always some statistician to smugly tell you that buying a ticket in the meat raffle at your local is a much more economically rational decision than buying a Lotto ticket.
    It's bollocks of course.
    They calculate Expected Value based on probabilities and returns, but define the returns solely in $ value. But as pointed out earlier in these comments, the big prize in Lotto is not "x million dollars" - it is "opportunity to completely change your lifestyle". Probably of achieving this in Lotto is small, but real. Probability of achieving this in a meat raffle is zero.
    I'm not missing the cash I spent on my first ever Big Wednesday tickets, so it would have been a bit irrational not to have spent it...

    dunedin • Since Jul 2008 • 254 posts Report Reply

  • Not Guilty,

    I get the feeling that none of you people have actually been on a jury. Hint - they are not made up of 12 PAS readers.
    The main difference between Guilty 13 years ago and Not Guilty this time round was probably something as mundane as the advent of a dozen police procedure shows on TV in the interval. The subconscious thinking being that if a CSI techie can match a sample (of anything) to the suspect with about ten seconds of frantic keyboard tapping, then the NZ Police's failure to achieve the same is all the "reasonable doubt" you need.

    dunedin • Since Jul 2008 • 254 posts Report Reply

  • Speaker: ReEntry V: Finding my Feet,

    Sometimes I like the energy and buzz of a big city, sometimes I like the peace and solitude of nature. Things fall into place once you accept that these things are negatively correlated to some extent - NZ's low population density has left a lot of relatively unspoiled bits, but we miss out on things like recycling and public transport and niche services.

    Just out of interest - what is a realistic comparison for public transport in NZ? Norway has similar a population and population density, but double the GDP per capita. Maybe if Auckland's public transport falls somewhere between Montevideo's and Helsinki's, that's about all we can expect?

    dunedin • Since Jul 2008 • 254 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: Not many, if any ...,

    Or the Jam without Weller.

    At least with Weller you know you're going to get the Original Haircut.

    dunedin • Since Jul 2008 • 254 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: Not many, if any ...,

    The last thing you want when old farts have a reunion is New Material...

    Sadly that's exactly what they're doing at the moment...

    Aargh. "Old farts with creative core intact playing new material" drops to second-to-last thing.

    Sounds like a Paul McCartney gig...

    Though surely with McCartney the chances of the latest album not being worse than the previous ten must be increasing?...

    dunedin • Since Jul 2008 • 254 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: Not many, if any ...,

    ...the main creative ain't there.

    Good. The last thing you want when old farts have a reunion is New Material. Just need someone left who's creative enough to synchronise the skanking.

    dunedin • Since Jul 2008 • 254 posts Report Reply

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