Posts by Robert Urquhart
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Speaker: Look in the Mirror, New Zealand, in reply to Steve Curtis,
The many must not be demonised simply because the few become newsworthy.
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I voted on Monday when I had a spare 15 minutes on the way home - too many balls in the air at the moment and it was one fewer thing to remember for the rest of the week :)
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Up Front: Oh, God, in reply to tussock,
Where is the goddamn like button when you need it! [applauds]
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I dropped about $7k a few years back replacing the hot water cylinder and putting in vac-tube/glycol (boils at a lower temperature than water for heat transfer at lower initial temperature) system - still requires a little mains power to run the pump. Like Simone, here in Canterbury I can turn the electric off altogether from about November to April and have enough hot water for the two of us here. Haven't regretted it.
The circulating H2O does need the air bubbles purged and repressurised occasionally but that's fairly straightforward.
(I also have a wetback and grid-connected PV is intended but likely to be a few years away yet.)
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Is this the current Chch thread? It'll do anyway ;)
I just wanted to say massive props to this woman who has seen her way to making a difference to the homeless here in Christchurch, and has scored a groundswell of support through this Stuff article.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/city-centre/10156724/Cleaners-gesture-to-homeless
Facebook page -
Up Front: Lighting the Dark, in reply to Bart Janssen,
For me as a man the scary part is not knowing – no scratch that – being pretty certain there must have been times where I was “that man”.
I know damn well that there have been times in my youth when I was "that man" to a greater or lesser extent, and probably more recently when I've lapsed in one way or another.
And I've come to believe that it is incumbent upon those of us in that situation and with the emotional resources to spare to own our past failings rather than be ashamed to show them; to be the ones who step up and say "It is OK to have fallen for these ideas in the past, but we know better now and must work to overcome the influence they have on our thoughts and actions."
To be examples of people in the process of change and encourage society to accept that it is not easy to unlearn these habits and thought patterns, but it is possible and it is a change worth making.
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Speaker: Why we can’t just fix secondary…, in reply to Australopithecus,
What is The PAS readership’s opinion on Universal Guaranteed Income plus flat tax?
I'm a big fan of a UBI but I don't see it working with a flat tax. I actually included some thoughts about what I would do to tax in conjunction with a UBI here.
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My first instinct was to send a lump sum as usual but on further consideration I've set up a monthly AP totalling about what I'd expect to be dropping in lump sums over a year.
The community ... nature? feeling? of Public Address means I'll not feel guilty about dropping the "subscription" should my circumstances change and money get tight in future, and that also has value to me.
Keep up the good work :)
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Signal boost: http://sciblogs.co.nz/waiology/2014/03/07/calling-for-christchurch-flood-photos/
If you took any photos at or near peak water levels anywhere in Christchurch during Wednesday morning or early afternoon, please send them to NIWA (niwafloodphoto AT gmail.com; NIWA email malfunctioning at the moment sorry) with the street address and time, and with the subject “Flood”.
We will use the images to help identify how high the waters rose across the city. This will help us improve our models so we can provide better flood risk maps in the future.
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Capture: Two Tales of a City, in reply to Rob Stowell,
That's an amazing little time capsule. Of the positive aspects, naturally.