Offsetting your emissions?

Finally, a site that puts offsetting into perspective! So you drive that V8 to work with no carpooling and towing two trailers and a box of concrete, and it’s okay, because you plant trees or buy carbon credits. So you’ve made yourself carbon neutral right? And that’s fine, that makes you a good person… doesn’t it?

But does it really undo the damage you have done? Does it really make it okay? Or are you just compensating for something you shouldn’t be doing anyway?

wrong + wrong = wrong
right + right = right
right + wrong = ?

Here’s a site that really puts it into perspective: www.cheatneutral.com. “Helping you because you can’t help yourself”.

Read the “small print” page if you don’t get it. ;)

What to do… what to do… ?

I really don’t know what is going on. When I was 21 I had a 10GB cap on my internet, that’s like, 9 years ago. Then I moved overseas and had uncapped broadband, then moved back to New Zealand to be pleasantly surprised we had uncapped broadband here too. Ok, so it was only 256/128, then it went up to 2mb/128, and then 3.5mb/128. So currently I’m on 3.5/128. Looking at that I’d say New Zealand was moving forward, at a fricken snails pace, but still forward right?

Then what happened? They removed all the uncapped plans and brought back the caps. Originally coming back in at 1GB. 1GB! Or you could pay more and get 5GB, then even more and get 10GB. $60 for 10GB?

Then we have TVNZ which is partly govt funded. And TVNZ with it’s govt funding is now launching the TVNZ Ondemand service, where you watch your shows online. Now why would the govt fund a service like that when they know that NZ broadband is too slow to watch it and also is too capped to watch more than one or two shows per month. I guess I should also mention that it’s not even hosted in New Zealand too, which makes it even slower. Each show comes in at ~250mb (reports are saying that most of them are ~500mb…) Fucking retards!

God knows you can’t stream video in NZ, you need to download it. I can’t even watch YouTube without pausing it and letting it download before I press play. It goes all start-stoppy on me. >:( Makes you wonder if it’s worth buying that Xbox360 or PlayStation 3 because you couldn’t play online. I wonder what those WoW addicts do ;)

I can download a tv show off bitorrent at about 180mb and it’ll be better quality than what is offered by TVNZ Ondemand. Plus if you download it as a torrent then it’s only going to take 180mb away from your data cap.

What on earth am I going to do with 10gb? I currently download over 50gb per month! I’ll have no movies or TV to watch. Everything on NZ television I saw already last year, I’ll have to wait about a year for NZ to catch up to what I’m watching.

I have no idea what to do. I think I’m screwed. I shouldn’t even bother having broadband or internet anymore and just spend the $50+ per month hiring out DVDs.

Website first casualty of controversial election law

The Electoral Finance Act has claimed its first scalp after a 21-year-old was obliged to take down his website when the Electoral Commission said it breached election rules by not including his name and address.

The Electoral Finance Act is dangerous! It is a breach of democracy and free speech for all New Zealand. We cannot publish anything anywhere (web, leaflets, newspapers) without express written permission by certain people, and we have to publish our names, addresses, all contact details. We have lost our ability to support our candidates. We can’t donate money, we can’t do anything!

The worst this is not being able to say what we want. We can’t even stand on the corner and tell people who to vote for. It’s dangerous and it’s the beginning of a slippery slope…

So much for free speech for all of New Zealand. Democracy. My. Fucking. Arse!

MMP, Labour, Greens and these laws are damaging this country. It’s a bloody dictatorship merged with a communist regime mashed up into some sort of inbred nasty dictatornist regime. I would set up a dontvotelabour.org.nz website too if it didn’t breach my Code of Conduct because I work for the public service. I should do it anyway.

Last election the Labour government used $800,000 of taxpayers fund illegaly to get pamphlets printed and sent to every single house in the country. And the Bretheren Church did the same thing for the National party. When they discovered the parties were stealing taxpayers money they made them all pay it back, and Labour didn’t want to so they passed a bill making it LEGAL. A nasty bill which would cover all that had happened to date. Now this new law has been passed saying that nobody is allowed to have pamphlets or publications made for them. Do you see how dangerous the Labour government is? First they make their illegal things legal, now they take away everyones right to vocally support their candidates.

We also have this horrible system called MMP. Where a party can still govern even if it didnt get enough votes. All it has to do is get a few of the minor parties on board and form a coalition which is bigger than the votes the opposition got. Labour have been teaming up with the Greens and some other stoopid parties in the last elections to get them more collective votes than the National party. The thing is, to get the coalitions they draw up “agreements” (yes, contracts) with the other parties saying “we promise to put forward these policies of yours”. So a party like the Greens gets their bills put forward to parliament and Labour supports them, cos otherwise they violate the agreement and lose the coalition and lose their power. So we end up with MP’s from the Greens which NOBODY EVEN VOTED FOR pushing through bills that NOBODY WANTS like the “Anti-smacking Law” and other assorted bollocks nobody wants.

This government is so dangerous it’s not even funny. I dread to think what they will do next.

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Men, pfft!

Wanna know how random men are?

This is the proposed power saving in the new standard desktop environment:

10 minutes – screen saver
15 minutes – hard drive turns off
20 minutes – monitor turns off
30 minutes – system standby
2 hours – hibernation

Bear in mind the screen saver has the company logo and goes on about how we have values such as honest, integrity, doing right by the taxpayer, yadda yadda, propaganda my colleagues say.

From: Michelle McClellan
Sent: Friday, 7 December 2007 7:49 a.m.
To:
Cc:
Subject: RE:

Shouldn’t everyone be moving to LCD monitors anyway if we want to be a carbon neutral public service?

We aren’t worried and going to delay the monitor just so people can see the screensaver are we?

Howabout 15 mins the screen goes to sleep? Seems strange to have the harddrive sleep before the screen just because it “might take a while” to come back.

Don’t worry, I’m not trying to be a pain in the arse on purpose, I’m generally quite agreeable. I’m just making sure we have thoroughly questioned everything we do.

Cheers,
Michelle
________________________________________
From:
Sent: Thursday, 6 December 2007 3:24 p.m.
To: Michelle McClellan
Cc:
Subject: RE:

If you turn away from your PC to read a paper or document it’s amazing how quickly a 10 min screen saver kicks in. Older screens (not flat ones) take a bit of time to warm up again after the mouse wiggle, the screen saver is instantaneous. 20 mins in it is safe to assume the user is probably away from their desk, at a meeting etc.

A good balance would be:-

10 mins screen saver
20 mins power off screen

Those would be my recommendations.

________________________________________
From: Michelle McClellan
Sent: Thursday, 6 December 2007 2:18 p.m.
To:
Cc:
Subject: RE:

Awesome :)

I guess we need to weigh up what is more important, the screensaver (which people don’t see, because they aren’t at their PC’s anyway) or energy saving.

Cheers,
Michelle

________________________________________
From:
Sent: Thursday, 6 December 2007 2:16 p.m.
To: Michelle McClellan
Cc:
Subject: RE:

I’ve asked L*** H****** how we should work this setting and the screen saver in together to best effect.

Regards
________________________________________
From: Michelle McClellan
Sent: Thursday, 6 December 2007 2:14 p.m.
To:
Cc:
Subject: RE:

Would you consider 10 minutes too aggressive?

People I have spoken to don’t consider 10 minutes aggressive.

Cheers,
Michelle

________________________________________
From:
Sent: Thursday, 6 December 2007 2:13 p.m.
To: Michelle McClellan
Cc:
Subject:

How do those settings align with those that are in the paper for the Carbon Reduction Plan?

I suggest that a 5 min screen power off is too aggressive and will annoy. There is scope to re-evaluate and reduce time on all the settings later if required.

________________________________________
From:
Sent: Thursday, 6 December 2007 1:51 p.m.
To: Michelle McClellan
Cc:
Subject:

Thanks Michelle for your comments.

Gareth – can the G3 meeting this morning it was agreed to adopt Michelle’s recommendation listed. Can this be implemented?

________________________________________
From: Michelle McClellan
Sent: Thursday, 6 December 2007 1:32 p.m.
To:
Cc:
Subject: RE:

Hi

I think it looked really awesome :)

My only recommendation is that after 5 or 10 minutes the screen turns off and the computer becomes “locked”. The user will have to log in again when they wake the screen. They should lock for security anyway.

There is no difference in response/come-back times between the waking up the screen and coming out of screen saver mode – both just happen at the shake of the mouse.

What you effectively end up with is a black screen saver (the screen is asleep) that doesn’t use as nearly as much power as a real screen saver would (as it doesn’t require the screen to be awake).

Cheers,
Michelle
________________________________________
From:
Sent: Thursday, 6 December 2007 1:26 p.m.
To:
Subject:

As you will be aware the Ministry is one of the six core public service agencies that will lead the way in achieving carbon neutrality by the year 2012.

Note: the Ministry is expected to have an approved carbon reduction plan in place by 1 February 2008

Many thanks.

Random as, I need a second opinion that my logic is flawed. Is my logic flawed? Do we need to be carbon neutral by the year 2012 like the Prime Minister said, or do we need to make sure people can see the propaganda screen saver for 10 minutes, even though their screen saver is probably on cos they aren’t at their fecking computer?

Ack, just thinking about gave me a bloody nose bleed! O_O My God, thank god I wore black. I think I finally had my brain explode. Oh God, and I just got my desk cleaned too!

I’ve decided to bow out of the argument. you can’t argue with men, especially ones who see the word “aggressive” and go into a panic and think they might get into trouble (awwwwww) for being aggressive. How else are you going to get change if you don’t make a change?? I tell you John, that stuff on that Herald site last night was so true, we are so anti-change in NZ and its the older people in charge that are making it hard for the young people like us to drive this country forward. (Generally old people are hotties, but not in NZ).

A woman has the last word in any argument.
Anything a man says after that is the beginning of a new argument.

:D

George Bush shouldn’t be sleeping tonight

I wonder how long it will take the FBI to come to my door when I say I heard a conspiracy theory 9/11 was inside job so he could get his hands on the oil in Iraq, and it’s not completely fantastic, I believe that could be possible >:) We know people in desperate situations will resort to desperate measures. And it’s easy to resort to desperate measures when nobody knows who are you (read: the puppeteers).

I have found the perfect match with me and Disturbed. And their views on the “War on Terror”. Huzzah. This song isn’t about that conspiracy theory. It’s about how many people die and everyone goes “Yes, we must do something, re-elect that guy so he can save us”, and then he betrays everyone and forgets what the fighting was for, and they end up with more than they bargained for. (read: WTF does Osama have to do with Iraq?)

Disturbed – Deify

That’s what I believe that got him reelected
Is the people knew that you can believe what he said.
(Well that’s a request do that)

Our Country is strong… (how many people march I don’t know)
We go forward to defend freedom…(take the government’s side)
And all that is good.. .and just…in our world..

All my devotion betrayed
I am no longer afraid
I was to blinded to see
How much you’ve stolen from me…

You wanna know why…..I feel so horrified?
I let my innocence die…you wanna know why
I can’t be pacified…
You made me bury something
I won’t be sleeping tonight

I only wanted the blessing made
Now I been labeled the renegade
It seems so clear now what I must do
You’re no immortal
I won’t let them
Deify you
They view…you as the new messiah
Deify you
Renew…belief in some demented man

You wanna know why…it seems the passion’s died?
We’ve all been living this lie
You wanna know why….my will’s been fortified?
You made me hunger again
Good luck sleeping tonight

I only wanted the blessing made
Now I been labeled the renegade
It seems so clear now what I must do
You’re no immortal
I won’t let them
Deify you
They view…you as the new messiah
Deify you
Renew…belief in some demented man

All my devotion betrayed…
I am no longer afraid…..
All my devotion betrayed
I am no longer afraid
I was too blinded to see
How much you’ve stolen from me
I was too blinded to see….
All my devotion betrayed
I am no longer afraid
I was too blinded to see
How much you’ve stolen from me

Deify you
They view…you as the new messiah
Deify you
Renew…belief in some demented man

Deify you
(All my devotion betrayed)
They view…you as the new messiah
(I am no longer afraid)
Deify you
(I was too blinded to see)
Renew…belief in some demented man
(How much you stolen from me)

In some respects being a New Zealander is a good thing. We go around with our first-aid kits fixing people after the bombs have dropped. I think it’s a much more noble job.

Message from a hard-working Kiwi

Michelle totally agrees:

Message from a hard-working Kiwi

I work, they pay me. I pay my taxes and the government distributes my taxes as it sees fit. In order to earn that pay cheque, as I work in the timber industry, I am required to pass a random urine test, with which I have no problem in passing.

What I do have a problem with is the distribution of my taxes to people who don’t have to pass a urine test. Shouldn’t one have to pass a urine test to get a welfare cheque because I have to pass one to earn it for them??

Please understand – I have no problem with helping people get back on their feet. I do on the other hand have a problem with helping someone sit on their fat ar*e drinking p*ss & smoking dope all day.

Could you imagine how much money the state would save if people had to pass a urine test to get a WINZ cheque???

Please pass this around if you agree or simply delete if you don’t.

Hope you all will pass it along though, because something has to change in this country, and soon!!!

KFMDM is innocent I tell you!

Damn the media! If you’re going to write a story about a student who open-fires on a school of people then why do you need to mention that he used KMFDM in his YouTube (Well, so the paper says, I can’t see YouTube from work). And then they have to mention that the KMFDM lyrics were also posted on the web by Eric Harris (of the Columbine incident).

KMFDM don’t kill people. Computer games don’t kill people. Guns don’t kill people. PEOPLE kill people.

Mother dies because they didn’t pay their power bill

A really unfortunate series of events occurred in Auckland the other night. Mercury Power disconnected the power at a house which then resulted in the death of an occupant – because she relied on an oxygen machine.

Read some articles about this:
Stuff:
Power company to be picketed over death
NZ Herald:
Power cut death: Contractors talking to lawyers
Power cut death: Mother said – Just give us a chance
Power cut death: Children ask where much-loved teacher is
Power cut death: Oxygen supply death surprises doctors
Power cut death: Mallard cautions against jumping to conclusions
Power Cut Death: What the company said

(I’m a bit disgusted with the Herald – look at those headings for biased journalism)

While what happened was an unfortunate thing, and I am sorry for their loss. Yet, I think a few issues need to be thought about:

1. “hours later she was dead”. If someone in your family relies on oxygen to survive and the power gets disconnected – shouldn’t you call an ambulance straight away?
2. I’ve been a student, and had power disconnected twice. There are reminder notices sent, phone calls. It’s not a sudden process, and people need to be responsible for paying their bills and contacting their utility companies if they have difficulty paying.
3. If someone in your family relies on an oxygen machine to survive shouldn’t your electricity bill be your number 1 priority?
4. if you require an oxygen machine to live, why aren’t you in hospital? the Chief Medical Officer of the district health board admits that she should not have been reliant on the machine, or she would have not been released from hospital. If she was that ill her family should have done the responsible thing and called the ambulance.
5. When the disconnection guy comes to your door, if you said to his face “A family member needs power to survive, if you have disconnected our power then you will kill them”, then I’m sure he’d do more than just “walk off”. If he does, then you call an ambulance.

It’s all very unfortunate, but I don’t think the power company should be held accountable. They were only following the same process that everyone gets subjected to when they don’t pay their power bill.

If someone in your family relies on a machine to survive then you need to think about whether you can provide the appropriate care and environment for them. Sanitary conditions, power, water etc need to be your priority. She should have been in a hospital – the investigators need to stop pointing finger at the power company (who were just doing their job) and look at the hospital and ask “why was this person discharged?”

I have had a read of a selection of readers views, and I find myself relieved that I’m not alone in my thinking. This family had ample time to notify the company they were struggling with the bill, they had ample time to call and ambulance. The apparatus the mother was connected to was not a life-support system, and should not have been relied upon as such. What if this wasn’t the power being disconnected but was a power outage due to a storm?

Too often people look to blame others, when they need to take responsibility for their actions. It’s a harsh thing to say in a situation like this, but if you’re going to act irresponsibly then you have to live and suffer the consequences.