Today's Whiskey Tango Foxtrot

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#3201016 28-Feb-2024 19:36

Bung:
It's just saying if you're gluten intolerant forget about anything made by Woolworths.

My neighbour has coeliac disease, so not just a generic intolerance, and loves their GF hot-cross buns, so they certainly do handle GF stuff.

cddt

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#3201031 28-Feb-2024 20:00

Bung:

It's just saying if you're gluten intolerant forget about anything made by Woolworths.

They have a separate range of GF baked goods made in Australia and sold here. The hot cross buns are very good.

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#3201061 28-Feb-2024 21:23

That the Hamilton City Council thinks a 19.9% rates increase is OK. What universe do they live in?

If they cannot manage their budget to be close to the rate of inflation they need to look at how they're operating.

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#3201068 28-Feb-2024 21:54

Technofreak:

That the Hamilton City Council thinks a 19.9% rates increase is OK. What universe do they live in?

If they cannot manage their budget to be close to the rate of inflation they need to look at how they're operating.

Problem is, all that city growth has put extra strain on old existing infrastructure , so more maintenance needs to be done.

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#3201071 28-Feb-2024 22:03

I believe a lot of the original infrastructure in most cities was built with central government funds and various direct levies. A lot of that dates back to the post war period - the Hutt Valley can be described as essentially going from farmland to dense suburbia in the 50s and 60s.

The 80s, 90s, and 00s happened with nothing but deferred maintenance and a bit of infill. Stuff like power boards got separated out and made more independent. Councils patted themselves on the back at cost savings.

Now, a lot of stuff is end of life. It needs to be replaced - and brownfields work is always more expensive than greenfields. There's more stuff in the ground than ever before. H&S standards are stricter. Everything is done by small numbers of private contractors who buy materials from quasi-monopolies, like Fletchers, or the council that only allowed one quarry to exist in its area.

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#3201119 28-Feb-2024 22:10

SomeoneSomewhere:

I believe a lot of the original infrastructure in most cities was built with central government funds and various direct levies. A lot of that dates back to the post war period - the Hutt Valley can be described as essentially going from farmland to dense suburbia in the 50s and 60s.

The 80s, 90s, and 00s happened with nothing but deferred maintenance and a bit of infill. Stuff like power boards got separated out and made more independent. Councils patted themselves on the back at cost savings.

Now, a lot of stuff is end of life. It needs to be replaced - and brownfields work is always more expensive than greenfields. There's more stuff in the ground than ever before. H&S standards are stricter. Everything is done by small numbers of private contractors who buy materials from quasi-monopolies, like Fletchers, or the council that only allowed one quarry to exist in its area.

It turns out that once you've kicked the can to end of the road you have to do something

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#3201228 29-Feb-2024 04:34

Rikkitic:

I do know (I think) that blanks are only safe at a distance and are not intended for close range. Multiple people have been killed or injured this way. The blank wadding still comes out with a lot of force from the explosion of gunpowder.

Even guns with blanks in the hands of idiots are ALWAYS a danger. I remember the idiot sergeant who thought he had to wake us officer recruits in the corridor of the barracks early in the morning with a „harmless“ practice hand grenade. We were awake, but both of his eardrums had burst and he has been demoted.

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#3201375 29-Feb-2024 10:34

I passed an NPD station this morning and saw that the pricing sign was turned off and there were cones out closing the driveway entrance. Didn't understand why the service station was closed until I read this headline.

How can our payment systems not be configured for something that comes around every 4 years!

February 29: Fuel stations reporting nationwide outages at self-service pumps, Gull confirms leap year glitch in software - NZ Herald

Edit: Didn;t realise this was already covered in its own thread. leap year takes out Fuel stop pump payments (geekzone.co.nz)

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#3201530 29-Feb-2024 12:09

Technofreak:

That the Hamilton City Council thinks a 19.9% rates increase is OK. What universe do they live in?

If they cannot manage their budget to be close to the rate of inflation they need to look at how they're operating.

All those new developments need to be funded somehow. If you think it's the developers paying, you're wrong. The development contributions cover only a small portion of the actual cost of greenfield infrastructure requirements.

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#3201576 29-Feb-2024 13:37

Handle9:

SomeoneSomewhere:

Now, a lot of stuff is end of life. It needs to be replaced - and brownfields work is always more expensive than greenfields. There's more stuff in the ground than ever before. H&S standards are stricter. Everything is done by small numbers of private contractors who buy materials from quasi-monopolies, like Fletchers, or the council that only allowed one quarry to exist in its area.

It turns out that once you've kicked the can to end of the road you have to do something

And the current government has made it quite clear that infrastructure deficits relating to pipes is as far as they're concerned a Somebody Else's Problem, and down to ratepayers to fund.
So even if councils hold other spending down to the rate of inflation - or even less, expect the "water rates" portion to go up by double figures percentages every year for years to come. I suspect a major constraint will be the capacity of CCOs & contractors to rip out & replace the hundreds of kilometers of water, sewage & stormwater mains that needed replacing a decade or more ago, and now are failing.

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#3202348 2-Mar-2024 11:36

I feel sorry for the family, but someone who thought that putting poison into an intentionally-created wound is a good idea? I assume the Darwin awards nominations are still open?

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#3202351 2-Mar-2024 11:43

neb: I feel sorry for the family, but someone who thought that putting poison into an intentionally-created wound is a good idea? I assume the Darwin awards nominations are still open?

But the guy with the piercing eyes on YouTube knows so much more than the family doctor who studied at University for eight years!

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#3202489 2-Mar-2024 16:21

neb: I feel sorry for the family, but someone who thought that putting poison into an intentionally-created wound is a good idea? I assume the Darwin awards nominations are still open?

Apparently the 'treatment' involves causing nasty burns and then dripping the toxin on said burns. The victim had genuine medical problems and chronic pain. The person charged was a 'trained' 'practitioner' with no medical credentials and claimed not to know the Australian emergency services number 000. ~~I believe dialling 911 or 112 also works in Australia~~. The deceased victim does not deserve any insults.

Edit: Official advice says 112 in AU works only on mobile, 911 does not work, 999 is not mentioned. Hmm.

Technofreak

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#3202508 2-Mar-2024 17:45

PolicyGuy:

And the current government has made it quite clear that infrastructure deficits relating to pipes is as far as they're concerned a Somebody Else's Problem, and down to ratepayers to fund.
So even if councils hold other spending down to the rate of inflation - or even less, expect the "water rates" portion to go up by double figures percentages every year for years to come. I suspect a major constraint will be the capacity of CCOs & contractors to rip out & replace the hundreds of kilometers of water, sewage & stormwater mains that needed replacing a decade or more ago, and now are failing.

To be fair, it's not the governments problem. Councils are the one's who have been ignoring the issue. Unfortunately it is the ratepayers who will carry the burden.

Even if the government came to the rescue, guess who pays? Pretty well the same people but through their taxes.

It should be a wake up call to councils, don't spend the the rates on flash council offices and other nice things all the while ignoring your core responsibilities.

Have a look in most towns and cities and you will see the flashest buildings are the council offices. It seems a bit out of place to me that the councils can afford better offices than their ratepayers.

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#3202520 2-Mar-2024 18:23

Several USA states allow Police to tell first responder paramedics to inject suspects with the anesthetic ketamine in order to subdue them. Predictably, several people have died:

NZHerald: convicted in December of criminally negligent homicide for injecting McClain with ketamine, a powerful sedative ultimately blamed for killing the 23-year-old massage therapist. Cichuniec also was convicted on a more serious charge of second-degree assault for giving a drug without consent or a legitimate medical purpose.

What a freaking horror.

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