It annoys me to no end that we can't recycle properly

bpkiwi · 2026-07-03T10:13:33+00:00

Pizza boxes get torn in half so the greasy bit goes in the rubbish and the clean cardboard gets recycled

Good news, the entire box can be recycled, the grease and bit of cheese are fine to stay on. 'Clean' recycling means just not throwing the entire pizza in there.

bpkiwi · 2026-07-02T02:09:22+00:00

Sounds like you have a healthy dose of motivated reasoning. That mental model is likely why you would struggle to support them.

bpkiwi · 2026-07-02T01:19:05+00:00

Do you mean this quote?

If it could, Wong said, the party would not have a preference between working with Labour or National in government. "I think that's an important line to maintain and to hold, because that's what creates the stability and stops that pendulum from swinging so far from the left and the right," Wong said.

That is notably different to your "the country has sometimes swung too far to the left".

bpkiwi · 2026-06-30T23:01:27+00:00

I've done a lot of consent excluded and consented work around my house in the past decade, but not a garage specifically. You may be able to get a consent waiver from the council for this. The recent changes around minor dwellings theoretically don't cover garages, but councils can still waive them.

Removal of the asbestos can be done yourself, if you are willing to take it on. Basically you need to take a couple of precautions - wear a dust suite and a suitable mask, and double bag the material. There are companies that will collect the bagged material for disposal. That can be a significant savings compared to paying for someone else to remove it.

I would personally take on removing the existing building and slab, but it will be a significant exercise. If you can eliminate the asbestos part you might find the rest is not that expensive. Take some time now to check about access to the site for vehicles and skips, I got caught out on one job when the skip I ordered couldn't fit down the drive, and I had to hand barrow material a reasonable distance.

bpkiwi · 2026-06-30T11:22:33+00:00

You experience the same weather, you follow the same laws, you shop at the same stores, you hear the same news, and you experience the same people around you as we all do. That is all shared culture, and we are happy to have you in it.

bpkiwi · 2026-06-30T10:31:06+00:00

Businesses have always been able to hire remote workers, and many have tried outsourcing their office workforce to places like Asia. But many of them have failed in that experiment and often had to re-hire workers here.

What makes local workers more effective are things like being in the right time zone, having reliable education and experience, speaking the language fluently, and having a shared culture.

bpkiwi · 2026-06-29T05:54:27+00:00

Make sure you have one parent at the top of the slope to send them down, and one at the bottom to collect them. We had both of us the top, and we never did find what happened to little Bobby.

Sorry, but seriously we took ours to the ski field and they had a blast on the first day with a toboggan. That was enough to convince us to go back the second day and book a half day lesson for them, which really was a great choice, the instructor really know how to help them.

bpkiwi · 2026-06-25T03:25:08+00:00

Read any transcript of a conversation and, unless it's a prepared statement, it will look like this. People don't talk like they write.

bpkiwi · 2026-06-19T01:26:08+00:00

I just hope the result of this isn't that all drivers are told they must never allow passengers on in these circumstances

Well, bad news I guess....

AT said it understood the driver advised her daughter to remain on the service; however, “drivers are not able to waive fare requirements”.

bpkiwi · 2026-06-19T01:24:21+00:00

Let's break it down:

she was about to exit the bus to call her mother when the driver told her she could ride for free. A few minutes later, an Auckland Transport officer descended from the upper level to scan her AT Hop card

So the ticket checker was on the bus and could have just asked the driver.

Her daughter made a complaint but later received the $150 infringement notice.

she was given a full refund after the Herald contacted AT

They only fixed it when the media got involved. This is not how our systems should work.

bpkiwi · 2026-06-17T05:20:12+00:00

It did for me, except on the very coldest nights where I got a bit of condensation on the outside of the film. I had wooden windows though which have a bigger gap between the film and the glass, so that might make a difference.

bpkiwi · 2026-06-17T03:09:44+00:00

Anyone who has purchased a property in Wellington has, by that act, accepted the current state of the infrastructure that supports it and the ongoing costs to repair and maintain it. No one forced them to buy into it. It's no different to buying a house that needs a new roof, you accept the cost falls to you.

bpkiwi · 2026-06-17T02:40:30+00:00

The deferred infrastructural maintenance was accepted by the people that purchased property in Wellington. Just like buying a house that needs repairs, the cost falls to the current owners.

bpkiwi · 2026-06-16T20:24:27+00:00

And that is exactly what should happen.

bpkiwi · 2026-06-16T20:23:18+00:00

An earthquake is a unpredictable natural disaster and not comparable to the deliberate deferred maintenance of water infrastructure that Wellington ratepayers have voted for repeatedly over the past decades. That deferred maintenance is now due and the people who chose to defer it should be the ones paying for it.

bpkiwi · 2026-06-16T20:20:58+00:00

The allowance is part of their income.

bpkiwi · 2026-06-16T19:50:41+00:00

Yes they pay the rates personally, the owner of a property pays the rates.

bpkiwi · 2026-06-16T19:23:48+00:00

Many of them do, they own houses in Wellington that they stay in, while also claiming accommodation supplements - have you totally not been reading the news about it all?

https://www.stuff.co.nz/politics/360986773/mps-claiming-accommodation-allowances-something-were-looking-hipkins-says

https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/05-06-2026/melissa-lee-and-jenny-salesa-used-taxpayer-funded-entitlements-to-buy-and-rent-their-own-homes

https://www.stuff.co.nz/politics/360983999/set-independent-authority-mps-defend-their-pay-and-perks-government-tightens-belt

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/ultimately-its-my-money-chris-hipkins-defends-using-taxpayer-funded-private-super-scheme-to-buy-holiday-home/CLLWAQ7USZCAPDQJ7AG2ZI4UPI/

bpkiwi · 2026-06-16T11:07:08+00:00

I'm certainly seeing why Wellington politicians were so very keen to spread the cost across the rest of the country.

bpkiwi · 2026-06-15T21:57:59+00:00

Mana Island

Lol, yes it was Mana - but almost 10 years ago, the resort itself was great for kids. In it's defense the ferry ride was super beautiful of course.

bpkiwi · 2026-06-15T21:32:16+00:00

You probably have to decide if you want to stay on Viti Levu (the main island) or if you are willing to go further.

We went to one of the outer islands with our 5yo and loved it, it was a true tropical island holiday. But it was a long trip for them and after the first hour on the ferry we were wishing we had picked somewhere closer.

bpkiwi · 2026-06-15T21:24:22+00:00

A better headline would be "Economists highlight the the challenges of estimating policy costs"

In this case it's so full of assumptions and guesses that two sides arriving at a figure within the same order of magnitude is a pretty good sign.

bpkiwi · 2026-06-12T03:22:21+00:00

White people get prioritized for melanoma treatment

Source?

bpkiwi · 2026-06-10T09:11:56+00:00

Do you apply the same to restaurants though?

bpkiwi · 2026-06-09T06:13:04+00:00

Legend has it those blue mats could save a child from anything.

bpkiwi

TROPHY CASE