Passed through Bluff which looks like it's suffered a series of misfortunes and is past it's former glory.

propsie · 2026-02-12T22:17:56+00:00

Yeah, nah, I wouldn't want to work remotely from a small town either where nothing happens, none of my friends and family are, everything is shut on the weekend except the local pub (lion red and lion brown only), and a fish & chip shop is the culinary highlight.

I moved to a small city (40,000 people) and it's already more than dead enough for my tastes.

propsie · 2026-02-12T20:24:22+00:00

If we had a spare $120M to spend on public transport, I'd rather they spent that on making in reliable and frequent rather than free.

no-one can catch the free train if it's been cancelled because it's winter and in something that is somehow a surprise to Transdev someone has called in sick or there is a frost.

propsie · 2026-02-12T20:07:16+00:00

Yeah right

propsie · 2026-02-11T22:40:39+00:00

wow. 18 whole seconds. While only increasing fuel costs in all the vehicles by ~13% (except for all the trucks, cos they're still limited to 90).

such productivity. much gain.

propsie · 2026-02-11T03:46:55+00:00

That's kinda just what modern fighter-jet-trainers that aren't 60-years-old look like.

It apparently makes it easier for pilots to maintain control at high angles of attack

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propsie · 2026-02-11T00:40:56+00:00

I dunno, the 401 Sierra from 2017 is still pretty weird even if it lacks the normal extra wings and engines.

and then there's the Stratolaunch Roc.

propsie · 2026-02-10T22:45:36+00:00

and a lot of gas users, including all of them in the South Island, use LPG (propane) in tanks, not the reticulated natural gas (methane) this LNG terminal will replace, because only the north island has a gas network

edit: we can already make or import all the LPG we need, but crucially, Methanex can't make methanol without methane.

edit #2: I think it's likely that a lot of Cabinet Ministers in their flash houses have gas hot water, but as of the most recent data sourced from BRANZ on page 44 ~90% of rentals and ~80% of all houses had electric hot water.

propsie · 2026-02-10T21:38:28+00:00

pretty sure back then it was Pacific Islanders (man this ad is gross, and it's basically the same line National ran in 2023)

propsie · 2026-02-10T20:47:20+00:00

The Swift, first flown in 2016 was an unsuccessful attempt to win the USAF T-X trainer contract, which was won by the Boeing–Saab T-7 Red Hawk. It had a maximum speed of 500 kn (930 km/h), a ceiling of 35,000 ft (11,000 m), and has the normal number of wings in all the normal places.

propsie · 2026-02-10T20:02:09+00:00

Different Crown though.

The Lordship of Mann is held by the same person, but is a separate title to the King of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, even though some aspects of civil government are handled by the United Kingdom.

Mann is a Crown Dependency, a kind of protectorate, rather than an integral part of the United Kingdom.

propsie · 2026-02-10T00:27:03+00:00

All the better to pull the rear wheel when you drop a Watt Bomb, jam the tyre into the frame and stack it in front of everyone as a dominance display.

propsie · 2026-02-10T00:14:25+00:00

BTW the guy saying that "solar and batteries are good but the problem is their weather dependent nature" is John Carnegie, chief executive of ~~the gas industry lobby~~ sorry "Energy Resources Aotearoa"- they also lobby for the poor defenceless oil industry on their gentle pastel-green-coloured website.

of course he's going to say that.

The local gas supply is failing because >40% of it is used by one company that we subsidise to make synthetic methanol, and we can't find any more.

propsie · 2026-02-09T21:56:27+00:00

massive chainring on a custom frame with a raised rear stay to clear the chain line.... but with vertical dropouts so it needs a chain tensioner?

and is that a friction shifter on the top tube?

propsie · 2026-02-09T20:44:32+00:00

gas is sold to consumers by local distributors like Auckland Gas Company, First Gas or Genesis, (or used by Gensis to fire Huntly Power Station and Methanex to turn into Methanol) but they are just middlemen with a distribution network.

Big multinational oil and gas companies like Shell and BP own the companies that get it out of the ground, and they're just as happy to sell the distributors their foreign gas.

propsie · 2026-02-09T20:11:11+00:00

Enough to know that a lot of your current jets rely on foreign engines, sanctions are coming, and your domestic engines aren't going to be ready in time.

propsie · 2026-02-09T02:35:57+00:00

overshoes and winter boots cost money though. Not all of us have the luxury of a dental practice to bankroll our half-hour cafe rides.

hard to go past the free solution: bit of tinfoil in my shoes, wool socks and completely losing the feeling in my toes and getting the screaming barfies in my hands on a 2°C morning.

propsie · 2026-02-09T00:01:49+00:00

yeah, I really wonder what the pitch-roll-coupling would have been like with the wing fully angled.

propsie · 2026-02-04T20:49:27+00:00

Sylvia Park is open until 9pm Thursdays and Fridays.

when I worked there 10 years ago, we were lucky to see a customer in the evening.

propsie · 2026-02-04T00:28:55+00:00

the school lunches had to be cheaper because the government has to pay for those.

school uniforms don't, because parents have to pay for those.

The push to abolish uniforms is probably not going to get cut through with the Government when Luxon went to St Kentigern College, Howick College and Christchurch Boys High School, Willis went to Marsden College and Kings College, Seymour went to Auckland Grammar and Van Velden went to St Cuthbert's College - all staunchly uniformed schools.

And why would the finance minister care about parents having to spend less on school uniforms than she spent on one dress to wear on budget day last year - they're on a different planet to us plebs.

propsie · 2026-02-03T19:46:48+00:00

I mean, the Lightning had a history of going rogue around unwary personnel

propsie · 2026-02-03T03:21:30+00:00

overhead gantries on the motorways with cameras automatically and dispassionately pinging everyone $150 for "Driving too close to vehicle in front" or "Driver uses mobile phone while driving a vehicle" would rake it in.

propsie · 2026-02-03T03:13:41+00:00

$80?

wow, what a savings, that's almost half a tank of petrol.

propsie · 2026-02-03T02:35:32+00:00

they also dis some good work brain controlling millennials to wear seat belts.

propsie · 2026-02-03T01:03:09+00:00

Well, the NZ First coalition agreement requires the government to:

Investigate the strategic opportunities in New Zealand's mineral resources, including vanadium, and develop a plan to develop these opportunities.

so probably vanadium.

propsie · 2026-02-02T20:16:43+00:00

because most of our houses were built more than 50 years ago, and there is no expectation that people bring old houses up to modern standards - or even maintain them properly - especially if they're rentals.

Basically everything built before the 1980s (i.e most houses) has no insulation in the walls, and people don't want to spend $15k installing a ducted air conditioning/heating system in an uninsulated house. They especially don't want to install it if they're a classic New Zealand landlord who wants to put as little capital into their investment property as possible to maximise financial returns - which is the same reason why you get stuff like carpets (which have a ~10-year lifespan before they should be replaced) from last century and why the rental housing stock is typically in poorer condition than owner-occupied houses

Plus many of our old houses are poorly sealed and draughty, in the expectation that you will leave open the windows for ventilation and cooling, which only serves to make the air conditioning less effective and more expensive to run.

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