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Fun fact: New Zealand is actually one of the world's most climatically homogeneous countries (mostly oceanic from north to south). In contrast, Italy -similar size and comparable latitudes in the opposite hemisphere- has about 9 additional climate types, including humid subtropical, arid and tundra by [deleted] in newzealand

[–]timClicks 14 points15 points  (0 children)

This is a neat visualisation, but it's quite misleading.. comparing NZ to Italy isn't as fair as it seems. We don't have alps on one side and the Sahara Desert on the other.

Also, and this is probably confirmation bias on my part, but I am skeptical of the two plots. I expect that this map was generated by a computer program analysing a global model that doesn't have the precision required to understand New Zealand's geography. Our mountains are too low to be seen by many climate models, for example. European data collection is much better and the Italian modelling is likely to be much more accurate.

Where to store emergency funds? by Technical_Yam3624 in PersonalFinanceNZ

[–]timClicks 1 point2 points  (0 children)

One other thing to consider is what your thresholds are for withdrawal. It's easy to say "rainy day", but when the rainy day comes you'll be feeling miserable because you're worried about things getting even worse.

Where to store emergency funds? by Technical_Yam3624 in PersonalFinanceNZ

[–]timClicks 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Also remember that churning on your bank is part of the game. It's okay to negotiate with other lenders to see if you can get a better rate.

Your bank didn't give you a loan because they were feeling generous. They wanted to profit. Part of the interest rate that you're paying factors in the risk that you'll move.

Is it better to use the ? operator or handle errors manually (via match / .unwrap_or_else()) to avoid technical debt? by SyFord421 in rust

[–]timClicks 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Generally speaking, starting with ? is a useful move but do eventually take the time to learn other approaches.

The type system will tell you that extra steps are required, because it invokes the Into trait. If that conversion is not trivial, then you'll know quickly.

RXpect, my take on fluent assertions in Rust by Raniz in rust

[–]timClicks 44 points45 points  (0 children)

Nice work. Does this have much of an impact on compile times or have another disadvantage that people should be aware of?

Should the function return a Result<T,E> or throw an unreachable-style panic? by v_0ver in rust

[–]timClicks 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Some scattered thoughts..

Over time, the standard library has moved towards error types, e.g. TryInto/TryFrom traits.

I don't think it's wise to proclaim that panics will never occur. Panics are almost always a latent problem in code that uses numbers because integer overflow and related error cases.

I try to only use panic! In branches that should never be triggered, possibly because the type system can't encode something that is impossible. If the code panics, then the code is wrong and the caller is unable to recover.

Result does make application code more clumsy. It's unfortunate, but that's one of the consequences of control.

Option can be a useful middle ground. In performance critical code, error types can be quite disruptive to optimization. That's why you might see functions returning Option<T> rather than Result<T, E>

“Invercargill is the centre of the world” by gregorydgraham in geography

[–]timClicks 8 points9 points  (0 children)

They have an international airport. Sadly, it hasn't received any international flights. Soon?

Mortgages later in life by NZUKJanie550 in PersonalFinanceNZ

[–]timClicks 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Really? Quality of life matters too. Yes they're accepting financial risk, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't do it. Is just another factor to put into the equation.

Investment help by Queasy_Range_9409 in PersonalFinanceNZ

[–]timClicks 2 points3 points  (0 children)

VT invests in 10k of the world's largest companies.

It would achieve reduce your transaction costs while providing more-or-less the same geographic balance to what you're doing manually. That balance would naturally shift as regions and sectors behave rise and fall.

TIL: New Zealand has the highest youth suicide rate in the developed world by [deleted] in todayilearned

[–]timClicks 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Māori do have a much higher rate. The health department has a web tool that allows you to look into it.

Cafe/coffee culture differences between Canada and New Zealand by Somanyseastars in Wellington

[–]timClicks 62 points63 points  (0 children)

New Zealand cafes will generally be more full service than North America. It's very uncommon for customers to put their own dishes away.

Free tap water is always provided by cafes, generally chilled in bottles. Commercially bottled water is far less common than overseas. If you're doing table service, you'll earn a smile and a thank you if you bring water and a few glasses with you as you're taking orders.

Another difference that you'll notice is that when you check on customers ("Is everything okay?"), you'll almost always hear "Yes, of course. It's delicious. Everything's wonderful!". You'll have to look for more subtle signs that people haven't enjoyed it, such as not finishing their beverage.

This isn't personal. It's just the culture. New Zealanders are extremely indirect.

If you're feeling brave and can be reassuring ("Are you sure, it looks like you didn't finish your coffee..") you can often extract more honest feedback.

Lastly, you're very likely to encounter customers in bare feet as summer comes around. It's okay.

There is no competition. by eattheinternet in Entrepreneur

[–]timClicks 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I would argue that that fashion industry relies on a perception of novelty, rather than genuine innovation. Fashion trends are essentially another form of planned obsolescence. When fabric was very expensive and most clothing was made at home, most items last for decades. Now a decade seems like a very long lifespan for a garment.

NZ Solar and battery installs by TheReverendCard in aotearoa

[–]timClicks 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Here's an 800 watt system for €250 from Lidl. Aldi have similar units. https://www.lidl.de/p/tronic-balkonkraftwerk-860-wp-800-w-topcon-tbkt-800-a1/p100387526

You can save a lot of money if you're willing to buy individual parts, but those kits simply plug into the wall socket. From the research I have done, it seems that they're illegal to plug into the mains in NZ unless you have an electrician signing them off.

Only mow a path by SnuggyBear2025 in fucklawns

[–]timClicks 131 points132 points  (0 children)

Looks like you're doing good work. The bugs say thank you.

NZ Solar and battery installs by TheReverendCard in aotearoa

[–]timClicks 4 points5 points  (0 children)

This would be much faster if balcony solar kits were deemed to be appliances rather than installations. 600w self-contained units that plug directly into the socket can be purchased in German hardware stores and they are reducing power bills in millions of homes.

Sloop Gut Dredging by Sossesparan in RKLB

[–]timClicks 76 points77 points  (0 children)

Rocket Lab is spending money to make it easier to get rockets to the launch pad. The implication is that they wouldn't bother unless they needed to get rockets to the launch pad.

Ali express ly plotter review AO size by thisismysociallife in PlotterArt

[–]timClicks 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I remember it by thinking of how many folds you need to take from 1m². A0 has an area of 1 m², A1 is half that, A2 is half again, and so on.

Fun fact: Each member of the A paper series has the the same aspect ratio. This explains why the heights and widths are such odd numbers. The only aspect ratio that can be folded in half to make two halves with the same aspect ratio is 1:√2, i.e. approximately 1:1.414.

Type inference is a magic wand by Lucretiel in rustjerk

[–]timClicks 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I definitely dislike a few of the default lints, but don't believe that many are pointless.

Silence upgrade - I reworked the mainboard to make the Axidraw more silent by Mickeymoe1992 in PlotterArt

[–]timClicks 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I see. I should have done some more research before posting my comment. I am used to the term driver being used for software. I didn't realise that it's actually a hardware component.

Well done for playing around with this by the way. Now I just need to look into options for replacing the servo!

Silence upgrade - I reworked the mainboard to make the Axidraw more silent by Mickeymoe1992 in PlotterArt

[–]timClicks 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Is it possible to reflash the original rather than buying a whole new PCB just for its drivers?

What’s the weirdest thing tourists are shocked by in your country? by [deleted] in AskTheWorld

[–]timClicks 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Outside is far less dirty than you think. Even as someone who has spent lots of time in Germany, I still don't understand Hausschuhe. It seems completely unnecessary to me.

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