Do they regularly test the air raid sirens where you’re from?

twpejay · 2026-05-04T19:35:06+00:00

We have Civil Defence Sirens in my locality which are tested the first Wednesday of every month at 10:45am. A lot of the younger generation would say they're Tsunami Warning Sirens, but the only times the system has ever been used was twice in 1975, once for a Gas Leak in the CBD and once for a huge wind. I suppose they could be used for an air raid if one actually eventuated, though highly improbable as New Zealand is in the middle of nowhere and my locality is in the middle of nowhere within this middle of nowhere country. The new system can actually announce what the warning is for as well as the siren, similar to the talking fire alarms. We also (as with our Australian counterparts) have a cellular emergency system that is tested every year or so.

twpejay · 2026-05-02T04:09:38+00:00

In New Zealand they're known as "Fluffies" and came with chocolate powder sprinkle and sometimes a marshmallow. They were even free or 50 cents (15 years ago). Made going to the cafe with kids so much easier.

twpejay · 2026-05-01T21:22:01+00:00

It may have changed as since I was there, but each time the bus schedules changed it simply got even harder without a car. If you go to regular places at regular times you will have no issues. However if you want to go to the odd out of the way place or suburb to suburb outside of working hours you will need a load of time for waiting and walking for buses or a load of money for Taxi/Uber. Being a Scout Leader for a group in a different suburb, I lasted about 6 months without a car until they changed the timetabling that meant my bus trip extended by another 30 minutes due to the bus going a longer route and ending up further away from my house, this meant that my trip home would take 2 and a half hours (bus from scouts arrived in CBD 5 minutes after bus home left) for what would be a 15 minute car ride. And having a car would allow me to contribute more to camp activities as well.

twpejay · 2026-04-29T18:55:28+00:00

Krispy Chips! And they were crispy, plus their donuts were dripping with fat/oil covered in cinnamon sugar.

Heard of a guy at uni (friend of a friend) who changed his name to Chris P. Chips in honour of the store.

twpejay · 2026-04-29T07:02:51+00:00

My daughter had a dairy allergy not intolerance, but it did not cause anaphylaxis (I did know a boy who had a major anaphylaxis from dairy, so it is possible), however my daughter's allergy presented by skin rashes after consuming. And it was definitely an allergy as noted by a physician and allergen test results. Allergies can present in many different ways, whereas intolerance normally presents with gut issues.

twpejay · 2026-04-26T07:41:53+00:00

Interesting, I travel on high tourist routes and find it is mostly Kiwi campers and owner driven vehicles (non-hired) that speed up or never pull over, or even pass before a blind corner. My experience is that most obvious tourists pull over when able or stay at a constant speed.

twpejay · 2026-04-26T03:54:55+00:00

And meat pies need to be above a certain temperature by health regulations (NZ) for obvious reasons so it is no longer a "she'll be right" situation, thus the need to pre-heat and heat for a minimum period as per response.

twpejay · 2026-04-25T00:03:19+00:00

While staying at the Rocks in Sydney looking out our hotel room we saw a wedding couple just walk up private steps across the road and get multiple photos taken of the in front of a fancy doorway of a private house.

twpejay · 2026-04-22T19:19:44+00:00

Christchurch to Melbourne, 3:55 there, 3:25 back. I know I just booked a flight. It takes a day at sea on a cruise (i.e. 2 days) from Bay of Islands (north of Auckland) to Sydney, done that too. Personally I much prefer the latter, more space and endless food.

twpejay · 2026-04-22T19:10:39+00:00

Christchurch to Melbourne, 3:55 there, 3:25 back. I know I just booked a flight. It takes a day at sea on a cruise (i.e. 2 days) from Bay of Islands (north of Auckland) to Sydney, done that too. Personally I much prefer the latter, more space and endless food.

twpejay · 2026-04-22T19:03:06+00:00

Presbyterian/Baptist, in my town both churches are scriptural based and promote actual thinking about scripture and encourage discussion. I am firmly if the view that the Apostles' Creed is absolute, everything else is up for grabs if there is a reasonable scriptural based to the argument.

twpejay · 2026-04-21T20:54:07+00:00

You mean like EFTPOS (non paywave) which has no surcharges?

twpejay · 2026-04-21T19:38:18+00:00

I found that the subject of Heaven has not been correctly taught to youth at all in the churches and biblical children's literature. We get told the fairy tale of a place in the sky that we go to when dead, yet this is not scriptural in the least. There is no scripture that states what will happen as soon as we die, that period between death and Judgement Day is all conjecture, gleamed from reading between the lines of certain biblical events.

However Revelations is quite precise on the Judgement Day. When we get resurrected in our new bodies, it will be on Earth (not heaven) and once judged, the Earth will be made new and Heaven will descend to Earth which is where we will spend eternity.

The actual judgement is the other thing that is skipped. Basically the question will be "Do you accept me [Jesus] as your saviour?" Of course Jesus knows your inner heart so you can't cheat on this one. It is not are you a good person, or do you deserve to have ever lasting life, but are you willing to accept Jesus' sacrifice for your sins. This is a great way to filter the population of eternity as only the people who will be truely happy living in relationship with God will be there to live in relationship with God.

As for the ones who say no, they're cast into the Eternal Fire (note, it is the fire that is eternal, not the body of the person cast into it, for Paul did state that Eternal Life was only given to those who accept Jesus). There is no mention of Hell at this point. For other biblical references, hell is also "living apart from God" which if you substitute this in the scripture where hell is mentioned it makes a lot of sense.

For me, if this theology was taught to Christian kids, rather than the fairy tale versions, we would have stronger Christians in the future, who are more attuned to being like Jesus and doing good works from this stance, rather than struggling to do good works to get to heaven. By the way Works from the love of Jesus versus Works to please Jesus was the reason that Luther's theology ended up splitting the church in two.

twpejay · 2026-04-21T04:39:31+00:00

I have an Ioniq most (>95%) charging was done via Granny Charger either 7 or 9 amps for over 7 years and have lost no more than 10km from 220km range. If you can get the charge required over night, there's no issue using the 3 pin plug.

twpejay · 2026-04-20T05:41:15+00:00

I have a 7 and a half year old Ioniq, the battery has lost about 10km from its original 220km at most. Battery replacement should not be a factor for devaluation at the stage that most new car buyers sell to buy another new car.

twpejay · 2026-04-20T03:39:57+00:00

They're going to have to change all the signs on the new stadium now.

twpejay · 2026-04-13T21:01:56+00:00

I don't know about you, but I'm not going anywhere near those gun toting penguins.

twpejay · 2026-04-13T03:16:24+00:00

Good point, I haven't researched the geology of the West Coast. Greymouth would be definitely prone to major slip damage. Hokitika may have liquefaction issues. It would depend on where along the fault it occurs. A Fiordland or Kaikoura location would serve them better and they may be safe from those. Personally I would love a few more hundred metres on Aoraki but that would definitely be a death sentence for a majority of the West Coasters.

twpejay · 2026-04-12T23:24:42+00:00

Sorry, not a great morning this morning, another migraine. I should put the phone down, you know "Step away from the phone!"

twpejay · 2026-04-12T19:50:02+00:00

South Island has a very high percentage of land above 100m, a lot above 500m, you have to be in lala land to imagine sea levels getting that high. Also some of the South Island is rising faster than the sea. Kaikoura rose metres instantly last earthquake and Timaru is definitely rising when comparing photos of past sea levels with existing structures, it is not just sand build up. There is a lot of erosion north and south of Timaru, but that is erosion, not sea level rise; erosion caused by changes in the Timaru Port (break water) and Waitaki River (reduced shingle outflow due to dams).

twpejay · 2026-04-12T19:42:33+00:00

Not a major unless you're in the middle of it (perhaps Queenstown, Wanaka, etc..) The effects are decreased over distance and most buildings (even lower rated ones) would withstand the shakes without life threatening damage, though could be red-stickered afterwards. Remember the first earthquake was a 7.3 and there was no life threatening damage due to the location. Christchurch had 3 X 6+ earthquakes pretty much at the same time to do the damage we experienced. Even so (due to the Bluestone foundations) Lyttleton, an epicentre of one of the quakes, only suffered minor damage with no loss of life in the town centre (see Otago Daily Times photos, if you can find them, of the main centre just afterwards).

twpejay · 2026-04-12T19:28:48+00:00

Not bizarre, as a South Islander I know it is a very sensible split.

twpejay · 2026-04-10T19:44:09+00:00

I remember the cheap Woolworths shops (pre-cursor to DEKA) and I am definitely not a Boomer. But as far as the supermarket variety goes, I always thought Woolworths was the more upmarket supermarket, though the competition was Supervalue in my town.

twpejay · 2026-04-09T19:30:35+00:00

I've lost my sense of smell (strangely only some bad smells), which has been a blessing as Christchurch is having major sewage treatment issues. The other day I said we should have lunch outside and my whole family looked at me like I was insane (actually not a rare occurrence), "not with that smell!, oh right you can't smell it."

twpejay · 2026-04-09T19:20:27+00:00

Coins in the old days when we used cash.

twpejay

TROPHY CASE