intern

Well...I'm here, aren't I?

And PS I managed to get the thread back to NZ and even include the ugly - the education system, wonderful as it is, still lags the needs of the market. BOOM!

The real problem behind the apparent paradox of 'job shortages' and 'growing unemployment' is that education machinery, even in a developed nation like New Zealand, far lags the requirements of the modern economy. In effect, our schools (and universities) here in NZ are teaching kids things they won't be able to use to earn a living. While all the BAs and LLBs and Women and Gender Studies luvvies walk away with fancy degrees and titles, there is very little demand for that sort of 'skill'. It is for this reason that I firmly believe the primary responsibility for the education of children rests with parents. My boys will be taught to take apart computers, plumb drains and build cupboards before they go to uni - ie, they will learn actual skills. This is not to say that there isn't value in things like the classics or cultural studies - there is. But to earn a living, you have to be able to meet a need that society has.

But Swiss! Technology is just technology; Arkwright's machines, in his age, were probably more fantastic to the average man than the smartphone is now. When technology is introduced into the home or workplace, it benefits humanity through lower prices, more abundant goods and the elimination of unpleasant tasks (who can forget the exciting employment of the 'knocker-up'; today we use the alarm on our smartphones to accomplish the result of her labours); be that as it may, Hazlitt and others have noted that there may well be short-term pain for those directly affected - the knocker-up and her pea-shooter have to find something else to do which people want. BTW sorry for getting sidetracked here!

That's a persistent and pernicious fallacy Swiss. Advancement certainly does eliminate a lot of jobs...but remember, every advancement is done for the benefit of people. Full employment is not a desirable thing; to use a bit of reductio ad absurdum, in the stone age we had full employment where people were banging rocks together and scraping around in the mud like the peasants in Monty Python's Quest for the Holy Grail. Sure, everyone was working, but it wasn't very nice. Also, crucially, as advancements happen, jobs don't disappear, they change. Think about the modern landscape...when I started work about 24 years ago, I had no idea what 'IT' was and I don't think I was alone. Today, there are an absolute multitude of jobs available which simply didn't exist then - just scan the classifieds. Fundamentally, the idea that 'machines', mechanisation, automation and efficiency are a bad thing is a deeply flawed one. The logic is precisely the same as that applied by the Luddites in the 19th century when they set about destroying stocking frames and other machinery. As noted by economist Henry Hazlitt, the introduction of machinery to stocking production caused an increase in the number of people employed in this industry by 4400%, while dramatically lowering the price of the finished good for any person who wished to purchase it. That right there is the benefit of automation and the benefits it brings not just to those running the machines, but society as a whole.

PS I've had that same S-Works SL2 since 2007, it's still a great bike.

Snuck out for a nice road bike ride yesterday; this is a pic overlooking the Kaipara Harbour after going up Pinchgut Road which is a short but pretty hard climb. Thought I was being clever going out at 11h30...overcast, then the sun came out after I was already home!

Donates most of it to charity. He's worth around 50 mil, was a top dawg at Merrill Lynch before politics - some say he might have made CEO there, but after making a hefty amount of loot, he decided his talents lay elsewhere.

Couple pics from my trip to Whakatane; mostly of the access roads and trailhead, I was having too much fun bombing the single track to take any pics of that!

Cook that man some f**king eggs! (Or face the consequences!)

Had a few very stinky possums on my ride this morning. Not sure if they are better alive or dead...

It's summer, we also have droughts in summer. It rains more in Auckland than it does in Joburg, but it certainly does not rain all the time! But for real good weather, you want to go to Tauranga/Whakatane/Gisborne...

Better not put Rotorua/Redwoods pics here then...

Couple pics from this morning's cruise on the Hibiscus Coast...

Vegetable tunnel.

Yes, Susi is going to learn much that week

Hahaha yes Welly is consistent all right! Consistently sh*t. But Welly is also like Cape Town in another way: on those rare occasions when the weather is good, you have to tell the whole rest of the country because it is pretty spectacular

Constantly amazes me how fast the checkout people work. And they are friendly, too.

Interesting, that - I chose NZ because it is a lot less regulated than Aussie; for example, any fool can buy a boat and go to sea here, no training or license necessary (sensible people do a skipper's and radio course first). But as always, it is different strokes for different folks - some Safas here I know were outraged that they got a parking ticket 5 minutes after their time expired (um, that was the deal all along, when it expires it expires). I don't find it over-regulated, but then I am slipping into middle age and like and appreciate the need for rules and regulations and the necessity for (most) people to follow them. Makes for a better functioning society I spose. Hope you're coming in summer, reckon you should have a great holiday. Winter...erm, yes, well now there is that.

First bicycle was a blue single speed Raleigh Bomber; think I was 13 or so. Rode that thing to school and back every day - 8 kays each way.

There is little question that if I attempted to use one of those old razors, I'd be lucky if it only cost an arm and a leg.

Some weird goings on at Hideout. I remember sitting around a bonfire there with a large 'cigarette' being passed around. Some creep came along trying to bum some Ront, the one dude stood up and chooned the greezer - 'You know what, I'm gonna get cane rat f--ked and you aren't, you know why, because YOU haven't got any MONEY!'. Man, I laughed...

Ha ha ha classic molester right there!

Vantage point on Kawau Island, just north of Auckland, + mansion. You park your boat on the beach, walk past the mansion (which belong to Governer George Grey - the same one who gave Grey's Hospital, in Pmb, where I was born, it's name, as well as Grey College, Greytown, etc, in SA) and tackle the walking tracks which take you above these bays. Nice views.

Fishing off Pikowai, near Whakatane. If you like fishing, NZ is the country for you.