intern

Not sure what sort of respect is due for that sort of look, TBH.

Overengineering if you asked me. Leave the headphones behind, listen and be aware of traffic and be considerate.

Hell yeah. A boat is compulsory equipment in NZ (and that one is a feckin macheen).

Been doing quite a bit of dirt riding on my road bike, takes you to some awesome places. Also, a few shots from our trip to the Bay of Islands this December, weather was amazing. Camped on Urupukapuka Island, highly recommended, what an amazing experience. Kids loved it. There's a shot of the campsite there, you can see my boat just off the beach, plus one of a sunset the one evening.

Another Archer fan in NZ. Congrats!

I should add that we had visitors from South Africa this weekend, a chap who has worked for me for the past 5 years and his wife. It is pretty interesting for us to see how people new to the country react - the amazement at unlocked doors and no fences, constant comments on how beautiful everything is, a wry observation on the absence of car guards, water from the taps (!?) is something of a novelty, roads and how people drive (so civilized). And also on how expensive everything is... Makes you realise how quickly one takes so much for granted.

Managed to get out for a bike ride on Saturday morning before taking the family out on the boat in the afternoon...did some road bike on the metal road (Kiwis call dirt road 'metal roads' because of the corrugation...corrugated iron...metal).

Spose it's different strokes for different folks. I'm just a typist and we don't battle. Also, any CA who thinks a veggie garden is going to save him money must have missed the 'economies of scale' lesson....

Job prospects looking up! But newspapers are going out of business. Still SCREWED (and it looks like Swiss was right, after all )

Ha ha, fully - eating out isn't so much a case of 'you can't afford it' as it is a case of 'it just isn't worth it'. And that's even if you're earning NZD. As for cash washes, that's a sport you'd best get used to (and boat washing, and bike washing). The pic below is a shot of the Prime Minister taken by his son - John Key is washing Max's car.

Actually, no it isn't! Children are allowed to earn an income and they are not taxed on it. Which is why some kids will spend their holidays picking berries etc along with their parents (tends to be lower socio-economic groups, though there is never any shame in decent hard work). A mate of mine runs a berry farm down in Whakatane, he says his good workers bring their kids, they spend the day working and they earn good dosh with limited tax overhead. http://www.ird.govt.nz/income-tax-individual/different-income-taxed/child-ex-inc/iit-child-exempt-inc.html

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...