New Zealand - The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.

[patham]

 

 

*Apologies in advance to all the Aussies on this thread. You guys don't get proper fibre, only that bastardised and slow NBN nonsense    ...

 

...just take comfort in the fact that here in the South Eastern State we get reamed on EVERYTHING else compared to you guys 

 

One of my bugbears- NBN and telcos here in Aus are positively Telkom-ish, and I mean old-school monopoly Telkom.

 

The NBN used to have a Technology Choice option, where if you had a spare $10 k cash, you could cough up for fibre to your premises. That option had faded away by the time NBN came to my suburb, but I gather quite a few people paid that, and more (I think the highest personal install cost was $250 k). The only option for me was "take what's offered, otherwise you get nothing."

 

The best part of the NBN/telco handover was that I requested my home phone number be transferred to the new VOIP system that is part of the NBN. The system has given my a phone line that works, but has been assigned an unknown phone number. Not just unknown to me, but also the telco - they have not been able to tell me what it is. On the plus side, I can dial out without anyone knowing my identity, and there are no more surveys, spammers or scammers dialling in, as even random number generators have not cracked it.

[Steven Knoetze (sk27)]

So David Clark resigns, what a mess.

Will probably be used a the scapegoat for all the quarantine blunders now.

 

Then they replace him with the education minister, even less medical credentials.

WOW!!!

[hayleyearth]

First world problems...

 

,.....cost involved. $199. Yikes!

 

There is ample fibre under the house. I'm moving it towards the entry point (so less line needed), and it should take them about 30min max. But yeah, I guess the hefty 200 buck-a-roos is a first world problem.

[/size]

Good to know, I've been wanting to move ours but when I phoned Chores they said I must contact our broadband provider. Just haven't got to that yet

[hayleyearth]

Our little one just turned 2!!

And she's to big for her 1st bike now.

 

 

[patches]

Good to know, I've been wanting to move ours but when I phoned Chores they said I must contact our broadband provider. Just haven't got to that yet

 

Yeah, I'm with Bigpipe, and I just send them a request via their online contact system. They responded within about 2hrs and said the charge was $199 and if I was happy with that they would bill my account with them.

 

After I agreed to the cost, they booked the Chorus technician for Monday. So pretty speedy service.

 

The catch though is that the $199 is the base call-out fee. So in my case I should be fine as the relocation is simple and shouldn't require any splicing etc. But I have read other accounts where the bill hikes up into the $700 territory as modifications to the fibre are required.

[intern]

Good to know, I've been wanting to move ours but when I phoned Chores they said I must contact our broadband provider. Just haven't got to that yet

Chorus doesn't have any direct relationship with the customer, they serve the retailers - which is your ISP. That's why installs, even if pretty good, are still sometimes a nightmare, owing to the structure of the market.

[intern]

So David Clark resigns, what a mess.

Will probably be used a the scapegoat for all the quarantine blunders now.

 

Then they replace him with the education minister, even less medical credentials.

WOW!!!

 

He should have been fired when he flouted the very regulations he signed off on right at the start of lockdown. That was a precursor of the incompetence to come. But Jacinda doesn't know how to fire...and the appointment of Chippie just shows how shallow the Labour talent pool is. Chippie has WAY too much on his plate as it is; in addition to Education, he's Leader of the House, and Minister of State Services. That's 3 BEEG portfolios...and Health, in the present climate, has never been BEEEGER.

[davetapson]

So David Clark resigns, what a mess.

Will probably be used a the scapegoat for all the quarantine blunders now.

 

Then they replace him with the education minister, even less medical credentials.

WOW!!!

 

JA "No, no pressure was put on him to resign..."

 

A: That's in all likelihood an untruth...

B: In any case, why not...?! Damn...

Edited July 2, 2020 by davetapson

[intern]

JA "No, no pressure was put on him to resign..."

 

A: That's in all likelihood an untruth...

B: In any case, why not...?! Damn...

Didn't you see the pre-election debates between Bill English and Jacinda Ardern? Jacinda claimed she never lies and it's possible to be in politics without telling lies.

That's such an obvious lie it's almost comical in its naivete. All of us lie, one way or another, and politicians by the very nature of their 'business' are compelled to lie here, there and everywhere. We've seen plenty of evidence of Cindy telling porkies...this one is likely another example...

[davetapson]

Didn't you see the pre-election debates between Bill English and Jacinda Ardern? Jacinda claimed she never lies and it's possible to be in politics without telling lies.

That's such an obvious lie it's almost comical in its naivete. All of us lie, one way or another, and politicians by the very nature of their 'business' are compelled to lie here, there and everywhere. We've seen plenty of evidence of Cindy telling porkies...this one is likely another example...

Discussions, a few years ago...

 

Hey, do you reckon Lance dopes?

Well, there are a number of folk desperate to win at all costs.  If they are not currently winning, they will dope to win.  If there is a current non-doping winner, the likelihood is dopers will start to beat him.  If he wants to win, he needs to dope.

 

Ergo, if you are winning, you are likely doping.

 

(For all sports.)

 

Now, politicians.  How do you win as a politician - the ability to lie with a straight face and do smelly deals.  Proof: best politicians of the last couple decades?  Bill Clinton and Tony Blair.  Both of whom would struggle to not tell an untruth even if they tried.

 

Same story - how do you become a winning politician? You lie with a straighter face and greater fluency than your rivals... (and likely do smellier deals with greater ease...)

 

Question: does that PM/President lie and do smelly deals (that allow them to get to where they are)? The answer is staring you in the face. And lying to you.

 

(Half the problem of course is that the electorate like being lied to, but that's another discussion...) 

Edited July 5, 2020 by davetapson

[Slowbee]

https://www.petcentral.co.nz/catalog/Dog-and-Cat-Food-66/Acana-Cat-and-Dog-Food-413/Acana-Prairie-Poultry-Dog-Food-10922.html

 

Calling you NZ folk ... would you guys say this brand of pet food is expensive or mid range for your furry kids ?

[patches]

https://www.petcentral.co.nz/catalog/Dog-and-Cat-Food-66/Acana-Cat-and-Dog-Food-413/Acana-Prairie-Poultry-Dog-Food-10922.html

 

Calling you NZ folk ... would you guys say this brand of pet food is expensive or mid range for your furry kids ?

 

Not having furry kids myself, but having had when I was in SA (a great dane) and knowing what her food bill was, I initially thought "$100, that's crazy!"...

 

but then I looked up some others (on Animates.co.nz) and $100 is pretty reasonable after all.

 

Royal Canin 12kg - $150

Hills 12kg - $150

Eukanuba 14kg - $150

 

Yes, there will be supermarket type foods (Pedigree etc) that will be significantly cheaper (about $85 for 20kg for Pedigree), but then there are also options like this:

 

Ziwipeak Cuisine 1kg - $73... seriously crazy , that's like the price/kg for a really nice steak from a butcher.

 

So to answer your question, Acana would probably fall into mid-range.

Edited July 5, 2020 by patches

[davetapson]

Hey Patches - how long did it take to receive a 'come for your induction' email from the Men's Shed?  Is that how it works..?

[patches]

Hey Patches - how long did it take to receive a 'come for your induction' email from the Men's Shed?  Is that how it works..?

 

Probably about 2 weeks (from Ross Miller).

Although I did receive an email within 1 day (from pam.dave.whiting) saying my name tag had been created and I could find it on the board at reception.

 

Also, at the induction, about 3 of the 7-odd new members had already been to the shed and used the workshops.

 

So if you've signed up, paid the subs, and have been notified about your name tag, you should be good to go. The induction is more about the history of the organisation and a bit of an orientation around the shed.

 

Let me know when you're keen to go and perhaps I can meet you there?!

 

Side note: I recently discovered the Mafell track saw. That is a thing of beauty. But I don't even have Makita track-saw money, nevermind Festool, and not to mention Mafell being a notch above that. Yikes!

Edited July 5, 2020 by patches

[davetapson]

Probably about 2 weeks (from Ross Miller).

Although I did receive an email within 1 day (from pam.dave.whiting) saying my name tag had been created and I could find it on the board at reception.

 

Also, at the induction, about 3 of the 7-odd new members had already been to the shed and used the workshops.

 

So if you've signed up, paid the subs, and have been notified about your name tag, you should be good to go. The induction is more about the history of the organisation and a bit of an orientation around the shed.

 

Let me know when you're keen to go and perhaps I can meet you there?!

 

Side note: I recently discovered the Mafell track saw. That is a thing of beauty. But I don't even have Makita track-saw money, nevermind Festool, and not to mention Mafell being a notch above that. Yikes!

I might take you up on that.

 

I need to laminate a bunch of timber together to make a centre-board and rudder for my dinghy, and I need a thicknesser to plane that down from 30odd mm to 22, so that would make a great start!

 

Going on leave for a week next weekend (skiing/Ruapahu) so likely won't be done for couple weeks.

 

They don't have a cnc machine to cut the foil profile onto it do they...? 

 

Edit: Dang, that saw is everything my 15 y.o. bottom-of-the-range Ryobi circular saw is not...

Edited July 5, 2020 by davetapson

[patches]

I might take you up on that.

 

I need to laminate a bunch of timber together to make a centre-board and rudder for my dinghy, and I need a thicknesser to plane that down from 30odd mm to 22, so that would make a great start!

 

Going on leave for a week next weekend (skiing/Ruapahu) so likely won't be done for couple weeks.

 

They don't have a cnc machine to cut the foil profile onto it do they...? 

 

As far as I recall the thicknesser didn't require any special induction (like the table saw does). 2 weeks time should be perfect. This coming weekend I'll be sanding drywall and installing cornices. Fun! 

 

As for the CNC, sadly not. But I did come across a company in Christchurch (Vertigo) that make something very much like the X-Carve. Plus it uses the Makita RT0700 Router (which I already have, so spares etc is a plus). The X-carve uses a Dewalt.

 

Currently the vertigo routers are sold out, but Phoenix technology has ads on TradeMe for rental of the machines, starting at about $150pm. Once I'm done with builder's work, I may look into renting one for a month or 2 and play around.