Random Thoughts II

[[Malks] Pixie]

Yeah Newshub being shut down is catastrophic for our media ecology and for our countries democracy. Ignore the international news reporting (which is mostly wire work) and look to the impacts that this will have on our local reporting.

Only upside is it's going to be a great case study for the media economics in NZ paper which I'm tutoring this year (again, <sigh>).

[Lightspeed]

My bet is the government will use this as impetus to target RNZ.

[blynk]

Originally Posted by Ab

Yeah , 3 is gone.

David Farrier makes a good case for why this is bad:



More:

https://www.webworm.co/p/futureshock...m_medium=email

Having recently lost my job at Stuff, and having seen a lot of other people there lose their jobs and treated like shit, he's probably onto something.

I don't think its quite "shut down" material. Probably a lot cheaper to run that newshub was.

[xor]

I thought my new job would require some data engineering but this is nuts. Tell you wot, i am nearly 40 and still need to know about the master file table. phoaah

[Ab]

Originally Posted by Lightspeed

It's our political cycle. We flip between the builders and the "fiscally responsible".

I hope you don't have plans to cross the Cook Strait anytime in the next 30 years.

Truth bombs from Danylmc:

https://democracyproject.substack.co...u&open=fals e

Last week the heads of Kiwirail appeared before the transport and infrastructure select committee where they revealed they’d spent $424 million on the project to replace the Interislander ferry and port, most of it on planning, design and project management. The project has now been cancelled because of the astonishing cost blowout. This has become a familiar story in New Zealand politics: builds vital to the national interest being cancelled after long delays and incredible costs without anything being delivered: Auckland Light Rail, Let’s Get Wellington Moving, the Lake Onslow Hydro scheme.

[Lightspeed]

Part of the reason why these projects cost so much is so much effort is put into understanding environmental impacts and consulting with stakeholders.

The gamble the last government made was that they'd be in power long enough to see the projects through, making that spending worthwhile.

The current government doesn't seem so concerned about the future and so is unfettered by concerns of the long term consequences. Billions and billions can go towards roads without all that wasteful handwringing figuring out how to build a sustainable future.

[Ab]

From danylmc's essay:

The prevailing left-wing model of state entities is that they’re Weberian bureaucracies: efficient, rational, rule-bound, professional, meritocratic; a universal class dedicated to serving the nation. If you looked at the under-examined assumptions behind Ardernism I suspect a strong belief in the infallibility of state bureaucracies would lie at the heart of it: any problem can be solved if you give the experts running the relevant ministry more money and tell them to be kind.

[wazza]

what's up with these numbers, i thought trigger had the latter


Currently Active Users: 2092 (2 members and 2090 guests)
Most users ever online was 3,380, 10th January 2024 at 02:42.

[Ab]

NFI. Bots, or hung processes from bots trying to register? The site is reporting 2000 guest users looking at the site right now, which just isn't possible.

[Lightspeed]

Originally Posted by Ab

From danylmc's essay:

There's always bureaucracy, ever more so as inequality escalates and more has to be done to fend off those seeking diminishing resources.

The difference is who notices it.

For instance Seymour's Ministry of Regulation will "cut red tape" for those with the most, fast tracked resource consent, that kind of thing. While at the same time implementing all kinds of hurdles for the least of us trying to get our basic needs met.

If it wasn't for the pandemic driving up populism I think Ardern would have pulled off a lot of infrastructure gains for us. But she had to settle for saving our lives instead.

[MadMax]

Originally Posted by Ab

NFI. Bots, or hung processes from bots trying to register? The site is reporting 2000 guest users looking at the site right now, which just isn't possible.

No mention of the outage from the other day?

[Ab]

Oh shit, I actually forgot all about it. All I did was reboot the VPS and everything was good. But that was on the 27th or 28th of Feb wasn’t it?

[Lightspeed]

The 29th! Cause it was the day the self-service petrol pumps went down.

[Ab]

Originally Posted by Ab

Newshub closing the doors:

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/...ne-sources-say

TVNZ cutting heads

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/...ASX6AB47C7KR4/

[Lightspeed]

RoI on advertising must be in the pits.

[Ab]

RoI on being a government owning a TV station must be even worse.

[wazza]

fiscally(life in general) i'm incredibly naive. can someone please tell me, are we in a recession? is one of the way? is the year(or 2) ahead going to be tough on business?

i think i'm in a bit of a bubble, don't have kids/mortgage, don't have any friends, etc. i just go to training in the morning, go to work and come home and watch ficition, rinse/repeat 7 days a week.

is this the start of bad things? is this because of the way the world spent endlessly during covid, etc?

[MadMax]

Things aren’t as busy as they used to be. I find come 3pm everything goes quiet and the ‘afternoon rush’ has gone.

[Lightspeed]

Originally Posted by wazza

fiscally(life in general) i'm incredibly naive. can someone please tell me, are we in a recession? is one of the way? is the year(or 2) ahead going to be tough on business?

i think i'm in a bit of a bubble, don't have kids/mortgage, don't have any friends, etc. i just go to training in the morning, go to work and come home and watch ficition, rinse/repeat 7 days a week.

is this the start of bad things? is this because of the way the world spent endlessly during covid, etc?

We spent a pittance on the pandemic compared to what we'll spend on war.

What's going on is the usual complex interplay of forces, some we recognise, some we're oblivious to.

One thing that's happening is a wealth transfer to the richest, which is impacting our ability to purchase, which impacts the value of advertising.

[Ab]

Originally Posted by Ab

TVNZ cutting heads

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/...ASX6AB47C7KR4/

TVNZ staff are in tears as they hear plans to axe Sunday, Fair Go and two of the state broadcaster’s daily news bulletins - part of a massive cost-cutting plan in its news and current affairs division.

There are reports the Midday and Tonight weekday bulletins are being dumped as part of the widespread cuts, as TVNZ battles a big drop in traditional TV advertising revenue and audiences’ fast-moving shift to digital platforms.

Up to 68 jobs, including about 35 in news and current affairs, are being axed.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/tvnz-j...IPD53HPDRL4NQ/

[xor]

Originally Posted by wazza

fiscally(life in general) i'm incredibly naive. can someone please tell me, are we in a recession? is one of the way? is the year(or 2) ahead going to be tough on business?

i think i'm in a bit of a bubble, don't have kids/mortgage, don't have any friends, etc. i just go to training in the morning, go to work and come home and watch ficition, rinse/repeat 7 days a week.

is this the start of bad things? is this because of the way the world spent endlessly during covid, etc?

Don't know if NZ is officially in a recession but it's pretty fucken grim.

My advice, leave.

[xor]

My own personal anecdotes:

• A lot of the guys we kicked around with when we were young have left NZ. This is so wild to think about. Nobody ever really said 'fuck this place, i'm leaving and never coming back' back in the day, it just sorta happened..
• The bridge seems sketchier than previous years. Heaps of patched gang members drinking their lattes and being cunts. Felt pretty sketched out when i went down to the bridge at night, no women around. Only dudes who were looking pretty staunch.
• Purata looks more fucked than when i left. I remember growing up and riding my bike through there, it was always a bit sketch but now it looks like a fight will break out just from the wrong look.
• High living costs vs severely depressed salaries.

[Lightspeed]

Originally Posted by xor

My advice, leave.

Same issues the world over. This is supposedly Belgium:

• There are not enough nurseries
• There are not enough schools
• There are not enough jails
• There are not enough medics or nurses. The waiting lists are of the order of months/years, while a lot of medics don't take in new patients
• Psychological treatment is also unreachable in most cases
• The justice system is suffocated
• Highest taxes on work
• Probably more telling signs (please mention them)
• Police also seem to claim it is understaffed

It's the same phenomenon the world over: money for the wealthiest. With public discourse focused on how those with the least can manage with less. Cutting red tape so that the wealthiest have even fewer hurdles to more wealth.

[xor]

Not as severe as NZ imo. Similar pressures in Queensland but nowhere near as fucked as NZ is.

[xor]

Another anecdote, kiwi nurses leaving nz to go live in QLD because NZ is too expensive. When i was back in NZ and at middlemore, the nurses were blatantly saying how fucked nz is and they wish they could leave. Again, just an anecdote, take it however you want.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/fears-...FSQS6TP5QJ7HE/

It's grim and going to get a lot worse over there than other western nations.

[fixed_truth]

People will have to weigh up if the possibility to get ahead is worth tolerating extreme weather and racism engrained in society. I find NZ a lot more relaxed with generally nicer people. Each to their own I guess.

[Lightspeed]

Pretty sure the only people who think NZ is the worst are people who spend all their time in NZ.

[crocos]

Originally Posted by Lightspeed

Pretty sure the only people who think NZ is the worst are people who spend all their time in NZ.

Though Discovery throwing the last of tv3's news coverage to the scrapper is pretty shit. But that's more American corporate overlord capitalism BS than necessarily a NZ thing. But bye-bye to the last of the non-government funded/run TV news media.

OTOH TVNZ cutting it's number of news and current affairs shows is a crappy situation that isn't going to lead to anything good.

[Lightspeed]

The Oceans We Knew Are Already Gone

I don't even recall when I ate my last New Zealand scallop. I wonder what else I've eaten my last of that I don't realise.

[Savage]

Originally Posted by fixed_truth

People will have to weigh up if the possibility to get ahead is worth tolerating extreme weather and racism engrained in society. I find NZ a lot more relaxed with generally nicer people. Each to their own I guess.

Disclaimer: I'm a honkey, so will have the standard third-party, disconnected view on these things, but have not seen/heard/witnessed any more or less racism over here in Aus than I saw in New Zealand. I don't exactly go out looking for this kind of thing, but when I have witnessed it, it's usually one Pacific Islander toward/against another, or toward TSI or indigenous Australians. I think NZ are quite a bit further ahead in terms of addressing historical events/issues than Australia, however. Arriving fresh off the boat from South Africa in 1996, was greeted with a question from another honkey in 5th form at Mt Maunganui college, "Do your blacks smell as bad as ours?". Consider a 15 year old me blown away (most of my friends in South Africa when I left were either black or Cape Coloured).

You're pretty spot on re: the extreme weather, but NZ has been seeing it's own pretty abominable weather over the last couple of years.

I agree with xor, overall there seems to be far more options, more stability, better service in Aus. I've encouraged both my brother and sister to consider making the move, but they have children and extended family ties are far more important/necessary to them.

[MadMax]

What sound do people make as they’re bounced around the inside of an airplane? Boeing Boeing Boeing.

[StN]

I always wondered why Michael Crighton's book "Airframe" wasn't made into a film.

[Ab]

Jeez it sounds like the plane’s systems bluescreened on the pilot.

[DrTiTus]

Originally Posted by MadMax

What sound do people make as they’re bounced around the inside of an airplane? Boeing Boeing Boeing.

[MadMax]

I can’t get over how small the Intel NUCs are.

[wazza]

yeah we use them at work paired with a 4g router for backup WAN at each site. pretty slick. recommend

[DrTiTus]

Has anyone got one of the higher spec mini PCs from Ali Express?

I am always a fan of silent PCs, and I don't need much power (web browser with video acceleration and graphical SSH client is all I need), but the low power ones are spec'd like a Chromebook, and the high powered ones cost almost as much as a second hand Mac Mini, and I don't actually need another computer.

I just want someone to say "I got one, it's shit, never look at them again" and that'll solve my problem, ideally.

[MadMax]

Stay away from Chinese PCs. Google it.

[DrTiTus]

Originally Posted by MadMax

Stay away from Chinese PCs. Google it.

I was going to get one with no storage or RAM, and I'm aware of the dodgy Windows malware infested images that came with some of them.

I know there are BIOS-level viruses (at least proof of concept), but I'm not sure China is really so sophisticated that they're deploying OS-agnostic BIOS-level malware that can communicate to an external network even if behind a firewall, and may end up finding out that I've typed "ls -al" a million times and "git pull" every now and then.

But I appreciate your heads up. Any recommendations on a Mac Mini alternative that doesn't cost as much as a Mac Mini, isn't some strange architecture and maybe doesn't perform as well but is still silent?

It's just they're like $300NZD, and it's a 16 thread Ryzen with Vega graphics. That seems pretty good.

[wazza]

wtf

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/kiwis-...OJ4NZ2AN2BCS4/

casual rear-naked, snatching gun