Both John and Victoria have completed their Sounds to Sounds ride – John in 11 days, and Vic in 16. Both of them said was hard. Real hard. Harder than the Tour of Aotearoa.Much anticipation š Here’s a bit of lowdown on what I’m taking and planning while I’m in…
Vic Sefton and John Keene Ride Again!
Yes fellow bike-packers, its CYCLE TIME!!!This time, its the fabulous Sounds to Sounds cycle ride: https://sounds2sounds2023.maprogress.com/Please follow both Victoria Sefton, John Keene and myselfVic started today (3 March), John starts on the 8 March, and I will start on the 2 April.Vic has her own blog: https://vicseftons2s.wordpress.com/ which is awesomeAnd…
Analysis and Story
There’s a difference between analysis and telling a rollicking good yarn designed to move people.Good analysis draws from the scientific methodology of making falsifiable statements about the world, and testing whether they’re wrong. For example, economics sets up a logical mathematical model as a simplification of the world, and draws…
Market Structure: Rewarding Political Control and Funding Non-Market Redistribution
Addendum – 23 February 2023: Nobody say “super-normal profits”: https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/484767/how-air-new-zealand-went-from-crash-landing-to-stratospheric And still nothing was said about monopoly pricing by the mainstream media. Let’s assume nothing in this world comes for free.If you want something – food / shelter / your hip fixed / your water drinkable – these things are…
Unobtrusive and very interesting
More on my current fade of reading signs.Recently, I was working on my boat over at Evan’s Bay yacht club, and I came across this sign:In the early days of flight, landed airports were the exception instead of the rule when it came to flying. More often, planes were amphibious,…
Leadership
I’m currently reading this book:I strongly recommend it.I’m up to Lee Kuan Yew. I wish New Zealand had this type of leadership.Let me quote the good Professor: In Leeās perception, excellence meant much more than individual performance: the quest for it needed to permeate the entire society. Whether in government service,…
Scoundrels and rogues
Thank you, I have just come back from a very lovely lunch with my H2R recruitment consultant, Sharyn Saxby.And on the way, I came across this sign about Edward Wakefield one of New Zealand’s “Founding Fathers”:Here’s a picture of Ed:The signs are located on a unassuming concrete wall, at 90…
Low pass rates in trial of NCEA literacy and numeracy tests alarm principals
From here: https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/474261/low-pass-rates-in-trial-of-ncea-literacy-and-numeracy-tests-alarm-principalsIn response to concerns that New Zealand school students are leaving school all NCEA qualified, but without having even basic literacy and numeracy skills, the Ministry of Education is rolling out a test.A recent trial of the test found: “some of the schools with poor results had good…
Cycling Belmont Regional Park
Sunday 4 September was a glorious day, for no other reason than the sun was out for the first time in what felt like months.But I had another: the day before I had just brought a brand new carbon fibre mountain bike.So, of course, I had to take it out…
The Dead Hand of Government in Health
ADDENDUM: PROGRESS ON WAITING LISTS – August 2022As predicted back in May, the expert committee’s action proved ineffective. Former DHBs were told by the Expert Committee they need to book everyone in for surgery (stellar advice!) (https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/473303/hospitals-directed-to-book-surgical-slot-for-thousands-of-patients-by-month-s-end)And… Not much else happened: https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/ldr/473204/south-auckland-s-elective-surgery-backlog-up-251-percent-in-yearORIGINAL POSTING FROM MAY:I can’t really say I’m a…
Reading signs
Always take the opportunity to read signs. Here’s one I found on my travels.It’s a very functional sign, devoid of hyperbola or ceremony. It speaks nothing of the time this road took to make, the amount of labour effort which went into it, nor the loss of whatever it was…
The Real Land of the Free
Singapore really is, for me, the Land of the Free. It’s big news is they’re just about to repeal Section 377A of the Penal Code which criminalises homosexuality.All good. But the Singaporeans are concerned about the impact of the change on its society and its culture. It’s not worried about…
Falling health sector productivity
Productivity – how much output is created from a given volume of inputs – is one of economic’s most important metrics. Productivity captures everything about economic development and economic ordinance. Technological change, process change, labour skills improvement and capital improvement are all get captured in a productivity metric.Countries rise and…
Meaty, beefy, big and bloaty
One of the reasons why market solutions are superior to centrally planned solutions is that there tends to be a better match between supply and demand when provision is left to the market. Scarcity or abundance, reflected through price change, is a far better and faster signal of shifts in…
My father, age 48
Inflation is ALWAYS Caused by Too Much Money Creation
Pinning New Zealand’s latest inflation figures on overseas factors misses a distinction between a temporary “price shock”, and an increase in “permanent” inflation. New Zealand is experiencing permanent inflation, and it was caused by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand.New Zealand’s inflation rate, back in March, was an annual rate…
Back yourself
Decolonisation of Periods?
From here: https://www.rnz.co.nz/programmes/hair-and-loathing/story/2018813537/culture-colonisation-and-the-short-and-curlies Firstly I heard from Ana Mcallister, sheās a artist writer, Instagram influencer and a body positive wahine MÄori -@Nope.thank.you.very.much There has been a lot of mahi around wahine and the decolonisation of their periods. Ana said there isnāt the same focus on this in terms of body-hair but…
Lockdown Opportunity Cost and the Statistical Value of a Life Saved
Iām currently watching an acquaintance doing the Tour of Aotearoa on bicycle (https://vicsefton.wordpress.com/). Itās a four week unsupported cycle from Cape Reinga down to Bluff.I tried it last year, but got into mechanical difficulties north of Auckland at exactly the time the government decided to put Auckland into lock down…
Marketing, Government Style
Of course, the government could just announce the next step in its Omicron response….But it would much rather announce its intention to announce the next step in its Omicron response, and get two sucks at the media headlining saveloy…