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HPM Countdown Timers
I have used various types of countdown timer for my heaters for years. They ensure the heater will be turned off automatically after a set period, usually two hours, so as not to waste power. HPM used to sell specific mechanical countdown timers, and I had several of these. Unfortunately they all stopped working after…
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Labour Health Sector Restructuring Credulity [4]
So TIC embarked on a series of articles in this subject the most recent of which was written some 12 months ago. And now 1 July 2022 has rolled around, the 20 DHBs have been abolished and the new central bureaucracy has taken over. This week in the media there have been a flurry of…
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Is Commercial Toilet Paper Cheaper? [1]
One of the features of the pandemic has been an obsession by some members of our community with having adequate supplies of that most basic and lowly domestic commodity, toilet paper. Much publicity has accompanied the sights of people stacking vast quantities of toilet paper into shopping trolleys and attempting to get these through supermarket…
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Localism / Regionalism In Canterbury
Following up from the previous post on the so called “regional” stadium here are some more thoughts about local authorities in Canterbury. This follows on from a desperate attempt by CCC to portray the stadium as a “regional” facility in order to justify approaching other local authorities in Canterbury to get funding for the stadium.…
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Zero Justification For Any Neighbouring Council To Contribute To Christchurch Stadium “Te Kaha”
The news of the week is a major blowout in the expected cost of Christchurch’s new stadium. The project was originally supposed to come in at around $470 million, of which the government is to contribute $220 million, with $250 million to come from ratepayers via the Council. But now, it is suggested that this…
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Historical Christchurch In Aerial Photography [0]: Introduction
This month the blog is starting a series of posts on the history of Christchurch as seen in aerial photos. The Department of Lands and Survey, commonly known as L&S, which was the old government department responsible for maps, and which is now called Land Information New Zealand (Linz), and its predecessors began using orthogonal…
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Steam Mopping Vs Chemical Cleaning [2]
In Part 1 I wrote about my purchase of a steam mop. Since then I have also continued using string mops and recently purchased a wringer bucket from Bunnings for $42 to use with string mops. I can tell you that I think folding foam mops are largely a waste of time because the foam…
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Irrigation Water Rights Issues Heating Up In Otago
Some recent posts on this blog have highlighted aspects of the Government’s 3 Waters policies. In a different yet parallel vein, issues over water rights for irrigation by farmers have become highly contentious in Otago over the past few years. Otago is an interesting case for irrigation management as water rights there have been based…
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Three Waters / Local Governance Antagonism Continues
The Government’s flagship legislative effort this term has been the controversial 3 Waters reform proposals, in fact carried over from the previous term, but which must be finalised before the next election if it is to have any hope of coming into effect. Part of the impetus for the Three Waters reforms is to bring…
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Bye Bye Debian
Well since writing about steps in migrating to Kubuntu from Debian I have pushed ahead and migrated practically everything so now it is only a spare or two that is still running Debian. This is quite a step forward as I have previously regarded Debian as being the distribution of choice for someone like me.…
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