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- Date published:
5:30 pm, May 15th, 2026 - 7 comments
Categories: Daily review -
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Daily review is also your post.
This provides Standardistas the opportunity to review events of the day.
The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy).
Don’t forget to be kind to each other …
The shift to a better world sometimes gets triggered by a nudge…
No matter how clever a gizmo is designed, others will be impressed by what it actually does in real life. That gets down to purpose of usage. In a user-friendly world, some goddam owner will have to get out of the way of users. Investment must therefore be freed from the constraint of the antiquated model of ownership. A moral ethos necessitates mass liberation from antique shackles in the mass mind.
https://www.quantamagazine.org/new-advances-bring-the-era-of-quantum-computers-closer-than-ever-20260403/
A couple of updates on workers.
The nurses have marginally decided to ratify the latest pay offer. 2 1/2% followed by 2 1/2% next year. Includes a pro rata bonus of up to $1000, CCDM reinstated to it's original form.
Also, Holcim have been found to have breached their employer obligations when selling MV Buffalo by the ERA.
https://transporttalk.co.nz/news/holcim-breached-obligations-in-handling-buffalo-sale-era-finds
Hmm… I wonder how that trucking cement round the motu plan is affecting their bottom line.
Background.
In December 2025, Associate Transport Minister declined Holcim NZ's application to use a foreign-flagged ship and foreign crew to transport cement, siding with the Maritime Union of New Zealand's to protect local jobs.
The union applauded the decision, stating that it upholds NZ maritime law and protects local jobs.
Holcim indicated it would rely on increased road transport (an estimated 500+ additional truck trips per month) as a result of the refusal to allow an interim foreign vessel, calling the decision a failure to support efficient transport.
A consequence of their (Holcim's) incompetence is that they are still paying the former crew of MV Buffalo.
This whole saga should be shouted from the rooftops as an example of the benefit of belonging to a union.
If a patient doesn’t make it onto the specialist waiting list, do their health symptoms exist and likely get worse?
This is not a Zen koan.
https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL2605/S00048/hidden-waiting-list-exposed-unmet-health-need-unreported.htm
I am part of that unmet need. Twice my GP has referred me for treatment of a hernia. Twice it has been declined.
While yr question is rhetorical, rest assured, the symptoms do get worse.
I am very fortunate that I work in a supportive environment and have an understanding supervisor. Having grey hair helps put you down the pecking order when there is some lifting to do.
In a related vein, my father in law has had his hernia op cancelled three times. The last time after waiting all day, nil by mouth to be refused at 4.15 pm. I am waiting a few days for his upset to subside to encourage him to think about this come election time.
The question sets up the contrast between what’s measured & reported and what’s actually happening on the ground. Simeon Brown is only crowing about the measured parameters and when these are further massaged into evidential facts and spun into ‘successes’ he acts like a full-on self-righteous self-slapper.
What we measure (and report) isn’t reality, which is another way of saying the same thing as I did in my Post last night (https://thestandard.nz/the-framing-of-chris-hipkins-auckland-speech-read-what-you-like/).
What and how we count & measure matters but what matters more is what we don’t and/or cannot count & measure.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/life/books/are-you-ruled-by-numbers-why-how-and-what-we-count-matters
It’s not at all surprising that this phenomenon is creeping fast into the already-overhyped AI sector.
https://theconversation.com/silicon-valleys-ai-tokenmaxxing-obsession-has-a-big-problem-and-philosophers-saw-it-coming-281530