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6:00 am, July 7th, 2026 - 28 comments
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Open mike is your post.
For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose.
The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy).
Step up to the mike …
"Revelations" (that word again!) and "Concerns" about Senior NZ Police ?
Police Minister Mark Mitchell goes into now familiar damage control….(I would edit…MOST Police Officers do..)
There are more, but here's some of the NOT so good….
Was it the easy exit? Were there consequences for them?
And, really?
As I say, MOST Police….
I've noticed a trend in public relations of govt depts in these screw-up situations: "We have since changed the way we do things." Useful stance for getting media & public to move along, eh? The sub-text is "Problem solved, nothing to see here."
A small shift in the arrangement of the deckchairs is all you need to steer the Titanic away from the iceberg. Lux is adept at cheer-leading such tweaks. I do have sneaking sympathy for govt recruiters tho: so many sheeple, so much potential for perversion.
Palantir has its fingerprints all over this, I reckon. They hooked a number of UK police departments by offering 'free' trials, including continual monitoring of police staff personal phones.
I reckon that some of these 'finds' have come from the Police taking advantage of Palantir: 'try us free before you buy'. This is probably also why the car monitoring system was pulled in the last months – Palantir's freebie dried up.
Here's the frightening range of services that Palantir offers to Police departments.
"Documents obtained by i and Liberty Investigates show Palantir Technologies has partnered with police forces in the [UK] to establish a “real-time data-sharing network” that includes the personal details of vulnerable victims, children and witnesses alongside suspects. Trade union membership, sexual orientation and race are among the other types of personal information being processed."
"The document indicates Bedfordshire police will use the software to “assist with decision making” and “aid in the prevention, detection, and investigation of crimes”. Crime records are combined with other intelligence sources such as financial information to create profiles of individuals including suspects and those “about to commit a criminal offence”, although Palantir denied its software was being used for predictive policing."
ie, thought crime monitoring, with the source data plundered by the US/Palantir for its own uses.
https://libertyinvestigates.org.uk/articles/uk-police-working-with-controversial-tech-giant-palantir-on-real-time-surveillance-network/
Fisheries management involves lurching from crisis to crisis. Normies view this as the new normal: https://newsroom.co.nz/2026/07/06/hidden-scientific-error-helped-mask-tarakihi-fishery-collapse/
Sheeple, disinclined to contemplating the difference between a number and another, will graze on. Cognoscenti will wink & nod: an ngo policy director that can distinguish the significance between 8 & 19 is a valuable asset. Potential Labour candidate.
Tiff hits the nail on the head though, re truth/disappointment/frustration being a potent triad in the industry: "we weren’t where we thought we were to begin with". Being in the wrong place can be fatal to any enterprise, and even if not, can involve the perennial pushing of shit uphill. Human simulates dung beetle.
Tiff Bock originally from California, came to NZAO in 2005 (full name Tiffany). Now Seafood New Zealand's – General Manager Inshore Fisheries.
‘Tiffany got her masters in marine biology from Victoria University and worked as a science officer and then in deepwater management at MPI. "I'm very happy to be at Seafood New Zealand’ https://www.instagram.com/p/CyAS4EAszBL/
Another example of others filling places that should have Kiwis in them. We need our own people to direct our own resources, go hunt the promising, capable and interested in secondary school as they do looking for sports proficient youth. Nurture our youth, and there would be many Maori who would follow if someone became 'fisher of men (and women)' offering them a career and a valuable position for them advancing and protecting their, and our country's interests.
We wouldn't need to resort to trendy advancers as in groups like 'Women in Seafood Australasia', because our young women and men would have shown the attributes and desire, and been mentored from secondary age. (Though we may need quotas of say; a third young women. I'm not for even divisions as being too prescriptive.)
https://womeninseafood.org.au › about-us › our-team › team-directors › tiff-bock
Interesting stance on LA heading down the gurgler: https://unherd.com/2026/07/can-los-angeles-be-saved/
So looks like T ought to run Melania for the mayoralty, get the place back on track. Lux could jump into a consultancy role, tell them how to run it properly: "The thing must achieve lift-off!" "Then you cruise." "Then you reach your goal."
LA sheeple heading for the gate is something new. I hope the authorities got tracker bots into them & display the entire diaspora in real time on screen.
It all seems so obvious especially when Finlay Macdonald writes about it. OK we would be following Aussie's lead but it is the correct way.
23% of home energy use is hot water. Taking that away from gas is a no brainer.
Electricity, harvested from the sun, is the way forward. The vast majority of new builds just has a Rinnai califont strapped the wall, hooked up to 45kg cylinders. Then you pay rental and refills and those Rinnais are hungry.
https://theconversation.com/after-home-batteries-could-the-humble-water-heater-be-the-next-big-step-forward-284425
Edit, oops, Macdonald edits The Conversation not the article author…
It does work!
We have organised our all electric, with a log burner, 2 adult household so that 70+% of our electricity use is between 11pm and 7am when power is cheapest. We have a timer on our hot water cylinder, charge our PHEV overnight, dish washer, washing machine and dryer set to run overnight.
Our power bill is $5 a day including lines charges. Our petrol bill is $50 a month. So typically $200 a month for electricity and petrol.
We thought about solar panels but will not be in this house for long enough to get pay back.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/politics/684019/not-all-eligible-families-receiving-promised-fuel-relief-payment
Bloody hell that pesky RNZ are trying to hold our politicians accountable for their words and actions again! How dare they
Once we could see through a glass, darkly – but now it begins to clarify.
What enigma?
The government is
for foreigners (including Indian nationals)
Immigration lawyers are the ones upset (restraint on their trade)
It does not change the Enzed-India FTA.
https://www.thepost.co.nz/politics/361038176/indian-nationals-face-tougher-pathway-residency-august-lawyer
@ Matiri @ 4.1
That's a great system. Regards installing solar panels, there is the argument that they add value to the whare. Or be the difference that makes a buyer buy your place.
We have upgraded our system so when the batteries are full, often before midday, the surplus power gets dumped into the two elements in the 300litre hot water cylinder.
Smug as a smug thing.
smug seems appropriate.
Is the cylinder powered from the grid as well?
We put solar panels on our previous house, feeding into the grid and getting 25 cents per unit at the time. Those were the good old days!
Current owners don't bother to keep the panels clean so probably only operating at 20% efficiency.
I have solar panels and the following applies. "Most experts recommend cleaning panels 1 to 2 times a year to maintain peak performance. While rain does help wash away loose dust, it usually isn’t enough to remove sticky pollen or hardened bird excrement. However, hiring professionals or washing them yourself is only financially beneficial if the lost energy revenue is greater than the maintenance cost."
That last is true as the loss is generally 5-15% in efficiency from dirt.
5 Mw at 10% loss is some 500 kw/h. At 13c per unit that is a $65 loss. The cost of a commercial cleaner was $180 some time ago. 13c per unit is what I get for power back to the grid. I'd have to have output decrease by 30% before losing out, and of course panels lose efficiency with age, as well.
The new owners asked us for a full maintenance schedule for the house, including the solar panels, septic tank, gutters. They haven't done any of it and the house and gardens are really deteriorating after 8 years. Oh well.
Thanx mac1 & Belladonna – I didn't know that. Got roof solar recently. Can those panels be water blasted?
This from AI assist –
To wash down houses, you can use soft washing, which involves applying a low-pressure water spray combined with a cleaning solution to safely remove dirt and grime. Alternatively, pressure washing can be used for tougher stains, but it requires caution to avoid damaging delicate surfaces.
All I have done is used a soapy solution on a brush on a long pole. No way at 76 am I standing on my two story roof (on one side) but access from the single story side on a ladder. Gets rid of most grime. The loss can be monitored by production readings from the time when all was new and clean.
That's handy to know thanks Mac1
Listening to a RNZ interview a few days ago, where the potential of plug in solar for balconies was being discussed.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/2019040740/solar-panels-for-the-balcony
Requiring no actual installation – just a panel bought from Mitre10 (or your other hardware shop of choice), and plugged directly into your wall socket.
Ideal for renters. And, really all of us, in case of emergencies when the grid might be down for substantial periods (ofc, assuming that there is some sunlight!)
I have no technological knowledge of the capacity, risks or returns on the product. But it seemed like a neat idea. Even if it just topped up power for users….
Might require regulation to stop body-corporates banning it because of the 'visual impact' (as they currently do in some buildings for aircon and washing lines….)
Many thousands are using it in Europe Bella. Just $1500…5-6 year pay back. What is there not to like.
The government needs to get on with licensing here.
https://www.greens.org.nz/agriculture_policy
Can someone from the green party lay out exactly what I'd need to do to turn 800 hectares of high performance intensive finishing land regenerative. I mean hard rules and regs and a solid guide,
I hope useful practices come forward. I think about the Riverton group and the edible orchard and a sort of wild natural farm set up by the Guytons.
https://organicpastoral.co.nz/a-wild-forest-food-garden/
https://neatplaces.co.nz/stories/green-fingers Robyn Guyton, Riverton Environment Centre
Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GJFL0MD9fc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEo2m3cbDPY Riverton video
Detailed video about developing food forest etc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5B3R1QjQvis 1.22.34
The Standard from 2016 – a series of posts. https://thestandard.nz/the-essential-forest-gardener-dont-destroy-life/
Looks like Lincoln's been running a research programme.
https://redairy.nz/regenerative-farming/
I have also listened to regen Southland farmers who were in the process of change.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/country/416143/regenerative-agriculture-how-adairy-farmer-learned-to-trust-his-instincts
With the tightening of phopshate reserves internationally, covered by Evie on Dangerously informed, moving to regen farming will be critical in the next decade.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YfBgklKipn8
While thinking about land and farming and ways of regen – keep an eye on Oz and Mulloon Institute and they send through newsletters about what is happening across the country and with their followers. They had a battle in the early days against the conservative farmers not willing to trial new ideas even. And had to break laws to do it.
This from the latest newsletter: Mulloon Institute <info@themullooninstitute.
This is about Australia’s future
Across the country, our landscapes are under increasing strain. More than 60% of Australia’s landscapes are degraded.
* Water moves faster and disappears sooner.
* Soils hold less moisture.
* Damaging droughts and floods are becoming more common.
This affects everyone, not just our farmers, but our food, our water, and the future of Australia.
We already know part of the solution
Landscape rehydration restores natural water cycles. Slowing water flows helps landscapes hold water for longer, recover faster, and function more effectively.
And we know something just as important: real, lasting change starts small, but when done well, it spreads.
From local action to something bigger
In regions across Australia, communities are already taking action. At Mulloon Institute, we have seen first-hand that what begins in one place with one group of people, grows over time:
* Communities learn
* They apply practical solutions
* They learn how to tap into local communities and organisation networks and seed ongoing capacity building and on-ground outcomes
They share what works
This ripple effect is how change spreads.
<
p style=”margin-left:0; margin-right:0″> Now imagine this across the whole country.
You won't get that for renenag. Organics has that with certification schemes, and the NZ ones are pretty good. But that's not the same as regenag, which has not standards or regulations.
Thus we have a wide range of regenag in NZ, from conventional with tweaking to established practice to hard core principles being used. Plus industry trying to deny regenag is a thing or water it down. I see Fonterra have some support for regenag. All good, any farmer turning in the right direction atm is what we need, doesn't have to be perfect.
The point about regenerative agriculture is that it organics wasn't enough, farming practice had to regenerate the land and systems. A classic example is US farmer Joel Salatin whose family farm started to increase topsoil at rates not considered possible. Soil and the soil food web is core.
Alan Savory is another one to look at on using stock to regenerate land.
There are people who can say what regenag is, people who actually do it. From what I can tell those farmers are quite organised. I just had a look online and interestingly what popped up first wasn't those farmer orgs, but the more formal organisations, and the ones with the fancy websites. eg https://ata.land/ata-services
These farmers seem to be grassroots organising https://www.quorumsense.org.nz/
Hehe, horseshoe politics. Just spotted this in Politico. Trump signed support for regen farming championed by MAHA and RJKJnr. Apparently there was a verbal tussle in the Oval Office, with the head of Big Farmer wanting Trump to drop it.
' "The president likes watching people squirm a little. The people who handle it well get rewarded. And the people who don’t? Ask …Kristi Noem. Or to put it differently: Who’s a player and who’s furniture?” said a person close to the White House, granted anonymity to discuss its inner workings candidly.
'https://www.politico.com/news/2026/07/01/trump-oval-maha-policy-live-debate-00983992
,@ weka @7.1
No grid for us, 800 amp hour, lead carbon battery bank. 23 years without a power bill.
When you get 3 or more days of cloud ( no electricity harvested) there is a 400 litre Marshall 'pre cylinder' that has a fire box in it. Think of a giant thermette. Two armfuls of firewood raises the temp of the water 40 ° C. This runs through a coil in the electric cylinder raising the temp. Also it can feed radiators in the bedrooms.
https://www.marshallheaters.co.nz/
Super smug.
I've seen one of those heaters in action, they are awesome. Good idea running it into the main cyclinder!