What do you do when the evidence proves you wrong?

Mike Moore writes that the ability to change one’s mind is a virtue.

The great economist, Lord Keynes, was once challenged at a media event – they had the “gotcha” press even back then.

How, he was asked, could he justify his statement when just a few years ago he had said the opposite ? “When the evidence proves I’m wrong, I change my mind.

What do you do ?” he replied sweetly.

The rest of the colum would be instructional reading for the Greens because of its economic message and because they’re the only party in parliament that won’t accept the evidence about how bad the Electoral Finance Act was and will be voting against its repeal.

Until their blind support for the EFA I had thought the Greens were principled. Their attachment to that dog’s breakfast changed my mind and their refusal to support its repeal confirms I was right to do so.

Inquiring Mind  points out the Green’s disdain for democracy, Monkeywithtypewriter reminds us of exactly who was to blame for the Act and lists its faults; and Keeping Stock  celebrates the Act’s demise.

This fizz will be a fizzer

I thought PM of NZ was taking the proverbial,  but no bull - the Indians really are trying to develop a drink  made from cows’ urine.

The bovine brew is in the final stages of development by the Cow Protection Department of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), India’s biggest and oldest Hindu nationalist group, according to the man who makes it.

Om Prakash, the head of the department, said the drink – called “gau jal”, or “cow water” – in Sanskrit was undergoing laboratory tests and would be launched “very soon, maybe by the end of this year”.

“Don’t worry, it won’t smell like urine and will be tasty too,” he told The Times from his headquarters in Hardwar, one of four holy cities on the River Ganges. “Its USP will be that it’s going to be very healthy. It won’t be like carbonated drinks and would be devoid of any toxins.”

I’ll take his word for that and I’m not going to think about how they’ll collect it.

Good vibrations

If it had been invented when I was learning  (with neither sufficient talent nor enthusiasm) to play the piano,  perhaps the vibrating glove  could have made a musician of me.

Georgia Tech researchers are trying to reinvent how students learn to play the piano by developing a glove that vibrates to cue a budding musician which finger needs to be played at a given moment. The goal is to fuse music with muscle memory to teach pianists their craft.

And perhaps it will provide an increase in the popularity of music lessons for people who are trying to perfect their piano playing.

Sure as eggs it’s good news for chook farmers – Updated

 Brtitish researchers have good news  for poultry farmers:

A paper to be published soon in the British Nutrition Foundation’s Nutrition Bulletin has found that cholesterol in eggs has only a small and clinically insignificant effect on blood cholesterol. While people with high blood cholesterol are at increased risk of heart disease, only a third of the cholesterol in the body is attributed to diet.

 

Other factors linked to high cholesterol levels are smoking, being overweight and lack of exercise, and the main culprit from food is saturated fat, not cholesterol found in eggs.

. . .  The study concludes that health chiefs and GPs should demolish the myths about eggs and heart disease and communicate a message that there is no need to limit the number eaten as long as they are part of a healthy low saturated fat diet.

A pity that rules out mixing them with cream and cheese in a quiche to help the dairy industry too.

UPDATE: Macdoctor has an eggcellent post  on this, I especially like his rules of data interpretation.

It’s not their money

 Does Meridian Energy realise what it’s saying?

Increasing power prices now would shield customers from large increases if and when planned schemes came about: “Small increases provide a smoother path for consumers.”

 Is it the job of a power company to “provide a smoother path for consumers”?  That sounds like they think  they’re better able to manage our money than we are.

My concern is increased because of the proviso “if and when planned schemes come about”

What happens if planned schemes don’t come about, will we get our money back, with interest?

And how much more power generation do we need? The reduction in production at the Tiwai aluminium smelter means there is considerably less demand for power than there has been for some time.

The Remuneration Authority has a similar line  with regard to local body pay rates:

Authority chairman Richard Oughton, in the circular, said some local bodies were considering not increasing pay.

He said the increase from July 1 was conservative, somewhat less than it should be based on market conditions.

“A zero increase could create a situation where a larger, and perhaps less publicly acceptable, adjustment may be needed from July 1, 2010.

Further postponing an adjustment at that time would only serve to exacerbate the problem,” he said.

 He too is saying that a lower increase now will mean a bigger increase later.

I think ratepayers would prefer to keep a little more of their own money now and worry about how acceptable future pay increases are when the time comes. 

The government is sending very strong messages about the need for restraint so it’s possible that the pubic and private sector salaries on which councillors’ remuneration is based may show little or no increase in the short to medium term.

That would mean the big increase that Oughton is concerned about may not eventuate anyway.

If it does, at least we’ll have had a wee bit more of our own money under our own control in the meantime.

24mls and still raining

The rain gauge had 24mls in it a couple of hours ago. That’s an inch in old money which is very welcome and it’s still raining.

The met service rural weather map shows rain forecast all over the country and, as is often the way some areas may get too much.

Yesterday morning RivettingKate Taylor  reported 40mm in the past couple of days in Central Hawkes Bay but friends in North Canterbury where it’s desperately dry hadn’t had enough to lay the dust an hour ago.

Opera House opening celebrations

The restoration and refurbishment of Oamaru’s Opera House  attracted the usual angst and opposition which attends the spending of large amounts of ratepayers’ money.

While mindful of the need to be very careful with other people’s money, I didn’t want to be part of the generation which let the 100 year old building fall down and I thought there was no sense spending vast amounts on an expensive monument. If it was worth preserving it was worth restoring so it could be used.

More than enough people shared this view to commit to fundraising initiatives which added to donations from trusts, sponsorship and Lotteries contributed towards the $10 million project.

The completion of the refurbishment is about to be marked with a two-week  festival of events  which ranges through music, comedy, sport, politics, religion, alcohol and whatever Confessions of a Pop Tart, with the Funky Hot Mamas provides.

 The programme includes a gala showcase  ; a debate  between local and central government politicians including Jim Hopkins and Rodney Hide; the Wellington International Ukelele Orchestra; a church service; the Court Theatre’s Scared Scriptless; Last Night of the Proms; Beer with the Boys; and an evening with Sarah Ulmer.

Venn That Tune

It’s so long since I had anything to do with Venn diagrams  that I didn’t understand the title of the book Venn That Tune  until I dipped into it and the humour blew the cobwebs off my memories of long distant maths classes when we learnt about sets and subsets which may or may not intersect.

It’s a delightful book by  Andrew Viner who has applied logic to lyrics and uses Venn daigrams and graphs to put a whole new angle on 112 classic pop tunes.

 Some are easy to work out:

 

Others took a bit more effort and kept me occupied and amused while waiting for a plane.

I thoroughly enjoyed the book, it’s now on a coffee table where it’s entertained visitors. It would also be in a waiting room or as a gift for someone who enjoys music and/or maths.

Rural voices in the blogosphere

Agriculture Minister David Carter has joined the blogosphere at Over The Fence  ,  it’s good to not only have a blogging minister but another rural voice.

I’ve recently discovered another rural blogs: Kismet Farm.

Others who give a rural perspective on the blogosphere are:

Agridata

Alf Grumble MP

Bull Pen 

RivettingKate Taylor

2B Sophora

I’ve also just discovered Half Pie who isn’t rural, but he was a country boy.

If you write, or know of, any other rural blogs, I’d appreciate you leaving the web address in the comments.

Hat Tips: Kiwiblog & Lindsay Mitchell.

Hand across the water

 

Herald cartoonist Rod Emmerson uses four words, the ODT editorial  needs more but has a similar message.

PM of NZ also has a poignant image  of the tragedy.

6 mls and hoping

The hot nor wester we woke to yesterday morning changed to a cold southerly in the click of a finger at about 8.30, blue sky was covered in clouds and late in the afternoon it started to rain.

By mid evening it had slowed to less than a drizzle and there was just 6 mls in the rain gauge this morning.

However the clouds are still low and there’s dampness in the air so fingers crossed . . .

Helping hand for our neighbours

The tragic news from across the Tasman worsens as the  death toll rises  and damage to property from the bushfires in New South Wales and Victoria continues.

There’s not a lot we can do from this side of the ditch but offer our prayers and donations. 

Red Cross volunteers are helping victims and providing support for emergency services. You can donate to the bushfire appeal via the NZ Red Cross website or give $20 by phoning 0900 33 200.

The website also gives an email address for people who can’t contact relatives in the danger area.

The government has started the appeal with a $500,ooo donation  and 100 New Zealand firefighters will fly to Australia to help.

Keeping Stock  has a link for the Australian Red Cross.

Child abuse no joking matter

The Brisbane Times calls it a sick joke from the father of the bride.

The television commercial, which airs tonight, shows the father of a bride making a humorous wedding speech. Halfway through the ad he says: “I remember the first words that I ever said to her after sex – ‘Don’t tell Mum.’ “

“If only it was this easy to get over child abuse,” says the voiceover, over the laughter heard in the background.

 

Pictures will almost always carry a stronger message than the words.

The message is a very serious one and I watched the video of the ad with horror because the seriousness of the words in the voiceover were contradicted not just by the father’s speech but by the pictures - the expressions on the face of his daughter and the laughter in the background suggest child abuse is a laughing matter.

It’s not just a sick joke, it’s a sick advertisement.

50c more for minimum wage

The minimum wage is going up 50c to $12.50 and the minimum wage for young people will rise by 40c to $10 from April 1.

Labour Minister Kate Wilkinson  said the government tried to balance job protection and fair pay.

I have mixed feelings about the minimum wage concept. I accept the need to protect vulnerable workers from exploitation. The counter-point for that is the employers’ right to pay workers what a job, and the way they do it, is worth. 

One of the considerations for that is what the business can afford because while the government sets the minimum wage it’s individual employers who have to find the money to pay it.

Wages are one of the highest costs for many businesses and as the recession bites deeper higher wages could result in fewer jobs or less hours.

The Tiwai Point smelter has already responded to the fall in aluminium prices by asking workers to volunteer for working reduced hours or take unpaid leave.

We deserve pay rise

Oh dear, if there’s a phrase that politicians should never utter it’s “we deserve a pay rise” and to be fair, the mayors interviewed by the Southland Times  didn’t put it in exactly those words.

Queenstown-Lakes mayor Clive Geddes said:

“My own view, not speaking for myself but speaking for the councils and community chairs in this district, is that their remuneration is significantly below the effort and contribution they make.”

Central Otago mayor Malcolm Macpherson said:

. . .  in my view people who do the sort of work that rural authority mayors do are pretty much underpaid as it is.

And Southland District mayor Frana Cardno said:

. . . Our councillors earn a pathetic amount that wouldn’t even cover the costs of them leaving their work for the day . . .

I suspect they all have a point, that council pay is less than fair compensation for the time and effort good councillors put into their work.

But ratepayers hearing their elected representatives saying they deserve a pay rise are unlikely to be swayed by this when facing yet another increase in rates which is well above the rate of inflation.

It doesn’t matter that concillors’ pay is a tiny part of the total rates bill and their pay is set by the Remuneration Authority over which they have no control. Ratepayers almost certainly think their case for lower rates is stronger than the coucillors’ one for higher pay and are likely to respond to mayors saying they deserve a pay rise by offering them a Tui.

However, the debate raises two bigger issues – the growing rates burden and the method for setting the politicians’ pay.

Kiwiblog  thinks the Remuneration Authority should set MPs’ salaries for a whole three year term. I agree and would like the same system used for local body politicians.

Getting it right from the start

Labour got the Electoral Finance Act wrong from the start by trampling all over the convention that such measures should have multi-party support.

National is getting the first steps right  in the process which will provide a democratic and enduring replacement by involving all parties in consultation and providing opportunities for public submissions.

Inventory 2   notes John Key is keeping a promise made in his contribution to the third reading debate in December 2007.

(He also notes he started his blog Keeping Stock  in response to the bill and I’m pleased that while the EFA is going his blogging will continue).

Posts on Kiwiblog contributed some of the most intelligent opposition to the EFA. I agree with comments on this post  which give due thanks to David Farrar and Whaleoil  for the part they played in opposing the Act.

It was an attack on democracy and among its many faults was the way it made it stifled expression not just during the election campaign but for almost all of election year because of the confusion over what was and was not covered by it.

It’s the sheep’s turn

This time last year two-tooth ewes were selling for about $90 at best.

Similar animals went for $197 at a sale at Lorneville last week.

A year ago a good price for lambs was about $65 and now they’re going for $100.

It’s a reflection of supply and demand at work. Last year dairy conversions and drought resulted in the sale of a lot of capital stock, now sheep farmers are rebuilding their flocks.

It’s a very different picture for dairy cows which were selling for $2,500 last year and are now worth about $1,200.

Beef is showing a small increase on last year’s prices, up about 30c to $3.30 a kilo so a 270kg bullock which would have sold for about $810 last year would sell for about $890 now.

Fire kills in the south, floods kill in the north

Today’s high temperatures, accompanied by strong winds, have set the fire danger on much of the east coast to extreme.

But in Australia it’s not just a risk, bush fires are raging across Victoria.

A friend whose house burned down years ago said the greatest loss was of photos and treasures, not necessarily valuable in a monetary way but because of personal associations.

However, those are only things and can’t be compared with loss of life and 76 people are now confirmed dead as a result of the Victorian fires.

Kevin Rudd said hell and its fury  had been unleashed on the state.

At the same time, in a tragic irony, Queensland is under flood.

More than 60 per cent of Queensland is under water – 1 million square kilometers, or twice the area of Spain. Ingham has been hardest hit, with 2,900 homes damaged or flooded in a weekend storm and hundreds of people evacuated.

The main cities on northern Queensland’s coast, Townsville and Cairns, were flooded in January storms and are still receiving daily rain. The main highways to Townsville were cut off by water this week and some northern towns have been isolated for weeks.

The devastation is not restricted to property, three people are missing, including a five year old who it is feared was taken by a crocodile.

Lucky break for Hollows foundation

John Key’s broken arm was a lucky break for the Fred Hollows Foundation.

The TradeMe auction for his cast-off cast, which was signed by several Pacific Island leaders,  closed at 2pm with a final bid of $18,500, all of which goes to the Foundation.

The winner also gets morning tea with the Prime Minister.

The d word

 No one’s mentioning the d word but the contrast between the irrigated pasture in the foreground and the dry hills in the distance show how dry it is in North Otago.

 

It’s even worse further north, apropos of which RivettingKate Taylor asks a very good question.