Oh woe is me, & others too no doubt...


https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/511678/...ed-to-rise

 Maytaal Angel and Maxwell Akalaare Adombila, Reuters
Major African cocoa plants in Ivory Coast and Ghana have stopped or cut processing because they cannot afford to buy beans, four trading sources said, meaning chocolate prices around the world are likely to soar.
Chocolate-makers have already increased prices to consumers, after three years of poor cocoa harvests, with a fourth expected, in the two countries that produce nearly 60 percent of the world's cocoa.
Cocoa prices have more than doubled over the last year, scaling numerous all-time highs.
"We need massive demand destruction to catch up with the supply destruction," Tropical Research Services' Steve Wateridge, a world expert on cocoa, said.
Chocolate-makers cannot produce chocolate using raw cocoa and rely on processors to turn beans into butter and liquor that can be made into chocolate.

But the processors say they cannot afford to buy the beans.

In normal times, the market is heavily regulated - traders and processors purchase beans from local dealers up to a year in advance at pre-agreed prices. Local regulators then set lower farmgate prices that farmers can charge for beans.
However, in times of shortage like this year, the system breaks down - local dealers often pay farmers a premium to the farmgate price to secure beans.
The dealers then sell the beans on the spot market at higher prices instead of delivering them at pre-agreed prices."

I came across an interesting new term thos morning - 'religitards', which seems to fit Brian Tamaki to a T.



The McBishop's post:

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/brian-tam...96960-xaNh


"Parents, where is your outrage at the Transgender agenda trying to recruit your kids, right under your nose, in our schools? If youÔÇÖre a parent with children or youth in a state school, IÔÇÖd strongly encourage you to keep your kids home this week and boycott the SchoolsÔÇÖ Pride Week that is being forced on our children through state schools."
Brian Tamaki



https://www.tiktok.com/@silkyshaneel/vid...5744585985


The ignorance on this issue is astounding.

https://www.reddit.com/r/chch/comments/1...s_morning/

"So many times people like this are projecting their own values when they protest. Like the guy in the US recently doing a similar protest, gets arrested and they find child porn on his computer."

"There were definitely more rainbow supporters than the Kyle Chapman cheer squad. The kids all got in and enjoyed the show peacefully. A group of the protestors tried to get in just as the event was emptying out but were barricaded and the guests left through another entrance. The security and staff team at the library were genuinely phenomenal and dealt with it like champions."

Hard to believe its five years already.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/35020965...ommunities


"Almost five years on from the March 15 terror attacks in Christchurch, Aliya Danzeisen, a Muslim woman, says she feels more unsafe each year.
Danzeisen, who is national co-ordinator for the Islamic Women's Council, is not alone.
As discussed on TuesdayÔÇÖs┬áNewsable, a Christchurch terror attacks fifth anniversary special, briefings given to new Government ministers said Muslim, Arab and Jewish communities all reported a rapidly declining sense of security.

Danzeisen told┬áNewsable: ÔÇ£ItÔÇÖs a big jump each year and thatÔÇÖs quite dangerous... Muslim women are less than 1% of the population, but weÔÇÖre able, based on police data, to show that 36% of daily incidents of hate are targeted towards Muslim women.ÔÇØ
As reported on MondayÔÇÖs episode, in the last month,┬áUniversity of Auckland researchers have pointed to failings┬áwithin the security services in New Zealand and Australia to track the March 15 terroristÔÇÖs online activities.

Danzeisen told Newsable police training for how to identify and deal with hate crimes had improved in New Zealand since the attacks.
But she said current security measures weren't enough stifle future threats.

ÔÇ£Security and intelligence, their duty is to protect us and their duty is to get in front and make sure that this nation is secure and the indicators are they probably arenÔÇÖt - not even probably arenÔÇÖt - I say the numbers show that they arenÔÇÖt,ÔÇØ Danzeisen said.
Newsable requested an interview with the security agencies, but they were not available."

Extremely bad in America at present, & likely to worsen if the idiot Trump becomes President again, despite his  own not so Christian views.

And sadly for us, we have our own brand of whacko fruitloop religious nutters.


https://buckscountybeacon.com/2024/03/sh...A9yHb_t4EM

"Approximately 100 right-wing organizations have signed onto Project 2025, an expansive plan for controlling (and in some cases dismantling) federal agencies in the event that Trump or another Republican wins the presidential election this year. Many of these organizations are led by Christian fundamentalist political operatives, suggesting that they may use the plan to force all Americans to submit to their extreme religious beliefs. 
The [i]Bucks County[/i] [i]Beacon[/i] has just found explosive new evidence that seems to validate this concern. 


The BeaconÔÇÖs discovery follows an┬áearlier report┬áby┬á[i]Politico[/i]┬ájournalist Heidi Przybyla, which tied the Center for Renewing America (CFRA), an official Project 2025 partner, to an internal memo expressly listing ÔÇ£Christian NationalismÔÇØ as a priority for a second Trump term.┬á

Przybyla further reported that CFRA founder Russ Vought, a Project 2025 co-author, had┬ástated┬álast year on X (formerly Twitter) that heÔÇÖs ÔÇ£proudÔÇØ to work with William Wolfe, a former Trump official and Visiting Fellow with CFRA, ÔÇ£on scoping out a sound Christian Nationalism.ÔÇØ In a┬ásocial media post, Wolfe had called for an end to no-fault divorce and abortion and for reduced access to contraception. (Link to┬áarchived tweet.) Wolfe, who has attended┬áSouthern Baptist Theological Seminary, has also┬ácalled himself┬áa ÔÇ£Christian Nationalist.ÔÇØ



Soon after┬á[i]PoliticoÔÇÖs[/i]┬áreport, Wolfe changed his┬ásocial media profile┬áto┬áremove the reference┬áto his work with CFRA, thus burying his connection to Project 2025 leader Russ Vought.┬áWolfe is also an alumnus of Heritage, the lead organizer of Project 2025.

┬áAfter Przybyla correctly stated in a TV interview that Christian Nationalists believe their rights come from God, they┬áaccused┬áher of┬áattacking┬ámainstream Christianity and launched a blizzard of targeted media hit pieces, as well as a┬ápetition┬áto demand that┬áPolitico┬ápublish a formal apology. They have also parked┬ámobile billboards┬áoutside PoliticoÔÇÖs DC headquarters, again demanding a formal apology.┬á

Despite this hurricane of attempted deflection, the Christian Nationalism promoted by Wolfe is┬áextreme, not mainstream, as evidenced not only by PrzybylaÔÇÖs excellent article, but also by a shocking┬áonline manifesto┬áfound by the┬áBeacon, which identifies Wolfe as an editor. We have included screenshots of the complete manifesto in the Appendix to this article. We have also archived the manifesto (which calls itself a ÔÇ£draftÔÇØ)┬áhere.┬á


The manifestoÔÇÖs authors include Oklahoma Senator Dusty Deevers (a┬áSouthern Baptist┬áwho supports charging women who get abortions with┬ámurder). In addition to Wolfe, its editors include Joel Webbon who has┬átweeted┬áthat the the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote, was a ÔÇ£bad idea.ÔÇØ┬á
The manifesto, titled ÔÇ£The Statement on Christian NationalismÔÇØ, begins with a definition of ÔÇ£Christian NationalismÔÇØ that strives to implement a Scripture-based system of government whereby Christ-ordained ÔÇ£[b]civil magistrates[/b]ÔÇØ exercise authority over the American public.┬á
Specifically, it states that ÔÇ£Christian Nationalism is a set of governing principles rooted in ScriptureÔÇÖs teaching that Christ rules as supreme Lord and King of all creation, who has ordained┬ácivil magistrates with delegated authority to be under Him, over the people, to order their ordained jurisdiction by punishing evil and promoting good for His own glory and the common good of the nation.ÔÇØ┬á

And it promotes a literal interpretation of the Bible: ÔÇ£We affirm that the Bible is clear in all essential matters.ÔÇØ (Public stoning anyone?)┬á
The manifesto denies that ÔÇ£civil authorities have the right to coerce or command obedience to the dictates of men┬áapart from GodÔÇÖs Word.ÔÇØ (Emphasis added.)"


https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/3008031...extremists


'Like Action Zealandia, Manawat┼½-based Wargus Christi emerged as a far-right group a few months after the demise of the Dominion Movement. On their (now removed) Facebook page, the group described itself as ÔÇÿa martial-monastic Christian brotherhood of swole saints, meat monks and beef bishopsÔÇÖ, and wrote: ÔÇÿOur work is to achieve and maintain authentic manhood in defiance of the degenerate and effeminate carcass of the West.ÔÇÖ



The page promoted a mediaeval-style Christianity, with a heavy emphasis on Crusade imagery, and a particularly fascistic idea of health and well-being. They encouraged their members to regularly work out at the gym, frequently described as ÔÇÿthe temple of ironÔÇÖ (a phrase popularised by Marcus Follin, better known as ÔÇÿThe Golden OneÔÇÖ, a Swedish white nationalist YouTuber, bodybuilder and online fitness coach).



The group forbade masturbation, a surprisingly common ideology among far-right groups, including, notably, the Proud Boys in the United States, self-described ÔÇÿWestern chauvinistsÔÇÖ. The ideology is based on a thoroughly debunked theory that semen retention is linked to an increase in testosterone and male virility."

Heard a review on this series earlier on RNZ and having now listened to the first couple of episodes it's shaping up well

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/series/blackbox

Thought I might share my experiences setting up a Seafile server, a reasonably complete, self hosted, dropbox clone... 
https://www.seafile.com/en/home/

I was looking for an alternative to avoid subscriptions, somewhere to store  100GB of photos and to manage the camera uploads from two or three phones.

The Basics:

• It is self hosted, you run it on your own hardware or VPS...
  
• It has a feature rich open source community edition
  
• GUIs are very similar to dropbox, there a file sync client that can sync some or all libraries, there is also a drive client that sets up in file explorer which uses a 10GB cache but doesn't sync the actual files
  
• Allows external link sharing, passwords, timelimits etc
  
• There is a docker version ready to go but that was incompatible with my existing virtualbox VMs
  
• Server only runs on linux (I set it up a virtualbox VM Ubuntu client from scratch for it) - client apps for Windows, Mac, Android, IOS
  

• Mysql DB vs MariaDB, chose MYSQL initially but had issues, Maria worked fine...
  
• folder permissions
  
• Prerequisite versions┬á
  
• Symlink/mount for a windows network share for the Data Folder on the host PC via FSTAB
  
• Some config issues setting up the reverse proxy and security certificates
  
• Ubuntu logging out and closing the network share mount caused me a few headaches until I figured out what is was up to...
  
• Getting the Seafile services to startup on boot with systemd
  
• planning for backups┬á
  

I really do not like David Seymour & have zero respect for both him & his policies, but this was appalling. You just do not treat anyone like this, even someone you disagree strongly with.



https://www.1news.co.nz/2024/03/11/bysta...is-e-bike/


ACT Party Leader has David Seymour has spoken about a "weird" interaction with a bystander after he crashed his e-bike in Parnell last night.
Seymour told 1News he "didn't see the car coming" while he was riding home through Parnell on Sunday evening.
"[I] hit the brakes a bit too hard, and cartwheeled over the handlebars. Luckily, there was no damage done, and I was stunned by how many people came over to offer their support," he said.
Seymour said one person began filming him as he sat on a traffic island following the incident, and then hurled comments at the ACT Party leader.
"I thought 'that's a bit weird' and then he says in a British accent 'you know what, sometimes you get exactly what you deserve'.
"He then said 'look what you're doing to M─üori, you're just a trust fund baby who's out of touch with reality'," Seymour said.
"I thought 'I am M─üori, and I don't have a trust fund'."

I have someone who has a fairly new computer and about 6 months ago i had to reinstall libreoffice after it stopped working, literally nothing happens when you go to open it.
I reinstalled it and away it went, now 6 months later its doing the same thing.
Reading some threads suggest that it could be due to a windows update breaking it, but interested to know if anyone else has experienced this, Ive never seen this before and it usually works quite flawlessly for most people.

PC in office, TV also. Is there a way to cast stuff off PC to the TV? Seems a bit silly to Chromecast (haven't got one anyway) when they are both in the same room.  Some wired arrangement perhaps?

TV is not smart, just an old 32". It does have HDMI.

Or is Chromecast the easy less hassle way? This is a Linux PC.

This should prove to be extremely interesting; I suspect that she doesn't suffer fools gladly. And one or two have popped their heads up in reaction to her election...

Either this particular fool genuinely doesn't comprehend Green policy/movement, or he does indeed, but prefers to smear & portray them wrongly.

And the arrogance of attempting to instruct a new leader of another party is presumably, not something which he'd appreciate himself but has no qualms about doing  - although I can't recall him doing so when James Shaw became Green leader.... 

It does mean that this greed focused Neoliberal govt won't go uncriticised, which is no bad thing.


https://www.msn.com/en-nz/news/national/...p7P_xUXC1U

"ACT leader David Seymour has issued a warning to Chl├Âe Swarbrick after she won the Greens co-leadership.
The Greens confirmed on Sunday morning she's replacing James Shaw after she received 169 votes from Green Party membership delegates. Zero votes were cast for rival candidate Alex Foulkes.
Speaking on Sunday after the announcement, Seymour said he likes Swarbrick "on a personal level" - and offered her some advice.
"A massive salad of soundbites is not going to cut it. She's going to have to think deeper and harder about what solutions the Green Party's offering," he told media.
"I hope they will turn away from fueling envy and saying that there is some well-off people, that if we just took their money that would solve all our problems. That's not a real solution.
"They're going to have to start campaigning on solutions that grow the economy and make New Zealand a wealthier place. Otherwise, they're just playing this zero-sum game, drag them down.

"Sounds really good but it's not a pathway for a better New Zealand and it won't stand up to the scrutiny of being a leader."


In her victory statement, Swarbrick accused the Coalition Government of "bully boy behaviour".
"This week, the Government completed their cruel and, frankly, bizarre 100-day programme. They know that many of the things they have done will make things worse for people and planet and they've told New Zealanders that they don't care," she said."


https://www.stuff.co.nz/politics/3502075...-co-leader

"The new Green Party co-leader Chl├Âe Swarbrick used her first speech in the role to chide what she calls ÔÇ£legacy politicsÔÇØ.
Speaking to media on Sunday, Swarbrick thanked party members for electing her to stand alongside Marama Davidson. She also paid tribute to Shaw.
ÔÇ£The Greens care a lot about whakapapa. We know that we stand on the shoulders of those who have come before us. We know, as the late great green Efeso Collins said, no one stands alone, no one succeeds alone, and no one suffers alone,ÔÇØ she said.
ÔÇ£James Shaw is one of those giants who have contributed decades to our movement.ÔÇØ

She condemned the ÔÇ£stitch upÔÇØ that was legacy politics, represented by the Labour and National parties, that ÔÇ£limits the oxygen and the options that people need to imagine and, in turn, limiting real world resultsÔÇØ.
The country voted for the MMP electoral system,in the 1990s to ÔÇ£breakÔÇØ a duopoly political system, she said.
And she attacked the ÔÇ£bully boy behaviourÔÇØ of the National-coalition Government.

Watching the GovernmentÔÇÖs lawmaking in Parliament in recent weeks had been a ÔÇ£gaslightingÔÇØ experience, she said, as it pursued an agenda ÔÇ£simply because it says that it will, despite actually evidence that says that it is going to make the country a worse placeÔÇØ.