For anyone interested this article by Andrea Vance is interesting, though he does seem to be someone whose views can be rather contradictory. Imo anyone keen to cut benefits to those who are already worse off than anyone else should never have even a shred of power over other people, so that's slightly worrying.

https://www.thepost.co.nz/a/politics/350...ping-faith

The┬áorganisers of the book fair / Bookarama Bishopdale and they are in the dog house with the donators and attendantÔÇÖs of the fair for letting book dealers shop up large before the event even started meaning the people the next day did not get to see all that had been donated.


It won't let me post links but one person said that that  they donated over 800 books and DVD's and is very angry because   they thought the donations were going to help members of the community  access goods at a small price, spreading joy and the love of a good book rummage. 


Many many similar posts like that one.

Did anyone go to it?

I did not go this year, but last year I remember standing in a huge line (and I mean the line was so long it crossed the whole park) on day 1 of the fair and seeing two elderly ladies a few rows ahead of me who were over 80 years old shivering in the rain. And I thought something was up once inside, the place seemed really a mess, usually it's all tidy and neat when you arrive.

After reading what people were adding on the thread, all I can think is would people wait in the rain if they knew they werenÔÇÖt the first group to see the donations on day one? Gee, If I had known, I would have waited for the rain to clear for sure
It rained so so much on the days of this yearÔÇÖs Bookarama too, so there were a lot of people being little Trojans to attend this fair.


What do you guys think? Has anyone donated books?

Does this strike anyone else as deeply unfair & in dire need of changing - preferably tomorrow, or is it fine with everyone else?

Very canny though - govt saying its 'just for the information' because there's an election not far off so as not to put the wind up the opposition while doing precisely that.

Cue ACT paranoia...


https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/1318628...-zealander

• [b]For the average Kiwi, the figure is about 20%.[/b]
• [b]The Treasury says wealthiest 1% own more than a quarter of the countryÔÇÖs wealth.[/b]
• [b]The findings are expected to trigger a debate about tax reform.[/b]

I have got this old PC: 
MB:  Asrock Z77 Extreme4   with onboard Graphic, and Sapphire RX580 graphic card installed.

I could start up the PC by connecting to the onboard graphic without having to unplug the RX580 card. 

Of course, I could also start up by connecting to the RX580.  In short, I could connect to either of the graphic port.

All along, I have this in mind that I need to unplug the video card (RX580) before I could use the onboard graphic!   Otherwise, the PC won't start up.

Am I outdated or there's some setting in the BIOS that allows to use either onboard or added graphic?

Anyone else capture some shots last night?
I got some reasonable ones from the Kaimai range which is quite far north to typically see them.
There is a chance of more tonight, but our solar maximum could bring us more over the coming months.

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Anzac Day has been all over the news tonight, as it should be and The Last Post has been heard many times. But why don't they stick with tradition and play The Last Post on a bugle? All the renditions I have heard tonight are played on a trumpet and it just does not sound the same. 

The sound of a trumpet is just too pure, whereas the sound of the bugle is very raw and sounds completely different. 

So why do they play the last post on a trumpet? Doesn't anyone know how to play a bugle these days? Sacrilege!

As far as I'm aware, every other city of a similar size to CHCH has at least one birthing centre but there's presently just the one here & despite a petition with over 30 thousand signatures, the idiot bureaucrats have decided we don't need one & it must close.

Women can after all give birth at what is referred to as CHCH Women's hospital  but they will be chucked out within hours of giving birth & sent miles away to either Rolleston birthing centre (south of CHCH) or north to Rangiora, neither of which is ideal especially for first time mums.

it could also be extremely dangerous under some circumstances, but then that apparently doesn't seem to matter. While there will eventually be another birthing centre opened in the city 'later this year' there's no certainty about when that might be.
The concern is that its all rather vague & there's always the chance that it may never happen.


https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/4885...ll-through

I keep on getting a "sign in with google" pop-up in Firefox, & Chrome running in Linux Mint.
I have disabled it in the Google account, but it still insists on showing.

Anyone notice how TM sometimes wants to think for you automatically and just narrow your search down to a particular category without actually asking?
I find it quite annoying, Im not sure if there is a setting that turns this off or not, need to take a look. Basically what happens is at times you will search for any random item and it will direct you to a search in motors and you have to manually switch categories yourself.

Good for this woman - given that there will almost certainly be a need for sex workers, this is a good move since the less its hidden, the more likely medical help will be accessed when needed.


https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2023/4...igma-shame

• [b]"Medan, Indonesia ÔÇô[/b]┬áMarta Dewi, a housewife in Central Java province, became an advocate for IndonesiaÔÇÖs sex workers by accident.

• ÔÇ£IÔÇÖve never worked as a sex worker but I care about my environment and, in my area, there are so many sex workers,ÔÇØ Dewi told Al Jazeera. ÔÇ£Once I got to know them, I realised that they did these jobs out of necessity and shouldnÔÇÖt be judged.ÔÇØ

• PERKAWIS also works with the local health authority to provide sex workers with health checks and educate them about their reproductive health as many of the women have not been taught basic sex education. The union has handed out free condoms in the past and provided workers with screenings for HIV and other STIs.