The XT Network still has issues and heads have started to roll.
The spoofs continue to roll out. First there was the XT Network for sale on Trademe - disguised as a lemon. Now, never before seen footage of Dr Reynolds and his close knit team in the days immediately following the last big outage.
Here’s the video…
And here’s a screen shot of the Trade Me auction.
Click on the image to enlarge
These are happy dairy cows
Two companies, Southdown Holdings and Five Rivers, have put an application in to start a dairy operation that would see 18,000 dairy cows housed in pens known as free stalls. You can see the application here.
What are these people thinking? And why are the Federated Farmers supporting them?
Apparently there is a plus side to this type of farming: it makes the ‘farmers’ more money; and it’s supposed to be kinder to the environment because the effluent can be easily collected.
On the negative side the animals need greater doses of antibiotics to prevent infection, plus they’ll be fed on grain, not clover or grass. Both of these things have an effect on the milk production. These chemicals leach through into the milk so that you and I end up drinking them, and being fed on grain will alter the taste.
What’s more the grain that they feed these animals is likely to come from palm plantations that are replacing natural rainforest. Any apparent lowering of the carbon footprint is more than offset by the fact that grain will need to be shipped in.
What’s more frightening is that this will irreparably damage our reputation as a clean green producer of sustainable sheep and beef meat, and milk. If a feed lot for dairy cows is allowed then the next logical step is that beef farmers will want to intensively farm their animals and we’ll end up like the US - crap meat, crap milk.
Why is the Federated Farmers supporting this move? They believe that this sort of farming should be encouraged. According to Federated Farmers President Don Nicolson:
This style of closed cycle farming means effluent can, for example, be put into bio-digesters with the resulting biogas used to power the farm offsetting farm animal emissions. Surplus energy could be sold into the national grid and all the while, nutrient loss is minimised.
This is what the emissions trading scheme is meant to encourage, isn’t it?
What he doesn’t take into consideration is the long term implications for New Zealand as a whole in allowing this type of farming. This isn’t a farm - it’s a factory. And the welfare of these animals is compromised as much, if not more, than the pigs in pens that caused so much controversy several months back.
The Golden Arches
McDonalds is taking over the world. Not only are they making moves on Balmoral and Kaikoura than they are opening a restaurant in the Louvre Museum next month.
The 1,142nd McDonalds in France will open just metres inside the main entrance as a celebration of its 3oth birthday.
An art historian working at the museum stated:
“This is the pinnacle of exhausting consumerism, deficient gastronomy and very unpleasant odours in the context of a museum…”
I couldn’t have put it better myself, and so I wont.
McDonalds joins a Starbucks that opened near the Right Bank entrance to the Louvre in 2008.
The restaurant chain in France has enjoyed the biggest growth outside the USA. According to the chain the fast food group opened 30 new outlets last year in France and welcomed 450 million customers – up 11 per cent on the previous year.
Read the original Daily Telegraph article.
The site I have been wanting to build since around 2001 has finally arrived.
www.meateaters.co.nz
Back at the turn of the century eating meat was not a very fashionable thing to do - it was done in moderation, usually when you went to a restaurant or to a friend’s place for dinner.
Every Thursday night I would meet with my two brothers-in-law (while my better half was out of the house) and we would cook a meat meal. It was never anything fancy - usually sausages with mashed potato and frozen peas. The sausages would be courtesy of the Superior Meat Market on Ponsonby Road - run by a father and son team - Brian and Wayne. And bloody good bangers they were too. I never ate as much meat as I did in that and the subsequent year.
Did I develop hardened arteries and a heart condition? No.
Did I become obese and diabetic? No.
I embraced the joy of eating meat to the point that I registered www.meateaters.co.nz always with the idea of creating a site about, for and of meat. We even had T-shirts made - a limited run (of three) with a photo of our typical Thursday night feast.
So, take a look - it’s new and needs more content. But if you have ideas for articles, or you have reviews of great meat meals you have experienced, or you want to talk about your favourite butcher, or meat retailer then add a comment to this post and I’ll make contact with you via the email address you provide.
Check it our at www.meateaters.co.nz or www.meatdinner.com
So, after my post about McDonalds buying land in Kaikoura I was contacted by the good folk in Balmoral Auckland. They have been fighting to stop a McDonalds restaurant open in their suburb.
TV3 ran a story tonight that said the McDonalds application has been approved - with one proviso: that they aren’t allowed to erect the 10 metre high identifying “Golden Arches”.
Needless to say the Balmoral Community Group are gutted. They continue to fight and are raising funds to appeal the decision.
According to the Balmoral Community Group spokesperson Nathan Inkpen, the biggest walking bus in the country will be passing by the McDonalds restaurant twice a day. Perhaps that is the main reason that the McD’s positioned the site there. After all, we know they like to target the young.
Go to the Balmoral Says No! website to lend your support and help them continue the fight.
I’ve just flown back from Auckland and have two big ‘ups’ for Air New Zealand.
Firstly there’s a huge thankyou to the flight crew that painted their bodies and appeared naked for the Air New Zealand video safety message. It is absolutely brilliant and a better-than-perfect way at instructing passengers on the safety measures and procedures on board the aircraft.
Many times in the past I would slump in my seat and never even glance at the monitors while the video droned on about following the lights to the exit, or adopting the brace position.
Today when the video played I swear to God nearly everyone was watching that screen. It wasn’t just because the staff were naked (that was part of it I’m sure) -but it was more that they kept your attention and gave you everything you needed to know with good humour and good grace, and with a wry smile.
I even saw people turn and actually count the rows of seats to their nearest exit. That’s a stunning success. I know I’m late off the mark - more than 4 million people have viewed the clip on YouTube - but if you haven’t seen it here it is now:
My second round of congratulations goes to the flight deck of Flight NZ 451 which departed from Auckland today at 5pm.
We knew it would be a rough flight when the pilot told us he would be flying at a lower altitude because the wind at normal cruising altitude was blowing 250kph.
Of course we could expect some turbulence on descent into Wellington (it’d be unusual if this was not the case).
Anyway, ten minutes out of the capital the roller coaster began, and got worse. It was dark and the cloud was low, and we (the passengers) couldn’t see a thing. I knew we were getting close to approach when I heard the wing flaps go down and they switched on the landing lights.
Just before we touched down the pilot did an abort and we climbed at full power to 5000 feet. We were going around again as the plane had struck ‘dead air’.
Another 10 minutes of roller coaster activity, and I must say apparent calm from myself and the other passengers, as we went back around to make another approach.
This time - success! Thankyou pilots and crew of NZ451. I really didn’t fancy travelling on a bus from Palmerston North to home. This was our alternative if our second attempt had been unsuccessful.
Business, Fun and Games | Skinny | 
February 26, 2010 2:48 pm | 
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