April 28, 2005
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| IRD's Take On What It Costs To Live | |
IRDs job is to be fair, and it's staff are very intelligent. They have determined that by them saying it costs much less to live in Auckland than it actually does, they will make it so.
IRD say $197 a week rent in Auckland?
2 Bedroom - Median Rent $260/week, however, I require an office so I can fulfill my duties of employment from home. Therefore we require a three bedroom home. Median Rent $325/week.
Source: Tenancy Services Centre
IRD say $143.65 budget for food per week. An extra $2.00 a week in food with one child over a couple?
Two Adults: $231.00/week
Source: Statistics New Zealand
IRD say $37.00 a week in petrol? In Auckland?
I just paid $76 for a weeks petrol.
What about warrant and rego for vehicles? No allowance for these.
No allowance for existing debts, no coverage of glasses. How am I to work without glasses? How am I to GET to work without glasses. I use a computer 80% of the day - I won't be able to see it without proper glasses.
No entertainment of any kind - am I in Prison? I work long hours; you expect me to have no form of enjoyment of life? Am I a criminal?
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Posted by Karl Rohde at 3:32 pm | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0) | Rant |
April 23, 2005
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| "Musical Artists" and Lip-Sync | |
While feeding my baby boy this afternoon (Diane was at the gym, having expressed milk earlier) I turned on the TV.
After a little channel hoping (we only have reception for 3 channels) I found C4 - a music channel. Eventually CD:Uk came on. Never seen it before.
Several "live" acts came on.
I use "live" very loosely. All but one were lip-syncing. I had enough of that when Villi Manilli were about.
I would ask for my money back if I went to a live gig and the artis was lip syncing.
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Posted by Karl Rohde at 12:00 am | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0) | Rant |
April 20, 2005
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| Petrol | |
Apparently we are going to hit close to $1.35 a litre by the winter. If this happens the prices will flow on down to the price of every thing we buy! Want petrol prices to come down? We need to take some intelligent, united action. Philip Hollsworth, offered this good idea.
Continue reading "Petrol" |
Posted by Karl Rohde at 10:04 pm | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0) | Rant |
April 15, 2005
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| Just shy of $70 to fill my car | |
Recently NZ Government added five cents plus GST to the cost of petrol.
The equates to $0.05625 per litre.
We now pay for 96 - $1.345 per litre, based on our equivalent spending power, that makes NZ one of the most expensive places in the ORCD to fill up your car!
ENOUGH! Stop this nasty, incideous taxation.
Wages have not gone up enough to continually tax more and more people!
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Posted by Karl Rohde at 12:00 am | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0) | Rant |
March 26, 2005
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| Poor Judges | |
So, Judges get a 4 to 6.5% pay increase.
Salaries between $215,000 to $348,000 per annum. And there are complaints they don't get paid enough, and that they need to pander to law firm to ensure they have some consulting work after retirement to eke out their meager retirement savings.
The average pensioner recieves $15669.16 per annum, before tax.
If the judge, let's take the lowest one, becomes a judge, and works as such for just 15 years, and follows the rule of 10% savings, they will save $500,000 dollar (with interest).
That's enough for a pensioner to live on for 30 years.
If a pensioner can do it, I am sorry judges, but you can bloody well do it to.
My figures are before tax, but just to put it into perspective, the lowest paid judge has a take home pay of $2676 per week, where as a pensioner takes home $249.09 per week.
I am sure they are not hard done by, the pensioners I mean.
Maybe judges need to take a step back from their insular lives and check with the real world for a change.
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Posted by Karl Rohde at 9:46 am | Comments (1) | Trackbacks (0) | Rant |
March 21, 2005
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| Spam and PrimeHost | |
Just what I need when I get home.
One of my customers was nice enough to forward an unsolicted contact from a company here in NZ called primehost.co.nz
They felt asking my customer to come over to them was quite ok.
Now, had they sent a letter via snail mail, fine. Thats is called marketing. But using the customer's contact form? That's just plain rude. And rather stupid.
Oh well - their provider will determine how rude!
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Posted by Karl Rohde at 5:14 pm | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0) | Rant |
March 18, 2005
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| Sexual Abstinence for Teens | |
So, George W. Bush still pushes Sexual Abstinence for Teens.
He has, yet again, shown that he does not read. Can he read?
All research, plus the actual measured results of his Sexual Abstinence for Teens programs indicate they are a complete failure.
False information on the value of non-abstinence contraception such as condoms is being paid for by American taxpayers. More and more money is being spent, but nothing changes. The rate of teenage pregnancy in "Sexual Abstinence for Teens" schools went up, not down.
The answer? Proper, well founded education, support structures based on understanding rather than intolerance and persecution.
Come on Bush, stop being such a dumb arse bigot and get with the picture. Prohibition did not work for alchohol. Abstinence is certainly not going to work with teenagers! Their hormones control them. Show them how to look after themselves, teach them to have the confidence to be aware and understand their sexuality, but don't treat them like idiots!
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Posted by Karl Rohde at 2:30 pm | Comments (3) | Trackbacks (0) | Rant |
March 17, 2005
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| Alaska Open To Oil Drilling | |
Disgusting!
That pretty much sums up the US senate's decision to allow oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in the northern eastern corner of Alaska.
Instead of blowing up people, the billions the US Senate have invested in military should be spent on alternate energy research. Have they not learned the lessons of the past?
Reliance on a core energy source such as oil is ridiculous.
Contact your governor or senator and demand they change their position to vote in favour of a complete ban on oil drilling in ANWR. Alaska does not need to be destroyed by the oil companies, it is too precious to lose or destroy.
What gives the US the right to destroy yet another precious region? Why do they insist on totally disregarding the ecological impacts of their greed?
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Posted by Karl Rohde at 10:27 am | Comments (1) | Trackbacks (0) | Rant |
March 14, 2005
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| The Long Commute | |
Today the traffic stopped.
Admittedly I left a little later than my usual, but when on a major motorway, you don't expect the traffic to "stop".
Now, I don't mind my commute. It means when I am at home several beaches are close by. It also means my wife and I can rent a nicer house than if we were more central.
But really, I lose 2-3 hours of my day because of the lack of transport options.
If I could catch a bus, or a train, or even a ferry I would.
But no - that's going to take me longer to get to work, and cost more than using my car.
What am I to do?
Oh yes - work from home. It all comes back to getting my home business moving faster.
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Posted by Karl Rohde at 12:09 pm | Comments (1) | Trackbacks (0) | Rant |
March 10, 2005
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| Low-level speeding tickets soar | |
So, more and more people are being nabbed doing between 11kms and 15kms over the speed limit by police on traffic duty!
Now, at 50km going 61-65km is probably an issue, but take the driver who is doing 105km in a 100km zone. They may actually be doing 115km because all cars speedos have a +/- 10% tolerance.
Last I checked, WOF does not require a speedo calibration check.
Officer-issued speeding tickets for drivers 11-15km/h over limit:
1999 - 2312
2000- 3785
2001 - 30,836
2002 - 76,784
2003 - 139,567
2004 - 161,919
In 2004 that's an approximate total of $13,000,000 in fines!
SHOCKING! Just another form of tax I say!
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Posted by Karl Rohde at 11:42 am | Comments (1) | Trackbacks (0) | Rant |
February 22, 2005
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| No Distraction Behind The Wheel | |
So, the Insurance Council don't want even hand-free car kit mobile use. It's apparantly a distraction.
I whole heartedly agree that using a mobile while driving is a silly thing to do - particularly in a manual car. But a hands free car kit?
Get a reality check I say! Distraction? Driving IS a constant distraction. Ban phones? Why not ban passengers? You certainly should ban children, they are such a distraction!
In fact, why not just ban cars altogether!
The Insurance Council has one agenda - minimize payouts for insurance companies.
Pah! - baning car kits is like banning scuba diving or some other potentially dangerous activity.
On another subject...
Speaking of children, my first child was due yesterday - my lovely wife is doing well, but the little one has not yet made an appearance. Just as well, got to do the vaccuming, tidy the office, mop the floors, the list goes on... oh and did I mention panic?
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Posted by Karl Rohde at 12:13 pm | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0) | Rant |
February 18, 2005
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| NZ Needs Nuclear Power? | |
Righto - thats the take from New Zealand's Federated Farmers.
Are they bloody idiots? Obviously!
Why does NZ produce do so well overseas? Our clean green image.
What is the real problem?
The lack of foresight and imagination by the core power generating companies. We don't need more dams and coal power stations. We need R & D into wind, solar and tidal generation.
Just how is Nuclear power going to stop the pylons?
It's not.
Where as strategically placed wind, solar and tidal generation is able to be dotted around the country WITHOUT the contamination/polution/disaster risk of a nuclear solution.
So, New Zealand's Federated Farmers, pull your bloody heads in, and stop being so bloody lazy. Allocate 0.5% of your land to alternative generation without "spoiling" the landscape with Nuclear power.
Oh - I forgot - farmers are basically stupid - why else would they think Nuclear was cleaner and more efficient than other forms of generation?
Duh!
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Posted by Karl Rohde at 5:56 pm | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0) | Rant |
February 17, 2005
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| TELESCUM(Telecom) NZ | |
So, around October last year I moved house. I requested ADSL through an ISP who I am very satisfied with, wanting to get their new UBS offering.
Unfortunately, I still had to deal with TELESCUM(Telecom).
They did not get me setup on time - despite having nearly 4 weeks advanced notice - then UBS kicked in.
This is where TELESCUM(Telecom) shows it's true colors.
$144.99 disconnection fee for a service I had going for less than a month!
I moved from TELESCUM(Telecom) for the following reasons:
I hate them
The other ISP are technically better able to deal with issues in a time fashion
my telephone service was moving to TelstraClear
TELESCUM(Telecom) are a bunch of wankers
So anyway - they say I entered a contract - I say I didn't. The small claims court will decide.
What are your thoughts? Send me a note
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Posted by Karl Rohde at 10:28 am | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0) | Rant |
February 9, 2005
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| Tolls on Auckland's Roads? | |
I am really sick and tired of the motorist in Auckland getting it in the neck!
Now they say we will add tolls to arterial routes during peak hours to encourage people to take public transport like they do overseas.
Now, I don't have an issue with that except for one small aspect these wonderfully intelligent people have overlooked.
The public transport system in Auckland is crap.
When I was without car, I had to travel to a new job from Mt Roskill to Mt Wellington. I walked for 20 minutes at the Mt Roskill end, and 35 minutes at the Mt Wellington end and had an overcrowded bus ride for an hour in between.
I was able to put up with it for six weeks before I bought a $250 car, spent $500 getting it road worthy and reduced my weekly costs to $20 from $35 that it was costing to bus it, and saved an hour each day in commute time.
So powers that be, if you are going to toll the motorist on top of already exorbitant petrol tax that does NOT get spent on roading, then put your money where your mouths are and spend money on subsidizing and imporving public transport!
Otherwise PISS OFF and let us get to work as we see fit. |
Posted by Karl Rohde at 11:44 am | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0) | Rant |
January 27, 2005
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| Oligopoly | |
"n : (economics) a market in which control over the supply of a commodity is in the hands of a small number of producers and each one can influence prices and affect competitors"
So - petrol drops, petrol rises, 5-6 different suppliers - but it all happens at the same time. Of course the commodity known as petrol has stiff competition in New Zealand. I saw a pig fly today. Honest!
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Posted by Karl Rohde at 7:59 pm | Comments (2) | Trackbacks (0) | Rant |
January 22, 2005
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| The Civil Unions Bill | |
The Civil Unions Bill - why do those people like Destiny Church deem it to be an affront to marriage?
It's not. When a same sex couple has been together for thirty years and one is dying in hospital their partner is now permitted access as if they were a husband or wife. What is wrong with that? Many marriages could not last thirty years.
If two people love each other that's all that matters.
The law enforces that love conquors all. The stigma that neo-conservatives push on society about same sex and non-married couples reeks of fear, misunderstanding and more importantly tyranny.
We live in a country where the rights of all should and will be considered equal. The neo-conservatives will result in our country being directed by their will. What of my will? What of my children's will? If they do not agree with what these happy-clappy conservatives believe in will they be persecuted like the Jews during Hitler's reign?
Freedom and joy comes from one thing - the right to make individual choice.
Enough is enough. The Civil Unions Bill is here. Get over it Destiny, get over it conservative New Zealand. It has no impact on the sanctity of marriage. There is no documented proof that marriage between a heterosexual couple improves the lot of the child. Why is divource so high? Why does family violence often happen in the traditional family unit? Where is the sanctity and protection in that?
Pull the wool from your eyes and admit the reason for the opposition is simply fear and misunderstanding.
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Posted by Karl Rohde at 3:22 pm | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0) | Rant |
