Stream of consciousness Week 19th February 2024

Stream of consciousness and other personal thoughts garnered throughout the week and which will be added to as the week rolls on. These thoughts are unrefined, unquantified, unverified, and raw. Any of these may be either be edited, deleted or otherwise spawn out into its own separate post particularly if new information comes to light…

  • Haven’t posted a “Stream of Consciousness” post in over a year.
  • Finally recovered fully from my first known bout of COVID-19. Came across as a mild / low-grade flu, but with an elongated tail lasting weeks in the form of a dry cough.
  • AT Hop Card adult fares are too high. It’s also frustrating that Auckland City has remained so car dependent 20 years on. It’s like the powers to be really aren’t serious about tackling the transport crisis nor providing effective and reliable alternative transport options. All stick (SVL / bus lane fines, anti car measures), and little in the way of carrots to encourage model shift. I guess forcing people into car dependency helps with GDP by way of forcing people to spend on mechanics, car products and services, etc not to mention pinging the unwitting $150 bus lane fines as a form of income.
  • Have come to the conclusion that most organizations are an omnishambles structurally under the hood to some level. Even charities / advocacy / volunteer organizations can be toxic environments to work.

  • Yeah, people will try and gas-light and say otherwise and while I agree things aren’t as dire as they otherwise could be in New Zealand (with the so called gas lighters often drawing comparisons to third would countries), things could be a lot better than they are. I feel we are slowly slipping back socially and economically here in New Zealand, particularly compared to say 20 years ago. Main concern is there doesn’t seem to be anything to stop this current direction. Inequality sadly is likely to continue to accelerate as many people seem to be hooked on a steady diet of bread and circuses as opposed to engaging in the Civic process.
  • Will also be reigning back some of the civic engagement / social advocacy a bit. I feel we’re too far along for me as an individual concerned citizen to affect change for common benefit and all I can do realistically do is hunker down and look after my own as it were. My patriotism in recent years has taken on sizeable damage. Upon dispensing with our egalitarianism, I feel we’ve lost a key part of our identity as a country.
  • My will to travel overseas for a vacation remains low / non-existent. Have been trying to juice my interest in travel again, but it’s not working.  It’s more the cost of, the uncertainty of (in terms of dependability of services), and the general hassle of travel that continues to put me off traveling overseas.
  • Have still been Hiking, but feel like I’m doing the same tracks over and over mainly as fitness maintenance. Will admit, It’s starting to become chore like. Really can’t be bothered doing things simply for the sake of ticking them off.
  • Been pre-approved to buy another investment property, but given the current cashflow, not sure if I will be acting any time soon. Also the social stigma of (residential) property investing is starting to escalate and perhaps rightly so in many respects. Controversial as this may be, I feel we’ve had it too good for too long at the expense of wider society (Tax benefits afforded as investors over owner occupiers).
  • The last election was a disappointment filled with disappointing policies and candidates. No one, and I mean no one showed any willingness to address the question I had regarding what they were going to do to tackle housing affordability and the social implications that come with continued ridiculously high home prices.
  • Will admit that I haven’t felt genuine “Excitement” for some time. Elation may be, but that’s about it. Have met people, even older people who seem to be eternally optimistic, excited about the smallest things. I don’t believe I’m depressed, but perhaps “jaded”

 

 

Older Stream of Consciousness thoughts can be found here.

Stream of consciousness Week 19th February 2024

Stream of consciousness Week 1st January 2023

Stream of consciousness and other personal thoughts garnered throughout the week and which will be added to as the week rolls on. These thoughts are unrefined, unquantified, unverified, and raw. Any of these may be either be edited, deleted or otherwise spawn out into its own separate post particularly if new information comes to light…

  • Happy New Year. Skycity Fireworks were OK and I thank them for continuing to put these on, though I feel they fell short of being “bigger and better than ever” as per mentioned in the RNZ article
  • Nice walk up to sentinel rock out near Katikati. Takes around 3 and half hours return including scrambling up to the rock itself. Had some excellent conversations with other hikers similar walking up and down with me.

  • Access to Universal healthcare is paramount. It looks like we’re still managing to maintain some level of this which is heartening, but acknowlege it’s not without it’s problems and we need to keep an eye on it and fight tooth and nail to ensure we retain this.
  • If the Government wants to encourage public transport use, then the half price fare subsidy (as an integral part of a larger suite of Public Transport improvements) will need to continue for the foreseeable future. The old casual fares prior to COVID-19 pandemic even with using the Public transport fare cards were not a financially compelling enough reason to woo people onto Public Transport.
  • All things considered. The fact that House prices have risen faster than one can earn from their wages is an irredeemable stain on the system. It’s come to the point where I remain angry and disappointed at the Governments’ (Both Past and current) for their non delivery. I say this as admittedly a Landlord myself (who further admittedly has profitted on paper from it), that what has now transpired is socially distablizing and disgusting. The value of working has been eroded and people rightly feel disenfranchised.
  • Felt the Te Aroha earthquake 5:40 am on 4th Jan 2023. It was almost imperceptible here in Auckland, but did noticed by bed seem to be wobbling a bit more than say what would be caused by my heart beating alone..

Older Stream of Consciousness thoughts can be found here.

Stream of consciousness Week 1st January 2023

Stream of Consciousness Week 30th May 2022

Stream of consciousness and other personal thoughts garnered throughout the week and which will be added to as the week rolls on. These thoughts are unrefined, unquantified, unverified, and raw. Any of these may be either be edited, deleted or otherwise spawn out into its own separate post particularly if new information comes to light…

  • Farewelled our HR Lady at work last week who has been with us for 15 years. Got a chance to meet with colleagues again. Lovely farewell. She’ll be greatly missed around here.
  • Walked the newly open shared cycle path between Meadowbank and Kohimarama. While I’m no fan of Auckland Transport, the path has been well done and well engineered (may be overly so). Looks like they’re planning to build a path in Hobson Bay parallel to Ngapipi RD.
  • Travel and hiking burnout. I may have to tone things back as oppose to try and force it. I’ve even lost interest in uploading to nui.nz any of my photos from any of my recent trips as well due to everything looking the same (when I come to review the photos).
  • News about the news? Kamahl Santamaria, I think I remember meeting him personally at a friend’s party many moons ago last century, and previously heard positive things about him up until today and admittedly previously held a positive impression of him, however wake up, find he’s been pulled up for rather inappropriate behavior and it feels as if everyone in NZ is now unloading their vitriol on the lad. Existential malaise intensifies… bloody humans, honestly, the lot of us.

Older Stream of Consciousness thoughts can be found here.

Stream of Consciousness Week 30th May 2022

Stream of Consciousness Week 28th March 2022

Stream of consciousness and other personal thoughts garnered throughout the week and which will be added to as the week rolls on. These thoughts are unrefined, unquantified, unverified, and raw. Any of these may be either be edited, deleted or otherwise spawn out into its own separate post particularly if new information comes to light…

  • Can take these things for granted. Vector has been doing rather well in keeping the lights running in much of the Auckland region. Can’t recall when I last had a power cut in the Meadowbank / St Johns area. Rurally, may be different however.
  • Looks like Fonterra Brands has decided to discontinue their Symbio Yoghurt range. Been looking for it in Supermarkets for a good month thinking it was out of stock before realising something was up… a month is a little too long for something to be out of stock for. Visited their website and was confronted with a message saying they decided to discontinue it.

Older Stream of Consciousness thoughts can be found here.

Stream of Consciousness Week 28th March 2022

Stream of Consciousness Week 14th March 2022

Stream of consciousness and other personal thoughts garnered throughout the week and which will be added to as the week rolls on. These thoughts are unrefined, unquantified, unverified, and raw. Any of these may be either be changed, edited, deleted or otherwise spawn out into its own separate post particularly if new information comes to light…

  • Many of the courier services have remarkably been quite punctual in their delivery of any online shopping as of recent at least for the Meadowbank / St Johns area (Auckland Metro), May very well be a different story elsewhere. Lots of businesses are also now dispatching the very same day as the order being placed meaning many parcels arrive the following morning for cross town deliveries.
  • If just requiring a simple cheap laptop, a company called ‘CR Tech‘ on TradeMe appear to be offering 2nd hand laptops for reasonable prices. Please note many of them are ‘E-Waste’ grade so make sure to read the listing description and take notes of any mentioned faults (if any) – Many of them will simply be cosmetic. Some will have adapters missing. Some with cracked screens. Have bought a few of the better condition machines from them and they’ve been generally pretty good.
  • Admittedly I’m a bit over this warm weather. These 28+ degree days seem to refuse to end.
  • While my comments regarding Auckland Transport may have been extreme and while I understand the vision to reduce our car and fossil fuel use in order to fulfil our obligations with Climate Change, I still firmly feel that the way that AT are going about their Bus Lane enforcement particularly when advance on-road guidance and public education is so lacking (Sorry, I don’t consider a pamphlet drop to the immediate local area as anywhere near sufficient), risks deeply alienating the otherwise law abiding general motoring public who may not yet have access to viable alternative transport modes for their needs.
  • Read somewhere the government was mentioning that very few people have taken up the AstraZeneca version of the vaccine. As someone who was planning to take the AstraZeneca as my booster to mix it up a bit, it’s the perceived hoops one has to jump through in order to access it that eventually made me call it off and simply go do a repeat of a the Pfizer vaccine. Originally booked at a Pharmacy offering AstraZeneca, then got a text saying a few days later demanding that I produce evidence that I’ve received a prescription for it. Ended up aborting and just getting the regular Pfizer instead on offer. The issue here is that none of this was mentioned on the “Book my vaccine” website itself beforehand, nor did it make any mention at the time that getting a prescription was actually free.

Older Stream of Consciousness thoughts can be found here.

Stream of Consciousness Week 14th March 2022

Stream of Consciousness Week 21th February 2022

Stream of consciousness and other personal thoughts garnered throughout the week and which will be added to as the week rolls on. These thoughts are unrefined, unquantified, unverified, and raw. Any of these may be either be edited, deleted or otherwise spawn out into its own separate post particularly if new information comes to light…

  • Political aspects and the message being promoted aside, Looks like the Wellington Protests (from the walkthrough videos posted) have interestingly evolved into some sort of unofficial (bootleg) festival. Food trucks, stalls galore, Portable toilets, showers, Live Entertainment, etc. Suspecting much of this is driven by the lack of in-person public events where the majority of them have been cancelled due to the Omicron outbreak. I’m sure also there are curious folk tagging along just to have a look.
  • How much is too often for a property management agency to be changing over the assigned property manager for a given rental property? Also, still looking for an insurance policy that doesn’t demand quarterly inspections. How it got to be that frequent is exceedingly puzzling and would argue unduly disruptive for anybody having to rent.
  • First world problem obviously. 1366×768 resolution screens I feel should be banished from laptops with a screen size of 14 inches or greater. The scaling on such a screen size/resolution I feel is too huge and pixelated and am extremely surprised to see such laptop notebooks still being sold new in 2022 with this resolution on a 15.6” screen especially on a laptop with 16GB of RAM, AMD Ryzen 7 CPU, and 500GB SSD such as the HP 15-ef0022nr available at PBTech. Do manufacturers (in this case, HP) believe there is a market for laptops of that particular screen size/resolution especially on medium specification (and higher) laptops north of 1000 NZD?
  • It seems the Government may be pushing on with the TVNZ and RNZ merger. I’m going to be upfront and say I don’t feel comfortable about this. I have doubts that RNZ and TVNZ are even compatible in their ethos.

Older Stream of Consciousness thoughts can be found here.

Stream of Consciousness Week 21th February 2022

Stream of Consciousness Week 14th February 2022

Stream of consciousness and other personal thoughts garnered throughout the week and which will be added to as the week rolls on. These thoughts are unrefined, unquantified, unverified, and raw. Any of these may be either be edited, deleted or otherwise spawn out into its own separate post particularly if new information comes to light…

  • While Omicron may not be as severe as prior COVID strains and while I’m “boosted”, still exercising extra caution due to my regular contact to older family members and others who are immunocompromised.
  • Economic caution. Noticed interest rate rises after an especially long period of market boom has sometimes been a trigger to a sizeable recession. Taking a more defensive position while closely observing. As I’ve digressed before, If a economic shock does take place, will likely be reamed in some way in spite of any safe guards taken. I can only hope at best to partially mitigate.
  • Will begin posting the occasional link back to photo albums on my homepage to my Facebook profile every few months (as I was doing a few years ago), at least to let those in my circle (whose communications are centered around FB) that I’m still alive essentially. There will however be no change to once or twice visit every month.
  • WhatsApp account “mothballed” a month ago. There was essentially only one social circle still exclusively using it (whose’s chat group which I wasn’t actively participating in), the majority of social contacts have made themselves readily contactable on other platforms such as Signal, Telegram, and Matrix/Element.
  • The vast majority of the inbound internet traffic (over the last month) to the website appears to originate from Australia curiously enough, exceeding local / NZ traffic by 4-5 fold. Could very well be holiday makers planning out a trip to New Zealand?

Older Stream of Consciousness thoughts can be found here.

Stream of Consciousness Week 14th February 2022

Stream of Consciousness Week 13th September 2021

Stream of consciousness and other personal thoughts garnered throughout the week and which will be added to as the week rolls on. These thoughts are unrefined, unquantified, unverified, and raw. Any of these may be either be edited, deleted or otherwise spawn out into its own separate post particularly if new information comes to light…

  • There is an Android App called TrackerControl which will detect and display any possible trackers included in any Apps that you have on your phone. Their website: trackercontrol.org.

Older Stream of Consciousness thoughts can be found here.

Stream of Consciousness Week 13th September 2021

Stream of Consciousness Week 30th August 2021

Stream of consciousness and other personal thoughts garnered throughout the week and which will be added to as the week rolls on. These thoughts are unrefined, unquantified, unverified, and raw. Any of these may be either be edited, deleted or otherwise spawn out into its own separate post particularly if new information comes to light…

  • New Zealand’s second wave of COVID-19. Received my first of two COVID vaccine shots on Friday Afternoon.
  • Had strange itchy red rashes affecting only my toes in the lead up / prior to my first dose of the COVID Vaccine. Never seen it before. Started affecting the small toes of my right foot, travelled across to the big toe, then ‘migrated’ over to the toes of my left foot while leaving the rest of both feet unaffected. Then half an hour after the vaccine, all my toes were feeling like they were on fire, seems the vaccine may have inflamed it.

Older Stream of Consciousness thoughts can be found here.

Stream of Consciousness Week 30th August 2021

Stream of Consciousness Week 5th July 2021

Stream of consciousness and other personal thoughts garnered throughout the week and which will be added to as the week rolls on. These thoughts are unrefined, unquantified, unverified, and raw. Any of these may be either be edited, deleted or otherwise spawn out into its own separate post particularly if new information comes to light…

  • Interesting this is now considered business news by the NZ Herald.
  • While Swazi NZ appear to have moved the manufacture of many of their clothing lines overseas. LastRite footwear, Earth Sea Sky, Cactus Outdoor, Kaiwaka, Ground Effect (Cycling apparel) appears to be still made in New Zealand.

Older Stream of Consciousness thoughts can be found here.

Stream of Consciousness Week 5th July 2021

Stream of Consciousness Week 17th May 2021

Stream of consciousness and other personal thoughts garnered throughout the week and which will be added to as the week rolls on. These thoughts are unrefined, unquantified, unverified, and raw. Any of these may be either be edited, deleted or otherwise spawn out into its own separate post…

  • 21 May 2021 – An interesting online project extensively mapping and documenting the various marae over Aotearoa including photos and information about each marae: https://maorimaps.com/
  • Finally upgraded the VPS on NUI.NZ. Was really running low on web space. The lack of available space was acting as a psychological brake on adding new galleries.
  • Perplexed that NZTA appeared to have started closed the motorway an hour earlier than they had originally suggested on their website (10:00 pm advised, 9:00 pm was actual). They released new bulletins a few minutes before 9:00 pm which is useless while already on the road. Some comments coming their way are probably in order.

Older Stream of Consciousness thoughts can be found here.

Stream of Consciousness Week 17th May 2021

Stream of Consciousness Week 10th May 2021

Stream of consciousness and other personal thoughts garnered throughout the week and which will be added to as the week rolls on. These thoughts are unrefined, unquantified, unverified, and raw. Any of these may be either be edited, deleted or otherwise spawn out into its own separate post…

  • While periodontally compromised and loose, not in agreement that a natural tooth which is otherwise “vital” (alive and receiving blood flow and has no signs of decay) needs to be extracted. The area has received periodontal treatment and the gums are healing up. Suggested to them they splint the tooth at the first instance, give the bone area an opportunity to heal and then we can reassess in a couple of years whether or not we need to extract and replace it with an artificial implant. Will be seeking a second opinion.
  • However, I wish to iterate the above does not in anyway reflect on the other work that the dentists have carried out which I felt was done professionally and to a high standard.

Older Stream of Consciousness thoughts can be found here.

Stream of Consciousness Week 10th May 2021

Stream of Consciousness Week 15th March 2021

Stream of consciousness and other personal thoughts garnered throughout the week and which will be added to as the week rolls on. These thoughts are unrefined, unquantified, unverified, and raw. Any of these may be either be edited, deleted or otherwise spawn out into its own separate post…

  • Lawrence Vic Pty Ltd T/A Thrifty Car and Truck Rental Victoria have agreed to refund the undisclosed portion of the Administration fees without question. Certainly a different and more pleasant exchange than the immediately hostile one I had with the old accounts team back in 2018 when I originally tried to bring it up. Demonstrates that it’s not always about hirers failing to read the agreement. In my case, the clause was no where to be found.

Older Stream of Consciousness thoughts can be found here.

Stream of Consciousness Week 15th March 2021

Stream of Consciousness Week 8th March 2021

Stream of consciousness and other personal thoughts garnered throughout the week and which will be added to as the week rolls on. These thoughts are unrefined, unquantified, unverified, and raw. Any of these may be either be edited, deleted or otherwise spawn out into its own separate post…

  • Easy walk / explore around the back of Te Kowhai, exploring the Te Otamanui Walkway. A very short 2km (one way) walk along side a marshy lagoon. There were plans to extend it all the way to Waipa River, but looks like this may have since stalled due to COVID-19
  • Review platforms are heavily Astroturfed. Read “Which?” Article. In other news, water is wet. Review platforms such as Google Reviews have done a useless job at policing them, in fact, I’m now of the opinion that Google should kill their Review platform.
  • Following on from that theme, All online reviews of any given business are now checked for the presence of widespread false reviews prior to me rendering the services of that business. It is in my experience that businesses engaging in the practice of wide scale astroturfing will most certainly be up to other shady antics in the background. Thrifty Car Rental Dandenong  I’m looking at you.
  • The above reopened a bit of an old wound. Went to review the whole interaction with Lawrence Vic Pty Ltd T/A Thrifty Car Rental Dandenong and feel considerably more angry about the experience now than I did back in 2018. (It categorically remains my single most disappointing consumer experience I had with any business either side of the Tasman). Screw it, I will be taking further action.

Older Stream of Consciousness thoughts can be found here.

Stream of Consciousness Week 8th March 2021

Stream of Consciousness Week 15th February 2021

Stream of consciousness and other personal thoughts garnered throughout the week and which will be added to as the week rolls on. These thoughts are unrefined, unquantified, unverified, and raw. Any of these may be either be edited, deleted or otherwise spawn out into its own separate post…

  • Economic warning Flags present: That everyone now think that the only way for house prices to go is up is a big caution flag, compounded by more and more people ‘resigning’ themselves that house prices can only go up. People I feel have maybe become too comfortable with this concept of home prices never correcting. Have now put a brake on any plans to buy another property pending the whole situation becoming clearer. Again, it’s possible we may “miss out”, but the object here is to control risk.
  • In addition to the above observation, Famine and food shortages I still feel poses a high longer term risk and is something that I believe will unseat the global economy should panic sets in. How best to mitigate this, I still don’t yet know. A question also revolves around whether or not food shortages and subsequent inflation of food prices may cause central banks to reign in their money printing programs and cause asset prices (such as houses) to crash in value relative to cash.

Older Stream of Consciousness thoughts can be found here.

 

Stream of Consciousness Week 15th February 2021

Stream of Consciousness Week 8th February 2021

Stream of consciousness and other personal thoughts garnered throughout the week and which will be added to as the week rolls on. These thoughts are unrefined, unquantified, unverified, and raw. Any of these may be either be edited, deleted or otherwise spawn out into its own separate post…

  • The Old adage of “when taxi drivers start talking about their gains in property and shares, it’s time to sell” has fallen on it’s sword. I still recall a Taxi driver who was taking me to the airport talking about her investment gains back in 2015. It’s now 2021 and the markets are still booming. I’m still of the opinion in broad general terms that economics as a discipline has very little relevance or credibility.
  • I am still going hiking, but predominantly only to maintain fitness. Much of the scenery is very similar between certain hikes and consequently I am only posting the occasional gallery now when there is something substantially new to show. I’m also no longer particularly keen just to hike trails for the sake of ticking them off (That Buzz is gone).
  • While I acknowledge the Government has done well with managing and mitigating COVID-19, I am still perplexed at why the government is refusing to do anything about housing affordability and housing in general. I’m also perplexed at why more people aren’t piping up to hold this government to account and grilling them over this unfulfilled pledge of theirs. I would say acting on this would actually assist in improving our country’s net mental health. Houses were supposed to be homes for people to live in, they were never meant to be instruments of rampant financial speculation, especially not one that is seemingly wilfully encouraged of by this government.

Older Stream of Consciousness thoughts can be found here.

Stream of Consciousness Week 8th February 2021

Stream of Consciousness Week 13rd July 2020

Stream of consciousness and other personal thoughts garnered throughout the week and which will be added to as the week rolls on. These thoughts are unrefined, unquantified, unverified, and raw. Any of these may be either be edited, deleted or otherwise spawn out into its own separate post…

  • Grant Imahara of Mythbusters has tragically passed away very suddenly. Have to admit, his passing probably hit me a lot more than any other Celebrity.
  • Apparently those who were previously infected by CoVid-19 are susceptible to getting it again. I do wonder if we are actually looking at the same Coronavirus or a different strain? Appears the world are having repeated recurrent waves of this thing.
  • Quiet weekend away down Waikato way. Visiting various historical sites and doing another walk up the Kauri grove loop track at the northern end of the Hakarimata range.
  • Finally got my Raspberry Pi 4 (with 8GB Ram), have set it up as a Desktop PC and it appears to do the job surprisingly well. Seems to choke when I try to run Firefox browser though (hence why it seems they went with Chromium as part of the default install)
  • Coming to the conclusion that Branding increasingly in a lot of cases can end up leading to misplaced loyalty on the part of consumers.

Older Stream of Consciousness thoughts can be found here.

Stream of Consciousness Week 13rd July 2020

Stream of Consciousness Week 22nd June 2020

Stream of consciousness and other personal thoughts garnered throughout the week and which will be added to as the week rolls on. These thoughts are unrefined, unquantified, unverified, and raw. Any of these may be either be edited, deleted or otherwise spawn out into its own separate post…

  • Was good to catch up with some old friends who I haven’t seen in a while (who now live outside of Auckland) and just actually relax this weekend along with visiting some older haunts.

Older Stream of Consciousness thoughts can be found here.

Stream of Consciousness Week 22nd June 2020

Stream of Consciousness Week 1st June 2020

Stream of conciousness and other personal thoughts garnered throughout the week and which will be added to as the week rolls on. These thoughts are unrefined, unquantified, unverified, and raw. Any of these may be either be edited, deleted or otherwise spawn out into its own separate post…

  • The question of the weekend: Can continually adding financial stimulus keep the economy propped up indefinitely regardless of what happens? Or is there a point where this plan will simply stop working and we end up paying for it dearly? What is the end game here? On that vein, the current rally being a bull trap, as part of a great depression style bear market, is something that has become less likely. Looking more towards a secular side ways market with large up and down gyrations, must like we had from 2000 to 2009.
  • Western sentiment in the last few days appears to have suddenly snapped back to “life is normal” again. More celebrity, pro-sports and entertainment news making the headlines once again. Casinos and entertainment venues around the world reopening.
  • Ticking things off for the sake of ticking them off admittedly isn’t my buzz personally and is not really how I prefer to spend my leisure time.

Older Stream of Conciousness thoughts can be found here.

 

 

Stream of Consciousness Week 1st June 2020

Stream of Consciousness Week 25th May 2020

Stream of conciousness and other personal thoughts garnered throughout the week and which will be added to as the week rolls on. These thoughts are unrefined, unquantified, unverified, and raw. Any of these may be either be edited, deleted or otherwise spawn out into it’s own separate post…

  • Walked Pae O Te Rangi Farm Summit, looping back via the Disc Golf Course. Fairly short walk of approximately 2 hours return. Track is not marked on any of the Topomaps I can see, however, was present on the Kauri Die Back map as being an open track. Open Tracks PDF Auckland Council.
  • You know why people are saying the COVID Tracing QR codes ain’t working? Because there are two systems which are branded so similarly (with the yellow stripes), no wonder people are complaining when they use the official COVID-19 NZ Tracer app, they get an error. See both the official NZ COVID Tracer app developed by Rush Digital for the Ministry of Health NZ and then Simple Trace developed by a separate company called Springload.
  • Easy and cheap credit I feel is eroding the value of working. Seems the days of actually earning your keep and then using your hard-earned money to say buy a place of your own is now getting further and further out of reach of people. The pathways are disappearing. We are rewarding rampant speculation, supporting zombie corporations that should have gone under decades ago, investment into non-productive assets and further deepening the wealth divide.

Older Stream of Conciousness thoughts can be found here.

 

 

Stream of Consciousness Week 25th May 2020