Thanks for the reply mate!

I didn’t think to mess with z-hop - I’ll give that a go, and I’ll do some testing to make sure the Bowden is seated correctly and the wipe on retract is actually happening - thanks!

The print in the image is a ‘torture test’, and just something I had on hand to illustrate the issue. I’m actually not fussed if there is still some stringing at the top, but other detailed prints were getting it pretty bad, including retraction towers.

I can’t speak for Wairarpa so I leave that to you.

I always pull over. I have a wife and kids who all get car sick, so I take it pretty easy generally. But my point wasn’t about me having people behind me doing 80 in a 100 zone - that would be understandable. My point was, previously large stretches of the road were uncomfortable at the posted limit, but even doing the limit angry locals would ride your arse only to Hoon past on a blind corner and speed off. My anecdotal evidence is the reduced limit has cooled people’s driving temperament noticably. I even got two toots for pulling over, and a couple of hazard light flashes - something that hadn’t happened in a long time before the limit reduction.

Can we get a clamp down on medical advertising while we’re at it?

To be fair, I’ve been tested several times this year alone. All of them were in the morning, twice when heading to work and once when dropping the kids off at school.

I thought the timing was extremely weird tho

I think this is an important point that is missed a lot. The reduced speed limits aim to reduce the harm of serious crashes. Any data needs to include the number of crashes to the number of crashes that have serious harm and death, then compare these to other years.

Exactly. Plus there are plenty of passing bays. I pulled over regularly to let people pass, no one had to wait very long behind me. I even got 2 toots!

I recently drove SH6 over the Whangamoas. Most areas that were once 100 are now 80 or lower (except the closest part near Blenheim). I was towing a trailer, and it did not add any appreciable time to the trip, but made the whole drive much less stressful. No more Utes up my arse because how dare I not do the full 100 on the windy as fuck road. So from my personal experience I like the change.

It also helps that 80 is right around the most fuel efficient speed, which is nice now that petrol is $3+

Nice!

Yes batteries are currently not really worth it at the prices we pay. I had 2 small batteries installed (IIRC they are 4kwh total), but they really add nothing. Slightly offset costs,but weren’t worth it. I got a good price on them, however, so I’m not too upset, but in hindsight I wouldn’t have added them.

I’m a big fan of centralised storage. Using excess generated power during the day on a pumped water storage system, or similar, and then returning it to the grid at night. I think the economies of scale make the most sense this way, and then buyback rates should be equal. That would require some radial overhauling of the current power landscape, however. If only the power companies hadn’t been privatised back in the day, we would be in better shape then we are now.

It is systemic here. Macho attitudes to health and safety. Hour upon hour of AM/TalkBack radio doesn’t help.

Yes, I have it somewhere. I think it was in the order of 10 years but I’d have to find the details to confirm that.

I didn’t do it with the thinking of return on investment however. To me, it is an increase in property value, and a reduction in day-to-day costs which were big factors, and of course reducing my environmental impact.

I actually installed my panels in two stages. The second stage added 60% production, but cost slightly less than the initial 40% did. The costs are even less now. Couple that with input from the government, and the pay-off time would be much less if I installed it today with this policy in effect. Much more appealing to people whose main concern is strictly reducing costs.

I’m also a big fan of residential solar for redundancy and disaster resilience.

Sure, but there are other considerations. Many businesses do not have appropriate roofs, or are in shared buildings, or are surrounded by tall buildings so get little sunlight.

Also, just because you won’t benefit doesn’t mean others won’t. Like I said, combining running washing etc during the day, keeping the house cool/warm for free during the day, and the buyback (small but significant) has dropped my power bill almost 40%.

I personally think residential solar is a great idea. I think commerical solar is a great idea. I’m happy with anyone adding solar to anything.

ETA: oh, and if you are in favour of solar, then I suggest you vote Labour or Greens. They are the only parties with concrete plans to increase solar uptake.

This is really cool. Thanks for sharing!

I put solar in. It dropped my power bill about 40%.

Why you always argue we shouldn’t do good things because it’s not perfect is beyond me.

Solar on houses is good. Solar on houses and businesses is better. But just because the latter isn’t happening right now is no reason to not do the former.

Some very good points!

In New Zealand, there is a strong bias for more hours = more productivity, and this isn’t even remotely true.

The time is never right. Making change always causes a bit of pain in the short time. That is not a reason to not try and improve our country.

As a business owner I support this.

Not only are they expecting endless capital gains, they are expecting to not be taxed on the income they receive when they realize said gains.

Shocking. It’s almost as if unregulated capitalism tends towards this kind of thing…

Oh right, I forgot NZ has many places but lacks google.

Naturally when I’ve travelled overseas every place name was in English and I never had to trouble myself rubbing two braincells together!

🙄

Maybe paspalum in my lawn will finally die?

Because it’s really hard to learn one new word, amirite?