Movember and Choptober

It's great to see that John Key supports Movember, and it's also great to see that he doesn't plan on growing a Mo (I can imagine that this would look revolting and he's already embarrassed NZ enough lately). The boys in my flat have decided to grow their facial hair for October instead of November for some reason. This however is not for charity, but because they think it would be fun not to shave for a month. Luckily they are growing it all over, rather than having dirty Mos or chops or something. As long as I don't have to clean up all of the freshly shaven facial hair around the bathroom sink on the 1 November, I'll be happy enough.

Fee Raising

Check out this post on the dodginess of the Victoria University Council:

http://mediadarlings.net/2009/09/22/victoria-votes-for-5-fee-increase-again-and-again-and-again/

Tis a big money making scheme...

Ban on bulk-buying bargains

NZ Herald has reported that SaveMart has started banning bulk buyers, who look like they are buying up big to sell on in "recycle-boutiques" and on TradeMe.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10599857&ref=rss

I think that this is great to see. I think that as a direct result of on-selling, Wellington has one of the worst second hand shop selections in the country. It is impossible to find anything with a brand on it in my local Salvation Army store; to get it I'd have to go to a recycle-boutique on Cuba St and pay three times the amount that it would be worth. Good on SaveMart (wish there was one near me!)

The Importance of Evidence- Helen Cull

I attended a presentation by arguably one of NZ's awesomest lawyers this afternoon, Helen Cull QC (above- although not a particularly flattering photo, it shows what she does). It was marketed as a lecture on the importance of evidence, but was especially fascinating as it was presented in the context of the Bain trial. I thought that I had been watching it very carefully as it unravelled, but this presentation made me realize that unless you are in the Courtroom, it is just impossible to formulate an accurate view about anything. Here are just a few of the things I learned today about the Bain trail (admittedly they were from Helen's point of view, and as a consequence exclusively support Bain but anyway...):

1. While all we saw on the news was police officers and neighbours being examined, the defense team actually presented over 50 witnesses (friends, lecturers etc) to tell everyone how great a guy David was.

2. David's North Island relatives (Like Michael Bain the uncle with the article in the Listener about how Robin was a great Dad) were hanging out in the Court indicating what they thought of each piece of evidence with facial expressions etc so that the jury could get a heads up.

3. David's first trial was governed by common law evidence rules, but for some reason his new trial was guided by the Evidence Act 2006. Is that an example of retroactive use of legislation? Sounds sus

Levy raising at Vic

Over at kiwiblog DPF has done a piece on how stupid students are for throwing vegetables at the Vic Uni vice chancellor ( http://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2009/09/moronic_thugs.html ). To be fair, it looks like it was pretty much as a result of Joel Cosgrove being as he is.

The bigger issue is really the Student Services levy increase from $251 to $510. That is a huge increase. And what kind of services do we get for that kind of money? Here's a little breakdown:

Accomodation services-

We pay a couple of full time staff to man this office. I actually went there once to see if they had any flats available. Not particularly helpful really, although they did have a few ads on a notice board. I know how we could save a few $! Replace the office with a notice board!

Career Development and Employment

Perhaps this one would be worth keeping; I can't say I've been yet, but I know of some people who have got good jobs out of it.

Councilling Services

2 Questions:

1. How many students need councilling at Vic and end up getting it? (I hear they're understaffed and will only talk to you if you're suicidal)
2. Why should I have to pay for it? I am a starving student after all.

Creche
Again, a very helpful service- But why should I have to pay for it? I don't plan on having kiddies for a very long time, I really shouldn't be subsidizing someone else's.

Disability Services
This is a pretty good department, which isn't costing us too much cos it's run by volunteers, so I'll leave it alone.

Financial Support and Advice – and the Hardship Fund

Yup, students need financial help and budgeting advice

Kaiwawao Maori / Maori Student Services Adviser

Again, I understand that Maori students statistically need a bit more help to get on top of Uni work, but at the risk of sounding un-PC why do I need to pay for it?

Manaaki Pihipihinga Programme

Same as above, but this one's for pacific island students. Should I be paying for this service? I think not.

Student Learning Support

Perhaps only justifiable on the grounds that our secondary schools are sending kids to Uni without having taught them to write a proper essay. Should I have to pay for this service? Again, no.


Overall I see a huge waste of my money going on. They also use it to print out waaaay too many pamphlets and stuff that handed out and thrown out. What a waste.

Kiwibank found sense- lower dishonour fees

I received this message from Kiwibank:

"From 1 October 2009, we're changing our penalty fees. We're reducing the dishonour fee from $30 to $7.50 and reducing the account out of order fee to $10 per month. Also, we'll no longer charge an honour fee."

This is quite a relief: a few weeks ago I found that a rent payment and power payment had not gone through, and that I had been charged two $30 dollar dishonour fees as a result, (that being the equivalent of two weeks grocery money). I did eventually get the money back after some protest and greasing, but it still left me wondering what exactly the fee was for. As it is an electronic transaction, there should be no staff hours required to deal with it. The payment did not go through, there was no overdraft, so it is most definitely not part of an unapproved loan fee. They offered me this explanation:

"If Kiwibank did not charge dishonour fees, or charged less then $30.00 when these payments did not go through, many people would consistently allow their payments to dishonour."

(I wonder if this will be the result of their new policy change to a $7.50 fee)

"This causes work for Kiwibank staff, systems and also impacts the reputation the bank has with outside organisations.

If Kiwibank gained a reputation of regularly dishonouring payments, or if a lot of Kiwibank cheques were dishonoured, other companies may start refusing to accept Kiwibank account numbers or cheques as a method of payment. To ensure that our reputation is maintained a dishonour fee is charged when a payment is dishonoured."

Perhaps I can understand this cheque dishonour fees, but in the case of pre-programmed electronic transfers would this not simply impact on the "reputation" or credit rating or whatever of the person whose payment didn't go through? Keep in mind that these are often used to pay kids' weekly allowances etc.

Migas à la estudiante- bastardised Spanish cuisine

My local supermarket, the Willis St New World metro, sells packs of brand name tortillas for over $5 each. Yes they are tasty, (not as tasty as my home made ones) but probably can't be justified on a student shopping list. While they are a key ingredient of one of my new favourite Spanish foods, migas, I recently discovered that the recipe can be altered a bit in order to accommodate we student folk. I can't wait to get a degree and a regular job, but in the mean time...

Ingredients:

1 onion
4 slices pams sandwich bread (only $1.45 at your local supermarché)
2 eggs
1 can chilli beans (or baked beans if you're desparate)

How to:

1. Dice and fry your onion
2. Take 2 of your slices of bread and cut into really thin slices
3. Fry it in the pan with the onion for a bit
4. Add the egg, quickly mixing it around so that the bread kinda absorbs it a bit
5. Fry it for a little while
6. Add your beans!

Buen provecho mes amigos!

Student unemployment? Just check out trademe jobs...

This year, I decided to start my summer/ weekend job hunt nice and early, so that I didn't need to spend another holidays taking vegetable summer school papers and increasing my student loan. I anticipated that it would be a tedious process in the current economic crisis, having employment at an all time high. Yesterday afternoon I looked at the student job search website and found nothing, so opted to apply for a few things on Trademe and email my CV to some hotels, theaters etc. in Wellington. So far I have arranged for an interview later in the week at a hotel, as well as had an informal interview with a manager of a harbour cruise business who took down possible times that I could train later this week.

Have I just had a lucky day? Or will it be easier to find a job than I thought? Perhaps young people these days aren't pro-active enough in their job seeking or their résumés aren't pretty enough. I suppose I will find out in the coming weeks.

Labour Support Government funded condoms in supermarkets and dairys- hallelujah

NZ herald today reported that it is now on the labour party's agenda to have the government subsidize condoms in supermarkets, dairies and service stations (http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=10596944). A critical piece can be found on gotcha.co.nz.

Is subsidizing condoms really such a bad way to help reduce teen pregnancies and eventually the number of young single mothers on the benefit, raking in $700 a week from the taxpayer? I really do think that this is a great idea. At present, teens who generally can't afford condoms off the shelf (as they often cost around $20 at the supermarket) can get them pretty much free on prescription or from visiting family planning. Many people do not take into account that making an appointment takes time that lots of teens can't be bothered taking. I think another key factor is that doctor's surgeries and family planning clinics are generally not open on the weekends- kids can't pop in and get some condoms before they go to a raging party or a dodgey sleepover, and I would bet that many a teen pregnancy resulted from people turning up unequipped.

It would be important that supermarkets etc did not take advantage of the subsidies, and that fancy ones weren't subsidized, but hopefully someone could come up with a model that worked.

Taxpayer funding for condoms off the shelf is a great idea, and on this point the right really need to get off their high horse and see it for the logical step it is: some kids just ain't bright enough or confident enough to visit their local GP and tell them that they're sexually active, and those definitely aren't the kids that we want producing more kids. I can think of far more ridiculous things that the government has spent money on in the past.

Check out http://blogs.nzherald.co.nz/blog/keeping-mum/2009/9/14/protecting-unprepared/?c_id=1502464

Nong Duc Manh comes to visit

At parliament on Thursday morning there was great pomp and ceremony as John Key and Lockwood Smith went to greet this guy. The army band played the Vietnamese national anthem, interestingly played Pokarekareana instead of God Defend New Zealand, and I had an interesting discussion about how awesome it would be to be a member of the parliamentary kapa haka group. Although they may get a bit cold wearing piupiu on windy Wellington days, it looks like great fun greeting important people and it must pay okay.

Select Committee- Crimes (Provocation Repeal) Amendment Bill- 10/9

I attended the select committee on the repeal of the provocation defence on Thursday morning, and heard some compelling arguments for the repeal. The first submission was from 'Rainbow Wellington' (http://www.rainbowwellington.org.nz/), and suggested that the current law promotes "gay bashing" and "condones extreme violence". In my view this has definitely been the case, in light of the defence being used in cases such as Ferdinand Ambach's ramming a banjo down Ronald Brown's throat in response to a homosexual advance. The second submission was from Alana Bulmer of the NZ roundtable on violence against women (http://roundtablevaw.org.nz), also supporting the Bill. Ms Bulmer claimed that the defence of provocation was unnecessary to protect women who had killed their partners in abusive relationships, as the battered women's defence was covered under self defence. The third submission was that of Catherine Ketty of the Womens refuge and collective organizations, who questioned the effectiveness of self defence in the absence of provocation, based on the premise that battered women often "defend" themselves at a different time to when they are being abused. She likened them to being in a situation not unlike prisoners of war, and Kennedy Graham questioned whether battered women should be given such a status under law.

It would appear that this defence should be repealed, in light of it's unanimous support on its first reading, and the fact that it has been criticized for decades for it's facilitating the slander of deceased victims in court. Perhaps it is also important to recognize that it did serve a certain purpose, and self defence may have to be redefined before the repeal to ensure that victims of domestic abuse be adequately protected.

Potato bake

Ever wondered what you could make with potatoes, an onion, a can of watties pasta sauce and a couple of slices of pams bread that's almost past it? Make yourself a yummy potato bake!

1. Boil the potatoes until they are just edible
2. Dice and fry the onions
3. Put it all in a baking dish, cover with sauce and mix it up a bit
4. Slice bread into little cubes, and sprinkle ontop
5. Bake for about 20 mins at 180'C, or until bread cubes are crispy.

Bon apetit! (being a student ain't so bad after all!)