Seymour is naturally politically autocratic and authoritarian.
He is classically liberal in support of social issues affecting universal human rights without compromise, even those with a serious moral downside such as late term abortion and mass immigration.
He never supported covid mandates but is pro vaccination and did support the right of employers to decide whether their staff were required to be vaccinated to continue in their job in defiance of employment law.
He has a high opinion as to his scientific understanding compared to the average non technical voter.
His pros outweigh his cons but as a political leader he would need to be kept under careful control by his caucus.
@CochranCrypto@Breedlove22 I haven't eaten an apple, an orange, a banana or any other form of ripened plant ovary in nearly a decade. Have never missed them.
This would be one of the most insane decisions to come out of the otherwise laudable idea to reform the RMA. The National Party has completely lost all credibility as a rational architect of energy planning for the future of New Zealand. A wind farm is an unreliable, unsightly and inefficient source of alternating current that requires precise technically complex frequency modulation to match the existing inertial generation system. We have enjoyed 80+ years of reliable and efficient hydro generation in New Zealand. Wind turbines will be lucky to last 20 years and will cost an enormous amount to replace. The whole idea of wind and solar as a primary power source is stupid. The future is nuclear. Get with the program National!
@NewstalkZB The legal profession has lost all credibility when law students are now so politically brainwashed that they have no understanding of the science of atmospheric physics and continue to promote the man made global warming fraud to a public that is tired of the whole stupid scam.
@Ivermectinkart Ivermectin did not win a Nobel 'Peace' Prize. The researchers who discovered and developed it won the 2015 Nobel Prize for Physiology and Medicine. They were honored for their work on a novel therapy for infections caused by roundworm parasites.
My comment was focused more on Shanes lack of interest in discussing the issue. I agree it was poorly worded and may give the impression that I was promoting the Bill rather than opposing it. The New Zealand First coalition agreement with the National Party does include provisional support for the Bill. The agreement commits to "liberalise genetic engineering laws while ensuring strong protections for human health and the environment." This provision has become a central point of contention, as New Zealand First has stated the current Gene Technology Bill does not meet these agreed-upon protections, particularly regarding the environmental release of genetically modified organisms. The party has insisted that any legislation must uphold these safeguards, and it has refused to support the bill in its current form. I agree with NZ First but expected Shane to be more knowledgeable about it.
@Burkart2Burkart@pati_marins64 .@Burkart2Burkart Thanks Bob. I had the privilege of being attached to VXE-6 from the RNZAF in the summer of 78. It was one of the highlights of my aviation career. Worked with some great folks in a very demanding environment.
This aircraft crash is a very emotional and sensitive issue in New Zealand because most people here knew someone who was affected badly by it. Aviation is a very disciplined and logic driven profession. It learns from its mistakes which is why flying is the safest form of travel. I realize reality does not override emotion when disasters happen. People do not care about facts when their loved ones are affected. After 46 years it's time to stop bringing this issue up by trying to demonise the management of Air New Zealand which is still rated among the world's safest airlines. It's time to leave the families of the victims including the aircrew and groundcrew alone. They should not be perpetually reminded of the tragic result of an error of judgement. The pilot made a mistake. That's the end of it.
The New Zealand Government spent many millions of dollars funding a Royal Commission of Enquiry into the crash. While the Commission exonerated the flight crew, the findings were later challenged. The Court of Appeal of New Zealand ruled that Justice Mahon had exceeded his jurisdiction and breached natural justice by making findings of conspiracy without allowing those accused to respond. The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council upheld this ruling in 1983, stating that the allegations of a cover-up were not supported by the evidence and were outside the Commissionβs terms of reference. The very experienced Chief Inspector of Air Accidents formal investigation and subsequent finding of Pilot Error remains as the official cause of the crash.
@pati_marins64@NotJustBrowsing The official Air Accident Inspectors Report found the accident happened because the pilot in command decided to descend below the flight planned Minimum Safe Altitude while still in Instrument Meteorological Conditions. The crash was a result of pilot error.
@TonyAnd83974548 No, not AirNZ. The official Air Accident Report found the crash was caused by pilot error. It still stands as the reason for the disaster.
@Matt_Pinner The thing I dislike most about America when I'm visiting? Tipping!
Just pay people a living wage and price your service so the customer pays what the market requires to be competitive.
@NZOFP Such an important and well presented submission. Thank you Sue for the outstanding work you do in protecting freedom of expression in New Zealand.
The harsh reality of all life. The only positive that we should keep in mind is that the physical atoms of which we are all made were formed from star dust during the creation of the universe and will continue to exist after we are gone. We may not live for ever but we do not totally disappear.
The latest Tesla full self driving systems are developed in the Python programming language which was originally created by Dutch programmer Guido Van Rossum in Holland. Original development was in the C++ development language by Bjarne Stroustrup a Danish programmer. Both now live in the USA.
The Tesla FSD application runs on a hardened and customised version of Linux which was created by Finnish programmer Linus Torvalds in Finland who now also lives in the USA.
Linux, Python and C++ are all completely free and open source software. Other FSD solutions such as Waymo and BYD are also based on a very customised Linux platform but are considered to be proprietary systems.
The primary language for the development of AI agents is Python. Many AI projects are based in Europe but they don't get the media coverage that the large US based tech companys get.
Don't get me wrong. Enormous credit must be given to the US technology sector for the incredible advances being made in Machine Learning and AI LLM systems. But it not unique to the USA. It is truly a global effort.
The aircraft departed New Zealand on an Instrument Flight Plan with a Minimum Safe Altitude of 16,000 feet to a navigational way point safely south of Mt Erebus (12,441 feet).
Despite a navigational correction having been made to an intermediate way point the aircraft would have cleared Mt Erebus by 3000 feet if the pilot in command had not elected to arbitrarily abandon the IFR plan and proceed under Visual Flight Rules to 1500 feet while still north of Mt Erebus.
Under VFR the pilot is legally fully responsible for maintaining terrain clearance even when in Instrument Meteorological Conditions.
The pilot made an unplanned change to the flight planned route in an unfamiliar location and then flew in to the side of a white mountain in a sea of ice and whiteout cloud.
The aircraft should not have been where it was.
The Air Accident Inspector found the cause of the crash to be pilot error and that is still the official finding of the investigation into the crash.