![[dr. bob]](/dr-bob-sm.gif)
Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 30 to 54 of 61. Go back in thread:
Posted by ert on October 24, 2018, at 12:30:32
In reply to Re: This website is full of copyright infringements, posted by alexandra_k on October 24, 2018, at 7:34:05
The medical data is stored in encrypted servers in the basement of the hospitals. And when they get off grid, huge diesel motors will turn on so that they work. this is not facebook. But obviously as I have found out, medical data is not everywhere equally defined. It seems for me that individuals are less well protected in the US than in continental Europe.
If you studied law after your psychology degree, dear Alexandra, you could apply at the government and then generate a lot of expensive government reports and you knew a lot of the particularities of the law system in nz. That is an advantage since then you have a protected niche.
Posted by ert on October 24, 2018, at 12:50:53
In reply to Re: This website is full of copyright infringements, posted by ert on October 24, 2018, at 12:30:32
> The medical data is stored in encrypted servers in the basement of the hospitals. And when they get off grid, huge diesel motors will turn on so that they work. this is not facebook. But obviously as I have found out, medical data is not everywhere equally defined. It seems for me that individuals are less well protected in the US than in continental Europe.
> If you studied law after your psychology degree, dear Alexandra, you could apply at the government and then generate a lot of expensive government reports and you knew a lot of the particularities of the law system in nz. That is an advantage since then you have a protected niche.
>the Australians could take your job away and due to the specificity you won't have much choice.
Posted by alexandra_k on October 24, 2018, at 19:59:25
In reply to Re: This website is full of copyright infringements, posted by ert on October 24, 2018, at 12:30:32
> The medical data is stored in encrypted servers in the basement of the hospitals.
It really should be, shouldn't it. It should be a internal network (intra-net) and not an inter-net.
This isn't the case for New Zealanders, though. We have medical records being entered into foreign designed software systems and information being transmitted by way of foreign satellites to be stored off shore on cloud servers. Don't get me wrong, we don't have the capacity to do otherwise. But I guess I've come to see how much of New Zealand is being run by the worst of the worst of the foreign business cowboys taking advantage of our laws being under-developed in order to get away with sh*t nobody would tolerate from them, back home.
I guess New Zealand has always been a refuge for that.
I just got my home power bill. Over $130 for one week of electricity in the spring time. Running 2 electric radiators on thermostat, lights, hot water, warm washing machine washes. Apparently there was a gas pipeline leak in the North Island and somehow... I get to pay for it. Because it means demand for electricity (primarily from business) has gone up and so my spot prices have skyrocketed. I do understand it's about distribution of risk... But when bad things happen to me who helps mitigate that for me?
If I had have done law...
Law degrees are very different here from the US. They are undergraduate degrees where you do a first year which has 2 law papers and you make up the rest of the year with any other papers you like. You then apply to second year law (to continue the law degree) on the basis of your GPA from your first year and they decide the places by way of some weighting system where the 2 law papers count for double, or something.
Law isn't very competitive. I am fairly sure that most people who work a bit during their first year get to continue, or, worst case, they only need do one more year of whatever other degree before achieving high enough GPA to transfer in to law. Though that might be changing... The idea seems to be to market that it's easy and then 'haha fooled you, you now need to throw another year's worth of money at the university to get to do what you wanted to do'. Generally... There isn't anything to properly limit the number of law students there are. Medicine is the only program that is properly limited because the internship year requires medical students to actually spend a bunch of time in the hospitals and though we pack them tighter and tighter and tighter so we can parade more and more and more of them into our public hospitals (or into northland GP offices) there is only so tightly we can do that in a country of 4 million people.
This means that there are very very very very very high rates of unemployed lawyers in New Zealand. And... Apparently... You really don't learn much of anything at all useful during the actual law degree. When you are near the end of completion you need to register with something or other in order to get a placement with a firm, or whatever. And a whole heap of people simply miss out. You gotta pay a fortune for them to do the psychology testing and so on... Seems to me that that's the real admission test for law. The degree... Trying to bait me with the degree... Was a way of trying to distract an infant by dancing something shiny in front of them...
I think there is something... Corrupt... About government reports being justification / documentation for things that have already been decided. I think there is something corrupt about trying to justify them on justifiable grounds instead of (at that point) undertaking an actual historical inquiry as to the real reason the decisoins were made.
No amount of legal training will have me believe / do otherwise.
I understand that as a criminal defense lawyer your job is to defend your client to the best of your ability. If there is a technicality that you find then it is your job to utilise that technicalitly (which will hopefully in the longer term result in a shoring up of that technicality). sometimes it's about enforcing proper police conduct and the like since the police often act like laws unto themselves, here, which puts many trial in jepordy and makes convictions fairly unlikely. Becuase our prisons are too full, already... Becuase people don't have lives worth living outside the prisons often enough. No meaningful way of life. Highest suicide rates in the world and horrific traffic deaths from a supposedly developed country.
> It seems for me that individuals are less well protected in the US than in continental Europe.
That is intersting and it may well be true.
Posted by alexandra_k on October 24, 2018, at 20:16:14
In reply to Re: This website is full of copyright infringements, posted by alexandra_k on October 24, 2018, at 19:59:25
I did look into law a bit more (and I seriously considered it) after doing well in a law and society paper. Partly because the lecturer for the paper was really terrific. Smart and sensible and... I guess I basically agreed with her politics / what I saw of her moral stance on things, which was great because I find it increasingly rare. My tutor for the course was also terrific. Smart and interesting.
So I signed up for the other one (legal methods) and had a much more horrible time of things. Firstly, it was always going to be a bit more boring... Reading statutes and learning what the technical terms mean. Only... I have some esoteric tastes and years of technical analytic philosophy and it honestly wasn't so very bad...
But the trial thing was horrible for me because my partner wasn't particularly smart / wasn't prepared to put the hours into writing it / wasn't prepared to meet with me and run through it a few times before presenting it / wanted to wing it more. The people who were forwarded to the final did a really great job of it. It was interesting watching them (the kids of lawyers / business people). I guess I was supposed to want to join them...
So I looked into things a bit more...
And at the end of the day it looked to me to be basically a path back to philosophy. Reading and writing and talking and more of the same.
I want to look after my own health. The district health boards have been saying it for years: No help for you. Go away. Look after yourself. Sort it out yourself. We can't help you. You help yourself better than most of us could help you, anyway. And so on.
But there's things I need. For example, I need access to more information. I need access to information about what it is that I need when I get sick. If I get a sore throat then what antibiotic would be best for me and in what dosage? If I get a odd mole is it okay or does it need photographs taken? How bad do things need to be before I get a specialist to take a look? How do I choose a competent specialist? What should I ask the specialist more in particular? And so on... I am fairly sure I would do a much better job of looking after myself if I had the knowledge and power to do the informed consent thing. I think most people would. It would be terrific to put that knowledge to good use. To help people make informed decisoins about their own healthcare. I mean... Plenty of people don't want it. Don't want to know. Don't want to make decisoins. Want to be happy slaves or what not. Well, okay, to each their own.
But there are people here who want access to medical informaiton and the ability to make informed decisions for their own health. So... That's what I decided (however many years ago) I wanted to pursue...
But there's so many psychopathic kids of rich people who would rather experiment on people than on rats and cats and fish and so on... So... It's really hard to compete with that in these parts.
Law wouldn't be any different at the end of the day, and it would lead me straight back to philospohy. Because I wouldn't write the government reports the businesses will fund. So...
Posted by alexandra_k on October 25, 2018, at 2:04:02
In reply to Re: This website is full of copyright infringements, posted by alexandra_k on October 24, 2018, at 20:16:14
https://jobs.govt.nz/jobtools/jncustomsearch.viewFullSingle?in_organid=16563&in_jnCounter=223441129
see how they advertise the job? 'good customer service' is what they believe is crucial for getting people to donate blood. people donate blood because they just love getting some attention from the pretty guy / gal who expresses appropriate admiration of their altruism...
what happens to the blood? where is it stored? how does it get distributed between public and private hospitals?
this sort of information (so that donors can make an informed decision about whether or not to donate) is not considered relevant at all.
because the answer to those sorts of questions would mean that people would choose not to participate in the program?
i fear so.
i fear so.
that's not sustainable.
we really just don't have the faintest f*ck*ng idea about informed consent...
Posted by ert on October 25, 2018, at 13:31:33
In reply to Re: This website is full of copyright infringements, posted by alexandra_k on October 25, 2018, at 2:04:02
130$ for one week, Alexandra, that is a bit much. But no wonder since you had run two electric radiators at the same time... u would rather wear a wool sweater more than to turn on the radiators. I don't know about lawyers in nz but maybe it depends what specialization someone possess. if you specialized in intellectual property rights then there would maybe demand since more and more tech industry growing. so, informed consent is what you like...
Posted by ert on October 25, 2018, at 14:02:54
In reply to Re: This website is full of copyright infringements, posted by alexandra_k on October 24, 2018, at 20:16:14
there are not only psychopathic kids of rich people who would rather experiment on people.
there are other ones who do unauthorized research without informed consent and their data is based on theft. They would not care about detrimental repercussions that could arise but rather are concerned of their scientific achievements.
your are being monitored, Alexandra. probably you're still in wellington. must be impressive the sea waves there.
maybe u could give somebody a thorough informed so that it can help. also as a lawyer u can help people by giving some costless advice or infor(med).
Posted by ert on October 25, 2018, at 14:11:40
In reply to Re: This website is full of copyright infringements, posted by ert on October 25, 2018, at 14:02:54
kim dotcom and his co workers settled down in nz. but they are not the only ones. https://mega.nz/about probably some other tech need to secure their patents.
Posted by alexandra_k on October 25, 2018, at 18:04:44
In reply to Re: This website is full of copyright infringements, posted by ert on October 25, 2018, at 14:11:40
We have this 'HealthOne' record system that was rolled out as part of the rebuild after the series of earthquakes to Canturbury.
This is what 'informed consent' looks like:
'5.1 Healthcare Consumer ("Patient") Choice
The ability for patient to choose to share their informaction via eSCRV is a key element to the overall approach. This implements the principle that the patient is the only person who can decide if information has 'special sensitivity' and should therefore not be shared. It is important to note that this is not a choice for the information to be collected, only choice as to how the information is shared.5.1.1 eSCRV Implementation Approach
Patients may only choose to prevent their record sharing via the eSCRV (referred to as Opt-Off), i.e., they can:
- Prevent primary care based healthcare providers from viewing records sourced from secondary care (and other primary care providers.
- Prevent secondary care based healthcare providers from viewing records sourced from primary care.
Pateints may not restrict acccess to informaiton within the collecting healthcare provider's organisation.
- Only the viewing of the new 'flow of information' between healthcare providers may be restricted
- DHB based facilities are considered to be a single 'organisation' regardless of the fact that there are multiple physical locations and / or departments for healthcare delivery. Further noting this related to all participating regional DHB.They actually say all that with a straight face. There is no such thing as privacy / confidentiality of anything in the public health system, and not in any of the privates either but you can have it noted on your file the bits of your information that you requested not to be shared, in case people wanted, additionally, to know whether there was anything you were particularly serious about.
kim.com looked like me might get to be prime minister at some point. he invested a bit into an election. i guess it was partly because of that that people stuck with the last guy for so long. and now we have the avatar that we do.
If I do law there won't be much I can do to help myself or the people I care about because we don't have laws and judges are overwhelmed with piecemeal and typically not interested in developing the legal system of this country. Also, if I do law, whatever will I do when I get sick?
Posted by sigismund on October 25, 2018, at 18:10:39
In reply to Re: This website is full of copyright infringements, posted by alexandra_k on October 25, 2018, at 18:04:44
We had a similar proposal but most people distrusted the authorities so much they opted out.
They asked why.
I replied 'Loss of confidence recently acquired'.
Posted by alexandra_k on October 25, 2018, at 18:11:08
In reply to Re: This website is full of copyright infringements, posted by ert on October 25, 2018, at 14:11:40
https://orionhealth.com/global/
Orion health
Posted by alexandra_k on October 25, 2018, at 18:13:03
In reply to Re: This website is full of copyright infringements, posted by sigismund on October 25, 2018, at 18:10:39
did you see what 'opt out' has been defined as?
what it means to 'opt out' is to have your dissent noted, on your record.
you do not have the ability to choose whether a record is made, regarding you, or not. a record will be made and your health information will be entered in.
some of that information may be viewable by you.
you may have the right to request changes to some of that information.
then a note will be made that you requested whatever change (and that change might appear on your user view).
Posted by alexandra_k on October 25, 2018, at 18:22:45
In reply to Re: This website is full of copyright infringements, posted by alexandra_k on October 25, 2018, at 18:13:03
this is why i will not go to the doctor anymore
it's as simple as that, really.
medicine wants this, that and the other, from me.
tissue biopsy samples.
even when there's nothing wrong with me. cervical smears, sh*t samples, colonoscopy samples, and blood samples.
i should get all these samples taken and sent off to a laboratory.
and for that they aren't going to tell me if abnormalities are found.
but they know how to invest in my likely future.
people in this country treat most of the people in this country like complete and utter garbage.
there is a centre for bio-ethics (the only one in the country) and they approve such gems as:
'we wanted to study sarcopenia / frailty so we want to put rats in cages and physically immobilise / restrain them so they can't exercise or walk or move around at all so their muscles will waste away and they can be a model of a coma patient or a bedridden person around the time of their hip replacement... then we will take tissue sample biopsies of the rats sartorius muscle and see how we managed to f*ck up the tissue quality of the muscle fibres'
i know people don't think much of rats... but really?
i went to a few on things like 'informed consent' and there are a heap of people who seem to be of some sort of 'only treat the involuntary' frame of mind. they are trying to eliminate people's ability to opt out of various things.
the issue is... what you really want to do... is have as little to do with such awful people, as possible. last thing you want to do is have a job tht involves your interacting with them anymore than absolute necessary.
they're the bullies of the playground all grown up, i guess.
but this sort of 'global initiative' between american and english and australian and new zealand firms or whatever almost always results in new zealanders getting the short straw.
control group. most observed surveillance group. and so on. if you're going to do a trial then new zealand always is 'other people' and distributing the risk away from the majority / the majority of the decision makers.
things have gotten much worse for new zealanders in recent years.
there's no way i want to do law. i am tired of people always trying to make me do whatever it is that i don't want to do and not listenign to what i have to say about what it is that i want and what it is that i need and what it is that is good for me.
Posted by alexandra_k on October 25, 2018, at 18:36:59
In reply to Re: This website is full of copyright infringements, posted by alexandra_k on October 25, 2018, at 18:22:45
for the most part it's a withdrawal of medicine from New Zealand because specialists cannot function here.
it's a sort of a demotion of GPs. there was some stuff a while back on how GPs need to stop viewing themselves as being the bottom of the medical doctor hierarchy and start viewing themselves as being the top of the non-medical doctor allied health workforce, or somesuch.
i actually wrote to the guy who was the most published advocator of such a view (a public health economics person) and asked him why he wanted to believe in hierarchy for?? no response...
but i guess i'm starting to see that GPs here don't really have much in the way of access to medicine, either.
they can refer patients on to specialist services, but we don't really have specialist services.
we're trying to professionalise allied health -- but it isn't working so well for us, honestly. i had my experience of physiotherapy....
i was looking into dental. apparently you used to pay around $100 or $145 for a dental exam (check, 2 x-rays, 10 minute clean). now, the introduction of 'allied health' to dentistry means you pay around $100 or $145 for a dental exam (check, 2 x-rays) and are often expected to book a full clean with a 'dental hygenist' which will require a separate booking and cost around $100.
then, before you know it the 'dental hygenist clean' will be remarketed / rebranded as a dental exam.
it's a way of charging people MORE money for LESS goods / services.
why wouldn't you -- if you thought you could get away with it?
?
why wouldn't you churn out... how many dental technitions every year? how much would you charge students for that degree?
Posted by alexandra_k on October 25, 2018, at 18:47:10
In reply to Re: This website is full of copyright infringements, posted by alexandra_k on October 25, 2018, at 18:36:59
i'm sure i am being watched.
but maybe i'm being grandiose, i'm sure i'm not all that interesting, really.
but maybe i am being watched. possibly i am being watched.there are a lot of blustering bullies out there.
there are a lot of people who like for other people to feel afraid.
they get a kick out of other people thinking they are terrifying and powerful and so on.it's hard to know how much the business thing is a case of pompous bullies like that blustering about blowing smoke.
what i have control over is the way i conduct myself.
what i want to make sure of is that i'm not bullied into doing things i strongly believe to be wrong. part of that is about... telling the small group. a small group. some small group. and there needs to be responsible grown-ups somewhere so the kids don't work themselves up into some state of really stupid decisions.
i've probably seen more than my fair share of medically trained people who got spat back over the last few years. the ones who got their lisences to practice revoked or suspended for whatever reason. they hang about in public health or management or whatever non-clinical roles because they aren't cleared to work with people anymore.
i suspect the health record sharing stuff isn't in as good a state as i fear it is / might be.
it is sad, isn't it, that our public hospitals don't have bomb shelters, and that our paper records aren't kept in secure storage facilities.
the entry level job that one of my friends had when she started working for some security branch of our government seemed to be 'go get this from the paper storage facility and scan it into electronic records for me m'kay?'. that was her job to start... she was sheepish about it. she said it felt weird... but she did it.
i guess some foreign business profited. probably funded her job. which is why it is that she has one.
Posted by alexandra_k on October 25, 2018, at 19:02:35
In reply to Re: This website is full of copyright infringements, posted by alexandra_k on October 25, 2018, at 18:47:10
Most of the health stuff you have no idea who it is that you are seeing, typically.
People will say 'hi I'm Doctor so and so' and I know that it used to be the case (or there are clear rules about it in some parts) that you can't say that unless you are a Medical Doctor (e.g., if you are a Dr of English Literature then you can call yourself Dr around the Univerity and even in public life -- but not if you are working in any aspect of anything to do with clinical medicine because of the liklihood of patients believing you are medically regsitered).
But I don't think that is the case in Australasia. Which is why they are so keen to take graduates who have PhD's in they don't care what field, already.
When you pay for a 'consultation' you think that means with a Doctor - right? But often they don't actually say that, specifically. Why wouldn't you charge people for a 'consulation' with... Someone who isn't medically registered -- since it will be cheaper to provide that service? Why wouldn't you -- if you thought you could get away with it?
I suppose Medicine has never been any stranger to snake oil salesmen and the like. If people don't know enough to know / ask / check...
Only I don't think that is quite fair...
But that will be at least partly why it is that specialists can't really function, here.
Whatever specialist job there is there's some allied health thing that will promise to do similar seeming things for cheaper... Or for the same cost to consumer at savings to providers (insurance companies and / or hospitals and / or the government and / or for managers).
If there aren't laws / rules expressely prohibiting it...
Which is a tedious thing to do, actually.
It's like trying to do philosophy with people who don't have a genuine spirit of inquiry / who aren't serching for understanding / for truth... It's like trying to do philosophy with sophists who are interested in appearing clever or tricking people or who are interested in creating confusion (all bable like) or people who enjoy argument for the sake of argument.
Most people in law aren't interested in seeing laws develop in ways that are good for the people.
Comes back to lack of morality, again.
Zombies.
Posted by alexandra_k on October 25, 2018, at 19:22:12
In reply to Re: This website is full of copyright infringements, posted by alexandra_k on October 25, 2018, at 19:02:35
It is interesting that there is this belief that is very widely held that we simply need to do a bunch of experiments on people and / or on animals in order to make important scientific advances.
I honestly believe that the vast majority of scientific experiments that are done on animals (and indeed, even on people) are 'fishing' types of expeditions in the 'we just wanted to see what would happen' sense.
In their defense, that is how many scientific advances are actually made. It was by way of something approaching a historical accident that we discovered the clinical utility of penacillin and lithium and so on. Perhaps by feeding people beads of plastic or woodchips or who knows what we will discover something amazing! Perhaps by tracking the fate of people who live in areas known to have naturally (or otherwise) higher levels of trace elements or heavy metals or pollutants or whatever we will similarly discover...
I think it's a pretty crap justifciation for the fact that there are people who just seem to *enjoy* inflicting harm on other people/s.
People want to say 'I thought I needed to do x or y atrocity because otherwise I wouldn't have my job, I wouldn't have my way of life, otherwise I couldn't afford to send my kids to the private school' and so on... I think often times that's similarly just an excuse. They did what they did because they enjoyed feeling like they had one up on / over some other person / peoples.
THey did it because they thought they could get away with it.
With the Milgrim experiment I wonder how much it was the experiments indicating to the people who participated that they *jolly well should* have felt awful about what they just did that resulted in them displaying distress. How many displayed distress about what they did without prompting for them to display distress about it?
That was what was so f*ck*ng awful about it. Just how immoral most people really are.
Just how important it is to have rules and structures so people don't behave immorally.
It was like the psychopathic guy who posted here once who was not committing crimes (he said) because of some teaching he got when in jail about how if he wanted to stay out of jail (and he did) then he better not break laws.
So long as the laws are developed he (as a psychopath) can function okay outside jail. Not pose too mjuch of a risk to non-psychopaths.
Most people are psychopaths. They don't seem able to apprehend morality.
It's okay... I just need to remember that. At the end of the day I can only be responsible for my own conduct.
But it is a cognitive capacity thing. So there is some belief that the non-psychopaths have some aspect of control over the way things are...
The US laws were able to develop quite a lot... for the protection of peoples. The civil war was fought. Egalitarianism.
Are there other egalitarian people?
UK is hierarchical / class based. Dunedin is very class based (they won't see it that way probably but it is with the people on the hill and the people in teh low-lands / sewerage back-up)... State house areas as.. A way of getting some people out of the low lands, I guess...
Autralians say they are free, but the laws aren't so well developed. And they do treat NZers like 2nd class citizens. Or, they allow a-symmetry with respect to Australians being treated as local in NZ (for welfare, for government student loans) but the converse not being the case.
Posted by alexandra_k on October 25, 2018, at 19:29:22
In reply to Re: This website is full of copyright infringements, posted by alexandra_k on October 25, 2018, at 19:22:12
Actually, I don't know that that is fair.
I don't know if the NZ government has ever gone 'we will alter our policies to be in line with yours which means Australian Citizens can no longer take our New Zealand Government student loans in order to undertake study in New Zealand'
I don't know that Australia has threatened us with sanctions if we were to stand up for the good of our own people.
We seem to prefer to treat our people like crap, honestly.
Posted by alexandra_k on October 25, 2018, at 19:47:14
In reply to Re: This website is full of copyright infringements, posted by ert on October 25, 2018, at 13:31:33
> 130$ for one week, Alexandra, that is a bit much. But no wonder since you had run two electric radiators at the same time... u would rather wear a wool sweater more than to turn on the radiators.
Sounds like received 'wisdom' health advice aquired from who-knows-where and passed on for who-knows-how-many generations of New Zealander.
Deep breath in.... And out...
Soothing on the respiratory system, that is. Just like a menthol cigaretee. Mmm yeah.
Posted by alexandra_k on October 26, 2018, at 2:35:23
In reply to Re: This website is full of copyright infringements, posted by alexandra_k on October 25, 2018, at 19:47:14
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anU_vTewvcg
consent. and some people simply will not allow others to choose to provide it.
Posted by alexandra_k on October 26, 2018, at 5:17:15
In reply to Re: This website is full of copyright infringements, posted by alexandra_k on October 26, 2018, at 2:35:23
I don't think it is unreasonable to keep 1 bedroom a small lobby and a kitchen / dining area within WHO guidelines on healthy temperature range.
I have decided not to heat the living room, the bathroom, the toilet, the other bedroom, the laundry.
I actually think it is unreasonable to expect that I not heat the toilet and the bathroom. I'm already doing that.
I resent that.
This government refuses to legislate such that heat source is a chattel of the property.
Radiators are thus the tenants responsibility.
Heat pumps and central heating systems aren't portable, so there's electic heating or there's gas heating (and unflued gas means you need to run a dehumidifier to take the moisture out of the air so you stay within WHO humidity guidelines).
I get around $300 per week. I have state subsidised housing which means my rent is $66 per week. When I was looking at houses to rent the market rates for the house I am currently living in was around $300 per week. It costs me $22 per week to have the lawns mown (steeply hilly section with 800 square meters of section). I have $16 per month for cellphone (which is a requirement for government forms and the like) and I have $76 per month for internet (which is a requirement for government forms and the like since much will not display on old-ish phone crapps). I have gym membership which was around $155 for 3 months. I have had around $1,000 toward motorcycle repairs. Caused by the location of my house and the fact I have no off-road parking for it and it blows over in gusty winds and tends to break the muffler attachment (needed welding) or the handlebars (needed to be replaced).
I should be able to save money. I should be able to put aside money for clothes and things like that.
Milk is around $3 per litre (I use around 2 litres per week). Oats(locally grown) are around $5 per bag. It will cost around $6 for fruit. Around $10 for coffee. That's breakfast for a week.
Bread will cost between $3.50 for a wholegrain loaf to $7 if I get a good wholegrain loaf from the bakery (not the supermarket). It will cost between $10 and $25 for a chicken (which I can eat over 1-2 days) and make soup from. It's about $5 for a jar of mayonase. It's about $6 for a small block of tasty cheese.
It's about $6 for a small pack of minced beef that can be mixed with a $2 can of beans and 1/3 of a pack of $2 noodles to make spaghetti. Tomatoes have been around $7 or around $5 for a small tub so I haven't been buying tomatoes. Red peppers (or any other colour) have also been around $2 or $3 each so I haven't been buying those. Spinich will cost around $5 for a small bunch which would make 2 salads. So I haven't been much buying that. Kumara (sweet potato) will cost around $2 or $3 for a decent sized one. A 1.5kg bag of carrots is around $5. Potatoes vary.. I'm limited by needing to carry stuff in a backpack. For around $5 or $7 I can get around 1.5kg of potatoes.
Chips (potato chips in bags) cost around $4.
Sometimes you will find them cheaper if they are very chemical and artificial flavor heavy. Ones that are potato and salt will cost around $4.
Candy bars cost around $1Gasoline will cost around $20 to fill up my bike. I can make that last a week or two.
Toilet paper is continually altering the packaging and so on to trick you into paying more and more for less and less. I try and squash them to assess the density of the paper but it costs probably around $4 dollars a week for toilet paper that doesn't make your hand wet when you use it.
People say they really can't believe how expensive it is to live in this country. How much things cost here, how little people have to live off.
My power company seems to be trying to extort me into signing up for a 1 year fixed price contract with them. Otherwise I will forever be paying for 'natural disaster'. And so on.
Actually, they said they are 'campaigning on my behalf'. Yeah, right.
I guess some people in this country (the most impoverished) simply *are not allowed* to heat their houses.
A little earlier in the year they had this 'hour of power' thing where teh students were all told that there would be free power for an hour. Apparently the idea was to test the capacity of the system. So they actively encouraged people to be irresponsible with their power consumption to see how our grid would handle it.
A consequence was that some people suffered power outages during the hour of power. For... Legitimate activities, sometimes.
Remember when we used to tell people to 'turn it off when you are not using it' or to power down computers overnight and not leave them on standby? Or to turn televisions off at hte wall and so on.
Trouble is... The surveillance devices need to be fed.
They're just trying to bully people into living in substandard living conditions. Into internalising the shame and so on...
That's what the whole 'just put a jumper on' thing is about...
People are afraid of how much their power company will take out of their bank account because the only way you could get power supplied to your house is by giving the authorisation to direct debt from your bank account.
$130 for one week of power (home use, not commercial or industrial) is... Extortion?
?
Something is not at all right about that.
My power company doesn't care. Why should they. They got the money out of me, already.
Posted by alexandra_k on October 26, 2018, at 5:21:52
In reply to Re: This website is full of copyright infringements, posted by alexandra_k on October 26, 2018, at 5:17:15
They keep trying to get me to sign up for a fixed-term 1 year contract.
I'm starting to get the idea:Or else.
Posted by alexandra_k on October 26, 2018, at 5:57:19
In reply to Re: This website is full of copyright infringements, posted by alexandra_k on October 26, 2018, at 5:21:52
so the idea is that consumer prices for electricity in new zealand have been getting worse and worse and worse and worse and worse and worse and worse.
since... maybe even a bit before one of my friends started working for the electricity authority trying to help the south island smelter get cheaper prices for electricity...
so if you have the option to 'lock in' electricity prices then you are supposed to take it: because if you don't lock in a price, then the price will only get worse for you.
on the other hand...
i had to sign up for a year contract for internet so my price was locked in for a year (the term of the contract) i thought.
but then something something something excuses excuses excuses and i'm told that my monthly payments are actually required to be more because it ended up costing them more to provide the service than they thought it would and they retained the right to do that.
so then locking in prices is only locking the consumer in to a minimum payment. it isn't at all a 2 way street offering any protection for consumers at all.
they try and say 'it is to your advantage to shop around' and there are these awful price comparision crappy crap cr*ps (that almost made me not give any money to the consumer people at all).
I worked through their options, you see. the sorts of things they deem relevant for determining which of the power companies offers something best for you...
trying to estimate usage (are you home during the day) and so on...
I guess every single one that they listed was offering 1 year fixed contract.
so that was the idea 'any other power company / pricing option and you are screwed'.
fisher and paykal gotta get their moneys for developing teh respiratory illness gears. yup yup yup.
Posted by alexandra_k on October 26, 2018, at 6:27:25
In reply to Re: This website is full of copyright infringements, posted by alexandra_k on October 26, 2018, at 5:57:19
https://www.powerswitch.org.nz/
that's how it works, see. price on application. this is how much we are willing to charge *you* for electricity.
Jan29-4Feb, 87.16kwh, $18.65
Feb5-Feb11, 102.7kwh, $21.78
Feb12-Feb18, 52.3kwh, $12.87
Feb19-Feb25, 94.02kwh, $16.38
Feb26-Mar4, 55.51kwh, $11.65
Mar5-Mar11, 51.33kwh, $10.86
Mar12-Mar18, 56.75kh, $11.83
Mar19-Mar25, 63.31kwh, $13.35
Mar26-Apr1, 46.27kwh, $9.34
April 1 PRICE INCREASE KICKS IN.
Apr2-Apr8, 85.9kwh, $16.79
Apr9-Apr15, 314.53kwh, $60.03
Apr16-Apr22, 196.65kwh, $33.28
Apr23-Apr29, 182.36kwh, $32.18
Apr30-May6, 194.3kwh, $38.69
May7-May13, 196.12kwh, $38.51
May14-May20, 219.35kwh, $43.03
May21-May27, 215.97kwh, $44.83
May28-Jun3, 323.84kwh, $75.99
Jun4-Jun10, 277.55kwh, $60.03
Jun11-Jun17, 275.17kwh, $93.17
Jun18-Jun24, 336.83kwh, $81.75
Jun25, Jul1, 275.17kwh, $93.17
Winter Energy Payment of $20.46pw start from July1 (from 1May in 2019)
Jul9-Jul15, 228.08kwh, $49.50
Jul16-Jul22, 194.56kwh, $40.96
23Jul-29Jul, 241.04kwh, $58.28
30Jul-5Aug, 220.54kwh, $49.63
Aug6-Aug12, 236.29kwh, $54.77
Aug13-Aug19, 200.39kwh, $47.04
Aug20-Aug26, 245.58kwh, $56.38
27Aug-2Sept, 242.83kwh, $58.32
3Sept-9Sept, 265.01kwh, $68.15
10Sept-16Sept, 148.75kwh, $39.61
17Sept-23Sept, 165.93kwh, $38.97
24Sept-30Sept, 243.56kwh, $61.95
Winter Energy Payment stops from 29 September (to 1Octomber in 2019)
1Oct-7Oct, 227.62kwh, $61.03
8Oct, 14Oct, 271.67kwh, $136.13
Posted by alexandra_k on October 26, 2018, at 7:29:14
In reply to Re: This website is full of copyright infringements, posted by alexandra_k on October 26, 2018, at 6:27:25
'Unfortunately we are not currently accepting customers from Spot based retailers. Please email us at info@electrickiwi.co.nz if you would like us to contact you when we are able to process your join request'
go to change companies and get the above.
wow.
just, wow, new zealand. just, wow.
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