Friday, January 21, 2005
Hey - when it comes to income, we're footing it with Slovenia
New Zealand is now graded as a low middle-income country in line with Spain, Slovenia, the Czech Republic Greece, Portugal, Israel, South Korea, and Hungary according to an OECD study. The Jobs Letter says that Purchasing Power Parities, based on 2002 data, compared prices of goods as a ratio of gross domestic product per person. The result puts New Zealanders well down the scale of personal purchasing power.
But New Zealanders aren't going without. Bank of New Zealand chief economist Tony Alexander says that New Zealanders, instead of earning enough to afford the lifestyle they want, go into debt in order to buy the luxury items people in richer nations have. As a result, New Zealanders have the worst savings rate (-10%) in the OECD.
Why aren't New Zealand workers paid more? Alexander speculates that New Zealand has a generally "acquiescent" workforce. Alexander: "One explanation for generally low wage growth in the past 10 years is the work force not demanding it — probably because of the memories of really high unemployment. It was pretty bad in the early `90s and late `80s. There's a hangover from that which has made people reluctant to chase after the big money. We have preferred job security." He says this could change with the tightening labour market.
New Zealand is now graded as a low middle-income country in line with Spain, Slovenia, the Czech Republic Greece, Portugal, Israel, South Korea, and Hungary according to an OECD study. The Jobs Letter says that Purchasing Power Parities, based on 2002 data, compared prices of goods as a ratio of gross domestic product per person. The result puts New Zealanders well down the scale of personal purchasing power.
But New Zealanders aren't going without. Bank of New Zealand chief economist Tony Alexander says that New Zealanders, instead of earning enough to afford the lifestyle they want, go into debt in order to buy the luxury items people in richer nations have. As a result, New Zealanders have the worst savings rate (-10%) in the OECD.
Why aren't New Zealand workers paid more? Alexander speculates that New Zealand has a generally "acquiescent" workforce. Alexander: "One explanation for generally low wage growth in the past 10 years is the work force not demanding it — probably because of the memories of really high unemployment. It was pretty bad in the early `90s and late `80s. There's a hangover from that which has made people reluctant to chase after the big money. We have preferred job security." He says this could change with the tightening labour market.
Honduras rejects same-sex marriage
A Honduras MP, concerned at the spread of same-sex marriage in parts of Europe and the USA, is determined it's not going to happen in his country. His legislation has already passed its first crucial vote.
A Honduras MP, concerned at the spread of same-sex marriage in parts of Europe and the USA, is determined it's not going to happen in his country. His legislation has already passed its first crucial vote.
Thursday, January 20, 2005
Children on demand
Some US law firms are specialising in arranging surrogate mothers for homosexuals who want to be fathers. A feature in the Washington Post profiles Creative Family Connections, a three-year-old law firm founded by Harvard Law School graduate Diane S. Hinson. About half of her 25 current clients are gay. To minimise future disputes, she works only with surrogates who have no genetic link to the baby. Egg donors are usually paid US$7,500 and surrogates $20,000 for a single baby and $25,000 for twins. She screens donors with a questionnaire, organises a meeting with the dad at Starbucks and guides both through a 30-page contract. "It was very important to me to look the egg donor in the eye," says one of her clients. A meeting at Starbucks is "not a lot to choose the mother of your child."
The phenomenon of homosexual and lesbian parenting has been dubbed the "gayby boom", but there is very little information on how many such children there are. In 2000, USA Today estimated that there were between 3 and 6 million; five years later a sociologist cited by the Post estimates that there are only 1 million. "The truth is that no one knows," says Charlotte J. Patterson, of the University of Virginia.
The truth also is that this basically aims to satisfy the emotional needs of couples who nature never designed to reproduce in this way. But is it in the best interests of the child? (Who?)
Some US law firms are specialising in arranging surrogate mothers for homosexuals who want to be fathers. A feature in the Washington Post profiles Creative Family Connections, a three-year-old law firm founded by Harvard Law School graduate Diane S. Hinson. About half of her 25 current clients are gay. To minimise future disputes, she works only with surrogates who have no genetic link to the baby. Egg donors are usually paid US$7,500 and surrogates $20,000 for a single baby and $25,000 for twins. She screens donors with a questionnaire, organises a meeting with the dad at Starbucks and guides both through a 30-page contract. "It was very important to me to look the egg donor in the eye," says one of her clients. A meeting at Starbucks is "not a lot to choose the mother of your child."
The phenomenon of homosexual and lesbian parenting has been dubbed the "gayby boom", but there is very little information on how many such children there are. In 2000, USA Today estimated that there were between 3 and 6 million; five years later a sociologist cited by the Post estimates that there are only 1 million. "The truth is that no one knows," says Charlotte J. Patterson, of the University of Virginia.
The truth also is that this basically aims to satisfy the emotional needs of couples who nature never designed to reproduce in this way. But is it in the best interests of the child? (Who?)
Where's it digit-all going?
The world of electronic gadgets is changing at such a rate it's almost impossible to keep up. Cell phones are so 2002 -- this year they will be everything-in-a-matchbox.
The 37th annual Consumer Electronics Show which opened today in Los Angeles may be a good guide to where things are headed. Washington Post journalist Leslie Walker says that judging by the offerings, tomorrow's kids will be watching live TV in the corner of their ski goggles while zooming down mountains and simultaneously chatting with ski buddies over short-range wireless headsets.
Mobile media -- picture tiny new audio-visual jukeboxes in all shapes and sizes -- is a major theme at the show. "The big trend for the show is going to be around place-shifting of media," declared Ross Rubin, director of industry analysis for research firm NPD Group. That's geek-speak for carrying media around in your pocket, on your lapel, in your car or -- who could forget? -- on your cell phone. Only you won't be calling it a cell phone judging by all the new features phone makers are building into their do-everything communication contraptions.
Computer clothing could also be among the Next Big Things.
The world of electronic gadgets is changing at such a rate it's almost impossible to keep up. Cell phones are so 2002 -- this year they will be everything-in-a-matchbox.
The 37th annual Consumer Electronics Show which opened today in Los Angeles may be a good guide to where things are headed. Washington Post journalist Leslie Walker says that judging by the offerings, tomorrow's kids will be watching live TV in the corner of their ski goggles while zooming down mountains and simultaneously chatting with ski buddies over short-range wireless headsets.
Mobile media -- picture tiny new audio-visual jukeboxes in all shapes and sizes -- is a major theme at the show. "The big trend for the show is going to be around place-shifting of media," declared Ross Rubin, director of industry analysis for research firm NPD Group. That's geek-speak for carrying media around in your pocket, on your lapel, in your car or -- who could forget? -- on your cell phone. Only you won't be calling it a cell phone judging by all the new features phone makers are building into their do-everything communication contraptions.
Computer clothing could also be among the Next Big Things.
Urinated we stand
Equality between men and women takes strange forms some times. One of the last bastions to fall, apparently, is the way that the two sexes answer the call to nature. Organisers of Melbourne's "Big Day Out" concert plan to instal women's stand-up urinals in a bid to cut loo queues and offer women a more hygienic option to conventional toilets. While organisers agree it might take some a little practice, they believe women will quickly adapt to the idea of peeing while standing.
Equality between men and women takes strange forms some times. One of the last bastions to fall, apparently, is the way that the two sexes answer the call to nature. Organisers of Melbourne's "Big Day Out" concert plan to instal women's stand-up urinals in a bid to cut loo queues and offer women a more hygienic option to conventional toilets. While organisers agree it might take some a little practice, they believe women will quickly adapt to the idea of peeing while standing.
Wednesday, January 19, 2005
Tsunami - before and after
Some sobering before-and-after photographs of tsunami-hit regions can be seen at this website: http://homepage.mac.com/demark/tsunami/9.html
As a New Zealand civil defence officer noted: There are some remarkable similarities in the "before" shots with the New Zealand coastline.
Some sobering before-and-after photographs of tsunami-hit regions can be seen at this website: http://homepage.mac.com/demark/tsunami/9.html
As a New Zealand civil defence officer noted: There are some remarkable similarities in the "before" shots with the New Zealand coastline.
Which world is "real"?
I learned a new word today: "meatspace". Definition: the real physical world, as opposed to cyberspace.
It appears that the dividing lines between the two are rapidly meshing or breaking down. For example, academic studies have been made of the enforcement of existing legislation on virtual communities. The question of whether one can be raped in cyberspace has been hotly debated. Courts are having to struggle with whether computer drawings of children having sex constitute child pornography. Analogies with the scenario presented in the film The Matrix are obvious.
As Pip Cummings points out in the Melbourne Age, the questions are becoming important because people are spending increasingly large proportions of their time in cyberspace, in internet chat rooms, or in role-playing games. This is now their "real" life. The lines between the two worlds are blurring.
There is a third world, which the article fails to point out: an interdimensional world which we sometimes call the spiritual world. It's just as real, if not more so. Without reference to that world, we soon lose our way in both cyperspace and meatspace.
I have just finished reading Lights in the Sky and Little Green Men, by Hugh Ross, which contains a science-based discussion on the interaction of the interdimensional world and our own. Recommended.
I learned a new word today: "meatspace". Definition: the real physical world, as opposed to cyberspace.
It appears that the dividing lines between the two are rapidly meshing or breaking down. For example, academic studies have been made of the enforcement of existing legislation on virtual communities. The question of whether one can be raped in cyberspace has been hotly debated. Courts are having to struggle with whether computer drawings of children having sex constitute child pornography. Analogies with the scenario presented in the film The Matrix are obvious.
As Pip Cummings points out in the Melbourne Age, the questions are becoming important because people are spending increasingly large proportions of their time in cyberspace, in internet chat rooms, or in role-playing games. This is now their "real" life. The lines between the two worlds are blurring.
There is a third world, which the article fails to point out: an interdimensional world which we sometimes call the spiritual world. It's just as real, if not more so. Without reference to that world, we soon lose our way in both cyperspace and meatspace.
I have just finished reading Lights in the Sky and Little Green Men, by Hugh Ross, which contains a science-based discussion on the interaction of the interdimensional world and our own. Recommended.
Tuesday, January 18, 2005
Coming up in 2005
Scarcely a couple of weeks into the new year, and already I feel like I'm suffering from information overload. This year could be a long haul.
So what's ahead of us for 2005? The government or its various agencies have flagged a number of things you can expect to see.
1) Passage of the companion Bill to the Civil Unions Act, the Relationships (Statutory References) Bill. This is actually the legislation that gives the real teeth to Civil Unions, and arguably will do the greater damage. But it not only provides "unionised" couples (what are we going to call them?) with virtually all the legal entitlements of marriage, it will also make de facto relationships legally equally to marriage in almost every respect. The biggest problem the Select Committee is having at the moment is trying to find some way of defining a de facto relationship, to try and prevent a week-old relationship from qualifying. The long-term problems are going to be enormous. As de factos are equal to marriage, we effectively will have legal bigamy, as nothing in the legislation will prevent serial or even concurrent multiple de facto relationships. Already, if a person dies without making a will, every de facto partner has equal claim on the person's estate, along with any surviving married partner. (You can read the fine print in the Administration Act 2001).
2) Hate speech legislation. This is not a given, although the government has launched an inquiry into the possibilities. Moves for it are being driven by some well-placed people with a strong agenda to shut down Christians and opposition to homosexual activism, but submissions to the government committee in the main have been vehemently opposed. This is one area in which libertarians and conservatives see eye to eye.
3) Adoption by same-sex couples. The new Adoption Act has already been drafted and is simply waiting in the wings for the passing of the Relationships Bill. It is a direct follow-on from Civil Unions.
4) The elections. What can stop the Clark/Labour juggernaut? There is nothing on the horizon at the moment. But it is amazing how little things (such as the infamous worm) can change the political landscape in an instant, when major issues seemingly have no impact. Guess it illustrates the truth of the Butterfly effect (a factor in Chaos Theory).
5) Probably not in 2005, but likely in the next term if Labour returns to power, are:
a)Renewed efforts to ban smacking.
b)Legalisation of Polygamy. The Ministry of Women's Affairs has already stated that it could be considered discrimination not to permit polygamy. The foot in the door could be to allow Muslims to immigrate with multiple wives (on the grounds of multiculturalism); then to allow Muslim men to marry here; then to allow for everybody.
Further down the track: Suggestions are already being floated to lower the age of consent; the age for marriage; and to permit incest. It might take 10 years for some of these to gain sufficient traction, but as the only remaining criteria for relationships appears to be consent and commitment, it is hard to see how ultimately they can be resisted, short of a moral and/or spiritual revolution.
Scarcely a couple of weeks into the new year, and already I feel like I'm suffering from information overload. This year could be a long haul.
So what's ahead of us for 2005? The government or its various agencies have flagged a number of things you can expect to see.
1) Passage of the companion Bill to the Civil Unions Act, the Relationships (Statutory References) Bill. This is actually the legislation that gives the real teeth to Civil Unions, and arguably will do the greater damage. But it not only provides "unionised" couples (what are we going to call them?) with virtually all the legal entitlements of marriage, it will also make de facto relationships legally equally to marriage in almost every respect. The biggest problem the Select Committee is having at the moment is trying to find some way of defining a de facto relationship, to try and prevent a week-old relationship from qualifying. The long-term problems are going to be enormous. As de factos are equal to marriage, we effectively will have legal bigamy, as nothing in the legislation will prevent serial or even concurrent multiple de facto relationships. Already, if a person dies without making a will, every de facto partner has equal claim on the person's estate, along with any surviving married partner. (You can read the fine print in the Administration Act 2001).
2) Hate speech legislation. This is not a given, although the government has launched an inquiry into the possibilities. Moves for it are being driven by some well-placed people with a strong agenda to shut down Christians and opposition to homosexual activism, but submissions to the government committee in the main have been vehemently opposed. This is one area in which libertarians and conservatives see eye to eye.
3) Adoption by same-sex couples. The new Adoption Act has already been drafted and is simply waiting in the wings for the passing of the Relationships Bill. It is a direct follow-on from Civil Unions.
4) The elections. What can stop the Clark/Labour juggernaut? There is nothing on the horizon at the moment. But it is amazing how little things (such as the infamous worm) can change the political landscape in an instant, when major issues seemingly have no impact. Guess it illustrates the truth of the Butterfly effect (a factor in Chaos Theory).
5) Probably not in 2005, but likely in the next term if Labour returns to power, are:
a)Renewed efforts to ban smacking.
b)Legalisation of Polygamy. The Ministry of Women's Affairs has already stated that it could be considered discrimination not to permit polygamy. The foot in the door could be to allow Muslims to immigrate with multiple wives (on the grounds of multiculturalism); then to allow Muslim men to marry here; then to allow for everybody.
Further down the track: Suggestions are already being floated to lower the age of consent; the age for marriage; and to permit incest. It might take 10 years for some of these to gain sufficient traction, but as the only remaining criteria for relationships appears to be consent and commitment, it is hard to see how ultimately they can be resisted, short of a moral and/or spiritual revolution.
