The paradox of predictions
Why does the voting in the US election differ substantially from the poll results? Could be the polls were wrong. Or it could be the polls influenced people to act differently.
Tag: New Zealand
Waka or sieve?
In New Zealand we are travelling while, in the rest of the world, people are in lockdown as COVID cases spike. Right now things are good as people to have money they aren’t spending on international travel to put into art, domestic travel, and moving house to somewhere outside Auckland.
Who are us?
Jacinda Ardern’s quote, “They are us”, was spoken in the aftermath of the Christchurch mosque attacks and resonated around the world. In contrast, Trump was been selected as the most divisive US president ever in 2017 – he prefers ’them’ to ’us’. I know which country I would rather live in.
Chewable chunks
The concept of chewable chunks applies to COVID as much as cycle touring. Here are our strategies for breaking a 1300km cycle tour into chunks of a size we can cope with.
Focusing on the journey
Cycling and cycle touring are two of my all time favourite activities. I don’t remember a time when I didn’t love cycling.
Taking stock
New Zealand has dropped down its alert levels, though Auckland remains at 2 where the rest of the country is at 1. In Europe, cases are climbing but there’s resistance to any further hard lockdowns. And how are things looking for the Swedish experiment?
Things I don’t understand
Human behaviour is puzzling. We avidly mine and invest in gold to store in vaults, we take flights to nowhere during COVID when we aren’t allowed to travel, we pretend to explore for resources when we are just trying to jack their value up, we can act swiftly in the face of a pandemic but, in the face of climate change, we seem powerless to act.
Elections & Fantasy Literature
Reading fiction and reading election promises – they’re pretty much the same. Except fiction is generally based in reality. All the parties in the NZ election want to spend more but where is the more going to come from?
When in doubt, garden
I learned the importance of gardening from my father and its now an integral part of home building for me. The positive change over the years is hugely satisfying, despite the constant battles waged against possums, hares, deer, hedghogs, rabbits…
Chinese presents
Chris got sent a random pair of ‘Versace’ socks. He thought they might be a Fathers’ Day present from Sarah. I thought they must be related to a scam. Who was right?