Yup.

Te Papa will begin charging an entry fee for international visitors from September.

Entry to the museum will remain free for New Zealanders.

The entry fee will be $35 and will apply from 17 September to international visitors aged 16 years and older.

With nearly 600,000 international visitors in the 2023/2024 financial year, Te Papa is expected to earn an additional $5-$10 million per year from the move.

Johnston said visitors would self-identify their nationality.

"You'll walk into Te Papa and we'll say, 'Kia ora, how are you? Where have you come from today?' And if you say, 'Oh, I've come from Johnsonville', then we'll say, 'Great, head up the stairs, head into the museum, have a wonderful visit'.

"And if you say, 'Oh, I'm from France' or 'I'm from Germany', we'll say, 'Awesome, head up the stairs, you'll see the ticket desk right there, that's where you can buy your ticket'."

AFP: Automated (carbon) Fibre Placement

Home loan borrowers can expect rates to fall throughout the rest of this year and next, commentators say.

The Reserve Bank cut the official cash rate by 25bps to 5.25 percent on Wednesday.

While it was a move that was forecast by several economists, it was a u-turn from the bank's position in May. Infometrics chief executive Brad Olsen described it as a "WTH moment" and "the biggest flip-flop ever".

A major update about the meth lollies, something got lost in translation with the police I think, they seem way too relaxed about class A drugs being out there in the community.

A leading scientist is welcoming the end to a gene technology ban, saying New Zealand has missed opportunities because of outdated rules.

Not long ago, I posted a story about someone's dog eating meth on a walk through Auckland, and now this?

Was this a smuggling operation gone wrong perhaps?

Honestly, the fact they even asked is pretty bad, voluntary or not.

The skipper of a Coastguard boat who rescued two divers after they became separated from their boat in waters near Kāpiti, north of Wellington, says the scenario is the stuff of nautical nightmares.

The divers were dragged south in swift currents, but managed to swim to a nearby island and even had provisions to light a fire, alerting the Westpac Rescue Helicopter to their location.

Coastguard skipper Mark Davidson told Checkpoint police were alerted by the diver's partners - who were waiting on the diver's boat - that they had lost contact with the men about 5pm on Sunday.

Last weeks thread here

Welcome to this week’s casual kōrero thread!

This post will be pinned in this community so you can always find it, and will stay for about a week until replaced by the next one.

It’s for talking about anything that might not justify a full post. For example:

• Something interesting that happened to you
• Something humourous that happened to you
• Something frustrating that happened to you
• A quick question
• A request for recommendations
• Pictures of your pet
• A picture of a cloud that kind of looks like an elephant
• Anything else, there are no rules (except the rule)

So how’s it going?

New Zealand athletes have bagged more gold medals at Paris 2024 than at any other Olympic Games in history.

The 10 golds claimed across the two weeks of competition have smashed the previous record of eight won at the 1984 Los Angeles Games.

The Kiwis also bagged seven silver and three bronze medals to take the total number to 20 and finish 11th on the medal table, between Germany and Canada.

That is the same number of medals won at Tokyo 2020, which was previously New Zealand's most successful Olympics in terms of numbers. Athletes took seven golds, six silvers and seven bronzes at that competition.

Remember when we were told that privatisation of power generation would lower prices?

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/18517996

A Sky Full Of SARs

| Scheduled for (UTC) | 2024-08-11 13:18 | |

|

| | Scheduled for (NZST) | 2024-08-12 01:18 | | Launch site | Rocket Lab LC-1B, Māhia Peninsula, New Zealand | | Booster recovery | No | | Launch vehicle | Electron + Curie | | Customers | Capella Space | | Payload | Acadia-3 | | Mission success criteria | Successful deployment of spacecraft into desired orbit |

Livestreams

| Stream | Link | |

|

| | Rocket Lab (official) | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFH0ZS2GHd8 | | Space Affairs | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1EIRGMhgWg | | The Launch Pad | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKC0aVLJvas |

Stats

• This will be the 10th launch for Rocket Lab this year.
• This will be the 52nd overall launch for Rocket Lab.

Payload info:

Rocket Lab mission page

NextSpaceflight:

Acadia-3

Capella Space introduced its latest generation of satellites named "Acadia", which offer increased imaging capability and improved communications connectivity. These satellites are smaller and lighter than previous models, but offer higher resolution and detection capabilities, enabling better Earth observation and more accurate decision-making.

Capella Space's new generation of satellites feature synthetic aperture radar (SAR) technology, which allows them to capture images of the Earth in all weather conditions and at any time of the day or night. In addition, these satellites have enhanced communication capabilities, allowing them to transmit data and images faster and more efficiently.

Previous mission: Owl For One, One For Owl

Next mission: Kinéis Killed The RadIoT Star

Please post small launch updates, discussions, and questions here! Also feel free to leave feedback or suggestions for the mod team. We’re a relatively new community, so feedback is very valuable!

cross-posted from: https://no.lastname.nz/post/739915

WHAKAARI / WHITE ISLAND The Volcanic Alert Level has been raised to Level 3 at White Island and the Aviation Colour Code raised to orange.

Aviation Colour Code Orange indicates that a volcanic eruption is underway but with little or no ash being produced.

On Geonet's website, duty volcanologist Geoff Kilgour said the volcano had produced "a more vigorous plume" on Friday afternoon, moving volcanic ash to the east of the island.

Today, 10th August, Whakaari exhibited vigorous activity at the vent, which maintained a constant plume that was visibly depositing ash into the sea. The latest official information is available from GeoNet at https://www.geonet.org.nz/mbl/news/6C...

Just to clarify, a drone has no sound, from the brief times we could hear the sound it was identical to Dukono in Indonesia. This was the sound used in this video.

Some more info on the recent engine tests.

3m is chump change

Peter Beck on twitter:

Archimedes has been breathing fire! Started at low power and now cranking it up.

God damn it, not again.

About 2000 parcels have been destroyed after an NZ Post truck caught fire last week.

The truck caught fire in Te Kuiti in the early hours of 31 July, with parcels on board bound for delivery in Auckland, Waikato, Bay of Plenty and Taupō, NZ Post said.

I hope no one has been waiting for a delivery.