I was renewing with Tower and it's gone up a lot, even though I haven't made a claim and nothing has changed. Same old car. I just thought stuff it, and I downgraded to third party only with no theft or fire cover (I have one of the best alarms)

On the phone they explained that part of the reason was that the value of my car had been adjusted (about $1,000 higher) but when they used the calculator to figure out the premium cost for a lower agreed value, it didn't change to the price I expected.

Prices must have gone up due to inflation or corporate greed.

I'd still trust Tower over AMI. Once I used AMI and my renewal package got lost in the post, and my insurance expired, but they didn't even text or email me. With Tower it automatically renews. So while AMI might be cheaper, they are really bad with communication, and won't even spend 2 cents to send an SMS to your phone.

Open the URL, I self-hosted a zip file with 9 photos so you don't have to visit a website that's filled with ads.

http://rentingcrisis.nz/forum/images/chalk/activism.zip

I wrote in 20 locations around riccarton and ilam. Most of my chalk was on riccarton road or perhaps 50 metres into a side street.

Please share this file.

I didn't watch this start to finish but I agree with everything he's saying.

1. The election won't change anything. I believe we'll still be stuck in the same situation for another 5 years.

2. Too much immigration. Do we need to let people into the country just to stack shelves at Countdown and Chemist Warehouse? This isn't a skills shortage.

3. Community solutions, instead of relying on Parliament

On that last point - I will be doing a mailbox drop this summer to spice things up a little. Voting in the election is a waste of time for me. I want to see more houses being built and it's not going to happen from the government. We need the council to **** off and stop pandering to boomers and rich property buyers. It's the council's fault that there is no private property available for purchase or rent, at a reasonable price. They used zoning regulations to scam my generation out of a good quality life.

David Palmer if you read this, I went to Northlands Mall last week and I saw a huge empty section near the main bus stop. This looks promising, but so far it's just grass growing there. As soon as the zoning changes and they allow high density near the malls, it's probably going to be a 6 storey apartment. At least that's my hope.

More realistically though,

Press TV's Telegram comments on claims by Israeli media: "All surrounding areas of Gaza retaken, no clashes now taking place with Hamas"

Maybe Hamas will wait with the hostages, knowing that the most hawkish Israelis will advocate further violence. At this point Hezbollah might join.

edit: t.me is a shortened URL for Telegram links, some posts are visible without the need to install telegram.

Vince shows the numbers on how much a person must earn in order to buy a house in New Zealand

I was driving out of a quiet street in Christchurch around noon today when two SUVs approached from the right-hand side. I waiting for them because I thought they would go pass, but they had a different idea. Both SUVs pulled into the street which I was coming out of, and they were using it to compensate for their poor turning-circle, instead of attempting a 3-point-turn which would've been safer.

So there I was trying to turn right, with the first SUV sneaking up behind me, waiting for me to go, then there was a second SUV that also wanted to use the side-street to swing around, but they were waiting for me, and I was hesitant, because they were blocking my view from my right and I couldn't see oncoming traffic.

I paused in confusion and then crept forward, saw it was clear, and moved along.

It was a stupid situation to be in, it made me wonder why they don't do a 3-point-turn, or just go one vehicle at a time, instead of blocking the road with their SUV convoy. I call these women soccer moms because they are exactly the same as their American counter-part. They drive their SUVs together to go to the local park with their family. There is no other word for it besides soccer mom.

This is what happens when Karen from accounts makes friends with Becky from HR, and they discover that they both have sons, and both live in the same suburb. They drive their SUVs for an outing down to the local park.

When they swung around and went to the park, they were still there half an hour later. They didn't seem to have any sports gear with them. We are becoming more like America with each passing day.

When I browse Reddit I always open it in a private window, because that website is cancer and I like to keep it contained. I have no interest in revisiting ironic "shit posts" or run-of-the-mill opinions from Reddit-dwelling incels. I was writing about Reddit on another website, commenting on the perverted mindset of basement dwelling degenerates on Reddit:

"Redditors are all ******. They talk about circle-jerks, hate-boners, and ass-holes. They are obsessed with erect penises and anuses. Truly warped people."

reply:

reddit causes brain damage. (I can list them if interested) And as a result all nz reddit users that don't get censored are extreme leftwing, porn addicted, losers. Angry and bitter but determined to ruin once new zealand.

I didn't even mention pornography yet someone made the connection between Reddit users and pornography 😆 There are probably Reddit communities based around VR porn and there's probably a whole community with thousands of active members, just to talk about what to do when a matchbox car gets parked where the sun don't shine. And how to find an "open minded" doctor. Just normal heterosexual stuff you do with the normal wife, you know?

I'm trying not to complain about Reddit too hard, in all honesty, it's pretty funny how screwed in the head people on Reddit are. I sometimes visit just to see what dumb opinions people have. Last time I checked /r/chch someone posted about Kyle Chapman's arrest, and someone in the comments wrote that Kyle is an "angry incel" which is ironic because that's the perfect description of these redditors. A bunch of craft beer, soy latte drinking, porn addicted virgins who will never get a woman pregnant. On the other hand, Kyle has 5 children (presumably to at least 3 different women) which is sick too, but still better than a lot of these redditors.

Kyle is a run-of-the-mill boomer as far as I'm concerned. Reddit says he's a fascist but I don't think Kyle has cared about politics or ideology for at least 12 years. Of course, on Reddit you get upvotes if you say that Christchurch is a Nazi city with a big "nationalist community". I saw someone farming karma just 2 days ago.

The same 'redditors' believe that The Rob Gray Life Centre is some kind of secret fascist training centre. But if you go to (I think) the Barbadoes Steet intersection with Cashel, then walk east down Cashel, you'll see the sign outside which says "Rob Gray Life Centre open today - everyone welcome".

It's not just the invisible fascist boogey-man that Reddit obsesses over, it's also the secret Christian nationalists in Parliament. Apparently Christopher Luxon is a secret Christian nationalist who wants to bring in extreme religious laws, or something.

If I go on reddit and disagree with the secret Christian (or fascist) threat, then it's guaranteed that the mods have a secret porn group on Discord where they hashtag my username and make secret notes about me, that I'm stirring up trouble, and causing offence (by disagreeing and providing information which contradicts the hive mind)

I have a problem with Reddit, because it's bastion of weirdos where they are not exposed to anyone with different view points, and it's been an echo-chamber for years now. There's much talk about the 'danger' of X and what Musk has done to it, but it seems like his WEF adviser has come out against anti-semitism, and Musk is going to met Benjamin Netanyahu. I really doubt that Elon truly supports free speech. He's a tricky guy who will change his mind on things and toy with the media and public figures. The scrutiny should be on Reddit. I think even if there was a child porn scandal involving /r/newzealand moderators, it probably wouldn't cause an exodus of users. If a Reddit moderator was caught with thousands of images of naked 6 year old girls on their hard drive, the /r/newzealand community would probably raise money to defend them in court. I believe it's that cohesive, basically like a cult where the moderators are highly venerated figures.

This is the best thing for Christchurch. It should've happened 15 years ago.

I saw a couple of short clips and ended up watching the whole thing one evening, while trying not to fall asleep. The last question that Tucker asks, is "will there be a civil war". Trump comments on Jan. 6 and says he's never seen such an out-pouring of love, but equally, he's never seen such an out-pouring of hatred.

I know most of you don't care about these figures all that much, but what Trump said is quite revealing. America is probably screwed now. If Trump doesn't get elected, his supports might go crazy. Likewise, if he does get elected, it might embolden his supporters anyway. I don't think that anyone will fix the problems in America. It's too late now. If they'd hadn't spent billions of dollars trying to rule the world, they could have paid reparations to blacks and possibly avoided the ugliest parts of the current political environment. They'd need jobs and manufacturing too of course.

There is a risk posed by people who misdirect their anger, like that 21 year old kid who shot random black people, painted swastikas on the wall of a supermarket or something, and then shot himself. Of course he's 21. If he'd made it to 24 or 25 without deleting himself, he would've realised that there's more to life, even if the economy is in the toilet.

2024 is gonna be a war I reckon. There's no reconciling the differences with most people. If they can't get justice and a fair standard of living for all people, then things won't improve (conflict, division).

I suggest that victory in the war be defined by who docks their ships at Sevastopol. Most people just focus on who is killing the most, which isn't a useful measure. It's worth considering the waste of life though.

The other day I met a guy from Chengdu, so I looked it up on YouTube. I also follow a modest YouTuber who uploads videos of Saint Petersburg when he goes for walks with his wife and granddaughter.

I'm not suggesting that Christchurch should look like one of these big cities with 10 or 20 million people, but could we please knock down that derelict building that's next to the bus exchange? It has walls falling down, and graffiti everywhere. Then there's the case of shipping containers on the side of the road.

These inner-city features give third world vibes. I don't care what these buildings are, please destroy them.

We also need a city-wide land tax to encourage development. There are empty sections all around Christchurch that aren't being used for anything (or they are just for parking a jetboat). I saw two properties in Sumner that are used for parking a jet boat, and there are places in Riccarton like Kirkwood Ave and Leslie Street, each have an empty section which has been empty for 20+ years. The central and local governments aren't doing anything to solve these problems.