Nat Torkington

Exchange student in front of me at the super, already in the Kiwi way with four blocks of Whitaker’s. Slaps a BUNDLE OF HUNDIES on the conveyer before cheerfully being told she’ll only need one of those.

You have my sword.

If you want to get rich and want to stiff the state, legally structure your finances to minimise your tax obligations and then maintain a genuinely profitable business that pays that reduced tax burden. That way you have a legal money pump. That's sustainable, not short-term fraud.

"Likely" is the word covering your extrapolation from your feels to universal truths. I'm sure what you say is true for some. I'm sure it's not true for others.

"Imagine how wealthy ..." Once you stop paying your tax, the fuse is lit. There's a limited amount of time you can do this for.

Yup, no argument. I don't say it's an outcome we want, I'm saying that it's easier to end up there than expected.

I agree that egregious cases should be prosecuted and money clawed back if possible. I agree with your interlocutor that tax avoiders are an easier target. Both these things can be true

Well, I suppose that course of action is incompetence. But it wouldn't feel like it in the moment, I'm sure.

So you crash on, believing better days are around the corner. Your pool of available money (and thus your options) shrink every time around, Finally you have to wind up the business.

You don't have to be incompetent or evil to chip away at the ambition to be perfect and end up in a shitshow.

What to do? You can delay paying your suppliers to make your cash last longer, but you can't NOT pay most suppliers because you need them to, well, *supply*.

But the govt isn't a supplier where you go out of business immediately if you don't pay them ...

Yes, when times are good and cash flows like wine.

Now imagine you hit a point where you can't make payroll. Things are right, but you have contracts in the works and money and a change of fortune are just around the corner. You don't want to lay people off over a temporary blip, right?

DANΞ on X: "We just removed a feature from @ChatGPTapp that allowed users to make their conversations discoverable by search engines, such as Google. This was a short-lived experiment to help people discover useful conversations. This feature required users to opt-in, first by picking a chat https://t.co/mGI3lF05Ua" / X We just removed a feature from @ChatGPTapp that allowed users to make their conversations discoverable by search engines, such as Google. This was a short-lived experiment to help people discover useful conversations. This feature required users to opt-in, first by picking a chat https://t.co/mGI3lF05Ua

x.com/cryps1s/stat...

"This feature required users to opt-in, first by picking a chat to share, then by clicking a checkbox for it to be shared with search engines."

Today we learned again that ppl can't be trusted with "opt out of privacy" options even when consequences are spelled out clearly.

If I had it to do again, mine wouldn't have seen broadcast TV, computer, iPad, or smartphone until they could vote. There were literally no upsides from my pov.

Faraday cages have a lot to be said for them.

Misdirection, by You, Me, Everybody track by You, Me, Everybody

Band Camp Friday! youmeeverybody.bandcamp.com/track/misdir... our new single is there for your purchasing pleasure!

The quiet campaign: Inside the freedom movement’s bid for council influence Voices for Freedom and like-minded groups are campaigning for council seats, changing their rhetoric from the pandemic to potholes.

Once again, a number of Voices for Freedom affiliated candidates are running for local government, this time they are hiding their more conspiratorial views and focusing on bland populist issues like rates and road cones

www.thepress.co.nz/nz-news/3607...

YouTube video by You, Me, Everybody Band You, Me, Everybody - Misdirection - [Official Music Video]

New single dropped! "Misdirection" is the second single from the upcoming album by our band You, Me, Everybody. It's the bluegrass banger.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzqU...

Follow us on Spotify and eventually we'll be able to afford a coffee! open.spotify.com/album/342xor...

New Zealand hit with surprise 15% Trump trade tariff The White House had originally said New Zealand goods would face a 10 percent levy.

www.rnz.co.nz/news/busines...

I reckon the price of the Wellington FBI office space just went up by ... oh, 15% of our export $ to USA.

I'm taking away that voting as a bloc guarantees a seat even if only 1/3 of the voters are in the bloc. The other 2/3 votes are dissipated across multiple candidates.

Our sane folks need to form a bloc until the FSU give up and go home. I'm bummed I didn't realise this sooner.

1000 people lost 3.5 hours ... you could get a lot done with 3500 hours, but he didn't.

Nice work, everyone who showed up and voted down around 15 bad ideas at the AGM. And thanks to everyone who voted in the elections.

Don't stop participating! The one thing we can be sure of is that the fuckery won't stop today.

When I was on the INZ board there was a libertarian pro-free speech councillor. However, he cared deeply about the Internet and was not ignorant of its history and technology.

Now every board paper, confidential or not, has to be assumed to be passed or paraphrased to the FSU and the agitators.

InternetNZ update: all the FSU/Hobsons motions were rejected by voters at the AGM.

However, the election for two board members saw one FSU member get elected, and one GC* (@dylanreeve.com) elected.

*GC = Good Chap

And it's the good work.

“what is the crime?!” I scream as the police drag me away from the polling booth “…enjoying a succulent free Māori hangi?!”

Appears so:

> It will apply to payments made in-store using Eftpos, Visa and Mastercard but won’t apply to purchases made online or with foreign-issued cards, prepaid gift or travel cards, and cards issued by networks like American Express or UnionPay.

"Win some, lose some" not really the philosophy a swimmer wants to hear from their escort :)

I've done that too ... was amazed by how much faster kayaks are than the average ocean swimmer. I knew they were faster but the ratio was startling. I definitely had the easier job!

Lovely! Is Pt Chev generally a clean beach to swim at? I hear bad things about the Auckland harbour!

Oh and …

Companies that road work is outsourced to use cones to slow traffic and protect workers.

Govt can prosecute LLC directors for not attending to worker health and safety.

Except thisgovt also turned off enforcement.

Make money, kill workers, no worries.

www.rnz.co.nz/news/politic...

We can only dream of an alternate timeline where the AOC administration forces Chrome’s sale to the Signal Foundation for a dollar.

If you haven’t tried ocean swimming, and you live in a part of the world where it won’t kill you, I strongly recommend it.

A cold swim makes me feel alive and anchored. And if you have a swim buddy or group, it can be social time too.

If I could, it’s how my every day would start.

Funding to councils to be throttled for using too many road cones The minister of transport says too many councils are still using an outdated guide to using traffic management, leading to quiet streets "covered in road cones".

Meanwhile in New Zealand, where sick people can’t see a specialist, hospitals have patients in hallways, the economy’s still in the shitter, and our kids can’t add …

www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...

Put it into “search the web” mode (click on the icon for sliders in the text box) and confirm the links it found and used.