Apologies to Al Nisbet and The Press

All hail Al Nisbet. I couldn't find the original on-line, but came across the attached perversion of his brilliant original that appeared in The Press a week or so ago dealing with wind farms.

Cartoon: Carbon Footprint

Although I believe the 'Carbon footprint' concept to be a fraud perpetuated by the Y2K, bird flu, Ostrich breeding crowd, any use of the concept by frost fan wielding vineyards deserves suitable scorn just on basic principles.

Cartoon of the Day: Profit and Loss

Thank heavens the ratepayer can come to the rescue. Where could they have found the money otherwise to go on to make bigger profits next year.

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More here on the same topic.

Cartoon of the Day: Grape Country

You have to expect noise when you build in grape country!

Err... What if your house was there before the grape rush that occured about 5 minutes ago?

I suppose we're whingers. 

Serves us right to get kept awake at night. Had it coming. Standing in the way of progress. Menace to society. 

Yeah, that's me. I've spent my whole life thinking about myself, chasing a quick buck at the expense of those around me.

For those inconsiderate users of frost fans next to houses the above is SARCASM!

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Cartoon of the Day: How many sleepless nights?

One of the pathetic deceits practiced when submitting resource consent applications for frost fans is to claim that the percentage of sleepless nights will be no greater than X% in a year.

THIS IS DELIBERATLY MISLEADING.

Firstly,  any claim that a specific number of nights is all that will occur clearly has no basis in fact when it comes to predicting the weather.

Secondly,  when it is described as a yearly percentage, it sounds almost reasonable. I mean once a month? Come on what are you worrying about? Hang on... The frost fans only operate in a small portion of the year. That means (by the same math) you'll get on average, one sleepless night every week for three months. Yeouch!

Thirdly, it's not just the frequency. It's the fact that it happens at all! Go without sleep for a night. See how well you function the next day. Try a couple of days in a row.

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Cartoon of the Day: What the Absentee Landlord hears

I sometimes wonder if I'm being unfair poking the borax at the honest busines men/women trying to make a decent living who just happen to be investing in vineyards.

Then I am woken at 2am by the sound of frost fans or the organophosphates drift over the house from spraying and suddenly I realise that this is not something they have the slightest bit of concern about.

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Cartoon of the day: What's promised and What happens

 The distinction between promises and reality...

If it isn't written down, it didn't happen.

If it can be monitored or verified, it won't happen.

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Cartoon of the Day: Special Audible Characteristics: When do they start

I have yet to see data on a vertically mounted frost fan that does not produce special audible characteristics.

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Cartoon of the Day: A consent condition that makes sense

A condition of consent that makes sense!

Now I've seen it all.

Cartoon of the Day 10 September 2008

Personally I think the Council is missing out on a huge revenue gathering opportunity by not monitoring frost fan noise. Think of all the fans and think of the number that probably exceed the noise limits.

There's money in them thar windmills!

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Cartoon of the Day 2008 09 09

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Cartoon of the Day 8 September 2008

Excuse me while I climb onto one of my hobby horses.

I'ts all very well for an industry to claim that their a primary producer and of vital importance to the nation blah... blah... But for crying out loud, why would you get special dispensation to install a noisy frost fan on the basis that your growing WINE?

Does it cure cancer? Feed the poor? Lower the road toll? Ensure World peace? Please... It's a good cash crop. Let's call  it what it is.

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Cartoon of the Day 7 September 2008

For those that are unaware, there was an application for resoruce consent to install four frost fans opposite the Burleigh dairy (resource consent application U080033).

This was probably the worst written application known to man and the MDC. There are over 70 residences within 500 metres of the closest wind machine and the news only gets worse.

You see the claim has been made that if only one fan meets the noise level then everything is ok. 

EVEN THOIGH THEY WANT TO PUT IN FOUR FANS!

Can you say "Cumulative effects"?

Each of the squares below is a seperate image (so you can see all the gory detail!) you will want to click on each in turn to realise the full horror!

Cartoon of the Day 6 September 2008

Shouldn't more people be happy that  viticulture and frost fans can supply more of the essentials of life to families that need it?

Cartoon of the Day 5 September 2008

Yes, we live in a more enlightened age.

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Cartoon of the Day 4 September 2008

Ahh... Resource consent hearings.

A place where even the wildest claims can be believed, safe in the knowledge that you don't have to rely on the normal rules of evidence and your audience are laypeople. Nirvana....

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Cartoon of the Day 3 September 2008

Ah... Monitoring.
Monitoring, monitoring, monitoring......

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Cartoon of the Day 2 September 2008

Welcome to the World of the Absentee Landowner

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Cartoon of the Day 31 August 2008

Ahh... Those clever policy wonks at the MDC. Always thinking...

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Cartoon of the Day 30 August 2008

I'm a big fan of Kathmandu, but having the Council investing in retail when it effectively acts as competition to other retail industries? Dodgy.

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