Dr Lucy Tel-Bar's Avatar

Dr Lucy Tel-Bar

@lucytelbar

Senior Research Fellow, He Kāinga Oranga Housing and Health Research Programme, University of Otago. Mostly researching housing, health, and winter illnesses, but easily distracted.

305
Followers
74
Following
1,233
Posts
06.09.2023
Joined
Posts Following

Latest posts by Dr Lucy Tel-Bar @lucytelbar

The thing is, they don't need to. We are getting there anyway.
Planning and building new generation takes time.
If every project currently properly in development comes on line as planned, renewables will meet 102% of current demand within 4 years.

12.03.2026 08:47 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

I believe the classical solution to this problem is piglets. As in, "Of course, we will need more piglets."

12.03.2026 04:33 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Oh that's a relief. I thought maybe you hadn't thought it fully through 😉 😁

12.03.2026 04:31 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 2 📌 0

He was a Labour Party MP rather than National

12.03.2026 04:17 👍 3 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0

??? Tell me more?

12.03.2026 03:38 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0

I think lots of adults do that. Even politicians. I know I'm more capable and sensible (and clearly more confident!) than I once was, and a lot of that is from others having supported and encouraged me to try harder things. And plenty of younger politicians have grown into the role over time.

12.03.2026 03:37 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0

I think everyone wanted him to be better than he was - hoped he'd grow into it, kind of thing.

12.03.2026 03:21 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0

How do you get to the top of the flying fox?

12.03.2026 03:14 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 3 📌 0

Exactly!

11.03.2026 22:26 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

It's not Plank is quoted as saying "What we're seeing in this wave is a number of people getting infected, causing the level of immunity in the population to get a boost" but it's in the context of explaining the current wave. He's also quoted recommending vaccination.

11.03.2026 19:22 👍 3 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
Preview
A Covid ripple, not a wave: Why cases are climbing again Protecting ourselves against Covid seems to have fallen a long way down the priority list for many Kiwis. Should we be doing more to stop it? Or just let it rip?

Stuff. www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/3609.... They've at least changed the headline on the main page - but the original stupid one is still on the story once you click on it.

11.03.2026 19:18 👍 4 🔁 0 💬 2 📌 1
Headline reads "The Covid immunity cycle: Why catching the virus is basically our new booster" below picture of glived hands preparing a wooden syringe or something honestly the picture is weird I can't even tell what it's meant to represent

Headline reads "The Covid immunity cycle: Why catching the virus is basically our new booster" below picture of glived hands preparing a wooden syringe or something honestly the picture is weird I can't even tell what it's meant to represent

Dangerously stupid headline.
(It implies catching Covid is a neutral alternative option to getting a booster. It is not).

11.03.2026 17:54 👍 52 🔁 15 💬 10 📌 0

We can do better at teaching people critical thinking in the online environment, but it would help if we/they could immediately see which posts were from real people and which were anonymous.

06.03.2026 19:10 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

OK consider me properly schooled on the history of anonymity :)

Bots aren't worse than fascism, but they're certainly part of it. Bots sewing discord are part of what created a social environment that allowed fascism to rise.

06.03.2026 19:10 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0

I did think about pamphlets but clearly discounted them too quickly. Was there any other mechanism?
Perhaps what I really want isn't so much that everyone be identified online, as for some way to distinguish between real people and anonymous/fake.

06.03.2026 19:00 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0

I'm curious about why you think you should you be able to do that? Anonymous criticism of governments wasn't readily available before the Internet.

06.03.2026 18:47 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
RNZ headline posted on Facebook reads "New Zealand faces shortage of ultra-luxury housing" on an image of a luxury home in an alpine setting. Subtitle reads "International premuim-grade homes priced more than $20m were scarce".

RNZ headline posted on Facebook reads "New Zealand faces shortage of ultra-luxury housing" on an image of a luxury home in an alpine setting. Subtitle reads "International premuim-grade homes priced more than $20m were scarce".

The funniest housing story I've seen in a while...

03.03.2026 22:26 👍 19 🔁 6 💬 7 📌 1

Sure, but all the same it is there for when coal isn't enough.

03.03.2026 21:26 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0

It was also super expensive to resolve what is only an interim issue until the various new generation projects come online.
Plus we can also temporarily pause Tiwai production.
But of course the LNG terminal was never about dry years anyway.

03.03.2026 18:25 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0

Not only that, but we already have insurance against dry years, i.e. coal. Yes it's climate-hostile, but so is LNG.

03.03.2026 18:13 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0

The LNG terminal is sp frustrating. This is exactly why the report the government commissioned said using LNG as insurance in dry years was a bad idea. What kind of idiots would do it anyway? The ones running the country, apparently.

03.03.2026 17:47 👍 6 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0

I went to a masked ball at a cardiac conference. One of the people I was hanging out with said she struggles with wearing a mask since Covid. So it might be more like PTSD than expecting us to deal? Just another guess.
Or different reasons for different people.

03.03.2026 08:57 👍 5 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Mr BarTel bought some while I was away. He was going to throw it away but the house guests convinced him to let them keep it.
There were about 16 squares left when I got home. I ate some last night, but I didn't finish it.
All up: buy a flavour you know you like instead.

25.02.2026 03:12 👍 3 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
Preview
Reconciliation

Data at www.ea.govt.nz/data-and-ins... .
One file per month, that has both import and export, reconciled data.

25.02.2026 01:00 👍 3 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

My electricity market contact says "You have to go via the raw monthly data from the reconciliation manager, who tracks injection and extraction (same website) download the entire market zipped file for the month, filter by market node, and commercial operator, and Bob's your uncle. It's a PITA".

25.02.2026 00:38 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0

Drag 'em to the DT.
(Also: what tenant-related excuse have they invented???)

23.02.2026 21:53 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Video thumbnail

Schools are shared indoor spaces, making clean air essential to reduce the spread of respiratory viruses. 🏫

In this new video, IHEP Member Sarah Haines (@civmin.bsky.social) shares practical guidance on steps schools can take to improve the air quality.

Watch the video ▶️

#PublicHealth #Health

18.02.2026 19:01 👍 13 🔁 11 💬 1 📌 1

...and now that I've read the paper - am I the only one who finds its framing and conclusions revolting?

18.02.2026 19:54 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

I wonder if the same results could be achieved by investing in the schools accessible to low-income renters who can't move into single-family homes - so that "better schools" were accessible to everyone?

18.02.2026 19:32 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0

I was really hoping it was going to be a bait and switch and it would turn out that her children had some rare condition that meant they couldn't be vaccinated, and how important it was that everyone did because herd immunity was their only protection.
But no.

17.02.2026 19:49 👍 6 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0