Latest news with #Eales

Sydney Morning Herald
14-07-2025
- Sport
- Sydney Morning Herald
Going for gold: How Eales and the Wallabies stunned the Lions in Australia
Eales was confident in his team's tactics, knowing that the Wallabies could execute it far better given a second chance. The Wallabies ran out at a charged MCG covered in gold and levelled the series. Before each Test, Eales would find a random fan in the stands wearing a Wallabies jersey, focus on them and sing the Australian national anthem with them. In the MCG, Eales was spoiled for choice after Rugby Australia had hastily procured thousands of gold scarves for fans ahead of the Test. 'I think it (the crowd) definitely had an effect, that's where that push started because there was so much red (in Brisbane), for everyone, the word was wear gold,' Eales said. 'There were 10 to 20,000 flimsy gold scarves that were handed out, whatever they could get their hands on in a space of a week, but it made a difference when you saw those flecks of gold out there and you knew the crowd was behind you. 'There were many times ... you can be in a far corner of the world and just have a patch of the crowd that is clearly cheering for you, and gold stands out in the crowd, and that can be just as much of a boost because you feel that real sense of responsibility for that group of very special.' In January, Eales had an opportunity to spend time with the Wallabies in camp and asked if the current crop of players can replicate the heroics of his class of 2001. The two-time World Cup winner is confident that a series victory under Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt is possible. 'For sure they can (win the series), no one has a mortgage on the results and no series is decided before it's played,' Eales said. 'You can speculate about what might happen, but this Wallaby team is going to play with a lot of passion, but passion is only useful to a certain point, especially when you're playing at the top level, because everyone has passion, but it has to be passion with purpose and strategy, a purpose and a plan. 'I think what we've got now that we didn't have say two years ago, to the same extent, is that there's a building confidence in the way the team wants to play and it hasn't always worked, but you can see that it is building, and the team is building in confidence.' Eales is not only excited by the potential of a long-awaited series against the Lions in Australia, but the legacy that a victory could provide for generations ahead. 'I don't think anyone doesn't support the Wallabies because they're an Australian team that does grab people's attention, but it's probably not as much a part of a psyche across Australian sport as it was 24 years ago, but that can change really quickly.' 'A team can be elevated to a higher level, and people pay attention. Australians love winners, but they also love the intrigue of a story, and the Lions will bring some of that intrigue.'

The Age
14-07-2025
- Sport
- The Age
Going for gold: How Eales and the Wallabies stunned the Lions in Australia
Eales was confident in his team's tactics, knowing that the Wallabies could execute it far better given a second chance. The Wallabies ran out at a charged MCG covered in gold and levelled the series. Before each Test, Eales would find a random fan in the stands wearing a Wallabies jersey, focus on them and sing the Australian national anthem with them. In the MCG, Eales was spoiled for choice after Rugby Australia had hastily procured thousands of gold scarves for fans ahead of the Test. 'I think it (the crowd) definitely had an effect, that's where that push started because there was so much red (in Brisbane), for everyone, the word was wear gold,' Eales said. 'There were 10 to 20,000 flimsy gold scarves that were handed out, whatever they could get their hands on in a space of a week, but it made a difference when you saw those flecks of gold out there and you knew the crowd was behind you. 'There were many times ... you can be in a far corner of the world and just have a patch of the crowd that is clearly cheering for you, and gold stands out in the crowd, and that can be just as much of a boost because you feel that real sense of responsibility for that group of very special.' In January, Eales had an opportunity to spend time with the Wallabies in camp and asked if the current crop of players can replicate the heroics of his class of 2001. The two-time World Cup winner is confident that a series victory under Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt is possible. 'For sure they can (win the series), no one has a mortgage on the results and no series is decided before it's played,' Eales said. 'You can speculate about what might happen, but this Wallaby team is going to play with a lot of passion, but passion is only useful to a certain point, especially when you're playing at the top level, because everyone has passion, but it has to be passion with purpose and strategy, a purpose and a plan. 'I think what we've got now that we didn't have say two years ago, to the same extent, is that there's a building confidence in the way the team wants to play and it hasn't always worked, but you can see that it is building, and the team is building in confidence.' Eales is not only excited by the potential of a long-awaited series against the Lions in Australia, but the legacy that a victory could provide for generations ahead. 'I don't think anyone doesn't support the Wallabies because they're an Australian team that does grab people's attention, but it's probably not as much a part of a psyche across Australian sport as it was 24 years ago, but that can change really quickly.' 'A team can be elevated to a higher level, and people pay attention. Australians love winners, but they also love the intrigue of a story, and the Lions will bring some of that intrigue.'


Otago Daily Times
06-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Otago Daily Times
Inspiration home-grown for award-winning artist
Rod Eales shows off her award-winning work at the Dunedin Railway Station on Saturday. Her work will be on display until August 2 as part of the 149th Otago Arts Society annual awards show. Photo: Stephen Jaquiery Flowers from her garden provided the inspiration for Otago Arts Society winner Rod Eales. The Dunedin artist's piece, a painting of a yellow flower, won the Hughes Family Trust Award at the 149th annual Otago Art Society awards. Ms Eales was delighted to win the award, not least because it was the first time she had entered this competition. "I've been really pleased with the response so far." She had always had an affinity with flowers. "I've got a huge garden. So I opened my garden now and that's one of my flowers for my garden. It is just a straight flower [in the painting], but it's one of my favourites. You can pick it, it lives forever, and it's just a part of a great, huge body of flowers." This particular painting took about two months to complete, and she said she was "less distracted" than she had been in the past. Global warming and regeneration was also a recurring theme in her work, Ms Eales said. "I paint in fast-drying oils, and so I can get back to painting pretty quickly, and I teach in my spare time in two months. "Sometimes it's the weather and the light that holds me back. I can't paint on really dull days yet until I've got my light sorted." Ms Eales said she had previously specialised in landscape painting, but now was "all in" on flowers. "I plant flowers that I think I will put in my paintings. So the two are very, very much led. You can't separate the two now. "I'm not going to go back to landscapes or back to anything. There's so much to do with flowers." More than 180 entrants feature at this year's art society awards. The works will be on display at the Dunedin Railway Station until August 2.


NZ Herald
08-05-2025
- NZ Herald
Palmerston North hydroponics retailer takes Reddit to court to take down posts and unmask user identities
While they have their suspicions about who might be behind the posts, they can't prove it because users on the forum aren't required to use their real names. Some of the posts, which are all live on a subpage of the website called r/NZtrees, where users generally share tips on how to grow cannabis, are almost three years old. The case is being heard in the Palmerston North District Court where Cozens and Eales have sought an order for Reddit to take down the posts, to publish a correction, and to give the pair a right of reply in a way the court determines. All these remedies are available to the court under the Harmful Digital Communications Act. Cozens and Eales are also seeking an order that Reddit tell the court who the anonymous posters are, however, such an order can only be made to an Internet Protocol Address Provider (IPAP), also known as an Internet Service Provider. Their application did not identify a specific IPAP that would be subject to the order if it were to be made by the court. At a hearing on the matter held in March, Cozens told the court that Reddit was operating in New Zealand, but had no physical office in the country as far as he was aware. 'If Reddit is doing nothing to allow these posts to continue…then how are we allowing them to operate in NZ?' he asked. 'In the meantime, my business is suffering, and people have lost their jobs.' Judge Stephanie Edwards advised at that hearing that there was an extent to which New Zealand law could apply overseas. 'There are plenty of companies that operate here that aren't based here,' she said. Following the hearing, Judge Edwards ordered that a technical adviser be appointed to assess the feasibility of the orders Cozens and Eales were seeking, and how realistic it would be to enforce those orders. Today, the case returned to court, and lawyers for Reddit submitted that it had proactively removed nine of the posts which they considered had violated its rules. However, they advised that others remained up and Reddit would not be disclosing the identities of its users. Advertisement Advertise with NZME. Judge Edwards offered Cozens the opportunity to withdraw his claim on the basis that Reddit had removed some of the posts, and warned him that if he lost in court, he'd be liable to pay legal fees. Cozens, who is self-represented, said he understood the potential consequences and opted to continue his case. The court's technical adviser returned his report, but only ten minutes before the hearing began. Given the parties and the judge had limited time to consider the report, Judge Edwards scheduled another hearing for a later date. Cozens asked what would happen in the meantime, and claimed that he would continue to be the subject of abuse on the website. He claimed he was getting 'hammered daily' by these kinds of posts, and Reddit doesn't do anything about it. 'The post is absolutely disgusting. I'm getting this daily, they're not.' Reddit's lawyers offered to provide Cozens with a direct email to help him report posts and comments on the site.


New York Post
24-04-2025
- Business
- New York Post
Miranda Devine: Leftists to blame for much of the US housing crisis — as almost a third of Americans are ‘housing-poor'
It was typical of Joe Biden's presidency that, when faced with a difficult problem, he would take the cynical approach of finding a scapegoat to blame while making a promise he never intended to keep. His response to the housing affordability crisis last year was a textbook case: blame 'rent-gouging' landlords and greedy realtors, make the false promise that his administration would build 2 million new homes via more deficit spending, and hope nobody asks questions — a safe bet, considering the incurious media that surrounded him. 'Folks are tired of being played for suckers and I'm tired of letting them be played for suckers,' Biden said in a campaign speech hammering his scapegoats last year. Having promised to lower housing costs during his State of the Union address earlier in the spring, Biden's fiery rhetoric showed he had not the faintest idea how to solve the problem. During his presidency, the cost of a median-price home more than doubled, and rents soared to record highs, according to a Heritage Foundation paper, 'Biden's Housing Headache.' In several cities, it takes more than the entire median household after-tax income to afford a median-price home. Housing-poor adults Almost one-third of American adults are 'housing-poor,' spending 30% or more of their income on a place to live. The result is that Americans 'increasingly live out of their cars because they can't afford housing.' Some cities have taken to reserving parking lots exclusively for homeless workers. Young people have all but given up on the American dream of homeownership that their parents and grandparents achieved. 'The Biden administration has effectively transformed homeownership into a luxury outside the reach of the middle class,' wrote the authors. It should not be this way. But Damian Eales, the CEO of (a fellow News Corp. company), has a plan. His 'Let America Build' campaign launched this week identifies urgent policy changes that would increase housing supply and make homeownership affordable. For instance, relaxing zoning restrictions around transit hubs to allow for development of multi- family housing would go a long way to solving the problem of 4 million 'missing' homes. 'I want America to build more homes,' says Eales. 'The real reason housing is unaffordable is not realtors' commissions. It's a lack of supply and that's a political issue.' In its latest 'Housing Report Card,' has identified states that have successfully met housing demand and those that are failing. No surprise that New York comes in third to last with an F grade, worse even than California. The median listing price for a house in New York is $664,622 while median household income is $81,057. In South Carolina, the most affordable state, the median listing price was almost half at $354,429 while median household income is $64,898. Eales points out that Texas, the third-most affordable state with a median listing price at $370,663, has just 9% of the population of America but represents 15% of new homes being built. By contrast, California (median listing price $756,185) has 12% of the nation's population but only builds about 7% of its new homes. 'In other words it is taking more than it's giving and the upshot is that it is exporting people to Texas,' says Eales. New York is even worse: With 6% of the population, it represents just 3% of new homes being built. Perverse incentive Housing over the past half-century has become a wealth-building vehicle that requires values to increase significantly over time, a perverse incentive achieved only by limiting supply. According to statistics compiled by the National Zoning Atlas for 170,000 New Yorkers are living with family or friends because they can't afford to buy their own place. 'There is demand for more housing units in the metro area that could be met by building more, but there simply aren't enough homes to meet the need,' says Sara Bronin, founder & CEO of Land Use Atlas, Inc. With a complex building code more than 1,000 pages long, 'zoning significantly constrains housing production in New York State,' she says. Get Miranda's latest take Sign up for Devine Online, the newsletter from Miranda Devine Thanks for signing up! Enter your email address Please provide a valid email address. By clicking above you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Want even more news? Check out more newsletters For instance, in Westchester County, multifamily housing is allowed on only 5% of land, and very little is permitted around transit stations. Westchester is exceptionally well served by the Metro-North Railroad, which connects directly to Grand Central Terminal, so relaxing zoning laws around stations as has happened in New Rochelle and White Plains would boost housing supply and stimulate local economies while preserving the semi-rural atmosphere of the rest of the county where half the land is zoned for 1-acre lots. Bronin has logged zoning conditions for every transit station in New York state, and found that only a handful allow for multifamily development. 'Much of the land around transit stations is owned by the state or independent authorities,' Bronin says. 'I am a huge fan of the idea that New York state should consider transit-oriented zoning legislation that requires all jurisdictions with train stations to build multifamily dwellings around them. We're not talking about skyscrapers but reasonably sized developments. Even a small town can support four- or five-story apartment buildings.' Property developers are not investing in multifamily projects in New York City because 'the cash and time costs associated with receiving approval from the city and the restrictions around what can be built is slowing housing-inventory growth in the metropolitan area.' In other words, politicians accommodating NIMBY tastes have pushed up housing prices by 'manufacturing scarcity,' to borrow a phrase from the hot new book for Democrats, 'Abundance,' by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson. Blue state scarcity The authors point out the scarcity of housing is most acute in the richest cities in blue states governed by progressive elites. Between 1940 and 1950, America built 8.5 million new housing units, they say. But in the late 1970s, home construction started to fall behind the pace of population growth, and the cost of housing relative to wages began to rise. 'After the Great Recession, the housing market crashed, and home construction in the 2010s was obliterated.' 'Today, the average number of dwellings per thousand people in the developed world is about 470, according to the OECD [Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development]. France and Italy have nearly 600. Japan and Germany have about 500. The US has only about 425 . . . The result is a housing crisis of staggering proportions.' It means residents of blue states and cities are voting with their feet. In 2023, New York lost 284,000 more residents than it gained. 'Young families are leaving large urban metros so quickly that several counties — including those encompassing Manhattan, Brooklyn, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco — are on pace to lose 50% of their under-5 childhood population in the next 20 years.' Michael Bloomberg once declared when he was mayor that housing in New York City was 'a high-end product, maybe even a luxury product.' But that's not a healthy situation, and leads to a city of vast wealth disparities where nobody wants to live.