RAGDOLL parade
There is hope in honest error; none in the icy perfections of the mere stylist.
- J. D. Sedding
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Lincoln Tan: NZ officialdom finally lets me be who I actually am - National - NZ Herald News
After 15 years in New Zealand, I was asked to change my identity to renew my driver’s licence.
This is so ridiculous. There have been Chinese people living in New Zealand since the 1870s at least, yet somehow NZ bureaucrats have only just started getting their heads around their idea that different cultures order their names differently…
Head. Desk.
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So apparently the world’s first (known) explosive strapped suicide bombing happened in rural NZ in 1905, as the end result of a property dispute over a heifer.
Source NZ Listener May 4-10 2013
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Rare bird living in suburbia
Solo North Island Kokako found living in Glendowie.
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The Changing Climate: Global Warming: Major Drought In New Zealand
New Zealand soil moisture deficit, January 2013
February rainfall totalled less than 15 mm (and also less than 15 percent of February normal) in parts of Northland, Auckland, and the Bay of Plenty. It was the driest February on record for Leigh (north Auckland), and Milford…
We usually get a fair few tropical downpours during February (of the type that temporarily overload the storm water drains & cause localised flooding & rain so thick you can’t see two metres ahead of you in the middle of a summer day). We’ve had none all summer. Late in March we got a little rain, a little humidity, barely enough, but the threat of shortages is over.
Still: Fences are tipping due to dry soil. The frame around my bedroom window is showing a 7mm gap where it shouldn’t, because the foundations are shifting as the dry soil shrinks. Farmers have been seriously worried & dairy prices are rocketing; but it’s likely to be an excellent year for wines.
NZ has previously been able to feel reasonably detached from much of the affects of climate change. Being an island nation surrounded by water, we generally have a fairly stable climate. But now, yes, even in God’s Own Country, we’re feeling the heat…
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It’s no good us gobbling up beautiful fields ploughed for vegetables, dairying or beef.
— Waikato District Mayor Allan Sanson in the NZ Herald, highlighting one of the bigger problems with urban sprawl as Auckland starts to spill over into Waikato. (via fraserarchitecture) -
Slane on the National Government & Warrant Checks in the NZ Listener.
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Cardboard tubes at the construction site for Shigeru Ban’s temporary cathedral in Christchurch. Not sure if these are for the construction though!
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Christchurch city centre almost 2 years on from the 22 February 2011 earthquake. Everywhere there is the sound of heavy machinery; a death knell for failed buildings.
The demolition has to be done carefully to avoid damage to buildings that will be able to be repaired, or worse: a domino effect. A large area of the city - the Red Zone - is cordoned off, despite some of those buildings still being safe, unfortunately their neighbours are not. Elsewhere containers are stacked 5 or more high to take the impact & contain the rubble should facades crumble down into the street.
Demolition began on Christchurch’s iconic Anglican cathedral but was stopped due to public outcry. No agreement has yet been reached on what to do. Personally I am inclined towards something along the lines of Mayor Bob Parker’s suggestion last week.
The first earthquake hit on 4 September 2010, after many aftershocks another large quake hit on Boxing Day. But no-one was prepared for the damage & the deaths of the February quake. The aftershocks continue - I felt a small one my first night in Christchurch last week - they now number over 11,000.
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I’ve been in Christchurch for the last 5 days; getting CPD points for learning about earthquake damage, visiting new buildings & learning all about re-levelling floors.
It’s been great to see the community response to the ongoing demolition & reconstruction, with Gap Filler & Greening the Rubble taking over empty lots & turning them into community spaces, and local shops & designer strips relocating into temporary container homes.
Mayor Bob Harvey has just returned from a visit from Seattle, & is keen to create a food forest as part of the proposed green corridor along the Avon (where properties have been rezoned & the government is buying the land as it is unsafe to rebuild on).
As traumatic as the earthquakes & ongoing aftershocks have been, I see a silver lining to this cloud: Christchurch is like a Phoenix rising (albeit slowly) from the flames - well, ok, the rubble.
I’ll be posting more photos - of both demolition & rebuild - later this week.
& visiting my lovely friends, too.
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The greatest country in the world isn't the US
I don’t usually come over all patriotic & flag-waving, but I’m pretty stoked to see how well Aotearoa (New Zealand) ranks on the world stage. After all it’s always nice to have one’s prejudices confirmed.
So how do we do? #1 in freedom; #1 for business (unless the World Bank gets it’s way & starts stymying our small business opportunities); #1 for access to education, quality of education & human capital; #14 for environmental performance (we should be doing a lot better, it’s long since past time to stop pretending we’re 100% pure); #5 in provision of & performance of healthcare (no reason we can’t improve here); & Tamaki Makaurau (Auckland) is #3 for quality of life after Vienna & Zurich (I bet if we got an effective public transport system we could top this).
- worth noting that Auckland also ranks as one of the more unaffordable places to live with the median price of housing reaching $500,000 in the past few months, & rent increases out-pacing pay increases.
