Posts by st ephen
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Cracker: Audience wanted for lively TV discussion, in reply to Martin Roberts,
Thanks for that link. Looks like we're doing better than Denmark and the Netherlands, despite their cycle paths and public transport...
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Cracker: Audience wanted for lively TV discussion, in reply to Rich of Observationz,
I couldn’t find CO2 per capita numbers for Auckland – if you have them please post.
Sorry, I don't have them either but (as your linked article pointed out but then seemed to forget) using estimates based on a production rather than consumption approach is silly; the reason that western cities have low emissions per capita is that they've pushed manufacturing out of the city boundaries (often as far as China) and don't produce things like rice or milk either. So instead of factories consuming fossil fuels they have people consuming food produced elsewhere (eg. NZ). But whereas fossil fuel use is counted against the region consuming it, food fuel use (and wood, wool etc) counts against the producer.
Our emission accounts (total and per capita) would look much better if the extra 15 million people were spread across our farm land and we just imported our food. But these people have to come from somewhere - if we added them to our cities Earth Inc would only be better off if they came from countries with even more extravagant lifestyles than ours and they accepted a "lower" standard of living once here. -
Cracker: Audience wanted for lively TV discussion, in reply to Rich of Observationz,
Barcelona carbon emissions p.p. = 3.4 tonnes, NZ approx 18t
Weird comparison - surely Auckland versus Barcelona would be more relevant? It's easy for a city to show low emissions if they're importing everything they consume from some other place that cops the emissions incurred in production.
If you only include emissions of CO2 from fossil fuel use (eg. ignore methane from agriculture) then Spain and NZ come out about the same per capita emissions. -
There was even a pop song about the case.
I'll add a shout out for Wazzo Ghoti, who in two-and-a-half busy minutes fingered AAT for every unsolved crime known to humanity but cleared him of the Crewe murders. Can't remember the name of the song, but looking at the track listing for their album I'm picking it was Who killed John Paul I?
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"Equally great" works for me most of the time: A Good Heart AND Teenage Kicks . (Jackie - you should also check out Maria McKee's versions on Youtube - she was appalled at what Feargal did to the dreary country song she wrote at 19 when her boyfriend dumped her).
I'm surprised yodeling hasn't popped up yet, but to jump straight to the exceptions that prove the rule: Tall Dwarfs I've Left Memories Behind would be the local standout, but Jimmie Rodgers' Blue Yodel No. 9 is the one for me. Nothing to look at unfortunately but if visuals are more your thing, someone on Youtube has helpfully complemented Blue Yodel No. 13 with footage of hermaphrodite leopard slugs exchanging sperm. So if that's your thing, you know where to find it... (If it's not, there's always Louis Armstrong duetting with a yodeling Johnny Cash on No. 9 in there too).
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Hard News: One man’s Meat Puppets is…, in reply to Simon Grigg,
Don Letts fantastic Punk: Attitude says it so much better than I'm perhaps doing
I think what says it all is the bit in Westway to the World where you find out that the cool kids in the scene spent most of "That Summer" arguing about who was and wasn't punk. I was always too cynical to join any particular tribe, since going down that route meant not only liking the 'right' stuff but also hating on everything else (most of which I still like). My loss in some ways, but then again I've always had all the other genres to enjoy.
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Hard News: The Public Address Word of…, in reply to Sacha,
that’s the relevance I was missing
Ah, but as the Great Bernie showed us, relevance isn't compulsory - just throw something out there and if it doesn't stick, move on:
"If I was a sculptor- but then again, no...." -
Hard News: Democracy Night, in reply to Christopher Dempsey,
There are particular consonants/vowel sounds that come across as simply ‘noise’ to me, and I presume other deaf / hard of hearing people.
Yes indeed - Google "Speech Banana" images. For my last word recognition test they cranked the volume up so loud it was almost painful but it was still gibberish to me: PARP. WUST. MEP. JUNN.
Talking a bit slower is helpful, but better still is leaving decent gaps between sentences so I have time to parse all the possible combinations of syllables until I hit on one that makes sense. Unexpected foreign accents that swap vowel sounds around severely overheat my processor. So do 8 year olds, because in their world a question about Winston Peters can be reasonably followed up with a question like "Is the most common surname in France the French word for a smith"? or "Do you think the next King George of England will avoid drinking hot chocolate?". -
Can someone explain to me what the most common reasons are for getting penalised in a ruck or maul?
For tackles and rucks:
If it’s them, it’s because they’re lying on the ball/tackler preventing us from securing it.
If it’s us, it’s because the ref made a mistake (or Richie has performed one of his 'optical illusions').For mauls:
Usually collapsing it or not binding fully.See the IRB laws site for the laws and video examples, but don’t expect to see them applied consistently in practice.
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Hard News: Those were different times ..., in reply to Simon Grigg,
Those first three Rod solo albums were fucking fantastic.
Pffft, too easy Simon, just like the last time when you stood up for Elton. I'm still waiting for your spirited defense of Sailing, Do ya think I'm sexy? and especially Huey Lewis and the News... ;-)