Up Front by Emma Hart

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Up Front: Lessons from Nature

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  • Bart Janssen,

    Seems pretty sad that the only way you can get rid of a shit mayor/manager/xxx is to hope they get promoted somewhere far away.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 4461 posts Report Reply

  • Lilith __,

    Typography under seige

    I'm guessing you mean the siege machine
    and not the Microsoft© font...

    Hells, that link was supposed to go here!

    Dunedin • Since Jul 2010 • 3895 posts Report Reply

  • Rachel Prosser,

    Me too, though it was more sort of "what kind of a universe sends this level of damage but leaves Camelot Court completely untouched?"

    I visited Brian and Penny (who own and run Camelot Court and are lovely) a week or so after the quake and Penny showed me a photo she took on the morning of the quake, with one of their guests wearing a T shirt "Today is my Lucky Day!"

    He was right.

    Christchurch • Since Mar 2008 • 228 posts Report Reply

  • Geoff Lealand,

    I know Camelot Court is a bit twee (especially the tin man in the office) but it is a good place to stay with a bunch of friends. There are uglier buildings in Chch--how did the Central Police Station cope? I have been told that Alice in Videoland came through unscathed (great!) but what of the other interesting shops/cafes in High Street?

    Screen & Media Studies, U… • Since Oct 2007 • 2562 posts Report Reply

  • Mellopuffy,

    Being from Chch originally, i'm not sure i'm looking forward to visiting again at New Year and seeing those big gaps round town.

    Dunedin, NZ • Since Feb 2007 • 63 posts Report Reply

  • Islander,

    One of the other buildings that had Athfield problems was the Kai Tahu/CC building: you can bet that there will be questions asked at this year's huiatau - which just happens to be in my rohe-

    Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report Reply

  • Kris V,

    In the first few days I was so busy telling my out-of-town friends that it wasn't so bad; now I want to say, "Far out, it is bad! Bring back the sympathy and attention! We need it after all!"

    I'm hearing ya Lilith...

    the hardest times to deal with were actually about three months afterwards.

    that's probably going to be true for us too Heather... although hopefully I won't be still waiting for EQC to show up by that stage.

    It's the horrible state of limbo that doesn't help. Will my house be fixable or should I be planning to build anew? And how hard is it going to be to find tradeys in Chch over the next year or so?!

    I'm still waiting for my brain to kick back into gear. Deadlines are crashing around my ears at an alarming rate... and sure, everyone's being really supportive but that's only going to last so long. The aftershocks and the after-effects will be going on for longer than any of us probably imagined 2 and a bit weeks ago.

    Shakeytown • Since Nov 2008 • 61 posts Report Reply

  • Carol Stewart,

    Anyone know when we can expect Fire and Water to show up?

    I'm reading this from Guatemala City where we are studying the impacts of the Volcan Pacaya eruption in late May, followed by a tropical storm two days later. So they had red hot ballistic blocks followed by rainstorms. Fire and Water. Actually it was quite useful that it was raining during the eruption as otherwise more buildings would have caught fire.

    Wellington • Since Jul 2008 • 830 posts Report Reply

  • Jason Lea,

    stone churches. Was Jesus was a carpenter? Perhaps God wants us to build wooden churches... like Jim Anderton.

    Christchurch • Since Nov 2006 • 30 posts Report Reply

  • Lilith __,

    I find it very charming that on consecutive days Jim Anderton is endorsing Woods, and recommending wood.

    Dunedin • Since Jul 2010 • 3895 posts Report Reply

  • Ian Dalziel,

    lumbering pun...

    I find it very charming that on consecutive days Jim Anderton is endorsing Woods, and recommending wood.

    shouldn't all these wood references be on the
    My First Job thread?

    yrs
    Mr De-al

    Christchurch • Since Dec 2006 • 7953 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Campbell,

    Ah the undulating road - it's so very true - I was living in Berkeley when the Loma Prieta earthquake hit - we were driving (but stopped) - we heard about it on the radio (speed of light and all that) and then could see the ripples coming up the road

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report Reply

  • Jolisa,

    This:

    that time when you were a teenager having it off in the back of a ute and it went over a cattle stop.

    ...is now permanently stored in the same part of my brain that chortles when I see a road sign reading SPEED HUMP.

    Auckland, NZ • Since Nov 2006 • 1472 posts Report Reply

  • Jolisa,

    When Bill Ralston opined in the last Listener that the earthquake was a sterling lesson in just what a luxury technology is, I knew he hadn't been here.

    Or, indeed, anywhere. Here's the actual quote (full article still behind the Listener's stale-wall):

    A British survey recently named the top 100 inventions and rated crap like the internet and iPhone ahead of flush toilets and washing machines. It rated hot water way down the list, just ahead of hair straighteners. I suggest we take the morons who drew up this list and drop them into Avonside and see how they get on without electricity, water and sewerage for a while. See if their iPhones can help when the need to go to the dunny, or if the internet is any use when the power is off. They can go google themselves.

    To be strictly fair, it's part of a larger I Don't Know How They Do It, Yay Canterbury You Big Heros argument (although it's hard to imagine making any other kind of argument right now). But still: a total French word for a shower-y thing to say. Apart from the fact that one man's useful invention is another woman's luxury/crap and vice versa, he's spectacularly missing the point of pretty much everything about how this particular quake unfolded and how people helped themselves and each other afterwards. As Emma says.

    Would be interesting to see if he could figure out how to safely go to the dunny, sans sewerage and in a state of shellshock with a house falling down around him, without using the internet or talking to someone who just has.

    (And for the record, I also rate hot water slightly ahead of hair straighteners but some way behind the internet. At least in summer. So WHAT?!)

    Auckland, NZ • Since Nov 2006 • 1472 posts Report Reply

  • Emma Hart,

    ...is now permanently stored in the same part of my brain that chortles when I see a road sign reading SPEED HUMP.

    Oh, wait til you come back down here, Jolisa, and get to pass signs that say "No Cruising Zone begins".

    And... yeah. I saw a tweet a couple of days after the earthquake from a reporter (one from the media organisation that appears to actually GET Twitter, to be fair) saying something like "Call me old-fashioned, but Twitter just seems so trivial and irrelevant right now." The word for that is not "old-fashioned", it's "ignorant".

    Jim Anderton is endorsing Woods

    I very much like Megan Woods, I think she'll make a wonderful MP. Calling her an "Anderton follower" seems a bit off, though.

    Christchurch • Since Nov 2006 • 4651 posts Report Reply

  • Jolisa,

    Oh, wait til you come back down here, Jolisa, and get to pass signs that say "No Cruising Zone begins".

    What does that even mean -- I mean, if it doesn't mean what I think it means? No kids on chopper bikes?

    Auckland, NZ • Since Nov 2006 • 1472 posts Report Reply

  • Jolisa,

    Not to mention, the "No Cruising" sign is now filed in the part of my brain that has Don't Stop Till You Get Enough on permanent ear-worm.

    (Anyone else have automatic soundtracks attached to everyday objects, or should I give Oliver Sacks a call?)

    Auckland, NZ • Since Nov 2006 • 1472 posts Report Reply

  • Megan Wegan,

    For Jolisa.

    Welly • Since Jul 2008 • 1275 posts Report Reply

  • Jolisa,

    From someone in a bowler hat, no less! Too much to hope for suspenders as well?

    Now that picture is filed away with the song by the young Jon Bridges about being a lonely musician on the road, which began "[strum] The road can be your lover...[strum]... but it will probably give you a really bad case of gravel rash." That was the whole song.

    Auckland, NZ • Since Nov 2006 • 1472 posts Report Reply

  • Megan Wegan,

    Every time we drove past it, I'd snicker and mutter "yes please".

    Welly • Since Jul 2008 • 1275 posts Report Reply

  • Emma Hart,

    (Anyone else have automatic soundtracks attached to everyday objects, or should I give Oliver Sacks a call?)

    Not music, but dialogue. And once my brain has decided we're doing it, there's nothing I can do but wait, and look like an idiot, until it's finished. It's not so bad when it's just "Oo, an orange, let's do that "thinking of something orange" bit from The Vidiot from UHF", but when it's two and half pages from The Hitch-Hiker's Guide, it does get a bit tiring.

    Christchurch • Since Nov 2006 • 4651 posts Report Reply

  • Jolisa,

    Bit like living with a going-on-9-year-old boy in your head, then? (Or just my going-on-9-year-old boy).

    Auckland, NZ • Since Nov 2006 • 1472 posts Report Reply

  • BenWilson,

    (And for the record, I also rate hot water slightly ahead of hair straighteners but some way behind the internet. At least in summer. So WHAT?!)

    I think I'd agree with you only in proportion to how cold the cold water was, or more importantly, how cold the air is. Given that it's freezing down there right at the moment, I'd rate hot water really high.

    I was in Melbourne when they had a massive explosion at the local gas plant, which took the whole city off gas for several weeks. It was the middle of winter and fuck was it unpleasant to have a cold shower in cold weather.

    Interestingly, the way that I first heard about the explosion was about a few minutes after it happened. I was working in a stockbroker and a mini-news item popped up in my mail from one of the analysts which said something like:
    "Large explosion at x gas plant. Short gas stocks and go long on heating appliance related stocks".

    I could hear the roar of the brokers through several floors of the building we were in as they scrambled to make a killing. I wonder how much Twitter has changed that business since then (late 90s). Every second counted for that kind of news.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 10657 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    Bit like living with a going-on-9-year-old boy in your head, then?

    Not a bad description of Aspergers (not that I'm being diagnostic or scientific or any such thing, alright).

    when it's two and half pages

    Fortunately some 9 year olds are less talkative than that

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Helen Searancke,

    Example of support for those of you in Christchurch (small but whole-hearted): my daughter's primary school (central Auckland) is having three days of fundraising for the relief fund (lower-case as I can't remember the official name) - disco, cake stall, dvd watching. The kids pay gold coins to participate in each activity this week.

    Small amounts, I know, but I hope it shows that we haven't forgotten. It's difficult to know what to do to help, but I do think most non-Christchurch people haven't forgotten what's happening to you there. Kia kaha, all.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 24 posts Report Reply

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