Posts by Sam F
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In our house the Sky tower has always been referred to as "The Skypodermic". You will never look at it the same way again. ;)
Thought the same thing many many times, although I've never dreamt up a catchy nickname like that...
I've gambled at Sky City just the once. Spent about $20 on one of the wheels, surrounded by some very determined-looking people. Lost it all, as expected, and didn't particularly mind. The cards tables at least had some element of entertainment to them, but I found the pokies enormously depressing, except when I was looking at them as a sort of odd experiment in human psychology (e.g, how clever to make the sound of winnings falling out the chute so loud, to give the impression that people are constantly winning on the machines...).
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I invite anyone somehow wowed by the Cape-to-Bluff Cyclebahn initiative to inspect a map of the Auckland cycle 'network'. Looks like Technicolor Morse code.
I'm predicting that if this comes to pass, there'll be a few showy mini-flyovers for ministers or local government wallahs to get their pictures taken on, a few more stretches of hastily-poured concrete path, and a lot of white lines and stencils sprayed down the middle of bumpy old footpaths. The rest will be the same daggy suburban roads and middle-of-nowhere highway stretches with nothing added except a few cycleway signs and a squiggle on a council touring map.
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I just don't get why governments want to pay the $80-odd grand per prisoner, per year, to keep our ever-expanding jails full for longer
The sad thing about preventative social programmes like those you describe is that as soon as one high-profile case happens regardless, the usual suspects will be baying for blood and asking why we can't concentrate on banging up the dangerous crims We're Always Going to Have Anyway.
What will draw more profitable outrage from the New Zealand public: a news story about a murderer and the $80,000 it will cost to incarcerate them, or a news story about a murderer and the $50,000 gummint-funded local youth initiative (with guitar singalongs and group hugs, even!) that Didn't Stop Them Killing?
The stock responses to the former would be:
- it's worth it if that one person doesn't kill again
- we could save most of that money by nixing Sky TV, running water and insulation in prisons
- we could save all of that money by reinstituting capital punishment.It's easier to write news stories about criminals than not-quite-criminals, and it's easier for governments to sell policies for nailing the crims that people hear about in the paper, than policies for preventing crime before it happens.
Sad I know - I'm sure you're aware of all this, so I'm writing not to correct you but more to commiserate. I wish your vision could come to pass but there's a hell of a lot of entrenched prejudice, fear and political interest ranged against it.
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We aren't going to destroy the planet. We can lead to changes that destroy human civilisation, but the planet will continue to evolve and will chew us up and spit us out as it goes along.
Pretty much how I'd see it as well. The Earth's ecosphere will find an equilibrium whatever we humans do - but it mightn't be an equilibrium that includes us.
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I rolled into the workshop with a loose gear cluster on the back. They've diagnosed a broken axle, and now also say I'm going to need new front and rear clusters, a new chain, cranks, gear cabling and a rear wheel just to top it all off.
I decided it was best to carry home the remains and consider a second opinion.
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It tears through the soft body of a wasp, ripping them apart
Without wanting to turn this into Pirates vs Ninjas, surely the wasp would have a better chance of landing a fatal hit? And a bee having sunk its sting into a wasp could be stuck with a possibly still living and if so very angry passenger.
I realise you were talking about one-on-one but a swarm of wasps going at a lone bee could finish it off quite fast, which would be more common if they were actually attacking it for food, perhaps?
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I could get used to having One Million Dollars and a secret underground lair to work on my bike, as opposed to dragging the remains back from a workshop rather than stump up $300 for repairs (this is a $400 bike, so if it had a motor it'd be totaled)...
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Crossposted from Mediocrity Watch:
Don't know if this has already been posted, but I heard Paula Bennett on NatRad's One in Five last night, speaking as the new Minister for Disability Issues.
Thoughts? I wasn't particularly impressed myself - Bennett was certainly on-message but specifics seemed to be a long way off (except maybe an awareness campaign of some sort).
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Oops, perhaps posted to wrong thread...
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Don't know if this has already been posted but I heard Paula Bennett on NatRad's One in Five last night, speaking as the new Minister for Disability Issues.
Thoughts? I wasn't particularly impressed myself - Bennett was certainly on-message but specifics seemed to be a long way off (except maybe an awareness campaign of some sort).