Posts by Brent Jackson
Last ←Newer Page 1 2 3 4 5 Older→ First
-
Hard News: The Political Lie, in reply to Lilith __,
His smile vanished when he realised where the interviewer was going. And of course NZ isn’t 100% pure.
I think his smile vanished when he suddenly realised what he had been saying. To him "100% pure" was a label that has been applied to NZ. It's a trademark for NZ. So by definition NZ is "100% pure"TM. That doesn't mean that it is 100% pure.
That's the problem with marketing. For some reason advertisers are allowed to blatantly lie, if it is deemed to be puffery - "The best beer in the world". And once you've applied a puffery label to something, the marketeers only see it as a label, not as a statement of fact.
That's why John Key blithely stated "New Zealand is 100% pure" and looked stupid because of it. He was applying a marketing label, not making a statement of fact.
-
Hard News: A welcome return - and pirates!, in reply to Joanna,
There are already ninjas in parliament ... you just don't see them.
-
... or living in a country that wasn’t at war with a noun
Heh.
-
We were patiently waiting for the release of TiVo in NZ, but when it became known that it was only going to be available through Telecom (and it wasn't at all clear whether any other ISPs would be supported), we promptly went out and bought a freeview PVR. We felt let down.
-
Kia Kaha, Emma. Thank you for sharing.
-
Hard News: Where nature may win, in reply to Rich Lock,
Rick Lock wrote :
The two hours was the time it took them to get from the mine to the phone.
From the herald story here :
"I got out of my machine and all of a sudden I heard what seemed to be a shotgun blast but much, much louder and more powerful."
White light flashed down the main roadway, and the force of the explosion blew Daniel off his feet, smashing his head against the rock wall.
...
"I got up and there was thick white smoke everywhere - worse than a fire. I knew straight away that it was carbon monoxide."
...
In panic, Daniel began running away from the smoke into a dead-end area of the mine."Then I realised, 'If I stay here, I'm done for'. So I turned around back into the smoke. I couldn't see anything, and it was dead quiet."
Daniel took a deep breath - mostly of carbon monoxide - and ran into the main roadway of the mine.
"I yelled, 'Help, somebody help me!' But no one came. There was no one there."
His nose running and eyes watering uncontrollably, Daniel became disoriented and dizzy. He got a few metres into the roadway and collapsed.
...
I lost consciousness for I don't know how long."Just as it seemed all hope was lost, Daniel came to again.
"I started wiggling my fingers and toes. After a minute, I managed to stick my arm in the air, but it fell back down."
Daniel knew he had carbon monoxide poisoning, which causes a loss of mobility. "I lay down and closed my eyes and waited for that bright light. But then I managed to roll over on to my stomach and tried to get up. I screamed at myself, 'Daniel, get up! Get the f*** up!"'
With enormous effort, he dragged himself to his feet and staggered to a nearby compressed air line. He turned it on and was able to breathe in fresh air, regaining some strength.
Daniel followed pipes along the rock wall to a nearby phone. He spoke to mine manager Doug White, who told him to go to the fresh-air base near the mine portal.
"He said, 'It's okay mate, we're waiting for you. Hurry up'."
Feeling "drunk" from the carbon monoxide, on weak legs Daniel followed the pipe for another 200m and came across another loader.
"I found a man lying down, semi-conscious. I grabbed his hair and pulled his head back, and realised it was Russell Smith."
...
Daniel grabbed Russell under the armpits and began dragging him the 500m to the fresh-air base. Halfway there, he stopped and looked back."I waited for more lights coming my way, but nothing came. I did think about going down there, but I thought I wouldn't come back if I went down there."
As he approached the base, Daniel felt a spark of hope for the first time. Though he was exhausted, the air was clearer and he could breathe easier.
But when the two men reached the base, he found somebody had left the door open and it, too, was filled with poisonous gas. The only phone was not working.
"I said, 'You've got to be bloody kidding me!' I screamed and kicked the wooden seats. I came back out and said to Russell, 'F*** this, we're getting out of here'."
The two were able to breathe some fresh air from compressed air lines along the way. Eventually, Russell's condition improved and Daniel was able to help him to his feet.
"I put my arm around his shoulders and held on to him as hard as I could, and we hobbled for the next kilometre.
"All the way down I was saying to Russell, 'We're gonna make this, mate. Think about your wife, think about your kid - I know I am'."
About 300m from the entrance, they saw light.
"I've never felt so happy and so relieved," Daniel said.
Again he looked for lights behind him, but saw none.
"I said to Russell, 'I don't think anyone else is coming'."
After an agonising two-hour struggle, Daniel finally emerged from the mine with Russell.
Within a minute, the area was flooded with paramedics and mine staff, including Daniel's father Neville Rockhouse, who is Pike River's safety and training manager.
So it is pretty clear that :
A) the shift controller knew about the explosion fairly soon after it happened; and
B) the survivors did not see anyone else following them out.The media mistakenly reported there were two other survivors heading out, but that was due to confusion, and was most probably a reference to the two survivors.
You have to remember how useless the entertainment industry, that purports to be out news information service, is at posting factual comment. It is only quoted information that you should rely on.
-
Hard News: Where nature may win, in reply to Craig Ranapia,
FFS, they’re not missing.
I think you'll find that they did not return to the surface at the end of their shift, which (to me) makes them "missing". "Trapped" implies to me that they are alive, and known to be alive. As far as I can ascertain there have not been any reports of a blockage in the mine, only a power failure, an explosion, and poisonous gases. Until now the poisonous gases have made it too dangerous to send in a rescue team.
Oh how I wish that it would be possible to have some form of media that could act as an information service, rather than the entertainment industry that we have at present.
-
What I don't understand is why the media is constantly used the word "trapped" when referring to the miners. I would have thought that "missing" would be a much better word to avoid generating unwarranted hope.
-
Thanks a lot for the page numbers, and the extra list at the top as well as the bottom. Really appreciate it.
-
Hard News: Moving targets, in reply to Rich of Observationz,
@Rich. Your UK driver's licence is only valid for 12 months after arrival in New Zealand. I drove on my UK licence for a number of years before a helpful traffic officer pointed this out to me, and I bit the bullet and got the 10 year licence. (Oddly enough I got the UK licence by trading in my NZ licence while resident in England - though their computer system couldn't cope with a 23 yr old who had had his licence for 8 years).