Posts by George Darroch
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Is it time for a mass cycling protest along Tamaki Drive? I think so. 500 or so cyclists, all wearing black: the impact would be undeniable.
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Two quick notes. Cycle lanes are not expensive. Not anywhere near as expensive as other transport projects, and typically have very high BCRs. Particularly in comparison to the ideologically driven nightmare that is current transport spending. This single graph says everything. As a useful thought experiment, it's worth thinking about what could be built if even a single year's roadbuilding budget was sent towards walking and cycling. We'd finish every possible major project, and then some. So, it isn't a matter of inevitability, it's a matter of priorities, and we need to get out of thinking that because things are a particular way they need to stay that way.
As an aside, I was in Sydney recently and although that city is a nightmare for cyclists, with 60km/h limits everywhere, it has started turning the corner with excellent separated lanes. They really do help, and cyclists seem to love them. So, it's not all Amsterdam, and we're in a position to keep up with our neighbours, or fall behind again.
Secondly (and again an infrastructure thing) having phased lights which give cyclists a few more seconds to jump out in front of cars, much like we do for buses at certain intersections, would be cheap and solve a huge amount of driver angst. Simple things can have a huge effect.
Thirdly, I'd again recommend Copenhagenize. It's a breath of fresh air.
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Hard News: Review: Lana Del Rey, 'Born…, in reply to Lilith __,
With:
What you all appear to have missed - but was revealed at Midem last week - is that Lana del Rey is 100% CGI.
And:
The file was one MediaFire.
Which is, y'know, one of the good file-lockers. I figured it wouldn't have stayed there if someone had really wanted it taken down.
I've only one question: is Lana Del Ray on The Pirate Bay yet?
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Some of it sounds better on my crappy car stereo than it does through the big speakers at home
Well, there's the unfortunate fact that a great deal of this music is bought by people to play through tiny white earbuds. Most of my music listening comes through rather inexpensive headphones which I know do a very poor job of expressing a full sound.
I think it's getting worse in the era of pervasive iPods and mp3s
It is getting worse. A year or two ago I heard an interview with a professor from VUW's music school. As an experiment in the first class he'd play his first-year students music in a range of formats, with a range of engineering treatments. It was the tinny mp3 which they liked the best, because their ears were most accustomed to it. I'm confident that FLAC and HD video will eventually take things back on the file compression side, but it's a matter of bandwidth at this stage, and NZ will have to ride it out. Everything else? We'll have to see what the engineers deliver.
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A reminder of what actually happened:
John Key upped the ante by laying a complaint with police over the tea- pot tapes [...] minutes after he had laid out National's not-so- sensational 120-point economic plan
The longer today goes on, the more upset I am with everyone.
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Tom, that's an assumption I'm not prepared to make. Alternate ones include media strategies, not having a plan and simply blustering, and principled action. Any of which you'd find supporting evidence for, depending on where you started.
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The only winner in this pathetic business is Winston First. Thanks, NZ media. Watergate’s got nothing on you.
Quite. There were, are, issues of real substance that affected the lives and futures of New Zealanders in play during the election, some of which had made the 'agenda', others of which had stayed firmly off it. Things like; child poverty, our environmental situation, and our relations and trade with Asia. Instead we got ridiculous political theatre over something which turns out to have been entirely mundane, and not in the least politically damaging.
Yes, Key would have been seen just a fraction less as not the 'honest broker'. Shock! The PM engages in political consideration! But that's the entirety of it.
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Key seems to have much the same public and private personas, unless you consider that this is not a fully open conversation with a trusted confidante. That would entail further levels of speculation, so mileage may vary going down that route.
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Not much to report. A prediction about NZFirst getting 3% (which would have been accurate if not for media games in the last week), a little comment on Labour's negative strategy and the correct ascertainment that it backfires on them when they use it, and some rather asinine comments from Key about ACT's lack of support - he's rather charitable to Banks.
I'm surprised, actually.
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This film sounds like worth coming home to see.