Posts by Ross Mason
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Here is a video of the Japanese earthquake over time.
It is 9 minutes long, but don't be put off as it is necessary to show the full effect. In Japanese but it is fairly self explanatory....
Put the sound on too!!!
The action starts at about 2 minutes but I suggest you watch it as it is spellbinding when they let go.
Fascinating watching the big one explode and then settle down for a short day or so then all hell beaks loose just off the coast for the rest of the year!!!
Also note a few clusters right on top of each other around the spot of the big one that occur a coupl;e of tiems just before the biggie.
Precursers???? Who would have taken a bet....
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30 Dec.
Rain. Steady. Warm.
End of the Hot, Sunny Weather for a few days I suspect.
Castlepoint looks like it will be an insider. Bugger. Sorry Jane, I won't be able to mow the lawn. :-) or prune the overgrowth or BBQ outside. But I will still bake scones and pancakes!
But still looking forward to New Years over there.
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"If we want a happier and less divided society, then an important step would be to reduce the income differences between rich and poor."
The money quote. Given his history, it appears that both sides now have a good and similar view of the problem.
Shall we attempt to "cure the problem" from the socialist view or the new right view?
Decisions decisions...
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23 Dec - Hot, Sunny
24 Dec - Hot, Sunny
25 Dec - Hot, Sunny
26 Dec - Hot, Sunny
27 Dec - Hot, Sunny
Foecast for 28 Dec - Hot, Sunny.This is particularly annoying for the MM.
No gales, no floods, no rain.
Boring........Hot, Sunny.
I dare not go out and do some work on the section......Hot, Sunny.
Umbrella time. Cool tree time.
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Jonathon, that is not a chainsaw
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Relaxing so good I woke at 6am on Boxing Day!
Chris, you wanting beer reminded me of my Xmas at Lake Vanda, Antarctica. A cabin full of NZers, Chinese and Japanese scientists and field assistants. Breakfast began at about 9am. With Saki. The Chinese kerosene (small k) er..wine(?).. in the porcelain bottles came out and in Asian tradition toasts were frantically offered and decreasingly frantically returned. There was a lot of offering to drink the reply to the corresponding leader's toast from the teams workers (the Leaders having to take the most toasts) and by the end of the round significant quantities of brain nurdling fluid had been consumed. Needless to say by 10-30 the cabin was abuzz. Certainly the earliest I have ever been pissed.
But the big feast of the day did eventually get prepared and followed sometime later.
I have to say, the Chinese brew still triggers a violent rejection response via the olfactory organ whenever similar bottles are opened.
So not so much brutal drink these days for me.
It was with this group that I shared my first - and only - can of whalemeat. The Japanese brought it as their treat.
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25th.
No doubt others may no longer be feeling essurient. No 3 daughter made waffles. Friends brought bacon and fruit salad. Panned a few bananas with cinnamon and B suger. Ate. Refilled. Ate.
Hot Day needed extra shade. Sat around wining and ginger beered (Ture!) until middle of the avo. Played the new game: "After Dinner Arguments". Talk about start some! It is quite good fun even when you are practically sober.
6pm. More food. This time chicken done in Trademe BBQ. Superb!!!! Asparagus, beans and zuchs. New spuds.
Is there anything else but food at this time of year? Jeez....Xmas cake hasn't even been started.....
I have to say, tonight after those two days, I suddenly felt relaxed. Something completely different to normal day to day grind seems to do this especially when family is involved. Quietest trad Xmas Dinner tonight that I can remember. Four for dinner, smallest number ever. Next year it will be 30+. And that one at Waihi will be a goodie!
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24th.
6-30am rise. Coffee. Take off to beat crowd at Pak n Save. Crowded already. Strawberries still 2 for $5 - Good. Shopped. Unpacked at home. Cleaned new Trademe BBQ. Discover 12kg bottle had leaked and now empty. Lucky we did not need it for an earthquake. Middle of day doing Golf in amazing hot sun. Fill LPG bottles. Told my little one is "out of test" and BP do not fill more than 9kg bottles. Sad to the tune of $84 for another one. Plug bottle to BBQ and test. AOK!! Make salad, boil new spuds, open beer. Drink. Xmas evening vistors arrive and cook porterhouse and snags on new Trademe BBQ. Love that smell. Eat. Finish with My Mums Sponge Drops (with capitals!). Coffee. End night with board game. Knackered. Must sleep. Need to clean BBQ for brunch with next bunch of friends in morning.
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Curmudgeonliess is about being a sad bastard each and every day. I do hope I don't fit that.
Lucy hit the nail re the GGGkids!
What annoys the shit out of me is there seems to be this deep ingrained desire to see folk "right". My wife finds it my most annoying trait. I will happily go down and clean the local pool, mow someones lawns, lay concrete, clean the range, coach kids in sport, buy from too many sausages sizzles and even give to charity. But can she get me to finish OUR house?
But my entropy is running out and down. It is the realisation I am this mere speck of dust in this vast universal expanse that makes my life my one and only opportunity to try and enjoy it and to see others around me having the opportunity to enjoy theirs as well.
We think too much. And I am glad I still enjoy a good laugh.
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Who would WANT to be alive for even 150 years? Think about it. Your kids will have had kids will have had kids will have had kids etc. Jeez Wayne. How will you remember their names? Think about the Xmas prezzies. The money you have to put in Xmas cards to all those Gkids, GGkids, GGGkids etc.
Anyway. Even if it was 700 years you are still dead for a long time. 700/3500000000 is quite a small percentage of life on earth since something emerged from the backward zoo.
Hello!!! You are born, you live, you die. As one gets older one realises that the end is getting closer and closer by the year. The day……I think it happened for me around 48 years of age. When the realisation that you are really more than half way there.
Really, when it comes down to it no one gives a shit where your entropy goes. One day it will all disappear down a black hole. Eventually you will reemerge as a piece of Stephen Hawking’s hair and it will start all over again.
Jeez. I’m a sad bugger. But it’s OK. Hols start tomorrow and I can go and play golf. One of the most meaningless pastimes ever devised by man. But that little white f*&ker sure gets a hammering when I get the big stick at it. And it feels great!
Now. Where was I Oh yes. I must finish my house. Remodel the kitchen. Replace the leaky plumbing. Clean the laundry. Mow the lawn. Cook. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.
Happy New Year to PS.