Posts by Evan Yates
Last ←Newer Page 1 2 3 4 5 Older→ First
-
You might appreciate a full-face helmet more when you inevitably arse off. But perhaps that's just me.
By buying a wasp (Vespa), Damian has already shown that he values style over value. Style over safety comes as no surprise. In all the Vespa advertising I have ever seen, the riders either wear no helmet or just an open face helmet. It's all part of the style package implicit in joining the Vesparazzi. (Becoming a Vesperazzo?)
Do a Google Image Search for Vespa Helmet and you'll see what the market likes...
Yes, I am jealous. I've never been cool or stylish and my student budget never stretched to anything more than a clapped-out Honda Nifty Fifty. You could still make it do donuts... you just had to be on wet grass to break it loose...
-
The law we don't have on the books, which we should, is to require motorists to KEEP LEFT UNLESS PASSING.
Actually, we do have that road rule. It just is not particularly well enforced by neither peer pressure nor police punishment.
However I would say that the Keep Left simply cannot practically be adhered to at times on motorways.The traffic density overwhelms the road carrying capacity and you just have to fill both lanes, leaving little opportunity for overtaking. Because of that, we forget how to keep left properly when traffic isn't so heavy. (They even make an allowance for traffic density in the road code.
My experience with European motorways was a real eye-opener in terms of average traffic speed and lane discipline. I guess the difference is that Europe is a big place and motorways go in all sorts of directions across large distances between large cities. In New Zealand we only have a few motorways and generally speaking we are all trying to go to the same place (across a city) at the same time. The Waikato Expressway 4-lane to Hamilton (only to Ohinewai presently) is very seldom blocked up and people do tend to keep left (even obvious Jafastanis).
BTW, it was me in 1997 that started the whole "Let-People-In" movement in Auckland. I was crawling along Greenlane Road in heavy traffic looking at the glum faces of those waiting hopelessly to join from side roads. In a rush of blood to the head, I let a car in (they hesitated at first, suspecting my motives) and gave me a friendly wave. This released self-congratulatory endorphins which I enjoyed and since then I have always looked for opportunities to let motorists in when it can be done safely. This has expanded in a "Pay-It-Forward" manner and now a lot of people are commenting on the overall change in driver behaviour.
No thanks are necessary. Just send cash. -
Pah!
Youngsters in hooded sweatshirts with pretensions of menace are amateurs at intimidating/scaring ordinary folk.
Now this is a real hoodie to worry about. When I see people wearing these, I might jump on the "No Hoodies!" protest bandwagon.
-
Digitising vinyl is (theoretically) very easy. You could theoretically go to Dick Smith and buy a 2xRCA to 3.5m DIN plug adapter. You could then possibly plug the output from your turntable into the line-in port on any home computer with a sound card. You could potentially download the Audacity sound editing software and then it would not be un-imaginable to turn your percious vinyl into a series of iPod ready MP3s.
-
My friend's son refers to me as "Uncle" as is the Chinese fashion and I like the sound of that. However my actual nephews and neices call me by my first name and I also like that. Admittedly the blood rellies are almost adults.
And, Kim
After all, the only name I really 'own' is Kim. (Wilson is my father's surname.)
Do you own a name if it was "forced" on you by your parents? Feel free to take proper ownership by giving yourself a new first name. Avoid monikers that can be mistaken for body parts that are normally covered up in genteel social settings.
Personally, I like the surname as a "sense-of-belonging-to-a-greater-whanau" concept. Not so much for the Hitler family though...
-
Stevenson was a classic definition of someone fronting up to have his ass kicked.
Didn't he later get to indulge in some ass-kickery of his own when confronting the Rooski delegate to the UN over missiles in Cuba?
Perhaps I'm just channeling Roger Donaldson's "Thirteen Days" movie but I think old Adlai did finally manage to get his day in the sun. -
but what exactly is the risk posed by foreign investment here
When it comes time to build the second runway to enable growth to be accommodated, a major foreign investor might say "I don't think we want to spend that money, eh! Its no rind off our bacon that the NZ economy suffers through not expanding vital infrastructure. "
A kiwi private investor might say the same thing I suppose, but one would hope they would be more inclined to "take one for the team" in the short term in order to enrich "New Zealand Inc." in the long term.
Look at what happened to infrastructure investment when we sold off the railways. Admittedly, I suppose 40% of AIA isn't a full controlling interest but it is a big chunk of shares to vote in one direction.
Anyway, with the coming reduction in global travel due to sky-high fuel prices and increasing carbon footprint awareness, won't airports become white elephants? We may want to buy shares in the Onedin Line instead... "Arrr, splice the main brace and furl the jib me hearties. Last one up the old sea-dog gets a lick o' the cat"
-
denialisers.... nice.
Though I think Denialators has a better ring to it. (Ya know?... Denialator / Terminator )
To paraphrase Mr. J. Cameron "They can't be bargained with. They can't be reasoned with. They don't feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And they absolutely will not stop, ever, until you admit they are right.".
-
I actually enjoy a rough approach into Wellington airport on an early morning business trip....
It means I don't need to spend $5 on a whooshy coffee and can still be wide awake for my first meeting of the day...Joanna, your
"are you calling me fat?"
line immediately conjured up a mental image of Travis Bickle from "Taxi Driver".
If I ever hear that from you I'll be checking your coat sleeves for suspicious gun-shaped bulges (with which I hope you won't be traveling through Wellington airport)
-
I think Joanna's
Too soon!
is referring to the Paraparaumu mid-air collision that killed three young blokes.
I assume (and hope) BenWilson was only referring to Wellington (Rongotai) airport's reputation for bumpy approaches rather than sniping at some (very) recently deceased aviators...