Posts by Mike O'Connell
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Hard News: Climate, money and risk, in reply to Russell Brown,
We had a carbon tax set to be introduced in late 2005 I think it was. And then David Parker pulled the plug on it. Is it too late to reintroduce it in some (effective and meaningful) form? I don't know.
I haven't read Rodney Hide's column but can pretty well work out he's that old argument frequently used by deniers along lines of 'frozen sea ice in the summer means it's cooling, not warming.'
What people like Jim Salinger at Akld University and NIWA scientists like Jim Renwick will say, climate change is about a greater occurrence of extreme events: freezing seas, droughts, torrential rainfall, increased cloudiness - all on the back of an increasing gradient of gradual (and perhaps now accelerating) warming. NZ is somewhat insulated, experiencing 2/3 of the predicted impacts of what continental landmasses (or countries v close to such land masses) are predicted to experience.
In that latter regard, it's fortunate we're just that little bit further away from the West Island. Someone above mentioned not all impacts are negative. Agreed. even Vladimir Putin quipped when Russia signed Kyoto that 'we can soon throw out our fur coats'. But necessity is the mother of invention isn't it? We will design for example, better houses to keep out... the cold, the heat, wider eaves to keep out wind and rain, etc
Reducing emissions is one thing. Mankind will adapt, will need to adapt. E.g. managed retreat from low lying coastal regions. But what that means for our vulnerable species and ecosystems, it may be too late in many cases. Can they adapt fast enough? It's not the meteorite of 165M yrs ago but the human induced 'snowball' that's going to hit us, gathering pace all the time we sit by and fiddle with the (national and global) policy settings.
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Lovely, heartfelt story Russell. What a lovely sister you have.
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Hard News: Friday Music: Some Year, in reply to Russell Brown,
And from that very album, here’s Ikarus:
...and Shine On (with a spaceship that made me think of the Blake’s Seven Liberator)
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What can one say, others will say it better in the eulogies that will pour out. Simply RIP Nelson Mandela, the world is a poorer place without you but your legacy will remain for a long, long time.
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Hard News: Friday Music: The First Time, in reply to Peter Darlington,
Talking of Christian rock, two bass players + drums Youth For Christ from Christchurch were anything but!
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Hard News: Friday Music: The First Time, in reply to Hebe,
First big concert, The Cure @ Chch Town Hall. Hebe, did they play a second concert?I don't recall - though I do recall it cost $6 to get in; Town Hall was pretty full. I think DD Smash were support or was it the Newtones? So a story goes, Robert Smith was banging on the windows of CJ's (Music Store), just after hours, prior to gig desperate for a replacement guitar.
First pub gig - underage (just) watching Toy Love's final Gladstone appearance later that year; support was Stanley Wrench & the Monkey Brothers which I think featured Tony (Rupert) Green, later of Mainly Spaniards and Haemogoblins; and Nick Strong (who may have been in the Playthings).
Fortunately my parents never took me to anything musical though I did endure the 'magicians' Kreskin and Uri Geller!
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Hard News: Friday Music: Little, but…, in reply to Sacha,
Thx Sacha!
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Hard News: Friday Music: Little, but…, in reply to Barnard,
And not forgetting Nick Harte / Shocking Pinks. Remember Emily?
<q>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PZbOrHUXdc<q/> (sorry, I'm a novice at uploading the video proper...too afraid to ask! Perhaps someone can let me know off line - thx.)Is he still active? He did release an EP Guilt Mirrors in 2012 but I don't hear too much about him on the live circuit.
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I sleep really well these days. I used to be a really early riser, up at 6.30, pacing about looking for things to do even on weekends. Not sure what to put it down to but am largely content with life I guess. Can even get through to 9am at weekends the odd time. I really enjoy going to sleep now but that extra drink from time to time can mean waking about 3 and lying awake for a couple of hours.
I contrast that with the beginning of the year. For 3-4 weeks, stress got the better of me. All of a sudden I couldn't sleep, a couple hours a night at most. I had anxiety episodes which also brought on, or appeared to bring on, tinnitus for a while. As a result, I got increasingly more tired and run down. I tried sleeping pills (zopiclone) but they were ghastly - gave me an extra couple of hours at most. But with fluoxetine and therapy, I began 'eating the elephant piece by piece'.
The tinnitus aspect was weird - a hissy high frequency sound which upon reflection I think was always there but enhanced by anxiety. But now in a good frame of mind, it has gone to the background and I barely notice it. Listening to white noise (crashing waves on a stone beach) on a repeat cycle on my iPod going off to sleep also helped.