Posts by David Haywood
Last ←Newer Page 1 2 3 4 5 Older→ First
-
Southerly: That CERA Rumour, in reply to Shulgin,
Hi Shulgin,
I assure you that I am not a “property owning pressure group” – you can read about me here.
You say that you are in favour of “the newly proposed park land along the Avon”, but at what monetary cost? By my calculations the cost would be upwards of $385,000,000. That’s an awfully expensive park – even when it serves the additional psychological function of “shak[ing]-up the population and caus[ing] them to react with renewed vigor”!
I’m not arguing to spend money on some group of propertied elite – I’m arguing that it is clearly cheaper to remediate the land along the river rather than demolish (although, of course, there may well be some specific areas where it is not economic to remediate the land). And, of course, regardless of whether or not we engage in mass demolition, the (insured) propertied elite will still retain the value of their homes, either in the form of their existing property or in terms of their insurance payout.
Don’t apologize for feeling grim! We all have those days – especially when you live in post-quake Christchurch. But it is important to make our decisions based on logical analysis rather than emotion – otherwise we’ll end up with a second (or should that be third?) disaster in Christchurch.
Kind regards,
David ‘Not a Property Owning Pressure Group’ HaywoodP.S. I’ve done a fair bit of conceptual design work on retrofitting those foundations, performed basic sizing calculations, and obtained quotes from EasySteel. I’m pretty confident that those estimates are in the right ballpark.
-
Southerly: A Tsunami False Alarm at 2.00…, in reply to Ross Mason,
I know the loop precisely! There is only one route into and out of Cooks Beach and you didn’t find it! Obviously an April Fooler turned one of the signs around…..?
Worse than that. I checked in daylight, and the follow-up sign is in such a location that it couldn't possibly be seen by a car (headlights would never shine there), and is unlikely to be seen even by a pedestrian at night.
But actually it was just as well we didn't see it -- it led down a dead end street and to a narrow footpath.
In other words, once you reach the dead end in your car, you realize that the evacuation route is for pedestrians only.
It certainly does not identify itself as an evacuation route for pedestrians on the sign. Here's a photo so that you can check for yourself.
Not very good thinking at all, in my opinion. Just what you don't want in an tsunami -- a whole bunch of tourists gunning their cars into the same dead-end street.
At any rate, thanks for posting the response from Adrian Prowse, Ross. I'll drop him a line as well.
-
Southerly: A Tsunami False Alarm at 2.00…, in reply to Matthew Poole,
A different tone is impossible with the station sirens as they exist, because they’re mechanical. Big wind-up motors that make a noise as air passes through their baffles (or whatever they’re called). They need three-phase power to drive the motors, they’re so large.
I figured that this was how they worked -- thanks for the confirmation, Matthew.
But I may not have explained myself very well: I didn't mean a different tone; I meant a different pattern.
To put my engineer's hat back on... low cost three-phase motor controllers have been available for a number of years (and in some cases may be already installed on the siren motors), which can alter the pattern of the siren sound. They cost only a few thousand (maybe even less than $2000) for the size of motor that we'd be talking about here.
The siren last night was a rising pitch followed immediately by a falling pitch (probably just using a simple "flasher" circuit) with about a six second period.
With a modern controller you could have an alternative siren sound. For example, a rising pitch over five seconds, holding that pitch for ten seconds, and then a falling pitch for two seconds.
If there was a standard tsunami siren pattern for all New Zealand (so that, for example, people from Christchurch would know what to do when they were visiting Cook's Beach) then it could be extensively advertised on radio, television, in the back of the yellow pages, etc. People would know what it meant whereever they were.
It seems to me that this would greatly reduce the possibility for confusion (and of people ignoring it).
-
Thansk everyone for all the kind thoughts and helpful facts and figures. Now that the sun is down I can get sufficient reception to reliably reply using my trusty phone.
Russell Brown wrote:
who wants to wait five minutes to find out whether it's a tsunami
It's not only that -- it's also judging the five minutes.
In my case, I'd incorporated the siren into my dreams, so I had no idea how long it had been going before I awoke: maybe five minutes already.
Then we waited for a bit to see whether the siren would stop, went to the lavatory, gathered some blankets for the kids, watched the neighbours hare off in their car... it seemed to me a whole bunch more than five minutes before we left (although I guess it can't have been).
It's a tough call to make when judging the length of time that a siren has been sounding: 4 minutes 59 seconds and you can roll over and go back to sleep; 5 minutes and 1 second and you should flee for your life.
The more I think about it, the more I think that this is a profoundly stupid warning system, and that it's all bound to end in tears.
-
Very hard to reply at length via cellphone, but many thanks for all the helpful comments particularly Matthew and Ross. Will attempt to reply at length tonight when lack of sunspots (or whatever) gives me a stronger cellphone signal. Thanks also to Glenn for cheering me up! Cheers, David
-
Just arrived Auckland and still catching up with everything. But one quick point: the morning after the last earthquake -- and knowing that my suburb had been very badly hit -- Eric Crampton emailed me and offered my family a place to stay. He'd never met me in his life. So he's certainly no stranger to the concept of altruism and social solidarity.
-
I’ve finally found a few (sort of) spare minutes to read through this thread. I’ve been both moved and very touched by the comments (another nasty aftershock just then). Thank you Russell and all the PA community. I would happily hug every one of you.
-
Ross Mason wrote:
I presume the cat acquired its name while running across a certain byway in Chch.
Not quite. Running halfway across a certain byway, I believe.
Jacqui Dunn wrote:
... is he the lovely Ian Dalzeal, or is he the lovely Ian Dee Ell?
Being a fairminded sort of chap it seems he chooses the former pronunciation while acknowledging the historical validity of the latter.
Lilith wrote:
Does he also have macaronic or macarenic talents?
We have not yet discovered the limits to Ian's talents (if indeed they have limits).
Jackie Clark wrote:
One of my most vivid late childhood memories is of Dad and two of my brothers having pissing contests from the side of a Sth Island ravine.
Bob will be sorry to have missed out on that incident -- he is already quite the over-sharer in the urination demonstration department.
3410 wrote:
A very fine choice for our next Governor-General, I'd have thought.
I quite agree (despite Ian's foreign-sounding surname).
sally jones wrote:
Thank you dude, and a very merry and mucusless Christmas to you all.
PS: See you at home around 7pm?Just spotted the Jones children coming up the front path with pizza. Oh, how splendid of you! Always nice to have PAers visit.
Must go and answer the doorbell...
-
Southerly: The Dalziel Salon, in reply to Russell Brown,
I feel I must assert my rights as the original author of the phrase “the lovely Ian Dalziel”.
I think it will be simplest (and more Christmassy) if we let New Zealand's legal system decide on that. Bob and I will see you in court.
-
Southerly: The Dalziel Salon, in reply to Bart Janssen,
RE: The Cat People
Strangely, I can also imagine Ian and Sally providing accommodation for rescue dogs (this is not a suggestion for anyone to inflict a dog upon them, by the way). Bob and I once saw Ian riding his bicycle, and he did look like a man without a dog sitting in a box on his carrier. If you know what I mean.
RE:
Ours will be made happier as a result of your book.
Very delighted to hear that! Have an excellent Christmas, Bart!
In breaking news, we have less mucus than yesterday.