Posts by Stephen Judd
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Hilary: that reminds me that someone needs to ask ACT whether we should privatise Civil Defence and emergency services to improve efficiency.
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And it’s bigger than what comes next for Christchurch.
All over this country, urban centres are vulnerable to quakes. We all need to be asking whether our buildings are even as strong as Christchurch’s, let along strong enough and whether now is the right time to weaken building and zoning regulations. How many new developments around the country are going up in equivalents of Bexley? Why are we so slack on reinforcing old buildings? Is it ok to have tilt-slab walls that fall outwards? I get the impression that disaster management is A-grade and learned from the September quake, but I don’t hear anything about the lessons for construction.
We need to be asking whether it’s smart for large organisations to centralise any service in one city without a satellite or branch elsewhere that can take over, eg Meridian’s call centre.
Che: awesome nutshell policy – give our tax cuts to Christchurch.
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The Tay Bridge Disaster
Beautiful Railway Bridge of the Silv'ry Tay!
Alas! I am very sorry to say
That ninety lives have been taken away
On the last Sabbath day of 1879,
Which will be remember'd for a very long time.'Twas about seven o'clock at night,
And the wind it blew with all its might,
And the rain came pouring down,
And the dark clouds seem'd to frown,
And the Demon of the air seem'd to say-
"I'll blow down the Bridge of Tay."When the train left Edinburgh
The passengers' hearts were light and felt no sorrow,
But Boreas blew a terrific gale,
Which made their hearts for to quail,
And many of the passengers with fear did say-
"I hope God will send us safe across the Bridge of Tay."But when the train came near to Wormit Bay,
Boreas he did loud and angry bray,
And shook the central girders of the Bridge of Tay
On the last Sabbath day of 1879,
Which will be remember'd for a very long time.So the train sped on with all its might,
And Bonnie Dundee soon hove in sight,
And the passengers' hearts felt light,
Thinking they would enjoy themselves on the New Year,
With their friends at home they lov'd most dear,
And wish them all a happy New Year.So the train mov'd slowly along the Bridge of Tay,
Until it was about midway,
Then the central girders with a crash gave way,
And down went the train and passengers into the Tay!
The Storm Fiend did loudly bray,
Because ninety lives had been taken away,
On the last Sabbath day of 1879,
Which will be remember'd for a very long time.As soon as the catastrophe came to be known
The alarm from mouth to mouth was blown,
And the cry rang out all o'er the town,
Good Heavens! the Tay Bridge is blown down,
And a passenger train from Edinburgh,
Which fill'd all the peoples hearts with sorrow,
And made them for to turn pale,
Because none of the passengers were sav'd to tell the tale
How the disaster happen'd on the last Sabbath day of 1879,
Which will be remember'd for a very long time.It must have been an awful sight,
To witness in the dusky moonlight,
While the Storm Fiend did laugh, and angry did bray,
Along the Railway Bridge of the Silv'ry Tay,
Oh! ill-fated Bridge of the Silv'ry Tay,
I must now conclude my lay
By telling the world fearlessly without the least dismay,
That your central girders would not have given way,
At least many sensible men do say,
Had they been supported on each side with buttresses,
At least many sensible men confesses,
For the stronger we our houses do build,
The less chance we have of being killed.Wm. McGonagall
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Hard News: Again: Is everyone okay?, in reply to Russell Brown,
The difficult judgements later are to be made by editors
Agreed. This has been a problem with live TV interviews. I do sympathise with journos who are in the spot in the most harrowing of circumstance and whose own mental capacities are under great strain.
I feel that the pressure to keep producing these segments, and the consequent brutal questioning of people who should be left alone, is a large-scale error of editorial judgement.
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Interesting. I just looked at the Big Picture site, and shot number 3 now says "Editor's Note: this picture has been removed."
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Towards the end of this Metafilter thread, there is a comment from "kokogiak", who is the photo editor for The Big Picture, about that photo of the dying man and his wife:
I put up a graphic screen specifically because I knew it would be a tough view, I don't know a better way to do that sort of warning yet.
When I choose to publish graphic images, it is always because I believe they help convey a story that much deeper. I know that I reacted to that image right away when I first saw it - in a way very different from the other images, it brought the loss home to me, and I feel like it's my job to tell stories as best I can.
I never take these decisions (to publish graphic imagery) lightly, and yes, I have a wife and two small children and wonder how I would feel if it were us in such photos. I'd probably hate it, but at some level, I'd hope that I would understand it.
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Hard News: Again: Is everyone okay?, in reply to Che Tibby,
Matthew 7:26
Being an atheist Yid, as I am, my first thought was "what did Matthew Poole say this morning?"
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I'll tell you what's pressing my partisan buttons at the moment:
Wellington City Council requires any building built before 1976 to be strengthened to a third of the current standard within 20 years if it may contain, or risk damaging, crowds of people. A previously tighter timetable was pushed out to 20 years in 2009 after building owners complained about the costs. Former mayor Kerry Prendergast urged the council to revisit the issue "with a view to tightening the deadlines again" after the September quake.
Auckland Council building policy manager Bob de Leur said all previous councils in the Auckland region had only passive policies requiring strengthening when new building consents were sought. The new combined council is expected to review that policy this year. Home Owners and Buyers Association president John Gray said virtually all "leaky buildings" had been found to have structural defects as well as leaks.
But he said a Building Amendment Bill now before Parliament would weaken controls even further by removing an existing requirement for consent authorities to physically inspect new buildings before issuing code compliance certificates - now to be called "consent completion certificates".
Buried in the last paras of this NZ Herald article on the PGG building collapse.
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I will happily pay a reasonable donation to hug Dr Haywood, as long as we can make it a proper manly A-frame one. I am over 40, you know.
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Hard News: Again: Is everyone okay?, in reply to giovanni tiso,
the recycling of footage, some of which could give away news of deaths to unsuspecting next of kin.
There was a tweet which I hope was wrong about a young man learning of his father's death by recognising a body in TV footage today.