Is there a common link between our modern inability to build leak-proof homes and the collapse of the Invercargill Sports stadium in this month’s snow storm? Here’s a thought: the word leaky homes arose in the early Nineties. It arrived in our vocab after the Nats continued to de-regulate as much as they could, following Labour’s stint doing the same thing. So is it possible that this loosening of regulations and oversight is the underlying factor in both leaky homes and the stadium collapse…? **********
‘As the sun set on the coldest day of the season on Friday, dense fog enveloped the city and other areas nearby, leading to a gloomy, dreary Saturday. It was the worst fog of the season and threatened to last for the weekend’ - the Delhi Capital website. We are not alone… ********** Kids in the back seat cause accidents. Accidents in the back seat cause kids. **********
Strange tidings in the New Zealand Herald in the Briefs column of page 3, a top news page. The last Brief featured a colour masthead of sister publication The Listener. ‘Another side of drinking’ said the sub-head and what followed was nothing less than a plug for that story and another about car buying habits. It’s a sorry confusion between editorial and marketing as the former fades and the latter, which used to be known as sales, takes over everything from music to media... **********
Sometimes you’ve got a right to think that Bette Midler is right when she sung her hit ‘God is watching us – from a distance’. What’s seen below – the Canterbury Earthquake isn’t God’s work so much as that of a satellite. These amazing images have been analysed by a top level group of scientists at the Centre for the Observation and Modelling of Earthquakes, Volcanoes and Tectonics (COMET+). The organisation draws together scientists with proven expertise in tectonics, volcanology and space geodesy from several universities: University of Cambridge, University of Glasgow, University of Leeds, University College London, University of Oxford and the University of Reading. Its home page link is: http://comet.nerc.ac.uk/about_us.html . The link which displays the material below is http://comet.nerc.ac.uk/current_research_newz.html |
