Rena on the Rocks

350 tons of bunker oil coming to a beach near you, may as well throw in another 1350 tons for good measure.
The company that owns this rust bucket manned by Philipino wops, is called the Mediterranean Shipping Company.
They are refered to by Aussie dock workers as “More Shit Coming”.
It was their ship that did a similar ‘reef shortcut’ on the English coast not too long ago.
NZ Politicians .. you need to outlaw this company from NZ waters.
.. you need to push for all ships to have GSP transponders (working) in order to run real time position monitoring to avoid this kind of stupid mistake.
The crew being on the piss at the time of grounding adds insult to injury.

Ticketing 5 Km’s over the Speed Limit

Quoted in the paper..
” A move to lower the road toll by getting tougher on speeding drivers at Christmas netted almost $1 million in fines.
Between 4pm on Christmas Eve and 6am on January 5, police took action against drivers going more than 5km/h over the limit, instead of the usual 10km/h.
Figures obtained by the Herald on Sunday under the Official Information Act reveal 31,786 drivers paid $953,580 as a result. Almost half were driving up to 60km/h in a 50km/h zone.
The road tolls over Christmas and Labour weekend – when a similar operation took place – were the same as the previous year.
A similar operation last Queen’s Birthday Weekend coincided with a big fall in the toll – from eight to one – compared with the year before.
Reaction to the $1m haul has been divided. Police defend their lower tolerance of speeding drivers but motorists question why the campaign wasn’t restricted to highways and dismissed the move as a revenue-gathering exercise.
National road policing manager Paula Rose said reducing speed was the most important factor in road safety. “In 2008, speed contributed to 34 per cent of New Zealand’s fatal crashes and 20 per cent of serious injury crashes,” she said.”

I have to challenge the notion that 5-10kms or even 20 kms over the limit on 100 km/hour roads will lead to a statistic increase in the road toll.
Much of the excess speeds are conducted in safe conditions such as open stretches of highway with little or no traffic.
A speeding driver is more often noticed as overtaking a car doing the legal limit or rapidly approaching the rear of a car doing the legal limit, usually there is a tail gating incident as the speeding driver fails to anticipate their closing speed and distance.

The Police avoid discussing the road toll statistics that spike upwards after their prolonged media and road Policing campaigns, as this does not fit their road toll lowering theories versus getting tough on minor speeding incidences.

Everyone knows, but these highway men in blue, that half witted, drunk and wasted morons who plant foot and crash at speeds wildly in excess of 20 kms over the limit are the direct cause of speeding related road toll statistics.
The road toll after this group are taken out, are: failing to keep left, failing to give way, fatigue and falling asleep, rubber necking, or just plain incompetent behind the wheel.
There are also medical causes, such as passing out or dying behind the wheel.

It’s high time some sensible politicians reined these wanker cops in and take a hard look at the state of some NZ highways and the general level of competence of drivers being granted their licences.

I am in favour of day driving led lights as an aid to collision avoidance.
The present theory by transport officials and the vehicle lighting industry is 400 lumen 4 watt led lamps times 2 units fitted and switched off automatically for main headlight operation.

I disagree, having trialed a 1.8 watt led strip. The strip led is being noticed and I am experiencing much lower failure to give way . The light output is measured at 25 lumen, the light is not so bright as to warrant automatic switching off when the main headlights are being deployed.

Snowball to Avalanche

Julian Assange

What a great result for Wiki leaks, to have the Middle Eastern dictatorships fall like dominoes.
Wiki leaks has done what the US and her allies have not been able to do without blunt force.
Proof that ‘the pen is mightier than the sword’!

Overkill !

From the NZ Herald online….

Sheridyn Rawlins and Chris Graham with their daughter Brooklyn.

Armed police stopped a man, his pregnant wife and 3-year-old daughter after reports that he was waving a gun at passing cars.

Chris Graham, 28, has been charged with unlawfully carrying an imitation firearm and appeared in the Waitakere District Court yesterday. He pleaded not guilty.

He told the Herald that he had been playing a game with his 3-year-old daughter, Brooklyn, and police had made a mistake.

But police say they had a call from a neighbour saying a man was pointing a firearm at other people.

Graham said he was chasing his daughter with a broken paintball gun and she was chasing him with a water pistol on Tuesday evening.

About an hour later the family all got into the car to go out for dinner. His wife, Sheridyn Rawlins, was driving and he was in the back seat with his daughter, he said.

They pulled out of their Te Atatu South property and saw a police car in the middle of the road. Armed police officers were in the surrounding houses.

“The cops were screaming ‘stop the vehicle’ … there was another guy screaming ‘I’ve got a clear shot’,” Graham said.

Ms Rawlins said she was not sure if the police were talking to them but she stopped the car and got out.

She said one police officer told her: “I need to take you around the corner because they might shoot him.”

Graham said he unbuckled Brooklyn before he was told to put his hands out the window and then to get out. He said he was yelled at when he brought his hand back inside to open the car door.

He said the police found the paintball gun on the veranda where he had left it and he was handcuffed and taken to the police station.

Waitakere area commander Inspector Gary Davey said police got a call from a neighbour of Graham who saw a man waving a gun around, shooting at a passing car and pointing it at other people. Mr Davey said police stopped the car because they feared Graham could have had a gun.

He said if people carry toys that look like real guns then they run the risk of being at the centre of an armed police callout.

“This happens [a lot] – generally it is black or silver water pistols but no one knows if they are real or not. Police have to take all reported firearms incidents seriously.”

Mr Davey said Graham would be able to tell his side of the story in court.

Graham described the charges as an “inconvenience” but said his boss has been understanding.

Ms Rawlins said the police could have knocked on the door.

“It was very distressing for a pregnant lady and a 3-year-old child.”

Comment

Ninja Nazis?

This response by the Police has got me lost for words, mainly expletives.
Do we have to hear another load of hang wringing bullshit from these dimwit Rambo’s if a trigger happy c**t let loose and killed Chris Graham?
It is a pity Sheridyn didn’t fuck with their heads and stand in between the cops and her husband, saying ” If you are going to shoot me, aim for my unborn child”.
And what about the dick head who told Graham to get out of his car, then gets all trigger happy when he puts his hand down to the door handle!

What is with all this ‘member’ phraseology, ‘member of Police’, ‘member of public’, ‘gang member’? Sounds too penile for my liking, it is a Freudian slip.

Back on the subject, I have noticed a definite paramilitary culture shift by the morons in blue. Did this young family have to hear TV cop show drivel like “I’ve got a clear shot” and be told intimidating shit like “I need to take you around the corner because they might shoot him.” Obviously these wankers have learnt nothing from their terror raid fiasco in Ruatoki.

I think the Graham family has a bigger case against the Police for excessive response.

The NZ Police have an image problem. Haven’t you noticed their impeccable sense of timing when people bolt in cars and have fatal crashes? The Police always break of the chase 20-30 seconds before the crash. I don’t mind if they fatally run some arsehole in a stolen car into a power pole, that is the job and a fair punishment for an arsehole who just cause somebody a whole lot of grief over their car being stolen. But don’t lie and devolve yourselves from the crash.

Pigs in Space

“Police roading national manager Superintendent Paula Rose confirmed police were investigating setting up point-to-point cameras, which record the time a car takes to travel between two points on the open road.

The system calculates if their average speed is higher than the speed limit, and if so the driver is issued with a fine.”

So the Police have this new technology on their wish list at a time of budget restraints. If they get their way it will be simple proof that speed cameras are not a budget restraint item because they are a revenue stream. What these morons need to get into their heads is that if everyone stuck to the speed limits and didn’t drink/drug drive, there would still be a road toll because people are people, not machines, so they make mistakes and errors of judgement,some of which can be reduced with real driver training plus actual enforcement of some disturbing driving habits I see every day on the road. Some of these bad driving habits are: failing to keep left, failing to maintain speed close to the open road speed limit, fail to giveway on rural side roads, failing the following distance rules (tail gating) and failing to overtake with a 100 metres of clear road ahead at completion of the overtaking manoeuvrer. I would cheer to see road cops ticketing people for these kinds of offences rather ticketing someone 10-15 kms over the speed limit.

One idea could be a logical extension of the right hand rule when two highway over taking lanes merge, the left hand lane(so called slow lane) vehicle gives way to the right hand lane vehicle if the two vehicles are neck and neck trying to beat each other to get in front. This will preserve the status of the over taking lane (right hand lane) and make it an offense to under take. Naturally this rule is open to the rule of courtesy in urban 50 km areas where there are merging traffic flows at congestion time, the merge like a zip courtesy rule applies.

ACC Making Savings?

The latest outrage is ACC declining injury payouts using the flimsy excuse of degenerative causes, backed up by old retired quacks for hire, while Minister Smith claims his corporation is “making savings”.

The best medical opinion money can buy?

More a like a big rubber stamp labeled “Declined”.

American HMO’s have been declining claims according to performance figures as set by management, the injuries or illness don’t even figure in the consideration to decline.

No doubt NZ’s ACC has taken inspiration from this practice to make more money, or should I couch that in their terms ” reduce debt”.

I guarantee ACC is spending more on legal fees to defend law suits.

They are banking (pun) on people losing the will to fight them.

I hope the voters of Tasman decide to make savings next election and send this tosser the message that bullshit and lies don’t pay.

Problem is with true Blue National Electorates, you could put a pin stripe suit on a donkey and the morons would vote it in .. hee haw!

PC Pussies

A local recalled the Strongman mine disaster in 1968.
He said the co-workers raced into the mine to help their mates.
Now in the H&S gone mad 21st century, the bureaucrats will not even consider this kind of rescue attempt because it is too dangerous according to their expert advice, if any.

The police area commander has the yah or nay on this rescue, so when is he going to bother making a decision?

Back in ’68 the miners were in charge of their own rescue procedures, logical since they are intimate with the mine workings.

Also in ’68 was the Wahine disaster.
In that incident the Police were obstructive to rescuers trying to launch an effort to pick people out of the harbour.
The rescuers the Police were preventing were surf life savers for god’s sake!
The Police excuse ” conditions were too dangerous”!
Dangerous for some pussy cop, not used to getting it on in the surf!

So here we are in 2010 with the Police doing a similar thing.
The Police commander is too scared to make a decision in case the rescuers get into trouble and it reflects back onto him.

So much for the golden hour!

Dr Phil

It’s hay fever season, being spring here in NZ.
Seems it is affecting Politicians as well, judging from NZ Labour’s latest offering to sway voters.
Phil Goff announced Labour’s about face on rural land sales to foreign investment.
I think that is a bit rich of Phil, now be stumping with this one!
He was in the last government that signed up to a free trade agreement with China.
Part of that agreement allowed unrestricted buyer access to NZ land, there was no reciprocal clause for New Zealander’s being able to buy land in China.

So a big fat raspberry to Phil and the rest of his unimaginative shadow government of retards.
To be fair to labour, I hope the “Nasty Nats” eventually join labour in the shadows permanently, as they both have dragged this country to it’s knees with idiotic free market bullshit, over taxation to pay for their mistakes and red tape that would choke an elephant.

I love the admission last week by former PM Jim Bolger, that selling NZ Telecom was a mistake.
Well put mate, albeit 20 years too late!
As an employee of Telecom in 1990, I was saying that back in 1990 when it was sold !!!

‘Whale Oil’ to beach at Albany

Cameron Slater, a.k.a blogger ‘Whale Oil’, is standing for Candidate to the Albany ward of Auckland Council.
At last this behemoth blogger is getting off his chuff and trying to put his money where his mouth and butt are conjoined at.
Naturally Slatter chose to go up against Andrew Williams the redundant North shore mayor, with whom he has railed against in his blog.
Slatter is no different than the Politicians he attacks, Both love the limelight.
It will knock the rough edges off Slatter if he is elected.
It is one thing to type throw away lines on the web, another to balance the interests of rate payers against council bureaucrats with delusional empire dreams.
Interesting battle indeed!

Dodgy Subdivisions.

Devastated couple in Seabreeze Close.

Big Quake hits Christchurch early Saturday morning September 4th.
This follow the financial quake earlier in the week when South Canterbury Finance was placed in receivership when old Mr Hubbard found his cupboard bare.
Among all the carnage unleashed in Christchurch is the story about Seabreeze Close, a three year old subdivision built on a swamp.

Quote from the Media story:
“Some of the surrounding area is hardly damaged, but as soon as you turn into Seabreeze Close, there is a scene of devastation.
Residents think it is because the land had been a swamp, sucked dry and filled with dirt for the subdivision.”
They say the development should never have been built.”

All houses are what I refer to as “brick and tile toilets”, the favoured modern building style in ‘affordable’ medium to high density housing estates.
These homes are usually low profile concrete pad floored, timber frame construction.
They are ok unless surface flood occurs, as the floors are only 150mm (6″) above ground level there is the inevitable flood through the house.
Reasons for low height floors range from day light shadow restrictions on neighbouring properties, or simple economy to save building a low block course nib wall with packed fill to raise the floor above surface flooding.
You combine this economy feature of these “brick and tile toilets” with swamp subdivision and you have a ticking time bomb.

This is just another modern building industry fuck up!
By industry I include Local Government, because they:
1/ gave consent to subdivide swamp land.
2/ gave consent to construct low profile concrete pads.

Who in their right mind would allow this type of construction in former swamps or areas with high water tables?
As an DIY builder I would never build a pad floor house unless I was at the top of any land formation.

Best advice I can give people looking at new subdivisions, find old pictures of the area to get an idea, check council records for original land information.
The best visual indicator of high water table are bull rushes growing amongst the grass.
Forget all the subdividers hype, they’d sell their mothers given the chance.

We rented a house in Manurewa’s Alfriston Rd, the subdivision was on a hill, the original housing was built on Hill road,a sensible location up on the ridge.
Everything down hill is subject to surface water flowing when it rains, I could observe a ‘sheet’ of surface water entering the property every time.
Not inspiring of confidence when the house floor in only about 100mm above that.