365 days of gratitude

Some people are dreamers.

Some dreamers have the  determination and energy to realise their dreams.

This evening I was with one whose vision and accomplishments are inspirational. She opened her home to share it and some of her story with the Rotary Club and I am very grateful for that.

Word of the day

Acersecomic – a person whose hair has never been cut.

Grow North Otago

Grow North Otago is selling the charms of the district.

 

Rural round-up

The future of everything: Why the third industrial revolution is a risk to NZ – John McCrone:

Who is Jeremy Rifkin and why does he have economists worried? After Europe and China, his message of disruptive change is now stirring interest in New Zealand. JOHN MCCRONE reports.

Artificial meat gets you thinking. If it is another exponential technology – a wave breaking over the world in the next five to 15 years – how can the New Zealand economy survive?

Auckland food futurist Dr Rosie Bosworth sounded the alarm bells at the Tipping Points conference, hosted by the Environmental Defence Society (EDS) last August.

Bosworth says lab-grown meat only got going in 2013 when a Dutch university start-up – funded by the wealth of Google’s Sergey Brin – managed to culture strips of beef muscle and produce a first hamburger patty.

Now there are a whole host of high tech start-ups flooding into the field, aiming to make artificial yet realistic everything, from chicken and fish, to milk and even leather, she says. . . 

State of Pass road upsets residents – Sally Rae:

Motorists travelling through the expansive tussock country of  Danseys Pass are drawn to the mountain  route for many reasons.

Often, says local woman Jo Todd, it is emotion that is behind the trip which links the Waitaki district to Central Otago.

“It’s an iconic road …  it’s on their bucket list. It’s a road that polarises people — people hate it or love it. People always have stories about the road.”

They shared those stories when they stopped at her lavender farm and shop and often conversations mentioned the state of the road.

Last  week, Mrs Todd and neighbour Mary Hore expressed disgust at the road’s condition on the Waitaki side of the pass. . .

Royal Easter Show shearing: Rowland Smith wins 40 in a row:

Hawke’s Bay shearer Rowland Smith’s domination of New Zealand’s world-class shearing elite continued when he had his 40th New Zealand finals win in a row at the Royal Easter Show in Auckland.

His successful defence of the Northern Shears Open title was his 44th win in 46 competitions in New Zealand in the last 15 months, during which the only deviations from the picket-fence form-line were a fourth placing at the Rotorua A and P Show on January 29 last year and a semi-final elimination at the Tauranga A and P Show on January 14 this year.

On Saturday he staved-off a bold challenge from Southland shearer Brett Roberts to win by half-a-point in a five-man final of 20 sheep each, decided mainly by the six seconds margin at the end and the quality of the sharing in the race, in front of the unique Auckland crowd mixing the normality for the farming and shearing community with the intrigue of the city dweller and the phone and camera waving tourist throng. . . 

https://twitter.com/AndyMuir22/status/980937743843835905

Silver Fern Farms Co-op reports positive result, dividend and patronage reward:

Silver Fern Farms Co-operative has reported a net profit after tax (and before losses from discontinued operations) of $7.8 million for the 15 months ended 31 December 2017. After accounting for discontinued operations, the 15-month period was a net loss of $5.6m.

Silver Fern Farms Co-operative chairman Rob Hewett says the accounting result for the first period of the partnership has a high level of complexity to account for the changes in company structure over the period.

“We expected some complexity in reporting for this period as we account for the transition, and it does contain some abnormal factors related to the transaction which we will not see in future years. Firstly, the Co-operative has moved to a December year-end, which necessitates a 15-month result for this period. From now on we will have standard 12-month reporting periods. 

How Ireland is turning into a food processing giant – Catherine Cleary:

Move over Kerrygold butter – Ireland’s real food export success story is in unbranded food ingredients such as whey and vanilla

Here’s a small eureka moment in the Irish food world. The head of a large food company has had a long day in a conference room with executives from an Irish food ingredients giant. They finish with a grazing trip around the hottest cafes, restaurants and cocktail bars. In a bar, someone serves a Bloody Mary garnished with a piece of crispy bacon. He takes a sip, puts down the glass and declares: “Now that’s what I want my burger to taste like.”

It’s as far from the picture of Irish food as it gets but ingredients like a Bloody Mary bacon seasoning are an untold part of Ireland’s food story. If you dream it, there is a team of scientists in Irish labs that can probably make it happen. . .

Snowy morning here with triplets born in the rushes and all sheep sheltering under the dry stone wall… #farm365 #sheep365 pic.twitter.com/X0rbpRfsBa

— Dalesbrad Holsteins (@Dalesbrad007) April 2, 2018

The woman who rode Australia’s longest trekking route – a photo essay :

Alienor Le Gouvello travelled more than 5,000km with three wild horses and a dog. For her forthcoming book Wild at Heart, photographer Cat Vinton joined her for part of the journey to capture the beauty and isolation of a year-long trek through the Australian bush.

From a young age, Alienor Le Gouvello developed a passion for travelling and adventure. Her previous expeditions include a horseback trek in Mongolia at age 22 and a sidecar motorbike expedition from Siberia to Paris. Le Gouvello, originally from France, was working with an Indigenous community in Docker River near Uluru in the Australian central desert when she first discovered the existence of wild brumbies. In 2015, she embarked on her longest solo journey: 5,330km along the Bicentennial National trail, Australia’s longest trekking route, beginning in Healesville in Victoria and ending in Cooktown, Queensland, with just three wild horses and her dog for company. Since it opened in 1988, only 35 people have completed the trail. Le Gouvello is the second woman to complete the trip and the only person to have the same horses from beginning to end . . 

Haggis colony on the Isle of Harris. In early April they begin hatching from their cocoons and make their way down to the beach to disperse around the Western Isles on tidal currents. Once fully mature they return to the land and make their way up the hills to graze on lichens. pic.twitter.com/MMf5VApVgr

— Guy Edwardes (@guyedwardes) April 1, 2018

Slower safer but

The International Transport Forum recommends dropping speed limits:

Speed has a direct influence on crash occurrence and severity. With higher driving speeds, the number of crashes and the crash severity increase disproportionally. With lower speeds the number of crashes and the crash severity decrease. This relationship has been captured in various models, most notably Nilsson’s “Power Model”. This shows that a 1% increase in average speed results in approximately a 2% increase in injury crash frequency, a 3% increase in severe crash frequency, and a 4% increase in fatal crash frequency.

Thus, reducing speed by a few km/h can greatly reduce the risks of and severity of crashes. Lower driving speeds also benefit quality of life, especially in urban areas as the reduction of speed mitigates air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, fuel consumption and noise.

All the cases indicated a strong relationship between speed and the number of crashes, i.e , an increase in mean speed was accompanied by an increase in the number of crashes and/or injured road users. Conversely, a decrease in mean speed was associated with a decrease in the number of crashes and injured road users. In no cases was an increase in mean speed accompanied by a decrease in the number of crashes or casualties. The pattern of the relationship is consistent across cases, although the size of the effect differs substantially between them. These differences are explained partially by varying definitions for injury crashes between countries and the small overall numbers of fatal crashes for some of the countries studied. . . 

Based on that the ITF recommends dropping speed limits:

To reduce road trauma, governments need to take actions that will reduce the speed on roads as well as speed differences between vehicles sharing the same road. For individuals, the risks of a severe crash might seem small, but from a societal point of view there are substantial safety gains from reducing mean speeds on roads.

Set speed limits according to Safe System principles

The design of the road system and the speed limits set for it must consider the forces the human body can tolerate and survive. Working towards a Safe System, reasonable speed limits are 30 km/h in built up areas where there is a mix of vulnerable road users and motor vehicle traffic. In other areas with intersections and high risk of side collisions 50 km/h is appropriate. On rural roads without a median barrier to reduce the risk of head-on collisions, a speed limit of 70 km/h is appropriate. In urban areas, speeds above 50 km/h are not acceptable, with the exception of limited access arterial roads with no interaction with non-motorised traffic. Where motorised vehicles and vulnerable road users share the same space, such as in residential areas, 30 km/h is the recommended maximum.

There are very few New Zealand roads with median barriers  and Dog & Lemon Guide editor, Clive Matthew-Wilson said the reduction to 70 kph would be unworkable.

A proposal to lower the open road speed limit to 70kp/h on stretches without median barriers is “ridiculous and unworkable’, says the car review websitedogandlemon.com. . . 

“This is a knee-jerk reaction to a rising road toll and doesn’t really address the major issues. Think about it: only a tiny percentage of New Zealand roads have median barriers, even on state highways. Imposing a 70kp/h slow speed limit on long, straight roads would be met with open rebellion.”

It’s tempting now to exceed 100 kph on long, straight roads with few if any other vehicles. To lower the speed limit by 30 kph would be an invitation for drivers to rebel.

Matthew-Wilson cautiously supports the lowering of the speed limit on the most dangerous roads, but says 70kp/h, is probably too slow.

“New Zealand’s rural roads are often narrow, winding and poorly designed. On the most dangerous roads, where there are no safety measures in place, it makes sense to reduce the speed limit to 80kp/h.”

However, Matthew-Wilson says lowering the speed will have only a limited effect.

“About 80% of the road toll occurs below, not above, the speed limit. Of the 20% of accidents that occur above the speed limit, most are caused by either yobbos, impaired drivers or outlaw motorcyclists. All these groups tend to ignore speed limits anyway.”

Matthew-Wilson points out that rural drivers on secondary roads also tend to set their own speed limits.

“Lowering the speed limit may slow down tourists in a camper van, but will have little effect on the driving of most locals, who will simply ignore the new speed limits.”

“The government needs to get over the idea that average drivers and average speeds are the problem. The vast majority of accidents are caused by a tiny group of road users. Arbitrarily lowering the speed limit is unlikely to have any effect whatsoever on this high risk group.”

“If the speed limit is lowered on the worst roads, as an interim measure before median barriers are installed, I support it. If this proposal is simply an excuse to impose unrealistic speed limits across the country, I oppose it.

As things stand, I believe this proposal will cause as many problems as it solves, without having much effect on the road toll.”

There is no doubt that the higher the speed the bigger the mess will be if something goes wrong. Slower is safer but it isn’t always practical.

I live on a rural road. Most of it doesn’t even have a white line in the middle of it.

The road is several kilometres long and there are stretches with good visibility where it is safe to travel at 100 kph.

There are other stretches where a series of dips and bends make it safer to slow down and there are several kilometres of gravel where reducing speed is sensible.

The road doesn’t have much traffic on it. More often than not I don’t meet any other vehicles on it.

However, when I do it might be a tractor or stock truck which require those travelling in the opposite direction to keep well to the left and be prepared to slow down.

Locals know to take care and anyone who isn’t a local should do what we all should when we’re unfamiliar with a road – drive to the conditions which in this case means slowing down in several places.

Erecting more median barriers, targetting the yobbos, impaired drivers or outlaw motorcyclists Matthew-Wilson identifies as being the problem group and trusting other drivers to slow down when conditions require it would be far more effective than dropping the speed limit to an unworkable level.

 

Fuel tax and $pend fuel$ inflation

National MPs have been warning that the government’s proposed Auckland fuel tax wouldn’t apply just in Auckland – and they have been proved right.

The Government has today confirmed that it plans to gut regional roading projects to pay for trams in Auckland, and to charge regional motorists more to do so, National’s Transport spokesperson Jami-Lee Ross says.

“Today’s announcement will be met with anger and disappointment right around New Zealand, with the Government confirming it will cut around $5 billion out of the state highway construction programme over the next 10 years.

“That means roads which would have improved safety, created jobs, boosted regional economic growth and better connected our regional farmers and producers to our major centres will be axed.

“This is an extraordinary blow for regional New Zealand, from a Government which has claimed to stand behind it. Instead, the Government is saying their needs are secondary and ensuring tourists can get from the Auckland CBD to the airport is more pressing.

The government has put a $3 billion slush fund in the hands of Shane Jones for regional development. It would be far better to use some of that money for upgrading regional roads, but instead of tax increases not as well as them.

“Motorists right around New Zealand will also be shocked at the extraordinary new taxes the Government plans to impose on them.

“Aucklanders could actually find themselves paying as much as 25 cents a litre extra for their fuel within three years – once the proposed annual fuel excise and proposed regional fuel tax are taken into account.

“That means they will pay an extra $10 to $15 every time they fill up – and in less than three years the rest of New Zealand could be paying that fuel tax too, under legislation the Government introduced last week.

“That this Government will continue the previous Government’s commitment to road safety is to be applauded, but it is undermining that by axing the construction of New Zealand’s safest and busiest roads – the Roads of National Significance.”

The government has been crowing that the families package and increase in the minimum wage will help low income households. But there’s no point putting more money in one pocket if it’s taking more from the other.

An increase in fuel tax will increase the price of transport for people and goods.

The price of every trip will be higher for individuals, charities, businesses and entities like schools and health providers.

That will be inflationary and the people who will be hardest hit by the resulting price increases will be the poor the government is purporting to help.

The new tax also breaks an election promise:

The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union says the Government’s proposal to increase fuel levies breaks Jacinda Ardern’s promise of ‘no new taxes’ and the widening of the Regional Transport Fund (paid for by petrol taxes) to include funding for cycleways and trams is a dumb idea.

Taxpayers’ Union Executive Director Jordan Williams says, “The plan to increase fuel taxes by 10-12 cents per litre means the Prime Minister is breaking her very clear pre-election promise of ‘no new taxes’.”

“Fuel tax is particularly harmful because of its regressive nature – the people it hurts most are poorer families living in fringe suburbs. This will ultimately mean less food on the table.”

“Aucklanders will be whacked twice over, with today’s fuel tax announcement applying on top of the proposed regional fuel tax.”

“And as if fuel tax hikes didn’t sting enough, the Government is going to be using the revenue to fund cycleways and trams, at the same time they’re slashing funding for highways. In other words, drivers are paying more to receive less.”

When I first became active in the National Party I sat through conference after conference where remits urged the then-government to ensure that fuel taxes went to roads  and not into the consolidated fund.

That eventually happened but now motorists will be taxed more and roading projects will receive less and Labour adds more fuel to the tax and spend fire.

 

Quote of the day

A wise woman wishes to be no one’s enemy; a wise woman refuses to be anyone’s victim. – Maya Angelou who was born on this day in 1928.

April 4 in history

1081 Alexios I Komnenos was crowned Byzantine emperor at Constantinople, beginning the Komnenian dynasty.

1581 Francis Drake was knighted for completing a circumnavigation of the world.

1655 The the Infant of Prague statue was solemnly crowned by command of Cardinal Harrach.

1660 Declaration of Breda by King Charles II of England.

1721  Sir Robert Walpole became the first Prime Minister of the United Kingdom under King George I.

1802 Dorothea Dix, American social activist, was born (d. 1887).

1812  U.S. President James Madison enacted a ninety-day embargo on trade with the United Kingdom.

1814 Napoleon abdicated for the first time.

1818 The United States Congress adopted the flag of the United Stateswith 13 red and white stripes and one star for each state (then 20).

1841 William Henry Harrison died of pneumonia becoming the first President of the United States to die in office and the one with the shortest term served.

1850 The Great Fire of Cottenham, a large part of the Cambridgeshire village was burnt to the ground under suspicious circumstances.

1850 – Los Angeles was incorporated as a city.

1859 Bryant’s Minstrels debuted “Dixie” in New York City in the finale of a blackface minstrel show.

1866 Alexander II of Russia narrowly escaped an assassination attempt.

1873 The Kennel Club was founded, the oldest and first official registry of purebred dogs in the world.

1887 Argonia, Kansas elected Susanna M. Salter as the first female mayor in the United States.

1905 The Kangra earthquake killed 20,000, and destroyed most buildings in Kangra, Mcleodganj and Dharamshala.

1913 The Greek aviator Emmanuel Argyropoulos becomes the first pilot victim of the Hellenic Air Force when his plane crashed.

1918 – World War I: Second Battle of the Somme ended.

1918 – George Jellicoe, 2nd Earl Jellicoe, English soldier and politician, Leader of the House of Lords, was born (d. 2007)

1928  – Maya Angelou, American author and poet, was born (d. 2014).

1930 The Communist Party of Panama was founded.

1931  – Dame Cath Tizard, New Zealand politician, 16th Governor-General of New Zealand, was born.

1935 – Geoff Braybrooke, English-New Zealand soldier and politician, was born (d. 2013).

1939 Faisal II became King of Iraq.

1944 World War II: First bombardment of Bucharest by Anglo-American forces killed 3000 civilians.

1945 World War II: American troops liberated Ohrdruf forced labour campin Germany.

1945 – World War II: Soviet Army took control of Hungary.

1946 Dave Hill, English guitarist (Slade), was born.

1949  Twelve nations signed the North Atlantic Treaty creating the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation.

1949 Junior Braithwaite, Jamaican singer (The Wailers), was born  (d. 1999).

1951 Hun Sen, Prime Minister of Cambodia, was born.

1952 Gary Moore, Irish guitarist (Thin Lizzy), was born  (d. 2011).

1958 The CND Peace Symbol displayed in public for the first time in London.

1960 Senegal independence day.

1963 Graham Norton, Irish talk show host, was born.

1964 The Beatles occupied the top five positions on the Billboard Hot 100 pop chart.

1965 The first model of the new Saab Viggen fighter aircraftplane was unveiled.

1967  Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence” speech in New York City’s Riverside Church.

1968 Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated by James Earl Ray.

1968 – Apollo programme: NASA launched Apollo 6.

1968 – AEK Athens BC became the first Greek team to win the European Basketball Cup.

1969 Dr. Denton Cooley implanted the first temporary artificial heart.

1973 The World Trade Center in New York was officially dedicated.

1975 Microsoft was founded as a partnership between Bill Gates and Paul Allen.

1975 Vietnam War:  Operation Baby Lift – A United States Air Force C-5A Galaxy crashed near Saigon shortly after takeoff, transporting orphans – 172 died.

1976 Prince Norodom Sihanouk resignws as leader of Cambodia and was placed under house arrest.

1979 Heath Ledger, Australian actor, was born  (d. 2008).

1979  Jessica Napier, New Zealand actress, was born.

1979 President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto of Pakistan was executed.

1983 Space Shuttle Challenger made its maiden voyage into space (STS-6).

1984 President Ronald Reagan called for an international ban on chemical weapons.

1991 Senator John Heinz and six others were killed when a helicopter collided with their plane over an elementary school in Merion, Pennsylvania.

1994 Marc Andreessen and Jim Clark found Netscape Communications Corporation under the name “Mosaic Communications Corporation”.

2001 Dame Silvia Cartwright became Governor General of New Zealand.

2002 The Angolan government and UNITA rebels signed a peace treaty ending the Angolan Civil War.

2007 15 British Royal Navy personnel held in Iran were released by the Iranian President.

2008 – In a raid on the FLDS’s YFZ Ranch in Texas, 401 children and 133 women were taken into state custody.

2013 – More than 70 people were killed in a building collapse in Thane, India.

Sourced from NZ History Online & Wikipedia