Public Address | Cafe | Hard News: When the fast track seems a good track

Paul Campbell

Sat, 28 Feb 2015 20:35:34 +1300

having lived 1 block of of Telegraph in North Oakland for a largish chunk of my adult life, moving back to NZ in the summer of ’04 (when the book is set) I have to say …. um no

Joe Wylie

Sat, 28 Feb 2015 19:44:55 +1300

Dang and here I am reading Michael Chabon’s Telegraph Avenue

“Do What You’ve Got to Do and Stay Fly.”

Ian Dalziel

Mon, 23 Feb 2015 09:07:54 +1300

Superfly...
Right on. Git dahn.
Dang and here I am reading Michael Chabon's Telegraph Avenue

Joe Wylie

Mon, 23 Feb 2015 08:21:25 +1300

Are we talking about this fruitfly
If we are then it makes it all the more scary

Right on. Git dahn.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3ufFI4-iU4

nzlemming

Mon, 23 Feb 2015 00:37:31 +1300

Thanks.

Ross Mason

Sun, 22 Feb 2015 20:08:04 +1300

Is there a connection to the Royal Tiger pub?

Yes I believe so. It was either beside or under the pub.

Sacha

Sat, 21 Feb 2015 17:35:06 +1300

Thanks, Ross. I had no idea.

nzlemming

Sat, 21 Feb 2015 16:11:48 +1300

Wellington developed the “Royal Tiger” range which was in Taranaki St beofre it got shifted to Russell Terrace in the 60s.

Is there a connection to the Royal Tiger pub, which was one of the roughest in town for many years, before it was pulled down in the 90's?

LIISA

Sat, 21 Feb 2015 15:40:02 +1300

I did a lot of growing up on the Trentham pistol range. Catching tadpoles and frogs, digging copper out of the clay banks, the smell of cordite, chasing rabbits. And the occasional shot. It was great.

Ross Mason

Fri, 20 Feb 2015 23:31:01 +1300

does that really say “Miniature shooting gallery’?
Yup. Shooting was an amazingly popular sport and pastime for the multitudes. 400 would turn up to Trentham from about 1906 to shoot long ranges. Free Ammo, rifles and rail fare to all entrants. Lord Roberts sorted the shorts wearing Baden-Powell Boys and…

linger

Fri, 20 Feb 2015 23:26:33 +1300

When I am asked what an Associate Professor is, I usually say ‘I hang around with professors’.
That’s my official title too. It often gets shortened to “Ass. Prof.”, which I guess is just someone who brings up the rear in a profession.

Chris Waugh

Fri, 20 Feb 2015 23:12:12 +1300

They have been saying that they will be flying these things through kitchen windows in the near future.

Good news for glaziers.

Ross Mason

Fri, 20 Feb 2015 22:56:47 +1300

Didn't anyone notice that the "fly" had aerials sticking out the front of it? It could be one of these new fangled Drones. One aerial to transmit and one to listen. They have been saying that they will be flying these things through kitchen windows in the near future. The…

Chris Waugh

Fri, 20 Feb 2015 21:55:57 +1300

Pro Vice Chancellor of Something whether there were any Anti Vice Chancellors.

Are there pro- and anti- virtue chancellors to match?

Geoff Lealand

Fri, 20 Feb 2015 21:41:00 +1300

When I am asked what an Associate Professor is, I usually say 'I hang around with professors'. University titles can be rather arcane. I once asked a Pro Vice Chancellor of Something whether there were any Anti Vice Chancellors.

BenWilson

Fri, 20 Feb 2015 20:06:48 +1300

Sovereign remedy.

I expect they'll just settle for chemical warfare though. It's only ever really been useful against civilians.

Steve Barnes

Fri, 20 Feb 2015 13:48:16 +1300

Are we talking about this fruitfly
If we are then it makes it all the more scary, could be a superfly from a secret eco-weapon laboratory in Grey Lynn.
EEEk oh Terorism!
It won't be long before JK has to put troops on the ground in the inner…

nzlemming

Fri, 20 Feb 2015 13:04:25 +1300

The only way to be sure is to nuke Grey Lynn from space.

Been saying this for a long time. Sovereign remedy.

Bart Janssen

Fri, 20 Feb 2015 11:35:02 +1300

looking to obey this one

As you should.

The quarantine isn't too great a hardship and the potential harm is stupidly high.

BenWilson

Fri, 20 Feb 2015 09:02:11 +1300

The only way to be sure is to nuke Grey Lynn from space.

BenWilson

Fri, 20 Feb 2015 08:59:07 +1300

No this was an organic cucumber from my own garden, freshly picked. It both entered and left Grey Lynn completely naked, lying in the boot of my car. When I realized the extent of my eco-terrorism, I destroyed it with my teeth, to save the fruits of Herne Bay.

Ian Dalziel

Fri, 20 Feb 2015 08:54:47 +1300

Strained fruit...
they would be killed by my gastric acids.
Some seeds and eggs need such tempering processes before hatching...
Pt Chev is post-longdrop now isn't it?
Gentrified and flush...
:- )

Russell Brown

Fri, 20 Feb 2015 08:28:45 +1300

If the cucumber entered and left the zone in plastic wrap, I think you're probably okay. I left the zone yesterday with some cucumber wrapped in a little pancake, along with some duck meat. I figured that if by some strange chance there were fruit fly eggs in the strips…

BenWilson

Fri, 20 Feb 2015 08:19:31 +1300

I ran the gauntlet with a contraband cucumber last night (inadvertently). I could have been aiding and abetting a fugitive insect.

Mike O'Connell

Thu, 19 Feb 2015 12:34:31 +1300

In Torquay, doctorates can be shared by couples – three for two!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnaHybw6CBI

In regard to German/Austrian doctorates, if the man is a PhD, and his wife isn't, he of course can be referred to Herr Doktor but his wife can also call herself Frau Doktor! Not sure if this…

Russell Brown

Thu, 19 Feb 2015 10:56:18 +1300

Cycle Action Auckland's post, including the statement they have prepared for tomorrow's Auckland Transport board meeting, where they were refused permission to present.

Sacha

Thu, 19 Feb 2015 09:34:34 +1300

It would be a shame if that’s because the government doesn’t entirely like the results of its own reform.

They certainly don't at sea, after recent decisions against seabed mining and prospecting. Nick Smith promised further law changes yesterday to make the process more "practical and workable" from now on.…

Bart Janssen

Thu, 19 Feb 2015 09:23:48 +1300

you’ve outlined the problem with the BOI process. Appointments.

If one were really cynical one might suspect the govt had learned from previous mistakes and made sure this time that the panel came up with the answer the govt wanted.

Bart Janssen

Thu, 19 Feb 2015 09:21:14 +1300

What is TV One thinking

TVNZ has long been the major broadcaster of America's cup – essentially is was self advertising disguised as news

Russell Brown

Thu, 19 Feb 2015 09:10:50 +1300

Hmmm. Sounds like more bad faith from Auckland Transport around the St Lukes Road interchange. Cycle Action Auckland has just tweeted this, pending a full media statement:

@cycleactionak CAA did not "agree" with AT plans to remove trees, nor on intersection. We DID discuss BRIDGE cycle facilities – with NZTA.…

Ian Dalziel

Thu, 19 Feb 2015 08:46:32 +1300

Pharmacornucopia...
I’m sure they’re planning a needle exchange under the stands as well
...also it is a short walk to the opium dens of Haining Street...
NB: The NZ Truth never stinted on its stirring race-abased reporting

Catton tonic...
I am almost finished reading The Luminaries – except that I don't…

Paul Campbell

Thu, 19 Feb 2015 08:24:43 +1300

I couldn’t help noticing the rather exciting shooting gallery proposed in the plan. Imagine what one might choose to shoot at (for fun) in Wellington?

I'm sure they're planning a needle exchange under the stands as well

JacksonP

Thu, 19 Feb 2015 08:05:22 +1300

You’re not the first to think of that…

Hip to be square? The long on boundary looks a bit challenging.

That is quite something. The whole underground shooting gallery, as it were. High friends in low places?

Russell Brown

Thu, 19 Feb 2015 07:46:53 +1300

As to the main post, my experience was with the Kapiti Expressway BoI, which was pretty much a show trial, in hindsight.

Thanks. And my sympathies. That sounds like a complete horrorshow.

Even more than Josh, you’ve outlined the problem with the BOI process. Appointments.

nzlemming

Wed, 18 Feb 2015 22:40:16 +1300

does that really say “Miniature shooting gallery’?

I presume Weta extras were in season...

nzlemming

Wed, 18 Feb 2015 22:37:41 +1300

As to the main post, my experience was with the Kapiti Expressway BoI, which was pretty much a show trial, in hindsight. The Board of Inquiry refused to enquire at all certain facts from NZTA, despite being asked to by several submitters, saying they would make the judgement on the…

Sacha

Wed, 18 Feb 2015 22:05:45 +1300

does that really say "Miniature shooting gallery'?

Sacha

Wed, 18 Feb 2015 22:01:33 +1300

the cultured artichokes and wild-crafted fennel will survive

jb

Wed, 18 Feb 2015 21:03:52 +1300

The "Herr Professor Dr Dr" comes down to ascription vs performance-based cultures. (In Germany, you're Dr XYZ at the butcher, at the bank and at the petrol station. In Austria, your *wife* might even be assigned your title)
Had a client from Scandinavia at a German company I worked for…

81stcolumn

Wed, 18 Feb 2015 20:37:07 +1300

Dr is highly variable too with value depending very much on the granting university.

It is sometimes more helpful to know who examined the thesis (my doctorate in Homeopathy is in the post....).

Joe Wylie

Wed, 18 Feb 2015 20:23:33 +1300

Imagine what one might choose to shoot at (for fun) in Wellington?

According to David Grant's The Mighty Totara: The Life and Times of Norman Kirk, Big Norm enjoyed shooting pigeons with an air pistol from his parliamentary office.

Ian Dalziel

Wed, 18 Feb 2015 20:18:57 +1300

What is TV One thinking?
...with a major biosecurity risk and response in inner city Auckland, they lead their news with full coverage of the fact that no one knows what's happening with Dean Barker, like it is important!!!???
Really?
WTF?

Wow!
Grey Lynn!
What happens if they stop every…

81stcolumn

Wed, 18 Feb 2015 20:16:17 +1300

I couldn't help noticing the rather exciting shooting gallery proposed in the plan. Imagine what one might choose to shoot at (for fun) in Wellington?

Ian Dalziel

Wed, 18 Feb 2015 20:10:04 +1300

blue sky thinking...
You’re not the first to think of that…
I foresee insufficient stabling and the nearest blacksmith and wheelwright would be blocks away.
Now sirs and mesdames were you to consider an aerial basin with geostationary dirigible anchoring I believe we could progress to the advantage of all...…

Lucy Telfar Barnard

Wed, 18 Feb 2015 19:57:12 +1300

That's awesome!

nzlemming

Wed, 18 Feb 2015 19:40:10 +1300

Or at the ferry terminal, where you can even put your car on a ferry and carry on on SH1 on the other side…

Again, I seem to recall (when NZ actually still owned the ferry service) that it did exactly that. I mean, what idiot would put a state…

Russell Brown

Wed, 18 Feb 2015 19:11:55 +1300

You’re not the first to think of that…

Who knew!?

nzlemming

Wed, 18 Feb 2015 19:05:49 +1300

My favourite plan for traffic in the area, invented entirely by myself with no regard whatsoever to such paltry concerns as cost, is to lift up the whole Basin Reserve cricket ground, stands and all, and put the traffic underneath.

You're not the first to think of that...

Steve Barnes

Wed, 18 Feb 2015 15:48:31 +1300

He was introduced as Herr Professor Doktor Doktor Soundso. Nobody but me found this funny.

That would be a "Pair a Docs"

/coat
:-D

David Hood

Wed, 18 Feb 2015 13:59:13 +1300

Or we could learn from the Germans

England had Lord Chief Justice Lord Judge.

Stephen Judd

Wed, 18 Feb 2015 11:22:27 +1300

I once attended a lecture in Germany given by a man who had TWO PhDs, and was a professor. He was introduced as Herr Professor Doktor Doktor Soundso. Nobody but me found this funny.

Ian Dalziel

Wed, 18 Feb 2015 09:33:38 +1300

first off the rank...
concatenate them, and have Professor Mister Doctor Easther
Nice – a chain of office – as it were...
to 'Finnish' it off we could add 'dottir' or 'son', even ...
; – )

Jeremy Andrew

Wed, 18 Feb 2015 09:26:05 +1300

I was being somewhat flippant. The difference is that prof is highly variable ranging from revered academic to bureaucratic flunky, by contrast Dr is theoretically a bit more standardised. In practice though Dr is highly variable too with value depending very much on the granting university.

Or we could learn…

Ian Dalziel

Wed, 18 Feb 2015 08:16:37 +1300

Doc workers...
So in Auckland my dentist was Dr Kool.
...as a child in Chchch we had a Mr. Minty for our family dentist – he was in no way a jawbreaker, he was in fact quite sweet...
with a dentist's chair that looked straight at the traffic going through…

Cameron Pitches

Wed, 18 Feb 2015 07:40:24 +1300

My main concerns with the Boards of Inquiry approach is the lack of consistency.

I submitted to the recent Board of Inquiry on the Puhoi Warkworth toll road, on behalf of the Campaign for Better Transport. The new toll road will be just 700m shorter than the existing road and…

Bart Janssen

Tue, 17 Feb 2015 22:50:02 +1300

In the end nothing…

Roger Lacey

Tue, 17 Feb 2015 20:28:21 +1300

And almost on a par with Engineers, an attitude that would be good to see in this country.
+1

Josh Petyt

Tue, 17 Feb 2015 19:56:22 +1300

The Basin saga certainly felt like pulling teeth. Like you I'm very reluctant to relax and expect that the current status will stay quo.

Are you sure the dentists in NZ are not just calling themselves 'Dr' as some kind of affectation? They are surgeons aren't they?

Lucy Telfar Barnard

Tue, 17 Feb 2015 19:39:44 +1300

Some dentists get to be dr here. So in Auckland my dentist was Dr Kool. Which I always thought was pretty, well, cool.

How that's relevant to roading projects and the democratic process I'm not sure. Something to do with 'pulling teeth'?

Josh Petyt

Tue, 17 Feb 2015 19:16:25 +1300

I've always wondered at that. Do you think it has anything to do with the spanish word for teacher being 'profesor'? (Unlikely I guess when you consider the general disregard they have for Mexico. I read somewhere that the spelling for marijuana gained a 'j' in place of an 'h'…

richard

Tue, 17 Feb 2015 18:01:25 +1300

Usually both, actually. I pretty regularly get requests for my opinion of candidates being considered for promotion at other universities.

richard

Tue, 17 Feb 2015 17:54:08 +1300

I am pretty mellow about the title ;-) In the States, where I was first enproffed, everyone who teaches is a professor, and a lecturer here would be an Assistant Professor in the US — whereas in New Zealand where I studied (or the UK) the title implies a degree…

Lucy Telfar Barnard

Tue, 17 Feb 2015 17:07:58 +1300

erase the line on the map and make SH1 end at the Terrace Tunnel.

Or at the ferry terminal, where you can even put your car on a ferry and carry on on SH1 on the other side...

Rich of Observationz

Tue, 17 Feb 2015 16:45:58 +1300

I’m convinced the idea that we have a traffic problem requiring huge amounts of concrete stems from a traffic planner way back when drawing a line on his map marked “SH1” from Cape Reinga down to the southernmost landmark he could find, which was the newly built Wellington airport.

Ignore…

Russell Brown

Tue, 17 Feb 2015 16:32:50 +1300

I think one of the fears of this kind of fast track is that a small panel could be corrupt. But equally a small panel can often achieve goals impossible for a larger group in a longer more drawn out bureaucracy.

Yes, I think that sums it up.

Lucy Telfar Barnard

Tue, 17 Feb 2015 15:41:41 +1300

I certainly hope the Basin Reserve flyover is indeed dooomed, with the extra o, mostly because I don't want the entry to my 'burb to be a big great ugly lump of concrete.

My favourite plan for traffic in the area, invented entirely by myself with no regard whatsoever to…

Bart Janssen

Tue, 17 Feb 2015 14:55:58 +1300

they’re all good outcomes of the government’s legislative move to fast-track

I think one of the fears of this kind of fast track is that a small panel could be corrupt. But equally a small panel can often achieve goals impossible for a larger group in a longer more drawn…

Bart Janssen

Tue, 17 Feb 2015 14:49:56 +1300

In my experience a Prof is several degrees scarier than a mere Dr.

In no small measure because Prof is conferred by the bureaucracy of the university whereas Dr is merely conferred by the scientific community. Be afraid of those able to wield the power of the bureaucracy.

As for…

Russell Brown

Tue, 17 Feb 2015 13:55:45 +1300

A fascinating piece by both you and Prof Easther! [In my experience a Prof is several degrees scarier than a mere Dr

Eek! Just as well I have godlike editing privileges ...

Ian Dalziel

Tue, 17 Feb 2015 13:50:19 +1300

In my experience a Prof is several degrees scarier
than a mere Dr. Interestingly...
...and this Prof has really nailed those theses!

BenWilson

Tue, 17 Feb 2015 12:33:42 +1300

To be fair to the modellers, it's a very difficult job. But what Richard said has to be the case, that really the uncertainty in these models could be huge, and does not seem to be included.

They have to use some kind of model, just to claim being evidence…

Steve Barnes

Tue, 17 Feb 2015 12:24:42 +1300

It would be a shame if that's because the government doesn't entirely like the results of its own reform. I have no doubt the Road Transport lobbyists will be gnashing their collective teeth and calling for heads to roll. For once, the unintended consequences work against their creators methinks.

Steve Barnes

Tue, 17 Feb 2015 12:20:41 +1300

Interestingly,, in Germany, they are ranked above saints and only slightly below the trinity.

And almost on a par with Engineers, an attitude that would be good to see in this country.

TracyMac

Tue, 17 Feb 2015 11:35:50 +1300

Interesting stuff.

Even though my inner grammar nazi is screaming at verb + gerund without the preposition. "Consenting [to] a request" is not the same as "consenting adults" (adjective + noun)!

I'm all good with informal communication (obviously), but I loathe jargon in formal communication where it's not needed. Especially…

David Haywood

Tue, 17 Feb 2015 11:33:32 +1300

A fascinating piece by both you and Prof Easther! [In my experience a Prof is several degrees scarier than a mere Dr. Interestingly,, in Germany, they are ranked above saints and only slightly below the trinity. There is talk (amongst German professors themselves) that they may even be ranked within…

Russell Brown

Tue, 17 Feb 2015 09:53:02 +1300

I might also add that a comparison between Waterview and the shambles of a process around the St Luke’s Road interchange and its threatened pohutukawa is interesting.

I would love to see Professor Richard Easther’s bracing analysis of the modelling assumptions around that interchange get a proper airing.

Public Address

Tue, 17 Feb 2015 09:53:02 +1300

Discussion from blog post.