Posts by Bart Janssen
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Hard News: Mt Eden: Not a closing but an…, in reply to Rich of Observationz,
Such an iconic view of Auckland. Cars, smog, you can almost taste the future.
Actually the universal response of visitors we take up there is
"it's so green"
"the air is so clear" -
Hard News: Mt Eden: Not a closing but an…, in reply to Bart Janssen,
30-40 minutes from dinosaur trees!!!
I still remember the first person who said this - we had taken her to the Cascades Kauri walk to show off our bush (It's on the way to Bethells beach Mike :)). She looked at the podocarps and shouted "dinosaur trees!" which is of course exactly what much of our bush is. I had just grown up with them and never thought of them as the same trees dinosaurs ate when they stomped around.
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Hard News: Mt Eden: Not a closing but an…, in reply to Allan MacLachlan,
There’s still One Tree Hill/Maungakiekie. And where else in the world does a public park incorporate a working farm in the centre of a major city?
Agreed. But Mt Eden gives better views of the city (we can usually pick out their hotel) and Rangitoto.
The scenic drive is great too, also where else in the world do you have a major city 30-40 minutes from dinosaur trees!!! AND if you have time Piha/Murawai blows away most visitors and you can stop in at some wineries on the way back. But you need the time.
So yes there are alternatives, but Mt Eden was the best choice and I'm still disappointed there was no halfway ground that could be made to work.
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To be really crude about it I’d guess is there isn’t any money in having a Maori columnist.
ALL our media is commercial. They make money by selling ads and they crudely assess the importance of any given market based on who has money. Since we’ve made damn sure Maori have no money there is no point in advertising to them and therefore no point in having a Maori columnist.
Which is of course utterly appalling.
To be fair I doubt it’s put in such crude terms in the industry.
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Hard News: Mt Eden: Not a closing but an…, in reply to James Butler,
Could one get a pedicab/rickshaw through the bollards?
An electric bike/rickshaw service?
You wouldn't need many to cover those who aren't disabled but still can't do that climb.
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I'm a believer that roads are for people and goods.
Sometimes that means cars, but if removing the cars means more people get to use the road then that is what should be done.
My disappointment is that when we got overseas visitors (think middle-aged less than fit scientists) we would routinely take them from the airport straight to the top of Mt Eden. It instantly gave them a sense of the Auckland landscape.
Now that is just not possible for many of the visitors we get. A disability card wouldn't work.
While it is only 200m - that isn't an easy 200 m.
I can still go up there as long as my knees will let me and yeah I like that it won't be full of cars all the time but I'm left feeling that there is a gap in the visitor experience. Mt Eden is special and I recognise that's why it's being protected but I just think there has to be a better option.
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Access: Zika and microcephaly: things to…, in reply to Hilary Stace,
– but it costs about $200.
I thought it was free if you were er of a certain age?
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Access: Zika and microcephaly: things to…, in reply to Rosemary McDonald,
If Zika has been widespread in Africa for forty plus years, and Zika is the cause of the rather large spike of babies born with micocephaly in Brazil
As Linger said, that is because African women are already immune by the time they ever get pregnant.
There almost certainly was a low level of Zika-induced microcephaly in Africa but it probably was never enough to stand out as unusual. As we've seen microcephaly is not incredibly rare.
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Access: Zika and microcephaly: things to…, in reply to Hilary Stace,
That is a different type of virus
No it is the same virus – it’s just that after 50 or so years the immunity you developed as a child degrades enough to allow the virus to reemerge.
Oh and there is a free vaccine for us old folks - just ask your doctor - trust me you don't want shingles.
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Access: Zika and microcephaly: things to…, in reply to Rosemary McDonald,
After an exhaustive websearch, well into the wee hours, I can find no mention of a link between the Zika virus and microcephaly prior to the recent reports.
What was extremely prominent was the ‘conspiracy theory’ that there is some link between the release of the Bill Gates GE super mosquito in that particular region of Brazil (the north east) and the current Zika outbreak and microcephaly.
There is a much simpler and more scientifically plausible explanation.
Zika has been widespread in Africa for 40+ years. Most Africans will have been exposed to it as a child and will have developed an immunity.
So when it come time to have children none of the mother will catch Zika, they are already immune.
Now Zika has spread to South America, which has no history of Zika. None of the women have any immunity, so as Zika spreads it infects pregnant women and appears to lead to microcephaly.
In a generation, once Zika is established in South America the rates will drop again. However nobody wants to wait because that would be inhumane.
No weird super mosquito conspiracy theory needed.
BTW that "super mosquito" was far from super. They were males modified to mate with females but fail to produce viable offspring, since mosquito females only mate once in their lives that means a generation of mosquitos fails. The results of the trials were better than anyone could have hoped.