Posts by southern skies

Facebook does the right thing for once: Joins Google, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Reddit, Twitter, YouTube to clean out dodgy COVID-19 info

It's not working very well

They have flagged two of my shares (articles written by an Associate Prof in Microbiology) as spam today. There's some great scicomm on this site, including this explainer about testing: https://thespinoff.co.nz/science/18-03-2020/siouxsie-wiles-how-testing-for-covid-19-works/ but FB has blocked it.

But its okay, cos the antivaxxers and Nazis still have a free pass to post their bull...

Apple antagonist Proview unveils its own iPad

Re: The Japanese answer

The best example I've seen recently was the department store having a "Fuckin' Sale!"

Google it if you don't believe me.

StreetView disappears Dutch office tower

Where I live streetview is like an archive of all the demolished buildings after the #EQNZ

Icon coz there's a lot of that sort of thing needed here right now!

Another trans-Tasman link underway

Geography lesson

The main islands of New Zealand, while not marked as such on many maps, are actually called "the North Island" and "the South Island".

That is all.

Mythbusters cannonball ‘myth-fires’

Bricks don't stay up in EQs

Check out Central Christchurch (NZ) for what happens when you have a lot of unreinforced masonry around. Half our central city has been or is being demolished so it doesn't kill anyone else.

In EQ zones, I would far rather live in a timber framed house. It won't fall down and kill you in your bed when a mag 7.2 EQ hits at 4:35am.

Brick buildings came down all over Chch on Feb 22 and caused a lot of the deaths and injuries here that day. Mortar doesn't hold bricks together very well when it is subjected to a lot of seismic shaking. Additonal reinforcing is required to add strength to all types of masonry and concrete structures.

How about, before criticising what you don't understand, you should accept that building methods differ around the world because the local conditions differ too.

What is obvious and useful in the UK may not be so useful in other places!

Google Instant sinks raft of search controls

IT Crowd

I loved that episode - must pull out the DVD tonight.

Cyclists give TV chef a Wikikicking

Helmets save lives!

To those who wonder if helmets save lives, I can say conclusively YES!

I know someone who was collected by a bus that failed to give way. His helmet-clad head hit the windscreen of the bus, breaking it. He was thrown several metres forward of where the bus came to a stop and was knocked out, but walked out of hospital 4 hours later, bruised and concussed. Without a helmet, he would be dead or seriously (permanently) injured.

One fifth of humanity deprived of Milky Way

Starlight reserve

At Tekapo in NZ there is work underway to create a world heritage starlight reserve. This small town has lighting standards for street and business lighting designed to offer minimal light pollution to the nearby observatory.

http://www.starlight2007.net/pdf/GMY2100_dle%20brochure(4pp).pdf

A fabulous place to view the milky way...