Daily Review 07/02/2019

20 comments on “Daily Review 07/02/2019”

• Comment on post

1. greywarshark 1

   7 February 2019 at 6:32 pm

   A change of wind has freshened the fire and raised its intensity in Nelson.
   https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12201426

   The sort of thing we have been discussing about different ways of farminghave met their time for acceptance. This shouldn’t – can’t happen again:

   Meanwhile the farmer whose machinery is suspected to have sparked the devastating 1900ha Tasman blaze is “mortified”, fire chiefs say.

   FENZ incident controller John Sutton said it was almost certain the fire was the result of agricultural machinery.

   The owner was “mortified”, said Sutton who added it was a highly accidental event.
   “A totally unintended consequence really.”

   Sources told the Herald yesterday that the fire was sparked by a farmer tilling dry fields at around 2pm up Pigeon Valley near Wakefield, about 30km south of Nelson.

   • WeTheBleeple 1.1

     7 February 2019 at 7:48 pm

     The poor farmer was just just doing what he knows, possibly a tad mad out there at that time of day a touch of sunspot making him work too hard… nobody expected a fire from discing soil.

     It is a rather freakish thing to happen. I was a bit puzzled as to how someone could be tilling in this weather then it dawned on me: they have irrigation as well. If policy depicts landholders can just plug into water to irrigate they have no real incentive to hold water in the land and help mitigate drought. This lacks resilience. As insurance companies get tighter fisted about climate related matters, which they simply must to survive, it will pay to retrofit and collect your own or at least some of your own water. Resilient systems will be easier to insure, having some in-built insurance. And for you and yours, water security is right up there for basic survival and yes: productivity.

     Weather events may be unpredictable, but future fires, droughts and floods are actually a given. No need to be blaming in this instance. But it is a good time to reflect on how we forest, farm and plant.

     Still ongoing, this fire. Tasmania just got their first decent rain in a long time. Very happy for them. Their fights not over either, but the nightmare is less.

     • Pat 1.1.1

       7 February 2019 at 8:48 pm

       irrigation or no….farming is time constrained

       • Cinny 1.1.1.1

         7 February 2019 at 10:32 pm

         Absolutely agree with you Pat.

       • greywarshark 1.1.1.2

         7 February 2019 at 10:40 pm

         On the Sunday post How to get there we are finding what can and can’t be done farmwise and waterwise. Farming will be constrained but the ones that can think and act will be able to adapt.

     • Cinny 1.1.2

       7 February 2019 at 10:28 pm

       Pigeon Valley is riddled with stones and rocks, probably was an ancient river bed, metal rubbing against stones in these conditions would easily create sparks.

       If a tinder dry summer is the new norm, maybe we need stronger rules for using machinery on land next to forests.

       https://www.google.com/maps/place/Pigeon+Valley+7096/@-41.3700929,172.9212285,13895m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m13!1m7!3m6!1s0x6d3ba2c2a5f79e0d:0x500ef868479c160!2sWakefield!3b1!8m2!3d-41.4044308!4d173.0485304!3m4!1s0x6d3b9f35642330fd:0x500ef868479d130!8m2!3d-41.383764!4d173.0254841

       When the forests are closed off because the fire risk is extreme (like the last couple of weeks), then perhaps all neighbouring land owners need to be personally contacted and advised not to use machinery that could create sparks.

       PS… I’d say the golf course would be the most irrigated piece of land up the Pigeon Valley.

       • greywarshark 1.1.2.1

         7 February 2019 at 10:37 pm

         The coming times (as of now) are not a case of being contacted and ‘advised’ it is being ‘ordered’ or else. It’s not about being nice and neighbourly and all working together, it is a case of prevention of emergencies and has to be dictated.

         • Cinny 1.1.2.1.1

           7 February 2019 at 10:47 pm

           If that’s what it takes Grey.

       • joe90 1.1.2.2

         7 February 2019 at 10:40 pm

         I can’t imagine what you’d be using machinery for at this time of year.

         Mowing, track/run maintenance, driving posts……?

         • Cinny 1.1.2.2.1

           7 February 2019 at 10:49 pm

           Chainsaw for a wind felled tree is all I can come up with.

           Sleep time for me.

2. SPC 2

   7 February 2019 at 8:07 pm

   It’s a bit sad to acknowledge, but much of social media or news site commentariat is based around deliberate lying to influence others.

   Most of the “fake news” comes from individuals of the public – and one can assume that only some of this comes from (party) shills, those paid to be influencers on media sites.

   • joe90 2.1

     7 February 2019 at 9:27 pm

     and one can assume that only some of this comes from (party) shills

     Gore Vidal laid blame in his 2008 obituary of William F. Buckley, Jr.

     The unique mess that our republic is in can be, in part, attributed to a corrupt press whose roots are in mendacious news (sic) magazines like Time and Newsweek, aided by tabloids that manufacture fictional stories about actual people. This mingling of opinion and fiction has undone a media never devoted to truth. Hence, the ease with which the Republican smear-machine goes into action when they realize that yet again the party’s permanent unpopularity with the American people will cause them defeat unless they smear individually those who question the junk that the media has put into so many heads. Anyone who says “We gotta fight ’em over there or we’re gonna have to fight ’em over here.” This absurdity has been pronounced by every Republican seeking high office. The habit of lying is now a national style that started with “news” magazines that was further developed by pathological liars that proved to be “good” Entertainment on TV. But a diet of poison that has done none of us any good.

     I speak ex cathedra now, ad urbe et orbe, with a warning that no society so marinated in falsity can long survive in a real world.

     https://www.truthdig.com/articles/gore-vidal-speaks-seriously-ill-of-the-dead-2/

3. joe90 3

   7 February 2019 at 8:14 pm

   Hocking off your gold reserves seems to be the go-to move when you’re circling the gurgler.

   https://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-politics-gold/venezuelan-government-sold-73-tonnes-of-gold-to-uae-turkey-last-year-legislator-idUSKCN1PV1XE?il=0

   • Cinny 3.1

     7 February 2019 at 10:34 pm

     Lololol

4. joe90 4

   7 February 2019 at 9:47 pm

   Inoffizielle Mitarbeiter.

   Thanks to all of our #SeeSay partners and the @NFL for keeping #SBLIII safe. Learn how your organization can play a role at: https://t.co/YTbMmfP3hP pic.twitter.com/5lTXexaDpI

   — Homeland Security (@DHSgov) January 31, 2019

   • Cinny 4.1

     7 February 2019 at 10:52 pm

     If you see something…. say something

     Do I get a t-shirt if I sign up?

     Lmao.

     You crack me up Joe90 that was funny as.

5. marty mars 5

   7 February 2019 at 10:33 pm

   “Residents in Wakefield are being asked to prepare to evacuate if needed. The village has an estimated population of 3000.”

   https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/110400124/live-large-forest-fire-in-nelson-intensifies

   Stay safe over there.

   Scarey stuff.

   • Cinny 5.1

     7 February 2019 at 10:39 pm

     They are doing an incredible job making sure people are safe.

     Wind seems to have gone, fingers crossed it the fire won’t make it to the village.

     • marty mars 5.1.1

       7 February 2019 at 10:46 pm

       I’m sure they err on the side of caution in preparing people and that is good imo. And I agree – amazing work people are doing to help.

6. greywarshark 6

   7 February 2019 at 10:44 pm

   Tim Watkins musing on Waitangi Day this year:
   …I’m with Peeni Henare when he frets the day may become too “bland”. The MP was speaking in the context of relations between the upper and lower marae, but his point applies more widely.

   That Waitangi Day acts as a stone in our national shoe is something I’m proud of as a New Zealander. Many countries use their national days to parade – sometimes literally – banal cultural myths or ceremonies of false unity. They trade in triumphalism and grandiosity. But here in New Zealand we dare to face down our failings and demand better. We don’t always do it well; I don’t take any pleasure from Prime Minister’s being almost knocked form their feet or racist speeches from any side. But it is good that we are not complacent and smug.
   https://www.pundit.co.nz/content/reflections-on-a-day-at-waitangi-and-the-c-word

• Log in
• Donate
• Contribute post

• Articles RSS