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Mike Riversdale

Pile Reflection

By Mike Riversdale / Thursday, November 24, 2022

Still makes me titter, "piles". Not the bum ones, the ones that hold up houses or, in this case, a bridge.

Commonwealth Walkway, Wellington, New Zealand

#water

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The Difference Between One Million And One Billion

It's feels like a billion is just a bit bigger than a million. Obviously it's bigger but it fits on the same scale as a million, surely. It doesn't. A billion is so so so much bigger than a million. I've trawled the internet finding graphics and videos that show the VAST difference between one million and one billion. Oh, and just to finish with a different misconception about space starting with the classic opening line from the great Douglas Adams and The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy : “Space is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist's, but that's just peanuts to space.”

W. C. Fields quotes

The office has all been moved around - new desks (with starter handles to raise and lower them), new high(er) speed network and ... the same old work. At least I have a differing view of the world, my team (well, the team I'm a part of not "my" team) is a lot closer - finally - and it's like an office from the 80's ... or even a classroom. But I still have time to move the crap off the PC : ------ Any man who hates dogs and loves whiskey can't be all bad. Anyone who hates Dogs and Kids Can't be All Bad. Hey! Who took the cork off my lunch??! Who stole the cork from my breakfast? Now don't say you can't swear off drinking, it's easy. I've done it a thousand times. Horse sense is the thing a horse has which keeps it from betting on people. If at first you don't succeed, try, try, again. Then quit, no use being a damn fool about things. Madam, there's no such thing as a tough child - if you parboil them first for seven hours, they alwa

The First Wellingtonian

Hundreds of years ago, a man named Tara founded the first permanent human settlement in Wellington. The city still bears his name: Te Whanganui a Tara. But what do we actually know about him? And so starts the excellent The first Wellingtonian Spinoff article ... have a read, go on, edjumikate yourself 😁 As an aside, here's a list of names for the harbour / city: Te Whanganui-a-Tara (the great harbour of Tara) Wellington Harbour (see below) Port Nicholson (after Sydney's harbour master Captain John Nicholson) Pōneke (said to be a transliteration of Port Nick) Wellington (from Arthur Wellesley, the first Duke of Wellington) Te Upoko o te Ika a Maui (the head of Maui’s fish)

The Bugs Will Get Us

I recall a stack of tweets, blog posts, and even a book, Antibiotic Resistance: The End Of Modern Medicine? (2017) , from Associate Professor Siouxsie Wiles , yes her of the red hair, a researcher and science communicator based at Auckland University. The messages she was sending out were disturbing and bloody scary. Not only do Baym's experiments show how quickly antimicrobial resistance can emerge, they beautifully illustrate the power of selection: mutants survive when they have an advantage. And what better way to have an advantage than when antimitochondrials are present? In other words, antimitochondrial use drives resistance. [Note: Whilst Wiles book is an excellent intro to the subject, clear and concise, it is particularly excellent reading for everyone in Aotearoa New Zealand as she highlights what it means to each and every Kiwi.] In essence the bugs, and by that I mean bacteria not viruses, are getting immune to antibiotics which means we may end up back in Medieval

Time For A Haircut

It seems to be always time for a haircut, hence my question recently. In Monmouth there is only one barber that one frequents, and that's Sid's, no sorry, that's Dave's , no it's actually Paddy's these days. I can just about recall Sid, he was funny, round (I think), a bit like a 1960's end of pier comedian ... that's probably doing him an awful injustice. His apprentice at the time was Dave Willet and he became the man who did the hair for the lads and gents. It was always a place that Mums would take their boys for their haircuts. On my visit to Monmouth last year and after saving all the hair for the Iceland trip it was definitely time to have it shaved off, so down to Sid/Dave/Paddy I went. It hasn't changed, but it is more modern, love how Paddy has done that. PS: I was also getting my facial hair removed, much to chagrin of my girlfriend. Luckily she was in New Zealand and so it grew back just in time 😁