More Photo-memories

This photo was taken  around the mid-1960's, about the same time as a previous photo of our General Motors/Frigidaire fire brigade team shown a short while back.

That's me on the right with the piano accordion. On the left is Bill, my production-line foreman on the electric stove manufacturing production line, and at the back is Shirley, leading hand on the refrigerator line. I don't know who the drummer was. (I was the electrical test technician on the line.)

We all three played the piano accordions by ear and in hindsight we probably weren't very good, but we practiced in advance of the company social and played a couple of medleys of old popular songs for the crowd to dance to.

Ah, it was fun at the time!

I finally gave it away after Jill and I were married and went back to electrical contracting, which was my forte, and also to earn better money. I was an electrician by trade.

(Click photo to enlarge)

Christchurch, NZ earthquake – follow-up

The earthquake was frightening at the time but people are now being spooked by many, many, (over 50) aftershocks, many under 10 kilometers deep and several over 5 on the Richter scale.

As though this isn’t bad enough there are huge quantities of water bringing up huge quantities of black sludgy sand which covers everything and could be a dangerous mix like a quicksand.

On TV tonight we saw a family trying to dig out a bicycle that was leaning against the house when the quake hit, and it just disappeared into the sand. They never found the bike but a wheelbarrow appeared as they dug.

Organizations to help people in the city is generally quite good with people helping each other too, but many homes in the suburbs have been destroyed or damaged beyond repair by the earthquake faults running through the middle of them.

Commercial buildings in the centre of Christchurch are so damaged they are dangerous and are being knocked down to remove the hazard of them collapsing under the many aftershocks. High winds are also predicted and rain which will hamper the tidy-up which is presently proceeding well.

Many roads are inaccessible because of cracks and land reshaping that has taken place, making access around the city difficult.

The army is assisting with work as are contracting firms with heavy machinery, dairy company tankers are supplying fresh water, and portable toilets are set up in suitable locations. The Red Cross are also helping out. Some petrol service stations are operating as are supermarkets. 90% of water and electricity supplies are now back in service, though water must be boiled before use. Sewage pipes are badly damaged and it will be some time before the repairs are completed.

Many large NZ businesses have donated several million NZ Dollars as has the NZ Government, and longer term accommodation will be required for those who have lost their homes. Earthquake and property insurance should cover much of the cost if people are insured.

In the cold light of day and time reality is setting in and people are beginning to realize their plight. Help is at hand from many quarters, but will it be enough and in time for those who need it urgently? I hope so.

See here for more information:
http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/two-escape-crumbling-building-3761283

Major Earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand today

This morning at 4.35am the city of Christchurch in the South Island had a large earthquake rated at 7.1 on the Richter Scale and only 10 kilometres deep. Christchurch is the second biggest city in New Zealand and this was a major shake, specially as the epicentre was only 30 Kilometres from the city centre, and there was a great deal of damage occurring to buildings and city infrastructure such as water supply, sewerage and electricity, and much damage to roads around the area due to rising or subsiding of the land. Railway tracks from Christchurch were also twisted out of shape, as were some bridges.

There was much damage also to homes, commercial and industrial property and vehicles parked near buildings when bricks and stones fell on them.

Fortunately there appears to be no loss of life, though two people were seriously injured by debris.

The Christchurch hospital and emergency health centres are coping well with those less badly injured, and emergency accommodation has been set up in three schools and colleges in the city, and as usual the
Salvation Army as well as other agencies, and the people themselves are doing what they can to help residents who have no homes to go to.

Police and army are there in numbers to supervise security.

The NZ Government is pledging financial assistance where it is needed, and no doubt other help if required.

Though the damage is substantial those in Civil Defence and other emergency services including the city's Mayor and services staff, fire brigade and ambulance services appear to be coping admirably and the population appears to be taking the situation calmly.

There have been over 20 big aftershocks shaking all day, the latest occurred just after 7pm tonight.

For copywrite reasons I am unable to show photos from the news organisations, but this website gives some idea of the damage : http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/photogallery-christchurch-earthquake-3759986/photos

http://www.free-clipart-pictures.net/book_clipart.html

Reading Books

During most of my life I haven’t been a very avid reader but since retiring with no urgency to go to sleep early I am reading more books and finding more authors that I like to read. But sometimes I like to read something out of the ordinary.

For example I have read Charles Dicken's story “A Christmas Carol” a while back, and I am currently reading his longer novel “A Tale of two Cities.” He wrote and published this novel in 1859 and the story occurred at the time of the French Revolution in 1775, and is based on the historical book “The French Revolution: A History” by Thomas Carlyle, written in 1837.

On beginning “The Tale of Two Cities” I thought it would be a dry story in ‘olde’ English, but now I am into it it is quite enjoyable and teaches what life was like in those days. I’m sure glad I never lived then! The story is written in three books, each in turn entitled “Recalled to Life,” “The Golden Thread.” and “The Track of a Storm.”

I found the opening chapter very strange, and many will remember these words which begin it:

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness……”

This might give the impression that I am a scholarly type, which isn’t correct. I just like to know a bit about the works of other authors. For example, I have read two Harry Potter (J.K.Rowling) books (not my type), Robinson Crusoe (Daniel Defoe), the “Doctor” (In The House) series, James Herriot’s Vet series, and books by actors such as Kenneth Moore and Dirk Bogarde, among others. But my preferred authors are Bryce Courtenay, Lee Child, Clive Cussler and Jeffrey Archer. I hope at some time to also read “The Clockwork Orange,” “Guns of Navarone” (Maclean) and “To Kill a Mocking Bird” (Lee).

I think it’s helpful to read different author’s works and it certainly satisfies my knowledge of them.

 

Talking to God 3
Me: Hi God.
God: Hi there.
Me: Can I ask some more questions?
God: Sure. Go for it.
Me: I would like to know how living things came to be. Did you create them all?
God: In a manner of speaking, yes.
Me: I don’t understand.
God: Well, I deliberately never created living things directly. I created the environment for them to form and develop and they grew from there. It was great fun!
Me: I’m not sure that I understand?
God: OK. Well, do you remember when you were young and you experimented with making salt crystals?
Me: Um, yes….
God: Well, remember how you mixed the salts – bluestone or alum, in warm water until the water couldn’t dissolve any more of the salt. Then you left the glass jar in a warm place and watched it every day to see the crystals start to form and grow bigger?
Me: Oh yes, I remember doing that now. It was fun! Sometimes the crystals grew quite big and with nice shapes. The bluestone crystals were blue and the alum crystals were clear. But how does this explain how you made life?
God: In very much the same way. I made the mixture and sat back and watched the life forms develop. Some became animals and creatures and some became plants. There was also a fair mix of other strange things as well. Some didn’t last very long.
Me: How did some life forms develop in some places and not in others?
God: Because that’s where they formed. For example, kangaroos formed in the vicinity of Australia, and polar bears in the cold Arctic. Plants were the same. They are different in different parts of the world because that’s where they developed.
Me: What about us humans. Did we form that way too or did you do something different for us?
God: Nothing different. You all came about in the same way. I just treated you a bit differently, that’s all. Although you came in different shapes, sizes and colours you all had more advanced brains so I decided to help you to develop greater awareness and intelligence.
Me: Gosh, that’s wonderful! I have one more question, and I will be interested to learn your answer. What came first, the chicken or the egg?
God: Ah, now you are trying to be clever aren’t you? It’s not really a difficult question. The egg came first. How else did you expect life to form? It’s the same for all living things. The egg is the seed, and the seed came first.
Me: Wow! You sure gave that answer convincingly. And it makes sense.
God: Of course. Shall we leave it at that for today?
Me: Yes, I think so. Wow! You sure cleared up my questions again today.
Thanks.
God: Glad to help. Bye.

Alfred Nobel – Millionaire – Originator of the Nobel Prize

Alfred Nobel was born in Stockholm, Sweden, on October 21, 1833.

By the age of 17 Alfred Nobel was fluent in Swedish, Russian, French, English and German. His primary interests were in English literature and poetry as well as in chemistry and physics.

He met the young Italian chemist Ascanio Sobrero in Paris who had three years earlier invented nitroglycerine, a highly explosive liquid. It was considered too dangerous to be of any practical use. Although its explosive power greatly exceeded that of gunpowder, the liquid would explode in a very unpredictable manner if subjected to heat and pressure. Alfred Nobel became very interested in nitroglycerine and how it could be put to practical use in construction work. He also realized that the safety problems had to be solved and a method had to be developed for the controlled detonation of nitroglycerine. Together with his father he performed experiments to develop nitroglycerine as a commercially and technically useful explosive.

To make the handling of nitroglycerine safer Alfred Nobel experimented with different additives. He eventually was able to make the explosive safer to handle by developing a form which he called dynamite. To detonate the dynamite rods he also invented a detonator (blasting cap) which could be ignited by lighting a fuse. The use of dynamite drastically reduced the cost of blasting rock, drilling tunnels, building canals and many other forms of construction work.

The market for dynamite and detonating caps grew very rapidly and Alfred Nobel also proved himself to be a very skillful entrepreneur and businessman. Over the years he founded factories and laboratories in some 90 different places in more than 20 countries.

He focused on the development of explosives technology as well as other chemical inventions, including such materials as synthetic rubber and leather, artificial silk, etc. By the time of his death in 1896 he had 355 patents.

When Alfred Nobel wrote his final Will it was to include a Prize yearly for persons or organizations recommended and accepted for Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature and Peace. The Nobel Foundation is the organisation set up to take care of the financial assets left by Nobel for this purpose and is generally administered in Sweden.

For further information see: http://nobelprize.org/alfred_nobel/biographical/articles/life-work/

Want saving?
I came across this video today. Her name is Tamara Lowe (thanks Sue).
She is brilliant both at what she says and how she says it I think. Hope you enjoy it.