Two a penny

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It was a reunion of reunions.

Twelve Apollo astronauts reminisced, traded stories and poked fun at each other Friday night as the 40th anniversary of the first moon landing and moonwalk approached.

The crowd of hundreds at the National Museum of the United States Air Force erupted in cheers when a video chronicling the space program replayed Armstrong’s famous first words after stepping on the moon July 20, 1969: “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.

The astronauts, including first moonmen Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, attended the ceremony in which the National Aviation Hall of Fame presented the Apollo crews with the “Spirit of Flight” award for their courage and dedication. “Any time you go to a place where everything you see is different than anything you’ve ever seen before in your life, it’s unique and it’s memorable.”

“It was spectacular,” Armstrong recalled of gazing at the moon’s surface as he took those first steps.”

However, Armstrong said he and Aldrin had little time to savor the experience. And that certainly was.

Armstrong said he had been a backup on Apollo 8 and that when he wasn’t needed was asked if he wanted to be on the third mission down the line — what turned out to be the fateful Apollo 11 mission.

“We didn’t rest hardly five seconds when we got a message from Mission Control, saying get on with the next item,” Armstrong said.

“We knew we had a chance at landing, but it was by no means certain,” he said. He said it was difficult to predict the exact mission of succeeding flights.

Astronaut Eugene Cernan, the last man to walk on the moon, also flew in the flight preceding Armstrong’s.

As they sat together on the stage, the astronauts joked and bantered with each other.

“Everyone knew Neil could land on the moon, but we didn’t have a lot of confidence Neil could find it,” Cernan quipped. He joked that his job was to paint a white line to the moon that Apollo 11 could follow.

But the first lunar landing was a serious matter for the astronauts and those in mission control.

“I’ve been listening to that for 40 years, and this is not the time to change my position,” Armstrong shot back, drawing laughs from the crowd.

“I can’t say it was panic, but it was a lot of attention to detail in mission control,” said Charles Duke, who was at mission control at the time. When the designated landing zone proved to be too rocky, Armstrong had to burn fuel from a diminishing supply to find a suitable place to touch down.” When there were only 30 seconds of fuel left, “it got dead silent. .”

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LATEST:
Freezing weather moving across the country looks set to continue resulting in major disruption on South Island roads today.

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In Otago, State Highway 8 between Omarama and Tarras, and between Alexandra and Roxburgh, and SH6 between Haast and Makarora were closed due to snow, while in Canterbury, snow had closed State Highway 80 close to Mt Cook.

Also closed due to snow were SH85 from Omakau to Alexandra, SH6 from Cromwell to Queenstown, and the Lindis Pass. Further north, SH65 from SH6 to Springs Junction was also closed.5cm expected over the next day.

The MetService said that snow showers are expected on Arthurs and Porters passes this morning above about 700 metres with around 1.

State Highway 94 had two warnings in place since yesterday morning – between Mossburn and Te Anau as a result of ice on the road, and between Te Anau and Milford due to snow, the Automobile Association said.

Between three and five centimetres of snow are forecast above 500 metres between Lake Gunn and the Homer Tunnel on Milford Rd during the day.

Snow warnings were also in place last night on SH73 between Springfield and Arthur’s Pass and between Arthur’s Pass and Otira.

A snow warning was also in place on Crown Range between Wanaka and Arrow Junction since midday yesterday.

A Queenstown police spokeswoman said it was the first time in years she had heard of snow forcing the closure of the Kawarau Gorge.

The Kawarau Gorge (SH6) between Queenstown and Cromwell had been closed temporarily but re-opened early this morning.

The MetService warned of snowfall on a number of Canterbury and Otago roads.

Motorists were reported to have become stuck in heavy snow in some areas and police were urging others to be aware of closures and warnings. .

The MetService said two to three centimetres of snow could fall to 800 metres on Lewis Pass, and five to eight centimetres on Arthur’s Pass down to 700 metres, between midnight and 6am this morning.

In the North Island the Desert Road is closed, with conditions set to remain treacherous with snow showers forecast to turn to rain this morning before clearing by about midday.

At Lindis Pass, up to eight centimetres of snow had been expected to fall down to 400 metres in the 15 hours from midnight, easing this afternoon.

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SCHOOLS CLOSED

Meanwhile, the treacherous road conditions have led to the closure of several schools in Central Otago today

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A five-year-old boy was made to clean toilets by a caregiver as punishment at a Child, Youth and Family-funded after-school care programme in Rotorua.

Now his mother is seeking legal advice on the punishment – dished out after the boy supposedly hit a girl in the face with a ball.

Oriwa Pehi-Livapulu said her son Noble could have become sick after the incident at the Chipmunks Centre last week.

“My mana has been taken away from me.

He was only five and did not even clean the toilet at home, she said.

She has complained to CYF, which funded the programme. Noble’s spirit has been trampled on”, she told The New Zealand Herald.

Noble has denied hitting the girl on purpose and the incident was an accident, she said. .

Chipmunks centre owner Doug Lambert did not return calls yesterday but has said Noble was made to squirt cleaning product into a toilet before scrubbing it with a brush while being supervised by the 40-year-old caregiver, who was new.

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– Next National story: –
Charges considered after car ploughs into bakery

– National Homepage –

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CYF would not comment on whether making a child clean a toilet was appropriate

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Report on safety of lightbulbs out soon

By DAVID WILLIAMS – Monday, 02 March 2009

A report on a Government investigation into the effects of mercury found in energy-efficient lightbulbs is due in May.
Controversy about the impact of mercury from energy-efficient lightbulbs on people, particularly when bulbs break, has prompted the Ministry for the Environment inquiry.
Results should be known by the end of May.
The ministry's manager of hazardous substances and new organisms, Neil Cooper, of Wellington, said the investigation would follow the life cycle of the bulbs, from production to their use and disposal, examining any effects on people or the environment.
There had been no official Government position on mercury, but there had been discussions during the past four years about the need for New Zealand data, particularly because of a mooted global mercury treaty, Cooper said.
The ministry was also conducting a sweeping study an "inventory and flow analysis" into pollution from the highly toxic heavy metal in New Zealand, which would identify sources and any potential problems, Cooper said.
"Most of the naturally occurring mercury in New Zealand comes from geothermal activity, but the amount that puts into the atmosphere would be pretty low," Cooper said.
This month, at a meeting of the United Nations Environment Programme's (UNEP) governing council in Nairobi, Kenya, 140 countries agreed to negotiate towards an international mercury treaty by 2013.
"In New Zealand it has not been seen as a problem, and certainly other countries have a far greater issue with it," Cooper said. .
Results from the environmental study of mercury are due at the end of April.

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Pacific people hit hard by recession

By KATHERINE NEWTON Friday, 20 February 2009

Pacific Islandersare far more vulnerable to the effects of the economic crisis than other groups, a forum was told yesterday.
Pacific Island Affairs Ministry chief executive Colin Tukuitonga told the meeting of community and business leaders that almost a quarter of islanders were employed in manufacturing an industry already hit by the downtown.
Mr Tukuitonga said that, although the community was resilient, he was worried about the proportion of young, unskilled workers.
The ministry forum is designed to help New Zealand's Pacific Islanders through the recession. "We want to focus on skills and training and higher education so they .
He said younger people should be encouraged to stay in education…"
In 2006, 48 per cent of Pacific Island people in New Zealand were aged under 19 and 64 per cent of Pacific Island employees worked in semi-skilled to low-skilled jobs. set themselves up for better jobs when the upturn comes. .
Dr Tukuitonga also said he had concerns about how extended families, who exist on money sent from wages earned in New Zealand, would be affected by the downturn.
"It's very real out here in Porirua," Porirua city councillor Litea Ah Hoi said. Many believe the recession is hitting Pacific people hard."
People still felt obliged to help out extended family even though times were tougher, Ms Ah Hoi said. "Our unemployment rate has risen by 500 in the last three months.
"We just have to hold back and look at what is really important. "And families still want to spend big money on weddings and funerals, leaving less for essentials."

. That's making sure that the rent is paid, there's a roof over kids' heads and food in their tummies

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Closer scrutiny of sub-standard schools

– Thursday, 05 February 2009

Top schools will be left to review themselves while the blowtorch will go on the worst schools under changes announced by the Education Minister.
The worst-performed schools face having their schools taken over for three years to correct failures.
"These schools will have shown that they are capable of reviewing their own performance and processes and using that information for the benefit of their students," Tolley said.
The minister responsible for the Education Review Office (ERO), Anne Tolley, yesterday said some schools would be exempt from the regular three-yearly ERO reviews and instead would be reviewed every four to five years."
However, schools that were not performing consistently would be reviewed more oftenly, Tolley said.
"This will minimise the compliance demands placed on these schools and allow them to get on with the business of teaching and learning.
Since taking office in November last year, Tolley has deposed two North Island boards at schools considered dysfunctional.
"We need to ensure those schools that are struggling in a number of areas are closely and more oftenly monitored to ensure their situation doesn't worsen," she said.
A further 42 schools nationwide have limited statutory managers in place 10 of those are in the South Island.
Commissioners are now in place at 28 schools across the country including three in Canterbury.
School Trustees Association president Lorraine Kerr said school boards should have "a climate of no excuses for under achievement".
Swannanoa School near Rangiora, Cheviot Area School and Mairehau High School in Christchurch all have limited statutory managers.
"If it's personnel and other things then you're looking at a longer period of time, ," Kerr said. ."
Labour education spokesman Chris Carter said it was more important to put extra resources into struggling schools than to put more pressure on them.
I wouldn't want to see them in there for any longer than three years.
New Zealand Educational Institute president Frances Nelson said the more rigorous review cycle needed to be "more than just a simple weighing and measuring exercise".
"It's fine to keep reviewing schools that are perceived as failing but the only effective way of addressing concerns in those schools is extra resourcing," Carter said. That can result in good staff leaving and a poor image of the school created in the community or media.
"Often schools which are not performing feel like they're being scrutinised and shamed.

. In the end it's the children who are stuck in the middle," Nelson said

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AFP – French President Nicolas Sarkozy Thursday confirmed press reports that a second state-of-the-art nuclear reactor would be built in Penly in the country’s north.

The Penly nuclear power station is located northeast of Dieppe. . It has been designed and developed mainly by Framatome, now Areva, and EDF in France, and Siemens AG in Germany.

The EPR is a third generation pressurised water reactor design.

energy – France – nuclear power

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Police follow trail of blood to burglar

Tuesday, 27 January 2009

Police had an easy time finding burglar Matthew Exeter.
He cut himself breaking the windows of a house he burgled and then carried a duvet full of computer gear along Christchurch streets, dripping a trail of blood.
Exeter, 22, initially denied the burglaries, but in the end pleaded guilty.
A member of the public contacted police, who traced the blood trail to his front door.
Judge Jane Farish, in Christchurch District Court, described his burglaries as ridiculous. He was jailed today for 15 months.''
On December 18, Exeter broke two windows to get into a suburban Riccarton property where tourists were staying.
“It indicates to me that you must have been significantly under the influence of drugs or alcohol to have walked down Riccarton Road with the duvet of stolen goods across your back, dripping blood.
Inside, he rounded up two laptop computers, two digital cameras, iPods, and a Blackberry electronic organiser, piled them into a duvet and set off along Riccarton Road with it slung over his shoulder. He cut himself in the process.
Judge Farish said Exeter had been jailed as a young man- the first of several prison terms- and had also received a significant head injury which affected his cognitive thinking and concentration.
When police caught up with him, they found the stolen goods and a laptop from another burglary.
Judge Farish received a letter from his grandparents appealing for a rehabilitation sentence that would enable him to remain crime-free. .
"In the long term, it is going to be in the best interests of the community to stop you doing these crazy crimes because of your alcohol and drug problem,'' she said.
She jailed him with permission to apply for home detention if a Community Alcohol and Drug Service assessment is completed and if a place can be found for him on a rehabilitation course.

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Street noise forces staff to move patients

– Friday, 23 January 2009

Patients recovering from surgery at a Christchurch hospital are being moved at weekends to avoid the roar of boy racers.
Southern Cross Hospital says that in recent months it has been forced to move patients from its Bealey Ave wing on Fridays and Saturdays as a result of the racket created by cars roaring past.
In another study, by the Federal Environmental Agency in Germany, men exposed to traffic noise of more than 70 decibels during the day were 30 per cent more likely to suffer a heart attack than those whose daily noise exposure did not exceed 60 decibels.
Swedish researchers, whose work was published in the Journal of Epidemiology last week, found low-level, long-term traffic noise was associated with a 38 per cent increased risk of a heart attack.
Patients and surgeons had complained about the noise, which went from about 7pm to the early hours.
A spokeswoman said the hospital removed as many people as possible from the wing facing Bealey Ave during weekends. "It's shocking, and we are set back from the road a bit. Hospital management considered fitting special windows to minimise noise, but the glazing would not have blocked the din enough for it to be worthwhile, the spokeswoman said."
Bryan Sutherland, of Amberley, said he spent a night at the hospital recovering from knee surgery and felt like he was "being held hostage" by boy racers. It stops people sleeping and is horrible. .
"I had read about these people, watched their antics on television and heard some of the residents around Christchurch crying out for something to be done," he said.30pm.
"The first wave struck Bealey Ave about 7. The noise was indescribable. Fear was my first reaction, followed by anger."
The Ministry of Transport is writing a report for Transport Minister Steven Joyce on proposals to curb noisy cars.
"The noise level transcended anything I have ever encountered in my lifetime of nearly 80 years.

. The report should be finished mid-year

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European-only ‘mini-state’ planned

– Thursday, 22 January 2009

SEEKING DONATIONS: Former skinhead, National Front leader and Christchurch mayoral candidate Kyle Chapman wants to set up a community for "like-minded Europeans” in North Canterbury.

"Shaven-headed, jack-booted, race-based, white power" – meet your new neighbours Rangiora.
Former skinhead, National Front leader and Christchurch mayoral candidate Kyle Chapman is attempting to set up a "unified mini-state" in North Canterbury.
Chapman's "Land Base" proposes to have:
* Training areas for "sport fighting".
The proposal, a commune-style arrangement for "like-minded Europeans", has drawn condemnation from across the political spectrum.
* A "meeting house for gatherings of leaders and active nationalists". .
* A "social bar for fundraising and building unity".
Chapman's plans were uncovered after a copy of an email to members of a far-Right group, the Nationalist Alliance, was leaked on to the internet.
* A large vegetable garden.
"With an ever decreasing European population we face the real risk of having no power in our Nation," it said.
Beginning "Hello Patriots", Chapman asked for donations for the project. We must act to build a unified mini-state that we could build up in future to be a base for other like-minded Europeans to come to from other dying countries. "It currently crumbles through the current system of bad government policies, greedy politicians and businessmen."
Once established, the Nationalist Alliance intended to use its "high concentration of like-minded folk" to elect local officials and a member of Parliament sympathetic to its views."
Once established, the Nationalist Alliance intended to use its "high concentration of like-minded folk" to elect local officials and a member of Parliament sympathetic to its views."
* "Ability to put our European skills and intelligence to create new technologies and build something to be proud of."
* "Encouraging, supportive and friendly interaction with like-minded people."
The proposal said the base would be established "in the North Canterbury area"."
* "Safety in numbers.
Waimakariri MP Clayton Cosgrove said Chapman's plans were of concern, "given his track record of shaven-headed, jack-booted, race-based, white-power activity".
Chapman declined to comment to , saying there was plenty of information in the email.' Cosgrove said the language Chapman used in the email "bred hate and division".
"If the motivation is some sort of extreme white-power compound, I'd be deeply concerned, as would any community. He's 50 or 60 years behind the world.
"This is nutty stuff. It's crackpot stuff," Cosgrove said. It's crackpot stuff," Cosgrove said.
Hurunui Mayor Garry Jackson was unavailable for comment but a spokeswoman, Naomi Woodham, said the proposal was "abhorrent and offensive".
"All of us here at the Hurunui District Council welcome and embrace cultural diversity, and if there was a proposal to set up a white supremacist movement in the Hurunui District it would be strongly opposed," she said. "Especially one encouraging sport fighting and survivalist training. This sounds like a form of surreptitious terrorist instruction."
National MP Kate Wilkinson, a North Canterbury resident and Associate Minister for Immigration, said most "thinking people" would not consider membership of Chapman's "exclusive club".Discrimination and division were not part of our culture, she said.
Chapman resigned as leader of the National Front in 2005, citing pressure on his children, who were being shunned at school.