Looking back over the past weeks and to the weeks ahead – to rate the noteworthy, the cringeworthy, the good, the bad, the ugly, and the truly amazing.
Feat given record status, finally
You spend seven years knocking together a faithful reproduction of Paris’ Eiffel Tower, made from matchsticks, only for the people at the Guinness records office to knock you back on a technicality. That’s what happened to Richard Plaud, who painstakingly constructed what he thought was the world’s tallest structure made only from matchsticks.
Over seven years, with over 700,000 matchsticks, Richard “said that they [Guinness World Records] rejected him because the structure must be built from matches that are available to the public for purchase and don’t have flammable red tips – and they must ‘not be cut, disassembled or deformed to the point where they are no longer recognised’ as matches.”
“Mr Plaud told French media outlet TFI he started off the tower with matches bought commercially, but became tired of having to cut off their red tips one by one, so ended up contacting the main French manufacturer to have the wooden rods delivered in 15kg boxes. He says he did not know this would disqualify him from breaking the record. Mr Plaud, 47, said he spent eight years and 4,200 hours assembling 706,900 matches to build the world’s tallest structure made of matches, measured at 7.19m (23.6ft).” (Source: “Guinness World Records admits it was too ‘heavy-handed’ in rejecting man’s entry – and gives him the title,” 9th February, www.news.sky.com).
However, after reviewing their decision and re-analysing the rules, Guinness World records overturned their original decision and awarded the record to Mr Plaud.
5 stars – a truly splendid piece of engineering and a worthy homage to the original.
Super Bowl betting hits record heights
Tomorrow New Zealand time is Super Bowl Sunday in the US. The biggest day in the US sports calendar, this year’s game is a showdown between the Kansas City Chiefs and The San Francisco 49ers. More than just a football game, the Super Bowl is famed for it’s half time show and advertisements, produced solely for the event.
However, this year the game breaks a record for that other add on to sports – betting. Reading the figures is rather sobering. 67.8 million Americans are expected to fork out $23.1 billion dollars on bets – that’s a 35 percent increase on last year’s game. To put that in perspective – it’s roughly 10 percent of New Zealand’s GDP.
3 stars – I’m rating this right down the middle. Not good, or bad.
No, Mr mayor, it’s not ‘your city’, it’s ours
I’ve lived in three of our major cities and for the past 20 years, Auckland has been my home. My kids have been raised here and I’ve lived all over – east, south, north, and west. Like most Aucklanders, I feel blessed by some of the great things about living here and feel incredibly frustrated by how difficult it can be. So when I read our mayor decrying the government’s decision to remove the regional fuel tax, and asserting that this is ‘my city’, I was reminded of the many decades of narrow minded local politics that has resulted in inertia and gridlock in our largest city.
With an ever growing population and a lack of imagination and action to implement future thinking infrastructure, Auckland shows little sign of giving its inhabitants what it needs. Sure, I understand those things require money but more than that they demand leadership. There is no room for squabbling, finger pointing, and avoiding responsibility. Local politics need not mirror national politics. After all its function is to disperse rate monies for local infrastructure and to work with central government for funding to cover shortfalls and to initiate programmes that are of benefit to all of New Zealand.
True leaders work with others to establish and realise necessary goals and Auckland has many needs and many goals. It requires transport options that work, wastewater systems that do not dispense sewerage into the sea and close down beaches after every heavy rainfall. What it needs is drive and imaginative people who can work together to fix problems and deliver new solutions.
I would suggest that someone who publicly states that this city is his, may not be that sort of leader. Understanding the needs and wants of the citizens of the city he represents would be of far greater value.
1 star – robust leadership is essential for every representative position, and this ain’t it.
