Around 2500 fixed line customers using the Chorus network are currently without service, with many of those issues power related.
Chorus’ copper and fibre network infrastructure has proven to be largely resilient in the face of significant damage.
Detailed network status information is available at https://outages.chorus.co.nz/, which is updated every three minutes.
Chorus is also continuing to work closely with other telecommunications providers to restore connectivity to Kaikoura.
Damage to a fibre optic cable means Kaikoura is currently isolated, meaning residents of Kaikoura can call each other locally but no calls can be made into or out of Kaikoura. Access to Kaikoura is very challenging due to slips and road damage.
Chorus will use a helicopter to transport skilled staff, including specialist technicians, a structural engineer and an electrician, into Kaikoura to support the restoration efforts. A Chorus technician is currently in the Kaikoura exchange with a satellite phone to intercept and relay any emergency calls.
Chorus offices in Wellington and Christchurch remain closed until structural assessments are completed, safety assured, and staff are cleared to return to work.
Our thoughts and concerns are with everyone throughout the country who has been affected by the earthquakes.
Will there be a steady flow of Americans moving to Canada, Australia, New Zealand or anywhere else because Donald Trump won the election? Anyone who’s been on social media this week has probably seen the flood of comments from people saying that they will move. Canada’s immigration website crashed in the hours after Trump was declared the winner, possibly because of Americans looking into moving there.
But just how serious are they? It’s possible that after taking all into consideration, they will change their minds. Even Warren Buffett, who was a strong backer of Hillary Clinton, says he is “100% optimistic” about America after Trump’s win.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg suggests moving to New Zealand
According to The Washington Post, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg commented that she would move to New Zealand because of Trump’s surprise win. Whether she was totally joking, half-joking, or totally serious isn’t clear yet, but her comment reflects how half the country feels right now. She added, however, that her husband would be urging her to move there if Trump won.
New Zealand might be a solid choice for Americans set on moving to other countries. It’s much smaller than the U.S., both in size and population, with only about 4.4 million people calling the country home. The Post describes the politics there as “socially progressive,” which means that Hillary supporters would probably find it to be quite a comfortable place to live. Also New Zealand frequently ranks either at or close to the top of surveys about the best place in the world to live.
Americans already make their home in New Zealand
The Legatum Institute, which is based in London, placed the country at the top spot in its global prosperity index. Those who like to keep to themselves will also find that New Zealand is rather secluded, at least compared to other countries. It takes 12 hours to fly there, not only from Los Angeles but also from Tokyo, Hong Kong and Singapore. Also the countryside is pretty green.
Further, New Zealand welcomed a lot of rich Americans moving away from home in search of the last place on Earth where terrorists would rain down terror. Actor Billy Crystal also mentioned to Australian media the idea of buying a “nice little ranch” there.
According to the Post, Internet traffic from the U.S. to the websites operated by the New Zealand government, especially those dealing with immigration, soared this week. While the Immigration New Zealand site usually sees approximately 2,300 U.S. visits per day, on Thursday, it had received more than 56,000 visits from U.S. web surfers. And it was a similar story with other government travel- and immigration-related websites in New Zealand.
Google also recorded a huge spike in searches for “how to move to New Zealand” this week, with the bulk of the searches coming from California, Washington, Oregon and other blue states.
Will there really be millions of Americans moving away?
The fact that Canada’s immigration website crashed is a sign that Americans may be considering moving north as well. Australia has also been circulated as a possible place for American expats who are so angry about a Trump presidency that they will abandon ship. Americans moving to Australia would be helped by the fact that the population speaks English.
But just how serious are all of these Americans about moving? Will they go through with it? It will be a while before we know the truth, but there are many things to consider with a big move such as this. While wealthy Americans may find it easier to do so, the average Joe and Jane may realize after thinking deeply about the issue that for most people, it’s not realistic. It’s easy to have a knee-jerk reaction to something we see as earth-shattering, but working out the logistics of something so drastic is a different thing altogether.
For now, we can hope that a Trump White House won’t be as bad as half or even most of the country worries that it might be. There are enough checks and balances in place that he won’t be able to do everything he claimed to want to do. He has already removed the comment about his intention to ban all Muslims from the U.S. from his website, and he wouldn’t answer a reporter who had asked him about this topic when leaving the White House from his meeting with President Obama.
He’s obviously going to have to dial things back quite a bit, so I think what people will find is a moderated Trump they don’t expect, much like what Alibaba’s Jack Ma said after Trump’s win was announced. The downside here is that we can’t know exactly what he’s going to do.
ValueWalk - November Friday 11, 2016
WorkSafe New Zealand is advising people from Christchurch to Wellington, and those affected further afield, to exercise care and good judgement as they head to their workplaces this morning.
“Safety of you and your work colleagues must be the number one priority if you’re heading to work today in the affected areas,” said WorkSafe Chief Executive Gordon MacDonald.
“There have been reports of damage to buildings, so please exercise caution when entering buildings as the last thing any of us want is an injury because a few simple checks haven’t been undertaken.
“Listen to what Civil Defence are advising and act accordingly – they’re the experts in these situations.
“Make a careful external visual inspection of your work premises. If you see cracks or have the slightest doubt about the integrity of the building, get an expert report before you go in,” he said.
“If you decide it’s safe to enter be extra vigilant as the contents of the building may have shifted; material may have fallen; there could be hazards you would not normally expect like spilled liquids or damaged racking for stored goods.
“If you know there are chemicals or other dangerous material in your workplace, make sure you’re protected with good safety gear and be very careful when you first go in. Stop – look – assess – and don’t take any risks. There are professionals who can help you make your workplace safe.
“The WorkSafe team is ready to help – if you have any concerns or questions, you can reach us on 0800 030 040,” Mr MacDonald said.
With the processing and packaging industry alone boasting 300 trade shows around the world, AUSPACK, owned by the Australian Packaging and Processing Machinery Association and organised by Exhibitions and Trade Fairs, today announces its participation in the “THE NETWORK”, an international network federating several processing and packaging trade shows.
Through this initiative, AUSPACK will cross promote THE NETWORK to its members, facilitate relationships and encourage the sharing of experience among major international events.
Luke Kasprzak, Exhibition Director of AUSPACK and the Industrial Division at Exhibitions and Trade Fairs, comments, “We are proud to be part of this initiative which has been met with an enthusiastic response from our partners.”
“In the space of a few months, THE NETWORK has already brought together 11 shows in 7 countries and more exhibitions are due to follow.”
“With buyers present all around the world and requirements varying by individual market, international trade shows are showcases for trends and needs on a local level and represent an extremely valuable source of information for trade professionals and manufacturers.”
“To capitalise on this and promote the internationalisation of the sector, AUSPACK has decided to join THE NETWORK to expand its international reach and encourage the sharing of information and experiences. AUSPACK is already working closely with leading industry shows including Pack Expo trade shows and Pro Pack events.”
THE NETWORK was started up in April 2016 and to date has already attracted 11 partner trade shows, representing 7 countries and 7 markets:
· ALL4PACK - Paris – France (COMEXPOSIUM Group) – www.all4pack.com· AUSPACK – Sydney – Australia (APPMA – ETF) – www.auspack.com.au· DJAZAGRO - Algiers – Algeria (COMEXPOSIUM Group) – www.djazagro.com· HISPACK – Barcelona – Spain (FIRA BARCELONA) – www.hispack.com· KOREA PACK, KOREA MAT, KOREA CHEM, COPHEX – Seoul – South Korea (KPMA – KYUNGYON Exhibition Corp.) – www.koreapack.org· PACK PLUS – New Delhi – India (PRINT PACKAGING.COM (P) Ltd) – www.packplus.in· PACK PLUS South – Bengaluru – India (PRINT PACKAGING.COM (P) Ltd) – www.packplussouth.in· 3P PLAS PRINT PACK– Lahore – Pakistan (FAKT Exhibitions Pvt Ltd.) – www.plasprintpack.com
Just like AUSPACK, each of the shows in the network offers integrated processing and packaging solutions.
An Auspack release
Researchers in Germany are developing durable thermoplastic foams and composites that could make turbine blades lighter, and they believe that, as offshore turbines get larger, the technology could make transportation, installation, disassembly and disposal of turbine blades easier
An EU-funded project due to be completed early in 2017, is investigating the application of new, lightweight materials that could be used in the next generation of blades for offshore wind turbines. The participants in the project – the Fraunhofer Institute for Chemical Technology ICT, Smithers Rapra, Windrad Engineering, Loiretech, PPG Industries Fiber Glass, Norner Research, Coriolis Composites, NEN, TNO and COMFIL – believe that thermoplastic sandwich materials of the type they are working on could have a number of advantages. They note the trend towards ever larger offshore wind turbines means that rotor blades are also getting larger and larger, and heavier and heavier. Current blades can be 80m in length with a rotor diameter of over 160m. However, blade length is limited by weight, so in the long term, it is essential to develop new, lightweight, high strength materials from which to construct them if this trend is to continue. Apart from enabling the ongoing development of larger blades and more powerful turbines, lightweight materials have a number of other advantages, not least that reducing their weight makes turbines easier to assemble and disassemble.
In the Wind Blade Using Cost-Effective Advanced Lightweight Design (WALiD) project, scientists at the Fraunhofer Institute for Chemical Technology ICT in Pfinztal in Germany are working closely with industry and research partners on the design of a lightweight rotor using materials that could reduce blade weight and increase their service life. Current-generation blades are manufactured by hand using thermosetting resins. However, this kind of material doesn’t enable the use of processes that require melting, and they aren’t suitable for recycling. At best, say researchers, granulated thermoset plastic waste is recycled as filler material.
“In the WALiD project, we are pursuing a completely new type of blade,” said Florian Rapp, project co-ordinator at Fraunhofer ICT. “We’re using thermoplastics in rotor blades for the first time.” He explained that the great advantage of this kind of plastic is that it can be melted and that this enables the use of automated production facilities.
For the outer shell of the rotor blade and for segments of the inner supporting structure, the project partners are using a sandwich structure produced using thermoplastic foams and fibre-reinforced plastics. Carbon-fibre-reinforced thermoplastics are being used for the areas of the blade that bear the greatest load, and glass fibre is being used to reinforce other parts of the blade that are less highly stressed. For the sandwich core, the WALiD team is developing thermoplastic foams that are bonded with covering layers made of fibre-reinforced thermoplastics. This combination improves the mechanical strength, efficiency, durability and longevity of the rotor blade, they say. “We are really breaking new ground with the use of thermoplastic foams,” Dr Rapp said.
The blade concept the project partners are working on includes an improved blade root design, which introduces a new connection concept. The design includes a novel approach that uses the thermoplastic materials to generate the blade structures. It consists of high-performance composites processed with an automated fibre placement process. The potential benefits of this approach include weight and cost savings and the ability to produce large wind turbine blade structures. A new concept is also being investigated for the production of spar caps. The concept has a particular focus on weight saving and easy maintenance. A specially adapted robot carries out automatic fibre placement, together with unidirectional tapes and materials such as mixed glass and carbon fibre, ensuring the finished structure is strong, rigid and lightweight. An innovative lightweight design for the shear web connects the two outer shells of the wind blade and replaces the thermoset materials with a framework of new materials, including thermoplastic composites and foams. A reinforced thermoplastic coating with anti-icing properties and abrasion resistance is also being developed. This, combined with a new predictive simulation model, predicts the lifetime of the coating. The approach also enhances the erosion resistance of the blade using a ‘smart layer’ on top of the fibre-reinforced outer shell.
Dr Rapp and his colleagues note that materials of the type they are using in the WALiD project have many potential applications, such as in the automotive, aviation and shipping industries. The foam materials used in some applications have limited stability at high temperatures so cannot be used in close proximity to an engine in a vehicle, for instance, but the meltable plastic foams that are being used in WALiD are temperature stable and can withstand higher temperatures than, for example, expanded polystyrene foam (EPS) or expanded polypropylene (EPP). Their enhanced mechanical properties also make them suitable for many other potential applications. Another advantage is that they can be quickly and easily processed. The innovative materials used in the WALiD project are manufactured at the Institute’s own foam extrusion plant in Pfinztal. “We melt the plastic granules, mix a blowing agent into the polymer melt and foam the material,” Dr Rapp explained. “The foamed, stabilised particles and semi-finished products can then be shaped and cut as desired.”
Source Offshore Wind Journal - November Friday 11, 2016
Palace of the Alhambra, Spain
By: Charles Nathaniel Worsley (1862-1923)
From the collection of Sir Heaton Rhodes
Oil on canvas - 118cm x 162cm
Valued $12,000 - $18,000
Offers invited over $9,000
Contact: Henry Newrick – (+64 ) 27 471 2242
Mount Egmont with Lake
By: John Philemon Backhouse (1845-1908)
Oil on Sea Shell - 13cm x 14cm
Valued $2,000-$3,000
Offers invited over $1,500
Contact: Henry Newrick – (+64 ) 27 471 2242