No earthquake here

Media reports of an earthquake and Tsunami warning in New Zealand have caused some concern for our friends and family overseas. So, for their benefit, we are completely fine—the earthquake was at the opposite end of the country from us, about 160km northwest of Invercargill (the official report is here). Invercargill is approximately 1183km (735 US miles) south of Auckland, so we never felt a thing, though much of the South Island did.

According to GNS Science, there are between 10,000 and 15,000 earthquakes in and around New Zealand each year, of which 100 - 150 are big enough to be felt. I’ve felt two in thirteen years, neither of them particularly strong, though the most recent one—nearly two and a half years ago—got my attention.

The Tsunami warning is pretty standard procedure for earthquakes of this magnitude, but that doesn’t mean one will happen. Still, earthquakes and Tsunamis are something that all New Zealanders are told to be prepared for (and in Auckland, we add volcanoes to that list).

So, we are fine, people in the South Island are fine, and at the moment there doesn’t seem to be any reason to worry about a Tsunami. I have to admit, it was great (and touching) to see Twitter—which is so quick to relay breaking news—light up with folks’ concern for our well-being. Thank you all.

Seeking truth

Today I received an email from a friend of mine. It included the text of an anti-Obama chain email, one that wasn’t overtly extremist in its language; in fact, it sounded like an angry person who wasn’t necessarily extremist.

My friend asked me if the claims were for real, so I checked and one by one the assertions in the email fell—some were outright lies, the rest distortions (some so distorted that they’re more correctly viewed as lies). So, it turned out, it was extremist propaganda masquerading as being from a normal person.

Frankly, I spent far too much time refuting the lies and distortions of that email—far more time than the average person would ever spend. And here’s the thing: I had no problem finding original sources (Presidential Executive Orders, laws passed by Congress, etc.). The only link provided in the chain email—to the Federal Register—was legitimate, but the interpretations were truly bizarre.

This particular email doesn’t matter, but rather how easy it is, even now, for political people to distort the truth to suit their own ends, and how, even now, people don’t check out what they hear in such emails (I checked because I was asked to; if I’d received the email I probably would’ve rolled my eyes, assuming it was nonsense, and deleted it).

I don’t see anything that can be done about this apart from this: When we get a political email—particularly one that seems to come from either end of the spectrum—we ought to completely ignore it if it doesn’t provide verifiable sources for the claims made—not news media sites, but actual original sources. Yeah, I know, I’m not going to see any political activist actually do that.

So, let me instead again quote that supposed journalists’ dictum: “If your mother says she loves you, check it out.” We may not want to take our email checking quite that far, but a healthy scepticism is a good thing. With some time and effort, if we seek the truth we can find it, whether the activists want us to or not.

Eating sovereignty

There’s a controversy in New Zealand over the imminent requirement that bread be artificially fortified with folic acid. It’s intended to help reduce birth defects, but critics argue that the possible risks to other people are too great. To me, the larger issue has nothing to do with that.

First the health side: Women who get additional folic acid before pregnancy and in the early stages have a greatly reduced chance of birth defects in their babies. So, proponents argue that artificially adding folic acid to bread will mean women will get it for the critical period, and that will lead to between four and fourteen fewer birth defects each year. However, a woman would have to eat 11 slices of bread per day to get enough folic acid.

If it helps, why not, right? There’s a growing body of evidence that excess folic acid causes other health problems, including encouraging the growth of cancers, especially of the prostate and colon. The science is worrying enough that the UK and Ireland have suspended plans to require that folic acid be added to their bread.

Why not New Zealand? The answer lies in New Zealand’s sometimes troubled economic relationship with Australia.

New Zealand and Australia have joint food standards, something that is, for the most part, a hugely great idea: It essentially turns the two countries into one market for most—but not all—food. The problem is that when New Zealand disagrees with a standard, it must nevertheless obey Australia’s wishes.

Or, at least, that’s the line being delivered by Food Safety Minister Kate Wilkinson who says she’ll ask the authority for a review—a month after the regulations go into effect. Why doesn’t she just suspend the rule pending a review? Because the Authority has established the rule, and Must Be Obeyed.

Really? Then why is organic bread exempt in New Zealand, but not in Australia? And in any case, why should Australia—which has ten votes on the authority to our one—be able to dictate food policy for this country?

Australia ignores rules and treaties when it suits their domestic political needs: They continue to ban New Zealand apples because of an hysterical fear of fire blight (actually, it’s fear of competition). Australia and New Zealand were to be a single domestic air travel market—New Zealand obeys the agreement, Australia flatly refused to (fear of competition again). And there’s the famous case of New Zealand pies being rejected by Australia because they contained too much meat. So, Australia clearly doesn’t value its international agreements as much as New Zealand does.

However, if New Zealand feels that a food standard poses a potential risk to the health and well-being of New Zealanders, this country has every right to act, whether Australia likes it or not. I have no idea whether adding folic acid is a threat, but surely we—as a sovereign nation—have the right to decide that for ourselves.

From September, those who want to avoid “medicated bread”, as some call it, will have to buy organic or, apparently, bread that doesn’t have wheat flour. It would be much simpler—and cheaper for ordinary New Zealanders—if this government stood up for its own people and delay the new rule until questions about its safety can be resolved.

Weekend Diversion: Auto-Tune the News #6

Okay, this is getting to be a habit, but Auto-Tune the News continues to be one of the best things on the Net. This episode features three of the most absolutely batshit crazy Republicans there are: Michele Bachmann (the most insane member of Congress, hands down), John Boehner (ever so slightly less crazy), along with the National Joke, Sarah Palin. Thrown in for good measure is Michael Jackson absurdity.

What I love about Auto-Tune the News is that it demolishes the self-important nonsense of the mainstream newsmedia by showing the absurdity of the very people they insist on treating seriously. The people in this video are jokes—why does anyone pretend otherwise?

Podcasting live—again!

Tomorrow I’ll be podcasting live on Pride48.com. The live podcast begins at 9PM Eastern US on Friday, July 10, 2009, which is 1PM Saturday, July 11 in New Zealand. The Pride 48 site allows you to change the time listings to your own time zone. Nigel will be joining me. There’s also a chatroom where you can interact with us while we podcast.

I plan on recording this so I can post it later, but why take a chance on missing out? Join us live!

Je suis grincheux

A new survey for Expedia has found that tourists from France are the worst in the world. This may seem obvious to New Zealanders, given the recent performance of a visiting French rugby player.

But this survey of 4500 hotel owners across the world found that the French are “bad at foreign languages, tight-fisted and arrogant”. Those of us who have encountered foreign tourists may not have put the French at the top of that list, and we may be surprised to find “the British and the Germans judged the best of the Europeans.”

Similarly, most of wouldn’t have said that the French finished “third after the Italians and British for dress sense while on holiday.” I mean, have people actually seen the way tourists from some countries dress?

But what I found most interesting was the defence of French pride mounted by the survey’s sponsors. "The French don't go abroad very much. We're lucky enough to have a country which is magnificent in terms of its landscape and culture." Um, many countries can say that—it’s no defence for bad behaviour overseas.

Oh well, this gives me another chance to use the translation widget on my Mac. Apparently unlike French tourists, I’m willing to at least try and use a language I do not speak. Like them, apparently, I don’t care that much if it’s correct.

Now, excuse me while I go explore a place magnificent in terms of its landscape and culture—New Zealand.

Still more random shots

It’s again the busiest work-week of the month for me, and I haven’t had time for normal blog posts. Things will be back to normal soon. In the meantime, here are a few things that caught my eye.

Let’s call the whole thing off

Last month I posted “Wanna Buy a Vowel” about how people got upset over TV advertising in TXT style—without vowels. The title was adapted from “Wheel of Fortune”, the New Zealand version of which, as luck would have it, was in the news this week.

It turns out that the programme, which ended recently, had as one of the words on the final day “orthopedic”. One slight problem: The normal New Zealand spelling is “orthopaedic” (with “ae”), but—and this is typical in New Zealand—both American and British spellings “are acceptable”. You have to wonder how anyone ever got a puzzle right—never mind that, how’s an immigrant supposed to adapt?

Grumpy Aussie flyboy

The chief executive of Qantas subsidiary Jetstar, Bruce Buchanan, has been whining that their rivals at Air New Zealand have been guilty of “sabotage” for supposedly spreading rumours. Right…

I wonder if, just maybe, their trouble might have maybe be due to the scores of disgruntled customers who complained about everything from late or cancelled flights to rude and unhelpful staff. Unhappy customers don’t pop up due to “dirty tricks,” Bruce. Get your airline running properly and your bad press will disappear. It’s really that simple.

Update 10 July 2009: Buchanan has been in New Zealand on a sort of mea culpa tour: Seems they're finally accepting that they fucked up their launch. TVNZ's One News reported that only 20% of the airlines flights in the beginning were on time, and now 20% are still delayed or cancelled. Jetstar now promises to do better, and promises $50 to customers if they don't. Is that cash or a voucher? Under the circumstances, I know what I'd choose. But, hey: They can sort their problems out if they want to—and if they focus on their customers. Personally, I think I'll wait until I consider trying them.

A U-turn on UN indigenous rights declaration?

The government is apparently getting ready to endorse a UN declaration on the rights of indigenous people. The resolution was adopted by the UN last September with 143 votes in favour, four against and 11 abstentions. The four opponents were the US, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. Australia changed government and is changing policy to support it.

Prime Minister John Key described the declaration as “an aspirational, non-binding declaration. From this Government's point of view we take the rights of indigenous people seriously and we are working hard to advance those." Since it’s non-binding, New Zealand’s logical position is to support the declaration.

Resolutions like this by themselves don’t fix anything, and all nations will have to deal with indigenous issues more seriously. The irony is that New Zealand and Canada in particular are arguably much farther along that road than many of the nations that voted yes.

How Auto-Tune works

A couple weeks back, I posted the latest episode of “Auto-Tune the News”. America’s PBS series “Nova” explained how it works. I kinda knew the basics of it, but I find it always helps to actually see something explained, so I thought I’d pass this along.

(via Joe.My.God.)

Time, distance and home

My sister-in-law asked me recently if I thought I could live in the US again, after so much time away. Of course, that’s not something that’s even remotely possible right now, especially since the only way we could live in the US under current law is if Nigel was offered some fabulous, too-good-to-pass-up job, and that’s not going to happen (one has to seek a fabulous job to be offered one). That lack of legal status would be a huge barrier: Our legally recognised NZ relationship—our family—would instantly be transformed by US authorities into a mere friendship. I, of course, can live the in the US at anytime.

Which brings me back to the question: Could I live there now? One of the things about moving this far away from home is that even short-term visits are expensive and in my case, a couple days are lost in travelling. So, the difference between my mental image of the people and places I left behind and the reality of how they are now becomes greater over time.

Basically, in my mind the people and places I knew were sort of frozen in time, as if everything stopped on Halloween, 1995. Obviously I know they haven’t, and the few trips back have helped me see some of the change. But there’s so much other stuff that I haven’t been part of that it’s like it’s an entirely different country.

I’m reminded of that from time to time when I watch American TV news and they refer to something in pop culture and I have no idea what they’re talking about. A recent example was the death of TV hawker Billy Mays: I had no idea who he was or what he did, and the inevitable jokes about him went right over my head.

We’re hardly isolated in New Zealand: We get TV shows, movies and music from the US, Australia and Britain, as well as home-grown stuff, of course. But the US is a big country and many of the things that become pop culture phenomena there never makes it past its borders, so I never hear about it.

Add that to the march of time for the people and places I knew, and it means that were I to move back, it would mean not merely starting all over again, but also in many ways it would be as if I was an immigrant to my own homeland. Time and distance do that.

I think that’s a reality that all would-be immigrants should keep in mind as they contemplate moving overseas: You can always move back to your homeland, but the more time that passes, the truer it is that you can never go home again. It's better to make sure that your home is where your heart is—literally, whichever country you and your heart find yourselves living in. And don’t look back if you can help it.

The Fourth of July is the one day when I can’t help it, even if I really don’t know my homeland anymore. But I do know where my heart and home are, and that's enough for me.

Immigrant victims

An article from the Christchurch Press describes how the recession is affecting immigrants to New Zealand who are here on Work Permits/Visas. Because they have neither permanent residence nor citizenship, they’re not eligible for unemployment benefits. So, if their jobs end, they have to rely on their savings to get by and, if that runs out they have to rely on charity. That, or leave the country.

These immigrants can look for a new job and if they manage to find one they can apply for a variation in the conditions for their Permit/Visa to allow them to work for the new employer. However, this can take as long as 72 days—how many employers will be willing to wait that long and put up with that hassle?

There’s no specific timeframe for redundant immigrants to find a new job, but migrants on short-term visas have been told they had three weeks to find a new job or leave the country. Given the long processing times at Immigration, migrants are being put into an impossible situation.

I faced something similar many years ago when the company I was working for closed down. For a time after that I was in New Zealand on a Visitor Permit, which meant no working. But then I qualified for permanent residence and was successful, so I was free to find a job working for anyone. Now, of course, I’m a citizen and have the same freedoms as NZ-born citizens.

I feel for these migrants and the situation they find themselves in. Many of them were brought in on the Skilled Migrant programme to fill critical skills shortages in New Zealand. But all migrants in New Zealand on work permits/visas are here only because the Immigration Service was satisfied that no New Zealander could do or was available to do the job they were hired to do. It’s tempting in bad economic times to scapegoat immigrants, to demand they be removed. But these migrants are demonstrably hard working, skilled people who are an asset for New Zealand.

These newly jobless skilled migrants need faster service from the Immigration Service. They’ve made their homes in New Zealand and have built lives here. But their lives are in limbo and their wellbeing is in jeopardy not just from the bad economy, but also because of the slow bureaucracy.

I survived the legal limbo I found myself in. I hope these migrants can, too.