Cyclists, please take on the shared pathway
Sadly, but not surprisingly, I read of the accident to two persons (pedestrians/cyclists, not clear) on the shared pathway at the weekend. I hope those injured will make a speedy recovery.
For years, many have warned of the dangers of cyclists speeding there and giving little warning to pedestrians. The ODT article does not help by referring to "the cycleway". It is not and never has been. It is a shared pathway.
The Dunedin City Council has been lax in not emphasising that cyclists should follow the NZTA code for cyclists, when passing pedestrians: give adequate warning, slow down and leave plenty of space. The "give a warning" bell-sign painted on the path occurs only twice more on the 8km stretch from Vauxhall to Company Bay. Every 1km would be better and learn from Queenstown’s signage.
Cyclists please remember: 100kg travelling at 20kmh could do very serious damage or kill another person.
A fair deal
Sir Ian Taylor has primed the ideas pump with his visionary 1% to fund good works. The superannuation bill is colossal and a daunting prospect for the next generation to finance.
There are some who will respond to Sir Ian’s invitation, but many, if not most, will not. My suggestion is that there should be something in it for those who want to help in the way it is proposed.
So here’s my suggestion: in return for foregoing national super payments, those of us who continue to work and pay tax after attaining super qualifying age, could be entitled to claim the equivalent amount of super payment as tax free from their total income.That seems fair. Treasury boffins can work out the details.
In who we trust
Congratulations to Prof Robert Patman, of the University of Otago, for his concise in-depth analysis of the interview at the White House between President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President Trump and Vice-president Vance. Prof Patman summed up the meeting by saying "He had not seen the likes of it, Mr Trump’s actions were akin to an ambush" and represented a new low in American foreign policy.
"In God we trust" is the official motto of the United States. One wonders if it will or is changing to "In Trump we trust"? A real concern for democracy.
Oscar worthy
I wonder if Mr Trump and sidekick J. D. Vance are up for an Oscar this year? Their well-choreographed and performed derision and humiliation of Mr Zelenskyy was as skilled as it was shameless. It speaks volumes about the state of America and the dire straits they are now navigating.
The Russian Sea
Hey Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin wants Alaska back; he is planning, what is it called now, a special m-something operation. Juneau the current capital will be renamed Putingrad and the Berring Sea will be called the Russian Sea.
A wall of ice blocks will be built between Alaska and Canada, to prevent people from leaving Alaska. This will be known as the "cold wall" period.
A kink in the road and Milton’s long-lost trees
The information attached to your photograph of Milton's Main St, and its infamous kink in the road strains credulity as much as the explanation we were taught at primary school in the mid-1940s, namely, that two teams of surveyors had started from opposite ends of the plain, but cumulative errors in their calculations had resulted in irreconcilable differences by the time they had met at its centre.
But, I find it even less plausible that the same surveyors had begun at the site of the notorious kink and worked outwards, without having agreed, between the two teams, that the highway into the main street would follow a straight line as had obviously been intended. Still, bureaucratic stupidity knows no bounds and nothing much has changed.
I walked around the kink each morning on my way to work, and prior to that had cycled to high school towards it.
The most impressive thing on entering the main street proper, which far outweighed the kink which everyone had long been accustomed to, was the pair of magnificent Wellingtonia trees at the junction . For some unfathomable reason they were felled, still apparently in their prime.
Eternal life, not eternal letters to ed
Ron Adams seeks clarification on issues raised in my comments on the Rt Rev Richard Dawson’s belief of eternal life after death. In responding, can I reiterate lines from the Apostles’s Creed, a central plank of Christian services?
It states "I believe in the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting". This credo was stressed by Richard Dawson when he stated "We live our lives against a backdrop of eternity which means this life is a preparation of another life, a life with God". Rather than slinging mud, as Ron asserts, I seek his views and those of Richard, on what I see as a difficulty in harmonising their beliefs with the rigorous, science-based model of human evolution.
Therefore, I asked two questions. Will I be able to meet again and talk with my ancestors in the life eternal? Yes or No. Richard Dawson believes that I will. His words, "They will share an eternity with me". This leads to a fascinating second question. Assuming, for the moment at least, that Richard Dawson is correct, how far back in time does the life eternal apply to our ancestors? For example we share our ancestry with Neanderthals. Does the Christian God’s promise of eternal life also privilege them? And going further back in time, how about Homo erectus, Australopithecus or our common ancestor, cousin chimpanzee?
Ron Adams then asserts that I avoided an unanswerable question, as to whether or not caring and compassion has been satisfactorily explained by the evolutionary pathway that I summarised. This issue has been intensively researched on the basis of the treatment of the dead in deep time. Dr Penny Spikins of the University of York has concluded that "Neanderthals didn't think in terms of whether others might repay their efforts, they just responded to their feelings about seeing their loved ones suffering." These are just the qualities that Richard Dawson encourages us to follow as, allegedly, life eternal beckons.
[This correspondence, while fascinating, is now closed. — editor.]
Address Letters to the Editor to: Otago Daily Times, PO Box 517, 52-56 Lower Stuart St, Dunedin. Email: editor@odt.co.nz
