ALERT! 2nd Tsunami heading to New Zealand

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre has confirmed a tsunami was generated by a large earthquake off Vanuatu but has now cancelled warnings, saying the danger is likely to have passed.

Civil Defence said a tsunami measuring 0.4m was recorded off Vanuatu and had advised New Zealanders to stay off beaches and out of boats.

Its coming from Vanuatu this time, an 7.8 Magnitude Earthquake has been reported off Vanuatu and New Zealand Civil Defence have issued a Tsunami 'watch'.

The epicentre was 373 km north of Santo, Vanuatu.

It has been reported to be at a depth of 33km and the US State of Hawaii has received a Tsunami advisory from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre.

The Ministry of Civil Defence is advising of a potential tsunami threat to New Zealand from an earthquake of magnitude 8 at Vanuatu.
An advisory is being sent to all responding agencies, including Fire, Police, Coastguard, local authorities and others to put them on standby.
The public is advised to not be on beaches or in boats near the coast. NZ Civil Defence >>

The public is advised to not be on
beaches or in boats near the coast.

Small Tsunami has been confirmed at Vanuatu.

From NZ Herald>

Tsunami warning is in effect for:
Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Tuvalu, New Caledonia, Fiji, Kiribati, Kosrae, Wallis-Futuna, Howland-Baker

A tsunami watch is in effect for:
Various countries including New Zealand, Samoa, American Samoa, Tonga, Australia

Should a tsunami reach New Zealand, it will hit at the following times:
* North Cape - 2.34pm
* East Cape - 3.16pm
* Auckland (West) - 3.33pm
* Gisborne 3.49pm
* New Plymouth 4.10pm
* Auckland (East) 4.14pm
* Napier 4.29pm
* Milford Sound 4.35pm
* Wellington 4.39pm
* Westport 4.50pm.

There is no confirmation that a tsunami has been generated. Our advice from scientific advisors is that if a tsunami has been generated it is unlikely to be destructive for New Zealand. However, the Potential Threat Advisory remains in effect until cancellation.

More soon...

David Tua v Shane Cameron

What a fight!, it was short, but amazing!

I had the bright idea last night of going to watch the boxing 'fight of the century' at my local pub in Devonport. Turns out of course that they were not showing it because Sky TV had the bright profiteering idea of charging $1,500.00 for any pub which wanted to show it.

I decided to try my luck in Takapuna but the only pub showing it there was the Sin Bin and lets just say, they were at capacity. There was about 50 people waiting outside on the off-chance that they might get in and I joined them. Of course, as the time ticked toward the kick off at 10.15, no-one was getting in except a few choice VIP's and those people who knew the bouncers.

I figured, well I can watch through the window and stay outside or, I can try my luck...

Lets just say about 30 seconds before the round 1 bell sounded, I got my pint of Tui and turned to watch the fight on the big screen and I need to thank the 2 guys who helped me out. I could not thank them at the time, because it would have drawn attention but I figured I could at least thank them on here.

Cheers guys, for making my trip to Takapuna worthwhile!

WIndows 7 Video of Cheese!

Well as much as I hate MAC's I have to admit, if it were all about what adverts sell the best product, then I'd be buying a MAC tomorrow.

This new Video from Microsoft has so much incredible stuff in it as an amazing study piece for someone who is interested in bad advertising.

• Cheese (my god its dripping with it)
  
• Contrived Laughing
  
• Innapropriate setting

anyway, take a look.



I actually find that the acting in this video is not too bad, these people seem to know what they are doing. Shame that they were given such a shitty script to work with and I hope now that their acting careers have not just been destroyed.

Muzzerino

Tsunami Alert! New Zealand Updates...

2nd Tsunami Warning for NZ >>

10.02 Local NZ Time.

• A Tsunami is on the way to New Zealand after an Earthquake near Samoa @ 06.48 NZ time
  
• I am listening to the radio and they say that Samoan news have reported 5 deaths. A bit of Hysteria is whipping up here in NZ over this and we do not know whether it is justified or not.
  
• Best to be safe rather than sorry I guess.
• 1 Metre swells are predicted for the Auckland region and Napier and the Napier port has been evacuated. (One metre? doesnt sound like much)
• The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center estimated any tsunami would hit New Zealand at the following times
• East Cape at approximately 9.45am
  
• Wellington at 10.50am
  
• Auckland's east coast at 11.12
  
• West coast at 11.39
  
• Lyttelton at 11.55
  
• Dunedin at 12.31

A bit of Comic Relief
I texted my brother in Scotland to tell him about it and hey said 'Head for the high hills!", when I said it is going to be about one metre, he told me 'ok, forget the evacuation, get yer wellies on!'

10.16

• I am also listening to my Radio Scanner on the marine channel 161.624 (Channel 80) and at 10.17 one person has issued a 'MAYDAY' and the Coastguard are trying to contact them. ( I suspect this may be a prank ) Transmission said..... 'Mayday' then after repeated requests by the coastguard to contact them we heard 'Barrier'
  

10.37

• Coastguard Tsunami warning remains in effect and people are being advised to stay away from coastal low lying areas.

10.46

• 90 CM Wave hits East Cape according to Radio Live.

10.48

• Civil Defence Downgrades Tsunami warning.
• Still due to Hit Auckland at 11.12am (Size 1 Metre)

10.55

• According to TVNZ A 40-centimetre Tsunami wave has come ashore in New Zealand at East Cape but there are no reports of damage.
• Civil Defence has downgraded this morning's tsunami warning to a tsunami alert.
• Civil Defence is still warning people to stay away from beaches and rivermouths as the first wave may not be the largest.

11.00

• 19 People dead in Samoa.

11.01

• 0.7m Rise in Northland and Tsunami warning officially cancelled according to Coastguard.

11.04

• Aftershocks reported in American Samoa (Sky News)

11.17

• Unless more waves arrive, it appears that the threat to NZ is over.

11.30

• Warning reiterated as NOT cancelled, but downgraded. Secondary waves expected to arrive in Auckland at 12.12

12.00

• Reports of up to 24 people dead in Samoa.

12.31

• Coastguard issues additional warning for NZ.

13.34

• The Red Cross and media reports put the death toll in Samoa at at least 28

More from TVNZ >>
More from NZ Herald >>

Scots in New Zealand : A Guide

If you are a Scot who is coming to New Zealand to live, or even for a holiday, you might like this random little guide to some things that you might find when you get here...

Language Quirks.
(Using the Scotland accent as a baseline comparison, as long as you don't roll the 'R')

How things sound....

• Kah = A Motor Vehicle
• Folk = Usually used with a knife
• Noife = Usually used with a fork
• Naw-oo = To answer in the negative
• Yese = To answer in the affirmative
• Patty = A social gathering
• Sher = Something you use in the morning to get clean
• Texas = What you must pay to the government
  
• FS = What you pay to get on a plane
• Eh-Points = What you earn as a frequent flyer
  
• Choi-nah = An Asian country
• Pooh-piss = The object toward which one strives or for which something exists
• Gools = Young females
• Fleg = The wavy thing than represents a nation.
• Grend-Foi-null. = the final game of a Sporting competition.
• Bee = An Alcoholic beverage
• Woking = Not quite as fast as running
• Wooled = Our planet
• Ooth = The name of our planet
• Spote = Organised physical activity
• Dota = Female offspring
• Mooda = To kill someone
• Nooses = Valued employees in hospitals
• Broi-berry = A crime
• Oy = to see with
• Oy = Myself
• Stendids = Everyone should have them
• Hezid = Danger
• Ba = A public house
• Lie-buh = NZ political party
• Nesha-null = NZ political party
• Pooh-sins = More than one human
• Foost = better than 2nd
• Woe-ta = A clear drinking fluid
  
• Boke = Something you read
• Peen = Something you write with
• Teen Munuts = A unit of time, (minutes) one more than 9
• Seventeen = $7.10
• Deet = When you owe someone money
• Tomb = A part of the school year
• Palli-mint = Where the government meets
  
• Kroist = Our Lord
• Tramah = Trauma
• Low-ah = Law
• Voodict = Something the jury should arrive at
• Cote = A legal venue
• Toking = Expressing yourself orally
• Quota = A fraction
• Pooh-voot = A person who displays an unhealthy sexual desire over someone
  
• Kroish = A place to send your kids while you are working
• Fush = Sea creature
• Oakland = New Zealand's largest city
• Kroist-Chooch = The south islands largest city
• Sand = Something you hear
• Unglund = The nation south of Scotland
• Meericas-cap = A huge sailing event (which no one else in the world watches)
• Hole = A large room
• Skol = Where kids go to learn
• Looning = Something you should be doing at school
• Booth-Die = Celebration of the day you were born
  
• Wook = What you do to earn your wages
• Moaning = The earliest part of the day
  
• Fearie = A vessel used for car and passenger transport
• Fearie = A magical flying creature
• O-strall-yah = The nation to the west of NZ

How things differ...

• Bought = Brought
• Brought = Bought
• Furtherest = Furthest
• Cellphone = Mobile phone
• Chips = Crisps
• Chips = Chips
• Soccah = Football
• Station-Wagon = Estate car
• Jug = Kettle
• Flog = Steal
• Chook (sounds like: choke) - Chicken
• Shiela's = Women
• Rort = Fraud

Pop Mail Vs Webmail

Pop mail such as MAC OS Mail, Windows Mail, Thunderbird etc are common and often the preferred method for most people to get their mail but what about Webmail such as Gmail and Yahoo Mail (Ymail)?

I have often talked about this with friends and family so I thought it was about time I wrote down my opinions.

Personally I prefer webmail and here's why.

• Webmail looks the same no matter where you access it.
• Webmail allows you to see spam BEFORE you spend ages downloading it.
• Webmail scans attachments for viruses before it EVER reaches your precious PC
• Webmail messages are always there unless you delete them.
  

Pop Mail on the other hand has some serious pitfalls in my opinion.

• You might get some large SPAM attachments, but you have to wait until they actually download before you can decide, which uses up your connection data and if you are on a dial up modem (uses up heaps of time!)
• If you want to access your mail from somewhere else (On Holiday or a mates house) you have to figure out how to access the Webmail equivalent anyway which often POP MAIL users cannot be bothered doing, do you know the URL, user name, Password etc, did you set up your account to leave a copy on the server? blah blah blah!
• Doubling Up. If you do want to do both, you have to manage not only your POP MAIL client (Mac Mail, Thunderbird, Windows Mail) but your Webmail equivalent too.

To be fair, you could say that Webmail has one disadvantage, you do have to login in each time (Unless you use Firefox like me and have everything on auto-login).

Conclusion, Webmail wins every time!

Dual Booting to avoid a broken Hard Drive

My Hard drive started ticking! Oh Shit, I thought, sounds like it is about to go bust.

All my files are on my 2nd drive so if my 1st one breaks then I wont lose my files, just the ability to boot my system until i get a new drive and probably another copy of Windows (I have an OEM Vista copy at the moment) but Windows 7 doesnt come out for a few more months! So what do I do?

I checked online for solutions and I figured, well instead of buying a new copy of Vista and reloading it onto a new drive, why not just clone it onto a new drive, then pull the old one out and shove the new one in.

To be honest, after looking online for a few days to sort this out, I gave up.

But I do think I have a new solution! I have just grabbed Ubuntu (Linux) a free operating system and I downloaded it and installed it from within windows to my 2nd (Healthy) hard drive.

Easy!

This way, if my primary hard drive does fail, I can still boot my system with Ubuntu on the second drive and access the net etc until I get a new drive with windows 7 on it!

something to consider I reckon if you are having a similar problem!

Ubuntu seems awesome and dual booting seems like a great idea!

Muzz