Hodgman on hitchhiking

I have picked up hitchhikers twice in my life, both in Maine. The first time was a young couple who flagged us down as we were driving the loop road in Acadia National Park. They had gotten lost hiking and were looking for a ride back to the parking lot. 

When they got in the car they said, 'Are you John Hodgman?'

'Yes', I said.

'Oh, wow,' they said, 'we are huge fans of your podcast'.

I said, 'This must be very surprising for you'.

'It is!' they said.

'What makes it even stranger,' I said, 'is that usually it's the hitchhikers who end up murdering the driver. And not the other way around, like this time!'

It was just another example of the wit and wisdom of me at my finest. I didn't murder them. We met up later in Brooklyn, because of course that is where they live.

- John Hodgman, Vacationland: True Stories from Painful Beaches, New York, 2017, p.199-200.

The waning days of Republican privilege

America’s political institutions are currently biased – in many cases quite aggressively – in favor of conservatives. Restrictive voting laws make casting a ballot disproportionately difficult for lower-income, non-white and young Americans. Unprecedented gerrymandering gives Republicans a built-in advantage in the race for the House, and according to FiveThirtyEight’s Nate Silver, the Senate’s bias toward rural states makes the chamber about seven points redder than the nation as a whole. Thanks to the electoral college, two of the past five presidential elections have been won by Republicans who lost the popular vote – one reason why even before Justice Ginsburg’s death, 15 of the past 19 supreme court justices were appointed by GOP presidents.

The conservative movement, in other words, already had it pretty good. The average American disagrees with Republican orthodoxy on every major issue: healthcare, climate change, gun violence, immigration, taxes, Covid response. Yet thanks to the biases embedded in the American political process, Republicans have not just remained viable, but secured extraordinary amounts of power. We can’t know for certain who would benefit from upending the status quo that existed at the time of Justice Ginsburg’s passing – but we do know which party has the most to lose.

- David Litt, 'Republicans will replace RBG but Democrats hold the trump cards – no, really', Guardian, 23 September 2020

Olympus Mons

 Mt Taranaki at dusk from 17,000 feet, aboard NZ5823 from Hamilton to Wellington.

Silver linings in Westport?

Westport has been going through a difficult time lately, with the closure of the Holcim cement plant that for decades shipped its products to Onehunga Wharf in Auckland, the closure of the local Dunsford Ward rest home and hospital, and the downsizing of mining operations at nearby Stockton. But that didn't prepare me for the onslaught of for sale notices - locals are voting with their feet. Trouble is, with this many properties Westport must be a buyer's market. In two other similarly-sized towns of just under 4000 population, the number of houses for sale is a mere handful: Balclutha has nine, while Whangamata has 11. By comparison, Westport has 91 (see below from Homes).  

In a town this small that glut of properties could destabilise the regional economy. Tourism is unlikely to be the region's saviour in the short term. But the local council could take a proactive stance to encourage new blood to replace those wanting to leave. It would be a perfect destination for young families wishing to establish an online startup or mail order business, as long as the physical accessibility factor isn't an issue. It would be an ideal spot for a big city single-income family to get onto the property ladder. And if the Government is minded, new migrants fleeing the instability of the outside world could be encouraged to consider life on the Coast instead of the traditional big city.   

See also:

Blog: Finding Eva Morganti, 3 April 2020

Blog: South Is roadtrip, 19 November 2017
History: Gold has been all-in-all to us, 4 October 2011

Deciding the fate of the Wellington Library

Submissions are in on the public consultation and now Wellington City has to decide what to do with its library, its useful life curtailed by a radical engineering re-assessment of its earthquake safety rating. The stopgap mini-libraries that have popped up around town in Manners St, Brandon St and in the back of the National Library are a decent mitigation, but can't fulfil the full responsibilities of a large central library. 

The CBD is sorely lacking appropriately-sized public space for quiet study and intellectual pursuits. Christchurch's new central library offers a great example of how modern design can create innovative library spaces that draw people to the city and enhance the urban geography with creative and inspiring architecture. A new library for Wellington should focus strongly on being a library, rather than filling the gaps in many other services that people may wish to add to the mix. It should not deviate from its core mission to store and shelve as many books as is humanly possible, because a full library is a thing of beauty. But it can do this in creative ways, with flexible spaces. It should be designed to the highest environmental standards, and be better integrated into Civic Square than the current building.

While I know projected completion dates are highly speculative, there is little difference between Options C (high-level remediation) & Option D (new build on same site). Option D will produce a modern building that is fit for purpose at a cost tens of millions less than Option C. 

The current unusable library building was much-loved not for its architecture but because of the service and amenity it provided. People are fond of it, but it contains little of lasting architectural heritage. The palm motif is popular but is a curious choice to represent the fauna of the Wellington region. The undulating glass-front is a nice touch but is poorly integrated with the surrounding architecture. And the sweeping pathway around the building's north side looks nice but is seldom used and is therefore a waste of valuable space. A new building can start the design process anew and avoid the mistakes made in so many public buildings of the 80s and 90s - see also Te Papa, the lamentable design decisions for which were detailed compellingly in Gordon Campbell's 2011 investigation and interview with Ian Athfield, the library's designer.