How chip speed growth has slowed

Year	Processor	Clock speed (MHz)
1971	4004	0.108
1974	8080	2
1982	286	6
1989	486	25
1993	Pentium	66
1997	Pentium II	300
2000	Pentium 4	1500
2006	Core 2 Duo	2660
2012	3rd generation Core	2900

(Click to enlarge)

Source: Adapted from a graphic in Matthew Chalmers, 'Need for speed: Why computers stopped getting faster', New Scientist, 21 February 2015, p.42-3.

A big night out in Invy

A "mystery pooper" has pooed in Invercargill's Splash Palace swimming pool five Friday evenings in a row. City council aquatic services manager Pete Thompson said the culprit's acts had cost the pool "tens of thousands of dollars" in lost revenue. The pool was closed for cleaning for about six hours each time faecal matter was found in the water.

"It generally happens after 5pm each Friday night," Thompson said.

It was unclear if one person or more was involved, with poo found in three pools in the complex on a Friday night about three weeks ago.

"They did one in the leisure pool and we moved the kids to the learners' pool, and they did one in the learners' pool and we moved the kids to the main pool, and one appeared in the main pool, so we had to shut the whole thing down."

- Evan Harding, 'Mystery pooper' plagues Invercargill swimming pool', Southland Times, 17 March 2015 [Via Liz]

On the profusion of comic-book and superhero movies

The real problem lies not with the films, but the echo chamber of hype, speculation and analysis, against which the actual number of comic-book movies is that big a deal. To put things into context, critic Devin Faraci crunched the numbers and found that in 1957, 61 "notable westerns" were released in cinemas - and that was before the Italians started adding Spaghetti to the recipe.

The western provides a pertinent historical model for the comic-book movies' future direction. The genre dominated cinemas for decades with good reason, as its mythic themes matured alongside audiences, especially after WW2 when the western offered a reflection of troubled times. A similar trend exists in modern superhero movies, the best of which deliver a genre-inflected commentary on contemporary concerns like the War on Terror.

Importantly, look past the hats and horses, and the western was a playground where other genres happily coexisted: war westerns, comedy westerns, even musicals.

- Simon Kinnear, 'Superpower trip?, Total Film, January 2015, p.39 

Once more to Red Rocks

Highlights of this morning's walk from Owhiro Bay to the seal colony at Red Rocks on Wellington's south coast. It was out of season for the seals but we still saw two sunning themselves on the rocks.

Red Rocks & Cook Strait

Splosh

Looking back to the harbour entrance

"The shareholders' dividends were ring-fenced against pirate zombie infestations"

It's a bit tricky to develop fresh stand-up material when the only movies you've seen recently are a single viewing of an art film about middle class people on a disappointing holiday (Archipelago) and approximately 180 viewings of Scooby Doo and the Pirate Zombie Jungle Island. Still, Stewart Lee has a good old go at making his source material 100% relevant to a contemporary audience, particularly those deeply concerned with the funding and maintenance of the formerly world-beating British publicly-funded jungle canyon rope bridge network. (From his 2012 stand-up DVD, Carpet Remnant World).

Key events on the NZ waterfront, 1894-1951

1894 Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act.

1915 Waterside workers vote not to work overtime after 10pm; formation of the New Zealand Waterside Workers' Federation with James (Jim) Roberts as the first national secretary.

1917 Industrial Agreement: waterside workers may take ballot in wet weather to decide whether to continue working; some restrictions placed on weight and constitution of slings.

1922 Industrial Award: basic formula established for waterside workers' wages as unskilled rate plus 25%.

1924 Industrial Award: special clause allowing negotiation over 'specially dirty work'.

1932 Industrial Award: wage cuts in addition to 10% cut imposed by the Arbitration Court in 1931; extension of working hours; prohibition of smokos. However, control over admission to union given to Branch executive.

1935 Election of first Labour Government (1935-49).

1936 Pilot labour bureau scheme in Lyttelton (equalisation of hours of work); Arbitration Court refuses to apply 40-hour week to waterfront; Jack Flood becomes NZWWF president.

1937 Labour bureaus opened in Wellington and Auckland; Marine Department given responsibility to collect accident statistics on waterfront; Industrial Award 1937-38: provision of guaranteed minimum weekly wage.

1940 Waterfront Control Commission appointed to run wharves and makes changes to conditions of work, including cooperative contracting (bonus scheme) and change in pay formula (now 6d above unskilled rate and 1d above skilled rate of pay).

1941 James (Jim) Roberts steps down as NZWWU secretary.

1943 Wellington and Lyttelton vote to end all-night work.

1944 Harold (Jock) Barnes defeats Jack Flood for NZWWU presidency.

1946 Waterfront Control Commission reconstituted as Waterfront Industry Commission with direct union and employer representation.

1947 Labour government initiates discussions with NZWWU about an 'overall contracting system'.

1949 Election of new conservative National government led by Sid Holland.

1950 Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Waterfront Industry established; reported in 1952.

1951 Waterfront lockout/strike, February-July (defeat for waterside workers).

- Source: Anna Green, British Capital, Antipodean Labour: Working the New Zealand Waterfront 1915-1951, University of Otago Press, Dunedin, 2001, Appendix B.

See also:
History: Shipowners & the 1951 waterfront lockout, 26 February 2015
History: The break of gauge, 14 January 2014
History: Shipping in Wellington 1850-70, 12 June 2009