Friday, March 5, 2021

Triple earthquake

7.1 Magnitude off New Zealand's East Coast, 90 Km down, Friday 5th March at 2.27.38 am

7.4 Magnitude near Kermadec Islands, about 45 Km in depth (or 55 Km according to the US), Friday 5th March at 6.41 am

8.1 Magnitude near Kermadec Islands, 10 Km in depth, Friday 5 March at 8.28 am

Pretty much the whole of New Zealand felt the 7.1 earthquake.

It took me straight back to Christchurch and you can't really help it. You can't really help comparing them either.

7.1 on Saturday 4th September 2010 at 4.35 am/7.1 Magnitude off New Zealand's East Coast, 90 Km down, Friday 5th March at 2.27.38 am - lucky most people were sleeping.

Tuesday 22 February 2011 at 12.51 pm. 6.3 magnitude earthquake. 5 Km in depth/Saturday 4 September 2010 for the 7.1 magnitude earthquake. 11 Km in depth/8.1 Magnitude near Kermadec Islands, 10 Km in depth, Friday 5 March at 8.28 am - all shallow, shallow doesn't mean it will be deadlier, but depth can be relevant.

And of course, 11 days after the 10 years since the 22nd February 2011 Earthquake.

It must have brought the past violently and shockingly into the present and future of 2011 for Christchurch and the Earthquake People of Christchurch.

As I said in "Life in 2021", Mother Nature is stronger and more powerful than Humans. Hopefully there will be no deaths from any of the earthquakes in New Zealand. Or future earthquakes and tsunamis following these.

Potential earthquakes was also a reason I never lived and worked in Wellington. After Christchurch, I didn't need any more. In Christchurch we had no choice, it just happened. Whereas Wellington is known for them and there is a 'Big One' that is long overdue so you're constantly living with that in your mind. No thank you.

The other thing these earthquakes/tsunamis will demonstrate is Jacinda Ardern's/the Government's response. She's already lost it, Her trust and Her reputation has been dented, She better respond now. Another mess won't do any good. This is not just on a national scale, but internationally too: She and Her Government have been praised, the World has an eye on New Zealand. Good luck Darling.

When you look back at what Jacinda has had to handle, not only could it not be expected, predicted, but it's a lot: the Christchurch Mosque shooting, covid-19, the Earthquakes, and to a lesser extent, Grace Millane. Jacinda is also a woman, and yes, that does count. Whether She has to be a good leader or She is representing a minority of women leaders in the World, or both, depending on your personality, She has a lot on Her shoulders. It hasn't been brought up much, but She is also young, likely one of the youngest World leaders in the history of World politics.

So not only do I feel for the people in the aftermath of the earthquakes, but NZ's response is critical for covid-19, for the earthquakes and for Jacinda's reputation and Her government's.

As a brief side note, Auckland and the rest of New Zealand should stay at level 3 and 2 respectively. It's careful. Also, coming out of lockdown and going back into it takes a toll and I personally prefer either being in lockdown for a while or not.

Kia kaha New Zealand.

- A.M.

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Thursday, March 4, 2021

Netflix crashed!

I thought it was just me who was experiencing problems when my Netflix had two or three playing issues.


Ha ha ha. Not only does Netflix go down, but it goes down during covid-19, and they know the viewing has gone up. Please don't tell me Netflix don't have enough resources to handle the highly increased traffic as a result of the pandemic. That is hilarious.

Of course, I understand people are human, which actually is important because the systems are built by Humans, but you would hope that they have at least protocols in place should plan A stop functioning as it should. Planning, planning, planning, back up, back up, back up. The larger you are, the more customers you have, the more expectations and reputation you have, the better you should be performing. By extension, you better have a really good uptime and enough resources. Why? If shit hits the fan, you can get it back up and running as soon as possible.

Oh wait, a lot of governments are containing covid well aren't they? They plan and back up.

Google, as an example, has not only their own infrastructure, but their own experts. It does go down sometimes, but then it works fucking hard to be back online. They know if they fail, then the only way forward is to be back up and running as soon as possible. They are too big to not be noticed, if everything for customers becomes non-functional, it will be in the news.

Yahoo! Mail was in the news about its data breach, it's still big enough to attract that type of attention; a while ago Google was also in the news for going down and because of all its services, that includes the drive and docs etc., not just the e-mails. WhatsApp also suffered a technical problem when no messages were sending, but that's Facebook, which has a less than stellar reputation anyway, as they've been in the news about data. Their reputation for privacy and data collection is shady and it's your decision if you trust them.

I am of the stance that Zuckerberg doesn't really care about privacy and data. I don't know if he ever did, but it definitely isn't high on his priority list now. Neither is taking down content which is inappropriate: the live-streamed video of the suicide and the videos of the Christchurch Mosque attacks uploaded to it. I won't say more as I have a post in which I talk about Facebook.

Most likely my reaction was not one many other people had. I thought it was because other people linked to the profile might be watching too, then I thought it was my internet. I just got irritated, but I didn't throw a fit, undoubtedly like most people, who were probably angry and irritated. It's not the end of the World, in this day and age you find something else for a while, YouTube, a podcast, the music software you have on your computer, or if you have a smartphone, you can play Spotify, Shazam or games.

In lockdown, and in a space you may be sharing with others, sitting there all upset will do no one any favours. So just chill.

- A.M.

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Tuesday, March 2, 2021

Covid and lockdowns

I cannot define 'lockdown' specifically as it is blatantly clear it varies depending on where you live. However, for the purposes of this post, 'lockdown' will be measures imposed by authorities that significantly impact the general population's movement or an important part of that country/SAR/Overseas Territory etc.

The context of 'lockdown' will be for places that have covid-19 in the population and are trying to contain it, but have never been in total lockdown. Covid-19 has caused a pandemic, however not everywhere has been in lockdown. Also, not everywhere has had covid-19. It was only this year there was a positive case in Sāmoa for example. As of 30 January 2021, https://news.un.org/en/story/2021/01/1083232, Tonga has never had covid-19.

I cannot confirm if the below list is complete. Do a Google search that includes the word 'lockdown' and it's hard to find a list where lockdowns were not implemented in places that have covid.

Places with covid that have never been in lockdown:

Taiwan
Hong Kong
Sweden
Iceland

The issue is there seems to be no one recipe that works to handle the outbreak. But one thing is for sure, you don't have to be in lockdown to contain it. Taiwan has done extremely well, Hong Kong has over 10 000 infected cases and 200 deaths, which isn't good, but compared to the US, Italy, UK, Argentina, is great.

I imagine the feelings are the same. People who have never experienced lockdown can't imagine how difficult it is to be in lockdown and people who have been in lockdown, some in and out of lockdown, might find it hard to imagine never being in lockdown. However, as there was a life pre-lockdown, they can have a vague idea and daydream about it. It must be easier to contemplate not being in lockdown rather than lockdown as before covid - lockdown had never really been put into practice on a global scale.

I suppose many people have also been in lockdown, then managed to move to a place where there is no lockdown or a lot less restrictions. That must be such a positive feeling, having more freedom to move. For the people who have gone from no lockdown or less restrictions to lockdown or more restrictions, it must be harder - I think people who have experienced this exist, but in lesser numbers. Most likely at the beginning of the pandemic, when the first wave from Asia was spreading to Europe, the US, Mexico, Canada and Latin America.

One of the main issues of lockdown is the psychological aspect. People would like the option of being able to leave their home, even if they don't want to go out. But in lockdown, they don't even have this option. Many people it seems, have a hard time accepting this for whatever reason. If these people can adjust their thinking that the most important reason for the lockdown is to prevent getting sick and spreading the virus, then maybe, just maybe, they will find life easier.

Lockdown is to speed up the containment of the virus and allow us all to be able to have the freedom to move and touch and gather like we did in pre-pandemic life.

When there is no lockdown, you have to wear a mask and be careful of becoming and spreading the infection. Put a mask on, clean surfaces, stay away from people if space allows. If you are lucky, you may have access to the internet and thus a whole range of games, videos, audio, reading material. You can bake, type down your thoughts (if you don't have a pen and paper), improve your cooking skills, learn a language, re-organize your house, exercise indoors, meditate, yoga.

I would recommend not constantly reading the news or looking/reading aimlessly because that will not be good for your mental health.

- A.M.

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Michel Barnier: French PM