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Looks as if Westport is going to move.
The plan was still in draft and sessions with residents and ratepayers were held as recently as last week.
Councillors would decide whether to adopt the Master Plan in April.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/534998/plan-to-relocate-westport-to-prevent-flooding-considered
Who is going to pay for this managed retreat?
And what will be the implication for current property values?
“They indicate that investment proposals are coming to us for approval before they are ready, and without sufficient evidence to support our decision-making.”
This suggested other major projects already in the delivery phase were on unsound planning foundations.
In large part, Bishop now is reliant on Treasury, which had oversight of the previous flawed system.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/535175/treasury-warns-government-about-overspend-poor-planning-on-major-infrastructure-projects
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Date_rape_drug
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/496516/mama-hooch-sexual-assault-jaz-brothers-given-substantial-sentences
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/535098/seymour-issues-please-explain-over-oestrogen-patch-switch
If Pharmac are really worried about womens health, maybe they should consider replacing the current older sedatives that can be used to spike drinks, with newer orexin type sedatives that have no record of ever being used for drink spiking.
After reading the summary, Chris Hipkins reacts to Royal Commission of Inquiry report. Saying, (among other things) he didn’t think vaccine mandates were a mistake.
The head of the Covid-19 Royal Commission of Inquiry has criticised the scale of lockdowns and vaccine mandates, suggesting they were too broad and too harsh.
Saying they should not be used as much or as stringently in the next pandemic.
Speaking ahead of the report’s release, Christopher Luxon said he would not comment on whether he would ever implement a mandated vaccine system.
Did someone mutter about our use of concrete being unsustainable?
There has been talk also that Roman Concrete was better than what we use now.
0:40 A New Recipe For Cleaner Concrete #shorts #science #scishow
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yr9y9VFXvbY
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We solved Roman concrete #shorts #science #SciShow 57s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wc7Q2UJ3WtE
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https://news.mit.edu/2023/roman-concrete-durability-lime-casts-0106
Historically, it had been assumed that when lime was incorporated into Roman concrete, it was first combined with water to form a highly reactive paste-like material, in a process known as slaking. But this process alone could not account for the presence of the lime clasts. Masic wondered: “Was it possible that the Romans might have actually directly used lime in its more reactive form, known as quicklime?”
Studying samples of this ancient concrete, he and his team determined that the white inclusions were, indeed, made out of various forms of calcium carbonate. And spectroscopic examination provided clues that these had been formed at extreme temperatures, as would be expected from the exothermic reaction produced by using quicklime instead of, or in addition to, the slaked lime in the mixture. Hot mixing, the team has now concluded, was actually the key to the super-durable nature.
“The benefits of hot mixing are twofold,” Masic says. “First, when the overall concrete is heated to high temperatures, it allows chemistries that are not possible if you only used slaked lime, producing high-temperature-associated compounds that would not otherwise form. Second, this increased temperature significantly reduces curing and setting times since all the reactions are accelerated, allowing for much faster construction.”
During the hot mixing process, the lime clasts develop a characteristically brittle nanoparticulate architecture, creating an easily fractured and reactive calcium source, which, as the team proposed, could provide a critical self-healing functionality. As soon as tiny cracks start to form within the concrete, they can preferentially travel through the high-surface-area lime clasts. This material can then react with water, creating a calcium-saturated solution, which can recrystallize as calcium carbonate and quickly fill the crack, or react with pozzolanic materials to further strengthen the composite material. These reactions take place spontaneously and therefore automatically heal the cracks before they spread. Previous support for this hypothesis was found through the examination of other Roman concrete samples that exhibited calcite-filled cracks.
To prove that this was indeed the mechanism responsible for the durability of the Roman concrete, the team produced samples of hot-mixed concrete that incorporated both ancient and modern formulations, deliberately cracked them, and then ran water through the cracks. Sure enough: Within two weeks the cracks had completely healed and the water could no longer flow. An identical chunk of concrete made without quicklime never healed, and the water just kept flowing through the sample. As a result of these successful tests, the team is working to commercialize this modified cement material…