RailCorp’s stringent controls have caused huge delays in the building of carriages…

…with Australians it’s mainly technical requirements. We think the burden is not necessary.

NSW laws require that an eight-carriage Waratah train must be built to withstand a head-on collision at a speed of 55km/h without any structural damage or passenger injuries. In China the bar is set at 10 km/h.

As pointed out by a fellow workmate, one can only wonder what the accident and death rate is on the Chinese railways compared to Australia. The old Sydney trains are very worn out and need replacing, but I would rather wait a year to get things right rather than a rush job that could result in serious problems.

Updates will be added to the post as the results come in.

My commentary will be from a Kiwi’s perspective with the focus primarily on New South Wales but also a bit of Queensland and Victoria.

Stay Tuned for more.

5.20pm update – Seven News have exit polls by Roy Morgan. First seat Herbet near Townsville is showing a swing to Labor however exit polls are not accurate and with a sample of only 300 people the result is within the margin of error (which 7 News failed to tell the viewers).

5.30pm – Seven News have their second exit poll. Lindsay to go Liberal with a 15% swing. Again massive swing and most likely because the sample size is so small.

5.40pm – Third exit poll. La Trobe, in Melbourne’s South East. ALP to win with 5% swing.

7pm – 7 News is reporting that the swing is going against Labor but instead of going to Liberal it is going towards the Greens. Still very early days with only around 1% of the votes counted.

7.30pm – It looks like The Greens may pick up their first ever House of Representatives seat by winning the electorate of Melbourne. (This is an early prediction). Predictions also showing ALP have lost two seats nationally, and LNP have gained two, so neck and neck.

8pm – With 3 million votes counted nationally on two party preferred LNP is leading 50.5% to 49.5%, so neck and neck, ALP may lose 13 seats on latest predictions. Election is very much too close to call. Sydney may also go Greens, and possibly Denison in Tasmania. Result may not be known tonight.

8.30pm – Greens have almost definitely won Melbourne. Candidate just gave a victory speech. Nationally with a little over 5 million votes ALP is now leading 50.3% to 49.7%.

9pm – A few victory speeches over the last half hour, but still too close to call in many seats.

9.30pm – Still heading for a hung parliament.

9.50pm – Greens have 12% in the Senate. Looks like 9 senators in the new Parliament. “We are seeing the birth of a new political movement” – Bob Brown, Greens Leader. “It is time we moved to proportional representation”

10pm – 7 News is calling it currently at 73 seats each, below the 76 needed to govern. With 3 independents + 1 Green.

10.15pm – Can a government be formed? Labor + Greens will not be enough to govern without two independents on current predictions.

11.15pm – Gillard takes the stage (before Abbott), “Too close to call”, “Every vote must be counted”

11.30pm – Channel 7′s panel is saying Labor lost the plot when they failed to have a backbone and pass the ETS in March or go to a Double D Election over the issue.

12am – Abbott has addressed the Liberal Party faithful. At end of the night hung parliament with 72 seats Labor, 71 seats LNP declared.

While overall rankings are a rather poor indicator of how good a university is (particularly at undergraduate level) once the data is broken down by subject field one can see a better picture of the strengths in research areas of particular universities. As always the universities with a lot of funding and subsequently a very large size dominate the top of the lists.

Below is the breakdown of the 22 universities from Australia and New Zealand in the top 500.

Overall

Five out of the eight New Zealand universities make the top 500 worldwide, compared to 17 of Australia’s 38. However none of the New Zealand universities make the top 100 in any field or subject.

By Field

• Natural Sciences and Mathematics – Australian National University (40th)
• Engineering/Technology and Computer Sciences – University of Melbourne (52 – 75), University of New South Wales (52 – 75)
• Life and Agriculture Science – University of Western Australia (34th), Australian National University (41st), University of Queensland (51 – 75), University of Sydney (76 – 100)
• Clinical Medicine and Pharmacy – University of Melbourne (41st), University of Queensland (51 – 75), University of Western Australia (51 – 75)
• Social Sciences – Australian Natural University (76 – 100), University of Sydney (76 – 100)

By subject

• Mathematics – Australian National University (77-100), University of New South Wales (77-100)
• Physics – Australian Natural University (44th)
• Chemistry – Monash University (51-75), University of Western Australia (76-100), University of New South Wales (76-100), University of Sydney (76-100)
• Computer Science – University of New South Wales (76-100)
• Economics / Business – University of Melbourne (78 – 100)

Poneke Blogs:

“But it is absurd to try to get a court to declare what is correct science. Science is a system where hypotheses are put forward and tested by evidence that proves or disproves them. To try to have a court declare the country’s temperature is hot or cold is just a stunt.”

When I see this action two things come to mind. The first is the most famous incident involving science vs the church vs the courts: Galileo. While the church won that battle in the short term, in the long term Galileo was shown to be correct and changed the face of science.

The second is how many other pieces of modern science could be challenged by political lobbyists and religious nutcases?  Within the field of computer science an emerging area of research in artificial intelligence is in the use of genetic algorithms to breed artificial agents in order to naturally select and improve their abilities. Are those people who don’t believe in evolution going to sue the scientists for using evolution in their research? How absurd can things get?

However, today I had time to spend hiking in the Blue Mountains at Wentworth Falls and the Valley of the Rivers. If you like waterfalls this is waterfall paradise. To add even more drama to the day we had a sudden rain storm come up the valley bringing massive winds and then we lost one of our party for about 15 minutes (they had walked ahead and failed to stop at a track junction).

Below are some of the photos I took on my recent week in NZ. The location of the photos are Taupo, Orakei Korako and Rotorua.

During the last six months I have been trying to fit into Australian culture but it has been a long and hard process to do so. Returning home I expected to have changed enough that I wouldn’t quite fit back into New Zealand culture either. However, within half a day of being back I felt as if I had never left – finally there were people who could understand my accent, my mannerisms, and accept me just as I am.

Being back home has left me questioning where my true home exactly is. I am a born and breed fully blooded sixth-generation Kiwi. I am not European, I am Pacifica, I am Pakeha, and I am proud of my New Zealand heritage.

There is a far too cliché saying that states “home is where the heart is”. For me, the last six months have been an interesting journey into the heart. For the first three months of living in Sydney I was immensely lonely. Not knowing anyone crushes the human spirit. Of course making friends is a solution to loneliness that challenge is simpler on paper than it is in reality. After six months I have begun to build a number of friendships in Sydney, however, it will be many years until the number of friendships will even get a chance of rivalling those I have in Auckland.

So where is the heart now? I feel like it is in the middle of the Tasman Sea, torn between two different countries, and buried under a sea of emotion. A few weeks ago I had someone attempt to convince me that emotion was a bad thing and that showing your emotions was a sign of weakness. However, I see emotion as a strength, it gives us feeling, lets us know when things are going well, and when they are not. Emotions can be soul destroying though; especially when you let the downward emotions overrule the confidence ones.

It is with a bit of sad emotion that over the next sixth months I see myself fishing this heart out of the sea and continuing the westward shift towards Australia being my home – at least in the short term. While New Zealand will always be my whakapapa (origin), Australia by virtue of work is now my residence, and it is within that context that in order to move forward in my life I need to work in. I may be a stranger in a foreign land, but when in Rome you must do as the Romans do, however you must never forget your past, where you came from and who you are.

In the blue corner we have a bunch of Canadians Longboarding down State Highway One at the Bombay Hills

I must admit the longboarding looks pretty cool, and these guys are “professionals”, still State Highway One is a nuts place to do it. With the TV3 ad it is a nice mock/copy but without any homage to the original it makes them look really bad. It is the same as the Telecom ad a few years ago in which everyone around the Telecom office sang, but this was a copy of a viral video from the states. Maybe the same ad agency did both ads?