Insane dumb New Zealand (Wellington) structures (bridges and retaining walls) - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: jimschofield
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: December 20, 2017, 04:36:57 am
content: Hi, I'm Dave Jones from the EEV BlogHEY GET OUT OF HERE DAVE JONES THIS IS MY POST.Anyway, I enjoy EEV blog. I'm not an electronic engineer... Or ay engineer. I do have an allegedly "advanced" education and at a stretch I guess I could say I'm a "medical physicist". I know about some radiation particle stuff, and can also do your basic calculations about levers which can be useful for bolting bones back together. I have TWO multimeters (one of them is even pretty good! a true count one and it's got all autoranging and... stuff. And a backlight), and even a soldering iron. And I even managed to sort of logically/using "electronics" backwards "engineer" the cabling for my 70 year old Metropolitan Vickers induction motor AND even the furnas switch that came with it. No explosions or deaths at all. I even managed to change things up so that the earth wire didn't draw >>>15 amps (requiring the shorting of a breaker in his fuse box...), melt itself, and then explode. All of which was causing some minor problems for the previous owner. In fact, by the time I was done, the earth wire didn't have any current going through it all (well maybe like a tiny little bit? because it's copper and next to motors and stuff? but you know)... But it was connected to all the metal outside bits of the motor and associated machinery, and it connected those up to the so-called "ground" which I thought was a good idea.One thing I totally enjoyed about the recent solar roadways rant was this moment right here -https://youtu.be/rpwx-8s1M38?t=938I saw that, then had to replay it for myself a number of times... I KNOW EXACTLY THAT FEELING! I have that emotion/make that sound all the time!Because for the past year... I've been trying to convince Wellington City Council thatmaybeit shouldn't use cheap steel temporary fence posts (Waratahs, Y posts, death sticks...) to hold up retaining walls out in public on steep hillsides... And that it DEFINITELY shouldn't use those same things or rotting cut pine logs - that are within the f--king stream and under water all the time - to hold up small bridges... All of those being super terrible ideas that I don't recommend. The structures are found on walking/cycling (mountain biking) tracks all over Wellington on public land.For those who don't know New Zealand, it's that earthquakey extremely harsh environment mountain place that's on top of all those volcanos. There's also a lot of rivers. Quite a lot of ocean. And the nearest civilisation is... I guess... Papua New Guinea? Or maybe Samoa or Tonga? Otherwise, we're a long way away from any civilised first world nations. Any help is a long way away. In hindsight, not the greatest place for a country. New Zealand is also known for our national pastimes - Man-on-Sheep love, still being bitter about the Underarm Incident of 1981, and occasional incompetence-based manslaughter. There's even an NRL team?!Surprisingly, New Zealand is a nation with many fine laws... Including a law about buildings, which I believe is called"The Building Act, 1991"... The government agencies responsible for enforcing the Building Act are the "territorial authorities"... Which means the district or city Councils... And even more surprisingly, the City Councils are themselves bound by that law... It's a pretty long law, but if you had to pick one part of it that you totally want to keep... it's probably the part that more or less says"MAKE SURE THE BUILDINGS DON'T FALL DOWN AND KILL PEOPLE"...Anyway... Here's what I'm talking about when I talk about those bridgeshttp://tinyurl.com/spicerbridgeAnd here's ............ I don't even know how to describe this at all........ It's a terrible retaining wall... And then some more retaining wall has been nailed back onto the top of it from the outside.... Which is backwards..... And then a handrail has been added to make it even more falley-overy.... And bolted to it in the stupidest way possible in respect of "make it make the wall fall down".... And then just a giant flimsy sail-like fence has been added to the handrail........... Also..... There's two of them.... On a steep slope........... In a public park, next to a huuuuge and populated suburb (Karori).... And it's ~250 meters from a kindergarten.... And it's new.... And Wellington City Council commissioned that s--t....http://tinyurl.com/karoriparkwallAlso... That's TOTALLY needs a so-called "building consent" because it's a fairly large (nearly 1500mm high in some spots) retaining wall... And because it some huuuuuge further structures on top of it for some reason... And because in total, it's WAY higher than the size at which any structure needs a building consent (I think .... 3m? 3.5m? Anyway, those things are much higher)... And even if it didn't.... It's the CITY COUNCIL... They are the ones who issue the building consents?! It's a f--king retaining wall and a fence.... They have engineers and building inspectors IN THE SAME BUILDING as the people who commissioned that wall... That's a job that requires ONE email!? Or just yell along the hallway?!!?"Can I has plan for low retaining wall with fence on it?"..... WTF. Anyhow... It would need a building consent... But it wouldn't ever get one... because it's f--king dumb and it's inherently toppling over and the retaining wall portion is literally around the wrong way................Also... Those folders/images... Those are justexamples. I don't know what else is out there... But I do know that these aren't exactly isolated problems. There's more s--t like that all over Wellington... Including just a goofy amount of "retaining walls" that have cheap steel fence posts as the posts.......... And those are usually all in the process of just totally collapsing....... I have a lot more photos... Or, if you like, "evidence"...Wellington is super steep, on top of a series of huuuuge fault lines that are potentially going to just rip the whole city in half at any moment, it's next to the ocean, it's extremely windy, it has fairly extreme climate variation, and it's the capital f--king city... So it's all in all about the dumbest place imaginable to build s--t like that...... And as such....https://youtu.be/rpwx-8s1M38?t=938- Yeah, I feel your pain Dave Jones.Anyway, I thought perhaps I'd go searching on the internet and maybe find some somewhat like-minded folk who think it's a pretty good idea to not kill people in idiotic structural collapses. EEV Blog being fairly intellectually intense, thought I might find some people here who could - for example - build or design a low timber cantilever retaining wall that isn't the wrong way around.............. Or just successfully read the single page free instructions that you can get from any hardware store or online..... Or perhaps even know that bridges should probably have some sort of foundations that aren't rotting wood or cheap rusty fence posts.Thanks for letting me rant. Also... If you ever visit NZ/Wellington... I'm really sorry that WCC are f--king morons... And I've tried to stop them.... Dunno what else to say. Sorry?

author: BradC
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 20, 2017, 05:00:42 am
content: Quote from: jimschofield on December 20, 2017, 04:36:57 amNot to worry. We weren't happy about it either. Probably one of the few things we can all agree on

author: jimschofield
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: December 20, 2017, 05:18:56 am
content: YeahI still like to bring it up, it's good natured... Watching the clip now, I appreciate that the SCG crowd booedloud. The Australian public were not pleased. Also, Richie Benaud calling it disgraceful -that guy was a class act.

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: December 20, 2017, 05:25:25 am
content: Quote from: BradC on December 20, 2017, 05:00:42 amIt's not like they needed a bloody single off the last ball or anything, odds of a low order batsman hitting a six under that pressure was probably low.

author: jimschofield
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: December 20, 2017, 05:53:41 am
content: Quote from: EEVblog on December 20, 2017, 05:25:25 amAs Richie Pointed out... It wasn't even to win. It was six to tie!?These days, a tail-end NZ batsman is a different beast. No more classy Chris Martin non-strokeplay/cowering. Southee and Boult love wildly flat batting sixes. It's great to watch.If only our buildings were as reliable and competent as our #11 batsmen.

author: Someone
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 20, 2017, 06:23:54 am
content: Given the Accident Compensation Corporation you're just making noise for no return, even if someone does get hurt still no-one will care. Those structures are pretty typical for low use tracks and are safe enough for their purpose.

author: jonovid
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 20, 2017, 06:27:18 am
content: will The structures be replaced if sheep are lost or injured. lawsuit! or two can do it.

author: tautech
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 20, 2017, 07:10:48 am
content: Quote from: Someone on December 20, 2017, 06:23:54 amExactly.Rather would the OP consider it desirable that heavy machinery was bought into the areas he's identified to construct these structures so that they meet all NZ construction and safety standards. Rather than his gripe of style of construction that he at least claims he knows little about, every nature minded person in the locality would be up in arms about the damage to the wilderness area and funds wastage for a walking track that the next shaky natural event could be demolished anyway.Temporary structures as these are bypass many regulations and therefore become cost effective to accomplish.Be thankful of the track upgrade or be prepared to have a goat track to negotiate.

author: jimschofield
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: December 20, 2017, 07:37:15 am
content: In terms of ACC... New Zealand has now done away with "no fault" and introduced a "sometimes it's someone's fault" system, which I am a big fan of. NZ's learned this lesson enough times now (see Cave Creek, CTV...) - there's no excuse for building that sort of crap inside a city in public.These aren't wilderness tracks. They're inside a city. They're not old/rickety structures built 200 years ago, they're quite (or even very) new... And they're being paid for by taxpayers... And built horrifically. The manners in which that wall or those bridges could kill somebody are pretty obvious. I'm not making noise for no reason, I'm making noise to leave a huge papertrail... Maybe also warn people.