Get the latest news from Computerworld delivered via email.I've become a podcast fanatic and one of my favourites is Melvyn Bragg's In Our Time, from the BBC, which is also available on iTunes. One recent episode on plate tectonics made me sit up and pay attention.
It was about the emergence of the idea of continental plates and continental drift. One of the panelists mentioned the South Island plates. She said tension on these plates is now so great, the odds of a sudden movement are higher for, say, tomorrow than they are for the day after.
The plates under NZ are interesting as they swap roles from the North to the South Island. In the north, the Pacific plate is moving under the Australian plate while in the south it's the other way around. Twisted.
In Our Time offers an eclectic mix of science and culture, with each episode homing in on a single subject.
From "Plate Tectonics" and "The Multiverse" to "King Lear" and "Greek and Roman Love Poetry", the topics get outlined, analysed and pulled apart in about 40 minutes.
I'll post some other worthy science podcasts soon.
This issue of the tectonic plates and the cross over around the Wellington region raises an interesting point. As I see it, one day there will be a big "bang" and Wellington will either be more elevated than it currently is, or less elevated than it currently is. While the concept of being more elevated than it currently is may be alarming, the concept of it being below sea level is probably more important because rightly or wrongly, many of the important functions within NZ are controlled from Wellington. Some are fairly obvious, such as Parliament, while others are less obvious, such as corporate head office computers. Indeed, I suspect even our overseas telecommunication links may be controlled from Wellington.
In a worst case senario Wellington could disappear under the Cook Strait and the first indication will be the loss of all our telecommunication and internet links with the outside world.
Posted by: Stephen Crowsen | March 3, 2008 9:13 PM
Most of NZ's telecommunications to overseas go via Auckland, so Wellington sliding into the sea would only cause a welcome cessation to the gusts of hot air that emanate from the pollies' abodes down there.
Posted by: Juha | March 6, 2008 12:24 PM