Just the other day a young driver was killed instantly by a 8kg chunk of concrete dropped through the windscreen of his car by a 14-year-old kid from a motorway overbridge.
And then today I read this article that tells of a passenger knocked unconscious by a rock hurled through the window of her bus. The thrower in this case must either not keep up with the news, or be incredibly stupid.
Bus drivers report that they are getting more and more objects thrown at them. I used to commute to work by train and I recall having the odd object thrown at our carriage.
It's a tricky one. I'd guarantee that most of these people would have no idea of the physics involved in their act of stone/rock throwing, or I'm sure they would think twice.
I remember being told off for throwing stones (little ones of the size used in chip-seal road surfacing) at passing trucks on my way home from primary school. I think to some degree, it's in a boy's nature to throw stuff, not maliciously, but just for fun, and largely without thinking. But I've since completed a fair amount of physics education, and realise that it doesn't take great speed or mass for an object to be potentially fatal, or at the very least cause damage to others' property.
But to deliberately carry - with some difficulty, according to a witness - an 8kg chunk of concrete from a construction site onto an overpass with the express purpose of dropping it on a car is not at all within the realms of the unthinking little boy.
What is going wrong here?
Google Talk. Google's answer to MSN Messenger. It also has IP telephony capability. Requires a gmail account; let me know if you want one, I have 49 invites left.
This Spartan Life. An online talk-show with a difference. The difference being it is filmed entirely within a Halo2 multiplayer game. Interviews, dancing, current issue debates, you name it.
WebOS. Jason Kottke takes a good look at the web as an application platform. A good read if you're a bit of a geek.
... one by name, the other by nature.
Read this article on tvnz.co.nz and this article on stuff.co.nz.
Dr Brash feels it is wrong to yell at and behave aggressively toward people in general, and women in particular. So we do have some politeness and respect in the upper echelons of NZ politics.
Ms Clark, on the other hand, considered Dr Brash's chivalry to be insulting and "patronising", scoffing at his weakness.
So we have Prime Minister who thinks that politeness, courtesy and respect are signs of weakness - no wonder our society is becoming such a shambles.
Valued readers, I'd been keen to hear your thoughts on this matter.
I just had a thought while I was watching Helen Clark's interview on agenda this morning. It's merely a refinement of what I've been thinking all along.
In this election, we have more chance of getting a Christian MP into parliament than we do of voting out all, or even any, of the immoral, anti-Christian influences in parliament.
In this election, we're not out to change the world, or even NZ, politically. That is nigh impossible in just this one election. What we can do, however, is vote a strong Christian voice into parliament; a voice that is founded on strong biblical policy, and cannot be silenced or stifled by other elements in its party (unlike UF, or Christian MPs in other parties, for example).
That leaves CHNZ or Destiny.
And of course I'm biased, but even the difference between CHNZ and Destiny on the issue of abortion (there are other issues, don't worry), as Scott has drawn out, should make the choice pretty easy for any Christian.
Christians, this is a test of our faith. If we are faithful to God, He will be faithful to us, and as a nation, we will reap the blessings of having a clear Christian voice in parliament.
I don't want to go into the up and coming election in too much detail - much is covered in the following articles and their ensuing comments:
- Don't Rely on National for Family Values
- What is the Most Important Election Issue?
- Make Your Vote Count?
- They Won't Get In Anyway
- I'm voting Green
It is hard, as a Christian, to read this and then consider voting Labour, National, or any of the parties that aren't founded on Biblical principles.
It's not necessarily about making your vote count. It's about voting right.
Once upon a time, one could buy a cheap product that perhaps didn't look as flash as the more expensive ones, it had fewer features, but it was built just as well as the more expensive ones, and was just as reliable.
Today if one buys a cheap product, it will generally have just as many features as an expensive one, but instead it is poorly assembled, made of cheap inapproriate materials, and is practically unsable. It either falls apart or just doesn't do what it supposed to do.
Where is the manufacturers' pride?
Where is respect and care for the customer?
Where is the good, cheap, simple stuff?
