Afternoons for Wednesday 21 July 2021

 

1.12 First Song:

 

1:17 Mammoth effort to clean up Buller school before term 3 starts

A massive clean up effort is underway at Buller High School to make sure it can open again in time for term 3 this coming Monday.

It's one of the many buildings that suffered extensive flooding over the weekend when record rainfall hit the West Coast of the South Island.

OCS NZ Contract Manager for Buller High School, Hannah Bill, has been rallying around to get as many people as she can to help make sure the class rooms are able to be used. She talks to Jesse about how much work has to be done.

1:27 The upcoming moon wobble and what we can expect

A new study on high tides and flooding in the US made headlines this past week.

But rather than blaming the usual vilian, climate change, coverage of the study instead pointed the finger at the Moon - the study has mentioned a "wobble" in the moon's orbit that could have a significant impact on the number of natural disasters the world faces.

To demystify the Moon Wobble and whether it really is a danger, Professor David Noone explains it all to Jesse.

1:37 Space balls on display in Ashburton: How soviet space craft pieces landed in NZ

In 1972 a number of heavy titaniums spheres, about twice the size of a basketball, dropped out of the sky and landed in paddocks across Ashburton.

But was it Aliens? An elaborate hoax? No. It was Russia. One of their space crafts had fallen to pieces over Canterbury.

 To tell us a bit about the history, Owen Moore, Treasurer of the Ashburton Aviation Museum - where one of those space balls currently lives talks to Jesse about their unique museum piece!

1:55 Afternoons Quiz Robert Kelly

RNZ producer and onetime bookseller Robert Kelly presents his weekly quiz.

2.12 Podcast Critic: Paul Bushnell

Paul Bushnell talks about the abuse of power exposed by Where is George Gibney? and British Scandal.

2:25 Bookmarks with mariachi star, Mireya Ramos

New York-based Latin star Mireya Ramos - is a Grammy-winning violinist and vocalist who came to New Zealand for WOMAD and stayed when lockdown closed the borders. She was here with her female alternative mariachi band Flor de Toloache, but kept touring and streaming live concerts and collaborating with the likes of Troy Kingi. She's released new music and has four gigs left to play in the North Island before she heads back to the US to start a 50 date tour!

Mireya's favourites:

Songs

No Bulto by Velcro

Razón de vivir by Mercedes Sosa

La Rumba me llamo yo by Dayme Arocena

Quisiera by Flor de Toloache featuring John Legend and Cultura Profética

Books

One Hundred Years of Solitude (Spanish: Cien años de soledad) by Gabriel García Márquez

The Te of Piglet by Benjamin Hoff

A Night at the Circus' by Angela Carter

Movies

The Goonies

Beetlejuice

Get Out

3:10 How similar flies and humans really are!

If flies had Tinder accounts they would read something like this:  hopeless romantic, enjoys kisses, dirty talk,  sometimes suffers from insomnia, but is prepared to lavish any partner with special gifts.  New Zealand Biologist Jonathan Balcombe shows how much more we have in common with the common household fly in his latest book, Super Fly: The Unexpected Lives of the World's Most Successful Insects.  

3:35 Stories from Our Changing World

This week on Our Changing World, how can we make our homes more earthquake resilient ?

Base isolation has generally been considered an expensive system used mainly in commercial buildings.

But Katy Gosset meets the university engineers who've developed a safe, low cost model that could work in our homes.

3:45 The Panel with Amy Adams and Guy Williams