I went on my first tramping trip in the Tararuas last weekend (8 – 10 October) with my friend David who I met through iPredict. I hadn’t gone into the wild since our Orongorongo Valley trip in January 2009, so I jumped at the chance when David mentioned he was going bush. I told my [...]

New Zealand, Personal, Photos, Resilience, Wellington | 3 Comments »

Made by me (click to embiggen). If you are confused, look here.

Catastrophes, New Zealand, Photos, Resilience | 2 Comments »

At the end of January Phil and I went for a trip into the Orongorongo valley with our friends Craig and Tim. The focus of the trip was testing our camping gear and practising survival skills.  As good libertarians we like to “Be Prepared”, and that’s especially important in Wellington.  The ‘Big One’ (a major [...]

Catastrophes, Holidays, New Zealand, Personal, Photos, Resilience, Wellington | 2 Comments »

I issued two extremely important Libz press releases this afternoon.  They form a two-pronged plan to combat the upcoming recession and ensure that such a dramatic economic downfall can never threaten New Zealand again. You can read them on Scoop: Finally: A Credible Economic Plan Economic Correction Needs Political Correction And on the Libertarianz website: [...]

Catastrophes, Development, Freedom, Libertarianz, New Zealand, Politics, Resilience | No Comments »

Thomas X. Hammes speculates that a series of large explosions at major ports could effectively “end globalization”. My previous post, “Fourth-generation warfare expert to speak in Wellington on Monday”, generated some interest, and several people have asked me for a report. Well, I guess I did promise you, so here goes… As Shlok said, Hammes [...]

4GW, Black globalization, Catastrophes, Infrastructure, Resilience, Terrorism, Wellington | 9 Comments »

In some ways, it sounds exactly like a typical Al Qaeda attack, with multiple, near-simultaneous bombing targeting public transport: Stuff, “Bombs spark city chaos”Four explosions plunged Christchurch into commuter chaos yesterday. A bomb exploded in the Bus Exchange about 3.10pm, forcing hundreds of passengers, many of them schoolchildren, onto surrounding streets. Inner-city traffic came to [...]

4GW, Infrastructure, New Zealand, Resilience, Terrorism | 4 Comments »

Originally posted on Coming Anarchy. If you would like to comment, please do so there. Lihir gold mine, Papua New Guinea A history of conflict As has been explored in previous Oceania Day posts, conflict in Oceania – particularly in Melanesia – is often related to resources. The prime example is Bougainville, where in 1989 [...]

4GW, Black globalization, Development, Energy, Failed states, Infrastructure, Mercenaries, Non-state actors, Pacific, Resilience | No Comments »

I promised to post this stuff in the previous Woodworking Projects post. A few summers ago, I wanted a treehouse, so I ended up building this hanging platform complete with trapdoor and rope ladder, and a nearby swinging chair. For more pictures and a bonus crazy adventure …

New Zealand, Personal, Resilience | 2 Comments »

FOR CENTURIES, the sovereign state has been the dominant form of political organization in the Western world. The most successful variant of the state was the nation-­state, which harnessed the power of nationalism and was eventually exported around the world. Today, there are more than 200 nation-­states. But, as I will argue, the nation­-state is [...]

4GW, Black globalization, Empire, Failed states, Mercenaries, Non-state actors, Politics, Resilience, Terrorism, World | 11 Comments »

Sri Lanka government only too happy to help them out John Robb reports that the Tamil guerrilla air force has turned to systems disruption, attacking oil infrastructure north of Colombo. This is the third air raid by the Tamil homebuilt light aircraft, but previous raids targeted air force and army personnel. It is also not [...]

4GW, Energy, Infrastructure, Non-state actors, Resilience, South Asia, Technology | No Comments »