Signposts - a blog about Te Ara the Encyclopedia of New Zealand

Last night’s earthquake 50 km south-east of Gisborne was a magnitude 6.8 shake at a depth of 40 km.

Extent of shaking, 1855 earthquake

You might like to compare that with some of New Zealand’s historic earthquakes – though the 1931 Hawke’s Bay quake (7.8 magnitude) is the best known and caused by far the greatest loss of life, the largest recorded was the Wairarapa and Wellington earthquake of 1855 – 8.2 on the magnitude scale. (OK, the Richter scale, if you like. Though that term seems to be out of fashion with the geologists these days.)

Even more informative, however, is the Modified Mercalli scale, which measures the intensity by the effects felt at different distances from the earthquake’s centre, from MM1 (Imperceptible) to MM12 (Completely devastating).

The loveliest loo in the land?

Te Ara has a blog, but what about those of us who don’t like baring our souls in text? The more visually inclined of us can join and contribute to Te Ara on Flickr.

We have created a Te Ara Flickr page and we want you to participate! Become a friend, load up your images – we’d love to see ‘your place’ in New Zealand. Te Ara has already explored some of New Zealand through its Places theme. The journey continues, right now with work on the Wanganui region, and we want you to come with us. Post your favourite pic to our Flickr group, write a little something about it, or let the image speak for itself. We might be able to include it in the Wanganui encyclopedia entry.

Take a look at special places we have already photographed, from loos in Northland to pubs in South Canterbury. Favourite foods from Pleasant Point to Maketū. The beauty of the Bay of Plenty and the grandeur of the South. We have taken our impression of your place - show us the real New Zealand.

So share your place with us and the world on our Flickr group page.

Parting is such sweet sorrow

Last night we farewelled Shirley, our Resources Team Leader, and one of the founding staff of the Te Ara project. A sad occasion, but also a reminder of how long the project’s been in existence (since 2002) and how much we’ve achieved. Jock pointed out that Shirley must have vetted 150,000 images, videos, sound files and ideas for interactives and diagrams since we started compiling entries; Mel noted that Shirley was the voice of reason and sanity who had the nerve to say ‘No!’ when overenthusiastic contributors had more and more bright ideas – she’s kept the project on track and you only have to look at the site to see what a magnificent job she’s done (with the able assistance of a terrific team). The Places entries have been her specialty, and she also set up Te Ara on Flickr.

And Nancy wrote and declaimed her Ode to Shirley – there certainly wasn’t a dry eye in the house after that performance! It was worthy of the great McGonagall himself.

We’re going to miss Shirley in lots of ways (especially that laugh, to put it politely) and wish her and Nigel all the best for their very exciting move to fabulous Salisbury, Wiltshire.

Shirley is a fine singer and musician whose talents have enriched the wonder that is the World Wide Web. Blog postings may be ephemeral, but some things are classics. Please enjoy Shirley’s contributions to the documentation of New Zealand’s cultural history here (and here as well).

Kuri (Polynesian Dog). Image: Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa

Would you eat a dog?

Mark McGown, a British performance artist, did.
He ate a corgi as a protest against Queen Elizabeth’s husband, Prince Philip, killing a fox.

Not something that New Zealanders would do?
Actually, you don’t have to search Te Ara too far to find examples of our canine companions on the menu. Our ‘Kurī’ entry (coming up in 2008) will show that before Europeans came to New Zealand, Māori raised kurī (dogs) for food.
Captain Cook ate one and said it was almost as nice as English lamb.

Te Ara’s entry on European Exploration tells of explorer Thomas Brunner being forced to eat his faithful dog, Rover, while exploring. This earned him the nickname ‘Kai Kurī’ (dog eater) from local Māori.