An early work-in-progress dedicated to helping,
circuitously, precipitate the Great Mobilisation
Dare to be wise!
Kant
Contents
author Cimino
work-in-progress published 20250711
…I read the news today, oh boy,
Four thousand holes in Blackburn, Lancashire
And though the holes were rather small,
They had to count them all
Now they know how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall.
Lennon–McCartney, 1967
Large Rather-Small Potholes: Even supposing John Lennon’s metric pertained to the area of a pothole, rather than its volume, for 4000 to fill the 5272-seat Royal Albert Hall would require the holes to be rather large. His point, however, about the banality of commercial news media circa 1967 was prescient and proved to be no match for the advent of the internet, which should so readily have helped herald a new age of enlightenment. Although image here is from Chinese study comparing cement-based road, and setting aside that the greatest contribution to pothole prevention in Aotearoa would arise from a greater volume of heavy transportation to be by rail, roads are an essential part of any intelligent, balanced land transport system… study Xiaoli Ji et al | publisher Elsevier
Although it was patently the typically dubious product of ai, the topic was intensely germane to Light the Fuse. Its bilious, ai-generated illustration didn’t so much as give the article away as absolutely confirm that none of its content could be trusted, least of all that it was news—in this case, of a new science paper, heralded:
“Earth’s Vital Signs Are Failing” as Shocking Climate Study Warns of Global System Collapse and Sparks Fierce Clash Over Environmental Policy and Corporate Power
Said shocking climate study, however, is unlinked and unnamed. That the article doesn’t say a single word about a “fierce clash over environmental policy and corporate power” will surprise no activist despairing that largely unchallenged business-as-usual is almost certainly condemning billions of souls to centuries of unspeakable privations.
Frustration at his failure to locate the study invoked the John Lennon line quoted above, which promptly led Cimino, Wikipedia-abetted, down a pothole rabbit hole, he having never appreciated exactly what Blackburn’s four thousand holes were. Meanwhile, given the gift of the coalition government’s shamelessly populist $3.9 billion pothole prevention fund, suggested that a genuinely recent, and entirely encouraging study on the subject of low-carbon road-maintenance methods was a deserving and germane inaugural entry in Light the Fuse ’s new research list:
Advancing toward a low-carbon infrastructure:
Emission reduction potential of geopolymer road maintenance
authors Xiaoli Ji a b, Xiangbo Huang c, Shiyun Zhong a , Junli Zhou d
a School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai
b Shanghai Liyang Road Reinforcement Technology Co., Ltd., Shanghai
c Shanghai Chenji'an Technology Co., Ltd., Shanghai
d Shanghai Jinshan District Transportation Construction Engineering Management Center, Shanghai
publisher Elsevier
version-of-record published 20250415
publication Materials Today Sustainability, Volume 30 published 202506
light light-the-fuse aside Transportation, in China, generates 8.3% of that mega-state’s greenhouse-gas emissions, less than half the percentage—17%—generated by the corresponding sector in Aotearoa. Meanwhile, the shamelessly populist National-led government that swept the unrepentant-neoliberal-Labour-led coalition from office in 2023, crows about devoting $3.9 billion to a three-year pothole prevention fund. While woefully overdue technology such as an Ausroad’s Multipatcher—to rapidly and safely effect temporary repairs—will be a sight for pothole-jolted Northland eyeballs, moving a lion’s share of New Zealand’s heavy freight by rail—grid-electrified rail—is the only long-term respite available to journeying New Zealanders. A balanced rail–road transport network redemption is an unavoidable, systemic, pothole-prevention joined-up-policy necessity.
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