Archive for February, 2007

You can’t have your kayak and eat it

Sunday, February 11th, 2007

kayakcake.jpg

That’ll teach me to be less than specific when asking for a birthday present. Having said that, SWMBO’s brilliant cake was a great consolation prize, as was the slap up dinner we had with our new friends at the restaurant at the end of our road.

NZ 4th best place in world to live

Sunday, February 4th, 2007

NZ is the fourth-best place in world to live according to the The International Living travel website.  This sounded great until I read that the first three are a strange mix of France, the Netherlands and Australia.  Closer inspection shows the site to be seemingly geared towards the U.S. expat executive market. [The pointed comments around how hard it is for U.S. citizens to get into New Zealand and secure residency struck me as a bit rich given the Bush administration’s foreign and immigration policies, not to mention the generally appalling attitude of Immigration and Homeland Security drones at U.S. airports.]

waitakere bush

Elsewhere, it would seem that the recent The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report Climate Change 2007 indicates that NZ may escape the worst impacts of global warming, according to NIWA climate scientist Jim Renwick, who contributed to the report and Climate Change Minister David Parker.

Is it warm enough yet, Mr Bush?

Sunday, February 4th, 2007

+2.4°: Coral reefs almost extinct
+3.4°: Rainforest turns to desert
+4.4°: Melting ice caps displace millions
+5.4°: Sea levels rise by five metres
+6.4°: Most of life is exterminated

Following the this week’s UN report, the UK’s Independent newspaper is carrying a piece called Global warming: the final warning. This clearly spells out what the planet’s population can expect by the year 2100 in terms that even a child can understand, which may just account for the fact that Bush and his Australian counterpart, Howard, suddenly seem to realise that they’re having to loosen their collars and ties a little more often these days.

If you don’t think global warming has anything to do with you, your friends, your family or, most importantly, your kids, just spend the next 50 seconds thinking about what the five statements above will really mean for them and their kids.

With four kids myself, I can’t stop thinking about it.

How to boost your wireless signal

Saturday, February 3rd, 2007

The peerless Mark Eriksson brings you cutting edge advice in How to boost your wireless signal – priceless.

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