ASB is hosting a competition for 7-14 year-olds to come up with the wildest money-making scheme they can think of! Entrants must create a minute-long video demonstrating their idea – or even better, a drawing or even the device in action – and upload it to ASB’s video entry page. For more information, check out the page by clicking here. The page is chock-full of animations and music, so be prepared for a slightly long loading-time. Entries close on the 16th of January 2011, so get… Read more
Kiwiana — Celebrating Our National Identity Gumboots, ‘Buzzy Bee’ toys, marching girls, a meringue dessert, shell ashtrays, and a cookbook may not seem terribly important objects. But to many Kiwis (New Zealanders), such things assume vital importance as major icons of Kiwiana! What is Kiwiana? It could be described as all the weird and wonderful quirky things from years gone by that contribute to our sense of nationhood — our kiwi identity. What is a Kiwi? To understand Kiwiana, it’s important to first know what exactly a kiwi is. A kiwi is a flightless nocturnal native… Read more
Two Cambridge mates say they may turn their unusual method of trimming hedges into a business, after they suspended a ride-on mower from a crane to do the job. “This is how the Waikato boys mow a hedge,” the ride-on mower operator told the Waikato Times. The operator, who did not want to be named, is now nursing a broken hand, but said it wasn’t a fall from the mower that caused the injury but one off the crane. He admitted it was not the safest method of trimming the hedge, but said it was all done as a bit of a joke. They wanted to film the stunt, put it on the internet and… Read more
From www.rubbishfree.co.nz: This site has emerged out of a year long challenge we set ourselves that became known as the Rubbish Free Year. From 1st Febuary 2008 through to 1st February 2009 we tried to avoid creating any landfill waste from our home in Christchurch, Aotearoa New Zealand. The average couple living in NZ sends about 1.5 tons of rubbish to landfills every year, but through composting, recycling, and careful purchasing we accumulated only 2kg of landfill waste between us! The aim was to create new habits in order to further our journey towards living lightly on… Read more
Still waiting for the hydrogen economy to ignite and save us from the oil squeeze and environmentally unsustainable fossil fuels? New Zealand engineer John Fleming is part of an effort to bypass the hydrogen era and go directly to the nitrogen-hydrogen economy. Pure hydrogen has long been touted as a potentially carbon-free alternative to burning fossil fuels for energy, with former US President George W. Bush the most notable cheerleader. It came with the lure of carbon-free energy and virtually limitless supply. But issues of safety, storage, transportation and production… Read more
Before you read to the end, does anybody know what the main ingredient of WD-40 is? Don’t lie and don’t cheat. WD-40. Who knew; I had a neighbor who bought a new pickup. I got up very early one Sunday morning and saw that someone had spray painted red all around the sides of this beige truck (for some unknown reason). I went over, woke him up, and told him the bad news. He was very upset and was trying to figure out what to do…. probably nothing until Monday morning, since nothing was open. Another neighbor came out and told him to get his WD-40 and clean it off. It removed… Read more
A transforming robot that can turn itself into a car has brought designer Nick Mabey plenty of attention. The 18-year-old from St Heliers has spent the year designing and building a robot that can stand itself up, morph into a car and then be driven by remote control. The robot, named Reggie, was intended only as the final technology project for the year 13 Kings College student. But Nick was asked to enter his creation in this year’s Bright Sparks Awards where he won the People’s Choice Award and came third in the over-17-year-olds category. The competition encourages… Read more
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