Life in Wellington, New Zealand, photos, and dogs

For several reasons I've decided to close this blog and incorporate existing and future posts into my main blog, KnowIT.

Please visit that blog for posts and comments.

 

From the category archives:

Science

Mars Orbiter Shows Angled View of Martian Crater

This gorgeous NASA image shows Victoria Crater on Mars.

Read the full article ⍾ Science 22 August 2009 0 comments

Predict Wellington’s weather by astronomical events

I’ve made a very interesting discovery over the last few years, since I started to revive an ancient interest in astronomy: it’s possible to predict Wellington’s weather by astronomical events. Lunar eclipse: cloudy. Closest approach of an interesting celestial body: rainy. Comets: cloud and wind. Transits: wind. Other phenomena: mist and or fog. And on [...]

Read the full article ⍾ Science 27 February 2009 0 comments

Dr Jane Goodall inspires, motivates and intrigues

· I had the great privilege today to listen to a talk by Jane Goodall, renowned primatologist, at Wellington Zoo. She was joined by four ‘local heroes’, who each spoke for a few minutes about the ecology programmes they’re involved with: tuatara (as seen in the speaker’s hands in the photo below), frogs, kereru, and [...]

Read the full article ⍾ Save the planet 18 October 2008 0 comments

Icebergs afloat A flotilla of about one hundred…

Apparently we have icebergs headed our way: Icebergs ahead: A flotilla of about one hundred icebergs has been sighted about 260 kilometres from the lower South Island. The largest iceberg is about two kilometres long and 120 metres high. Niwa scientists believe they are remnants of A-43, a 167 kilometre long superberg that broke off [...]

Read the full article ⍾ Real life 11 November 2006 2 comments

Seafood Stocks Running Out, Says Study

I was surprised the other day to read this news item: Seafood Stocks Running Out, Says Study: There will be virtually nothing left to fish from the seas by the middle of the century if current trends continue, according to a major scientific study. Stocks have collapsed in nearly one-third of sea fisheries, and the [...]

Read the full article ⍾ Real life 5 November 2006 0 comments

Now, there’s a description!

Farmers are sometimes reputed to be terse, but this one is also minimalist. Thank goodness the police have filled in some detail: Black Meteorite Going To Radiation Laboratory: A police officer went to a farm in Dunsandel between Christchurch and Rakaia last night to pick it [the black object] up and has so far only [...]

Read the full article ⍾ Real life 13 September 2006 0 comments

A 7 metre rise in sea levels?

I listen to quite a few science podcasts and the notions of climate change, melting glaciers, starving polar bears and a rise in sea levels are not foreign to me. I am already concerned about these things. Last night though I went to see An Inconvenient Truth, the movie where Al Gore puts the facts [...]

Read the full article ⍾ Real life 13 September 2006 1 comment

Follow-up: animal immunity

Back in January 2006 I wrote about sending in a question to the Canadian Quirks & Quarks programme. Somehow I didn’t remember to provide a follow-up until now, even though my question was not only accepted, but answered within a week or two: CBC Radio | Quirks & Quarks | Jan. 21, 2006: Question of [...]

Read the full article ⍾ Science 6 August 2006 1 comment

Blood test surprise

I’m participating in a health study and went along this morning for some routine blood tests to see how I’m doing after 12 months of exercise. Last week I visited a nurse who took my blood pressure and had me step up and down for several minutes then took my pulse. While I watched four [...]

Read the full article ⍾ Science 17 July 2006 0 comments

I’m a very common H

My genetic profile is finished and I’m an H: Your mtDNA results identify you as a member of haplogroup H. (See: The story’s in the genes and The story’s in the genes – update.) Like everyone else on the planet my earliest known ancestors lived in Africa. Then over thousands of years their descendants migrated [...]

Read the full article ⍾ Science 5 February 2006 0 comments

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