October 2000 Archives

#28 Kiwis Global Roaming

#28 Kiwis Global Roaming

Edge Message #28 from Brian Sweeney, producer NZEDGE.COM TO NZEDGE.COM COMMUNITY Greetings. On Friday Kevin Roberts spoke to the Resource Management Law Conference in Auckland. He was the opening speaker and was asked to address “At the Edge: Vision for New …

MurderBall

MurderBall

Wheelchair rugby, “Murderball” as it’s known by the players, is the only full contact wheelchair sport at the Paralympics. New Zealand is ranked second, behind the USA.  

Speed + Power = KO

Speed + Power = KO

That’s the equation chalked on Kiwi David Tua’s wall as the build up to the Tua-Lewis fight continues. In this interview Tua promises to put that equation into practice. He also talks about the importance of home: “People are moving away from their …

Repair Bill

Repair Bill

New Zealand vet Deborah Saunders describes the revolutioary bill-binding putty she used on Deidre the duck: “it’s nice and hard and keeps the two parts of the bill together and well supported”.

Multiple murders

Multiple murders

Anne Perry, formerly Juliet Hulme of the Parker/Hulme case, tours her latest novel Slaves of Obsession in the States. Perry has authored over thirty best-selling murder mysteries.

Fine Vintage

Fine Vintage

1978 was a good year for wine in New Zealand. That’s when John Simes, now winemaker at Mission Hill in Okanagan, Canada, began his career. The Kiwi is one of the “trained and experienced winemakers” imported to British Columbia in the last decade to …

Guy Pearce’s Kiwi Dad

Guy Pearce’s Kiwi Dad

Yes, Guy is an Australian (he spent fours years on Neighbours to prove it), but his father was a New Zealander who tested planes for the Royal Air Force. Pearce, also Russell Crowe’s side-kick from LA Confidential, talks about fame, …

Kava Kafuffle

Kava Kafuffle

Unusual intoxicant attracts international notice. A Wellington man was picked up for driving erratically after consuming kava, a ceremonial drink in many Pacific Island communities.

High Stakes

High Stakes

Christchurch Casinos Limited and international affiliate CryptoLogic have debuted Kiwi Casino on the net. Punters drop their dollars surrounded by “the exotic sub-tropical rainforests of New Zealand”.

Edge into Growth

Edge into Growth

Canadian design guru Bruce Mau created “An incomplete Manifesto for Growth” in 1998. “The oddest thing I heard was that a New Zealand company had used the manifesto on its website,” says Mau.

The Gravy Train Will Now Depart …

The Gravy Train Will Now Depart …

Some members of the Penang Municipal Council enjoyed a recent trip to Adelaide, but not everyone got to go. Those who missed out launched a protest campaign, ending in a working paper being prepared on the subject of a council-funded trip to New …

Sia in America

Sia in America

Samoan New Zealander Sia Figiel reads from her second book, They Who Do Not Grieve (US edition forthcoming). Figiel won the Commonwealth Writers’ Best First Book Prize for Where We Once Belonged.

Golden Deeds

Golden Deeds

Catherine Chidgey, novelist and editor, won the Pacific Commonwealth Best First Book award for In a Fishbone Church. Golden Deeds, her second novel has been published by Picador, leading publishers of contemporary fiction world-wide.

Phar Lap Not Spiked

Phar Lap Not Spiked

A mystery finally solved. Phar Lap, the new bio of the legend concludes that he was not poisoned as previously suspected. His death in America was due to duodenitis proximal jejunitis, a disease not identified until 1983.

Perfect Pinot

Perfect Pinot

An ever-increasing variety of New Zealand wines are being enjoyed and celebrated throughout the world. Al Bassano recommends our Pinot Noir.

V Good

V Good

New Zealand company Frucor, dominant in the NZ and Australian energy drinks market, feels V ready to compete with international behemoth Coca-Cola. “We believe we can grow the market fivefold in Australia,” says CEO Mark Cowsill.

TAPping into Productivity

TAPping into Productivity

Synapse TAP, the alternative computer input system designed by Kiwi Neil Scott of Stanford, doesn’t just allow disabled workers to perform jobs: TAP’s voice and gesture-guided system gives users a edge over their able-bodied counterparts.

Wright for the Job

Wright for the Job

John Wright has secured the national cricket coaching spot in India. Wright’s command begins just before Zimbabwe tour India later this month.

Kiwi Water Winner

Kiwi Water Winner

The gold medal in women’s 470 sailing class at Sydney went to Australia – with a Kiwi doing the work. New Zealander Jenny Armstrong teamed up with Barbara Stowell, originally from Zimbabwe, to win Australia’s 50th medal.

LA Love

LA Love

The LA Times runs a triumvirate of New Zealand travel features: Compact New Zealand, Wellington and comment from Fabio, King of Hearts: “They have the most amazing lakes. They’re huge and as deep as the mountains are high”.

See You Latte

See You Latte

Once you’re safely at the cafe, you can order an extra frothy latte, courtesy of a herd of cows deep in the heart of New Zealand. The milk of these cows has been found to produce superior froth, no matter …

Moa Manipulation

Moa Manipulation

Digital manipulation is an example of Stephen Jay Gould’s ‘Great Asymmetry’: creation takes much longer than destruction or consumption. “It takes millions or billions of years for evolution to produce a species well-adapted to its environment, while it takes just ‘a momentary blow or …

Election Blues

Election Blues

American academics laud MMP: “When New Zealand had its first PR election in 1996, the first Asian citizen was elected, and Pacific Islanders and indigenous Maoris tripled their representation.”

Miracle Flightless

Miracle Flightless

Since 1984, New Zealand has undergone “the most comprehensive economic reform programme undertaken by any OECD country in recent decades”. Not all the results have been bright: “Looking back over the past 15 years, you would have to conclude that the reform process, …

Fishy Dispute

Fishy Dispute

The science of salmon conservation is muddy, but, as New Zealand’s introduced salmon show, the king of fish is an adaptable beast.