Ice and Cannibals
Alan Gurney details three mid-nineteenth century voyages to Antarctica. Included is a “grisly description by a New Zealand missionary of the cannibalistic Maoris’ method of creating shrunken human heads.”
News of New Zealanders via Global Media
Versatile Machine
Pakistani engineers have developed a “bed shaper cum seed drill”, and are exporting the all-purpose agri-tool to Uzbekistan thanks to New Zealand sponsorship.
Balibo Five
Investigations are being renewed into the killing of five journalists (including New Zealander Gary Cunningham) during Indonesian’s invasion of East Timor twenty-five years ago.
New Zealandese?
“‘They’re fighting the 300-pound gorilla. Good on them,’ said Mark de Frere, a marketing manager for Advanced Micro Devices, using the New Zealand phrase equivalent to ‘godspeed’.”
New Zealand Pride
Not as bursting with hubris as the Algerians, don’t think we’re as great as the Greeks, not as frank in our appreciation as the French, but we’re in the top twenty countries that inspire pride in their…
Security or Spying?
Activist Nicky Hager sees proposed anti-hacking laws as spying – Minister Paul Swain defends them as essential cyber-security.
Tractor Attention
Helen and Clyde Berkshire run the world’s only Harvester tractor museum, in Indiana. New Zealanders have a special interest in the display.
Relative Connection
“Groove is a Windows application that lets you swap ideas and information in the same way that Napster lets you swap songs … if you could get your cousins in New Zealand to use it, staying in…
Kiwi Cannibal Hookers
“We were shocked. The male would come ashore, grab the pup, swim out 5 or 1 metres with it, shake it around, kill it, and then bite off chunks and limbs and eat them,” said Dr…
Jeans #2
Labour MP John Tamihere wore a pair of ‘dress jeans’ to work. When National’s Bill English complained, Aucklander Tamihere called him “a hillbilly from Clutha”.
Dog Eat Cat World
Felines are unwelcome at Macquarie Island. New Zealand cat-hounds are cleaning them up.
Midget Motoring
An eight year old boy hitting the motorway at 80k in his Dad’s car was doing his bit to bring the average driving age down. Police stopped the boy who was “not fazed,” by them,…
Senior Junior
Anne Martindall (86), former US Ambassador to New Zealand and long-time companion of Sir Toss Woollaston, returns to college to complete her degree. “I believe in finishing what you start,” says Martindall.
Bloody Lucky
King Country farming means clear air, rich milk, hay and leeches? Maria Lupton’s slimy sweeties saved the lips of an Australian girl mauled by a dog. The leeches, usually fed on blood and intestines, restore circulation to…
Booby Trap
It’s tough on the beat. Two Hamilton police officers were innocently holding a cam-corder when the woman it was pointed at ripped her clothes off, landing them in breach of regulations.
Towel Rage
Staff at the Rotorua Polynesian Spa were menaced by a naked customer, furious that he hadn’t been provided with a towel. The customer walked naked into the foyer, pushing a computer off the front desk to…
Antipodean Etonian
Many quintessentially British institutions are headed by foreigners – including Eton, where Kiwi John Lewis is headmaster.
Edge Stories in Ireland
Rangimoana Taylor and a Ngati Ranana group are among the storytellers to be powhiried onto a marae recreated by Dublin school pupils for the ninth (festival of story-tellers), highlighting New Zealand and immigration.
Late News
The New Zealand-based Afghani terrorist plot to blow up the nuclear reactor during the Sydney Games may not have been so threatening after all…
Unprivate Moments
“Keep a diary online and you’re exposed to Mom, Dad, potential employers, and strangers in New Zealand with strong opinions about the way last night’s date should have been handled.”
Fat Tax
Proponents of the New Zealand “Brain Drain” myth complain about income tax, but the government has so far rejected calls for a “fat tax” on butter, cheese, meat and milk.
One mammal, One Moniker
New Zealand is to be included in an Asian flora and fauna database aiming to reduce confusion caused by species with more than one name.
Democracy Deal
PM Helen Clark was at the forefront of the push to make the Pacific Island Leaders Forum a defender of democracy in the region.
Healing Touch
A new London centre devoted to the study of the “healing touch” is “an outpost of a university in New Zealand whose ideas are based on feng shui and other Oriental philosophies.” Could tight…
Lamb-blasted
The WTO ruled in favour of New Zealand in the appeal against US tariffs on our lamb. The Prime Minister was pleased with the result, but said “ideally, you don’t want to be taking your best…
No Tree Hill
One Tree Hill of U2 fame lost its signature pine, removed due to safety considerations after attacks over six years to highlight indigenous land claims. The exotic Monterey pine replaced a native Totara cut down by a…
Say Fish
Mi’kmaq Indians look to New Zealand’s lead on fishery settlement deals. “Strong, tradeable property rights in fishing can be powerful economic and environmental force,” argues this article.
HRH Touchdown
The Queen will visit her farthest-flung domain in October, 2001. Her visit will provide “an opportunity for New Zealand to mark the impending Golden Jubilee of the Queen’s Reign”.
Avian Aphrodisiac
There are only 62 Kakapo in the world, and they don’t always seem that interested in making more. DOC scientists, hoping to see some action from the feather fellows, have concocted a special kind of muesli…
Motoring On
Elva Shepard, 99, passed her re-licensing test. The experienced drivers only fault? A little slow at times, perhaps due to Bubba, her youthful 43-year-old car.
Eco Edge
“Politicians have got used to being told by their clever advisers and focus groups that the environment isn’t sexy. It doesn’t lead to votes. But that’s where the leadership thing comes in. If politics is merely about…
Acing It
Wellington hair maestro Constantin Harach played his cards right to win the Moscow International Poker Tournament Pot Limit Omaha: “Aram rolls over 8K510 and Constantin 6QJA. Constantin’s up and down straight is made with a K…
What Goes Around Comes Around
Hans Schwarz, an Austrian now living in NZ, sailed to Melbourne in 1956, to attend the Olympic Games. He threw a bottle into the ocean, with a note for a “dusky Pacific maiden”. Now, in a typically…
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.
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 …
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…
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
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…
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…
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.
That’s Not a Camera Flash
PM Clark ventured on a guided tour of the Sydney Harbour Bridge super-structure. Was that an admirer taking a picture? Was it an apparition of Roger Kerr? No, the sudden illumination was lightening striking the bridge, narrowly…
NZ Economy Surged
New Zealand’s economy surged two percent for the June quarter, Statistics New Zealand has revealed.
Reading Edge in US
Over the last twenty years, many young New Zealanders have benefited from “Reading Recovery”, the revolutionary learn-to-read programme created by Dame Marie Clay. Now the programme is spreading into American schools.
Why do it yourself when you can play a CD?
Wellington coffee czar Geoff Marsland has issued a CD aimed at the neighbours – at annoying them that is. The CD features the noise of a lawnmower and runs for 64 minutes. “If your neighbours have…
McKinnon Calls for Debt Relief
Commonwealth Sec-Gen Don McKinnon has called on G-7 countries, the World Bank and the IMF to “just do it” on the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative which would write off debts owed by some of the…
Murderball 2
Cage fights? Question time in the New Zealand Parliament is being broadcast live on the net.
Soft-soaping Protector
Waiuku orchardist Chris Henry has created the world’s first organically acceptable soft-soap fungicide. The product, branded as Protector, is “just what environment conscious growers and customers have been demanding”.
Entrepreneurial Drive
The Waikato Management School has launched an innovative scheme to counter the supposed Brain Drain.
Dollar for Dollar
Ian MacFarlane, Governor of the Australia Reserve bank, has been positive about the idea of currency union with New Zealand, but has left the initiative firmly on the Kiwi side of the ditch. Earlier this month…
Kudos for Kiwis
Messages of thanks and congratulations poured in from all over the world in response to New Zealand’s decision to take the Afgan refugees. “By accommodating our homeless and stranded children and mothers, New Zealand…
Top of the Pots
New Zealand plants have a distinctive look to them, and the tree-fern is perhaps one of the most unusual. Ponga trees are a hot item in the UK. Home Front TV gardener Diarmuid Gavin highlights them on…
Are You Reading This Now?
New Zealand ranks among the most literate countries in the world, according to a study released on September 8. The Scandinavians, with their long winters by the fire, ranked at the very top of…
Better, But Not Good Enough
Helen Clark addressed a UN meeting of world leaders, stating: “We recently announced that our next governor-general will be a woman, our prime minister is a woman, the leader of the opposition is a woman, the cabinet…
Licensed to Squirt
A unique initiative has seen New Zealand kindergartens offering “licences” for toy guns in a bid to instil the “use guns responsibly” message in youngsters. Police have tacitly endorsed the scheme, but will not…
Does This Man Have a Government Scholarship?
It’s more cost-effective than traditional space-flight, and it’s spiritually enriching … the New York-based International Institute of Projectiology and Conscientiology has been guiding consciousnesses’ astral bodies through the extraphysical dimensions since 1988. Kiwi attorney David Lindsay, who is…
Brain Gain: Happy Consultants Flock In
On-island media has been hyping the “Brain Drain”, but check out the opposite story: “Last year, a few of my friends from Gujarat migrated to New Zealand. They are very happy. I was thinking to procure…
