I’ve been involved in a very worthwhile project called The Ripple Effect, check it out!

New Zealand, Wellington | No Comments »

A speech I gave at Toastmasters recently.  This was Speech 7, ‘Research your speech’, and my goal was to explain the basics of how nuclear power plants work to a lay audience, using the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear power plant as the prime example.  Also the word of the day was’perturbed’.  :-) Note: My aim here [...]

Catastrophes, Education, New Zealand, Personal, Science, Technology, Wellington | 1 Comment »

Wellington City Council has released a list of Wellington buildings considered to be at risk in a major earthquake. I’ve made a simple webpage which uses the data in that list to build a map of the earthquake-prone buildings in Wellington. Check it out at quake.howison.co.nz

Catastrophes, New Zealand, Personal, Science, Technology, Wellington | 1 Comment »

A while ago we (Phil, Leanne, Jess and I) went on a great trip to Matiu/Somes Island with our sister, making it a four-Howison outing! I took a few panoramas.  What can I say, it’s just kind of my thing I guess!  :-) View over Wellington overlooking the lighthouse View of Petone from the WWII [...]

Free market environmentalism, Holidays, New Zealand, Personal, Photos, Science, Wellington | 1 Comment »

A quick little panorama (stitched together from 3 photos using Hugin) taken today on my way down Pope St to the Plimmerton train station. We’ve had beautiful weather for several days in a row … it’s getting dangerously hot and sunny, time to start wearing sunscreen and silly hats I think.

Art, Holidays, New Zealand, Personal, Photos, Wellington | 1 Comment »

Another speech which I gave at my Toastmasters club. This is for Speech 6: Vocal Variety.  In retrospect the topic didn’t really suit the vocal variety goals I was meant to aim for, but I think I did succeed in slowing down, speaking louder, two things I have been trying to improve on. Clutter.  Mess.  [...]

New Zealand, Personal, Wellington | 5 Comments »

I went on my first tramping trip in the Tararuas last weekend (8 – 10 October) with my friend David who I met through iPredict. I hadn’t gone into the wild since our Orongorongo Valley trip in January 2009, so I jumped at the chance when David mentioned he was going bush. I told my [...]

New Zealand, Personal, Photos, Resilience, Wellington | 3 Comments »

Now that I have a proper garage, I am getting back into my woodworking. Here are my latest projects. Vodka Bottle Coffee Table – More DIY How To Projects Folding Wooden Stepladder – More DIY How To Projects

Education, New Zealand, Personal, Photos, Technology, Wellington | No Comments »

Last night I gave this speech at my Toastmasters club about iPredict, and thought I’d share it here. I had a slightly more involved ending where I reviewed what I had said in the body of the speech, but had to cut it short as I was running out of time. “Buy low, sell high.” [...]

Free Speech, New Zealand, Personal, Science, Technology, Wellington | 1 Comment »

More panoramas made using my cheap point-and-shoot and the wonderful, free Hugin software (click to enbiggen, as always). I took the first two panoramas when I went to Matiu/Somes Island in April to see the ex_isle of the Strangers performance. View of Wellington, Wellington Harbour and Mokopuna Island from Matiu/Somes Island. View of Wellington Harbour, [...]

New Zealand, Personal, Photos, Wellington | No Comments »