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 »

I don’t post much technical stuff here, but I’ve been into Linux (specifically Ubuntu) for a long time. I’ve been geeking it up tonight installing Chromium OS on my netbook, and decided a head-to-head boot-up speed test was in order. I measured how long it took for each OS from pressing the ‘on’ button to [...]

Freedom, Miscellaneous, Personal, Science, Technology | 2 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 »

Jess and I went for a trip over the Easter weekend to visit some geocaches.  The cool thing about Geocaching is how it always takes you to awesome new places, often with fantastic views, and this trip was no exception. First stop was Pukerua Bay, where there is a cache on the newly constructed Goat [...]

Holidays, New Zealand, Personal, Photos, Science, Technology, Wellington | 1 Comment »

Yep, we’re all doomed.

Catastrophes, Science, Technology | 1 Comment »

An Australian man – to be precise, a petrol-sniffing Aboriginal man who was already known to police – is in hospital in a critical condition with third-degree burns after petrol on his face and chest was allegedly ignited by a police officer firing his taser. The facts of the case are under dispute, and regular [...]

New Zealand, Police, Technology | No Comments »

After Phil’s appearance on Libz TV, I thought it was time to get my own slice of the action. The following was filmed on a brand spanking new camera which I am having far too much fun playing with. (Fun? Quick, ban it!) Filmed and narrated by Yours Truly.

Personal, Science, Technology | 1 Comment »

Imagine a beautiful and peaceful land where hundreds of native species thrive amid vast tracts of native forest … The peace was shattered when humans arrived. Hundreds of colonists begin hunting and killing the birds and burning the forest. It takes them less than a century to kill off at least 18 different species of [...]

Catastrophes, Culture, Development, Empire, Energy, Free market environmentalism, New Zealand, Technology | 8 Comments »