April 10
Terrible events demand something of those of us who make a living from the written word. Previous posts feature my reflections on September 11th, the Bali bombing, the New Year’s Day tsunami, Hiroshima, Gallipoli, the Black Death and the death of Sir Peter Blake up the Amazon.
Today’s post marks the 40th anniversary of the Wahine Disaster. Everyone in New Zealand was caught up in the tragedy on that dark day in 1968. I was three years old living in Huntly and it rained. The very thought of it still makes me sad but the great thing about a blog is that I am able to share the feeling.
Already I feel better, it’s 3.14am and I think I’ll make myself a nice hot cup of tea. Previous posts feature my thoughts on the comparative merits of Choysa, Earl Grey and English Breakfast.
April 11
So I’m a midnight snack and notice that although the toaster speaks to my router, it doesn’t pick up a DHCP address – and without that, I can’t download the USB driver onto my Ethernet LAN port, even though the service is ADSL2+ offering up to 24Mbit/s downstream and 2 Mbit/s upstream.
Note: Eat cereal instead.
My feet are cold – must be a way round that, especially in barely weather tight flats like mine.
April 12
Notice that one of my feet is bigger than the other. It is things like this that make us human. Later I find and put on a pair of socks and this sets off a whole new train of thought.
Where do the odd socks go when they disappear? Watching the Fisher & Paykel advert on the TV, it seems that they have taken responsibility. It is nice to know that modern corporate New Zealand is able to stand up and apologise to the public – makes Toyota look cheap by comparison.
April 13
It’s 2.56am and I’ve been reading an interesting thread on the failings of the mainstream media. I agree with others who say there is too much trivia and almost no coverage of the things that really matter.
Here’s a good example. For a couple of years I was forced to use IE(4 & 5) until Firefox appeared. Since then, Windows Updates are the only things I’ve touched IE for. So how can I transfer the files from my OS9 Mac to OSX?
But I’ve just listened to the 3am news, and they didn’t even mention the issue.
Incidentally, what happened to all the red socks that were bought by people who supported Team New Zealand in the America’s Cup? There must be a trail of red lint somewhere.
April 15
So I’m looking at the back of a shampoo bottle. And thinking there’s bound to be something to blog about. But I just can’t see it. So I read it again and re-read it and re-read it till 6am – and then have a shower and wash my hair.
Wrote a post about Kiwi hero Sir Peter Blake, mentioning that he worked his unwashed socks off to win the America’s Cup:
‘Born in 1948, Blake grew up in a wooden bungalow in Bayswater on the northern flanks of Auckland’s Waitemata Harbour.
His father, Brian, had been a gunboat captain in the Royal Navy during WWII. Throughout their marriage, Brian and Joyce Blake owned gunboats and the Blake children grew up with the sea as their playground. They rarely wore socks or shoes.
During the 1995 America’s Cup series, Blake became famous for his lucky red socks. A gift from his wife, he wore the same pair throughout the entire 1995 America's Cup challenge.
This seems to give the lie to the Fisher & Paykel TV advert!
Governor General Catherine Tizard described the 1995 America's Cup win as New Zealand's proudest day since Sir Edmund Hillary's conquest of Everest in 1953, even though the latter didn’t use a boat.
After the 2000 success, Sir Peter Blake stood down from Team New Zealand.
Pete said:
‘To win, you have to believe you can do it. You have to be passionate about it. You have to really "want" the result. The hardest part of any big project is to begin. We have begun.’
After purchasing Antarctic Explorer from the society, he renamed it Seamaster - using it to lead expeditions to the Amazon during 2001.
On 5 December 2001, pirates shot and killed Blake while he was on an environmental exploration trip in South America, monitoring global warming and pollution for the United Nations.
The two-month expedition was anchored off Macapá, at the mouth of the Amazon delta, waiting to clear customs. At around 9pm, a group of six to eight armed, masked robbers boarded the Seamaster.
As one of the robbers held a gun to the head of a crewmember, Blake sprang from the cabin wielding a rifle used to ward off polar bears. He shot one of the assailants in the hand before the rifle malfunctioned.
The Sir Peter Blake Trust was established - with the support of the Blake family - in December 2003 with the aim of helping New Zealanders "to make a positive difference for the planet”.
Sir Peter Blake’s headstone carries the words: "I must go down to the sea again, to the lonely sea and sky, and all I ask ..." from poet John Masefield's famous Sea Fever - describing a life inseparable from the sea (or river).
May 4
The saddest sentence in the blogosphere is ZERO COMMENTS. It has been two years since anyone commented on my Blog but in all that time I’ve contributed countless times to threads on other Blogs, particularly with respect to yachts, washing machines, polar bears, and socks of various hues.
So I’m looking at the back at the shampoo bottle and it’s speaking to my router – and I don’t altogether like what it is saying.
Seems to me it has also established a protocol with the F & P Smart Drive down at the Laundrette.
I have seen a few articles about using these Fisher & Paykel Smart Drive washing machine motors as a starting point to make a wind generator. Once modified it looks to be a great inexpensive means to make electricity.
Randy’s Workshop has some good documentation on how to modify these motors to be used as a generator.
[a collaborative effort with Steve Braunias]
No comments:
Post a Comment