June 2008
20 posts
“If you want a child to come to lunch, you don’t say to them ‘would you...”
– Lightening (pseudonyms are overrated)
How Cuba beat Peak Oil
I just watched The power of Community - How Cuba Survived Peak Oil. It’s a documentary about how Cuba survived the ‘special period’ in the early 1990s. When the Soviet Union collapsed Cuba lost its primary trading partner overnight. 80% of Cubas import and export markets were lost. Without oil, blackouts would commonly last up to 16 hours per day and food was scarce. Cuba had...
“The problem for the poor is that if you live in a meritocracy and you are not...”
– The Popes Children - Irelands New Elite by David McWilliams
My picks from 101 must-do weekends
The AA recently (or not so recently) published a list of 101 must-do weekend activities from around New Zealand. You probably found it tucked away inside your newspaper. Predictably a lot of the activities suggested are lame, some only taking an hour or two, how is that a weekend?!), but there are some great activities mentioned that I have done or would love to do. Here’s a couple of the...
Please view my academic success on the education... →
“I called these “side projects”. But in reality, school was the side project.”
– Rob Goodlatte
Me: Who is Jack Imerton?
Nick: It will be good to see you come up
Nomophobia
Today at ICCMSN Stephanie Broege introduced us to the term Nomophobia. It’s the fear of having no mobile phone. It’s my new favourite word.
She also told a story about a professor (whose name I can’t recall) who asked 100 of his students to turn off their cellphones for 48 hours. Quite a challenge for todays youth as the resullts show.
12 students flat out refused to take part....
“Usually I’m shy when people ask me what I’m working on, but that’s because I...”
– Zach Klein
The story behind iTunes U at Otago
To conclude day one of ICCMSN Mike Hart from the University stopped by to explain their experiences with podcasting leading up to Otago being the only NZ University featured in the Australasian launch of iTunes U last week.
The University first experimented with podcasting at the beginning of 2007. Trials were a resounding success. Since the beginning of this year the University has been in a...
Tea with the Prime Minister
The Right Honourable Helen Clark visited for dinner last night. She talked about how she got into politics, what she has achieved as PM and what she is working on at the moment.
She bemoaned how in we don’t celebrate high school graduation like they do in the US. Somehow this linked into 25% of students leaving school without NCEA Level One, which Labour is solving with apprenticeship...
Me: Do you use Facebook?
Nigel: No
Me: Bebo?
Nigel: No
Nigel: I have a face though, so I can still communicate...
