Greenflame
Jottings on science, religion, technology, pop culture, photography and faith from the Aotearoa New Zealand
Category: General
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New Year here now (and just on the other side of the world). A quiet day with the immediate family and a couple of gatherings of friends to visit. I’m not sure what the new year will bring for us, but all the best to you all for your new year adventures.
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Back home after Christmas break away down in Kawerau with Kim’s family. Here’s a shot of the Tarawera River that flows though the town (though this shot was taken walking up to the Tarawera Falls – see Greenflame: Water, rock and forest).
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It looks like it’ll be hot for Christmas Day, the kids are off for summer holidays, and things are closing down for an extended summer break. Must be Christmas in the Antipodes. Time to sing a few songs about Christmas in the summer, where there is no snow in sight and the Pohutukawas are blooming.…
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The photo above is of the floor of the office at home. You can see the carpet! This has not been the case for the past few months when the carpet has been obscured by layer upon layer of papers, print outs, books, bags, folders and anything else that got sucked into the maelstrom. Indeed,…
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Steve tagged me, so here are five things you may not know about me: I can’t stand brussel sprouts, and am intolerant towards cauliflower and broccoli. Perhaps I have a green-hating gene? As a computer science postgraduate I was given a “Mostly likely to become Elite” award by the faculty. I originally went to university…
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Kim and I spent a pleasant evening at the book launch of Cathy Ross’ book Women with a Mission – Rediscovering Missionary Wives in Early New Zealand published by Penguin. Some nice speeches and an opportunity to see Cathy and Steve again briefly. Nice also to see a PhD thesis transition into an accessible book.…
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A most excellent week this week. Performances by the children at school assembly, taking my youngest on foot through the church’s drive-thru nativity so he could pat the animals (including the llama dressed a a camel) and see the rest of the family dressed up, got the sign-off from my supervisor on the final draft…
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The stuff of Darwin Awards. See Good book drives doctor to distraction.
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Stayed up last night working on the thesis bibliography, which gave me an “excuse” to watch Jonny Reid win twice at the Gudang Garam A1GP Sentul. The first time in the sprint race, and the second in the feature event. The latter had all the things that make motorsport exciting – aggressive driving, variable weather…
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A large cardboard box can be many things. A boat, a rocket ship, a toy box, a stable for ponies or a zoo for animals, but combining boxes robustly for kids’ games never seems to work well. Saw this today and wondered whether there’s something similar in NZ. Must check the next time I’m at…