What an interesting idea… The Technium: Your Personal Funsmith

The development of Anzac Day and the ways it’s seen differently between New Zealand and Australia continues to interest me. Here’s a short article that notes one of those differences around the ‘pilgrimmage’ to Gallipoli that some New Zealanders and Australians take. See Kiwis, Aussies differ over Anzac pilgrimage | Stuff.co.nz (From some research from…

Okay, the blogging break ended up being a little bit longer than anticipated, and I’m still trying to decide what to do with blog. It’s been going since August 2003, developing from the previous phpWebSite-based site, through various incarnations. It was really helpful while writing the PhD and in the post-PhD period but I haven’t…

On holiday down south for a couple of weeks. Next year should be less busy than this year so I’ll have more time to pay attention to the blog (I hope). Have a good Christmas.

What’s up with our potatoes? Cooking them is like a lottery at the moment – even those tagged ‘gormet’. Uneven cooking, hard ‘bits’, strange discolourations, the list goes on. Had some really nice looking new potatoes yesterday, boiled in their skins just right. The nice ones were divine with a little butter, salt and pepper.…

Important to know this stuff 🙂 See What’s Inside a Cup of Coffee?

This looks interesting. Could be fun for the school holidays. I’m sure there used to be a kit you could buy in toy shops years ago that allowed you to do something similar. See Make a Super Ball – Wired How-To Wiki

A course at the university open to the general public that turned up in the email today. The Sensory Evaluation of Wine – Centre for Continuing Education Looks interesting.

It’s been a while since I had a chemistry set at home or did any university science lab work, but this book looks cool – if somewhat dangerous. Definitely something one of my old flatmates from undergrad university days would have been keen to try out. See Cool Tools: Theo Gray’s Mad Science

Settlers of Catan is one of the board games we have played on and off for that past 10 years or so. The kids like it too – especially the Cities and Knights expansions. Here’s a recent write up on the history of the game: Monopoly Killer: Perfect German Board Game Redefines Genre. We’re on…