Check out these two photos from the Mount Ruapehu website.

They are chairlifts buried in nearly four meters of snow. It is just nuts! I am hoping to go skiing again on the trip back up to Auckland.

Here is a challenge for you: http://www.hack-test.com

I am on level 11 and stuck. (A google search got me to level 12 but I still want to be able to solve level 11).

How high can you go?

http://www.makeitfly.co.nz/default.aspx

Make it fly was designed with one thing in mind… to put your creative tendencies to the test, to push them like they’ve never been pushed before, to answer the age old question … how far can I make a aluminium drinking can fly? You’re limited only by your imagination and a budget of 20 bucks.

This competition is the sort of thing that makes me wish I was still at school… It is so cool… They should extend it to the general population as well.

I’m sure with $20 you could make a pretty good plane.

I am thinking… 20 - 30 cans (you can get an 18 pack for around $10), all cut to form a large biplane that is held together by duct/cloth tape and toothpicks. That is my pick for how you could design a decent flying machine.

The following two images have are screen shots from Mediaportal.

The first image is Freeview DVB-T TVNZ Sports Extra which is broadcast in standard def.

The second image is Freeview DVB-T Tv One which is broadcast in HD Ready def.

The difference in the colours and the depth/quality of the picture is quite amazing.

No need for all the marketing hype this is the real user test showing the very clear difference.

Close Up/Side by Side view of score display in standard def and high def.

From: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/gerard_baker/article4392846.ece

And it came to pass, in the eighth year of the reign of the evil Bush the Younger (The Ignorant), when the whole land from the Arabian desert to the shores of the Great Lakes had been laid barren, that a Child appeared in the wilderness.

The Child was blessed in looks and intellect. Scion of a simple family, offspring of a miraculous union, grandson of a typical white person and an African peasant. And yea, as he grew, the Child walked in the path of righteousness, with only the occasional detour into the odd weed and a little blow.

When he was twelve years old, they found him in the temple in the City of Chicago, arguing the finer points of community organisation with the Prophet Jeremiah and the Elders. And the Elders were astonished at what they heard and said among themselves: “Verily, who is this Child that he opens our hearts and minds to the audacity of hope?”

In the great Battles of Caucus and Primary he smote the conniving Hillary, wife of the deposed King Bill the Priapic and their barbarian hordes of Working Class Whites.

And so it was, in the fullness of time, before the harvest month of the appointed year, the Child ventured forth - for the first time - to bring the light unto all the world.

He travelled fleet of foot and light of camel, with a small retinue that consisted only of his loyal disciples from the tribe of the Media. He ventured first to the land of the Hindu Kush, where the

Taleban had harboured the viper of al-Qaeda in their bosom, raining terror on all the world.

And the Child spake and the tribes of Nato immediately loosed the Caveats that had previously bound them. And in the great battle that ensued the forces of the light were triumphant. For as long as the Child stood with his arms raised aloft, the enemy suffered great blows and the threat of terror was no more.

From there he went forth to Mesopotamia where he was received by the great ruler al-Maliki, and al-Maliki spake unto him and blessed his Sixteen Month Troop Withdrawal Plan even as the imperial warrior Petraeus tried to destroy it.

And lo, in Mesopotamia, a miracle occurred. Even though the Great Surge of Armour that the evil Bush had ordered had been a terrible mistake, a waste of vital military resources and doomed to end in disaster, the Child’s very presence suddenly brought forth a great victory for the forces of the light.

And the Persians, who saw all this and were greatly fearful, longed to speak with the Child and saw that the Child was the bringer of peace. At the mention of his name they quickly laid aside their intrigues and beat their uranium swords into civil nuclear energy ploughshares.

From there the Child went up to the city of Jerusalem, and entered through the gate seated on an ass. The crowds of network anchors who had followed him from afar cheered “Hosanna” and waved great palm fronds and strewed them at his feet.

In Jerusalem and in surrounding Palestine, the Child spake to the Hebrews and the Arabs, as the Scripture had foretold. And in an instant, the lion lay down with the lamb, and the Israelites and Ishmaelites ended their long enmity and lived for ever after in peace.

As word spread throughout the land about the Child’s wondrous works, peoples from all over flocked to hear him; Hittites and Abbasids; Obamacons and McCainiacs; Cameroonians and Blairites.

And they told of strange and wondrous things that greeted the news of the Child’s journey. Around the world, global temperatures began to decline, and the ocean levels fell and the great warming was over.

The Great Prophet Algore of Nobel and Oscar, who many had believed was the anointed one, smiled and told his followers that the Child was the one generations had been waiting for.

And there were other wonderful signs. In the city of the Street at the Wall, spreads on interbank interest rates dropped like manna from Heaven and rates on credit default swaps fell to the ground as dead birds from the almond tree, and the people who had lived in foreclosure were able to borrow again.

Black gold gushed from the ground at prices well below $140 per barrel. In hospitals across the land the sick were cured even though they were uninsured. And all because the Child had pronounced it.

And this is the testimony of one who speaks the truth and bears witness to the truth so that you might believe. And he knows it is the truth for he saw it all on CNN and the BBC and in the pages of The New York Times.

Then the Child ventured forth from Israel and Palestine and stepped onto the shores of the Old Continent. In the land of Queen Angela of Merkel, vast multitudes gathered to hear his voice, and he preached to them at length.

But when he had finished speaking his disciples told him the crowd was hungry, for they had had nothing to eat all the hours they had waited for him.

And so the Child told his disciples to fetch some food but all they had was five loaves and a couple of frankfurters. So he took the bread and the frankfurters and blessed them and told his disciples to feed the multitudes. And when all had eaten their fill, the scraps filled twelve baskets.

Thence he travelled west to Mount Sarkozy. Even the beauteous Princess Carla of the tribe of the Bruni was struck by awe and she was great in love with the Child, but he was tempted not.

On the Seventh Day he walked across the Channel of the Angles to the ancient land of the hooligans. There he was welcomed with open arms by the once great prophet Blair and his successor, Gordon the Leper, and his successor, David the Golden One.

And suddenly, with the men appeared the archangel Gabriel and the whole host of the heavenly choir, ranks of cherubim and seraphim, all praising God and singing: “Yes, We Can.”

Don’t you just love it when nerds realise they don’t know they are nerds

Mr Burns - Fraudulent News (1522), The Simspons

When I first saw the Telecom and featuring Baby Come On by Elemeno P I thought it was pretty cool. However, upon discovering that the company in it was fake it was a bit of a let down. Now I have discovered that the whole video is based off a web based viral video that actually is a real company. Telecom great ad, but it is not cool to rip off other peoples ideas.

The Original:

The Fake:

This afternoon I flew back from Wellington where I had gone for a quick holiday with my mom.

Flight down. NZ is called the land of the long white cloud for a reason. (sorry for the off colour this taken of course from a plane)

Mt Ruapehu peaking out above the clouds. (photo taken at 34,000 feet)

Zoomed in for a closer view.

Passing another plane. I believe this may be a Virgin Blue plane because closely zoomed it appears red.

After landing in Wellington the first thing we did was to rent a car and drive to the top of Mount Victoria. This is the view from the top looking back at the Airport.

Wellington Harbour from Mount Victoria

Central Wellington from Mount Victoria

After leaving Mount Victoria we headed to Parliament for a quick visit before having lunch at the Backbencher Pub. From there we headed up to the Karori Wildlife Sanctuary. At the sanctuary we walked up to a dam and along the way met some interesting creatures.

This is from a lookout above the dam that we climbed to. Lots of fun. The Sanctuary is an awesome thing to have so close to the center of a city.

This is the fence that protects the Sanctuary from the rest of civilization.

After leaving the Sanctuary we went shopping in Lambton Key and Willis Street before checking into our hotel where we had dinner and afterwards went for a night time drive around the capital.

Mom at the top of Mount Victoria

A tired Brad at the end of the Karori Wildlife Sanctuary.

On the Sunday we had a midmorning flight to catch back so we headed to the airport by taking a detour through the city, around Oriental Parade and Miramar. On the flight back we got a really nice view of Mt Taranaki and the surrounding coastline.

However, before this story is compete there is one final twist in it. I the title of this post is the 24 hour Wellington Experience. And you cannot experience Wellington without being in an Earthquake. So at 3am this morning Wellington decided to a little jolt. It was enough to wake both me and mom up, first there was a loud bang and then the walls of the hotel moved twice before something fell over in the bathroom (probably a shampoo bottle) at the time both me and mom thought each other were asleep and both of us just went back to sleep and our suspicions about an earthquake were confirmed in the morning.

Quake Details

Information about this earthquake:

Felt in Wellington and Marlborough.

http://www.geonet.org.nz/earthquake/quakes/2923267g.html