Kiwiblog

Buzzfeed has 27 science fictions that became facts in 2012. As Stats Chat points out, some of them are debatable, but still very interesting. Some of them are:

• Quadriplegic Uses Her Mind to Control Her Robotic Arm
• Self-Driving Cars Are Legal in Nevada, Florida, and California
• Voyager I Leaves the Solar System
• Flexible, Inexpensive Solar Panels Challenge Fossil Fuel

I always recall how much of the Sci Fi of the 1970s is in common use today.

Michael Dickison at the Herald has a great article on the Apocalypse.

The top 5 scenarios for the end of the world as we know it

1) Aliens

Remember Independence Day? Astrophysicist Craig Kasnov recently announced that three very large, fast-moving objects were approaching Earth. Though largely discounted by others, the SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) researcher Kasnov said the “flying saucers” were tens of kilometres long and would arrive mid-December.

How to prepare: Some say you should head to the French Pyrenees, from where you may be beamed up and rescued.

2) Natural disaster

Supervolcanoes cause mass extinction. The most recent occurred in New Zealand about 26,000 years ago, while a likely site for the next eruption is Yellowstone National Park, in the United States.

How to prepare: Leave the Pacific’s Ring of Fire, preferably for equatorial Africa, where humans survived the last volcanic winter.

3) Nuclear attack

Surviving the initial horror of thermonuclear war is just the beginning. A nuclear winter will follow as debris, smoke and soot block sunlight for weeks or even years, and then there’s radiation sickness, lawlessness and the breakdown of civilisation to worry about.

How to prepare: For a quick end, stand outside as the bombs fall. Otherwise, build an underground bunker with enough supplies, guns, clothing, etc, to survive in the Mad Max-style post-apocalyptic wasteland.

4) The god of war cometh

Bolon Yokte, a Mayan deity, is prophesied to return to Earth in 2012, although key passages on a stone tablet containing the prophesy have eroded away.

The god may cause huge chaos and upheaval – or bestow upon people the energy to take an evolutionary step.

How to prepare: Only human sacrifice can save us now.

5) Salvation

Biblical messianic prophesies suggest a Second Coming of Jesus, possibly including resurrection of the dead. Armageddon is often associated with such an event.

How to prepare: Watch Supernatural from series three onwards. And pray a lot.

The entire article is hilarious.

This story has gone global. Very cool.

Terry at The Conservative is upset with Harvard. Why?

First with their approval of a bondage club, and the second with a flyer sent by one of their single-sex social groups inviting people to their club which included the following statement: ’Jews need not apply.’ ‘Seriously, no f*****g Jews.’

I think a bondage club is an excellent campus club. Much more useful than a debating club where all they do is talk and argue. All the Vic DebSoc members would be far better employed to get their kink on, than spend an hour arguing for and against paid parental leave!

But what about this Jew hating club? Well here is the pamphlet for it:

Terry comments:

You will notice these liberals—when exposed to media attention—try to pass off the Jew hate as satirical.

Umm, I don’t think anyone could read the above flyer and not think it is satirical.

I’m reasonably sensitive to anti-semitism but I actually think the flyer is hilarious – it is satirising anti-semitism like Southpark does.

Fox News reports:

Angus T. Jones, who has played the role of Jake Harper on the hit CBS show since 2003 and reportedly earns $350,000 an episode, is featured in a new video for the Forerunner Christian Church, in which he calls the sitcom “filth” that contradicts his devout Christian values.

That’s not all. The 19-year-old actor even urges fans to stop watching.

“I’m on ‘Two and a Half Men’ and I don’t want to be on it,” he said. “If you watch ‘Two and a Half Men,’ please stop watching it and filling your head with filth. People say it’s just entertainment. Do some research on the effects of television and your brain, and I promise you you’ll have a decision to make when it comes to television, especially with what you watch.”

Jones goes on to express guilt that his profession may be inflicting serious damage on its audience.

“If I am doing any harm, I don’t want to be here. I don’t want to be contributing to the enemy’s plan … You cannot be a true God-fearing person and be on a television show like that. I know I can’t,” he continued. “I’m not OK with what I’m learning, what the Bible says and being on that television show.”

I wonder if Jones has asked to be released from his contract? To go on taking $350,000 from a show you denounce as filth is rather hypocritical.

Personally I’ve hardly watched it since Charlie Sheen left. It just isn’t the same without him.

Hat Tip: Bob McCoskrie

We saw Peter Dunne plank on Backbenches, after it became a viral craze. Will he take part in “milking”?

This craze started in Newcastle. Feel free to send in photos or videos of locals milking!

Saw this ODT article on my old Otago hostel:

The University of Otago will carry out earthquake strengthening at Carrington College over the summer holidays as it awaits the results of further assessments on some of its buildings.

The work at the residential hall Carrington College is part of a $50 million earthquake-strengthening programme unveiled by the university earlier this year.

At the time, Otago University chief operating officer John Patrick said it was hoped to complete strengthening work by 2019. After the first round of building assessments, only the Scott building – at between 25% and 30% of new building standard (NBS) for earthquake strength – was found to be earthquake prone.

Other buildings assessed in the round including the School of Medicine’s Lindo Fergusson building and Scott building, the arts building and the clocktower buildings were found to be less than the university’s draft target of 67% of NBS for its older buildings – meaning that work would have to be carried out to bring them up to that standard.

Since then, Linton House at Carrington College had been found to be earthquake prone – at 28% of NBS – in July.

Hmmn Linton House is the house I was in. Glad there were no earthquakes when I was at Carrington!

Mind you I may have contributed  to the lack of strength in Linton House. I heard about how the smallest room in the hostel (Linton 2) had a record of managing to get 40 or so people in it despite being something like 2.5m by 1.5m in size. It was called the closet.

I am competitive and like breaking records so tried to beat that one weekend. By having girls go on the shoulders of guys, we managed to fit 78 people into the room, which was truly impressive. We also had an ODT photographer perched on the top of the closet who managed to get a nice aerial shot of us in the room.

The photo appeared on the ODT front page, and not surprisingly was seen by the Warden who summoned me and went on at some length over breach of fire regulations, damage to the ceiling of the dining room (beneath us). My meetings with the Warden on such issues were semi-regular.

An earthquake during the 78 people in the room would have been very unfortunate. I suspect we may have made world news though, and possibly won a Darwin Award

Yay. NZ Herald reports:

A seventh Star Wars film has been confirmed for release in 2015 as well as a string of sequels after the sale of LucasFilm to Disney for US$4.05 billion (NZ$4.93b).

In a statement announcing the deal, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Lucasfilm George Lucas said: “It’s now time for me to pass Star Wars on to a new generation of filmmakers.”

May Episode VII be as good as Episode IV rather than Episode III.

I wonder if the new movies will follow the non-canonical books, or if they will be totally different?

I can still recall the excitement as a 10 year old, seeing Star Wars. Almost everyone went to see it twice or more, and some peopel saw it dozens of times. It really did change films.

Stuff reports:

Blood, ripped clothes and gasps of shock followed the living dead as they walked the streets of Riccarton last night.

About 30 people took part in the second annual Christchurch Zombie Walk, staggering from Hagley Park and up Riccarton Rd in zombie costume.

Organiser Rhio Popham, 19, said she created the event to give Christchurch people something to do.

“I saw one they did in Toronto and it was awesome. I thought Christchurch is just as awesome so why not?”

Popham said the event was all about having fun.

Great initiative. Life is about having fun and enjoying yourselves, and we need more events like this.

Always interesting to see how much individual actors are deemed essential to the ongoing success of a show, and accordingly paid. Forbes list the highest paid:

1.  Ashton Kutcher US$24m, Two and a half men
2. Sofia Vergera, $19m, Modern Family
3. Hugh Laurie $18m, House
4. Ray Romano $18m, Men of a Certain Age
5. Kim Kardashian, $18m
6. Eva Longoria, $15m, Desperate Housewives
7. Alec Baldwin $15m, 30 Rock
8. Mark Harmon $15m, NCIS
9. Tim Allen, $14m, Last Man Standing
10. Jon Cryer, $13m, Two and a half men
11. Bethenny Frankel, $12m, Bethenny
12. Patrick Dempsey, $12m, Grey’s Anatomy
13. Khloe Kardishian, $11m
14. Tina Fey, $11m, 30 Rock
15. Mariska Hargitay, $10m, Law & Order:SVU
16. Zooey Deschanel, $9m, New Girl
17. Felicity Huffman, $9m, Desperate Housewives
18. Ellen Pompeo, $9m, Grey;s Anatomy
19. Jim Parsons, $8m, Big Bang Theory
20. Johnny Galecki, $8m, Big Bang Theory

Personally I am not a Ray Romano fan. Annoying.

News.com.au reports:

AN INDIAN farmer has become the world’s oldest dad aged 96 – beating the record he set himself two years ago. …

Speaking at his home in the state of Haryana, near Delhi, Mr Raghav said: “What can I do? This is all God’s wish. He wanted me to have another son.”

Mr raghav admits that as proud as he is of having two healthy sons at his age, his neighbours are more jealous of his sex drive, The Daily Mail reports.

“I do it three or four times a night. My neighbours are jealous and they keep asking me for my secret but all I tell them is that it is God’s will,” he said.

“I’m healthy and I enjoy sex with my wife. I think it’s very important for a husband and wife to have sex regularly.

“When she asks I will go on all night but for the sake of my child I’ve put our needs aside for now.”

Mr Raghav told The Tiems of India that he had remained a bachelor and practised celibacy throughout his life until he met Shakuntala about 10 years ago.

No sex for the first 86 years!! No wonder he is making up for it now.

A nifty little website at Flight Radar.

It shows you in real time every major plane in the world that is currently in the air. Quite fascinating to look at.

Heh. Just watch and enjoy.

The BOP Times reports:

An attempt at breaking a world-record for skinny dipping planned for Mount Maunganui is being labelled unacceptable and indecent.

The idea was raised by The Edge radio station after listeners voted the nudie run at the Bay of Plenty beach would be the best way to herald the start of summer.

Marketing manager Emily Hancox said the skinny dip world record attempt would, hopefully, be held on December 1 “as a bit of fun”.

“It’s not for people to be shy or embarrassed. If people can see the fun in it and try to get New Zealand on the map for that [world record], it will be great,” she said.

What a great idea.

However, national director of Family First NZ Bob McCoskrie said holding the event in such a public place would be “completely unacceptable”.

Very smart idea of The Edge to get Bob to condemn it, as that should help them get more publicity for it

The world record for a collective skinny dip was set by 413 people in the United Kingdom last year.

Hell, easy to beat.

The Herald reports:

Hospital bosses have launched an investigation into a breach of patient privacy after details of an eel getting stuck up a man’s bottom were made public.

The Auckland District Health Board said this afternoon that it would investigate “the apparent inappropriate access of clinical records and the possible separate leaking of information to the media”.

The Herald on Sunday reported that an unnamed man who turned up at Auckland City Hospital last month was sent for X-rays and a scan, which showed there was an eel lodged inside him.

Board chief executive Ailsa Claire, who began her role this week, said high standards of professionalism were expected from staff.

“One of the fundamental responsibilities of working in a healthcare environment is showing respect for patients’ right to privacy,” she said.

t”I take that responsibility very seriously indeed and I expect our staff to work and act at all times with a level of professionalism that honours the trust our patients place in us.”

Ms Claire said any breach of a patient’s privacy was taken seriously and, if proved, would result in disciplinary action.

Oh come on, are we not getting a bit precious.

If anything was done to identify the actual patient, that would be very serious.

But do you really think medical staff are not going to talk about how they found an eel up someone’s bottom?

A&E doctors and nurses are often asked about the most unusual things they have had to remove from patients. As long as it is general and not naming an individual, what’s the harm?

The Herald on Sunday reported a hospital source as saying the eel was “about the size of a decent sprig of asparagus”.

“The incident is the talk of the place. Doctors and nurses have come across people with strange objects that have got stuck where they shouldn’t be before, but an eel has to be a first,” the source was reported as saying.

Of course it is the talk of the place. We get too precious sometimes.

A great Venn diagram. From Pinterest.

A nice takeoff of Gangnam Style.

The original Gangnam video is here, in case you are part of the 1% who hasn’t seen it. It is at 350 million views!

Stuff reports:

In the industrialised world, women live at least five years longer, on average, than men.

Scientists have attributed that difference to everything from healthier habits to hardier cells.

Now, a new study that analyses the longevity of eunuchs, or castrated men, suggests that testosterone may play a part in shortening men’s lives.

The idea that testosterone, the male sex hormone, affects lifespan isn’t new.

Neutered dogs and other animals that have had their sources of testosterone removed often live longer than their intact counterparts.

For me, I go for quality of life over quantity!

Stuff reports:

It’s the baggage with bite – a crocodile on the loose in the cargo hold of a Qantas aircraft.

Qantas has confirmed a crocodile escaped from its cage during a flight between Brisbane and Melbourne.

Although the jaws of a crocodile could have been a nasty find for the baggage handler who discovered it was on the loose, the reptile was safely re-captured without drama.

This could be the sequel to Snakes on a Plane.

Watch this guy pay his fine of $137 with 137 one dollar bills folded into the shape of pigs, and put into a donut box. It took him around four hours to do it!

The Herald reports:

There are moves underway to clean up the Wellington Sevens, now that it’s an Olympic sport.

The Wellington leg of the international tournament has gained a reputation as being a non-stop party, with dozens of arrests often taking place for drunken behaviour.

General manager Steve Walters says they’ve been surveying the rugby community as to whether they think limiting alcohol, or introducing a ‘dry zone’ for part of the first day, is a good idea.

An alcohol free Sevens – yeah right. All that would happen is no one would buy tickets for the actual games, still dress up in costumes, get drunk in town and watch it on screens at the bars.

If they have an alcohol free zone at the Sevens, they won’t need more than 20 seats or so.

Stuff reports:

Kiwi director Peter Jackson says he’ll be there to direct it if an idea to film Dr Who in  New Zealand goes ahead.

Matt Smith, the 11th actor to play the time traveller in the hit BBC series, said today he would start a campaign to film an episode in New Zealand with Sir Peter Jackson directing.

”I think it would be an absolutely wonderful place to film Doctor Who,” Smith, on the phone from the UK to promote the latest series of the show, said.

”I’m told it’s glorious. I’m told it’s quite similar to England.

‘Let’s get Peter Jackson to direct one and go and make it in New Zealand. I would love to, I will campaign endlessly to come over and film there,” Smith, who has never been to New Zealand, said.

”There’s clearly a great film industry out there. It’s something I would be very interested in it’s just whether we can persuade the producers to fly us all over.”

The idea is not as far fetched as one of the cult sci-fi series’ plots with Jackson telling the Waikato Times today he was keen to help out.

”I’m a huge Dr Who fan, and I think Matt’s fantastic. Just name a time and place, and I’ll be there!”

What a great idea. I’m equally excited by the possibility of having it filmed in NZ, and having Jackson direct an episode.

Stuff reports:

Parliament will be filled with southern drawls and plenty of maroon on Friday when the Southland Party is brought back to life.

The yearly get-together for Southlanders transplanted to Wellington has been absent from the calendar for the past nine years, but a crew of expats, including MP Eric Roy and Newstalk ZB political editor Barry Soper, have brought it back.

The party will feature the best of Southland cuisine, from oysters to beef to that essential southern drop Speight’s.

In its heyday, the evening attracted about 400 Southlanders to the banquet hall at Parliament to reminisce about everything southern.

These parties were legendary. When I worked at Parliament, I helped organise the  music for a couple of them. One of our colleagues was the daughter of the Mayor of Gore or Balclutha (we called her the first daughter of Gore ), so we would go along with her.

The best of the parties wasn’t in the banquet hall, but in the ground floor dockway of the Beehive. It was ideal location for a party as hay bales were put around, it was on tarmac so easy to clean up, and could spill outdoors.

The parties were funded by the ticket sales and I think Speights contributed some beer. Off memory they would raise money for some good Southland cause.

“But it was such a popular event that the most frequent question I get asked is ‘why we aren’t doing them any more?’

“So here we are giving it another go.” The Gore-born journalist brought together a team of hardcore southern folk to get the party up and running again, and the evening at Parliament is gaining steam once again.

A great revival plan. I just need to find a lass from Southland to date, so I can attend on her coattails