http://UP.org.nz/planet Planet UPnz - blogs and feeds from Unlimited Potential members en Unlimited Potential Copyright 2012 2012-05-16T11:06:00+00:00 Wed, 16 May 2012 11:06:00 +0000 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Wellingtonista/~3/Z4zfnKwulo8/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Wellingtonista/~3/Z4zfnKwulo8/#When:11:06:00Z Imagine if you will,  40 tables  stacked full of vintage fabric from the 1950s and 1960s  and lace from the 1920s.  Add in all sorts of delightful sewing accessories like buttons and vintage patterns and you start to get an idea for what the biannual fabric-a-brac sale  is  all about It’s being held this Saturday 19 May 2012, 9am to 12.30pm at St Anne’s Hall, Emmett St, (close to bus stops and easy parking) Newtown, Wellington The Stallholders, stack their tables with fabric they no longer need, so it can find a new home. They come from Wellington, Christchurch, Napier and Palmerston North and range from private sewers to small clothing, accessory or upholstery businesses Another important aspect of fabric-a-brac is it’s huge fundraising efforts for Hospice – so far fabric-a-brac has raised around $10,000 in total for Hospice. You’ll see many a table selling donated fabric and notions to raise money for Mary Potter Hospice here in Wellington. Now more than ever it’s a good time to come along and spend at fabric-a-brac or donate online  as this weeks rain flooded their Porirua store destroying tens of thousands of dollars worth of stock that is sold at the hospice shops in Wellington. Iif you can’t make it to any event why not consider donating to hospice, every tiny amount helps   But wait there’s more - There will also be two workshops on Friday 18th, the night before, hosted by Wow section winner and Good Morning host Fifi Colston, and the woman behind tiny happy, Melissa Watsney. Both Fifi and Melissa are hugely creative people and  incredibly inspiring crafters, so the chance to learn from both in one night is pretty special and it’s only $8 per session. $16 in total and all money going to Hospice 6.15pm – 7pm = It’s in the bag – shoulder bag tutorial with Melissa Wastney 7.15pm – 8.15pm = Celebrate your fabulous fabric finds with Fifi Colston (and some ideas for what to do with them) hop over here for booking info Thu, 10 May 2012 05:43:00 +0000 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Wellingtonista/~3/a5YqwcE4dNs/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Wellingtonista/~3/a5YqwcE4dNs/#When:05:43:00Z Wellington City Council would like your views on the draft Long Term Plan 2012-22. The draft plan sets out what the Council is proposing to do over the next ten years. Public consultation on the Wellington City Council Draft Long Term Plan runs from the 16th April to 18th May 2012. This is your chance to have a say – your support will make all the difference. There are a whole bunch of things involved in the long term plan that the Wellingtonista collectively and individually have opinions on. Hopefully there will be more posts about those soon. But today I’d like to talk to you about an issue that’s super close to my heart*: getting the Wellington SPCA into a new building so that they can continue to provide an amazing service for the community. If you’ve been to the Newtown centre, you’ll know that while it is full of adorable animals and really dedicated people, it is also crazy cramped, old and falling-downy. The small space means that it’s that much harder to have proper isolation spaces to prevent diseases from spreading, and there’s no room for new initiatives. It’s also down a really long pot-holed driveway, and there’s very little parking around. Meanwhile, the old Fever Hospital up in Mount Victoria is sitting empty apart from vandals. Here’s the situation in the words of Wellington SPCA: The Fever Hospital on Alexandra Road (also known as the Old Chest Hospital and owned by Wellington City Council), a historically-rich Heritage building in the heart of Wellington, remains the preferred destination for us. The Council have stated that we are the preferred tenant and have voiced a desire to see us in the building as soon as possible. The Fever Hospital site will provide a heritage home for a heritage community organisation. It will convert a disused human hospital to an animal one with an educational focus. Located in the centre of the capital it places us where we need to be; at the heart of the community. Wellington City Council have existing obligations to complete a large amount of capital works on the building before we can commence our own construction work, and ongoing maintenance once the building is tenanted. Unfortunately the Council has decided it does not have the funds available to complete this work, nor is there funding budgeted for the next 10 years. Obviously, the council has to think carefully about where it spends its money, but Wellington SPCA, which does vital work but receives no direct** government funding, is absolutely deserving. For more information and/or to sign a petition, check out the Rehome the SPCA site. * Full disclosure: I worked for the Wellington SPCA for a couple of months last year, and I continue to foster cats for them. ** Animal inspectors are trained by MAF, but that’s it. Sat, 05 May 2012 06:26:00 +0000 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Wellingtonista/~3/G0f2hvUuTSI/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Wellingtonista/~3/G0f2hvUuTSI/#When:06:26:00Z Hummingbird has been on Courtenay Place for a long time (twelve years!), and has just undergone a complete refurbishment. The Wellingtonista was invited along to check out the revitalised space and new menu, and what we found was very very good. In their own words: The site was once, many decades ago, a butcher’s shop and in the process of peeling back all the room’s many layers we found that shop’s original tiles and brick.  They were incorporated in our design, and so the place is something of a palimpsest, with the old coming through to the new. The new Hummingbird has a lot more emphasis on eating, and much of the design has been aimed at making the dining room more comfortable.  We’ve also retained a whole new kitchen team and so have a new food offering, which is heavy on using good, local produce and trying not to do too much to it. Our own words follow after the jump. Caution: content will contain mouth orgasms and make you hungry. I hadn’t been to Hummingbird for a long time, because I didn’t think it was really the right bar for me. Jed from Hummingbird acknowledges that it had become somewhat known as ‘Cougar* Territory’ (and one of my dining companions confirmed that his workmates had ‘warned’ him about this when he said that he was going to dinner there), and so work has been done to change the atmosphere. The renovations have succeeded in giving the space much more of a restaurant feel. Gone are the very ’90s purple walls and that annoying curved screen at the door. Instead, walls have been taken out to make the bar area more airy, old tiles and brick are exposed, and tables are made from reclaimed scaffolding planks.  A gas fire makes the room lovely and warm on a freezing cold night. (The lighting wasn’t very good for taking pictures of food though, unfortunately, so you will have to imagine it, or better yet, go try it yourself!) I ordered one of the nicest cocktails I’ve had in a long time – a spiced old fashioned (Willet’s single barrel reserve bourbon, spiced sugar, bitters) which came with a fire of its own, served with a flaming fig in the glass, and once it was sadly finished, we went for the Hummingbird house wine, a Pinot Noir available by the glass, 500ml and 1000ml carafe. Sensible sizing! The menus are simple, printed on A3 paper.  “We wanted everyone to have the full menu on one page and also the cocktails, and we wanted everyone to have easy access to the wine list.  The menus are all printed in house because the dishes change a lot, ” says Jed. Everything sounded delicious and we didn’t know where to start, so we asked our lovely waitress Florence to ask the chef to send out whatever he felt we should eat. Best decision ever! A dozen Mahurangi oysters (they also had Bluff available) arrived at our table quickly, in their half shells on ice. I’m not a huge shellfish fan, but I thought I’d give these a go. They were delicious with a little of the accompanying sauce and a squeeze of lemon, little fresh mouthfuls of the sea. I’m still not sold on the texture of oysters though, so I concentrated on the fresh bread and yummy Olivo oil. Next our table was covered in a selection of grilled sourdough that we divided into quarters and pounced on. I had never had Waikanae crab before – in fact, you don’t see crab on many restaurant menus in NZ that I’m aware of (although I’ve some really good crab still in the shell at China Delight, and also soft shell crab tempura at Kura in Auckland), but this was lovely. Sweet flesh, mixed with tasty aioli. Yummmm. The mushrooms with marscapone had the depth of flavour of a thousand roast animals, which I discovered as I checked the menu again, was because the marscapone was truffled. Meanwhile the duck neck sausage and peppers was incredibly rich as well . Apparently duck neck sausage is encased in itself, unlike a traditional sausage. However it’s made, it was delicious. Unexpectedly, I even enjoyed the entree dish of Kapiti octopus with chorizo and beets. It tasted a lot like parsnip, which is a good thing. The time between entrees and mains was well-judged, and once again, we divided the plates we received between the four of us. When Florence had told us about the specials of the day earlier on, she’d mentioned that there were two kinds of aged beef available – we were served the Wakanui Blue scotch fillet, while there was also a petit angus fillet from Hawke’s Bay. I don’t know all that much about the different places, but I love that they do. Localised eating is so hot right now. And apart from that, the beef with its pureed aubergine? Total mouth orgasm. I wouldn’t normally order chicken at a restaurant because I find other proteins more interesting, but Hummingbird’s was very nicely done, a breast roasted with lemon and sage (according to the menu, although it seemed more pan-fried to me). The duck, from the entree part of the menu but really big enough for a dinner if you had sides as well, was served with lentils and Valrhona chocolate, and had us in raptures. The fish of the day, served with clams, was Snapper, seared skin on, and was also amazing. But I think my favourite part was the roast potatoes we were served on the side. They were peeled and turned beautifully, and there was just something magical about them – they kind of reminded me of going to some restaurant as a child – perhaps even a Cobb & Co type place, and encountering deep-fried roast potatoes for the first time. I know that doesn’t sound like a compliment, but it absolutely is. We were all very well satisfied and full, so it was just as well that we only had three desserts to share between us.  The creme catalana was nice, but the salted caramel sauce that came with the chocolate pudding had us fighting over who would lick the plate. Salted caramel’s pretty trendy right now, but few places make it actually salty enough to really wow the palate – Hummingbird’s was spot on. And then there was the Vanilla Vanilla Vanilla – three different tastes on one plate. The lemon and vanilla curd was something I would happily eat on toast for breakfast every single day, the goat’s cheese cheesecake was utterly sublime, and happily, the vanilla panacotta obligingly trembled just like a woman’s breast, the way a good panacotta should. We may have had a little bit of wine when we decided it needed to be captured for posterity: So that’s a 1200 word tour through a menu. I enjoyed every minute of it. Laura was like “oh god, we have to find fault with something or we’re not being good critics!”. All we could come up with is wishing our water had been topped up a little more, and that there’d been a sauce spoon with the oysters. We ate as the guests of Hummingbird, but will definitely be going back on our own dimes. As soon as possible. * I hate the idea of implying women are predators, but I do know people who choose to identify themselves as cougars. And I generally dislike them. So we’ll run with this for now. Fri, 04 May 2012 03:22:00 +0000 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Wellingtonista/~3/sXRA13ekzkw/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Wellingtonista/~3/sXRA13ekzkw/#When:03:22:00Z An adaptation of Shakespeare’s narrative poem “The rape of Lucrece” by Binge Culture Collective. It’s a visual+audio installation at the Toi Poneke Gallery plus a live performance on Thursday and Friday evenings.  Fiona McNamara’s director’s note states “This production of Shakespeare’s poem claims the text, written by a man in a patriarchal society, as a woman’s story and investigates what happens to performance and to an audience when the female body is present and the male body is absent.” The performance concentrates on the rape section of the poem. (Ending it at this point feels like the story is incomplete. Funding for the next rounds please Creative New Zealand.) The two female performers, Ally Garrett and Isobel MacKinnon, share the text of the poem between them. They are narrator and character both.  The audience sits around them as they perform, so as we watch the performers we also watch each other. It’s taken me a while to figure out how I felt about this work. Is it possible to like a work that is based around a despicable act? The lushness and celebratory vibe of the videos, contrasts with the rape ‘jokes’ played via a seashell. The text is menacing and the performance is gentle.  (Initially I thought it was underplayed but now I think it was very cleverly done. It allows the audience to feel Lucrece’s horror and disbelief. )  The staging and performances were supported by a soundscape that was well crafted. (The chatter of people, the tweeting of birds, the sound of water, tinny voices from headphones, a mixture of natural and electronically enhanced voice. Nice work team.) The question posed in the director’s note was answered on opening night during a lively discussion. What happens is this: 1. the audience want to see the male/female dynamic as performed by two women further subverted; 2. the audience acknowledges the absent element (rape happens to men as well); 3. the audience willingly responds to the invitation to discuss by not wanting it to stop. Take a friend then go out to dinner. Lucrece: An Adaptation of Shakespeare’s the Rape of Lucrece Toi Poneke Gallery, 61 Abel Smith Street. Exhibition: on until Saturday 12 May 2012, 10am-8pm weekdays, 10am – 4pm weekends Live Performances: Thursday and Friday evenings, 4, 10, 11 May, 6:30pm Entry by koha. Bookings: bookforlucrece@gmail.com Thu, 03 May 2012 04:37:00 +0000 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Wellingtonista/~3/aNouJIhkQz0/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Wellingtonista/~3/aNouJIhkQz0/#When:04:37:00Z Fashionably late is usually a term reserved for the truly glamourous, so perhaps it is apt that this belated post is a snapshot of Wellington Fashion Week. Group A – April 19 After a well-groomed schmoozing opening party, things truly kicked off – with stilettos on – with the Group A show on Thursday night. Staged within the Brutalist exterior of Massey University’s Museum Building, the show was anything but tough, unravelling a catalogue that included a stalwart of NZ fashion in Trelise Cooper, equally rich in heritage is Ashley Fogel – a man and label that has been dressing NZ woman in classicist fashion for decades. The Museum Building is the perfect interior venue for fashion, with an art deco nod to the past and a cool bridge to the present. Hermione Flynn’s collection kicked off the show with naive charm, a collection that showcased eclectic inspiration ranging from beatnik polo necks, to jodhpurs and Hindu bindis on all the models. While the eastern influence was inspired, the execution was a little scattered. Ashley Fogel’s collection followed with a show that highlighted quasi animal prints, Bowiesque jackets and the good side of 80s power dressing, plus polka dots aplenty. Fogel’s collection surprisingly showed up the youth with a sharp sense of nostalgia – updated to a modern template – with the timeless backdrop of beautiful fabrics.  Lucy McIntosh approached the floor with a mix of Nordic gothic outfits that reminded of Ingrid Bergman movies, i.e. ‘The Seventh Seal’.  Nouveau was next to grace the stage, seemingly channelling ‘The Great Gatsby’ and Bowie’s ‘Aladdin Sane’ in equal measure. moochi mixed things up too, with Noir touches, popping with neon trimming, also loud plaid fabrics and generally playing hopscotch through the decades, cherry picking details that made for a cohesive eccentric collection rather than a bland theme park of ideas. Mardle sent us on a cosmic journey through a Mary Quant vortex that ended up in Janis Joplin’s wardrobe… a curious place to be! Taylor boutique took to the catwalk in the rich, creamy tones of wool, embracing the thought of winter with flowing garments that sung of warmth & elegance in the same stride. Though the chunky layering got a little like Swandri off cuts merged with duvet inner at times. The show finished with the expertise of Trelise Cooper and her army of worker bees who always put on a truly theatrical event. With a romantic sense of fashion through the centuries, Trelise Cooper took us on a journey through an imaginary landscape where the Bronte sisters rode bareback with Coco Chanel, an equestrian themed wonderland where the rich tones of the countryside were embellished with delicate lace, fascinators and impeccable detail. It was a lesson about how to conduct a fashion show, let the clothes speak for themselves and leave the theatrical aspects to the music and art direction of the show.    Thu, 03 May 2012 02:09:00 +0000 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Wellingtonista/~3/Q1mst0VgoEI/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Wellingtonista/~3/Q1mst0VgoEI/#When:02:09:00Z If you happened to be cruising near the Avalon Skate Park a couple of weekends ago, you may have been lucky enough to witness a most unusual scene, local band Claude Rains were filming their first music video for their upcoming, self-titled first album. Heather Weir, Murray Hewitt and Andrew Bains aka Claude Rains Director Gwen Isaac pulled in some favours and there was a bunch of stars from the Hobbit on set. James Nesbitt and singer Heather Weir A beautiful bevvy of dwarves and rock stars and children and director of photography I was there with my caravan to provide cups of tea and moral support. It was terrifically fun, I even had a title, Craftsomethingorother, which seemed pretty apt. Here is a picture of us watching the playback of the various versions of the video (my caravan is the real star, fyi). The crew and band and offspring watch the playback. In addition to Hobbit folk there was also a take with roller derby girls and a local cycling club, it was both hilarious and quite lovely to see. Watch this space for the release of the finished video, the album is beautiful and the whole experience was a truckload of fun. I quite fancy a new career sitting around drinking tea and chatting. What? Mon, 30 Apr 2012 06:28:00 +0000 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Wellingtonista/~3/hKDIksH_V7k/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Wellingtonista/~3/hKDIksH_V7k/#When:06:28:00Z Shiver me timbers, prepare to enter the wicked world of pirates.  Eight artists will sail the seven seas discovering pirate treasure.  Jewellers Buster Collins, Vaune Mason and Amanda Howley are taking on the accessories of pirate-ism with a vengeance.  From eye patches to collars, hooks to compass rings, these jewellers will provide all the treats and treasures that really make one feel ready for the high seas. Michele Irving depicts swashbuckling animals living a life of adventure or tragedy as daring pirates. Stephen Templer questions the current clichéd pirate imagery, with another rich cultural and symbolic source “Disco”.  What if pirates were into disco as well as rape and pillage? (Here’s a favourite nautical themed video by Stephen Templer)   Sam Broad explores the debate of modern digital piracy, free software, copyleft versus copyright and economic issues of property as theft.  Central to the piratical notions too art the democratic division of spoils and the exploration of new frontiers – all whilst keeping the “jolly” in Roger. Also exhibiting are artists Buster Collins, Vaune Mason, Amanda Howley, Rieko Woodford-Robinson and Marita Green. Head to ROAR! gallery near the corner of Vivian and Victoria Streets for the opening night 5.30 – 7pm Thursday 3rd May, to meet the artists and have some wine. Sat, 28 Apr 2012 19:14:00 +0000 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Knowit/~3/MtT3acYfOAQ/23-to-27-april-2012-tech-universe-digest http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Knowit/~3/MtT3acYfOAQ/23-to-27-april-2012-tech-universe-digest#When:19:14:00Z Tech Universe: Monday 23 April 2012 NEW SPIN ON SOUND: At Dundee University a rubber disc in a canister of water lifts itself, floats and starts rotating for no apparent reason. Driving it is a beam of ultrasound shaped like a helix or vortex below the canister. Scientists used this demonstration to prove that they can now use ultrasound to not only push objects, but to turn and steer them as well. This could give surgeons the ability to target drug delivery or manipulate cells. This needs a theramin soundtrack for best effect.  BBC.    DARK FERMIONS: Ah, the Majorana fermion — theorised in the 1930s and finally observed this month. The Majorana fermion sounds like a sci-fi plot device, right on the border between matter and anti-matter. One theory even suggests it’s a component of Dark Matter. Scientists in Holland teamed an Indium Antemonide nanowire with superconductors and a strong magnetic field. A pair of Majorana fermions appeared at either end of the nanowire. Bringing a little dark into the light.  Delft University of Technology. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbWEjsWDJNg HUNT THE MICROBE: Sometimes microbes, such as those for TB, hide in the human body and are very difficult to detect. Tests can take a long time and delay treatment by weeks or months. Scientists at the University of Central Florida can detect microbes quickly using nanoparticles. Polymer-coated iron oxide nanoparticles are chemically modified to specifically bind to unique DNA markers. When they bind, a magnetic resonance signal can be read on a computer or smartphone, signalling the presence of the pathogen. The researchers hope to develop this into a rapid, sensitive lab test. Kind of like radar for microbes really.  University of Central Florida.    HYDROGEN ZINC: Hydrogen’s a useful gas but it’s currently made from fossil fuels and producing it releases CO2. A student at the University of Delaware found a way to instead produce hydrogen from highly concentrated sunlight and zinc oxide powder. A conical reactor feeds zinc oxide powder through hoppers onto a ceramic layer inside a cavity. Sunlight is concentrated into the cavity where it produces pure zinc vapour that then reacts with water to produce solar hydrogen. The zinc itself is also a valuable fuel, and the zinc oxide byproduct can be used again. The beauties of recycling.  University of Delaware.    BATTERY BOOSTER: Lithium ion batteries are very popular. Most commonly the anodes are made from graphite, but 3M found that using silicon as a base instead can boost battery life. Matched with high-energy battery cathodes, the silicon-based anodes can increase cell capacity by more than 40%. That’s quite a tweak.  Business Wire.    Tech Universe: Tuesday 24 April 2012 SHARK EYE: One problem in West Australia is the number of people killed by sharks. Technicians in Perth, Australia, have designed a drone with a heat-sensitive camera that could be used to spot great whites. The images are streamed back to base in real time. When a heat signature is detected the drone can move in for a closer look. The Cyber Eye can fly 10 hours on just $25 in petrol, and is easy to control. The designers say it’s much cheaper and more accurate than current helicopter and plane patrols. It sounds like an ideal task for drones.  The West Australian.    DOTTY STORAGE: A team of Taiwanese and US researchers is using nanodots that can write and erase data 10 to 100 times faster than current products. Discrete silicon nanodots, each approximately 3 nanometers across, are arranged beneath a thin metallic layer. The researchers shine extremely brief pulses of green laser light on very precise portions of the metal to create a charge and write or erase data on the dot below. This technique creates a stable and long-lived data storage platform. What would we do without lasers?  ScienceDaily.    POLYSOLAR: German company Heliatek have developed a new kind of solar panel made of small, organic molecules deposited on polyester films. The panels are flexible and lightweight and could be wrapped around the columns of a building or integrated into windows. The panels use short molecules called oligomers instead of polymers, which gives more control during manufacture. The panels convert 8% of the energy in light into electricity, compared with 15% for conventional silicon solar panels. But where there’s low light and high heat they can produce more electricity. Lots of heat, but not much light: sounds like just the thing for Parliament.  Technology Review.    STEPPING UP: DARPA’s robotics challenge has one contender that can climb steps. The robotic humanoid from Boston Dynamics has two legs and only one arm, but can speed its way up a set of stairs. At this stage the robot seems to be only going up, not down again, but I guess some challenges take longer.  Mashable. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqCmX5dMYHg DRIFTING TIME: Spacecraft need to know the time so they can navigate correctly. At the moment timing signals usually bounce around between the spacecraft and Earth, introducing long delays. NASA now plan to fly a Deep Space Atomic Clock that will allow a spacecraft to calculate its own navigation data in real time. NASA expect the clock to multiply navigation and radio science data while reducing mission costs. The mercury-ion trap atomic clock drifts no more than 1 nanosecond in 10 days. I suppose there’s no interplanetary time server to keep it accurate either.  JPL.    Tech Universe: Thursday 26 April 2012 TAKE THE TUBE: Travelling by plane can be boring: packed in like sardines, droning engines, and probably not much to look at. ET3 would like to move us around much quicker and more cheaply, using capsules in evacuated tubes. Car sized passenger capsules would travel in 1.5m diameter tubes on frictionless maglev. Air is removed from the tubes, with airlocks at transfer stations. Electric motors accelerate the 6-person cars which then coast the rest of the way. ET3 aim for regional transport to be at 600 Kph, but international travel at 6,500 Kph. Imagine: a bit over an hour to travel to Hawai’i, except I bet the tubes won’t cross the Pacific.  ET3.com. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McpWcn-1RZU BIKE FIXINGS: Bike Fixtation in the USA have a great idea: work stands, vending machines, kiosks and bike pumps in public places. The Work Stand, for example, is made of steel for durability. It provides a couple of ways to hold your bike and has 8 bicycle tools tethered by stainless steel aircraft cable. The Vending Machine dispenses snacks, and also items such as inner tubes, patch kits and locks. Several different models of pumps can be bolted to a concrete surface. All it needs is an Internet kiosk where the less experienced can look up how-to videos for fixing a bike.  Bike Fixtation.    PLASTIC REPLICATION: DNA and RNA are the basic replicators of life forms. They evolve over time. Now researchers have created a new self-replicating molecular system called XNA, where the X stands for ‘xeno’, or ‘alien’. DNA contains natural sugars. To make XNA the researchers replaced the sugar with a polymer. Plastic is taking over the world.  MedGadget.    GO FOR GOLD: Brain surgery’s a rather delicate matter, and for surgeons removing cancerous cells they really don’t want to take out more of the brain than absolutely necessary. Scientists at Stanford University have created spherical nanoparticles from gold coated with a metal called gadolinium and a layer of silica. The nanoparticles were shown to accumulate in cancer cells during tests on mice. Heated with laser pulses, the particles can be detected with a sonogram to produce real-time images of the tumour. That means surgeons should be able to accurately remove just cancerous brain cells. It’s a shame that heating with laser pulses doesn’t handle the destruction of the cancerous cells too.  New Scientist.    FULL SOLAR JACKET: The Tokyo Institute of Technology are making more than a gesture towards solar power. They’ve clad their 7 story Environment and Energy Innovation Building with 4,500 solar panels. The 650 KW the cells generate is supplemented by 100 KW of fuel cells, so the building itself generates about half the energy it needs. Shiny.  Asahi Shimbun.    Tech Universe: Friday 27 April 2012 SKI CHAIR: Use a wheelchair but sick of being stuck in snow? Wheel Blades can fix that for you. The tiny skis quickly and easily lock on to the small wheels on a wheelchair allowing the chair to more easily roll across snow or ice. The blades can be quickly adjusted to fit wheels of various widths. The Wheel Blades can also be used on pushchairs for children. Most surprising: that these haven’t been invented before now? Wheel Blades.    QUICK CHANGE: The Adaptrac tire inflation system is designed for mountain bikers to inflate and deflate the tires on their bikes while riding and without dismounting. The system uses special hubs, a dual control valve and a C02 power pack/regulator. Gauges and handlebar controls mean the rider can quickly check and change the pressure. Rechargeable CO2 tanks do the work. Well, there’s more weight to drag uphill.  Adaptrac.    WHAT’S IN A NAME?: If you’ve ever dreamed of owning a Lamborghini perhaps the BMC impec Automobili Lamborghini Edition could work for you. The only thing is, it’s a bicycle not a car. At 20,000 Euros it carries a very hefty price tag too. The bike uses a BMC impec carbon frame fitted with Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 electronic shifting and unbranded carbon wheels. Only 30 of the bikes will be sold. And the Lamborghini part? Colours, some suede and the logo cover that. That’s an awful lot of money for a logo.  Cycling News.    LIVING IN LESS: How wide is the house or apartment you live in? 10 or 15 metres or more? How would you cope with a house that’s only 1.33 metres at its widest point? Etgar Keret’s House in Warsaw is being built in the tiny gap between 2 buildings. It’s intended as an art installation that will also serve as a studio for creators and intellectuals from all over the world. The builders hope to open the house by mid-2012. Only skinny tenants need apply. Centrala.    GUIDE TO THE ASTEROIDS: Near-Earth Asteroids have become the latest target for mining activities. US company Planetary Resources, Inc. has developed a family of deep-space prospecting spacecraft called the Arkyd-100 Series. Those spacecraft will fly in low-Earth orbit and help determine suitable targets for later swarm expeditions. The ultimate goal is to take resources such as water and platinum from asteroids. Make way for the hyperspatial express route. Planetary Resources.  Miraz says: I find this really disturbing, for many reasons. We’ve laid waste to our own planet. Should we really start laying waste to the rest of the solar system?  There was no Tech Universe on Anzac Day, 25 April. Notes: I write a Tech Universe column for the NZ Herald. This is a fun assignment: Tech Universe brings 5 headlines each day about what’s up in the world of technology. Above are the links from last week as supplied. The items that were published in The Herald may differ slightly. While I find all the items interesting, some are just cooler than others. I’ve marked out those items. Wed, 25 Apr 2012 03:02:00 +0000 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Wellingtonista/~3/U1GvBIY7GQI/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Wellingtonista/~3/U1GvBIY7GQI/#When:03:02:00Z Last night the City Gallery played host to the launch of Gamefroot, a new platform on which to build platform games – or more specifically, a HTML5 Game Creation tool. If you can use a web browser and if you can use mouse to click and drag – then you can use Gamefroot. The bar has finally been lowered – other people have promised it but none have been as easy as this, with Gamefroot you no longer need to be a programmer to make games! What is awesome about Gamefroot in my opinion? Gamefroot allows you to make awesome games. It allows you to make big games, small games, adventure games, happy games, sad games, story based games, space games, sci-fi games, and with our Scratch-based user Interface for creating advanced behaviors, you can pretty much make any type of game your imagination can come up with. It’s true, the interface IS super easy to use…. I was worried that there’d be a downer note on the night in which we’d troop into the theatre for a presentation and not be allowed to take our wine through (horror of horrors!) but in fact, we were able to watch from the main room as some kids built their own game for the event sponsors Hell Pizza. Y’all know my feeling on kids at events where I am drinking, but these ones were super awesome, engaged in what they were doing, and creating some pretty sweet stuff. Someone else who’d created his own game was Weta artist Greg Broadmore (fun fact: one of the biggest search engine terms for visits to the ‘ista), who demoed Lord Cockswain in V for Venusians DM. The dashing Lord Cockswain fights his way into Venus? Once you’ve made a game, you can share it on the site, or embed it into other web pages. Intriguingly, you can also remix games, which I might take up doing if only to correct some of the apostrophes in the other games I’ve tried, like The Young Issac about Sir Issac Newton (see, you can play and learn at the same time!). Thanks for such a fun party! The wine and tasty beers from Hashigozake flowed freely, the room was stacked with a brilliant mix of good people to talk to, there were appropriate tunes from TV Disko and a very energetic set from Disasteradio, and pizza topped with my favorite schadenfreude sausage. Our Anna Dean knows how to throw a great launch! More importantly, while the Gamefroot team are still working on the iPhone part, it looks like the site has buttloads of potential. Now can someone build us a Wellingtonista game please? Mon, 23 Apr 2012 21:30:00 +0000 http://blog.feeds.iwantmyname.co.nz/~r/iWantMyNameNZ/~3/yMEYcC5OWUY/wdcnz-boldly-goes-forth.html http://blog.feeds.iwantmyname.co.nz/~r/iWantMyNameNZ/~3/yMEYcC5OWUY/wdcnz-boldly-goes-forth.html#When:21:30:00Z If Wellington is the centre of the digital creative universe, then WDCNZ  must surely be the natural focus point for the New Zealand web software developer community. And since iWantMyName is simply the coolest domain management service in the galaxy (and also based in the Capital) then it follows we’d “jump at light speed” for the chance to get involved, right? You bet!WDCNZ explodes onto your screens again this August and will be even bigger and better then before. Being all about the real nuts and bolts technical knowledge that keeps the web humming, we’re really chuffed to be a leading sponsor. Web Dev Con has some pretty amazing speakers lined up this year too, including local luminaries Vaughan Rowsell of VendHQ fame, Aaron Morton and Silverstripe CTO Hamish Friedlander plus a very sharp looking contingent from offshore.We reckon tickets will fly out the door, so don’t muck around. You’d be “warped” not to be there. Oh yes…keep an eye on our Twitter feed for updates on special offers and meetups related to this event.