If you need to relax and wind down before bed, have you thought about the therapeutic effects of warm water swirling over tired muscles? The health benefits of water moving over the body was noticed many years ago and the Chinese were amongst the first people to use the natural force of streams.
The Jacuzzi brothers [...]
This month New Zealand is hosting one of the oddest operas I’ve ever seen. Well, not so much the actual opera (the Italian Girl in Algiers, by Gioachino Rossini), but its production.
The original opera is an opera buffa, or comic opera, written when Rossini was 21. The music is highly accessible, the cast an interesting [...]
Understanding and using electricity has changed our society. Being able to do simple things like having the light on during periods of dark has changed our sleeping and waking routines, and the way we work is independent of the daily and seasonal cycle.
With electricity we can simulate weather conditions and, for example, grow flowers all [...]
Continue reading about Convenience but possible health effects
There are lots of pages on the Internet about managing credit card debt. But I think it’s better not to get into debt. There are a few entries on how to use cards wisely. But I don’t really agree with them. They still assume you’re going to get into debt. Here’s how I use my [...]
Markets are basically not complicated things. Despite what you might read in the paper or hear on TV, despite the befuddling jargon, markets consist of buyers and sellers, and of perception and emotion.
When there are more people wanting to buy, than there are people selling, markets rise. The law of supply and demand dictates [...]
Nowadays first-home buyers tend to be older (late twenties/early thirties), have existing debt, and have seen skyrocketing house prices. This trend may have eased off, but generally today’s first-home buyers are very different to their parents’ generation, when most people who took up a mortgage had its end in sight because they had entered the [...]
Prior teaching experience is a prerequisite for many special education roles in the New Zealand education sector. Special education teachers often advise regular classroom teachers, so a knowledge of the curriculum and an understanding of classroom teaching and generally how things work in schools leads to a better rapport with the classroom teacher, and better [...]
Not known for its natural resources, New Zealand does produce significant quantities of coal, ironsand, aggregates and gold, much for internal use. Gold, however, is exported and New Zealand produces around 350,000 ounces a year from its Martha Hill mine in Waihi, Coromandel, and from the major producer, Macraes Mine, at Macraes Flat, inland from [...]
I just don’t get the whole showbiz hype thing, the fanatical public interest, blah, blah. I see the magazine covers in the supermarket shouting “Katie’s ultimatum”, “Family torn apart”, “Harrison and Calista adopting”. Who are these people? I don’t know, and I don’t really care. But lots of other people do.
I decided to investigate the [...]
I feel privileged to live in New Zealand. It is full of some of the most beautiful places in the world. Here’s some information about one of them…
Hush, hush, whisper who dares
Lake Alexandrina has answered my prayers
If your prayers are to find a sanctuary of idyllic beauty, tranquil quiet, and some of the best trout [...]