Going West
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Going West
When on-farm R&D funding was cut by 70 percent, it seemed our agriculture industry had been put out to pasture. But the head of AgResearch is having none of it. With agendas like doubling the value of our sheep and dairy industries, while halving the environmental damage they cause, Andy West is bringing sexy back to farms. So to speak.
Pretty city
If you’d love to live in a world where bike racks come with personal showers, the local dairy baby-sits your kids and you can get free broadband at the bus stop, smile—you already do. Monocle has identified the best existing elements that make a city not only livable, but want-to-live-there-able. No New Zealand cities feature, but after Richard Simpson inserts his canals and tunnels into Auckland and tears down that silly Harbour Bridge, who knows?
Bridge over troubled waters
Speaking of over-water pathways, Auckland City Council has just announced a competition to design a new opening bridge on the CBD waterfront. Remembering the stones thrown at the designers of the glass stadium, this is one for the brave—or poor, there’s ten grand in prize money.
200th assistant director
With NZ on Air still handing out the small bucks for music videos, maybe Kiwi bands should consider adding another few hundred directors to their call sheets. Hey, it worked for The Shins, who last year cobbled together an interesting vid from 200 clips supplied by the crowd. Now My Morning Jacket is doing it again, but determined to outdo their rivals, they’ve employed a symphony to help them out. We don’t know if symphonies come cheaper than directors, but they don’t insert ‘action!’ and ‘cut!’ into your song, so that’s got to be good for the sing-alongs
Stalk in style
Origami optics, the art of folding pixels, is about to greatly improve the quality of photos taken by camera phone. Researchers at the University of California have borrowed zoom technology from reflective telescope makers—which means in a couple of years you’ll be able to take a decent shot, discreetly. This is just what paranoid celebrities need; we imagine there will be a lot more shaved heads after these hit the shops.
Three … two … one …
If you’re still buzzing from seeing Transformers brought to life, you may not be ready for this: rocket belts are now for sale. They may not work very well—weighing up to 139 pounds and giving around 30 seconds of lift off—but they’re guaranteed to impress the Joneses:
“We just got the new V12 CL-Class Coupe.”
“That’s great. I can fly”
Library escapes
For those who prefer a more traditional method of propulsion, Auckland Central Library is rolling out a Travel Nights Series starting with Graham Reid’s Great Rock ‘n’ Roll pilgrimage. Set for take off at 6pm, Monday August 27, it’s bound to kill your travel bug—so you’ll be all set for Dengue fever.
New Zealand’s largest design event will have its Semi-Permanent home at Auckland’s The Edge tomorrow. With top shelf speakers like The Glue Society, creative inspiration is guaranteed. And showing at the St Paul St Gallery, The Semi-Permanent Design Exhibition, Terms of Use, may push you into the realm of creative madness. Tape up your ears.
New Zealand is at a crossroads, says the CEO of the NZX. Mark Weldon believes we can forge our own road and charge a tax, or pay someone else to use theirs—and we couldn’t agree more. Come and see this share market innovator lay out his map at the next AUT Idealog Innovation Series. He’ll be giving directions for taking Kiwi creativity, carbon neutrality and entrepreneurship to the world. Bring a pen.
Check out Idealog’s events guide, Agenda, online and in print. Anyone can add an event to Agenda—just fill out the form on our website.
Quote of the week
“I’m not a fan of turning New Zealand into a giant retirement and vacation theme park with a large, low-wage, semi-skilled service sector and a small elite or ultra-rich capitalists.”
—Prime mover Andy West
Gena Tuffery
Senior writer
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