New blog

I have created a new blog for our class topic: Sustainabillity. It is for all the work we are doing in class, my own environmental endeavors, and some information about sustainability, our environment, and the economy etc...
To make it easy to access my new blog, you could visit my profile and follow the link to my new blog, but to make it easier, this whole post is a link to the website.
If you want to visit it via the address bar, just enter "sustainabilityinnz.blogspot.com".
Quote of the day: When a thing ceases to be a subject of controversy, it ceases to be a subject of interest. - William Hazlitt

New posting thing

I have decided to try a new regular post thing, a review. It might be of a movie, a book, or even some form of game. Please feel free to comment your opinion on my views, the item I am reviewing, or anything else you wish to say. So here goes:

Ratchet Gladiator [Format: PS2, Rating: PG, Created by Sony Corporation & Insomniac Games]

The fourth in the Ratchet & Clank saga, this is an enjoyable game with changeable difficulty levels [Couch Potato – Contestant – Hero – Gladiator – Exterminator], hilarious but occasionally annoying commentary throughout, and a “hands-on” and “all buttons useable” feel. The “blurb”-ish thing on the back cover says “Coming to you live from the Shadow Sector – the new season is about to begin! The Lombax known as Ratchet is the contestant that Dreadzone’s six trillion fans are all talking about. But never fear, folks – five-time Grand Champion Ace Hardlight and the rest of the Exterminator crew will surely cut him down to size!”.

The basic plot is that you are a “Lombax” named Ratchet who is kidnapped from his ship, along with his side-kick “Clank” and a technician from previous games “Al”, and put on deadly game-show “Dreadzone”, in the “shadow sector”, where the name of the game is survival. It is set in a universe without humans, and you have to have played the previous games in the saga to fully understand the plot, but it is a fun game either way.

Modes: You can play in single player, in which two bots will fly around your head. They can be used to control certain control points in the game called “nodes” and “hacker/security orbs”. They can also provide covering fire, and once every so often, go mental and destroy your opponents. You could also play in Co-op mode, this requires two controllers, but you can both play next to each other and cover each other’s backs* (*requires two people). There is also a completely different mode called “Multiplayer”, which is split into two sections. Local play is against people who are plugged into your console (2-4 players). Online play is against pretty much anyone (2-10 players).

Weapons: There is quite a few weapons in this game, and my post is quite long-winded, so I’ve decided to drop this section (Unfortunately. I was looking forward to this bit). This section would’ve been quite long because a lot of the game revolves around your arsenal (Not the football team).

My final score for this game would have to be 10/10 (an awesome score for an awesome game).

Quote of the day: It was on my fifth birthday that Papa put his hand on my shoulder and said, 'Remember, my son, if you ever need a helping hand, you'll find one at the end of your arm.' - Sam Levenson

Hamilton Zoo

Hamilton Zoo is a fairly average zoo. I am not going to try and glamorize it. My family and I went there today and it was cooler than normal because our trip coincided with about three types of the animal’s feeding times. We saw the Brown Capuchin Monkeys being fed, which was quite amazing how resourceful they were when they unscrewed the caps off bottles of nuts (that sounds a bit weird) and peeling/smashing corn on branches three metres up:                                      And the chimps that fought over cobs of corn and apples:                                         It was strange when one monkey wasn’t allowed outside yet it was sitting and staring forlornly out one of the windows:                                   We also saw the pack of African Hunting Dogs (also known as the African Painted Dogs) being fed chickens:                                       There are numerous other animals at the zoo such as rhinoceroses, giraffes, lizards, emus, tigers, and lots more. Here’s some of them:

I had a pretty good time at the zoo, and maybe I’ll see some more interesting stuff next time I go. That’s all from me for now...

Quote of the day: Nobody got anywhere in the world by simply being content.  - Louis L'Amour

Mobile Blogging

I have been meaning to try mobile blogging for a while, and I just managed to get round to setting it up. It is a feature where you send a photo to Blogger and they post it straight on to your blog, unfortunately, I believe this also reveals what you sent it from (Email, Cellphone, etc ...). I did not want this to reveal my details when I did so, so I configured it to save it as a draft so I can edit it before it posts. Mobile blogging seems like a great tool, and you can set up “Mobile Blogging Agents” who can post from “the field” (Winged Hussars blog, Blog Field Resistance comes to mind), by sending a picture to the address [classified].

If you set it up through your dashboard, in the top right hand corner there is a small music player thing that plays a cool jingle: *snap a photo and type some text, send it to Blogger and we’ll do the rest*.

I hope to be mobile blogging soon and I hope at least one of the readers of my blog will be looking forward to it!!

Quote of the day: The road to hell is paved with adverbs. - Stephen King

PUMA, vehicle of the future

General Motors and Segway have joined to create the revolutionary vehicle of the future, the PUMA. PUMA stands for Personal Urban Mobility and Accessibility, and has a top speed of 35 miles per hour. On the same topic, it has been said that on a single charge it will go for 35 miles. So that means that unless you have another lithium-ion battery or somewhere to charge it, you can only go about 50 kilometres, which will take you about an hour.

The PUMA has about four wheels (I think), though it only drives on two, like the regular Segway. This new vehicle is an electrically powered, two-seat pod that has the potential to let people move around cities or “concrete jungles” in a quicker, safer, quieter and cleaner fashion than we do now. Unfortunately it's still in the prototype stage, and GM hasn’t released a production date for them yet, but with the traffic in most urban areas, it hopefully won’t be too long. I just found that GM aims to be making them by 2012. Here is a video of the new PUMA, and what GM and Segway hope to achieve with them:

I wonder how old you would have to be to drive one of these things, and if your regular driver’s licence would cover it. And would they go on the road, the cycle track, or would they have to build a new track for them in every city?

Quote of the day: I don’t make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts.  - Will Rogers

Waikato Classic Car Monthly Meet

I went to the meet of the Waikato Classic Car club the other day, and there was about 15 or 16 classic cars, Mustangs, a Dodge Viper, a Buick or two, and lots more. Here are some of the pictures I took, and edited on Paint to the out the number plates (I took about 40, but there’s only a few here).

And at the meet, there was also a Segway that everyone got a go on (I liked it so much that I went on lots and lots of times). There was a photo of me on the Segway, but to stay cybersafe, I edited it:

On the way back, we saw a cool carving out of a Japanese Cedar so I took some pics:

Can you see the little kiwi in the base of the fern carving underneath the eagle. Unfortunately I can’t remember the location of the carving, but it was easy to spot from the road. It was great fun, and I hope to go again when they meet up next time.

Quote of the day: If there were no God, there would be no Atheists. - G. K. Chesterton

The Taitua Arboretum

On Monday, my family and I went for a walk round the Taitua Arboretum and being out in the country, it was so quiet and peaceful (except for my brother, that is). There were lots of chickens, pukekos, bird life and the like. There are two loop walks there, and they are set out in kind of a figure eight design. The sign says that you should allow about 90 minutes for both walks, although you can do it in less. It is situated part way outside of Hamilton. Here is a map or two to help you find your way there:

  

There is wonderful scenery and wildlife and I couldn’t resist taking some photos of the park:

And I also found a photo gallery online with pictures of the flora and fauna at the Taitua Arboretum, and to visit it follow this link: The Taitua Arboretum Gallery. Some people may say there isn’t much to do in Hamilton, but there sure is a number of fun walks.

Quote of the day: If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail.  - Abraham Maslow