Coromind

My most memorable strange experience occurred in my early thirties. I had been attending parapsychology classes over the previous months, where we learned about auras, spirits and  lots of other esoteric things. One of them was called ‘transfiguration’, when a person or thing changes its shape or form. I was visiting a friend in Whangamatā...

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 I was one of the founders of the Mercury Bay Rugby Club during my first year of teaching at the old primary school. I was a player and coach and mentor for schoolboy rugby throughout the Bay....

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As far back as the Roman slave revolts led by Spartacus, to the mediaeval peasant rebellions wanting protection from their kings, to the factory workers uniting in the Industrial Revolution to stop child labour and gain a 10-hour work day, to the union organisers of last century getting a 2-day weekend, the story of the worker has been one of trying to improve their workplace conditions and attain a more comfortable life. So what’s the next step in this progression? And why would it help businesses just as much as their employees?...

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Whether you are 8 or 80, it’s never too late to start astronomy and learn our place in the universe. Did you know you can see our own galaxy with your unaided eyes? Craters of the moon with binoculars? Countless wonders await you any clear night. When attempting to view the night sky, location is key but fortunately in the Coromandel Peninsula we are spoilt for choice for areas free from light pollution, like Opito Bay.

The first step for beginners is simply to look up and ask, “What’s that?”...

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What is Acclimatisation? It is the adaptation of animals or plants to an environment or climate they are not normally found in.

Aotearoa New Zealand’s first acclimatisers were the Polynesian voyagers that arrived here around 1250-1300 AD. They brought with them kiore (pacific rats), kūmara, kurī (dogs), taro and paper mulberry. The taro and paper mulberry did not grow well in this climate, but the kūmara grew well on our sub-tropical islands. The kiore and kurī, however, had a different impact on the environment. Many of the endemic birds here in Aotearoa New Zealand were flightless and so hunting was easy....

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Goodbye, Mr Gillette!

Last year, I made the decision to stop shaving my legs. I hadn’t necessarily made this choice out of some huge feminist epiphany; it was more the fact that I just couldn’t be bothered doing it anymore. The awkward positions in the shower, the little head unclipping itself from the razor spontaneously, the cuts on my legs. Not to mention all the money I was spending on those stupid pink taxed women’s razors. Having smooth legs was nice, but it just didn’t seem worth it to me anymore. 

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Movies have been a major part of our lives for over a century. They have the power to take us on an emotional rollercoaster, transport us to other worlds and help us understand different perspectives and points of view. Movies have always been considered one of the most effective mediums of storytelling. As cinemas are often a focal point for the community, they and the movies they show have become an important vehicle for education...

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The speed of evolution of ChatGPT and similar systems is astounding. ChatGPT was already known to be able to generate functioning software at lightning speed. I tried it myself by asking it to write me a statistics function in the R statistics package, which saved me perhaps a couple of hours of work. ChatGPT has now been given the ability to read and improve its own code....

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Celebrating a Milestone With Style! ALTBAYS Show

The ALTBAYS Show hit a milestone of 180 episodes, and they celebrated in style. The host, Leo Magri, welcomed three incredibly talented Kiwi artists to the studio for a chat and some music. Roimata Taimana, visual artist and musician, Fabian Roberts, multi-instrumentalist, CFM broadcaster and Altbays Show co-host, and Stewart Pedley, singer-songwriter, brought an impressive array of instruments, including acoustic guitars, mandolin, resonator, and percussion, for a memorable show.

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A chance encounter with a couple of cyclists at a Kaiaua cafe set in motion a plan to ride the length of the country. The idea took on a sense of romance and I was hooked.

It is a long ride, over 3000 km across two land masses on tracks, trails, roads, both busy and quiet, and wilderness areas.

I questioned myself – besides the romance and physical challenge of it, why this journey and why now?.... 

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