Can the banana be saved?

The banana as we know it is on a crash course toward extinction. For scientists, the battle to resuscitate the world’s favorite fruit has begun—a race against time that just may be too late to win. Check out http://www.popsci.com/popsci/science/article/0,20967,1076199,00.html or visit the link via the On The Net blog at http://www.digitalus.co.nz/onthenet/

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Million Dollar Challenge

James Randi is well-known paranormal debunker who set up the James Randi Educational Foundation. The Foundation is committed to providing reliable information about paranormal claims. It both supports and conducts original research into such claims.
The foundation is offering a one-million-dollar prize to anyone who can show, under proper observing conditions, evidence of any paranormal, supernatural, or occult power or event. The JREF does not involve itself in the testing procedure, other than helping to design the protocol and approving the conditions under which a test will take place. All tests are designed with the participation and approval of the applicant. In most cases, the applicant will be asked to perform a relatively simple preliminary test of the claim, which if successful, will be followed by the formal test. Preliminary tests are usually conducted by associates of the JREF at the site where the applicant lives. Upon success in the preliminary testing process, the "applicant" becomes a "claimant."

To date, no one has ever passed the preliminary tests.

So, if you're psychic, telepathic or can reliably produce a real ghost, then head over to http://www.randi.org/research/ and earn yourself a million bucks US!

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Houses of the Future

The Cardboard House is an Australian development - a house made of competely recyclable material (mainly a form of cardboard) with a plastic roof. The house condenses water out of the atmosphere and stores it in a ballast tank under the house, which also helps to anchor the building to the ground.
The Cardboard House represents the reduction of technology and the simplification of needs. By demonstrating the ability to recycle 100% of the building components at extremely low cost, the Cardboard House is a direct challenge to the housing industry to reduce housing and environmental costs.
Check out http://www.housesofthefuture.com.au/hof_houses04.html

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Einstein Archive

Newly-discovered manuscripts written by Einstein have surfaced at the Univeristy of Leiden. A special chair in Leiden was created for Albert Einstein, enabling him to visit the university for short periods of his choosing. On October 27, 1920, Einstein began his new position with an inaugural address on ether and relativity theory. The yearly visits stopped when Einstein fled Europe in 1933. The position was formally terminated by the German occupation. You can view high-quality scans of the manuscripts at http://www.lorentz.leidenuniv.nl/history/Einstein_archive/

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Speegle

Speegle is a derivative of Google Search that reads the search results to you out loud. Check out http://www.speegle.co.uk/

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Make your own magazine cover

With Flickr's "make your own magazine cover" tool, you can "fake" a realistic magazine cover by choosing a photo from a flickr library and entering the text for the cover. It's a great way to amuse your friends and prove to everybody you really ARE a star! Check it out at http://flagrantdisregard.com/flickr/magazine.php

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All the DVD you can eat

I'm a big fan of DVD Unlimited (www.dvdunlimited.co.nz) where you can sign up to have DVD movies sent to you in the post, rather than going to a store to hire them. Another New Zealand site, Fatso.co.nz (http://fatso.co.nz) offers a similar service and a similar free trial, using the same software in the back end. Check it out!

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Killer or Programmer?

Can you tell the difference between a computer programmer and a serial killer? Take the flash-based quiz at http://www.malevole.com/mv/misc/killerquiz/ and find out!

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NZ Topo Online

NZTopoOnline is the Internet version of the New Zealand Topographic Database (NZTopo). It displays seamless coverage of the 1:50,000 scale topographic mapping of New Zealand. View it online at http://www.nztopoonline.linz.govt.nz/

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Steve McCurry Gallery

Steve McCurry, recognized universally as one of today's finest image makers, has won many of photography's top awards. Best known for his evocative color photography, McCurry, in the finest documentary tradition, captures the essence of human struggle and joy. Member of Magnum Photos since 1986, McCurry has searched and found the unforgettable; many of his images have become modern icons.

Check out Steve's gallery of amazing photos at http://www.stevemccurry.com/gallery.html

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Taranaki Careers

The new Taranaki Careers website will be launched by Education Taranaki Incorporated this weekend as part of the Taranaki Careers Expo

Education Taranaki Incorporated is a regionally focused education group, which strives to develop "an educational environment that supports and values lifelong learning, and is accessible to all people, so that they can participate in our social and cultural life and benefit from economic growth".

The consortium is represented by a diverse and extensive range of senior managers and principals, from a number of key educational players within the Taranaki region. The cluster is involved in a number of regional initiatives promoting education excellence in its various forms.

The purpose of the Taranaki Careers Website is to foster informed career choices, ensuring everyone experiences a smooth transition from education to employment. The website also promotes options for further development in your chosen field - learning and education does not stop once you get a job!

Check out http://www.taranacareers.co.nz

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David Lange

The Right Honourable David Russell Lange passed away on the 13th of August 2005. He served as Prime Minister of New Zealand from 1984 to 1989. He headed New Zealand's Fourth Labour Government, one of the most reforming administrations in the history of New Zealand. He was renowned for a cutting wit and eloquence. His government implemented far reaching free market reforms, some of which he adamantly personally opposed. Perhaps his most enduring personal legacy is New Zealand's Nuclear Free Legislation, which for many symbolised a pacifist identity for New Zealand against Cold War arms proliferation. Find out more at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Lange You can read his speech, Old Faiths, New World, at http://www.humanist.org.nz/letters/lange.html

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Hologram winner

Lyndon Arthur was the first person to guess that the hologram at http://www.digitalus.co.nz/hologram.jpg was our company logo. You can find out more about Single Image Random Dot Stereograms (or Autostereograms) at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autostereogram

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Site of the Week: Peak Design

The Young Enterprise Scheme, with The Lion Foundation as principal supporter, is administered in New Zealand by Enterprise New Zealand Trust. It is a learning experience for young people, teachers and business people in which senior secondary school students form a company; become directors; develop products and services, which they market and sell. YES is school based and teaches skills in budgeting, planning, interpersonal relations, decision making, reporting, communications; risk management and teamwork. Peak Design are a Hawera-based YES team - the company directors of Peak Design are Hawera High School students competing against other teams in the region. Peak Design offer value-for-money web design solutions - check out their site at http://www.peakdesign.co.nz

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Urban Legends - the unanswerables

The urban legends site at http://www.snopes.com helps to identify and separate urban legend from fact. Every day their inbox fills with hundreds of questions that range from the routine to the extraordinary, the mundane to the fantastic. Many of their queries are too obscure or complicated for them to answer. Among the more unusual questions that are sent their way, they sometimes find a few seemingly posed with such a sense of urgency that one can't help but wonder about the circumstances that prompted them — and the results. For example: "I've heard that it is impossible to take a lightbulb out of your mouth once one puts it in, without either breaking the bulb or dislocating the jaw. Do you know if this is true? I'm counting on you - my husband is really curious, and I don't want to have to drive him to the hospital..." Check out http://www.snopes.com/humor/question/urgent.asp

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Illuminati News

The Illuminati. The New World Order. Supposedly our world is under the control of a hidden organisation made up of the rich (and possible a few aliens as well) whose agenda is world domination. If you're into conspiracy theories, or like a good chuckle, check out Illuminati News (http://illuminati-news.com/index.htm). You can also read an online book called "The Secret Order of the Illuminati" at http://illuminati-news.com/moriah.htm Supposedly, the Illuminati (or Moriah Conquering Wind as they prefer to call themselves these days) is a very secretive group of occult practitioners who have been around for thousands and thousands of years. It is not a boys' club or a group of adults parents trying to get some excitement in life; this is something much bigger than that. This is a very well structured organization consisting of people in extremely High Places. Those people are the Super Wealthy, who stand above the law. Many of them don't even appear on the list of the wealthiest people in the world - it's that secret.

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More SIRDS

Looks like no-one managed to crack the holographic code at http://www.digitalus.co.nz/hologram.jpg If you’re able to see the holographic image and identify the shape within, let me know and I’ll announce your braininess to the world! In the meantime, here’s another gallery of SIRDS images to help you focus your mind: http://www.softcom.net/users/3dham/stereo/rds/

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ShouldExist

ShouldExist is a site that seeks to find answers to the good questions. What's wrong with our world? How can we make it better? Who would know best how to do this? Who is working on something similar? What do they have to say? What next? The site combines good ideas, donations from the public and people willing to work as volunteers and works towards towards building prototypes of things that would make the world a better place. Check out http://www.shouldexist.org.

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Google Logo Maker

Build your own version of the Google website by designing your own Google-style logo at http://www.logogle.com/

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Site of the Week

Bruno Bozzetto is a brilliant flash animator. Check out his website at http://www.bozzetto.com/ and some of his animations at http://generalhaberdashery.com/links/traffic.swf and http://generalhaberdashery.com/links/europevsitaly.swf

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Frogprints

Frogprints is a brilliant Kiwi website devoted to turning your digital camera images into prints for you. Simply create an account on their site at http://www.frogprints.co.nz, upload your images and pay and you're done. The website has tools and information on the best sizes and formats to upload, as well as the best print sizes for your particular image. I tested the process (it's very cheap, at 80cents for a standard image with a $2.50 delivery fee) and had stunning prints delivered to me the next day.

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Doctor Who remixes

Avid (some might say rabid) Doctor Who fans have spent the intervening time between series remixing various incarnations of the Doctor Who theme music. Contributors to whomix include both amateur and professional musicians. They do not expect to be rewarded monetarily for the arrangements they provide, but listeners are encouraged to show them support by leaving feedback (by clicking on the [comments] link) and, when listed, visiting their websites. Check out http://whomix.trilete.net/?wmid=music

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Magic Eye Holograms

Remember when Magic Eye posters became all the rage? They looked like swirls of random dots or patterns but when you stared into them, slowly a 3D image would reveal itself. Some people found it easy to see the image, some people could never master it. Well, the software is available to create these images for yourself. The technology is called SIRDS (Single Image Random Dot Stereograms) and you can find various tools for creating them on the web through Google. A very good implementation is called 3D Miracle (http://www.ixtlan.ru/) which helps you build SIRDS from 3D models or images on your hard drive.
I have included a hologram of my own at this article's online archive (http://www.digitalus.co.nz/onthenet/) and I challenge you to see it and then determine what it is - I'll announce the winner in next week's article. Also check out Vern's SIRDS gallery at http://www.vern.com/

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Digg It!

Digg is a technology news website that combines social bookmarking, blogging, RSS, and non-hierarchical editorial control. With digg, users submit stories for review, but rather than allowing an editor to decide which stories go on the homepage, the users do. Once a story is submitted by a user it is instantly posted in the digg area queue. This is a temporary holding place where stories wait to be promoted to the homepage. To help promote stories to the homepage, simply visit the digg area and digg stories you think are cool. Once a story has received enough diggs, it is instantly promoted. Should the story not receive enough diggs, or is reported, it eventually falls out of the digg area queue. Digg works because a large group of people actively promote good stories to the homepage. Since this site's content is user-driven, it is up to YOU to contribute. Check out http://www.digg.com/

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