Articles from ‘elocal magazine’

We’re a nation of dieters. Four in 10 of us claim that we’re trying to lose weight by trying every new diet fad, often without paying much attention to whether they really make scientific sense. In the old days we might have picked up tips from magazines, following step-by-step guides that explained the virtues of everything from cottage cheese to cabbage soup. While weight-loss drugs promise a fast track to losing weight today, the fact…

22 November 1939 · British-born but New Zealand-raised, Lieutenant-General Sir Bernard Freyberg was a charismatic and popular military leader who later served as governor-general. · Freyberg was awarded numerous honours, including the Victoria Cross, during the First World War. Having retired from the British Army because of a heart problem in 1937, Freyberg offered his services to the New Zealand government when the Second World War began. ·…

Australian food company Vow is working on lab-grown foie gras that not only takes the cruelty out of producing it, but also aims to make a distinctively tastier version of the delicacy. · Foie gras has its origins in Egypt circa 2500 BCE, and is still popular in French cuisine today. It’s basically the enlarged liver of a duck or goose that has been force fed a high-fat diet. This is said to yield a rich, buttery, and delicate flavor; it is…

A Canterbury University lecturer, Associate Professor Mike Grimshaw, has warned that universities face a “crisis level” of functional illiteracy among students. · “We are under-educating but over qualifying,” he says, calling for universities to return to their original role as elite institutions rather than “degree factories.” · “Many of them appear to be functionally illiterate going on the incoherence of their written work,” he said. ·…

The government is keen to include “blue carbon” in its climate targets. This refers to the carbon stored in coastal and marine ecosystems, such as seagrasses, mangroves, salt marshes, and the ocean floor. · These ecosystems absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store it in plants, soil, and sediments, helping to reduce greenhouse gases. · The upcoming Emissions Reduction Plan for 2026–2030 is expected to explore these possibilities,…

Many of the holiday songs played over and over each December were penned decades, or even centuries ago. · For the last two months of the year, it’s nearly impossible to escape the seemingly endless variations of a handful of Christmas carols and holiday songs. This mix of religious and secular tunes can be heard playing on the radio, in stores and in holiday movies. But have you ever wondered where these songs came from, and how they came to…

Royal Enfield knows a thing or two about creating retro classics but a drag bike? That’s a stretch. Oregon-based ICON Motosports has created a custom café racer based on the Shotgun 650 that’ll turn heads again and again. · The Shotgun 650 from Royal Enfield is a rather tame Bobber-styled cruiser that makes use of the company's parallel twin platform from the Interceptor 650 and Continental GT, which produces 46.3 horsepower (34.5 kW) at 7,250…

21 November 1863 · More British soldiers and sailors were killed at ‘Bloody Rangiriri’ than in any other battle of the New Zealand Wars, but their eventual hard-fought victory opened the Waikato basin to the advancing imperial forces. · Following the invasion of Waikato (see 12 July), Māori defended a strong pā at Meremere for several months. They also began building a second defensive line across a narrow strip of land between the Waikato…

Sea ice around Antarctica has “slowly increased” since satellite monitoring began in 1979 according to a study published in The Cryosphere. The paper found no conclusive evidence that human activity is behind the changes, contrary to mainstream media claims. · The Financial Times previously warned of a “catastrophic cascade of extreme environmental events” linked to declining Antarctic ice. Yet, EU weather service Copernicus acknowledges there…

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., tapped by President-elect Donald Trump to lead the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), has laid out an agenda to address chronic disease, corporate influence in health agencies, and America’s chemical-laden food system. · Kennedy declared, “Together we will clean up corruption, stop the revolving door between industry and government, and return our health agencies to their rich tradition of gold-standard,…