Articles from ‘elocal magazine’

Felix Graf von Luckner earned the epithet Der Seeteufel (the Sea Devil) for his exploits as captain of the German raider SMS Seeadler in 1916–17. · The Seeadler, a converted merchant ship, sank 14 Allied ships in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans between January and July 1917. Von Luckner prided himself on the effectiveness and bloodless nature of his operations; only one person died during his raids. · In August 1917 the Seeadler ran aground on…

It's a major problem. · Declining trust in our society's key institutions undermines their credibility. Kiwis are clearly calling for a return to first principles, and the reality is, protecting free speech is essential if we are to keep public confidence in our key institutions. · When approximately only one in three Kiwis trusts politicians or journalists, you would think this ought to be a wake-up call for our key institutions. · Three…

The sensational case of the Maungatapu murders came to a grisly end when three members of the ‘Burgess gang’ were hanged shortly before 8.30 a.m. at Nelson gaol. Joseph Sullivan, the fourth member of the gang, avoided the death penalty by turning Queen’s evidence and testifying against his co-accused. · Career criminal Richard Burgess approached his death with bravado. He bounded up the steps of the scaffold and kissed the noose as ‘the prelude…

In what might be described as a real-life Black Mirror episode, a Harvard student uses facial recognition with $379 Meta Ray-Ban 2 smart sunglasses - to dig up personal data on every face he sees in real time. · If you've ever cared about your privacy, now might be the time to grab the tin foil hat. I've already got mine on. · AnhPhu Nguyen, a junior at Harvard University, uses the livestreaming feature of his Meta Ray-Ban 2 smart glasses…

Inspired by footwear he had seen in Japan, businessman Morris Yock and his son Anthony began manufacturing this simple rubber footwear in their garage in 1957. The name ‘jandal’ combined the words ‘Japanese’ and ‘sandal’. · There is disagreement about whether Yock invented the jandal. The family of John Cowie claim that he introduced the footwear from Japan in the late 1940s, coining the name ‘jandal’ in the process. They believe Yock only…

Low-flying ground effect aircraft can deliver zero-emissions coastal transport that goes a lot further and a lot faster than electric boats – without needing FAA certification. So what happens when you add energy-dense hydrogen fuel to the equation? · That's the question Miami startup Sea Cheetah plans to address, with a plan to develop hydrogen-fueled ocean-skimmers as well as a hydrogen generation, storage and fueling network in partnership…

AIs have a big problem with truth and correctness – and human thinking appears to be a big part of that problem. A new generation of AI is now starting to take a much more experimental approach that could catapult machine learning way past humans. · Remember Deepmind's AlphaGo? It represented a fundamental breakthrough in AI development, because it was one of the first game-playing AIs that took no human instruction and read no rules. ·…

The privately organised rugby team was the first to wear the silver fern and an all-black uniform. Originally called New Zealand Maori, their name was changed after organiser and captain Joe Warbrick (Ngāti Rangitihi) and promoter Thomas Eyton added five Pākehā to strengthen the team. The 26-man squad included six former students of Te Aute College, five Warbrick brothers, and future New Zealand captain Thomas Ellison. · During a marathon…

Why not get the kids making their own delicious afternoon tea treat these school holidays. Get them involved with making these sweet buns with vanilla custard in the middle. Ingredients 4 cups (640g) bread flour 1/2 cup caster sugar 1 tsp salt 2 1/2 tsp (10g) instant yeast 1 1/4 cups milk 100g unsalted butter, melted 2 tsp vanilla essence 2 eggs, lightly beaten 300ml thickened cream 50g instant pudding mix 1…

It has been a year since Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,139 people and reshaping the Middle East once again. As the war drags on, the potential for peace appears simply out of reach. · While the media and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appear more focused on events in Lebanon, the bombing of the Gaza Strip continues. · The struggle for peace appears increasingly futile as a campaign of supposed escalating to de-escalate unravels…