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Interislander – Debacle · We have seen the reports and pictures of the Interislander ferry Aratere aground in the sounds, just outside of Picton harbour. · The mainstream media seem to be having a fielday with their reporting around the incident and the associated information regards the replacement or otherwise, of the current ferries which are rapidly approaching the end of their designed life. · The decision was made by the previous Labour…

More than 50 countries are holding national elections this year, making 2024 the biggest year for democratic voting in history. · By year’s end, around 2 billion people will have had the chance to go to the polls, including in eight of the ten largest nations. Democracies are made up of many moving parts, arranged in various formations, but they all start with one essential component: popular elections. The simple fact that so many people now…

Go on, count them... · How many tentacles does an octopus have? None. · Octopuses are named for their eight limbs, known generally as arms. Their cousins, the squid and cuttlefish, have eight arms plus two tentacles. · These two limb types look and behave very differently. Tentacles shoot out and catch prey with suckers at the end. Arms have suckers all the way along and are used to sense the surroundings, search for food and sometimes walk. …

The best way to cut a sandwich has been confirmed by science, Or are you a sandwich renegade who opts for eating the thing whole? The consensus view favours cutting sandwiches diagonally to form two triangles, although hard science to back this up is difficult to find.  One hypothesis is that a triangle allows you to take your first two bites from the two 45° corners. These only have crust on one side and give faster access to the middle of…

Winston Churchill is said to have commented on Soviet politics that it was like watching several dogs fighting underneath a large carpet — it was impossible to determine which was winning. The same could be applied to internal politics in post-revolutionary Iran. · On the face of it, the deaths of former Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi and his foreign minister Hossein Abdollahianin a helicopter crash in the mountains of north-western Iran was…

On October 25, 1991, I made my first trip to the US’s Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station. I vividly remember landing on the ice runway onboard a ski-equipped LC-130 Hercules transport. Upon exiting the aircraft, I experienced a blast of cold air that — despite having lived and worked in chilly Alaska — was somehow profoundly different. The temperature was a brisk -53.6 degrees Celsius with a windchill of -75.5 degrees Celsius and a wind speed of…

With apples all ripe for the picking, now is a perfect time to make some sweet desserts and festive treats. Prepare a batch of these desserts to keep you cozy on a cool fall day. · Ingredients: · Crust · 2 cups standard flour, plus more for rolling · 3/4 teaspoon salt · 170grm cold unsalted butter, cubed · 1/2 cup ice water · Streusel · 2/3 cup walnuts · 1/2 cup all-purpose flour · 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar · 1/2 teaspoon salt · 50grm…

Juneteenth (short for “June Nineteenth”) marks the day when federal troops arrived in Galveston, Texas in 1865 to take control of the state and ensure that all enslaved people be freed. The troops’ arrival came a full two and a half years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation. Juneteenth honors the end to slavery in the United States and is considered the longest-running African American holiday. On June 17, 2021, it officially…

With the promise of unlimited energy, Xcimer has raised over US$100 million from investors and the US Department of Energy to develop a high-energy laser system that intended for use in a practical fusion power plant. · For over 75 years, scientists and engineers have been pursuing the dream of harnessing fusion energy as a practical power source. Though there have been remarkable achievements, the goal has remained elusive. However, the…

Did we need science to tell us that a cheese platter was good for mental well-being? · A massive study of 2.3 million people has found that, independent of socioeconomic factors, mental well-being may be the most important single aspect to healthy aging and living longer lives. But a surprise finding was that those who reported the best mental health and stress resilience, which boosted well-being, also seemed to eat more cheese. · Yes,…