Some friends of mine wound up a feature in Aucklands Central Leader.

Nice one guys!

Ok, so i'm all a buzz right now - but I finally recognised myself on TV :P

I was at a Fire Police callout in Pinehaven and a TV 1 News guy was there for a while.

i found the video clip on the TVNZ Website.

Look for me in the clip starting around 1:44. I'm in a beanie... :)

As sent to me by ZL2KG and now hosted in my Gallery. Thanks Steve. I'm not sure whos photos they are originally.

Now Online. (links to old, but updated, blog entry)

One hopes that taking the 'easy way out' isn't a true cop-out.

If you're fined you should pay - tis true. If you're a regular fine defaulter, however, this shouldn't mean that you get ignored by the collection and enforcement agencies... !

Campbell Life had a segment tonight on the charger in question.

This actually pisses me off a bit. The big focus seems to be 'Mobile phone users, beware!'.

The focus should be 'Electrical Appliance Users, beware!'.

Any cable carrying electricity which is then used whilst coiled up, is a fire risk. This is part of why extension cables are meant to be entirely unwound even if you're not using the whole length.

The focus of the article is all wrong. Heck even Vodafone are weighing in on it.... the risk isn't in the charger, it's in the way you're using it! The power pack for your Cordless Phone | Laptop Computer | Power Drill Charger | Insert Appliance Here is the same.

Sigh!!

An Interesting Read with links to an ARRL news article on the ham radio response.

Good on them for having a plan to deal with such an event... !

So on Saturday we went to Plimmerton Volunteer Fire Brigade's 75th Anniversary Parade and Open Day. A good coupla hours spent noseying at emergency-services-stuff and a pretty good parade as well:

Photos of the Parade and Open Day are going up on Facebook (externally viewable).

I also got around to editing two more video compilations from the day. The first, is simply some 'additional footage':

The second is a set showing the HeliPro BK117 Helo Ops:

Ok, so we have the US Navy in a Major Win over Somali Pirates... that's a plus. The Captain of that freighter deserves a medal for saving his crew like that...

We have a 13 year old who was Raped by a guy who stalked her along the road... And people who ignored her pleas for help in the leadup... (What-the-HELL?) ...

... and we have the Fijian Situation which defies belief.

What's going on in the world of today??!?

Now an Australian Study gets to confirm what most of us have known for a bloody long time.

Driving while wearing headphones is _dangerous_!!!

Now if only people would pay attention?