Our recent post about the hazards of whale burial attracted a celebrity commenter: Steve O’Shea of the Auckland University of Technology. Best known for his squid-hunting endeavors, O’Shea is also overseeing the research into the public-health consequences of interring beached whales. He takes us to school thusly: I can assure you that E. coli is [...]
Entries Tagged as 'New Zealand'
Buried Whales, Cont’d
January 22nd, 2010 · 3 Comments
Tags:animals·cetaceans·giant squid·New Zealand·public health·Steve O'Shea·surfing
A Sadder Breed of Fail Whale
January 19th, 2010 · 5 Comments
What to do with beached whales who can’t be guided back out to sea, and so perish on the sand? In parts of New Zealand where the indigenous Maori hold sway, this has become quite the conundrum. The trust that oversees Maori fisheries recently proposed harvesting such unfortunate cetaceans for meat—arguably a more humane option [...]
Drought and Drugs
October 27th, 2009 · No Comments
Australia’s epic drought could end up being something of a boon to neighboring New Zealand, at least in terms of aboveboard narcotic production. Half the world’s legal opium crop is grown on tiny Tasmania, largely under the auspices of Tasmania Alkaloids—a company that operates under the all-time most intentionally innocuous slogan of “Value Adding in [...]
Tags:agriculture·Australia·drugs·economics·New Zealand·opium·Tasmania·Tasmanian Alkaloids
The Kobe Bryant of Netball
April 30th, 2009 · 3 Comments
Microkhan’s Australian readers (we have at least two!) may already be familiar with Romelda Aiken’s spectacular exploits on the netball court. She is, after all, the best player on the Queensland Nationals, a lithe and aggressive scoring machine who recently racked up 42 goals in an upset win over the Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic. [...]
Tags:Australia·Indonesia·Jamaica·netball·New Zealand·Romelda Aiken·sports
Alone in Samoa
April 27th, 2009 · 2 Comments
Microkhan has often wondered what happens to criminals who, upon completing their prison sentences, are deported to their countries of origin—countries they may well have left when they were just a few days old. A New Zealand broadcaster caught up with one such deportee in Samoa, who says that the experience is (to say the [...]
Tags:crime·New Zealand·Samoa·traffic
