Edge Message #26 from Brian Sweeney, producer NZEDGE.COM
TO NZEDGE.COM COMMUNITY
“I live at the edge of the universe,
like everybody else. Sometimes I think
congratulations are in order…”
– Bill Manhire, from The Milky Way
Edge Message #28: four sets of seven for optimistic signreaders. nzedge.com is growing in numbers, quickly. Welcome again. Today’s content:
The Main Event – in NZEDGE HOT: Two stories on what is inappropriately called “The Brain Drain”. Should be called “how to generate interesting angles out of one million kiwis living “off-island”. Should be easy. Our soon-to-be-editor-at-large Paul Ward poses the notion of “compatriation”, recognising that doom about people leaving is a dead-ender, we must see this as opportunity. And Yvette Adams, a New Zealand writer in London, in an extensively researched article, looks at the growing Kiwi Diaspora and profiles several young New Zealanders who are broadening their edge at various points of the globe. This discussion is very important in directing our strengths.
Your Mailbox for August 2000. 49 insanely great affirmations, points of view and juicy data, including a terrific contribution from our correspondent in Atlanta, Neil Sutherland. He highlights a reference in the current Harpers magazine asserting that the founder of the Nation of Islam was a grifter out of New Zealand, Wallace Dodd Fard (do a http://www.google.com search and just see what this turns up). BTW check out Neil’s site for the New Zealand American Association in Atlanta http://www.atlantanz.com/, he’s been out of the country for 32 years and is reconnecting through nzedge.com.
Rank Report: Top downloads in August for Heroes (from the top) were White Mouse Nancy Wake, King of the World Edmund Hillary, Suffragette Kate Sheppard, F1 King Bruce McLaren, Running Man Arthur Lydiard, Atom Man Ernest Rutherford, Warrior Charles Upham and Speedster Jean Batten. In case you missed TVNZ’s superb 60 Minutes documentary on Rocket Man William Pickering, we’ll try to bring you a transcript. And instructively, the top Picture downloaded during August was Kylie Bax from Thames.
And a book recommendation: “No. 8 Wire: The Best of Kiwi Ingenuity” by Jon Bridges and David Downs (both nzedgers) is cool off the press from Hodder Moa Beckett. The superbly complied, illustrated, indexed and packaged 160 page book is a celebration of New Zealand creativity and resourcefulness, containing over 100 examples of world-first inventions and innovations. We’re pleased to have been of a little help to Jon and David (and hat’s off to Bob Riley, we’ve all drawn on his wonderful book “Kiwi Ingenuity” 1995). Featured are Colin Murdoch, Ernest Godward, Ernest Rutherford, Beatrice Tinsley, Allan Wilson, WH Atack and Arthur Lydiard, who you will find on our Heroes page. Go Buy! http://www.no8wire.co.nz
Insight of the week: David Farber is Professor of Telecommunications from the University of Pennsylvania, a pioneer of the Internet, and visitor to New Zealand last week (he called Telecom New Zealand CEO Theresa Gattung “a live wire if I ever met one.”) He posted a lengthy message about his visit on his listserv, here is an extract…(for a model of confident self-presentation check out the Professor’s site at http://www.cis.upenn.edu/~farber/)
“NZ is searching for it’s future. The main export products are commodities like wood, lamb, deer produce. There seems to be a point of view that says NZ can not compete in technology. I thing that is wrong. They have a well educated people with a stable government and a great climate. The thought of opening high tech boutique companies with people who love to live in such a wonderful climate seems feasible. In many ways NZ is like Finland. It is a rough hard path but of all the places I have visited it has a lot going for it. Now it needs the guts to try non standard paths. Remember those photons don’t take long to go from NZ to Palo Alto.”
For David Farber’s full message, see the bottom of the page in this month’s MAILBOX
LINK: the refreshed http://www.saatchikevin.com
Happy hunting.
Best regards
Brian Sweeney
Executive Editor
The New Zealand Edge
http://www.nzedge.com
brian@nzedge.com
Thumbnail: Bill Manhire’s Milky Way Bar, ‘I live at the edge of the universe, like everybody else’, from Wellington Writers’ Walk, New Zealand. Design: Catherine Griffiths. Photograph: Bruce Connew,
