RobiNZ Personal Blog

RobiNZ Gone

I’m off-line until May. If you wish to leave a comment or trackback feel free but they will be held for approval when I return. If you’re wondering where I’ll be… click here

The Uno lives, another six months...

 It’s the six monthly Warrant Of Fitness, road worthiness inspection, time again. Seems like just last month when I got the last one! Where did the last six months go?

It was quite busy, and a nice day, so I sat outside near where the verdict is delivered. I was actually expecting them to find something and noted other car faults while I waited;

• ABS light on – Well that won’t happen to a non ABS’ed Uno


• Tyre problems – Plenty on the mighty Yokohamas so no worries there


• Jammed or wonky electric window and central locking? – No electric windows, no central locking


• Steering joint – The bushes are a bit creaky but alignment etc seems OK so maybe…


• Rust – H’mmm thats apparent is the bottom of the passenger door but…

Then out it comes, the inspector jumps out checklist in hand… oh dear… then turns and starts scraping off the old WOF sticker!

The Mighty Uno got through with no problems. Barring accidents (or Lotto wins), seems I’ll be pedalling it for another six months…

Schmap'ed

One of my photos appears in the  Schmap Florida Guide. Look for “Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex NASA Parkway (Ea...” in the map widget below

TVNZ vandalise the Service Of Thanksgiving For The Life Of Sir Edmund Hillary

I just sent this to TVNZ.

Why plaster the ugly TVNZ logo (circled in red) in the middle of the screen (widescreen, corner of a 4:3 screen)?

If it had to be there, why didn’t they at least use emboss/transparency to minimise the impact of this tatty bit of “branding”?

Signed,
A pissed off shareholder.

A NSU/BMW Genius dies

His work with BMW and the fact that the brilliant Ro80, engines aside, inspired Audi to create the 80’s “aero” 100 makes Claus Luthe one of the most influential auto designers ever. 

Ex-BMW chief Claus Luthe dies at age 75
Claus Luthe died on 17 March at age 75. As chief designer at BMW from 1976-1990, he supervised the design team that developed the lineup of 3 Series, 5 Series and 7 Series into the epitome of the luxury sports sedan of the 1980s, turning BMW into one of the most desirable (and profitable) brands in the world. He was also the designer of the revolutionary NSU Ro80…

Hackers are people too...

Is it prejudice that leads you to think of hackers as “anonymous low life somewhere over there” (wherever there is!)?

Then you read the local news and see this prick* who is right here!

* Netherlands authorities established that the New Zealander was responsible for 1.3 million illegal installations of adware.

Project Virgle, Ben Elton's "Stark" becomes a reality?

When I saw this post I first thought of the date it was posted, 1 April, but soon after Ben Elton’s novel Stark:

Australian billionaire, Sly Morgan is invited to join the Stark Conspiracy, a group of the world's richest people who plan to save themselves from the Earth's impending environmental doom [by buggering of into space]. (plot via IMDB except for the buggering off bit which I added)

Never know, it may happen  

Official Google Blog: Announcing Project Virgle
Posted by Sir Richard Branson, President and Founder of Virgin Group

In my life, I've had a lot of exciting adventures and launched a lot of ambitious business ventures. I'm delighted today to announce Virgle, Inc., a joint venture between the Virgin Group and Google which qualifies on both counts.

Virgle's goal is simple: the establishment of a permanent human settlement on Mars….

Try out the Grande Punto Abarth 'esseesse' in Rimini

An email arrived: “Try out the Grande Punto Abarth 'esseesse' in Rimini”

Finally, I thought, Fiat have found about this little Kiwi Fiat blog and invited me to test drive an Abarth… maybe even in Italy!

But no it was just, a list mail-out, referring to this post on on the Fiat Abarth “Scorpion Blog”

Sale in cattedra un prof d'eccezione: Sandro Munari e la Abarth Driving School

Tags: abarth, esseesse