RobiNZ Personal Blog

Wonderful memories of Antarctica, watching Karl Watson's recent trip

I went to Antarctica thanks to a Karl*, was reminded of so many memories watching Karl Watson's recent (November 2023) trip which went to several of the places we visited at the same time of year (so very similar snow etc). Watching them kayaking at Orne Harbour (ep 2) I still can't really believe have done the same. Nothing gets close to experiencing Antarctica, but this is a brilliant effort at capturing it. * I went with Dr Karl Kruszelnicki in November 2019, our trip was 13 days and we had even better weather! Read more →

A fine tribute to 'New Zealand's Unknown Genius', Beatrice (Hill) Tinsley

A brilliant video, a fine tribute to a remarkable life. Years, no decades!, ago I vaguely knew of Beatrice Tinsley's work, on the life of galaxies, but would not have been able to name her. Then The Warehouse, who I worked for, rented some factory space in Beatrice Tinsley Cresent (Rosedale, Auckland) and I wondered who it was named for. Looked that up, made the connection and never forgotten. Several years ago I saw a wonderful performance of the 'Bright Star' stage play in Auckland. It was brilliant and portrayed the personal/career challenges she faced. I try and get to... Read more →

Impressive service for an affordable AIRROBO P20 Robot Vacuum Cleaner

I'd long thought about getting a robot vacuum cleaner to do 'between real clean tidying' but wasn't up to spending the sort of money the market leader's command. My 'real' home vacuum is a commercial backpack PacVac Superpro 700. It is powerful and has a mega-long cord so can clean the house, garage, even cars on the drive outside, without changing plugs. It's awesome but the arrival of a cat with long white, seemingly always shedding, fur meant fairly constant light cleaning was needed... When I saw the AIRROBO P20 at Jaycar NZ, for a couple of hundred dollars, I... Read more →