Back in 1989 the movie Field of Dream came out. It wasn’t a particularly good movie, so, if you haven’t seen it, I’ll spare you the effort and give you a synopsis: An Iowa corn farmer, hearing voices, interprets…

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When I was a lad, Dallas. the long-running TV drama, was in its prime. For those youngsters who aren’t aware of the show, it ran for well over a decade and centred around the Ewings, a wealthy Texas oil…

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I’m a little bit obsessive-compulsive when it comes to my wardrobe. I struggle with choice and prefer to pare down my options as much as possible. My general rule of thumb is that when I acquire a piece of…

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Like so many people of my generation, I grew up learning all the most important life lessons from that exemplar of personal values, Dr Suess. From environmentalism fueled by The Lorax, to a more realistic reflection on consumerism courtesy…

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I’m a big fan of pithy quotes and have been known to lace several together in one sentence. Human beings are funny creatures and the fact is that we are drawn to short statements that sum up a point…

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Like so many New Zealanders of a certain age, I went to Scouts as a child and still proudly wear my Queen Scout Award each ANZAC day. The Scout movement, despite the obvious bad press it has received for…

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The other day I watched Ford v Ferrari, a Matt Damon film from last year that detailed Ford’s project to create a vehicle that could win the famed 24 hours of Le Mans race. I’m no petrol head, but…

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I’ve been known to trot out a saying from time to time. The old “give a man a fish and he’ll eat for a day, teach him how to fish and he’ll eat forever,” is sadly not heard much…

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Back in the 1970s, a Japanese academic who was involved in early robotics research coined the term “uncanny valley.” Masahiro Mori, then a professor at the Tokyo Institute of Technology, developed the term in his studies around robots. The…

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I used to have a colleague whose personal moral perspective was well summed up by one of his favourite sayings: “if you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything.” Pete did a good job of ensuring the decisions…

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