. . . Bob's style of delivery is...um...a little unique....undoubtably it is performance art!t

In my limited experience of such things most performance artists feature a Barbie doll or rubber chicken – sometimes both – in their stage shows. Bob sounds as if he's blasting into some radical new space…

Get shown around the gulf by some old salts, who not only reveal some great spots and…

Funny. Looks like occassionally Steve goes a bit overboard with the happy pills.

How dare you Sir. I'll have you know I was totally drunk. After all, it was nearly midday.

As for your speed/velocity habit

Applying lead (pb and perhaps fe is just as effective) to the surface to clean…

Dear Jon Knox

You're confusing me with that other Jon Knox...I'm nothing if not inexpensive.

Try the dish washer they come out really floppy and you can make great looking fruit bowls out of them. Also Wire brush and acetone is really good for that authentic scratchy sound.

Funny. Looks like occassionally Steve goes a bit overboard with the happy pills.

Not everyone…

Alternatively, you may wish to…

Anyone know how to kill fungus, once it gets into VCR video cassettes

I heard a bloke from the Film Archives on Natradio the other day, talking about safekeeping film, video, cd/dvd – sorry, i think video's doomed once the mould's got it. He reckoned one should buy a new…

Do any PA readers know of a good way to clean up mucky vinyl LPs? When I say mucky, I mean needing a bit more than a wipe down with a soft, damp cloth.

If you're dead serious about it, this is how they do it at the Smithsonian:

1.…

1. has anyone mentioned ctrl+enter when typing in urls? It adds the http://www. and the .com (should that be your destination)

As jon_knox says, try Opera.
Opera is totally standards compliant, unlike IE.
In Opera you can set up auto completion to append .co.nz but Ctrl Enter will auto complete…

Avoid anything with the term "style" in the title. A bit like "pork flavoured" sausages – WTF does that mean anyway?

Also can apply to the term 'drink', ie fruit drink vs fruit juice. BIG difference. I've noticed, however, that it is impossible to get cranberry juice vs cranberry drink…

Also, be extremely wary about anything described as "NZ made, with local & imported ingredients" – the translation is : 'assembled in ANZ with buggerall local ingredients.'

Additionally, the local brand may not be so robust. Some apparently local food is only ever "conditioned" in situ in order to justify the…

Tip:…

Contains 1% avocado.

Lots of shortcuts and lots of innovation. Keyboard arrow keys become "last page", "next page" rather than having to use the mouse. Do away with the Google toolbar by using the Address bar and your search…

In Firefox you could also just hit enter for most websites. That does a google search so just typing (for example) "google" will get you to google.com.

In the address bar, simply type the middle part of a web address, then press ctrl+enter.

This must be a PC trick. Does nothing on my mac.

So if you wanted to go to http://www.google.com just type in "google" and press ctrl and enter it'll do the rest for you.

Sadly it won't do .co.nz or .net

1. has anyone mentioned ctrl+enter when typing in urls? It adds the http://www. and the .com (should that be your destination)

2. I used to love shopping in the wee hours at Victoria Park New World. We used to dance and sing and…

just learn to drink 'coffee' their way.

There is something to be said for very, very fresh filter coffee in an American diner. I will give them that.

(And the New Lynn Foodtown is open 24 hours, isn't it?)

Andrew, ordering a short or long black is always advisable when going somewhere new in Sydney.

...and is never advisable when going anywhere in the USA.

I've heard various accounts of strategies for getting what you want here, but maintain that the best payoff comes from my approach: just learn…

The myopic focus of the 'Git Tough on Crime' crowds unwillingness to address firearms really angers me.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10522977

This licenced gun owner Maybe has armed a Battalion of armed criminals.

(We can quibble whether this is Company plus or Battalion minus, but…

Not any more. Closes at midnight as of about a month ago.

Nooooo!

Not any more. Closes at midnight as of about a month ago.

It's a nationwide conspiracy. Quick, someone tell WhaleOil.

Church cnr Countdown is 24hrs

Not any more. Closes at midnight as of about a month ago.

Actually you'll see 1st yrs at Countdown in their PJs 24/7.

You'll see drunks at 3am. No they're 24/7 too.

More likely to have people parked in the wheelchair…

People do give me odd looks from time to time, but…

supermarkets in the wee sma' hoors- there's a goodie 24hr Countdown in Dunedin, just a block or so from the Leviathan Hotel

Not any more. Closes at midnight as of a month or two ago.

*newspaper, lightly dampened & dipped in a little ash is the really easy way to clean logfire burners' fireglass windows .

*Jackie et al: when I go to any kind of city (or even large town these days) I have to stop myself from giving other…

Pff, Jackie, people look at me funny when I dance in the supermarket too – but why else would they be playing music?

I miss the local supermarket wars, when (pre-merger) Woolworths and Foodtown were both opens 24 hours. If you went there at 3am, you would totally see people…

Here's my tip – for what it's worth. When walking along Takapuna Beach with dogs offleash, do not smile.

Pff, Jackie, people look at me funny when I dance in the supermarket too – but why else would they be playing music?

Has anyone successfully dried glass using newspaper?

I use newspaper for the car windows. It works fine, on the about two occasions a year I do it.

I haven't had ink on the windows though, but I avoid those heavily inked pages with big blocks of colour.

And we all know to dry our washed windows or mirrors with old newspaper, right? Streak-free!

I've heard that this doesn't work so well with papers now because of modern printing technology. Today's colour inks (and this includes the black ink) can end up smudging off onto the glass.

Has…

Baking Soda. Is there anything it can't do??

A cup of baking soda followed by a cup of vinegar (ha!) followed by three cups of boiling water will:
a)unblock drains
b)entertain your children

Baking Soda kills odours. (nice rhyme to help you remember it).

My dear Mum put me onto this after our wee one hurled all over her favourite cuddly toy (umm, not my mum's toy. You know what I mean).

Scrubbed the…

You ever been frustrated by trying to put a screw in timber? Paticularly stuff like old rimu? Rub the thread of the screw across soap- you dont need the thing coated…

apparently the red ring of death problem is caused by the xbox overheating, warping the circuitboards and cracking the soldered connections:

__There…

If your XBox 360 boots up with the dreaded flashing red ring of death, you don't necessarily have to send it off and hope it can be revived.

First, try turning it on, swaddling it in towels and leaving it that…

(Of course, my windows are constantly shocking, but if I ever *did* wash them, I'd know.)

Cleaning the bathroom and kitchen: use bleach instead of commercial brands.

I feel like such a fifties housewife saying this, but white vinegar. I was already using it to clean hard water residue off, well, everything in the bathroom. Then I was told it works as fabric softener. I've done…

Help – effect vs affect

"Affect" acts on things (verb), "effect" is evidence of something (noun).

When I first went caving (at age 9) I was told, "When the 'mites go up, the 'tites come down". I never been exactly sure what it means, but have never had a problem…

the difference between stalactites & stalagmites – c for ceiling, and g for ground

I see your stalactites and stalagmites, with stationery and stationary. An envelope is stationery.

And raise you with a personal bugbear, which for some reason I have never been able to get right. It's a piece of…

Andrew – brillant bucket-potato tip! Especially the watering bit: our tyre-stack…

I cut an old pair of woolly work socks down the front to get them to fit…

Could save hours in the laundry...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5AWQ5aBjgE

It gets better: Stevens has a new range of totally excellent baking/roasting pans from Circulon at most appealing prices…

Incidentally, I heard this…

Emma, really?? For some reason I've become *more* susceptible to the Doom of Onions in my 30s. I've been known to weep while slicing leeks! Ridiculous.

I have found it so. And yes, either my ageing eyes suffer more, or the onions of today are more virulent than the onions…

Do put your (well-wrapped) onions in the fridge, though. Makes them much less teary when you chop them.

Emma, really?? For some reason I've become *more* susceptible to the Doom of Onions in my 30s. I've been known to weep while slicing leeks! Ridiculous.

(Note: if you wear contact lenses,…

Don't put your tomatoes in the fridge.

Do put your (well-wrapped) onions in the fridge, though. Makes them much less teary when you chop them.

I'm unsure what a cardamon pod is, but the seeds I have are about a cm long and very fibrous. Because they don't decompose in the cooking, they're bastards to find in your mouth, and they're really hard to identify before you've eaten them.

That's a cardamom pod, all right.

Darn…

Silo at Masi... god I miss that woman

You and me both.

Jeez, the small world of PA...was acquainted with Silo & planning on nipping in for coffee & chat on planned visit to see the Rita Angus exhibition when it opens. Darn.

Great food – most around $17 bucks – but the Thick Red Curry on top of (whole) Fish was $21.
Really pleasant service but the real winner was LIVE MUSIC, solo singer and guitar,…

You and me both.

ask for a strong three-quarter full flat white.

probably a good idea in AK too. For those times when you arent sure whether to trust the barista.... Until now I have often asked for a short black with an inch of milk. the only thing worse than a milky coffee…

My preference is a for a flat white. To receive anything resembling what…

Tragically, Sydneysiders like their coffee to taste primarily of milk.

I'm almost tempted to go see how they make my short black taste like milk. :)

A Handy Tip for visitors to Wellington:

Keep a bit of bluetak under the dash.

Nice.

A handy tip for visitors from Wellington to Sydney:

Ask for a strong coffee (whatever variation you prefer). Tragically, Sydneysiders like their coffee to taste primarily of milk.

I worked as a captioner for four years. It's a total TV/pop culture/media/grammar nerd job.

Big cheers for Robin. Good-quality captioning makes such a difference to my daughter's life. Poor-quality captioning provides unintentional hilarity.

And yeah, my partner reminded me that the descriptive ones are read out loud, which I…

Keep a bit of bluetak under the dash.

When you pay for your parking ticket and put it in the car, stick it to the dash with the bluetak.

Otherwise gusts of wind can catch it before you've shut the door.

This can…

I'm unsure what a cardamon pod is, but the seeds I have are about a cm long and very fibrous. Because they don't decompose in the cooking, they're bastards to find in your mouth, and they're really hard to identify before you've eaten them.

That's a cardamom pod, all right.…

Practise, the verb, contains within it a verb, is: practise.

Practice, the noun, contains within it a noun, ice: practice.

There were three options for subtitles:
1. English
2. English for the hearing impaired.
3. Off.
At the time I thought it very strange that hearing impaired had different subtitles than the rest of us, but I guess other sound effects would be included.

Technically, #1 is subtitles and #2…

Get the glass of water, lean over the sink/basin and drink out of the opposite side of the glass (i.e. the glass ends up kind of under your chin…

I'v found that if your car is going too fast, putting your foot on the middle pedal will fix it.

Fletcher, you'll have to do alternative instructions for automatic transmission.

Oh no, I looked at the photo, too cute to kill

He was bloody destructive though – fences, trees – we were preparing to sell that place when he turned up, unbeknownst to us too, the real estate photographer had already been & took that photo thinking he (his name is…

Although a pig that broke into our property once was lucky I didn't have a gun handy.

Mmm, bacon.

Oh no, I looked at the photo, too cute to kill.

Apropos nothing in particular, I discovered there's lots of Pohutukawa in the southern beach suburbs of Perth. Lovely that. I've…

They were flowering in August... does that answer the question? The lookalike trees in Sydney seem to flower other than at…

Apropos nothing in particular, I discovered there's lots of Pohutukawa in the southern beach suburbs of Perth. Lovely that. I've no idea what the WA locals call them. In the eastern suburbs of Sydney, Bondi et al, they're just known as a "Christmas bush" (bloody Aussies).

Are you sure they're…

my tip is to walk around your neighbourhood. i did this in melbourne and found one tree. then i just pinched everything that hung over the fenceline.

Perhaps in Melbourne, but not in Sydney I fear. I understand they also grow in Brisbane – I find this odd as I…

Its not about guilt – see what I mean about reactionary responses?

Russell asked for tips on improving the lives of everyone. It was a tip, not an order. Jeez, you meat eaters are angry

Nah, we're hungry.

Actually Michael, some of those points you listed do cross my mind…

And whether it’s actually raining in the largest lakes : Lake Tekapo has a wonderful web cam you can point yourself. Check…

Yikes, about 100 cloves of garlic were planted last weekend – I do hope the chief gardener got it right :)

You've got it right, Andrew, I do this every year. In on the shortest day, out on the longest. Garlic is a cold climate plant. If it's too warm…

I was told to plant in September, and not take out until it gets cold and you get the first frost!

I am not a gardener at all, but that sounds like distinctly northern hemisphere advise....

In the southern hemisphere, assuming you get frost at all, its either still frosty…

See I was told to plant in September

Yikes, about 100 cloves of garlic were planted last weekend – I do hope the chief gardener got it right :)

Andrew, can you start growing potatoes by this method anytime of the year?

Potatoes will grow in your garden year around. They're fairly frost resistant, I believe the important thing is to make sure that they are well covered with dirt – potatoes that show on the surface will go…

Jeez, you meat eaters are angry

well, I wasnt angry until I got called a murderer...

Anyway here's my tip....

I'v found that if your car is going too fast, putting your foot on the middle pedal will fix it.

Also, you can confound criminal types who might be looking…

Russell asked for tips on improving the lives of everyone. It was a tip, not an order. Jeez, you meat eaters are angry

let the water turn fairly green before you change it, then use that poo-water to feed your potted vegetables.

high in nitrogen and phosphates, that poo-water.

planning bucket-based tomatoes for summer).

did that too, in one place we lived with a sunny courtyard – I used black polythene planting bags – big ones (20 litre). Smaller varieties seemed to grow better like that, but probably depends on watering.

My wife did something clever last year though…

And where's all the Feijoas for crissakes?

my tip is to walk around your neighbourhood. i did this in melbourne and found one tree. then i just pinched everything that hung over the fenceline.

also works for figs, apples, plums, peaches...

(I hate celery)

You're killing me here, Russell!

Tip for Cajun cooking, should any of you be so inclined: *use celery*. Always. Do not think you can get away with making jambalaya, gumbo, etouffee or any other dish without celery. It is the lifeblood of the cuisine!

The story is: plant them on the shortest day, harvest on the longest. But unofficially, it doesn't have to be so precise, a few…

Andrew, can you start growing potatoes by this method anytime of the year?

Yep, I don't know when official potato growing season is, but when I heard about this trick, they said grow them all year round & it seems to work.

And it’s the little things I miss. Kumara. Australian sweet potatoes just aren’t the same.

Too right they're not! And where's all the Feijoas for crissakes? Thank goodness for the Phoenix brand of drinks.

Andrew, can you start growing potatoes by this method anytime of the year?

I've got a…

At the time I thought it very strange that hearing impaired had different subtitles than the rest of us, but I guess other sound effects would be included.

Indeed, it includes important sound effects or anything an on-screen character reacts to – ringing phone, slamming door, distant scream, etc.

The…

Can't wait to try it. Please, more tips like this!

it's an absolute cracker.

but I guess other sound effects would be included.

Oh yes, down to comments on the soundtrack – "trumpet music ends with flourish".

How much room and how many buckets would you need to maintain year-round potatoes??

Depends how many potatoes you eat :) I used to have 6 going at a time, & that kept us (3 adults) pretty sorted. These days we eat very few potatoes compared to then & I grow a…

I've only done it with jersey bennys (potatoes, I've grown yams like this too), they work well, all year round even (Wgtn weather).

Like Deborah, I love agrias, they're so reliable. I wasn't going to put any in this year because we're probably moving in a few months. But in…

Really? I didn't know that, thanks Danielle.

I'm pretty sure I didn't know that either. But my darling probably does. She's the sensible one ...

Jersey Bennys. My favourite. I can't get them here.

http://inastrangeland.wordpress.com/2008/02/05/dashes-not-lines/ about a month after we shifted to Adelaide.

And it’s the little…

So um... who's game to post a lamb recipe now?

I will!

The ubiquitous Jamie Oliver lamb shanks recipe from The Naked Chef, can be considerably improved upon. Indeed, I'd forgotten how much I'd evolved it until I went back and looked.

For a start, let's do away with the…

Closed captions for the Deaf. When someone is being sarcastic, the subtitle will have an exclamation mark in brackets after it (!). After watching a couple of seasons of closed caption Buffy – Whedon, sarcastic, who'd've thought (!) – I'd really like to…

Ingredients
1 long green chilies
3 garlic cloves, chopped
2 cm fresh ginger, grated
3 tablespools oil
1 kg boneless lamb, cubed
1 teaspoon fenugreek seeds
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
1 cinnamon stick
6 cardamom pods
2 onions, chopped
2 teaspoons, ground turmeric
1…

Trivially, I was just going to let you all know that you can get your car registration thingies online at landtransport.govt.nz, instead of standing…

Rather than putting the whole post here, mostly because it's about 1500 words long, and it comes with piccies too, here's a recipe for lamb galette which fortuitously I put onto my own blog just the day before…

"For as long as men massacre animals, they will kill each other. Indeed, he who sows the seed of murder and…