Hot Topic

Get a grip!

by Gareth September 29, 2011

David Mitchell (on his soapbox) tells it like it is, with an appropriate degree of emphasis. By way of being a place-holder to mark my return to NZ and climate blogging. Currently overwhelmed by the amount of catching up of all sorts that I have to do, but something like normal service will resume shortly. [...]

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Writer’s minor holiday

by Gareth August 2, 2011

Very last minute, this post. I’m about to fly out of NZ for the longest holiday I’ve had in a long time — celebrating an important milestone for she who must be obeyed (I’m not allowed to mention what age she was last birthday, but it was more than me…). We’ll be flying to Europe, [...]

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Four years on…

by Gareth April 24, 2011

Today marks the fourth anniversary of the first post at Hot Topic — four years since the blog’s birth, and as my mum would say, hasn’t time flown? This birthday post is number 1,080, and it will be read by many, many more people than those first brief paragraphs announcing the book and blog. I’m [...]

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Te Papa (got a brand new climate bag)

by Gareth March 24, 2011

I’m off to Wellington next week to take part in the NZ Climate Change Research Institute‘s Climate Futures Forum being held in Te Papa on Thursday and Friday. The forum’s organised around four themes: Climate change and society’s challenge Communication between the science community and society Human behaviour and the capacity to change Towards durable [...]

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Speakin’ out

by Gareth March 3, 2011

Over recent months I’ve been getting increasingly frustrated at the efforts by a tiny minority of commenters to derail discussions by trolling or wandering off-topic. I have always wanted Hot Topic to be a place where a wide variety of views can be canvassed and discussed, but unfortunately the actions of a few have the [...]

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Talk in the town

by Gareth March 24, 2010

Last night’s session with the Skeptics in the Pub in Christchurch was an interesting experience (some nice feedback too, thanks). It gave me a chance to develop a few of the thoughts that have been running through my mind recently — and it’s good to do that by presenting them to an audience willing to [...]

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New comment system for Hot Topic

by Gareth March 20, 2010

It’s Saturday afternoon, and between finishing the chilli jam to go with tonight’s six-hour roast lamb and a quick pre-dinner bike ride, I’m moving Hot Topic over to use the Intense Debate comment system. This is an externally-hosted comment service, operated by Automattic, the WordPress people. During the import process, existing comments may not appear [...]

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A blast from the past

by Gareth March 3, 2010

Two years ago I took part in the World Peace Summit: Climate Change – What To Do? in Wellington, at the Westpac St James Theatre. I blogged about it at the time (before and after), and promised to link to the video of my talk when it was available. Of course, I then completely forgot [...]

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Back at the ranch

by Gareth February 25, 2010

Back at my desk, after four days on a boat in the Abel Tasman/Golden Bay area. I’m tempted to post a selection of my photographs, but I’ll settle for this one (for fellow Sciblogger Chthoniid) of a petrel, taken in Golden Bay a few kilometres off Farewell Spit on Monday morning. Oily seas, hot, lots [...]

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Time for a break…

by Gareth February 20, 2010

Time to reconnect with New Zealand. I’m taking my summer break from blogging. Over the next few days, I’ll be on a boat (the one in the picture) tootling around the Abel Tasman, and therefore out of touch with the world. Bryan will be your host until I get back to my desk at the [...]

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