flatwhite.net » Environment

Hot Kakapo Action

Matt — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 04:50:36 +0000

Last week I paid twenty bucks for seven minutes with Sirocco the Kakapo as part of New Zealand Conservation Week at the Auckland Zoo. Not sure how much Stephen Fry's photographer paid, but I certainly didn't get as intimate as this. Lucky bastard...

Reverse Graffiti

Matt — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 08:35:25 +0000

Graffiti art is controversial. Attitudes vary as to the appropriateness of defacing/decorating (based on your point of view) public spaces. Personally I'm a huge supporter. If our public spaces (and lines of sight) are to be auctioned off to the highest bidders - inevitably the fat, sweaty inbred cheerleaders of consumerism like Starbucks and McDonalds - we need subversive graffiti art to provide a counter-argument.

Saturday Lions

Matt — Sat, 11 Aug 2007 11:33:11 +0000

A couple of clips that might change the way you think of lions... The first is one of the most popular YouTube videos of all time, with over 11 million view so far. It's a damned intense watch - make sure you follow it to the end. The second is a wicked reunion shot of a lion and the guys that reared him as a cub. Check out the wild lion that tags along and his reaction to the humans...

Eat Your Greens

Matt — Wed, 02 May 2007 21:02:46 +0000

In the past two and a half years, the closest thing to a beastie that has passed my lips has been a surprise anchovy stuffed inside a spainish olive. After a youth spent devouring all sorts of animals in vast quanitities, my shimmy into vegetarianism came quite unexpectedly. As unexpected as that sneaky anchovy I guess, but in a different way all together - quite a pleasant one which I'm bloody pleased took place.

Birdsong

Matt — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 22:13:16 +0000

I'm lucky enough to live in a flat with a nice big garden out back and a sweet balcony from where we can watch the seasons go by. The best thing about the garden is the community of birds that nest there - over the past couple of years our balcony has been frequented by starlings, pigeons, chaffinches, blackbirds, magpies, jays, sparrows, woodpeckers, swifts and - my favourite - robins.

A Good Tax

Guest Barista — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 22:12:41 +0000

Money can’t buy you happiness, but it can buy you an eased conscience.

The UK media reminds us on a daily basis of the destruction and havoc we are wreaking on the planet through our unsustainable lifestyles.

It’s all to do with our carbon emissions and one of the worst culprits in creating these filthy fumes is the airplane.

Why I hate Starbucks

Matt — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 10:00:00 +0000

Nothing would make me happier than waking to the news of a total collapse of Starbucks around the globe, brought to its knees and leaving scarred retail space from which could spring a million different types of coffee-shops each doing things their own way and giving us back our stolen freedom to choose...

New year food resolution (revolution?)

Guest Barista — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 22:56:11 +0000

Hands up those of you northern hemisphere residents that gaily filled your champagne flutes with strawberries over the silly season (I did). Well whilst we can’t necessarily be expected to do the right thing all of the time, and certain allowances can be made for those special occasions such as xmas and new year, we should all feel the littlest bit guilty.