Most people in TimeZoneOne circles are familiar with ‘the tuatara’ as a horrible, horrible dance move that should not be performed by anyone ever.
Yesterday, in California, Shelby Supercars announced that their latest super car, which they hope will prove to be the fastest production car in the world, will bear the name ‘Tuatara’.
I’m pretty sure they would not have named it after a highly regretable dance move from an ill-fated night out in Wanaka, so I assume the name comes from a native New Zealand lizard. The tuatara (the lizard) is not known for its speed, in fact, if you’ve ever seen one, you’ve never seen one move. Often zoos just have plastic ones in the enclosure because you can’t tell the difference anyway. So, for those of us familiar with this little spiky-backed lizard, the name ‘Tuatara’ doesn’t exactly conjure up the thoughts and emotions that one would ussually associate with a super car.
Check out the LIVE FEED of a tuatara in action below…
Find out more about the Tuatara – the super car – here.
And find out more about the Tuatara – the slow moving, yet ever evolving little dinosaur/snake/lizard thing – here.
David McLeod
The main topic of conversation around the ‘water cooler’ today has been children, and more specifically the ones in the larval stage or ‘babies’. One of our valued Cristchurch creative team members, Liz, leaves us today on maternity leave. She will be very much missed in the Christchurch office and we wish her all the best with the joys of a new baby. Just remember what you learned in your antenatal classes and you’ll be fine
Earlier in the week I briefly mentioned $#*! My Dad Says – the entertaining twitter feed that become a New York Times Bestseller and eventually turned into a horrible sitcom. So on the topic of children and talking $#*! … My 4-year-old daughter talks $#*! and because it’s Māori Language Week next week and because the $#*! my daughter says to me is in Māori, I thought I’d share some phrases from recent conversations that my daughter and I have had…
“He nui ōu taringa, Pāpā.”
(Your ears are big, Dad.)
“Tino pōrangi koe, Pāpā… Engari he pai ki a au tō pōrangitanga”
(You’re crazy, Dad…But I like your craziness.)
When she mistakingly walked up to get in a car that was the same make, model and color as ours, but not ours, and I questioned her about it, she saved face by saying… “I te titiro noa ahau ki ngā ritenga.”
(I was merely observing the similarities.)
When I asked her what she wanted for her birthday… “Hiahia ahau ki ngā Barbie e maha me te Barbie.”
(I need lots of Barbie’s and a Barbie House.)
When I asked her… I tākaro koe i āu poniponi iti i te rangi nei?”
(Did you play with your little ponies today?)
She replied (in a ‘”uur, get a clue, Dad” kind of way).. “Kāo, i tākaro ahau i āku My Little Ponies.”
(No, I played with my My Little Ponies™.)
And every time she sees this TVC…
She exclaims in horror… He moumou kai tērā! Kei te tākaro noa iho rātou!”
(That’s a waste of food! They’re just playing (with it)!)
So, while she may be easily swayed by Mattel’s marketing, she is still conscious of the world’s problems.
Good ‘PhotoShopping’ should be like good make-up, noone should really notice it – and just like no amount of make-up is going to help you if you look like Grendel to begin with, PhotoShop can’t save a really bad photo. You can’t polish a turd, the best you can do is sprinkle a little glitter on it. You can only get a great image from PhotoShop if you have good photography and models to begin with. A lot of the time, the biggest ‘PhotoShop disasters’ come from not having the right image to begin with and therefore having to ‘comp’ something together at the last minute.
The website that no agency wants to see their work ‘go viral’ on is PhotoShop Disasters. There are enough PhotoShop Disasters around for them to post a new one each day (I also imagine there’s quite a back log).
So. let’s take a look at some of the most common PhotoShop failings…
Now, from some right royal stuff ups, to some right royal… royals. I don’t know if it’s news-worthy in the free and independent United States of America, but the colonies are abuzz with talk of the upcoming royal wedding – so I’ll pass the blogging baton to Kim to tell us about EITHER the royal wedding OR tea and scones.
 Global marketers such as Nike are describing the 2010 FIFA World Cup as a larger event than even the 2008 Beijing Olympics. That scale, combined with the intensity of interest in the sport, the national pride of fans and the fact that it’s the first major global sporting event ever held on the African continent…figures to sell a lot of sneakers.
FIFA sponsors…a group to which Nike doesn’t belong, by the way…spend up to $40 million for the privilege.
“It’s the No. 1 event in all of sports,” Trevor Edwards, Nike’s VP-brand and category management, recently told the company’s investors, adding that the World Cup will be viewed by “half the world’s population.”
All I can say about this three-minute epic by Nike…is holy shit!
At TimeZoneOne we often talk about flying kiwis. Kiwis can’t actually fly, in fact, as birds go the kiwi probably isn’t the most impressive, they’re kind of odd really – they sound like this…
…they’re nocturnal, they have little stubby wings, stubby legs, a round body, a long awkward beak and they lay eggs that are 20% of their own body mass, which is like giving birth to a 4-year-old. But maybe it’s that kind of can-do attitude that has seen it become a national symbol.
The story goes that once upon a time the kiwi was an impressive, colorful bird, with large impressive wings who soared above the forests. One day the god of the forest gathered the birds together and told them that the bugs on the forest floor were killing the tree roots and that if someone didn’t go live down there and sort it out the forest would die and they would have no home – however, whoever went to live on the forest floor would need to adapt to that environment and they’d have to leave behind their beautiful feathers and they would never fly again. As you can imagine, there weren’t a lot of wings being raised or feathered heads nodding, but the kiwi volunteered and was transformed into the odd little creature he is today. The other birds got to keep their pretty feathers, but they all owe a debt to the humble kiwi who scurries around in the dark cleaning up the forest floor. Kiwi’s are modest creatures, we don’t need to show off with bright plumage, we just like to get the job done and focus on the bigger picture.
Here’s a wee game I whipped up that doesn’t illustrate any of the points of that story, but it does have flying kiwis (the bird) dodging flying kiwis (the fruit) for people who are into that sort of thing. I didn’t bother to set up a high score thing, but feel free to leave your score in the comments so that everyone can know how awesome you are, try to be honest or, if you’re going to lie, be epic and say you got over a trillion points.
(if your reading this through an RSS feed clickhere to join the fun)
David ‘kiwi as*’ McLeod
*As (particle – intensifier)
1. too, indeed, really, so, very, quite – an intensive particle following immediately after the word it relates to. It may be used after all types of bases, but particularly with negatives, adjectives and verbs as described below. Sweet as = That is quite satisfactory! Na, sweet as, I’m full as = No, indeed, I have eaten too much! 2. very, extremely, so, most – when preceded by an adjective preceded by hard out it expresses the superlative. Â This place is hard out beautiful as. = This place is extremely beautiful. 3. best , accomplished – when following wicked or mean. MJ was wicked as at basketball = Michael Jordon was the best basketball player. MJ was a mean as singer = Michael Jackson was a very accomplished singer
Origin:
bef. 1000; ME as, als, alse, also, OE alsw�, ealsw� all so, quite so, quite as, as; c. MD alse (D als), OHG als� (MHG áls�, álse, als, G also so, als as, as if, because) circa 1960; Nu Zild BRO sweet as, bro.
Here’s a little graphic design put to good use at Achievement First Endeavor Middle School in Brooklyn. My school also had writing on the walls but none of it was as inspirational as this, although I’d have to say some of it was certainly more educational. You can see more pictures and find out more about it here if you want.
If you drool over a well executed pie graph, your heart races a little when you see a spectacular bar graph or your idea of a good-night-in is to pour over a centerfold of infographics then this is the website for you www.informationisbeautiful.net.
 There is a difference between investing and speculating, but the difference is not always obvious and investors can get into trouble by speculating when they think they’re investing.
In 1934, legendary investor Benjamin Graham explained the difference between the two concepts as: “An investment operation is one which, upon thorough analysis, promises safety of principal and an adequate return. Operations not meeting these requirements are speculative”.
The critical part of this definition is the phrase “upon thorough analysis”. There is a big difference between buying a stock after thoroughly researching it and buying a stock because you’ve heard it’s good buying.
Analysing an investment can be time-consuming and challenging, and I can understand the appeal of following somebody else’s advice or copying an idea rather than doing your own analysis. However, if you don’t know and understand why you have made an investment, how will you know when it is time to sell or to buy more?
A few weeks ago, a friend asked me to have a look at his portfolio. As we considered each of his shareholdings, I asked him to explain why he had bought them. He was able to tell me what price he had paid for each, but he couldn’t tell me what he liked about each company. Knowing his average cost price did not help him in his investment decision making.
A good investor needs to understand why they have bought shares in a company, what they expect of that company, and what needs to happen to continue holding it. Researching an investment can tilt the odds in your favour making it more of an investment and less of a gamble.
Imagine being offered shares in a company at 40 cents each, the lowest level for 18 months. If you knew that the share price used to be 80 cents, you could be tempted to buy. But then what? Would you sell if the price lifted to 50 cents? Would you buy more if the share price fell to 30 cents? Without additional information, it is impossible to decide an investment strategy. Instead, you have to follow your hunch as to which way the share price will go next.
Now imagine that you received some information about the company. You learned that the company was profitable for many years, but had surprised the market by making a loss last year, resulting in the share price fall. This little bit of information is still not enough to make an investment decision, but it puts you in a better position than when you just knew the share price history.
Just one more piece of information could make all the difference. Imagine you then asked the company why it made a loss, and the company said a major client was late in paying for their order, but had now done so and profitability was back on track. When you bought more shares at 40 cents you would be doing so as an investor rather than a speculator.
A supplier to the fashion house Chanel has taken them to court for copying crochet pattern she designed. The woman claimed it was design by her tailors, and not those of Chanel, which is of course disputed by Chanel. The case has taken four and a half years to get to court, and is seen as a test case by industry insiders. It looks like another case of big companies with lots of money bullying little ones. Here’s hoping it’s a win for the little guy.
At TimeZoneOne we often talk about flying kiwis. 
