Nine To Noon for Thursday 6 August 2009
09:05 Unprecedented number of dolphin deaths in Hauraki gulf may be linked to mystery toxin that has killed some dogs.
Karen Stockin, marine ecologist from Massey University who is conducting autopsies to identify the cause of recent dolphin deaths; Naya Brangenberg, MAF Biosecurity senior animals response advisor; and Sandra Petersen, co-owner of dog Otto who was affected by whatever has killed dogs on Auckland beaches. Otto has survived after falling ill after a walk on Kohimarama beach. Authorities were altered in June.
09:20 Are tertiary institutions offering too many creative arts courses to put bums on seats, despite the fact there are few jobs in those fields?
Murray Savidan, professional photographer; Professor Jacqueline Rowarth, head of Agriculture at Massey University and cheerleader for agriculture education; and Graham Fraser, Tertiary Education Commissioner and Emeritus Professor at Massey University.
09:55 UK correspondent Matthew Parris
10:05 Paraplegic to successful athlete
Paraplegic John MacLean on becoming a successful athlete, and coming face-to-face with the truck driver who knocked him down two decades ago.
Left: Photpraph taken by a paramedic on the scene of the accident
Right: Chin up
The finish line of the 1994 Nepean Triathlon - 1 km swim, 30 km cycle, 10 km run. John completed the cycle using a hand cycle and the run in his day wheelchair.
10:30 Book Review with Crystal Beavis
Big Ideas: 100 Wonders of New Zealand Engineering by Matthew Wright
Published by Random House
10:45 Reading: The Madonna In The Suitcase by Huberta Hellendoorn
(Part 4 of 5)
A story of the challenges and rewards a Dutch New Zealand family experience in caring for a daughter with Down's Syndrome.
11:05 New Technology with Colin Jackson
Colin talks about setting information free.
The "War on Free" - Google sued for giving away Google Maps
The EC Commissioner on Telecoms and Digital Media says piracy isn't the problem - failing business models are the problem.
The Companies Office - a great source of information.
A blog post I wrote about opening government information, and one on SSC's development blog.
The UK's Show us a Better Way project.
Computerworld on recycling government data.
The Open Government Data Barcamp and Hackfest.
Microsoft Word is 20 years old. Time for retirement?
Gever Tulley, founder and tutor of Tinkering School. He is a senior computer scientist at Adobe, writer, and practising sculptor.
The Tinkering School is a camp for kids in the US to learn stuff, take risks, make things, be creative. It offers an exploratory curriculum designed to help kids - ages 7 to 17 - learn how to build things. By providing a collaborative environment in which to explore basic and advanced building techniques and principles, they strive to create a school where they all learn by fooling around. All activities are hands-on, supervised, and at least partly improvisational.
Grand schemes, wild ideas, crazy notions, and intuitive leaps of imagination are, of course, encouraged and fertilised.
11:45 Television review with Simon Wilson