Faber Optimé News

Hack Attack...

2010-04-19T21:41:00.002+12:00

There was an unfortunate incident today, where the Faber Optimé servers were subjected to a malicious attack.

As a result, some spam email may have been inadvertently passed through our servers.

If you have received any unexpected messages that may have appeared to have originated from our servers in the last 24 hours, please disregard.

Prompt action has been taken to prevent any such further problems occurring.

Apologies for any inconvenience.

Blogs move...

2010-04-16T19:49:00.003+12:00

Due to unhelpful changes Google has made to Blogger, all Faber Optimé blogs have now had to be moved.

Old addresses should continue to work, redirecting to the new, respective locations.

Here's the new updated addresses so you can update your bookmarks.

Faber Optimé News
Is now located at http://news.faberoptime.com/

Faber Technicus
Is now located at http://tech.faberoptime.com/

Inspiratio Optimé
Is now located at http://ideas.faberoptime.com/

Effluvia
Is now located at http://misc.faberoptime.com/

Linx
Is now located at http://linx.faberoptime.com/

Dolphins and Whales

2009-11-29T12:59:00.002+13:00

Dolphins and whales in the Hauraki Gulf.

As seen on the Explore NZ Auckland Whale & Dolphin Safari.

To watch the vid (rate! comment! favourite!) on YouTube, click here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bs83X-LXbMY

This film includes pictures of the Auckland Viaduct Basin, Waiheke Island, Rangitoto Volcano and Hauraki Gulf.

As well as many common dolphins, two Bryde's (pron. "brooda", sometimes misheard as "brutus") whales are shown - Tim Bond and friend. :-)

Growing up to about 25 tonnes, the species is named after the Norwegian consul to South Africa, Johan Bryde, who helped set up the first whaling station in Durban, South Africa in 1908.

For more information see:

http://www.explorenz.co.nz/Whale-Dolphin-Safari/index.html

July...

2009-07-08T22:21:00.002+12:00

Well into the mid-year and here's to more, better, quicker and a quite literal bringing of people together...

Check out the recent postings about the Auckland Harbour Bridge, ping.fm and Whakatau's Army.

Auckland Town Hall

2009-05-18T01:56:00.002+12:00

Auckland Town Hall as never seen before!

Click here to go to the YouTube page.

Mike Mizrahi transforms this building with a stunning display, celebrating the launch of the Telecom XT (3G) network in New Zealand.

Three large PIGI projectors (as used during the recent Olympic Games) were used to create the ten sets of imagery as follows.

- Curtains

The performance begins with the building draped in curtains that rise, also falling at the end of each cycle.

- Candy House

Hansel and Gretel eat your heart out!

- Sand Castle

- Futurisitic

- House

Keep an eye out for the wandering moggy.

- Lighthouse

- Waterfall

- London Underground

- Palace of Westminster

- Rocket Launch

The following messages also appear during the display: TAKE ANOTHER LOOK; OF NEW ZEALAND - FOR NEW ZEALAND; THE FUTURE IS HERE; DISCOVER. CREATE. EXPLORE; FROM CAPE REINGA TO THE BLUFF; A WORLD OF POSSIBILITIES; TAKE A TEST DRIVE.

MySpace Profile 2.0

2009-04-14T17:44:00.002+12:00

MySpacers may have noticed the rumbles in the jungle about Profile 2.0.

The Faber Optimé MySpace profile has now been upgraded - essentially providing enhanced presentation and a few new frills.

You can check it out, here:
http://www.myspace.com/faberoptime.

Square Eyes

2009-03-04T23:38:00.005+13:00

YouTube was selected as the Faber Optimé preferred host for video on the 12^th of November, 2007.
The Faber Optimé YouTube channel (www.youtube.com/faberoptime) now attracts around 200 viewers each day.

It includes eight videos, comprising over 46 minutes of original material and has obtained over 19,000 views and more than 40 user comments, with an average rating of .

Nearly 13,000 people have watched the ten minute video "Living Under the Shadow of the Nuclear Umbrella", promoting nuclear disarmament; over 5,000 people enjoying videos promoting New Zealand.

Video	Title	Added	Length	Views	Rating	Comments
	Northland Secrets	07:42 AM, 2^nd of March, 2009	5:05	203	Not Yet Rated	0
	Orakei Korako - "The Hidden Valley"	11:09 PM, 7^th of February, 2009	4:24	306		0
	Goat and Fish	05:23 PM, 27^th of January, 2009	5:20	332		0
	Merry Christmas 2008	01:29 AM, 24^th of December, 2008	1:00	1,391		0
	Auckland Zoo Tiki Tour	03:35 AM, 16^th of July, 2008	9:27	1,093		0
	Living Under the Shadow of the Nuclear Umbrella	07:24 PM, 7^th of June, 2008	10:00	12,881		40
	What to do when bored of life - Auckland Sky Tower Jump!	02:11 AM, 13^th of April, 2008	8:40	3,003		1
	Partner In Crime	11:01 PM, 10^th of April, 2008	2:14	96	Not Yet Rated	1

Three YouTube Playlists have also been created to expedite responses to public requests for specific themed materials.
Video Optimé includes all the major Faber Optimé films; Some New Zealand Highlights comprises just those films with New Zealand thematic content and C'est Moi, has just the films featuring personal Faber Optimé appearances.

A Look at MySpace

2009-03-04T23:27:00.001+13:00

To promote awareness of global issues, some effort has been given to establishing a credible MySpace presence, with considerable success.

Since mid-June last year, over 31,000 MySpacers have visited www.myspace.com/faberoptime (the map below was implemented later), availing more than 28,000 MySpace friends and eliciting over 2000 feedback comments.

Over 45,000 comments have been posted to friends' profiles, serving to both promote positive dialogue and involvement with Faber Optimé and improve awareness of nuclear disarmament as a contemporary issue.

Faber Optimé now attracts about 125 new friends from around the world each day on MySpace, that's around 900 a week.

(Geo)Caching In!

2009-03-04T23:16:00.003+13:00

Actively participating since the 29^th of December, 2007, here's a few statistics about Faber Optimé geocaching activities.
Click here if you don't know about geocaching!

As at today (the stats shown opposite may be more up to date), 130 geocaches have been found, with the 100^th find on the 23^rd of January, 2009. A full list of Faber Optimé geocache finds can be found here.

Six geocaches have been hidden in New Zealand, attracting 128 separate visits (109 finds, 19 did not find), with the Northland God of the Forest cache proving to be the most popular. Auckland's Cutter Dog cache was found the easiest; Northland's Look Out Waipoua! cache the hardest.

Overseas visitors have included people from Britain, Germany, the Netherlands, Australia, America, the Czech Republic, British Columbia, Nepal and Canada.

Geocache	Last Found	# of Visits	Found	DNF
Look Out Waipoua! (Northland)	20/10/2008	15	5	10
Te Matua Ngahere - Father of the Forest (N'land)	22/02/2009	21	21	0
God of the Forest (Northland)	22/02/2009	27	24	3
Point of No Return (FAR North)	19/02/2009	22	21	1
Cutter Dog (Auckland)	27/01/2009	23	23	0
Inaugural (Auckland)	3/01/2009	20	15	5

Faber Optimé also has 14 active trackable items in circulation - 13 Travel Bugs (TB) and one Geocoin (GC).

Altogether these have visited eleven different countries over four continents, travelling approximately 121,187km (or 75,302 miles) around the world.

The Holy TB, promoting awareness about global warming, was the most well travelled; the Sol TB (an innovative sundial design) was the most popular with finders.

Name	Last Logged	# of Logs	Travelled
Faber Optimé - Holy	26/02/2009	16	47,653 km
Faber Optimé - Sol	2/03/2009	40	22,503 km
Faber Optimé - Stella	24/02/2009	27	19,385 km
Faber Optimé - Count On Me	2/03/2009	14	19,060 km
Faber Optimé - Gettin Sexy!	6/11/2008	21	3,523 km
Faber Optimé - Divine Earth	3/01/2009	18	3,111 km
Faber Optimé - Saturday's Child	27/08/2008	11	2,300 km
Chip Off The Old Block	26/12/2008	11	2,294 km
Faber Optimé - Quadrum	23/01/2009	18	655 km
Faber Optimé - Vireo	29/12/2008	9	324 km
Faber Optimé - Crusta Niveum	1/03/2009	14	321 km
Faber Optimé - Triangulum	26/04/2008	6	45 km
Faber Optimé - Mon Chat	7/12/2008	7	13 km
Faber Optimé - Hajj	13/07/2008	2	0 km

Every geocache and trackable item has its own character and story!

See visitor/finder logs and photos by clicking on item names above (links open in a new window).

Progress dear boy, progress...

2009-03-04T23:05:00.001+13:00

The primary http://www.faberoptime.com/ web site now attracts around two million hits, serving over 40Gb of pages and data to the world wide web, each month (that's an average of more than 60,000 hits per day or 2,500 hits per hour).

Google returns over 41,000 results when searching for "Faber Optimé" by (whole) name and more than 12,000 other web sites/pages include a link to site content.

Whilst the site is accessed from around 10,000 differing, referring sites/pages each month, over two thirds of visitors come from social networking sites, with MySpace, YouTube and Facebook eminent amongst.

Presences on Facebook, Bebo, Orcut, Hi5 and Friendster, though not actively promoted, have attracted approximately 200 users.

Three Sumatran Tiger cubs born at Auckland Zoo!

2008-07-21T11:43:00.003+12:00

Auckland Zoo has New Zealand's largest collection of animals and is recognised as one of the most progressive zoos in the world.

A winner of national and international environmental-related awards, it is home to 179 different species and over 1300 animals.

With fewer than 160 in captive (zoo) facilities and less than 400 in the wild, the Sumatran Tiger (Panthera tigris altaica) is classified as a critically endangered species.

Auckland Zoo is a keen participant in an international breeding programme, proudly adding to the efforts with the recent arrival of three new cubs!

Congratulations and well done Molek (mum) and Oz (dad).

Check out the ongoing work here:
http://www.aucklandzootigers.co.nz

I recently visited to bring myself up to date with what's been going on.

As well as the exciting tiger news, I was pleased to get a look around the new New Zealand Centre for Conservation Medicine (NZCCM). This world-class facility provides domestic and exotic veterinary services (to the Zoo, the Department of Conservation and others) and training.

Take a look at my video on YouTube, here:
Auckland Zoo Tiki Tour

Goin Social!

2008-07-15T19:50:00.003+12:00

Supporting Web 2.0 activities, Faber Optimé is pleased to announce the establishment of presences on the following social network sites:

	Bebo
	Blogger
	Facebook
	Friendster
	Hi 5
	Live Spaces
	MySpace
	Orkut

Feel free to add as a friend on any/all network(s) of your choice.

All Blacks vs England

2008-06-20T17:15:00.002+12:00

Eden Park, Auckland, New Zealand
7.35pm, 14th of June 2008

The second match of England's New Zealand rugby tour in the "Iveco Series".

Despite it being a trifle on the chill side (what with it being the midst of winter here) and with a slight occasional passing shower in the air, the heat and excitement of the almost capacity crowd of 60,000+ people made the atmosphere electric.

Super opening ceremony (shown left) had English and New Zealand armies, clad in full medieval battle dress, kicking off and having a good old fight, complete with fireworks, much high jinks and hilarity.

The English team: Mike Brown, Topsy Ojo, Mike Tindall, Olly Barkley, David Strettle, Charlie Hodgson, Richard Wigglesworth, Luke Narraway, Tom Rees, James Haskell, Steve Borthwick (Captain), Tom Palmer, Matt Stevens, Lee Mears and Andrew Sheridan.

The All Blacks: Mils Muliaina, Anthony Tuitvake, Conrad Smith, Ma'a Nonu, Sitiveni Sivivatu, Dan Carter, Andy Ellis, Jerome Kaino, Richie McCaw (Captain), Rodney So'oialo, Ali Williams, Brad Thorn, Greg Somerville, Andew Hore and Neemia Tialata.

England kicked off strongly, making much headway in the opening minutes (they're toying with you!).

Suspected defence opening and England makes a break for it. Underestimating, the nearest AB blocks and posh! up and over, head over heels goes the attacker, breaking like sea on the rocks.

"Welcome to New Zealand!" chortles a local sat behind. The worldwide rugby superiority of the All Blacks surely doesn't come from no good reason.

Fairly middle of the road fracas and squals then continued throughout, with the ABs steadily increasing their scoreboard advantage.

Topsy Ojo (WOW! What a name!!) made the game's most outstanding contribution with a superb touchdown run from past mid-field, moving like lightening to much English approval and applause.

Hails of plastic beer bottles, cardboard and cheers accompanied Mexican waves rolling round and around with greater and greater gusto each time.

Result: All Blacks 37, England 20.

A great event.

Maybe one in seven had turned out with painted faces and/or costumes.

Not forgetting the obligatory Steinlager and kiwi hot dogs (battered sausage on a stick), a good time had by all.

Graced with love and the ashes of many New Zealanders, rugby players and fans, the final of the forthcoming Rugby World Cup is planned to take place at this same venue - Eden Park - the home of the All Blacks in Auckland in 2011.

Wash n Brush Up

2008-06-19T19:12:00.003+12:00

The Faber Optimé web site has had a clean up!

Changed content

Improved Products and Services section, logically re-grouping current/retired products: Faber Technicus; Slice of Heaven; Inspiratio Optimé; Effluvia; Kiwi @ Hand and Mike Oldfield blogs/sites.
Enhanced search, augmenting the (much more comprehensive) Freefind site search with Google site/web search options - available on every page.
Cleaned up templates for search result and Blog pages.
Effluvia/Faber Optimé News tickers replaced with faster loading FeedBurner Headline animators.

New content

The now retired Thai Lanna online store web site added for posterity.

Improving Emails...

2008-06-13T17:18:00.002+12:00

Welcome to Feedblitz, Faber Optimé's newly selected email service partner.
Feedblitz:

Will be providing free email updates for Faber Optimé.
Has a proven track-record of reliable (junk mail free) service.
Is supported by advertising (apologies!).
Allows the ability for you to choose to either get an email for each new article published (within around 15minutes of publication); or
Get a single daily digest of any and all new Faber Optimé articles published that day (no publications = no email).

Just use the sign-up form at page right on the Faber Optimé website to subscribe.

The joys of feeding...

2008-06-13T16:31:00.001+12:00

A range of RSS/ATOM-based technologies are coming to enhance this site.

What to do when bored of life...

2008-04-13T23:26:00.002+12:00

Jump 192m (TWICE!!) off Auckland Sky Tower!

Click here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHCuRmedYi0) to go to the YouTube video page.

Tempus Optimé Windows Vista Sidebar Gadget

2008-04-03T12:13:00.004+13:00

Windows Vista includes the innovative new Sidebar. This can host gadgets, such as this Faber Optimé clock gadget - Tempus Optimé.

A variation of an original Hans Donner design, it has the following features:

A unique movement - seconds are shown sweeping on the outside
ring, minutes on the middle ring and hours in the centre.
The original Hans Donner movement can be used instead, if preferred.

Capability to set to a specific time zone.
By default the clock shows the computer's local time.

Nine choices of background colour.

Thus you can have multiple clocks active at the same time, each
set to differing time zones and colours.

Expanded and compact modes.

A (localised) "How It Works" animation, illustrating the original Hans Donner
design concept.

Free!

Click here to download and install the Tempus Optimé gadget
(V1.1, 3.31Mb)

Just Open and allow Windows Sidebar to Install when prompted.

Better browsing...

2007-11-10T15:47:00.000+13:00

The Faber Optimé site icon (as shown in Internet Explorer, opposite) has been revised and enhanced for an improved (IE7 tabbed) browsing experience.

Boggle Gox

2007-08-27T23:30:00.000+12:00

Finally! My DVD collection has been catalogued! Now avalable for your perusal here, automated tools and web magikery are brought together to give maximum "bangs per buck". Use the search box at right to find specific titles of interest, or you can browse in a number of ways.
Always some pleasure for those at leisure, why not take a look!

Tell a Friend...

2006-06-25T15:10:00.000+12:00

As a part of continuing site improvements, the Tell A Friend feature has been upgraded.
You now get confirmation of successful send and an opportunity to tell others.

New thinking...

2006-06-24T22:36:00.000+12:00

Loss of power for a morning gave time to consider a solution (okay, one new, attractive solution!) to the world's ongoing, increasing power needs and a superior alternative to the popular iPod, recently posted to Inspiratio Optimé.

A Couple more Chunks...

2006-05-09T00:21:00.000+12:00

Two new additions to the Faber Optimé site:

Kiwi @ Hand
An example of a complete information service provided via web browser and to mobile (PDA) computers.
Mike Oldfield
An aged site produced for an academic assignment. Illustrates a frames-based site design.

Located under the Products and Services section, these are merely provided as further examples of the quality of Faber Optimé work.

Home Page Enhancement

2006-05-07T23:28:00.000+12:00

The Faber Optimé site home page has been enhanced with the addition of headlines provided directly from the site News section.

Slice of Heaven...

2006-05-07T23:18:00.000+12:00

A huge chunk of content added to the Faber Optimé site with the new arrival of Slice of Heaven.
Taking its name from the eponymous Dave Dobbyn song, Slice of Heaven comprises pages from a prior, personal site.
Including pages about both England and New Zealand; in particular Slice of Heaven provides an excellent introductory resource to aspects of New Zealand, its peoples and culture.