Reporter’s diary

Press, 24 January 1986, Page 2

Reporter’s diary

Using space RECEIVERS of the old Roslyn Woollen Mill in Dunedin have rented out space in the buildings, which were closed as a mill in 1982. Some of the space is being used for storage, but new small businesses are also moving in. Ten rock bands rent rooms in one building, and a six-episode children’s television series was made in another. A boilerhouse and chimney were taking up space in a building and blocking access for parking. They were taken out to make room for the site’s new era. Just a movie FOUR paroled offenders in Melbourne started a work experience project. They decided to make a video, with themselves as actors. The men ranged in age from 19 to 65. They wrote a script and got geared up for the filming. Unfortunately, they forgot to ask for anyone’s permission to go on location. They were doing a film about an airport robbery, in the international wing of Melbourne Airport. One of the props was a toy pistol. The cast and crew were nabbed and severely reprimanded. Dramatic change IF A Western Australian millionaire had his way, part would be

bombed by nuclear weapons. It would be done, says Bob Oliver, with the best of intentions. Nuclear bombs could be used to plough a canal between the Southern Ocean and the dry Nullarbor Plain, creating a large inland sea in the plain, which lies below sea level. A new climate would be created as the sea water evaporated. According to the theory, prevailing winds would carry rain-bearing clouds to South Australia, Victoria and New South Wales. The Western Australian water table would rise, allowing the desert to become productive. Controlled nuclear explosions could lead to a complete change in the Australian economy. Dry play THE OLD swimming pool at a South Otago primary school has been covered for some years because children learn to swim at a nearby heated pool. Finally, a new use has been found for the old one. Railway sleepers have been laid to surround it, and wood chips have been spread inside the enclosure to provide a dry play area in the winter, when the ground is wet and heavy going. Zig-zag hills MANY drivers travelling between the Conway River and Kaikouraprob-

ably refer to the hilly part of the journey as the Hundalees. One reader says that is a common mistake: the district name is Hundalee, singular. Since there is also a Hundalee Hills, the plural probably comes from the common practice of renaming hills and mountain ranges. As in Rockies, for Rocky Mountains. Playtime A HOME laboratory kit for young people who want to experiment with genetics is being marketed in the United States by a former Massachusetts Institute of Technology researcher, not without controversy. The kit is called “Dr eloner’s Genetic Engineering Home Cloning Kit.” It has enough material for several experiments. It has a unit to separate genes, a magnifier to see genetic fragments, solutions to keep altered organisms well nourished and an incubator to keep them warm (and ■ breeding). Some observers of the kit are not amused. The Committee for Responsible Genetics says that you cannot splice genes without a licence in Boston, where the commmittee is based. Members are asking whether some of the experiments could be potentially dangerous. The designer says the kit is for 12-year-olds and older experimenters who will use

their own saliva as a basic material. Even the most inventive young scientist, he says, would be able to do nothing more mischievous than change bacterials for halitosis into bacteria for tooth decay. Citrus spy A U2 spy plane, similar to the one shot down over Russia in 1960, has a new job in Florida. It is being used in photographic mapping of the entire state to seek out bugs and bacteria in the state’s extensive citrus orchards. The detailed maps will show where the problems are now and help growers predict where pest and disease outbreaks will happen next. Disaster news A SERIES of letters published by a Russian newspaper shows that readers want to be told about what is going on around them. Readers of “Sovietskaya Rossiya,” a daily, said too much attention was paid to achievements. Not enough was said about problems. They said that television and newspapers should redress the balance. One letter asked why last year’s Mexican earthquake and Colombian mudslide were given wide coverage, while an earthin Soviet Tadzhik-

stan last October was reported only briefly. Such silence, the letter said, gave the impression that the skimpy reporting was “based on nothing but lack of faith in readers and viewers — as if they might somehow misunderstand.” Newspapers must have the courage to tell people about unexpected or negative happenings “so that we don’t have to find out about them from foreign voices with antiSoviet accents.” Another reader complained that price rises were rarely mentioned or explained, but any new consumer item, no matter how bad it was, was given a big fanfare. Barking Barney THERE IS nothing new about having a tape recording of a barking dog to scare off burglars, but an English electronics engineer has gone one better with the help of a Spaniel named Barney. The old loop tapes can be figures out by an intruder because they soon start repeating. The new system uses Barney in a wide range of barks and whines which are triggered by the sound of an intruder. Barking responses differ according to the type of sound being made. If it is far away, a tentative woof will do. If it is closer, Barney raises the roof. —Stan Darling 1