General chit-chat

What was Kate's "Phonecall" disease joke?

you'll have to ask her for that one, but it was something like "if you're schizophrenic a voice will tell you which button to press" etc.

Sorry to change topic again. I really want to make a spherical blackboard. Don't ask why. I need a rigid sphere about the size of a soccer ball, but not inflatable (because the paint would crack if it deflated). Someone said a globe, but I can't bring myself to buy a perfectly good globe and then paint it black. Any suggestions?

umm...two geodesic domes put together? :s

Hey guys! sorry its taken me so long to post something.....been busy with school stuff etc
I'm actually going on school camp next week.....I'm doing sea kayaking, not sure why I chose it.....we basically spend five days kayaking from island to island
my friend from England is convinced that we will be eaten by sharks, which is absolutely ridiculous but if I never post another message I guess you'll know why!

Oh and Stephen I don't know if this advice will still be useful for you, but coincidentally enough I saw someone yesterday who had made a paper mache globe by putting the paper and glue over a styrofoam ball...........hope that helps! And if you don't mind me asking.......why a spherical blackboard?!?

and by the way I HAVE NEVER HAD A NOSEBLEED.....creepy or what?

Hey Casey! Thanks for posting! Where is your camp? Somewhere sunny I hope! Actually that's a stupid thing to say, of course QLD is permanently sunny :-). Way better than here

The styrofoam ball sounds great! How big was it? If there's a reasonable writing space, I have to get myself one. It sounds ideal because it won't be too heavy. I was thinking of casting a ball out of plaster or concrete or something, but that would be a tad difficult to manoeuvre.

As for "why a spherical blackboard?!?" ..... well partly for doing spherical trigonometry, but mostly just because I want to.

"What is spherical trig? It's bad enough on a plane surface!" I hear you cry. Well it turns out that normal trig cannot be applied to the surface of the earth, as the angles of a triangle don't add up to 180 degrees anymore (imagine a triangle with one point at the north pole, one at the equator in South America, and one at the equator in Africa - the angles at each corner will all be roughly 90 degrees!). So it's nice to have a whole new set of trig identities that apply to real life.....

i..see....
hmm...i was just thinking about how you'd hang this blackboard...and it reminded me of "The Globe" that used to hang outside Canberra's Art Gallery. It was a papier mache globe which had steel wires suspending it in mid-air, but you could hardly see the wires, so it looked like it was floating...too cool...
anyway a few years back it got struck by lightning and feel to the ground in a burning wreck, so i suggest if you eva make this thing stephen NOT to hang it in high places...
Casey, lovely to see you, I wish i could go on that camp. well actually, i guess i could have and didn't, but i hope you enjoy it at least
nose bleed...actually i found a few of my friends who haven't had nose-bleeds...which still surprises me.
i assume you read my post about my super-nose bleed? (might b under random blah...not sure where..)

Stephen I don't know about the size of the styrofoam ball....I think you can get pretty big ones......try Spotlight if u have Spotlight in New Zealand....I assume you do.....
By the way I listened to one (im sure there have been many!) of your radio interviews......you did really well Its funny how people sound so familiar when they are on radio......there was no doubt that it was you! I hope you're enjoying the publicity

Has anyone seen the movie Deliverance? My english teacher told me to see it. but I think he did it to freak me out about kayaking because its apparently about guys who go canoeing and get captured by mountain people........mind you I love horror movies so ill probably enjoy it! Its the movie from which the famous 'banjo duel' originated

you mentioned in your biography thing in that booklet you liked horror movies...haven't seen deliverance, myself...I've seen scream...and blink blink XD k i'm nto a part of this game
lol yes, you WILL be captured by mountain ppl; keep a diary!
Go stephen! Enjoy it! Mention us! ( don't have to lol)

Hehe. thanks Casey & Hayden. I'm glad you thought I did ok, it was very nerve-racking! I must say though, it is quite fun being famous. You did get a small, indirect, collective mention

I'll ask the staff at Spotlight if they've seen any oversized styrofoam spheres bouncing about. Thanks for your help

BTW, I notice with interest that the NZ media claim that I 'won' the Brain Bee with no mention of Jayson, and the Aussie media say that Jayson 'won' the Brain Bee with no mention of me. Some things will never change

Must say i've never been a fan of horror movies myself, I was always terrified of that sort of thing....

lol actually i noticed that too and asked, what they mean is that because you two one, remember how they decided to split this competition into the two countries? So Jayson actually won the Australian Brain Bee Challenge (Australian accounts that say Jayson won say "Australian Brain" not "Australian/New Zealand Brain"), and you won the New Zealand Brain Bee challenge. So I know that on our side at least we're being fair...but if the new zealand media says you won aust/new zealand one, you're ripping off jayson...

I just checked now, and I think they've worded it quite satisfactorily.

"Stephen Mackereth, 16, a year 11 student from King's College, was named New Zealand winner of the Brain Bee Challenge finals held at the Queensland Brain Institute this week."

Still no mention of Jayson. But I reckon that's pretty fair eh? By the way, I'm actually 15.

Hey all

I got the styrofoam sphere today, from spotlight as suggested. 15cm diameter - smaller than the aussie ones but still perfectly serviceable!!! I'll probably coat it in some sort of resin (for rigidity), and then paint it with blackboard paint. I'll tell you how i get on.

Here it is!! a bit lumpy, but it's not too noticeable. :-)