More Than 31 Million People Are Displaced By Natural Disasters Each Year...

Many people are working to ease some of the million's suffering and come up with solutions. Easily portable, cheap, disaster relief shelters.
One of them is designer Michael McDaniel.
Prompted by the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina which decimated the city of New Orleans, Michael worked tirelessly on what became an obsession and created the Exo Reaction Housing System.
When bureaucratic government agencies wouldn't give his solution the time of day,
Michael continued alone.
Now his passionate persistence has paid off.
Now there are stacks of his relief modules ready to go to current and future disaster zones.
One person can make a difference...

Colour Me Beautiful...

Don't you just love the Painted Ladies
of San Francisco's Haight Ashbury.
And what about these tiny fun and funky apartment pods in Tokyo...

A Tiny Bus Converted Into A Beautiful Motorhome...

What a simply stunning conversion.
Winkelman Architecture in Maine on the US East coast, working with Interior Designer Vince Moulton and Linken Bay Woodworkers have made a comprehensive and wonderful conversion of an old 1959 Chevrolet Viking Short Bus, originally designed to take twelve passengers plus a driver into the most beautiful of bohemian motorhomes.
You can see more about it here...

8.30am Sunday June 5 1994...

The Mayday signal I'd tried to broadcast some twelve hours before had not been heard.
The Epirb 406 locator beacon we'd switched on that signalled to the world a yacht was in serious strife some twelve hours before, had.
In an hour or so an RNZAF Orion would fly over my stricken 10m William Atkin designed yacht Sofia that had become dismasted when it rolled 360 degrees, and shoot the photo above.
I'd spent the night in survival mode, getting rid of as much water as possible from the yachts' interior.
Uschi, my Swiss girlfriend was strong, serene and supportive.
We'd made it through the night having not slept for the last 24 hours and it wouldn't be until the early hours of Tuesday morning that we'd sleep again.
Just after 10pm Monday night, we were rescued in horrendous conditions by some very brave sailors from the French Navy ship, Jacques Cartier.
The captain and crew looked after us, befriended, wined and dined us, nurtured us and returned us to our home port of Auckland the following Thursday.
Twenty one people were rescued from 12 yachts as the worst weather bomb ever, hit the area where a number of yachts were in a regatta heading to Tonga.
Three people died.
Today's one of those special times of the year when I remember and think how lucky I am...

You're Never Too Old...

You're never too old to go roller skating and it's so much more fun than a zimmer frame...

Fashions On Two Wheels...

Whether you're downhill racing on your wooden scooter in the Philippines or motorcycling to work in Africa, these are some of the latest safety fashions to be seen in...

How Many Workers Does It Take...

Many times we've all seen the scene
and been bemused by it.
One or two workers actually doing something and a team of observers standing around, well, observing, some taking notes, others writing reports, and some giving much needed advice and instructions.
Here's one team of road workers in New Zealand opening a manhole cover and the other in South Africa changing a street sign.
Both teams have obviously been trained to international standards and operational procedures with the requisite number of watchers to workers.
We should remember though as we smirk, that both these particular tasks, being performed under trying and difficult circumstances, require dedication, concentration, long hours of practice, preparation, skill and still, supervision...