Redesign of the Kaipatiki Project website.

During the week, I pushed out the new Kaipatiki Project website. A complete redesign, the new site brings a refreshed look and feel to the non-profits’s online presence. A team of dedicated and energetic people run the organisation, the result being a vibrant and professional outfit that benefits the community in many ways. This didn’t quite come through previously and the redesign aims to reflect this. In addition, changes to what goes on behind the scenes has reduced the costs to run the site, allowing them to stretch their dollar a bit further. Find out more at the project page.

If you’re ever in the area, call into 17 Lauderdale Rd, Birkdale and check out what the Kaipatiki Project does. Help add to the 75,000 trees planted so far, lend a hand to restore the local reserves, or attend one of their many community courses about living sustainably (most are for free). A lot of good stuff goes on in this patch of Auckland.

Motorcycles gather in central Paris.

The first attempt to cross a Paris street at a pedestrian crossing will illustrate that liberté extends all the way into the streets. When pedestrians receive the signal to cross, drivers receive a corresponding red light. So far so good. I mean, a prominent red light on a road is the internationally accepted meaning of stop, isn’t it?

Not quite so it appears. While naive mortals like myself are suddenly instilled with a sense of safety and trust in our fellow man, the French red light merely informs drivers to be aware that there could be people / obstacles on the road ahead. An invitation to, for a few seconds at least, play a real life game of Angry Birds with the humans that dare cross.

If you’re lucky, the vehicle might be one of the trendy three-wheeled scooters that grace the roads. Two wheels are so last century; who could possibly settle for two wheels when you can have three. Like Crocodile Dundee would say, “You call that a scooter, THIS is a scooter!”.