NASA launch Sun probe

August 30, 2018

NASA has successfully launched its mission to send a satellite closer to the Sun than any before.

The Parker Solar Probe rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral, on Sunday evening.

The probe is set to become the fastest-moving manmade object in history.

Its goal is to provide data about the Sun’s behaviour.

It is the first spacecraft to be named after a living person – astrophysicist Eugene Parker, 91, who first described solar wind in 1958.

What will the probe do?
The probe aims to dip directly into our star’s outer atmosphere, or corona.

It will zip past Venus in six weeks and make the first rendezvous with the Sun a further six weeks after that.

Over the course of seven years, Parker will make 24 loops around our star to study the physics of the corona, the place where much of the important activity that affects the Earth seems to originate.

The probe will dip inside this tenuous atmosphere, sampling conditions, and getting to just 6.16 million km from the Sun’s broiling “surface”.

It will also be the fastest human-made object ever, travelling around the Sun at speeds of up to 690,000km/hr. That is the same as traveling from Tokyo to New York in one minute.

Australian worker overpaid by $500,000

August 30, 2018

A worker in Australia has been paid more than 100 times their normal salary because of a decimal point in the wrong place.

The worker was meant to get a salary of A$4,921.76 but instead found A$492,176 (NZ$537,000) in their account.

The mistake was reported by the territory’s auditor-general who put it down to human error.

The honest worker didn’t spend any of the extra money and returned it four weeks later.

He would have returned it earlier but he was based in a remote area of the Northern Territory and had to travel to a bank.

Hmmmm…….. what would you do?

Meet New Zealand’s best pie makers

Tauranga’s Patrick Lam, is officially the king of New Zealand pies.

Last week he won has won his sixth Bakels New Zealand Supreme Pie Award with a roast pork and creamy mushroom pie.

He has won the award more than any other competitor nationwide in the competition’s 22-year history.

He won the supreme award again in 2004 and 2009, with his creamy bacon, mushroom and cheese pie. In 2010 and 2016, his bacon and egg pie took out the top award.

As well as winning the supreme award, Lam’s roast pork and creamy mushroom pie also won the gourmet meat category.

Lam received a cheque for $7500 and a trophy, plus $1000 for each of the three gold awards he won in the bacon and egg, gourmet meat, and chicken and vegetable sections.

The competition featured 5491 other pies from around New Zealand

Jacinda Ardern returns as PM on Thursday

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern will officially return from maternity leave early tomorrow (Thursday).

In fact, she will officially be Prime Minster again at midnight tonight, when Acting Prime Minister Winston Peters leaves the country.

However, she will not return to Wellington until next week. She will travel to Wellington on Saturday with her partner and baby and set up her family in the Prime Minister’s residence at Premier House.

Her Thursday return will come exactly six weeks after giving birth to her daughter Neve Te Aroha Ardern Gayford in June.

World ‘Cat of the Year’ announced

Theo, a cat from Worcestershire in the United Kingdom has been announced as Cat of the Year.

A panel of judges selected Theo for the top prize at the National Cat Awards, run by the Cats Protection League, at London’s Savoy Hotel.

Theo saved his owners’ life by keeping her awake when she suffered a blood clot.

Paramedics said without Theo’s actions, owner Charlotte Dixon may not have woken up again.

Unfortunately Theo, aged eight, died a week before the ceremony. However, he was still awarded the award.

Ms Dixon said: “All cats are amazing but I owe my life to Theo.I’m devastated that he’s gone but I’m so proud of him for winning”.

Wildfires in Greece

30/07/18

At least 50 people are feared dead in wildfires burning in Greece. The fires have hit the Attica region around Athens, the capital of Greece.

It is Greece’s worst fire crisis in more than a decade.

As part of a huge rescue effort, emergency workers used boats and helicopters to evacuate a beach.

“We will do whatever is humanly possible to control it,” Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras told reporters.

Tsipras has declared a state of emergency in Attica, saying “all emergency forces” had been mobilised.

His government has asked other European countries for helicopters and additional firefighters to help tackle the fires.

Italy, Germany, Poland and France have all sent help in the form of planes, vehicles and firefighters.

Kids safe with dogs

Yesterday room ten and room nine went to the hall to learn kids safe with dogs and it was fun with room nine. When room ten and room nine went into the hall and sat down before we came in. When I sat down I got ready to listen to Nick and Michael about dog safety. I was very nervous when I saw the dogs because they look big and I thought the dogs will bight me and my friend too. After I thought The dog was going to bight me and my friends. I was standing like a tree because if a dog come's to me and I was not like a tree I might get bitten from the dog and it's good too.