Saturday Morning With Jack Tame

Amazon now has its own brand of TVs They want full control of the second most important screen in your home - the big one in your living room. After partnering with TV manufacturers with Fire TV collaborations, they're now branding TVs as their own. There's the Fire TV Omni and the Fire TV Series 4. The Omni model has a higher resolution screen and voice control. Even when the Omni is off, you'll be able to use it like an Alexa. The Fire TV Omni will integrate with your Ring doorbell so the moment someone pushes the button, their video will appear in picture-in-picture. Amazon says there are other smart home integrations coming too.  Spotify wants to make your playlists better If you've got a playlist that needs some new life, the new Enhance feature is for you. Based on the songs already in the playlist Spotify will recommend more music you should add. They'll appear in the list with a big green sparkle next to them to show they're auto-magically added, but you can make them permanent additions by clicking t

Today is the twentieth anniversary of 9/11. The terrorist attacks by al-Qaeda killed almost 3,000 people, and countless more have died from the environmental impacts of being near the collapsed Twin Towers. The attacks prompted the invasion of Afghanistan, we all now know how that ended. They also changed the world as we know it. Can you remember the feeling of waking up that morning and hearing the news?   The attacks also upturned the lives of the thousands of people who were travelling that day. Kiwi Elias Kanaris is one of those people. He was flying Chicago to London, when his plane was diverted to the tiny Canadian town of Gander. The town’s population was doubled when 6,700 people were stuck there after panes were grounded following the attacks.   Elias is a Resilience and Leadership keynote speaker, and he’s written a book about what he learned from the experience, called “Leading from the Stop”. He's been speaking to Jack Tame. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week, Francesca has movie picks for everyone. If you're in lockdown, Infinite is available to stream on Neon. If you're luck enough to be heading down the alert levels, there's Respect. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Caramel apple cake  This cake has it all going for it – quick to make and bake, soft and moist, incredibly delcious with a thick caramel icing – it’s like a nog soft comforting pillow!  The recipe makes a very large sheet pan cake, enough to give away so cheer up someone’s day.  Makes 25x35 rectangle cake  220g butter 1 cup water  2 cups plain flour  1 teaspoon baking soda  Pinch salt  1 teaspoon cinnamon  1 cup sugar  1 cup brown sugar  ½ cup yoghurt or buttermilk  2 large eggs, lightly whisked 200g (about 2 medium) chopped apples  Icing:  1/3 cup sugar  Splash water 120g butter  ¼ cup milk  3 cups icing sugar  Preheat oven to 200 C. Grease and line a shallow 25x38cm rectangle tin. You could use 2 x swiss roll tins. In a medium pot bring the butter and water to a boil.  Sift in dry ingredients – flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and sugars – until combined. Add in yoghurt and eggs and stir to combine then fold in the chopped apples.  Pour batter into the prepared tin spreading it into the corners. Bake for

Kevin Milne's made rediscovered something during lockdown: the joy of nature documentaries. And it's made him see climate change in a new light. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I was a Year Ten high school student. I remember my friends talking about the attacks as we rode out bikes to school. In social studies, our teacher pulled a TV to the front of the class and we sat and watched in silence. I must have spent eight or ten hours watching TV that day. More than anything, I remember the dust.That’s my recollection of 9/11, one of those moments where you remember where you were.  And as we all think back to our own experiences of 9/11, the anniversary makes for a good opportunity to sit back and consider the attacks from the eyes of the people who organised them.19 fanatics, armed only with box cutters and a few weeks’ training at a flight school, arguably changed the course of history more than any other people this century. The domino effect from those burning towers is extraordinary. Would the Iraq War have ever been fought if 9/11 didn’t happen? Would the U.S have fought in Afghanistan for twenty years? Would George W. Bush have been re-elected President? Would Donald Trump have

We’ve been waiting for a few weeks now. There’s been fire, an ex-wife in a wedding dress, and a lot of unfinished music...but Kanye West has finally released Donda.  Estelle Clifford’s been taking a listen. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Before we went back into lockdown life, travel writer Mike Yardley was touring The Great Alpine Highway. He's been giving Jack Tame some hints for when we can get on the road again.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Firewood Collections  For those of us lucky enough to have an ultra-low emission burner as a cosy heating source, the yearly job of gathering and stacking firewood is an excellent hobby that keeps us fit and creates interesting opportunities for discovery of organisms.  I love looking at tunnels in wood bark beetle scribbles under pine bark and macrocarpa which are elegant sites for caterpillars to pupate (over-winter), and locating the winter hiding spots for native cockroaches, slaters, booklice, barklice, millipedes and centipedes.  The reason I study my firewood before bringing it inside to be burned is sometimes you get critters in there that perhaps need to be rescued from a firey end. Native Grassgrub beetles (Odontria) often hide between stacked logs. Outside they are dormant and won’t move a lot at all until temperatures go up in a month or so. But when you take the logs inside, they wake up and fly around like miniature lawnmowers (same sort of noise) in your living room. Lifecycle is completed on t

Kids garden  The children are our future and one of the best ways to instil them with healthy eco values is through gardening. It will also change their attitude to food, and may even make some of the old ‘I won’t touch’ foods into favourites.   This can be a fun and enjoyable experience for everyone and provides unlimited learning opportunities for kids and adults.   Here are some tips:  Keep it simple, and probably small. Gardening doesn’t need much space and in fact many successfully garden out of containers. Use just a few easy to grow vegetables, maybe some flowers. Simple means less stressful and more likelihood of success. Choose the right plants. Some veges you can plant straight into the soil because of their large seed size. I suggest peas and bush beans. These both can be eaten raw straight from the plant. Peas have the wonderful ‘open a present’ thing happening. Watch them become a kid’s favourite. If you have room you could try a rambling melon, rock melon or watermelon. Radish are easy and produ

Our Master of Wine Bob Campbell is recommending The Ned 2021 Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough $18.99.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Richard Branson's spaceship has been grounded  It turns out the test flight wasn't as successful as we thought it was.  The New Yorker reports that after the craft detached and was blasting off to space traveling at twice the speed of sound, the onboard pilots got yellow and red warning lights to indicate the spaceship wasn't vertical enough to make it back to earth safely. The plane uses the momentum of the accent to then set it up for its glide back to the runway on earth. The FAA says the plane veered outside its approved airspace for over a minute. They're now investigating,  Their first revenue generating mission, with the Italian Air Force, is now on hold.  Twitter looking to archive your old thoughts Tweets from deep on the timeline have caused people numerous problems over the years. Opinions evolve, cultural moments happen and society's social contract changes but the Tweets live on. Twitter needs fresh content every minute, so needs to assure people that posting their thoughts and happenings is a go

Back in February, when lockdowns were just a distant memory, a group of Kiwi celebs headed to Kerikeri to compete in Celebrity Treasure Island.  Little did they know that when it would be released, we’d be stuck at home, and ready for some light viewing.  One of the contestants on the beach is reality star, Art Green, who joined Jack Tame for a chat. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Impeachment: American Crime Story: The third season in Ryan Murphy’s American Crime Story series examines the national crisis that led to the first impeachment of a U.S. President in over a century through the eyes of the women at the center of the events: Monica Lewinsky, Linda Tripp and Paula Jones (SoHo, from 8 September).  The Flight Attendant: A reckless flight attendant with an alcohol problem wakes up in the wrong hotel, in the wrong bed, with a dead man - and no idea what happened. Unable to piece the night together, she begins to wonder if she could be the killer (Neon).  Only Murders in the Building: Steve Martin, Martin Short and Selena Gomez star as three strangers who share an obsession with true crime and suddenly find themselves wrapped up in one. When a grisly death occurs inside their exclusive Upper West Side apartment building, the trio suspects murder and employs their precise knowledge of true crime to investigate the truth (Disney+).  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy i

Fathers' Day Breakfast Traybake Is your dad a fan of sweet or savoury for breakfast? If he’s savoury, try this fabulous way to cook up “The  Big Brekky” – it’s so much easier than cooking up hashbrowns, eggs and bacon separately. Do it for dad this weekend!  This is easy to make for one or a crowd – just scale it up or down to suit you!  Serves 1  ½ large potato per person, thinly sliced ¼ onion, sliced thinly 2 rashers bacon, chopped roughly  Sprig of fresh rosemanry or sage or basil  ¼ tsp sea salt + pepper  Slash of olive oil  1 egg per person Small handful of parsley, chopped  Heat oven to 200 C. Line a large oven tray with baking paper, twisting the corners to give it a lip.  Scatter potato and onion slices over the lined tray. Add bacon and rosemary, the seasoning and a drizzle of oil and toss to coat. Spread them out so that they cover the tray in a thin layer. Bake in the upper third of the oven for 10-15 minutes until potatoes soften and begin to crisp.  Tease a gap (or gaps if making for more than o

Movie reviewer Francesca Rudkin has some flicks you can catch from your couch this weekend. The musical comedy version of Cinderella starring Camila Cabello, Neon's Infinite, and Neon documentary Class Action Park. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What more could have been done to stop the attack? We don’t know enough yet to answer that with the certainty the gravity of this attack deserves. But we understand a few things.This man was known to Police and authorities. He was known to the Prime Minister. Judging by previous monitoring when he was arrested for buying a hunting knife, I think it’s safe to say he didn’t have the freedom to plan a more sophisticated attack. That’s not to say he wanted to plan a more sophisticated attack – we don’t know that yet. It’s not to say his spree at the New Lynn Countdown wasn’t terrible. But it also wasn’t particularly well-planned. Compared to the Christchurch terrorist, who was able to plan an attack for a long period of time without ever being bothered by the authorities and who used an assault weapons to kill as many people as possible, we are fortunate that yesterday’s attack wasn’t as sophisticated. Part of that may be because this man was being monitored. I thought it was interesting the Prime Minister was so

Travel writer Mike Yardley has been dreaming of getting out and about. Recently he was free-roaming in Central Hawke's Bay.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Seven piece Kiwi band Fat Freddy’s drop has released a new album – and it’s the chill vibe we probably all need in lockdown. It’s called Wairunga, and music reviewer Estelle Clifford has been taking a listen.LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Catherine Raynes has been reading The Rising Tide by Sam Lloyd, and One Ordinary Day at a Time by Sarah J Harris.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.