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Global warming seems to be really screwing up our weather -- boo!

And speaking of weather, it's amazing how some of the simplest ideas and inventions seem to take so long to be thought of.

The example I'm thinking of is the little GPS-guided glider that a bright Kiwi guy seems to have come up with as a way of saving our meteorologists from losing thousands of dollars worth of sophisticated gear every time they launch a weather balloon.

With GPS units costing less than $100, small servos less than $20 a pop, and a simple airframe under $50, this low-cost collection of bits allows the balloon's valuable payload to find its own way back to the launch spot -- or some other designated pick-up area.

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Now that's a damned smart idea and an example of the kind of clever thinking we need to foster and fund here, if we're going to claw our way out of our current fixation with property-investment.

Still on the subject of weather -- make the most of today, it's the longest day of the year and from tomorrow onwards, we're heading for winter.

Now is it just me or are others getting really pee'd off with the crappy summer weather we've had for the past three years.

By this time of the year, most Kiwis used to be spending weekends at the beach, cultivating a damned fine tan, and enjoying evening BBQs on a regular basis.

Obviously that's been pretty much out of the question this year with this month in particular being filled with rain, wind and thunderstorms on an all-too-regular basis.

Last year we were all freezing our nether-regions off right up until a few days after Christmas -- experiencing the coldest December on record.

The previous summer we had a February that saw it rain every single day. That's right, there was not *one* day without rain during that month.

It strikes me that we seem to be increasingly suffering from a weather pattern that sees large areas of low-pressure forming in the Tasman, those depressions forcing any anti-cyclones to either dissipate or simply scoot up north and miss us as they head west.

Now I'm pretty sure that (like last year) the weather will eventually clear and we'll get at least a couple of months of relatively fine weather -- but has that long, hot, beautiful Kiwi summer most of us remember already been lost forever to global warming?

Whether you believe the oft-touted causes of global warming or not, it's something to consider as you huddle inside out of the rain this Christmas Day afternoon.

A reminder: this is your last chance to send me your best links for the Christmas edition of Lighten-Up. Come on, get typing!

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