Sam Anthony, left, with his birth father, Craig Nelson, at Anthony's home in August. Photo / Debra Steidel Wall via The New York Times
The New Zealand Herald is bringing back some of the best stories of 2021 from our premium syndicators, including The New York Times, Financial Times, The Times of London and The New Zealand Listener.
Today we look at a family brought together by death, NZ's electricity woes, Bruce Springsteen secretfootage, healthy BBQ tips and killer robots.
Reunited in the face of death
After struggling with cancer for years, Sam Anthony was running out of time. Before he died, he found the courage to mail a letter that he had long been afraid to send.
Thus began a relationship in which two men tried to make up for 52 years of lost time.
The letter included snapshots and an article featuring Anthony in his college alumni magazine. Photo / Caitlin O'Hara, The New York Times
Pump and be dammed: Could Lake Onslow solve our electricity woes?
In a year when wholesale electricity prices soared to record levels, coal imports surged and parts of the country were plunged into darkness in a power blackout, one government project has been touted as a solution to all our electricity woes. Could the Lake Onslow pumped-hydro storage proposal be the saviour of the country's power network?
Lake Onslow, in central Otago, offers a potential pumped-storage power solution in an area less prone to erosion than existing hydro lakes. Photo / Supplied
Secret footage of Bruce Springsteen's No Nukes concert revealed
Six months after America's worst civil nuclear accident, in 1979 Bruce Springsteen stepped on to a New York stage to play a benefit show organised by "No Nukes" campaigners. On two consecutive September nights at Madison Square Garden he played 90-minute sets with his trademark knee slides, jumps on to amps, guitar juggling and hamming it up with the rest of the E Street Band. And thus a meltdown at the infamous Three Mile Island power plant started a chain reaction that led to one of the greatest rock performances.
A camera crew was there to capture the occasion, but Springsteen, beset by what he now confesses were hang-ups, refused to let the film be shown with the exception of three songs glimpsed in a No Nukes cinema documentary in 1980.
More than 40 years on — three times as long as it took for the damaged reactor to be made safe — the film has been tracked down, cleaned up and given its rightful place in rock'n'roll history.
Bruce Springsteen on stage at a No Nukes benefit concert in 1979. Photo / Getty Images
No more burnt bits: How to make your barbecues healthier this summer
Fact and fiction surround the famous Kiwi barbecue. It is a fact, though, that cooking muscle meats, such as beef, lamb, pork, chicken and even fish, on a barbecue at high temperatures can produce several suspected human carcinogens
Summer barbecue meats can be made healthier with just a few simple measures.
Using a simple marinade on meats before barbecuing can result in healthier food. Photo / 123RF
The rise of killer robots - can they be trusted?
The killer robots and "kamikaze" drones are here: the artificially intelligent weaponry of science fiction is now a reality — and is about to transform armies, navies and air forces around the world. Should we be worried?
