Well I’m in levin whats wrong with the horowhenua?? me I think I will restart watching Babylon 5 or maybe Dr Who, from the beginning hmm decisions decisions.
I know you said “no aggro” but can I use this thread to say that as a dedicated Hurricanes fan I hope that Mark Hammett gets on the first plane back to Canterbury as soon as possible, the man is useless.
Secondly…all real sports fans will be cheering for India in the cricket world cup final, I doubt I could handle seeing that cheat Murali hold up the world cup.
I’m backing Sri Lanka bruv – just to piss you off.
No, actually because I think they have the superior bowling lineup with the 3 M’s (Murali – assuming he is fit enough to play, Malinga, and Mendis), and because India have designed the tournament schedule to favour themselves and deserve to get their comeuppance.
And whatever you think of Murali’s bowling action when he delivers the doosra, under the current Laws of Cricket it is legal.
How about the fact that the rules of the game were changed to allow this cheat to continue playing, how about the fact that numerous umpires are on record as saying that the ICC just do not want to hear any accusations about the mans bowling action.
Even allowing for the 15 degree Murali rule he is still a chucker, still a cheat and still a blight on the game.
Yes, they lost. But the really good news is Murali might be coming to Wellington to play for them in the next two seasons! You’ll be able to tell him what you think to his face!!!
Have to agree with you entirely, Bruv. Murali should have been banned before he even got to play international cricket and his ‘record’ counts for nothing as far as I’m concerned. He can’t be the best bowler in the world if he doesn’t bowl the ball. Simple, really.
Mind you, it’s obviously a bit rich for you to be bleating about cheating, when you’re so complicit in match fixing yourself.
Ah, Renaissance ales- make life worth that bit more living. Tried their new twopenny ale tonight, and then a half of Sorenson’s 8-wired. My beer of choice is Renaissance Scotch Ale, but, sob, tonight the tap had run dry. A real Slim Dusty moment. “But there’s nothing so lonesome , or make a man pale, when the barman says sadly, “The pub’s got no Ale.”
I played with a country fiddle player once who ate all his food like that man in black in the video- everything deep fried in two inches of fat. He could play though.
Did a version of “Orange Blossom Special,” humunguously fast at the end, where he played with the bow between his teeth moving the fiddle instead on the bow, with the fiddle behind his back, behind his head, under his knee, with socks on and finally with a metal coat hanger. Impeccably. He played so fast that I had to halve the tempo on the upright bass just to keep up.
Sometimes we just don’t know how good people are until they’ve gone. Had good taste in whisky too. Think I’ll have one now to remember Leo. Slainte to you too Rosy!
And on all things Scottish and the gone good – the best Scottish band that never made it big (IMO)…damn that Scottish melancholy/nostalgia combination – there must be a word for it???
Working this weekend as usual, but I get an extra hour before work this morning đ
Thanks for the Big Country link. i had a vinyl LP of there’s back then. As I recall it was about the same time as U2 started to make it big, and it sometimes got referred to as Celtic Rock.
Big Country got a lot of mentions for making their guitars sound like traditional fiddles & bagpipes. I guess it’s the melancholy of oppressed hard working people, and nostalgia for better times, all held together by a sense of community & soldiarity.
Understand completely DoS. Sad that I am, I once timed a trip to the UK to see BC the day I arrived… Being stuck in NZ I knew it would be the only chance I’d get. I appreciate The Skids but prefer folk-infused rock myself. Sacrilege to some but I also appreciated the U2/Green Day version of The Skids ‘the saints are coming’. I saw it as a tribute to The Skids as well as a Hurricane Katrina fundraiser http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seGhTWE98DU&feature=related
I thought the mistake Green Day made was that it sounded too like the original. The chance to make it their own version was not taken. It became more of a homage really..
My daughter had great fun at school though saying pffft the original was better and her fellow classmates going what do you mean?
On the subject of other good stuff. Saw a good concert on Wednesday night at which the story got told about a Scottish friend who got the nickname “The Exorcist.” And why was he called the Exorcist? Because when he’d left after a good night’s visiting, there were no spirits left in the house.
No weekend social out here. Just weekend chores fixing up our now crooked little house (and sitting in the garden). Big houses around us have suffered or come down or been demolished while our timber number proved itself as one tough dancer at quake time.
Snap! (‘as it were’). Our 70m2 cottage did the same – shook itself like a dog and then just looked like nothing had happened (except for a few things on the floor). Not bad for living about 800m from the four avenues.
This has probably been mentioned before, but if you want something to do over the weekend you could do worse than check out Gap Filler.
Well the mighty Gunners are at home to Ryan Nelsen and Blackburn Rovers and I hope that I’m watching this match Sunday morning after Man Utd have been beaten by Winston Reids West Ham (I know Winnie probably won’t do much more than warm the bench).
For sale, one red carpet and trophy cabinet. Good condition, not used in recent years. Enquiries to A Wenger, Emirates Stadium, London.
Early one morning Arsene Wenger was roused from sleep by a telephone call. “Wenger”, Arsene sleepily muttered into the receiver as he answered it. “This is the London Fire Chief”, came the reply from the telephone, “I am calling you, Mr Wenger, to report that the Emirates Stadium is on fire”. Instantly awake, “The cups man, save the cups” bellowed Wenger. In a soothing tone the Fire Chief replied “Calm down Mr Wenger, the fire hasn’t reached the kitchen yet”.
Hi BB, it depends a bit on where you are. I’m in Christchurch and most things grow a bit slowly over winter and they need shelter from the frosts. You could try this website for a few tips, but it comes down to trial and error usually.
The best advice anyone ever gave “Tend your garden” (Voltaire, I think).
I’m also going to tend my garden this weekend.
Ehhh, first comment after a few years of lurking.
This type of thread seems a lot safer than all of the other ones.
I have in the garden: leeks, spring onions, lentils, beetroot, celery, and the usual herbs and lettuce and spinach etc.
WHAT AM I DOING?
MUST SLEEP I HAVE TO GO TO WORK IN AN HOUR
OH NO.
Watch out for over-cooked poached eggs tomorrow, Wellington.
Lucerne or Black eyed peas also known as cow peas are good for nitrogen fixing. Come to think of it any edible beans will do the same with the added advantage of ending up with food. Just chuck a couple of hands over the bit you want to leave empty and the next year dig the lot in and you will have a bumper crop of whatever you plant next. Mustard greens are good to and are great in stir fries. For land not used for a long time you can grow wattle (Great nitrogen fixer) and if you coppice them you will have firewood on a regular base for many years.
Depends on where you are big bruv. I’m in Thames Valley and get a few frosts, but nothing serious. If you are in Auckland, or near the coast, then maybe frosts won’t be too much of a problem.
I’ve planted leeks, carrots, beetroot, celery, broccoli, onions, cabbages and cauliflower. I was meant to get brussel sprouts too, but accidentally bought extra broccoli. Today I’m planting red onions, radishes, cucumbers, mizuna (which is a type of lettuce, I hope) and butter beans.
My guess is the main virtue of planting a garden for winter is that it keeps your attention on the garden, so it’s not so much effort to get it going again for summer. You could plant a crop that fixes nitrogen, over winter, and mulch it back into the garden in August, that way you don’t need to worry about harvesting it, and meanwhile it will improve your soil.
The Warehouse had/has frost cloth for about 50c per metre. I need to build something so I can roll it out in the evening and wind it back onto its reel in the morning. Maybe an old electric fence tape reel can be modified – on Sunday.
Best of luck with your garden, BB.
It is a magnificent day here today so there is no excuse for not being in the garden.
I am not a huge fan of winter veggies (apart from Brussel Sprouts which I love) so I might just plant some of them, some onions, radishes and do the rest in mustard.
yeah brussel sprouts are great, I must get some in the ground.
I’ve had very poor feedback about the radishes, the rest of the household is not impressed.
A Â friend and I co-operate in a community garden plot of about 120 square metres. We with spouses sat down tonight and ate chicken with own grown potatoes, kumera, tomatoes, corn, rocket (with roasted seeds), garlic, pumpkin, cherry tomatoes with basil- a feast, and so much better to have grown it ourselves. Had to get in the parsnips and carrots, but next year that’s what we’ll grow and less beans and garlic and spuds ‘cos of that damn psyllid.
And home brew, made with own grown hops. Â
Planted today lettuce, curly kale and mizuna and harvested as well. Down at the plot a Fijian Indian woman told me of  delicious curry made with curly kale. Islanders grow taro there, Maori grow kumera, Muslims grow hot peppers and green tomatoes, ex-South Canterbury farmers grow pumpkins bigger than wheel barrows, Greenies grow in companion planting fashion and ex-acoholics stay dry by growing beans and yams and corn. We swap food and ideas, yarns and help each other. Some neighbour dug half my plot by hand because I am recovering from cancer operations. It is a functioning and vibrant community, full of heart and love. Life can be like that, as can at least one thread on the Standard!
Mac 1,
Sorry to hear about your cancer operations and hope you are recovering al right.
I have a question. You talk about the psyllid. I had not heard about it before and did a quick google. I live near Raglan (Hamilton) and just had a disappointing potato harvest. Any chance of this horrid little bug having spread to the West coast of the North Island?
Travellerev, healing very well, thanks. That’s why my remark to big bruv about gardening being good therapy. And also enforced inaction gives time to blog, read and contemplate. Gotta be some positives đ
The psyllid I understand came in at Auckland and has travelled (sorry) south. We are in the top of the South Island and this is our second season.
The damage to potatoes shows as a yellow, very stunted, deformed growth and the potatoes themselves can show an uneven black circle inside when you slice through, called zebra markings, caused by a bacterium introduced by the psyllid when it feeds. The spud itself develops an off taste. At an early stage you can detect the psyllid on the underleaves, either its eggs or the critter itself. Google has all this info. The psyllid also preys on tomatoes, eggplant and tree tomatoes.Â
I would expect it to be in your district. Saying that, though, the community garden plot has it but 500 metres away my home garden is so far free. I intend to monitor heavily, use preparations like neem oil and try and encourage predators like lacewings. I found the early planting of spuds also helped as it takes time for psyllid populations to build up. Destroy all matter where the psyllid might over-winter.
Mizuna is a Japanese plant used for the young leaves in the salad mixtures you buy in the Supermarket. It is a member of the mustard family and also great for stir fries. It has a bit of a bite to it so eat them young for the best taste
Some good advice around here, big bruv. I would also look at lupins with the mustard for nitrogen fixing to be dug in with Spring. I find broad beans work well over winter and plant garlic at mid-winter. Otherwise winter greens, curly kale is good and I buy mixed asian greens for salad/stir fry use. Brussel sprouts, radishes, carrots also.
It all depends on where you are, of course. Good advice also about using cloches, cloth, glass and plastic coverings. I use favoured sites around the property for growing things outside the normal growing season, especially expensive veg like eggplants, peppers (but not winter). You can even buy mushrooms to plant. More exotic plants like rocket, mizuma, daikon can be grown, too.
And plants your spuds very early in Spring if there is danger of that bloody awful potato/tomato psyllid about your area. Best of luck. Gardening is good therapy, too.
Yeah, I should probably get around to hoeing over all the weeds and planting carrots, and getting some cauliflower and broccoli sorted. Might see if Bunnings has any broad bean’s for sale too. But otherwise, I’ve got harvest the patty-pans and figure out how best to preserve the seeds for spring and find out how many damn pumpkins we have, and bring one of the chilli plant’s inside.
And coriander does surprisingly well in the winter down in Christchurch, I’ve got a small forest of it a present that’ll be harvested for seed come next summer, but I need to find a slow bolt variety for harvesting leaves and sort out how I’m going to do basil.
Also used some quake freed fencing cinder blocks to build a dry-wall constructed planter box that just needs to be filled with soil and come the end of the frosts will be filled with capsicums
Talking of watching stuff. I have been watching my electric jug for some time. You see when I switch it on it mumbles for a few seconds. Then it sulks in silence for maybe 15 seconds more. Then it stirs into life and rumbles away till it has boiled.
Why does it sulk?
Yes Mac1. I must admit that I felt a little voyerish especially when, I’m ashamed to admit it, but ummm I took ahh the lid off and looked deep inside. Don’t tell my wife though. đ
The boiling sound is made by gaseous bubbles collapsing in the water, changing instaneously from a low density gas to a high density liquid. The rate at which this happens depends on several factors.
One is how much air is dissolved in the water. Fresh unboiled water will have a fair amount of air dissolved in it.. so when it is first heated a lot of this will come out fairly quickly.
The second main factor is the temperature of the water. Cold water will recondense the gas bubbles very quickly, more or less as soon as they rise away from the heating element. But as the water heats the bubbles will last longer and longer, until when it’s close to boiling point the bubbles make it all the way to the surface and make relatively little noise.
Then there is likely the impact of convection currents as well.
Combine these various factors together and it largely explains what’s going on here.
Meh, I slept in till 12, after knocking off before 9pm. And providing my motivation levels are high enough I’ll thrash my legs on the Port Hills tomorrow as to prepare for either Mt Richardson or Mt Brown next weekend! Finally I’ll be able to escape Christchurch!
Couldn’t make it to freshers, since thanks to depression symptoms even a minor cold knocks my stamina levels down to craptastic, can’t bike/walk for crap, levels :/
One dowel rod (cut to length)
Length of non-slip grip material
One length of good-quality cord
Small length of chain
One carabina
10 kg plate
One power drill
One wife willing to construct a wrist roller for me: Priceless đ
Supporting the Hurricanes is like supporting the Labour Party. (Sorry r0b, is that too political?)
Any how’s – finally back from my softball club prize giving – won “Most Improved” – as the coach said, I couldn’t have got any worse – now – do I stay up and get on with Sunday as hampered as I am, or do I head off for a snooze and wait til MsBLiP starts vacuuming determinedly and accusingly around the bedroom . . . oh, decisions decisions.
Nah that’ll do. It’s a fine line, but I think it is fun to have this politics free zone on the blog. I’ve been amazed at the response. Quite uplifting, in an odd kind of way.
It’s a wonderful idea – a breath of fresh air and a real piece of azure blue sky in what can become a rather frustrating, grey, politically bloggy landscape. I think I have been most affected by the gardening comments. Great friendly supportive atmosphere -loved them.Thanks,
It’s a 40 Gigapixel photo of an 868 year old monastery library in Prague, the largest indoor photo ever (actually 2947 photos stitched together into a panorama.)
Pure and total warfare only on oxalis. Spraying may kill it locally but only to the extent that the roots die….those bits that survive will just keep invading. If you can dig out the bulk of the roots (you will never get all of them) then spray / weed what comes back through that may work but its an ongoing battle. I have a better cure, I get my chickens to clear the area, mulch like crazy and allow the chickens in on weeding expeditions.
Right….so without chickens I am stuffed? đ
The stuff is a nightmare, I spent last Sunday digging the garden and thought I had got rid of all the Oxalis, last night I checked on the garden and the freaking stuff was starting to peak through the soil again in some areas.
I guess I will just have to spray and dig it again this weekend.
Big bruv, total war on oxalis. I conned my kids as littlies into digging for ‘treasure’- oxalis bulbs. Wife and I were digging spuds last week-end- her on the spade, me on my knees, as ever- when she reminded me of “digging for treasure.”
I tried pigs to do the job on oxalis, with follow-up from the chooks in the 80’s. Didn’t work- planted an orchard instead, which outgrew the oxalis! The pigs ate the oxalis greens and the big corms, but left the little hard corms alone and just spread them around to regrow.
Big bruv, try the chooks, or even better, bantams since they don’t seem to dig up plants when they scratch like chooks do. Confine them in a small cage-run over a section of garden and let them go for it, since it sounds like you have spread it by digging. The chook droppings go pink from the oxalis.
Armchair Critic is right about leaf chopping but you have keep doing it.I did the same with california thistle when working as a gardener.
After years chopping california thistle out by hand, and setting goats on to it, to no avail, I resorted to Tordon. Â They hated it, but I’ve heard they will come back next year anyway. Â True?
AC, never used Tordon. These thistles were in the rose bed and were obvious and free of other growth, so easier to deal to with a weekly sub-surface hoeing.
Did use boiling water on various weeds, like oxalis, but my wife reminds me that we stopped because it just seemed like we were watering them. Perhaps the detergent helped. It seemed to knock the aphids which didn’t like getting soapy. Did the dishes by hand in a basin and then gave the roses a good soaking with the soapy residue.
I am really concerned though about tomato/potato psyllids because they knocked my main crop spuds and my son-in-law’s tomatoes to hell.
AFAIK its a battle of attrition. Â You need to make it as difficult for the bulbs to do their thing as you can.
Spray them with roundup (or whatever) as soon as they appear, and again when they reappear. Â If you don’t like sprays, chop the leaves off. Â No leaves means no way for energy to be stored in the bulb.
Once they take a bit of a holiday, or appear to be discouraged, put a layer of mulch or topsoil or whatever. Â This means the bulb needs to use more energy to get leaves at the surface and thereby replenish itself.
Whatever you do, don’t disturb the soil where the bulbs are – this just encourages them to grow again.
It should be gone in about two years. Â Option b is to remove the contaminated topsoil and replace with new stuff.
If you want a serious spray, try TAG2. Â It kills everything and stops it regrowing for six months to a year. Â I only use it on my metal driveway, it’s very effective.
Yeah, nothing grows for months after TAG2 – no summer garden if you use it.
If you want to treat the oxalis as a long term project (and, as a disclaimer, I’ve not tried this on oxalis) you could try pouring boiling water on the leaves. Â After my three or four cups of perc coffee in the morning I run a full load of water through the percolator to clean the machine, add dish washing liquid and pour the hot water on to weeds in the lawn or garden. Â The hot water/detergent combination seems to strip the protective layer off the foliage and kill the plant, without damaging the soil.
The cold coffee and grounds go on the garden, or lawn.
A serious question…
Is dog pee any good for killing it off?
At the moment we have seven dogs (the number always varies) if their pee kills the stuff off I might open the gate to the garden and let them do their business on there for a few days.
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Back in 2016, the Portuguese government announced plans to stop burning coal by 2030. But progress has come much quicker, and they're now scheduled to close their last coal plant by the end of this year: The Sines coal plant in Portugal went offline at midnight yesterday evening (14 ...
The Sincerest Form Of Flattery: As anybody with the intestinal fortitude to brave the commentary threads of local news-sites, large and small, will attest, the number of Trump-supporting New Zealanders is really quite astounding. ITâS SO DIFFICULT to resist the temptation to be smug. From the distant perspective of New Zealand, ...
RNZ reports on continued arbitrariness on decisions at the border. British comedian Russell Howard is about to tour New Zealand and other acts allowed in through managed isolation this summer include drag queen RuPaul and musicians at Northern Bass in Mangawhai and the Bay Dreams festival. The vice-president of the ...
As families around the world mourn more than two million people dead from Covid-19, the Plan B academics and their PR industry collaborator continue to argue that the New Zealand government should stop focusing on our managed isolation and quarantine system and instead protect the elderly so that they can ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Jan 10, 2021 through Sat, Jan 16, 2021Editor's ChoiceNASA says 2020 tied for hottest year on record — here’s what you can do to helpPhoto by Michael Held on Unsplash ...
Health authorities in Norway are reporting some concerns about deaths in frail elderly after receiving their COVID-19 vaccine. Is this causally related to the vaccine? Probably not but here are the things to consider. According to the news there have been 23 deaths in Norway shortly after vaccine administration and ...
Happy New Year! No, experts are not concerned that â…one of New Zealandâs COIVD-1( vaccines will fail to protect the countryâ Here is why. But first I wish to issue an expletive about this journalism (First in Australia and then in NZ). It exhibits utter failure to actually truly consult ...
All nations have shadows; some acknowledge them. For others they shape their image in uncomfortable ways.The staunch Labour supporter was in despair at what her Rogernomics Government was doing. But she finished âat least, we got rid of Muldoonâ, a response which tells us that then, and today, oneâs views ...
Grigori GuitchountsIn November, Springer Nature, one of the world’s largest publishers of scientific journals, made an attention-grabbing announcement:Â More than 30 of its most prestigious journals, including the flagship Nature, will now allow authors to pay a fee of US$11,390 to make their papers freely available for anyone to read ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Gary Yohe, Henry Jacoby, Richard Richels, and Benjamin Santer Imagine a major climate change law passing the U.S. Congress unanimously? Don’t bother. It turns out that you don’t need to imagine it. Get this: The Global Change Research Act of 1990 was passed ...
âTheyâre here already! Youâre next! Youâre next! Youâre next!âWHO CAN FORGET the penultimate scene of the 1956 movie classic, Invasion of the Body Snatchers? The wild-eyed doctor, stumbling down the highway, trying desperately to warn his fellow citizens: âTheyâre here already! Youâre next! Youâre next! Youâre next!âOstensibly science-fiction, the movie ...
TheOneRing.Net has got its paws on the official synopsis of the upcoming Amazon Tolkien TV series. It’s a development that brings to mind the line about Sauron deliberately releasing Gollum from the dungeons of Barad-dĂ»r. Amazon knew exactly what they were doing here, in terms of drumming up publicity: ...
Since Dwight Eisenhowerâs inauguration in 1953, US presidents have joined an informal club intended to provide support - and occasionally rivalry - between those few who have been âleaders of the free worldâ. Donald Trump, elected on a promise to âdrain the swampâ and a constant mocker of his predecessors, ...
For over a decade commentators have noted the rise of a new brand of explicitly ideological politics throughout the world. By this they usually refer to the re-emergence of national populism and avowedly illiberal approaches to governance throughout the “advanced” democratic community, but they also extend the thought to the ...
The US House of Representatives has just impeached Donald Trump, giving him the dubious honour of being the only US President to be impeached twice. Ten Republicans voted for impeachement, making it the most bipartisan impeachment ever. The question now is whether the Senate will rise to the occasion, and ...
Zero emission buses, cleaner cars and environmentally-friendly biofuels will soon be hitting New Zealandâs roads, as the Government delivers on its election promise to make our transport network more sustainable. ...
The Green Party is already delivering on its commitment for cleaner, climate-friendly transport through our Cooperation Agreement with the Government. ...
A growing public housing waiting list and continued increase of house prices must be urgently addressed by Government, Green Party Co-leader Marama Davidson said today. ...
Prudence Steven QC, barrister of Christchurch has been appointed as an Environment Judge and District Court Judge to serve in Christchurch, Attorney-General David Parker announced today. Ms Steven has been a barrister sole since 2008, practising in resource management and local government / public law.   She was appointed a Queenâs ...
The Government is delivering on its first tranche of election promises to take action on climate change with a raft of measures that will help meet New Zealandâs 2050 carbon neutral target, create new jobs and boost innovation. âThis will be an ongoing area of action but we are moving ...
The Government is investing up to $10 million to support 30 of the countryâs top early-career researchers to develop their research skills. âThe pandemic has had widespread impacts across the science system, including the research workforce. After completing their PhD, researchers often travel overseas to gain experience but in the ...
A Waitomo-based Jobs for Nature project will keep up to ten people employed in the village as the tourism sector recovers post Covid-19 Conservation Minister Kiri Allan says. âThis $500,000 project will save ten local jobs by deploying workers from Discover Waitomo into nature-based jobs. They will be undertaking local ...
Minister for Climate Change, James Shaw spoke yesterday with President Bidenâs Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry. âI was delighted to have the opportunity to speak with Mr. Kerry this morning about the urgency with which our governments must confront the climate emergency. I am grateful to him and ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Hon Nanaia Mahuta today announced three diplomatic appointments: Alana Hudson as Ambassador to Poland John Riley as Consul-General to Hong Kong Stephen Wong as Consul-General to Shanghai  Poland âNew Zealandâs relationship with Poland is built on enduring personal, economic and historical connections. Poland is also an important ...
Work begins today at Wainuiomata High School to ensure buildings and teaching spaces are fit for purpose, Education Minister Chris Hipkins says. The Minister joined principal Janette Melrose and board chair Lynda Koia to kick off demolition for the project, which is worth close to $40 million, as the site ...
A skilled and experienced group of people have been named as the newly established Oranga Tamariki Ministerial Advisory Board by Childrenâs Minister Kelvin Davis today. The Board will provide independent advice and assurance to the Minister for Children across three key areas of Oranga Tamariki: relationships with families, whÄnau, and ...
The green light for New Zealandâs first COVID-19 vaccine could be granted in just over a week, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said today. âWeâre making swift progress towards vaccinating New Zealanders against the virus, but weâre also absolutely committed to ensuring the vaccines are safe and effective,â Jacinda Ardern said. ...
The Minister for ACC is pleased to announce the appointment of three new members to join the Board of ACC on 1 February 2021. âAll three bring diverse skills and experience to provide strong governance oversight to lead the direction of ACCâ said Hon Carmel Sepuloni. Bella Takiari-Brame from Hamilton ...
The Government is investing $9 million to upgrade a significant community facility in Invercargill, creating economic stimulus and jobs, Infrastructure Minister Grant Robertson and Te Tai Tonga MP Rino Tirikatene have announced.  The grant for WaihĆpai RĆ«naka Inc to make improvements to Murihiku Marae comes from the $3 billion set ...
[Opening comments, welcome and thank you to Auckland University etc] It is a great pleasure to be here this afternoon to celebrate such an historic occasion - the entry into force of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. This is a moment many feared would never come, but ...
The Government is providing $3 million in one-off seed funding to help disabled people around New Zealand stay connected and access support in their communities, Minister for Disability Issues, Carmel Sepuloni announced today. The funding will allow disability service providers to develop digital and community-based solutions over the next two ...
Border workers in quarantine facilities will be offered voluntary daily COVID-19 saliva tests in addition to their regular weekly testing, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. This additional option will be rolled out at the Jet Park Quarantine facility in Auckland starting on Monday 25 January, and then to ...
The next steps in the Governmentâs ambitious firearms reform programme to include a three-month buy-back have been announced by Police Minister Poto Williams today. âThe last buy-back and amnesty was unprecedented for New Zealand and was successful in collecting 60,297 firearms, modifying a further 5,630 firearms, and collecting 299,837 prohibited ...
Upscaling work already underway to restore two iconic ecosystems will deliver jobs and a lasting legacy, Conservation Minister Kiri Allan says. Â âThe Jobs for Nature programme provides $1.25 billion over four years to offer employment opportunities for people whose livelihoods have been impacted by the COVID-19 recession. âTwo new projects ...
The Government has released its Public Housing Plan 2021-2024 which outlines the intention of where 8,000 additional public and transitional housing places announced in Budget 2020, will go. âThe Government is committed to continuing its public house build programme at pace and scale. The extra 8,000 homes â 6000 public ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has congratulated President Joe Biden on his inauguration as the 46th President of the United States of America. âI look forward to building a close relationship with President Biden and working with him on issues that matter to both our countries,â Jacinda Ardern said. âNew Zealand ...
A major investment to tackle wilding pines in Mt Richmond will create jobs and help protect the areaâs unique ecosystems, Biosecurity Minister Damien OâConnor says. The Mt Richmond Forest Park has unique ecosystems developed on mineral-rich geology, including taonga plant species found nowhere else in the country. âThese special plant ...
To further protect New Zealand from COVID-19, the Government is extending pre-departure testing to all passengers to New Zealand except from Australia, Antarctica and most Pacific Islands, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. âThe change will come into force for all flights arriving in New Zealand after 11:59pm (NZT) on Monday ...
Bay Conservation Cadets launched with first intake Supported with $3.5 million grant Part of $1.245b Jobs for Nature programme to accelerate recover from Covid Cadets will learn skills to protect and enhance environment Environment Minister David Parker today welcomed the first intake of cadets at the launch of the Bay ...
The Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern and the Prime Minister of the Cook Islands Mark Brown have announced passengers from the Cook Islands can resume quarantine-free travel into New Zealand from 21 January, enabling access to essential services such as health. âFollowing confirmation of the Cook Islandsâ COVID ...
Jobs for Nature funding is being made available to conservation groups and landowners to employ staff and contractors in a move aimed at boosting local biodiversity-focused projects, Conservation Minister Kiritapu Allan has announced. It is estimated some 400-plus jobs will be created with employment opportunities in ecology, restoration, trapping, ...
The Government has approved an exception class for 1000 international tertiary students, degree level and above, who began their study in New Zealand but were caught offshore when border restrictions began. The exception will allow students to return to New Zealand in stages from April 2021. âOur top priority continues ...
Todayâs deal between Meridian and Rio Tinto for the Tiwai smelter to remain open another four years provides time for a managed transition for Southland. âThe deal provides welcome certainty to the Southland community by protecting jobs and incomes as the region plans for the future. The Government is committed ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has appointed Anna Curzon to the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC). The leader of each APEC economy appoints three private sector representatives to ABAC. ABAC provides advice to leaders annually on business priorities. âABAC helps ensure that APECâs work programme is informed by business community perspectives ...
The Governmentâs prudent fiscal management and strong policy programme in the face of the COVID-19 global pandemic have been acknowledged by the credit rating agency Fitch. Fitch has today affirmed New Zealandâs local currency rating at AA+ with a stable outlook and foreign currency rating at AA with a positive ...
The Government is putting in place a suite of additional actions to protect New Zealand from COVID-19, including new emerging variants, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. âGiven the high rates of infection in many countries and evidence of the global spread of more transmissible variants, itâs clear that ...
$36 million of Government funding alongside councils and others for 19 projects Investment will clean up and protect waterways and create local jobs Boots on the ground expected in Q2 of 2021 Funding part of the Jobs for Nature policy package A package of 19 projects will help clean up ...
Michelle Kidd defines her role at Auckland’s specialist family violence court as te kaiwhakatere – the navigator. It’s a one-of-a-kind job, helping guide defendants through the court system. And there’s no one better suited to it than Whaea Michelle.First published November 24, 2020.Whaea Michelle is part of Frame, a series of short ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sallie Yea, Associate professor & Principal Research Fellow, La Trobe University Each year, thousands of men and boys labour under extremely exploitative conditions on commercial fishing vessels owned by Taiwanese, Chinese and South Korean companies. The Taiwanese fleet, which operates in all ...
Children’s Minister Kelvin Davis believes the Crown should maintain responsibility for the care and protection of at-risk and vulnerable children, regardless of their race. Moreover, he is confident his all-Maori team of advisers will not be taking race into account as they help to improve Oranga Tamariki’s care and protection of ...
It’s easy to sacrifice John Banks. It’s a lot harder for brands, sports organisations and government to truly stop funding racism. Are they willing to try?Yesterday John Banks, the former Auckland mayor and MP, became subject to one of the fastest firings in media history when audio covering his approving ...
A community is outraged after Auckland Council granted consent for a row of trees planted by local kids to be removed along a revitalised waterway in South Auckland, reports Justin Latif. An Auckland Council decision to give contractors the all-clear to chop down 12 mānuka and kānuka trees shading Māngere’s Tararata ...
Te PĆ«tahitanga o Te Waipounamu hopes that the recent changes to Oranga Tamariki leadership present an opportunity for a long overdue paradigm shift that will place whÄnau at the heart of the child welfare sector. PouÄrahi Helen Leahy says that ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Rice, Professor of Management, University of New England Elon Musk is now the worldâs richest person, edging out previous title holder Amazonâs Jeff Bezos. His rocketing fortune is due to the booming share price of Tesla, the maker of electric vehicles ...
There are now three returnees who contracted the virus in the Auckland isolation facility then left into the community while positive. These are some of the questions that need to be resolved. At 10.20pm last night the Ministry of Health confirmed that the two cases they’d been treating as probable ...
Having a hard time remembering to scan in on the NZ Covid Tracer app when you’re out and about? Get this song stuck in your head and you’ll never forget again.Learn the lyrics:Aotearoa, it’s time to get scanning!I mean if you think about it, it never really wasn’t time we ...
We conclude our week-long examination of New Zealand writer Roderick Finlayson with a review of his stories by John Newton Roger Hickinâs Cold Hub Press is one of the small miracles of contemporary New Zealand publishing. Over the last decade, on what can only be a shoe-string budget, the ...
Thursday 28th January, AUCKLAND: Drive Electric, the not-for-profit with one mission â making electric vehicle uptake in New Zealand mainstream, welcomes the announcement by the Government today as a sign of whatâs to come through 2021, and we are confident ...
The Government announced today key policy decisions on the proposed clean car policies. The MIA has stated on many occasions that we support well thought out and constructive policies that will lead to an increased rate in the reduction of CO2 emissions from ...
Get wild, get cultured, get fed and then get to bed: the essential guide to a perfect few days in the southern city. There’s one thing that preoccupies the staff of The Spinoff almost as much as arranging popular food items into arbitrary lists, and that’s Dunedin. A quite remarkable ...
John Banks’ racist exchange with a Magic Talk listener on Tuesday was the latest in nearly 50 years of talkback controversies. Donna Chisholm has the receipts.John Banks axed over Māori ‘stone age culture’ comments on Magic Talk1972: On Radio I, sports talkback host Tim Bickerstaff launches a “Punch a Pom ...
*This article first appeared on RNZ and is republished with permission.Two new community Covid-19 cases have been identified as the more infectious South African variant, but Auckland Mayor Phil Goff sayit would be "premature to go into lockdown now". The two new cases of Covid-19 identified in the ...
Today, for the second time in two months Dunedin climate protectors have locked themselves to the railway tracks outside the Dunedin Railway station to stop the KiwiRail coal train from Bathurst Resourcesâ Takitimu mine in Southland to Fonterraâs ...
KiwiRail STOP Hauling COAL Today, for the second time in two months Dunedin climate protectors have locked themselves to the railway tracks outside the Dunedin Railway station to stop the KiwiRail coal train from Bathurst Resourcesâ Takitimu mine ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adam Dunn, Associate professor, University of Sydney The government is rolling out a new public information campaign this week to reassure the public about the safety of COVID-19 vaccines, which one expert has said âcouldnât be more crucialâ to people actually getting ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Therese O’Sullivan, Associate Professor, Edith Cowan University The COVID vaccine rollout has placed the issue of vaccination firmly in the spotlight. A successful rollout will depend on a variety of factors, one of which is vaccine acceptance. One potential hurdle to vaccine ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bernard Walker, Associate Professor in Organisations and Leadership, University of Canterbury Kiwis know what itâs like when life throws curveballs. Weâve had major quakes, floods, fires, an eruption, a terrorist attack and now a pandemic. In those situations, itâs the ability to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Irwin, Emeritus professor, Murdoch University While we continue to be occupied with the COVID pandemic, another life-threatening disease has emerged in northern Australia, one thatâs cause for considerable alarm for the millions of dog owners around the country. This disease â ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cath Ferguson, Academic, Edith Cowan University Almost half of Australian adults struggle with reading. Similar levels of struggling readers are reported in the United Kingdom and United States. This does not mean all struggling readers are illiterate. It means they often struggle ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Abbas Shieh, Assistant Professor of Urban Planning and Design, Islamic Azad University The industrial revolution transformed cities, resulting in places of residence and work becoming more distant than ever before. This spatial segregation is still largely embedded in the design of our ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ari Mattes, Lecturer in Communications and Media, University of Notre Dame Australia Review: Occupation: Rainfall, written and directed by Luke Sparke Historically, when a sequel to a film was greenlit, you could rest assured this was because the first film made a ...
Welcome to The Spinoff’s live updates for January 28, keeping you up to date with the latest local and international news. Reach me on stewart@thespinoff.co.nzOur members make The Spinoff happen! Every dollar contributed directly funds our editorial team – click here to learn more about how you can support us ...
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Tourism suffers in the shadow of Covid-19, two new positive cases in Auckland confirmed, and National will contest the Māori electorates.The front page of the January 4 Greymouth Star carried grim tidings for several of the glacier towns on the ...
*This article first appeared on RNZ and is republished with permission. Two people who left managed isolation on January 15 have been confirmed as positive Covid-19 cases, with the Ministry of Health urging anyone who visited the same locations during the same time period as the infected pair in Auckland to ...
The watchlist of 'offensive or unreasonable' babies' names is to be reviewed, to include more names from other languages. Generations of the ÄȘhaka family have played a meaningful role in bringing Te Reo and stories of MÄori to our wider community. Archdeacon Sir KÄ«ngi Matutaera ÄȘhaka (Te AupĆuri, 1921-93) was known as the orator of ...
After Moroccoâs flagrant violation of the terms of the ceasefire in Western Sahara on Friday 13 November 2020 war broke out between the two sides. In the midst of this war Tauranga based Ballance Agri-Nutrients has decided to carry on importing phosphate ...
Nicholas Agar suggests that our handling of the pandemic could be partly down to our distinctive Treaty of Waitangi relationship, and MÄori ideas that enabled us to make it through without tens of thousands of deaths A mission for universities in the coming decade will be a deep understanding of the meaning ...
A young girl who once sent $5 to an embattled America's Cup team is now among the women on the water helping run the contest for the Auld Mug. As an eager and generous nine-year-old, Melanie Roberts posted a letter, with a $5 note, to OneAustraliaâs Americaâs Cup team. It was 1995, ...
At 5am today, cock’s crow, the embargo lifted on the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards longlist. Here are the books in the race, followed by thoughts from poetry editor Chris Tse and books editor Catherine Woulfe. A shortlist of four books in each category will be announced March 3, with ...
Ignoring those QR codes when you drop into the supermarket? Can’t be bothered when you grab a coffee? The people serving you notice, and you’re freaking them out.So far, New Zealanders’ use of the Covid-19 Tracer app has been notably woeful. Food industry workers who’ve watched streams of customers walk ...
Steve Braunias reveals the longlist of the 2021 Ockham New Zealand book awards Apart from one or two unfortunate omissions which cast doubt on the sanity and intellectual acumen of judges, especially the nobodies who judged this year's non-fiction, the longlist for the 2021 Ockham New Zealand book awards is ...
By Lulu Mark in Port Moresby Papua New Guineaâs biggest hospital is straining to provide medical services to the growing population of the capital Port Moresby â with an estimated growth rate of 3 percent annually, a medical executive says. Port Moresby General Hospital chief executive officer Dr Paki Molumi ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Nationals who attend Thursdayâs memorial service in Tweed Heads for Doug Anthony, who died last month aged 90, may muse on the contrast between the state of their party when he led it and now. ...
Returning to quarantine-free travel in 2021 doesn't just need a vaccine, but a way to check whether arriving passengers are actually immune to the virus. A smart Kiwi science start-up is working with a global biometrics giant to make that happen. A deal signed between Kiwi research and development company Orbis Diagnostics, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Caitlyn Forster, PhD Candidate, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Sydney This summerâs wetter conditions have created great conditions for flowering plants. Flowers provide sweet nectar and protein-rich pollen, attracting many insects, including bees. Commercial honey bees are also thriving: ...
Lotto scratchie tickets featuring the pop band Six60 are being withdrawn after a public backlash. In a statement, Lotto NZ said there had been a mutual decision made with the band to remove the tickets from sale following the negative feedback, and it offered an apology. The band faced criticism, both ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Russell Dean Christopher Bicknell, Post-doctoral researcher in Palaeobiology , University of New England Shell-crushing predation was already in full swing half a billion years ago, as our new research published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B reveals. A hyena devouring ...
Vodafone has suspended advertising on the radio station amid calls for talkback host John Banks to be taken off air after yet another racist outburst. Alex Braae reports. In an alarming segment of talkback radio, former Auckland mayor John Banks endorsed the views of a caller who described Māori as a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Welch, Senior Lecturer, University of Auckland When a COVID-19 case was found in Northland last Sunday, Aotearoaâs second-longest period with no detected community case came to an end. ESR scientists worked late into Sunday night to obtain a whole genome sequence ...
He has the perfect moustache, an exceptional mullet, and he uses terms like ‘face hole’ on national TV. Who or what is Dr Joel Rindelaub?I was drawn in by the moustache, but it was the mullet that really kept me there. Watching TVNZ’s Breakfast yesterday morning I was fixated. Often, ...
Weâll never be royals with nearly a quarter of declined baby names featuring âRoyalâ in some form or another. Te Tari Taiwhenua Department of Internal Affairs has released the list of names declined in 2020 by the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and ...
After a raft of inquiries delving into and recommending what should be done about the politically beleaguered Orangi Tamaraki, along with the briefing papers we suppose he has been given, we imagined Childrenâs Minister Kelvin Davis would have no more need for expert advice.   Wrong. He has ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vincent Ho, Senior Lecturer and clinical academic gastroenterologist, Western Sydney University Thereâs a common assumption men take longer than women to poo. People say so on Twitter, in memes, and elsewhereonline. But is that right? What could explain it? And if ...
Just as sexuality is a spectrum, so too is asexuality. In Ace of Hearts, members of New Zealand’s asexual community talk about the challenges and misconceptions of identifying as ace.First published November 17, 2020.Ace of Hearts is part of Frame, a series of short documentaries produced by Wrestler for The Spinoff.“A ...
Sam Brooks wasn’t allowed to watch kids TV as a kid. Now, as a 30 year old man, he watches it for the first time.My mother’s approach to parenting was unorthodox. I wrote weekly book reports on top of my actual homework, I did maths equations in Roman numerals and ...
Pacific Media Watch newsdesk More leading Indonesian figures have made racial slurs against Natalius Pigai, former chair of the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) â and all West Papuans, says United Liberation Movement of West Papua (ULMWP) interim president Benny Wenda. âSince the illegal Indonesian invasion in 1963, Indonesian ...
âThe Governmentâs failure to even conduct a standard cost-benefit analysis for the most expensive infrastructure project in New Zealandâs history is mind-bogglingly arrogant,â says New Zealand Taxpayersâ Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke. âA ...
The Ministry of Health is today drawing backlash from the local New Zealand vaping industry following its release of proposed regulations for the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products Act. Vaping Trade Association New Zealand (VTANZ) President, ...
Sophie Gilmour and Simon Day are joined by special guest Hugo Baird, co-owner of Grey Lynn’s Honey Bones and Lilian, to talk about opening new pub Hotel Ponsonby.Auckland is a city of many bars but few really good pubs – the kind of places you’d be just as comfortable going ...
The appointment of an advisory board for Oranga Tamariki is welcome and should be a step toward a total transformation of the care and protection system to a by MÄori, for MÄori approach, Childrenâs Commissioner Andrew Becroft said today. Minister ...
Taking control of your financial wellbeing can have cascading positive impacts for your life and it can also be fun. With the help of the team at Kiwi Wealth, we’ve compiled some simple tricks for balancing your books in 2021. There’s something about the beginning of a new year, especially after ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kris Gledhill, Professor of Law, Auckland University of Technology As we know, getting into New Zealand during the COVID-19 pandemic is difficult. There are practicalities, such as high airfare and managed isolation costs. And there are legal requirements, including pre-flight testing, mandatory ...
New Zealand faces the risk of a generation being locked out of the housing market unless land is freed up and more houses built, National Party leader Judith Collins says. ...
On Sunday, Stuff published a months-long investigation by Alison Mau detailing allegations of harassment and exploitation within the local music industry.The piece, ‘Music industry professionals demand change after speaking out about its dark side’, includes allegations of inappropriate behaviour and abuse of power by male artists, international acts and executives; ...
âThe Government is all at sea on timelines for Australia and New Zealandâs respective vaccine roll-outs, with the worst news coming from the mouth of Pfizer Australia CEO Anne Harris,â says ACT Leader David Seymour. âYesterday, under increasing ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Claire Higgins, Senior Research Fellow, Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law, UNSW As a presidential candidate, Joe Biden promised the US would demonstrate âglobal leadership on refugeesâ. Once elected, he pledged to vastly increase refugee resettlement in the US. If history is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alex Baumann, Casual Academic, School of Social Sciences & Psychology, Western Sydney University Among the many hard truths exposed by COVID-19 is the huge disparity between the worldâs rich and poor. As economies went into freefall, the worldâs billionaires increased their already ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jan Lanicek, Senior Lecturer in Modern European History and Jewish History, UNSW On January 27 communities worldwide commemorate the liberation of Auschwitz â the largest complex of concentration camps and extermination centres during the Holocaust. This is the first year the International ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lorinda Cramer, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Australian Catholic University The summer break is over, marking a return to the office. For some, this ends almost a year of working from home in lockdown. Some analysts are predicting it might also mark an enduring ...
Welcome to The Spinoff’s live updates for January 27, keeping you up to date with the latest local and international news. Reach me on stewart@thespinoff.co.nzOur members make The Spinoff happen! Every dollar contributed directly funds our editorial team – click here to learn more about how you can support us ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexander Gillespie, Professor of Law, University of Waikato New Zealand has a strong history of protecting and promoting human rights at home and internationally, and prides itself on being an outspoken critic and global leader in this area. So, when the most ...
Off to vist friends in Palmerston North this weekend and give the bike a rest for a change!
Palmerston North? Commiserations mate! đ
Well I’m in levin whats wrong with the horowhenua?? me I think I will restart watching Babylon 5 or maybe Dr Who, from the beginning hmm decisions decisions.
B5 nice one. Dr Who as well. Good taste buddy. Me, I prefer toasters getting frakked on BSG đ
Yes, but Palmerston North ain’t in the Horowhenua đ
Well it’s as close as spitting distance lol And I settled on B5 as i have just finished converting it all to Xvid for my laptop
Push bike? As in you cycle?
Yep. Fresh air, fantastic Hawke’s Bay scenery and a competitive streak. Great fun.
I know you said “no aggro” but can I use this thread to say that as a dedicated Hurricanes fan I hope that Mark Hammett gets on the first plane back to Canterbury as soon as possible, the man is useless.
Secondly…all real sports fans will be cheering for India in the cricket world cup final, I doubt I could handle seeing that cheat Murali hold up the world cup.
I’m backing Sri Lanka bruv – just to piss you off.
No, actually because I think they have the superior bowling lineup with the 3 M’s (Murali – assuming he is fit enough to play, Malinga, and Mendis), and because India have designed the tournament schedule to favour themselves and deserve to get their comeuppance.
And whatever you think of Murali’s bowling action when he delivers the doosra, under the current Laws of Cricket it is legal.
As I said Toad…..”all real sports fans” đ
Once again I prove Toad wrong, and to make India’s victory all the more enjoyable the cheating sod Murali did not get a wicket.
Did you make a prediction of some sort? ‘Cos it doesn’t really count unless you communicate it.
Oi Felix,
You still doing the market?
If you’re going to accuse a sports-person of cheating you’d better have some evidence. Do you?
Yes I do..
How about the fact that the rules of the game were changed to allow this cheat to continue playing, how about the fact that numerous umpires are on record as saying that the ICC just do not want to hear any accusations about the mans bowling action.
Even allowing for the 15 degree Murali rule he is still a chucker, still a cheat and still a blight on the game.
Yes, they lost. But the really good news is Murali might be coming to Wellington to play for them in the next two seasons! You’ll be able to tell him what you think to his face!!!
Have to agree with you entirely, Bruv. Murali should have been banned before he even got to play international cricket and his ‘record’ counts for nothing as far as I’m concerned. He can’t be the best bowler in the world if he doesn’t bowl the ball. Simple, really.
Mind you, it’s obviously a bit rich for you to be bleating about cheating, when you’re so complicit in match fixing yourself.
Why don’t you put you money where you mouth is . . . oh, right. As you were.
Tried Renaissance brewery’s double India pale ale today. O is for owsum.
Ah, Renaissance ales- make life worth that bit more living. Tried their new twopenny ale tonight, and then a half of Sorenson’s 8-wired. My beer of choice is Renaissance Scotch Ale, but, sob, tonight the tap had run dry. A real Slim Dusty moment. “But there’s nothing so lonesome , or make a man pale, when the barman says sadly, “The pub’s got no Ale.”
(JFTR the vid was made just before Team America came out )
I played with a country fiddle player once who ate all his food like that man in black in the video- everything deep fried in two inches of fat. He could play though.
Did a version of “Orange Blossom Special,” humunguously fast at the end, where he played with the bow between his teeth moving the fiddle instead on the bow, with the fiddle behind his back, behind his head, under his knee, with socks on and finally with a metal coat hanger. Impeccably. He played so fast that I had to halve the tempo on the upright bass just to keep up.
Sometimes we just don’t know how good people are until they’ve gone. Had good taste in whisky too. Think I’ll have one now to remember Leo. Slainte to you too Rosy!
Capcha ‘compositions” Dang, there it goes again.
And on all things Scottish and the gone good – the best Scottish band that never made it big (IMO)…damn that Scottish melancholy/nostalgia combination – there must be a word for it???
Working this weekend as usual, but I get an extra hour before work this morning đ
Thanks for the Big Country link. i had a vinyl LP of there’s back then. As I recall it was about the same time as U2 started to make it big, and it sometimes got referred to as Celtic Rock.
Big Country got a lot of mentions for making their guitars sound like traditional fiddles & bagpipes. I guess it’s the melancholy of oppressed hard working people, and nostalgia for better times, all held together by a sense of community & soldiarity.
I’ll cheers you with a Scottish scotch ale in Scotland this weekend Slainte đ
Blah! Have a decent beer.
I preferred the earlier Skids. Still my favorite punk band.
Days In Europa, Scared To Dance and The Absolute Game sit still in my record collection replete with “you shall not pay more than” stickers.
Working For The Yankee Dollar
Albert Tatlock!
Stuck way over here in NZ didn’t ever get the chance to see em – but since you asked:
Wish I was there
Â
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Understand completely DoS. Sad that I am, I once timed a trip to the UK to see BC the day I arrived… Being stuck in NZ I knew it would be the only chance I’d get. I appreciate The Skids but prefer folk-infused rock myself. Sacrilege to some but I also appreciated the U2/Green Day version of The Skids ‘the saints are coming’. I saw it as a tribute to The Skids as well as a Hurricane Katrina fundraiser http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seGhTWE98DU&feature=related
I thought the mistake Green Day made was that it sounded too like the original. The chance to make it their own version was not taken. It became more of a homage really..
My daughter had great fun at school though saying pffft the original was better and her fellow classmates going what do you mean?
This party blows. I’m off to the pub.
Yes that’s how I feel about [no politics please! – r0b] as well.
Right – now felix is gone we can bring out the good stuff!
On the subject of other good stuff. Saw a good concert on Wednesday night at which the story got told about a Scottish friend who got the nickname “The Exorcist.” And why was he called the Exorcist? Because when he’d left after a good night’s visiting, there were no spirits left in the house.
Heh – I’ll steal that line some time…
Hey!! I always sensed that was going on r0b!
No weekend social out here. Just weekend chores fixing up our now crooked little house (and sitting in the garden). Big houses around us have suffered or come down or been demolished while our timber number proved itself as one tough dancer at quake time.
Go the little old wooden cottage!
Snap! (‘as it were’). Our 70m2 cottage did the same – shook itself like a dog and then just looked like nothing had happened (except for a few things on the floor). Not bad for living about 800m from the four avenues.
This has probably been mentioned before, but if you want something to do over the weekend you could do worse than check out Gap Filler.
Arnt Timber cottages great? nice little flexible buildings, but I wonder if you will get a lot of squeaky floors from sprung nails?
Well the mighty Gunners are at home to Ryan Nelsen and Blackburn Rovers and I hope that I’m watching this match Sunday morning after Man Utd have been beaten by Winston Reids West Ham (I know Winnie probably won’t do much more than warm the bench).
For sale, one red carpet and trophy cabinet. Good condition, not used in recent years. Enquiries to A Wenger, Emirates Stadium, London.
Early one morning Arsene Wenger was roused from sleep by a telephone call. “Wenger”, Arsene sleepily muttered into the receiver as he answered it. “This is the London Fire Chief”, came the reply from the telephone, “I am calling you, Mr Wenger, to report that the Emirates Stadium is on fire”. Instantly awake, “The cups man, save the cups” bellowed Wenger. In a soothing tone the Fire Chief replied “Calm down Mr Wenger, the fire hasn’t reached the kitchen yet”.
Muzik for geeks
http://www.thesixtyone.com/#/s/rzsHejpkw9q/
Get down! And when you’re done with that – more geeky muzik awaits:
Lynn take note!
I’ve always been partial to this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYW50F42ss8
Oh, you want a geek off
I see you and raise you:
http://www.thesixtyone.com/#/artist/Matheatre/songs/
I call: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJvAL-iiLnQ
And raise you Carl Sagan and Stephen Hawking: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSgiXGELjbc
All right, game on!
For some reason this video doesn’t load for me from youtube, but if I view it embedded on another site it works fine: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tm1yvSiVs9U
Embedded: http://www.cstonedesign.com/videos-the-bloodmobile-they-might-be-%5BTm1yvSiVs9U%5D.cfm
captcah: excesss, yes, 3 esses
And a bit more mainstream…
Why? I refuse to watch the videos. They will be puppies and kittens like the strange graphic in the post? Urgghh..
Plze some honest backbiting….. Off to OpenMike.
Puppies and kittens was so last week. You should read on the front end to see the new graphic.
Plus, you really should check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owboALviA8U
Heh! That is better – war by other means. Stop the Howitzers and substitute a soccer ball
Prefer the hot toddies
Well for sure. The iBand thing is just geekdom that I thought would appeal to iPad fans like Lynn…
It was *grin*. I was justin a bah humbug and code mood this weekend.
Gardening. Gotta get the last of the winter veggies in before it gets too cold.
What are you planting Critic?
I had my first crack at a garden this summer, I found it a hell of a lot of fun but have no idea what I should be planting for winter crops.
Does it harm the soil if you just leave it empty for the winter or is it better to plant some type of crop?
Hi BB, it depends a bit on where you are. I’m in Christchurch and most things grow a bit slowly over winter and they need shelter from the frosts. You could try this website for a few tips, but it comes down to trial and error usually.
The best advice anyone ever gave “Tend your garden” (Voltaire, I think).
Good heavens, something I have in common with bruv, first year gardening.
We first planted late autumn last year. Leeks and spinach did well over winter. Some folks say mustard greens to fix nitrogen.
Interested in advice from real gardeners!
I’m also going to tend my garden this weekend.
Ehhh, first comment after a few years of lurking.
This type of thread seems a lot safer than all of the other ones.
I have in the garden: leeks, spring onions, lentils, beetroot, celery, and the usual herbs and lettuce and spinach etc.
WHAT AM I DOING?
MUST SLEEP I HAVE TO GO TO WORK IN AN HOUR
OH NO.
Watch out for over-cooked poached eggs tomorrow, Wellington.
Welcome! Glad we’ve made a space where you can be happy commenting. Hope your eggs didn’t get too munted…
Lucerne or Black eyed peas also known as cow peas are good for nitrogen fixing. Come to think of it any edible beans will do the same with the added advantage of ending up with food. Just chuck a couple of hands over the bit you want to leave empty and the next year dig the lot in and you will have a bumper crop of whatever you plant next. Mustard greens are good to and are great in stir fries. For land not used for a long time you can grow wattle (Great nitrogen fixer) and if you coppice them you will have firewood on a regular base for many years.
Depends on where you are big bruv. I’m in Thames Valley and get a few frosts, but nothing serious. If you are in Auckland, or near the coast, then maybe frosts won’t be too much of a problem.
I’ve planted leeks, carrots, beetroot, celery, broccoli, onions, cabbages and cauliflower. I was meant to get brussel sprouts too, but accidentally bought extra broccoli. Today I’m planting red onions, radishes, cucumbers, mizuna (which is a type of lettuce, I hope) and butter beans.
My guess is the main virtue of planting a garden for winter is that it keeps your attention on the garden, so it’s not so much effort to get it going again for summer. You could plant a crop that fixes nitrogen, over winter, and mulch it back into the garden in August, that way you don’t need to worry about harvesting it, and meanwhile it will improve your soil.
The Warehouse had/has frost cloth for about 50c per metre. I need to build something so I can roll it out in the evening and wind it back onto its reel in the morning. Maybe an old electric fence tape reel can be modified – on Sunday.
Best of luck with your garden, BB.
Interesting. Hope you can comment here some time when you know how well that worked…
Critic, thanks for the advice and the kind words.
It is a magnificent day here today so there is no excuse for not being in the garden.
I am not a huge fan of winter veggies (apart from Brussel Sprouts which I love) so I might just plant some of them, some onions, radishes and do the rest in mustard.
yeah brussel sprouts are great, I must get some in the ground.
I’ve had very poor feedback about the radishes, the rest of the household is not impressed.
A Â friend and I co-operate in a community garden plot of about 120 square metres. We with spouses sat down tonight and ate chicken with own grown potatoes, kumera, tomatoes, corn, rocket (with roasted seeds), garlic, pumpkin, cherry tomatoes with basil- a feast, and so much better to have grown it ourselves. Had to get in the parsnips and carrots, but next year that’s what we’ll grow and less beans and garlic and spuds ‘cos of that damn psyllid.
And home brew, made with own grown hops. Â
Planted today lettuce, curly kale and mizuna and harvested as well. Down at the plot a Fijian Indian woman told me of  delicious curry made with curly kale. Islanders grow taro there, Maori grow kumera, Muslims grow hot peppers and green tomatoes, ex-South Canterbury farmers grow pumpkins bigger than wheel barrows, Greenies grow in companion planting fashion and ex-acoholics stay dry by growing beans and yams and corn. We swap food and ideas, yarns and help each other. Some neighbour dug half my plot by hand because I am recovering from cancer operations. It is a functioning and vibrant community, full of heart and love. Life can be like that, as can at least one thread on the Standard!
Mac 1,
Sorry to hear about your cancer operations and hope you are recovering al right.
I have a question. You talk about the psyllid. I had not heard about it before and did a quick google. I live near Raglan (Hamilton) and just had a disappointing potato harvest. Any chance of this horrid little bug having spread to the West coast of the North Island?
Travellerev, healing very well, thanks. That’s why my remark to big bruv about gardening being good therapy. And also enforced inaction gives time to blog, read and contemplate. Gotta be some positives đ
The psyllid I understand came in at Auckland and has travelled (sorry) south. We are in the top of the South Island and this is our second season.
The damage to potatoes shows as a yellow, very stunted, deformed growth and the potatoes themselves can show an uneven black circle inside when you slice through, called zebra markings, caused by a bacterium introduced by the psyllid when it feeds. The spud itself develops an off taste. At an early stage you can detect the psyllid on the underleaves, either its eggs or the critter itself. Google has all this info. The psyllid also preys on tomatoes, eggplant and tree tomatoes.Â
I would expect it to be in your district. Saying that, though, the community garden plot has it but 500 metres away my home garden is so far free. I intend to monitor heavily, use preparations like neem oil and try and encourage predators like lacewings. I found the early planting of spuds also helped as it takes time for psyllid populations to build up. Destroy all matter where the psyllid might over-winter.
Mizuna is a Japanese plant used for the young leaves in the salad mixtures you buy in the Supermarket. It is a member of the mustard family and also great for stir fries. It has a bit of a bite to it so eat them young for the best taste
Thanks Ev
Cheers AC.
(Wow, love the new comment interface)
Some good advice around here, big bruv. I would also look at lupins with the mustard for nitrogen fixing to be dug in with Spring. I find broad beans work well over winter and plant garlic at mid-winter. Otherwise winter greens, curly kale is good and I buy mixed asian greens for salad/stir fry use. Brussel sprouts, radishes, carrots also.
It all depends on where you are, of course. Good advice also about using cloches, cloth, glass and plastic coverings. I use favoured sites around the property for growing things outside the normal growing season, especially expensive veg like eggplants, peppers (but not winter). You can even buy mushrooms to plant. More exotic plants like rocket, mizuma, daikon can be grown, too.
And plants your spuds very early in Spring if there is danger of that bloody awful potato/tomato psyllid about your area. Best of luck. Gardening is good therapy, too.
Yeah, I should probably get around to hoeing over all the weeds and planting carrots, and getting some cauliflower and broccoli sorted. Might see if Bunnings has any broad bean’s for sale too. But otherwise, I’ve got harvest the patty-pans and figure out how best to preserve the seeds for spring and find out how many damn pumpkins we have, and bring one of the chilli plant’s inside.
And coriander does surprisingly well in the winter down in Christchurch, I’ve got a small forest of it a present that’ll be harvested for seed come next summer, but I need to find a slow bolt variety for harvesting leaves and sort out how I’m going to do basil.
Also used some quake freed fencing cinder blocks to build a dry-wall constructed planter box that just needs to be filled with soil and come the end of the frosts will be filled with capsicums
As a friend once said to me about something else.. “It would be perfect, but there are humans involved.”
Plan to blast my QOTSA collection – No One Knows being my favourite as it rocks out hard and has the delightful turn the tables video:
…plus the lead singer is 6’5″ and does wonders for my will to stay alive.
How about The Fall and William S Burroughs. I can’t get this song out of my head.
Dude the first three albums of theres are wicked. MEXICOLA
Any decent gigs in Wellington tonight?
Talking of watching stuff. I have been watching my electric jug for some time. You see when I switch it on it mumbles for a few seconds. Then it sulks in silence for maybe 15 seconds more. Then it stirs into life and rumbles away till it has boiled.
Why does it sulk?
Ok, dammit you know, that’s always puzzled me too.
Anyone?
Jugs are shy. Would you want someone watching while you do your business, getting all hot and bothered, making noises, letting off a little steam?
I’ll never look at a cup of tea the same way again…
Stay with felix’s spirits.
Yes Mac1. I must admit that I felt a little voyerish especially when, I’m ashamed to admit it, but ummm I took ahh the lid off and looked deep inside. Don’t tell my wife though. đ
Induction coils take forever to heat up đ
The boiling sound is made by gaseous bubbles collapsing in the water, changing instaneously from a low density gas to a high density liquid. The rate at which this happens depends on several factors.
One is how much air is dissolved in the water. Fresh unboiled water will have a fair amount of air dissolved in it.. so when it is first heated a lot of this will come out fairly quickly.
The second main factor is the temperature of the water. Cold water will recondense the gas bubbles very quickly, more or less as soon as they rise away from the heating element. But as the water heats the bubbles will last longer and longer, until when it’s close to boiling point the bubbles make it all the way to the surface and make relatively little noise.
Then there is likely the impact of convection currents as well.
Combine these various factors together and it largely explains what’s going on here.
ah yes.. and don’t forget the lunar effect too. Bubbles don’t just magically form by themselves you know.
captcha: collections
Obviously, this thread was needed. But I am very worried about all of you – even you big bruv.
There is another world out there – it’s got sun, and trees and deckchairs…or if you’re in Rotorua, apparently, just the trees and deckchairs.
Meh, I slept in till 12, after knocking off before 9pm. And providing my motivation levels are high enough I’ll thrash my legs on the Port Hills tomorrow as to prepare for either Mt Richardson or Mt Brown next weekend! Finally I’ll be able to escape Christchurch!
Couldn’t make it to freshers, since thanks to depression symptoms even a minor cold knocks my stamina levels down to craptastic, can’t bike/walk for crap, levels :/
One dowel rod (cut to length)
Length of non-slip grip material
One length of good-quality cord
Small length of chain
One carabina
10 kg plate
One power drill
One wife willing to construct a wrist roller for me: Priceless đ
Yeah there’s a reason she wants you to keep your wrists in shape.
In that case I’m sure you’ve got at least one huge forearm then đ
đ
Supporting the Hurricanes is like supporting the Labour Party. (Sorry r0b, is that too political?)
Any how’s – finally back from my softball club prize giving – won “Most Improved” – as the coach said, I couldn’t have got any worse – now – do I stay up and get on with Sunday as hampered as I am, or do I head off for a snooze and wait til MsBLiP starts vacuuming determinedly and accusingly around the bedroom . . . oh, decisions decisions.
Nah that’ll do. It’s a fine line, but I think it is fun to have this politics free zone on the blog. I’ve been amazed at the response. Quite uplifting, in an odd kind of way.
rOb
It’s a wonderful idea – a breath of fresh air and a real piece of azure blue sky in what can become a rather frustrating, grey, politically bloggy landscape. I think I have been most affected by the gardening comments. Great friendly supportive atmosphere -loved them.Thanks,
Here’s some porno for bookworms.
It’s a 40 Gigapixel photo of an 868 year old monastery library in Prague, the largest indoor photo ever (actually 2947 photos stitched together into a panorama.)
http://www.360cities.net/gigapixel/strahov-library.html
That is wonderful! I could peer at it all day.
Anybody know the best way of getting rid of Oxalis from a garden?
I have tried a couple of sprays but the stuff just keeps coming back.
Pure and total warfare only on oxalis. Spraying may kill it locally but only to the extent that the roots die….those bits that survive will just keep invading. If you can dig out the bulk of the roots (you will never get all of them) then spray / weed what comes back through that may work but its an ongoing battle. I have a better cure, I get my chickens to clear the area, mulch like crazy and allow the chickens in on weeding expeditions.
Right….so without chickens I am stuffed? đ
The stuff is a nightmare, I spent last Sunday digging the garden and thought I had got rid of all the Oxalis, last night I checked on the garden and the freaking stuff was starting to peak through the soil again in some areas.
I guess I will just have to spray and dig it again this weekend.
You poor bastard. Bored is right. It’s land war in asia territory.
If you’ve got any of the right aged kids about the place, draft them into it. That’s how my parents killed it back in the day.
Big bruv, total war on oxalis. I conned my kids as littlies into digging for ‘treasure’- oxalis bulbs. Wife and I were digging spuds last week-end- her on the spade, me on my knees, as ever- when she reminded me of “digging for treasure.”
I tried pigs to do the job on oxalis, with follow-up from the chooks in the 80’s. Didn’t work- planted an orchard instead, which outgrew the oxalis! The pigs ate the oxalis greens and the big corms, but left the little hard corms alone and just spread them around to regrow.
Big bruv, try the chooks, or even better, bantams since they don’t seem to dig up plants when they scratch like chooks do. Confine them in a small cage-run over a section of garden and let them go for it, since it sounds like you have spread it by digging. The chook droppings go pink from the oxalis.
Armchair Critic is right about leaf chopping but you have keep doing it.I did the same with california thistle when working as a gardener.
I often just leave it. Nice little purplypink flowers. A mini-jungle of them makes for a discussion point for visitors too.
After years chopping california thistle out by hand, and setting goats on to it, to no avail, I resorted to Tordon. Â They hated it, but I’ve heard they will come back next year anyway. Â True?
AC, never used Tordon. These thistles were in the rose bed and were obvious and free of other growth, so easier to deal to with a weekly sub-surface hoeing.
Did use boiling water on various weeds, like oxalis, but my wife reminds me that we stopped because it just seemed like we were watering them. Perhaps the detergent helped. It seemed to knock the aphids which didn’t like getting soapy. Did the dishes by hand in a basin and then gave the roses a good soaking with the soapy residue.
I am really concerned though about tomato/potato psyllids because they knocked my main crop spuds and my son-in-law’s tomatoes to hell.
AFAIK its a battle of attrition. Â You need to make it as difficult for the bulbs to do their thing as you can.
Spray them with roundup (or whatever) as soon as they appear, and again when they reappear. Â If you don’t like sprays, chop the leaves off. Â No leaves means no way for energy to be stored in the bulb.
Once they take a bit of a holiday, or appear to be discouraged, put a layer of mulch or topsoil or whatever. Â This means the bulb needs to use more energy to get leaves at the surface and thereby replenish itself.
Whatever you do, don’t disturb the soil where the bulbs are – this just encourages them to grow again.
It should be gone in about two years. Â Option b is to remove the contaminated topsoil and replace with new stuff.
If you want a serious spray, try TAG2. Â It kills everything and stops it regrowing for six months to a year. Â I only use it on my metal driveway, it’s very effective.
If I used TAG2 then I would have to forget about next summers garden?
I like the idea about chopping the leaves off, thanks for that Critic.
Yeah, nothing grows for months after TAG2 – no summer garden if you use it.
If you want to treat the oxalis as a long term project (and, as a disclaimer, I’ve not tried this on oxalis) you could try pouring boiling water on the leaves. Â After my three or four cups of perc coffee in the morning I run a full load of water through the percolator to clean the machine, add dish washing liquid and pour the hot water on to weeds in the lawn or garden. Â The hot water/detergent combination seems to strip the protective layer off the foliage and kill the plant, without damaging the soil.
The cold coffee and grounds go on the garden, or lawn.
Bored,
Wow, only on Weekend Social can we discuss warfare and killing…
A serious question…
Is dog pee any good for killing it off?
At the moment we have seven dogs (the number always varies) if their pee kills the stuff off I might open the gate to the garden and let them do their business on there for a few days.
Last week’s weekend social is active again!
This week’s is due to be posted at 4pm.  Should it be earlier?  When is the right time to  schedule weekend social?
Midday?